Port anD the Douro 65hill. António Magalhães, vineyard manager for the Fladgate Partnership, describes the
PDRITM as the ‘worst moment of viticulture in the Douro’ but concedes that it was a
phase the region had to go through to get to where it is today. Most growers now only
use patamares on gradients over 35 per cent, restricting them to one or two rows of vines.
Undoing the mistakes of the PDTRIM is already proving to be a costly but increasingly
necessary undertaking. Since 2002 the Fladgate Partnership have been building what they
term ‘second generation’ patamares using laser technology. These parallel terraces have an
inbuilt incline of 3 per cent into the hillside, preventing excessive run off, and are planned
with much better drainage to prevent erosion.
The main drawback of the patamar system is the lower planting density of around
2,400 to 3,500 vines per hectare. This induces greater vigour in the individual plants,
making the vineyard more difficult to manage. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Port
shippers Ferreira and Ramos Pinto, who own adjoining quintas in the Rio Torto, came
up with a radical alternative: vinha ao alto (see figure 1d). By ignoring the contours and
planting vines in vertical rows up and down the slope, densities of 5,000 vines per hectare
can be attained. At Ferreira’s Quinta do Seixo, tracks cross the slope at right angles to the
rows of vines giving access to tractors equipped with winches to hoist a plough or the
giant cannons used for spraying the vines against fungal diseases. Most producers now
use small tractors or quad bikes to work the rows between the vines; the latter work twice
as quickly but have to be fitted with speed limiters to curb the Portuguese penchant for
fast driving. It is now accepted that Vinha ao alto is only viable on slopes with gradients
of up to 35 per cent and some of the steeper slopes at Seixo have already been replanted
with patamares. Although vinha ao alto is more challenging to cultivate than the patamar
system, most growers agree that the higher planting density helps to produce better wine.
Since 1985 nearly 22,000 hectares of Douro vineyards have been replanted and
mechanised, but this leaves around 50 per cent of the region’s vineyards still planted on
traditional unmechanised socalcos. As one grower remarked, ‘The only machine in the Douro
which will go up steps is a mule.’ With much of the Douro having been designated as a
World Heritage Site, there is now a desire to preserve many of the remaining terraces with
their stone walls. In the late 1990s, Quinta do Noval replanted 47 hectares of particularly fine
post-phylloxera terraces. Wishing to preserve the retaining walls that are such a distinctive
feature of the Pinhão valley, Noval constructed miniature or micro-patamares within the old
terraces. These provide a flat surface for a narrow, lightweight caterpillar tractor known as a
‘Multijyp’. Developed in Switzerland, where small, steeply inclined vineyards are the norm,
this agile little vehicle can climb a couple of parallel planks to move from one terrace to the
next. Noval claim that the Multijyp has been a success but it has not been widely adopted;
most other growers prefer to construct access ramps onto the socalcos and plant at densities
that permit the passage of small tractors among the vines. The iconic terraces at Warre’s
Quinta do Bom Retiro Antigo have recently been replanted in this way, but 10 per cent of
Symington’s 1,000-hectare estate is still unmechanised. Few shippers now have their own
mule, but with so many old inaccessible terraces still in use, there must be a good business
for someone to set up a branch of ‘rent-a-mule’!