Lavradores de Feitoria is a kind of squaring of the circle: its mission includes its own contradiction. It tries to resolve the opposition between the individual and the collective. It seeks a balance between large sales and the quality of the individual. It strives to reward producers and treat everyone equally, but it rewards those who do the best. It gives its members and shareholders complete freedom, but it establishes quality, cultivation and production rules that must be followed. It makes blended wines and also intends to make quinta wines. The soul belongs to the farmers, but the energy belongs to the shareholders. Everyone is interested in production and trade at the same time. The farmers come from the three sub-regions of the Douro, taking the best from each, instead of separating them based on differences. One gets the impression that Lavradores de Feitoria made a list of the classic contradictions in the Douro wine region and sought not to ignore them, but to live with them and resolve them through balance.
There are 15 farmers, who are also traders. There are 19 farms that are part of the company, and they come from Baixo Corgo, Cima Corgo and Douro Superior. There were initially 24 shareholders, with farmers in the majority, but there are now 48, but in terms of voting rights, farmers are the dominant force. They certainly form one of the most interesting groups of producers in the country, one of the main innovations in the demarcated region of Portuguese wine. It seemed easy to do what they did: in fact it was so difficult that it was never done. For the first time, freely, without imposition, some people from the Douro tried to combine the best of the individual and the collective, or the singular and the association. It was fifteen unforgettable years of effort. Calling for many more.
Antonio Barreto
