The monster is back: CASA DO DOURO re-established
Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:32 am
Last week, the political left in Portugal passed the law to re-establish the CASA DO DOURO. A complete failure, full of scandals, it had been de-commissioned in 2014, with a debt of EUR 160 million. But now it is back. All wine growers in the Douro region have to register and pay their fees. As I see it, it's just another layer of bureaucracy and a lot of well-paid government jobs for political friends... and a headache for everybody in the Douro. Nobody in the Douro that I know wanted this - Lisbon forced this upon the Douro, and then the politicians still have the nerve to say that it is "a historic day for the Douro" (Carlos Matias). Well, the Douro survived Napoleon and the phylloxera - it will also survive this... :)