Douro

   This river in the Iberian Peninsula is about 780 kilometers (485 miles) long and thus shorter than the Tagus. Known as the Rio Douro in Portuguese and the Rio Duero in Spanish, it rises in north-central Spain, first flows west to northeast Portugal, then turns south to form a section of the Luso-Spanish frontier, and ultimately flows west into the Atlantic Ocean three kilometers south of Oporto. Within Portugal, the Douro passes through deep gorges and steep hills and has rapids. Along sections of the Douro River grow the vineyards of the port wine industry, and in Oporto, along its banks, are found the so-called wine lodges of the port wine companies.

   Portugal's most famous wine and leading export takes its name from the city of Oporto or porto, which means "port" or "harbor" in Portuguese. Sometimes described as "the Englishman's wine," port is only one of the many wines produced in continental Portugal and the Atlantic islands. Another noted dessert wine is Madeira wine, which is produced on the island of Madeira. Port wine's history is about as long as that of Madeira wine, but the wine's development is recent compared to that of older table wines and the wines Greeks and Romans enjoyed in ancient Lusitania. During the Roman occupation of the land (ca. 210 BCE-300 CE), wine was being made from vines cultivated in the upper Douro River valley. Favorable climate and soils (schist with granite outcropping) and convenient transportation (on ships down the Douro River to Oporto) were factors that combined with increased wine production in the late 17th century to assist in the birth of port wine as a new product. Earlier names for port wine ( vinho do porto) were descriptive of location ("Wine of the Douro Bank") and how it was transported ("Wine of [Ship] Embarkation").

   Port wine, a sweet, fortified (with brandy) aperitif or dessert wine that was designed as a valuable export product for the English market, was developed first in the 1670s by a unique combination of circumstances and the action of interested parties. Several substantial English merchants who visited Oporto "discovered" that a local Douro wine was much improved when brandy ( aguardente) was added. Fortification prevented the wine from spoiling in a variety of temperatures and on the arduous sea voyages from Oporto to Great Britain. Soon port wine became a major industry of the Douro region; it involved an uneasy alliance between the English merchant-shippers at Oporto and Vila Nova de Gaia, the town across the river from Oporto, where the wine was stored and aged, and the Portuguese wine growers.

   In the 18th century, port wine became a significant element of Britain's foreign imports and of the country's establishment tastes in beverages. Port wine drinking became a hallowed tradition in Britain's elite Oxford and Cambridge Universities' colleges, which all kept port wine cellars. For Portugal, the port wine market in Britain, and later in France, Belgium, and other European countries, became a vital element in the national economy. Trade in port wine and British woolens became the key elements in the 1703 Methuen Treaty between England and Portugal.

   To lessen Portugal's growing economic dependence on Britain, regulate the production and export of the precious sweet wine, and protect the public from poor quality, the Marquis of Pombal instituted various measures for the industry. In 1756, Pombal established the General Company of Viticulture of the Upper Douro to carry out these measures. That same year, he ordered the creation of the first demarcated wine-producing region in the world, the port-wine producing Douro region. Other wine-producing countries later followed this Portuguese initiative and created demarcated wine regions to protect the quality of wine produced and to ensure national economic interests.

   The upper Douro valley region (from Barca d'Alva in Portugal to Barqueiros on the Spanish frontier) produces a variety of wines; only 40 percent of its wines are port wine, whereas 60 percent are table wines. Port wine's alcohol content varies usually between 19 and 22 percent, and, depending on the type, the wine is aged in wooden casks from two to six years and then bottled. Related to port wine's history is the history of Portuguese cork. Beginning in the 17th century, Portuguese cork, which comes from cork trees, began to be used to seal wine bottles to prevent wine from spoiling. This innovation in Portugal helped lead to the development of the cork industry. By the early 20th century, Portugal was the world's largest exporter of cork.

► nombre masculino el Duero

1 the Douro

* * *

SM Douro

* * *

el (río) Duero the Douro

* * *

Duero n

el Duero the Douro

   Historically, Portugal's agricultural efficiency, measured in terms of crop yields and animal productivity, has been well below that of other European countries. Agricultural inefficiency is a consequence of Portugal's topography and climate, which varies considerably from north to south and has influenced farm size and farming methods. There are three major agricultural zones: the north, center, and south. The north (the area between the Douro and Minho Rivers, including the district of Trás-os-Montes) is mountainous with a wet (180-249 cm of rainfall/year), moderately cool climate. It contains about 2 million hectares of cultivated land excessively fragmented into tiny (3-5 hectares) family-owned farms, or minifúndios, a consequence of ancient settlement patterns, a strong attachment to the land, and the tradition of subdividing land equally among family members. The farms in the north produce the potatoes and kale that are used to make caldo verde soup, a staple of the Portuguese diet, and the grapes that are used to make vinho verde (green wine), a light sparkling white wine said to aid the digestion of oily and greasy food. Northern farms are too small to benefit from mechanization and their owners too poor to invest in irrigation, chemical fertilizers, or better seeds; hence, agriculture in the north has remained labor intensive, despite efforts to regroup minifúndios to increase farm size and efficiency.

   The center (roughly between the Douro and the Tagus River) is bisected by the Mondego River, the land to either side of which is some of the most fertile in Portugal and produces irrigated rice, corn, grapes, and forest goods on medium-sized (about 100 hectares) farms under a mixture of owner-cultivation and sharecropping. Portugal's center contains the Estrela Mountains, where sheep raising is common and wool, milk, and cheese are produced, especially mountain cheese ( Queijo da Serra), similar to French brie. In the valley of the Dão River, a full-bodied, fruity wine much like Burgundy is produced. In the southern part of the center, where the climate is dry and soils are poor, stock raising mixes with cereal crop cultivation. In Estremadura, the area north of Lisbon, better soils and even rainfall support intensive agriculture. The small farms of this area produce lemons, strawberries, pears, quinces, peaches, and vegetables. Estremadura also produces red wine at Colares and white wine at Buçelas.

   The south (Alentejo and Algarve) is a vast rolling plain with a hot arid climate. It contains about 2.6 million hectares of arable land and produces the bulk of Portugal's wheat and barley. It also produces one of Portugal's chief exports, cork, which is made from bark cut from cork oaks at nine-year intervals. There are vast groves of olive trees around the towns of Elvas, Serpa, and Estremoz that provide Portugal's olives. The warm climate of the Algarve (the most southern region of Portugal) is favorable for the growing of oranges, pomegranates, figs, and carobs. Almonds are also produced. Farms in the south, except for the Algarve, are large estates (typically 1,000 hectares or more in size) known as latifúndios, worked by a landless, wage-earning rural work force. After the Revolution of 25 April 1974, these large estates were taken over by the state and turned into collective farms. During the 1990s, as the radicalism of the Revolution moderated, collectivized agriculture was seen as counterproductive, and the nationalized estates were gradually returned to their original owners in exchange for cash payments or small parcels of land for the collective farm workers.

   Portugal adopted the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) when it joined the European Union (EU) in 1986. The CAP, which is based on the principles of common pricing, EU preferences, and joint financing, has shifted much of Portugal's agricultural decision making to the EU. Under the CAP, cereals and dairy products have experienced declines in prices because these are in chronic surplus within the EU. Alentejo wheat production has become unprofitable because of poor soils. However, rice, tomatoes, sunflower, and safflower seed and potatoes, as well as Portuguese wines, have competed well under the CAP system.

    See also Minifúndios, Latifúndios, European Union.

(1908-)

   Portugal's premier filmmaker, producer, and director of the 20th century. Born in Oporto, Oliveira began his filmmaking career in 1931 with the short film Douro, Faina Fluvial (Douro, River Work). In 1942, he produced the classic film Aniki-Bobó. As a filmmaker in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, Oliveira came into his own as the most celebrated and, finally, honored filmmaker and director in Portugal. In the 1970s, awards and honors began to accumulate. Still making films in his eighties and connected with the film world in his nineties, he directed a film that reached cinemas in the United States: The Convent (1994), with John Malkovich and Catherine Deneuve. Like other notables in the arts, Oliveira was nothing if not versatile and controversial, in his behavior as well as in his filmmaking methods. In his youth, he gained public notice as a top athlete as well as an actor in several 1930s films.

   Today, continental Portugal is divided into 18 administrative districts, each with a district capital. Traditionally, Portugal was divided into historic provinces whose names reflect the multiple cultural influences of various invaders of ancient Lusitania from the Romans to the Muslims (Arabs and Berbers). More than a few of these names derive from the Arabic, including Algarve, a corruption of "Al-gharb" or "The West" province. The 12 historic provinces, whose names continue to be used in everyday life despite the new (since the 19th century) district system, are: in the north, Minho, Trás-os-Montes, Douro, Douro Litoral, and Beira Alta; in the center, Beira Baixa, Beira Litoral, Estremadura, and Ribatejo; and in the south, Alto Alentejo, Baixo Alentejo, and Algarve.

   The Portuguese winemaking tradition goes back to Roman times, when Lusitania began exporting wine to the city of Rome. The modern wine-exporting industry began with the Methuen Treaty (1703), which stipulated that henceforth Portuguese wines would be favored as exports to Great Britain in the same way that British woolens imported to Portugal would have advantages. Portugal has the oldest appellation system in the world, which was established by the first minister of King José I, the Marquis of Pombal in 1758. In that year, Pombal ordered the demarcation of the wine producing region along the Douro River valley, the Região Demarcada do Douro, in order to assure the production of high quality port wines. During the reign of King Carlos I (1889-1908), the Vinho Verde, Dão, Colares, Carcavelos, Setúbal, and Madeira regions were demarcated, each of which has its own Comissão Vitivinicola to supervise the preparation and cultivation of the vineyards and to assure the quality of the wines produced.

   Portuguese wines are labeled Denominação de Origem Controlada (DOC), which indicates that the wine is of superior quality from a specific vineyard; Indicação de Pronveniência Regulamentada (IPR), which indicates that wines so labeled were produced under some regulations in a certain demarcated region but are not DOC wines; Vinho Regional, which indicates that such wine was produced without regulation within a specific demarcated region; and Vinho de Mesa, which indicates only that the wine was made in Portugal by a certain producer.

   Portugal produces some of the world's top wines, the best of which are port, madeira, dão, moscatel, and vinho verde. Portugal's most widely known wines are its lightly sparkling rosés, which were successfully mass-marketed in the United States and Europe by Mateus and Lancers beginning in the 1960s. These wines accounted for 40 percent of Portugal's total table wine exports in the 1980s. Increasingly, Portuguese wines are winning international recognition, which has increased their popularity among wine lovers the world over.

    See also Agriculture.

Geography: Douro (Испания и Португалия), Duero (Испания и Португалия)

1 to drain (bañera, agua).

2 to flow in.

Los ríos confluyen en la región The rivers flow together in the region.

* * *

Conjugation model [ AVERIGUAR], like link=averiguar averiguar

► verbo transitivo

1 (extraer el agua) to drain

► verbo intransitivo

1 (un líquido) to drain, drain off/away; (un contenedor) to drain

2 (desembocar) to flow (en, into), drain (en, into)

■ el Duero desagua en el Atlántico the Douro flows into the Atlantic

* * *

1. VT

1) (=vaciar) [+ líquido] to drain; [+ recipiente, bañera] to empty, drain

2) [+ dinero, fortuna] to squander

3) And (=enjuagar) to rinse (out)

2. VI

1) [líquido] to drain away, drain off

2) [río]

* * *

= drain.

Ex. The garden had obviously been flooded with sea-water although now it was all drained.

* * *

* * *

desaguar [ A16 ]

1 «bañera/lavadora» to drain, empty

2 «río» to drain desaguar EN algo to drain o flow INTO sth

* * *

♦ vi

1. [bañera, lavadora] to empty, to drain;

2. [río]

♦ vt

* * *

I v/t drain

II v/i

1 de agua drain away

2 de río flow, drain (en into)

* * *

desaguar {10} vi

: to drain, to empty

► nombre masculino

1 the Douro

р. (Португалия/Испания) Douro

dūrĭus or dūrēus, a, um, adj., = dourios or doureios, equus, the Trojan horse, Aur. Vict. Orig. 1; Paul. ex Fest. p. 82, 12. — Poet. transf.:

duria nox,

i. e. the night in which the Greeks descended from the interior of the horse, Val. Fl. 2, 573; cf. durateus.

Dŭrĭus, ii, m. ( Dūrĭa, ae, m., Claud. in Laud. Ser. Reg. 72), one of the principal rivers of Spain, now the Douro, Mel. 3, 1, 7 sq.; Plin. 4, 20, 34, § 112 sq.; Sil. 1, 234 al.

dūrĭus or dūrēus, a, um, adj., = dourios or doureios, equus, the Trojan horse, Aur. Vict. Orig. 1; Paul. ex Fest. p. 82, 12. — Poet. transf.:

duria nox,

i. e. the night in which the Greeks descended from the interior of the horse, Val. Fl. 2, 573; cf. durateus.

Dŭrĭus, ii, m. ( Dūrĭa, ae, m., Claud. in Laud. Ser. Reg. 72), one of the principal rivers of Spain, now the Douro, Mel. 3, 1, 7 sq.; Plin. 4, 20, 34, § 112 sq.; Sil. 1, 234 al.

dūrĭus or dūrēus, a, um, adj., = dourios or doureios, equus, the Trojan horse, Aur. Vict. Orig. 1; Paul. ex Fest. p. 82, 12. — Poet. transf.:

duria nox,

i. e. the night in which the Greeks descended from the interior of the horse, Val. Fl. 2, 573; cf. durateus.

Dŭrĭus, ii, m. ( Dūrĭa, ae, m., Claud. in Laud. Ser. Reg. 72), one of the principal rivers of Spain, now the Douro, Mel. 3, 1, 7 sq.; Plin. 4, 20, 34, § 112 sq.; Sil. 1, 234 al.

dūrĭus or dūrēus, a, um, adj., = dourios or doureios, equus, the Trojan horse, Aur. Vict. Orig. 1; Paul. ex Fest. p. 82, 12. — Poet. transf.:

duria nox,

i. e. the night in which the Greeks descended from the interior of the horse, Val. Fl. 2, 573; cf. durateus.

Dŭrĭus, ii, m. ( Dūrĭa, ae, m., Claud. in Laud. Ser. Reg. 72), one of the principal rivers of Spain, now the Douro, Mel. 3, 1, 7 sq.; Plin. 4, 20, 34, § 112 sq.; Sil. 1, 234 al.

Munda, ae, f.

A city in Hispania Baetica, taken by Cœsar in the war against the son of Pompey, now Monda, Liv. 24, 42, 1; Auct. B. Hisp. 32; Val. Max. 7, 6, 5; Sil. 3, 100; Flor. 4, 2, 85.—

A river in Lusitania, between the Tagus and the Douro, [p. 1175] now Mondego, Plin. 4, 21, 35, § 115;

also called Monda,

Mel. 3, 1, 7.