The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1853-05-23

correspondence Of the Baltimore Patriot
IIanau Mach Tx 1aka

| Correspondence Of the Baltimore Patriot
| LNsos, March 49, 1853.
j few words Of Oporto and ats wines.
l The city offers but few attractions To the stran
ger. It's built on the side of the mount Il the
houses presenting but little beauty or taste Ia tbe
design; many of them have tile fronts, which give
| them = singular and quaint appearance Ths
streets very irregular and offer but few sttrac.
tions to the pedestrian. The principal buiid;nre
OF note here are the Cathedral and the Bishop,s
Iaiace, the prominent poeiton of which, with their
high dones and turrets, render them the mos,
conspicuous objects to the stranger as be annroach
60 the city, the country around which is verv he's
tifui' occasionally shaded by immense forests of
WOO .rees. and here and there. the gentle
slopes the eye Is greeted with the beautiful vine
yaros AND orange trees, which, with their white
blossom, afford pleasant contrast to the green
! foliage of the vine. eeA
Here, as in many other wine districts in Enron.
| you find wines of fine, medium, and ind;ffererntt
quality. Their various qualities are produced hv
three causes, viz: Difference of the soiI of tbs
grape, and exposure and cultivation of the vine.
Experience has proven that the vine lourshes hest
in dry, light, and stony. or sandy roil Good
rich soils rarely if ever produce fine wine for the
wine is not excellent in proportion to the size and
luxuriance of the plant but rather to the contrary
1t is best as the soil is lighter and dryer; and il il
found that calcareous and porous soils, particu-
larly those which chalky, produce wines of
great freshness and lghtness. Indeed, soil which
from dryness and lightness is fit for no other cuI-
The wine country OF the Douro extends along
the banks of that river about thirty miles from the
city of Oporto, and although the vine is generally
cultivated in Portugal, it is from the vineyards Of
the Douro alone that the finest wines are produced
The district in which these vineyards are situated
is divided with respect to product into fret, Sc,
cond, and third The excellent sites which this
district affords and the powerful of the south
render failures OF the crops matter of rarity.
The vines are trained upon treises about two feet
from the surface, and the vineyards are upon the
sides of gently sioping hills.
At the vintage time the grapes are carefully
gathered, placed in baskets, in which thew are
taken to the vats, where they undergo the usual
pressure; and this process is again repeated DUR
ing fermentation, which varies from two to three
days. The wines are then removed into large
tuns, containing upwards of thousand gallons
each; from these they racked in February or
March, and then placed in wine cellars. The best
wine OF the higher Douro is produced at PeSo da
Regina. and better wine than some tasted and
purchased there, never recolIect to have drank.
1t could not boast of the great delicacy of the high
est wines Of France; but it is every thing that
could be desired-a stomachic, dry, yet mellow, Of
good body and color.
Here was also shown the White Port a deli
cious and very rare wine, somewhat resembling in
flavor the dry Bual Of Madeira. The wines from
come of the Khone growths in France, or the Cote
Rotie These wines have little no brandy min
gled with them when in the vaults, but when ship.
ped to the London market heavily dosed with it,
that the finer grades of port sent to respectable
houses in the United States p,srer and better
matlred tDines than those sent to the English mar.
kets, has been fully confirmed here bp facts which
came under my immediate observation. And in
confirmation OF this opinion, Redding, in his ex.
ceilent treatise on the wines of Oporo, writes:
"That taste In wine of most extraordinary cha.
racter prevails in this country (Eneiand1 among
the bulk of those who drink this wine, and who
seem to prefer the juice of the grape, the more Il
resembles the product of the stli, rather than Of
simple fermentation, the very excellence Of which
consists in the slight interference of artificial effort
for completing its product after the earth and cum
have done their part.' And again he writes, (and
would call the attention of those who consider
I" London Dock Port'' the pursst and most choice
wine to this paragraph:) "The various docks of
the Thames do not secure purchasers from the NAL
practices of dishonest dealers Ii has been naturally
yet enormously imagined, that tcires purchased in
the docks must be pure article. Malaga sherry is
shipped TO England for the real sherry of
Xeres, and figures o1 port. The effect of pure wine
upon a healthfu stomach lie known but to fetr in
this country, (England) II ia iansentable that the
general taste has been 80 perverted"
1t has been my object 1.-The purchase of wines
in Oporto to procure them in such purity as they
are used there by those whose taste has not been
destroyed BY branded mixtures, but who are ia
nar with the taste and favor of a purely ri,ous
and it is of such wine only that the
Italian poet says
al buon vino ia buon saugue"
And feel satisfied that those at home, sUhosT
taste of tcine ia not in the degree of spiritxo,s
strength ii afords but Oho relish pure aDins, that
;oeers without inebriation that enlivens conversa-
ton without coarse mirth, and kindles social
in the hour of relaxation without pass
ing the bounds of propriety, will confirm my taste
and endorse my opinion Of port wines. And asa
precaution against the adulteration of which, and
other wines imported into country, consumed
BY some who may not be familiar with the flavor
and character Of the pure tcint, would respect
FULLY suggest to our wise national Legislators the
enactment of law levying heavy penalty upon
all sellers of wine on the detection of any SUBJ
stance in the same that is not strictly vinous,
upon an analysis by a competent and authorized
person.
The country around the city of oporto is plea
sanity diversified with hill and dale, and many Of
the wealthier classes have added much TO the
beauties OF nature by the adornments of art. You
see their beautiful white quntas peeping out from
amid the rich foliage of the orange tree and their
tastefully arranged gardens blooming with many
OF the richest treasures of Flora.