Irrigation allowed?

[LOUISSS J]

I was watching an Interview with Oscar Quevedo of Quevedo Port and from what I understand he says that irrigation was not allowed 2 years ago ... so it is now allowed !?
With my short research I did not find a clear answer. From what I understood, irrigation would be more permitted for dry wines? ... if not under certain conditions (not only for young vines). It might be old news, but for me it's new ... and sad. I do not believe that the use of water to irrigate would be desirable even to have more Porto, especially with the climatic changes that we are experiencing.
So where are we with the irrigation?

[Glenn E.]

As I recall, irrigation is only allowed for the first 3 (?) years after vines are planted. After that it is only allowed by government/IVDP decree when there is a severe drought or other natural condition that makes it necessary to protect the vines.

But I really haven't seen or heard anything on the subject recently, so it is very possible that the rules have changed.

[LOUISSS J]

Here is the vid where i heard that irrigation is now allowed :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-qCD8CuXFU
(Just after 7:00)

Then i saw a text where Rob Symington was interview (april 2021). 2 extracts from the text seem to say that some irrigation is allowed.
https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles ... l-activist
Rob points out that no regulated irrigation policy exists in the Douro, which is alarming in a dry region where water is in such limited supply. UTAD has conducted research showing, under different climate scenarios, crop yields will drop 50% by mid century, a reduction which can be mitigated by science-based irrigation to support vines during the most challenging periods of the year.
and
Convinced that a limited amount of hydric stress encourages vines to produce the best grapes, the Symingtons practise smart drip irrigation in their vineyards, and have invited the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture to come up with an irrigation policy for the region.

Another text at the end of 2020 :
http://www.magos.pt/en/news/news/wateri ... uro-region.

So Glenn what you say seems right but for about 2 years there seems to be more irrigation than before.

[Frederick Blais]

Irrigation is allowed in the first years for a new plantation, is it 3 years like Glenn mentions, 4, or maybe 5? I've heard those numbers from different producers.

2-3 years ago, IVDP gave some loose in the law for irrigation. In exceptionnally dry weather, producers could ask for the right to irrigate, but it had to be a generally dry moment for the entire Douro. The IVDP allowed this exception to a more localized and specific micro climate. For example if the Pinhao Valley producers experience an exceptionnally dry summer as all the Spring rain avoided them, they could ask for the permission to irrigate.

Then irrigation is allowed if you are conducting research on the topic with universities.

Douro yields are already 3-4 times less than most wine region. The traditionnal vineyards are well adapted to the extreme conditions but it is difficult to compete with low cost wines from other regions as the Douro, without irrigation, is not an easy place to make high volume cheap wine.