14 Port anD the Douro
Revolt’, it ended with the arrest of 407 men and women, around twenty of whom were
hanged and over a hundred banished.
The British, who were blamed for inciting the revolt, raised objections with Pombal
and their own Prime Minister, William Pitt. Pombal told them in a high-handed manner
that he refused to recognise the British Factory and that a circular to the growers treated
Portugal as though ‘it was not a Kingdom that had an indisputable right to make its own
domestic laws’. If it had not been for the Seven Years’ War with France and Spain, the
Anglo-Portuguese alliance, so carefully nurtured over the past four hundred years, might
have come to an abrupt end. In the event, Pitt was far too anxious to remain on good
terms with Portugal to pick a fight and he turned a deaf ear to the shippers’ complaints.
The establishment of the Companhia was accompanied by a series of measures to
regulate the production of Port. A commission was set up to draw a boundary around
the Douro region, restricting Port production to vineyards within the demarcation.
Like most subsequent legislation in the Douro, this was not without controversy and
three demarcations were proposed before the scheme finally came into effect in 1761.
It established two zones: one producing wines merely for domestic consumption, so-
called vinho do ramo or ‘branch wine’, and another for export, known as vinho da feitoria.
Marked out by sturdy granite posts, over a hundred of which still stand, this region
extended from Barqueiros in the Baixo through Lobrigos/Cambres along the River Douro
upstream to Pinhão. The altos (high land) west of Pinhão around Gouvães, Provesende,
Celeiros and Sabrosa were designated for vinho branco de feitoria (high-quality white wine
for export). The area upriver from Pinhão to Tua, now the location of some of the region’s
most famous quintas, was classified merely for vinho de ramo. It is a source of considerable
pride to the present-day owners of Douro quintas that their vineyards fell within the
original feitoria demarcation.
Good wine needs no bush
the term vinho do ramo (branch wine) originates from the tradition of indicating a tavern
by hanging a branch (a grapevine, or bunch of ivy) outside the premises. this was also
used in england at the time, hence the proverb ‘good wine needs no bush’ – meaning
that if a product is of sufficiently good quality it does not need advertising.In a concerted effort to stamp out the fraud and adulteration of earlier years, Pombal
ruled that all elderberry trees were to be uprooted and every vineyard should be registered.
Production quotas were issued based on an average of the previous five years’ yields.
On top of this, Pombal handed the Company the exclusive right to supply the spirit or
aguardente used in Port production, fixing the price according to quality.
Pombal’s dictates had implications for Portugal’s wine industry well beyond Oporto
and the Douro. He ordered that vineyards in regions as far apart as the Ribatejo and
Bairrada be grubbed up, both to protect the authenticity of Port and to boost the