72 Port anD the Douro
total of twenty-eight grapes commonly planted in the Douro, including Pé-agudo (‘pointed
foot’) and Entreverde (‘green-between’, so called because it must have suffered from uneven
ripening) that have long since left the local lexicon. Other varieties described in some
detail by Maior include Alvarelhão, Mourisco, Mureto (sic) and Tinta Castelloa (probably
Castelão), all of which have subsequently fallen from favour in the Douro. But Vila Maior
adds a proviso which is still valid today: ‘It must be borne in mind that the same kinds
[of grapes] are known in different places by different names; and what still more thwarts
the study of ampelography, is the same name is often used in different places to denote
very dissimilar kinds. To avoid confusion and mistakes that might arise from this species
of anarchy, the best plan would be to verify their synomymes [sic], by giving complete
description of all the kinds cultivated – an investigation quite indispensable in making a
methodical classification – yet we are still far from seeing this undertaking realised.’
This daunting undertaking was partly realised at the very end of the nineteenth
century by Professor Bernardino Cincinnato da Costa (1866–1930). His thorough survey
of Portugal’s vineyards was written up in both Portuguese and French and published
in a heavy, handsome tome entitled O Portugal Vinicola (Le Portugal Vinicole), for the
Paris Exhibition in 1900. The book is illustrated with a series of detailed botanical
watercolours by Alfredo Roque Gameiro depicting the principal grape varieties of the
day. These include Sousão, Tinto Cão and Touriga Nacional, three red grapes that are still
significant in the Douro over a century later. Cincinnato da Costa’s authoritative work
has never really been equalled. He was followed by Pedro Bravo and Duarte d’Oliveira
who travelled the country and in a manual entitled Viticultura Moderna (1916) listed the
names of 900 grape varieties growing in Portuguese vineyards. Bravo and Oliveira readily
Men who shaPeD the Douro
Frank ‘smiler’ yeatman (1869 –1950)
the yeatmans became partners in the firm taylor, Fladgate & co. in 1844. Grandson of
the first yeatman partner, Frank yeatman was the first member of the family to spend a
substantial amount of time in the douro rebuilding and replanting Quinta de Vargellas
which was in a poor condition in the wake of phylloxera. By all accounts Frank yeatman
was a tall, charming and diffident man who earned the nickname ‘smiler’ from those who
knew him well; certainly the contemporary photographs hanging on the wall at Vargellas
show him dressed in a heavy suit with a benign smile on his face. in 1927 Frank yeatman,
together with his son dick, oversaw the planting of the first varietal vineyard in the douro
at Quinta de Vargellas. this vineyard, known as Polverinho, is still in existence above the
house at Vargellas and sometimes forms part of the taylor’s Vargellas Vinha Velha lote.
although it enabled taylor’s to conduct varietal experiments, it wasn’t until the mid-
1980s that varietal planting became commonplace at Vargellas. Frank combined his love
of Port with a love of golf and ceylon tea which he had shipped in a chest every year. By
the time he retired in 1949 he had been responsible for over fifty harvests.