The brand as value production: from the trademark to designation of origin of wines from the Douro Demarcated Region

ES: A fines del siglo XIX surgen las marcas comerciales modernas, después de la creación del marco legal para su protección y el nacimiento de grandes empresas comerciales. En el sector vitivinícola portugués hubo una fuerte adhesión de las empresas al re-gistro de marcas como defensa contra las prácticas de "uso indebido de indicaciones de procedencia falsas", en un contexto de conversión postfiloxérica, de un mercado inestable y la proliferación de imitaciones y falsificaciones. El sector comercial se apropiaría de la marca en su identificación con la Denominación de Origen, lo que llevó a la aparición, a principios del siglo XX, de un movimiento liderado por las élites de la Región Demarcada del Duero en el sentido del reconocimiento y defensa legal de la marca regional Porto. En este artículo nos centraremos en tres fincas históricas -Senhora da Ribeira, Bomfim y Zimbro- y en las marcas comerciales, etiquetas y marcas de fuego de Silva & Cosens, una de las compañías de comercio de vino del Duero más respetadas a principios del siglo XX. Intentaremos comprender cómo la compañía creó marcas comerciales con una fuerte identificación con la Re-gión Duriense, la región que produce sus vinos.Palabras clave: vino de Oporto, marca comercial, Denominación de Origen, Región Demarcada del Duero.Introduction In the Alto Douro region, the oldest demarcated and regulated region in the world, with shale soils, vineyard cultivation dates to Roman times, having developed progressively in the fo-llowing centuries. From the 11th to 13th centuries there was an expansion of the vineyard. And as soon as the 17th century, English, Flemish and Dutch traders settled in Oporto, dedicating themselves to the export of Douro wines.While the export of wines to England increases, the first conf licts between producers and mer-chants erupt, leading to the Constitution of the Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro by Royal Charter, in 1756, accompanied by the demarcation of the producing region (see Pereira, 1996: 180-188; Pereira, 2010b: 10-16). The law of 7th December 1865, the result of an intense and prolonged debatebetween free traders and protectionists on the wine sector issue, established a regime of freedom of trade that would end only in 1907. During this period, all regulatory mechanisms were abolished: the demarcation was eliminated, as well as the restriction of the port bar of Porto for the export of Douro wines and the supervision and certification of wines.At the end of the 19th century, modern commercial brands emerged after the creation of the legal framework for their protection and the birth of large commercial companies. On the other hand, the commercial sector would eventually take ownership of the brand, na-mely in its identification with the designation of origin, leading to the emergence at the be-ginning of the 20th century of a movement led by prominent landowners and personalities from the Douro Region aiming to recognition and creation of legal mechanisms to defend the regional brand of Porto.At the end of the 19th century, modern commercial brands emerged after the crea-tion of the legal framework for their protection and the birth of large commercial companies. In the Portuguese wine sector, there was a strong adhesion of companies to the registration of trademarks as a defense against practices of "abusive use of false or misleading indications of provenance", in a context of post-phylloxera re-conversion, market instability and the proliferation of imitations and counterfeits. The commercial sector took ownership of the brand in its identification with the designation of origin, leading to the emergence at the beginning of the 20th century of a movement led by prominent personalities from the Douro Region in the sense of creation of legal mechanisms to defend the regional brand of Portwine. We will analyze three historical quintas (estates) - Senhora da Ribeira, Bomfim and Zimbro - and the marks (brands, labels and fire marks) of Silva & Cosens, the "most respec-table" company in the Douro wine trade in the early 20th century. We aim to undes-rtand how this company created trademarks with a strongly identifying character with the Douro Demarcated Region, the producing region of its wines