Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1860-08-03
now THEY MAKE port WINE.


A correspondent Of An The Year Round who
happened to be in Oporto during the last
vintage season." thus describes the process !:
The first care Of the wine farmer, when his
harvost-time approaches, is to engage men and
women enough for the vintage work The
/ laborers engaged are almost savages. wild in
their tempcrs, dirty in their persons, and each
male Of them, man or boy, goes armed. after
the custom Of the province, with an ugly
gun slung to his back. The days food Of
| these poor people is a little matter They will
think themselves very well off if they can get
a couple Of dried sardines for dinner, as a rel
/ ish to their bit Of Indian corn bread Tho
duty Of the women in the vineyard is to cut
the lunches into large baskets, which the men
carry upon their shoulders to the pross.-
| There is great deal Of singing on the ground,
and all seem to work very contentedly, in
| spite Of the great heat When darkness ends
the labor Of the day, the laborers all meet out
side the farmhouse guitar is produced, and
dancing is kept up for some hours.
When all the grapes are in the winc-prcss.
1 the first thing to be done is to drag them well
over with wooden rakes, to separate some of
the stalks. Then all the men tuck up their
trousers and jump in. At my friends farm,
D
side Of the press. suspect, however, that
this was concession to the prejudice Of yis-
itors, for it did not go 70 the extent Of actual
ablution. Nobody used the tub Of water, all
seeming to have supreme contempt for clean
Illness. The scene inside the press is very
animated Twenty or thirty brown faced and
black bearded tatterdemalions, mp to their
knees in the purple juice, smoke, sing, quar-
j ~.I 4 4 1 III j IL
ment, for to them this is the crowning event
Of the year. Every now and then cry is
/ raised for brandy, which the farmer furnishes.
! IL is the pure white spirit as it has run from
the still, and very strong. And it begins TO
take effect, the singing becomes louder, and
the dancing. which within the press is the de-
sired work, fast and furious. general fight
/ often ensues. in which the long guns some
/ times play their part. When all the juice is
/ troddeu from the grapes, plug is drawn
The must runs through into a smaller tank,
whence it 10 carried in buckets to the tuns,
containing four or five pipes each, there to
ferment.
4 The wine-press is then half filed with wa
ter, the husks are again trodden, and finally
squeezed under press of wood The liquor
thus obtained ferments into what is termed
laborers when they come. month later, to
prune the vines.
/ When the lamentations Of the wine in the
tuns is complete the result would not suit
/ English palates being thin, and tart, and
rough 1t has therefore, to be sweetened
and fortified. For sweetening, geropiga is
used. This is made by adding brandy to a
part Of the fresh must, which is thus prevent
ed from iermenting, and retains, therefore, the
sugar Of the grape Brandy is used to
strengthen the wine Often there is defccn-
cy of color and this defect is cured with dried
elderberries tied in a sack, put into tub
about half full OF wine Into the tub a man
gets, and, by treading on the sack, soon draws
the color from the berries, and the darkened
liquor is added to the wine. This practice is
common all over the wine country, and favor
able spots are chosen for plantations of elder
berries, solely to supply the demand for ber-
Tics.