often the case, to the brilliant past of the wine trade of the country that was at the time a sweet
memory and a typical way of arguing for the legitimate right to protect the winegrowers.24
Other documents reveal a variety of demands: the reinforcement of the privileges of the
Companhia Geral, the suppression of the same Companhia, the creation for other regions of a
company without exclusive rights for exports, the proposal from different regions to promote
and protect the wine produced there.25
In a letter published in 1859 in the newspaper O Comércio do Porto, Joaquim Kopke
insists on his continuous fight for free-trade for wines, and especially Douro wines.26 Already
in 1835 no Diario do Porto (February 16), the then president of the Associaçao Comercial do
Porto, Arnaldo Vanzeller, proposed a bill for reducing the taxes on wine exports.27 What is
new with the Barao de Massarelos, is the inclusion of other claims such as the suppression of
the arbitrariness of the wine tasting and the inclusion of economic arguments like efficiency
and a simple cost-benefit analysis. If the cost of a pipe of wine in the Douro is about 15
thousand reis and the taxes about 12 thousands reis plus the taxes that are included in the
brandy imported for making port, then the total cost of a pipe of port wine is doubled already
from its exit from the Douro. The Barao de Massarelos concludes that, given the increase
competition from Spanish and French wines in the British market, this “artificial” increase in
cost (as he called it) hinders the competitiveness of wine merchants and the whole sector,
including the winegrowers. In the argumentation of Joaquim Kopke, and other liberals that
can be identified with the side of the wine shippers, there is a unity of interest between the
winegrowers and the wine merchants and obviously all that is in favor of the wine merchant is
in favor of the wine grower.28
The third issue that is part of the liberal credo is the opposition to the restrictive
system, as it is known in the documents (Forrester and Massarelos used these words
extensively), or what could be best described as the overall regulation of the port-wine
system. There is a multiplicity of regulation systems possible, one is inspired in privileged
24 Arquivo Historico da Assembleia da Repdblica (AHAR), Secton I and II, caixa 209.
25 AHAR, mainly maço 209; but also maço 37, maço 44, maço 73; ANTT, maço 1008.
26 O Comércio do Porto, April 12th 1859, p. 1: “...ha mais de vinte anos tenho combatido a prol da liberdade do
comércio dos vinhos ...”; Massarelos was a member of the liberal movement and former official of the liberal
army, service that allowed him to be granted the title of Baron in 1847 by Queen Maria II. This is a typical case
of individual that was well connected to the monarchy and the political power of the time.
27 AHAR, caixa 209, containing a copy of the newspaper and several folios of notes from the Commission on
wine.
28 ANTT MOPCI maço 1008; CP April 12 1859, CP June 19, CP September 22, CP October 28 and November 8
and 12, 1859.
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