Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-31
0PORTO'S RUBY WINE.
CURIOUS AND INTERESTING FACTS
ABOUT ITS MANUFACTURE.

Among the Vineyards of a Land Where
Toll Is Made Picturesque and Musical.
Treading Out the Blood of the Grape.
Testing the Juice.
The Alto Douro district in Portugal,
whence the wine comes, comprises q
series of steep activities and narrow
ravnes extending some thirty miles along
the River Douro Golden river and vary
ing in breadth from five to ten miles. 1t
Is situated both in the provinces of Traz-
os-Montes and Beira, the first named con-
tanning by far the larger portion. The
area of the vineyards is estimated at
about &c. 600 acres. In order to prevent
the loose and faky soil in which the vines
are planted upon the steep sides of the
hills from being washed away by heavy
rains, the ground is cut away in terraces,
forming a succession of steps, their sides
banked up with walls of masonry These
rows of terraces line the sides of mountain
after mountain, like cyclopean staircases,
and on some slopes as many as $50 may
be counted, rising one above another
The population of the wine district is
| small, and as a considerable amount of
labor is needed for the cultivation of the
vine there is ample employment for vint-
ayers, male and female, who flock thither
at the proper season from remote regions,
many coming from the province of Galicia
in the north of Spain. The vintage in
September of course attracts the largest
influx. Dancing and singing on their way
to the vineyards come bands of peasants
| to the gathering. Women with red and
| yellow kerchiefs tied over unkempt
tresses, and with bare legs, may be seen
md hnn nrl fnr. fhnir rc;,, l1,,,
melodious, is an invariable accompani-
ment of the work-all over the hill sides
culling the punches Of fruit with small
hooked knives. AS the berries are thus
| detached and the unripe and unsound
fruit removed they are thrown into
baskets borne on the arm of the vintager
These are emptied into large baskets,
holding nearly hundred weight, which,
when filled, men, with sheepskins to pro-
tect their shoulders and plated straw
knots on their heads hoist on their backs,
and, moving off in Indian file, bear them
along the rugged winding paths and up
and down the steep flights of steps to the
press house.
TOURS OF INSPECTION.
At the principal quintas agents of the
port wine shippers take up their quarters.
Thence they sally forth on daily tours of
inspection, for the purpose of ascertain
ing that the wines their houses have con-
tracted for are fairly and honestly made,
that no unripe or unsound fruit gets into
the lagares, and that the conditions under
which the pressing and fermentation take
| place are favorable. Bullock carts 90 up
and down the dried up stream gullies,
over rough powders, jolted violently and
| discordantly creaking; droves of nimble
little donkeys, with pig skins full of wine
dangling on either side from strap across
their backs, or bringing bread for the
vintagers, wend their way along zigzag
bride paths, and farmers with wine sam
pies and peddlers with their packs on
mules equipped with jangling bells, jog
leisurely over the mountain roads.
Twenty or more varieties of grapes are
used to make port wine. For the most
part they are black, thick skinned and
pulpy, yielding an ample flow of saccha-
rine must. Arrived at the press house
they are at once shot into the lagares-im-
mense receptacles constructed of solid ma
sonry, with sides about three feet high,
and holding enough grapes to produce
from ten to thirty pipes of wine. When
the lagare is filled the grapes are leveled
with hoe, and gang of men is told off
to tread them.
begun by men, who step into the lagares
with their white pants rolled up to the
thigh, and their arms resting on each
others shoulders. With measured steps
they advance and retire across the lagare,
raising and lowering their feet alternately
at the word of command, fright, left"
as though at squad drill. AS the juice
flows, and the fruit is reduced to a pulp,
ivelier movement follows. A fiddler
seated on the edge of the lagare saws
away at some merry tune, while some OF
the treaders join in with fife, drum and
guitar, playing and treading simultane-
ously. Songs and shouts swell the up
roar. 1t is a difficult task, despite these
ebullitions of enthusiasm, and frequent |
nips of brandy are served out by the over
seers to keep the laZier and weaker at the
task, which is wearisome in the extreme. |
Women looking in at the windows ex-
change jokes and laughter with the men.
THE FIRST TREADING.
The "sovar vinho," or first treading, |
is kept up with occasional halts and re-
laws of fresh men for about eighteen |
hours. After long interval the treading |
is resumed. The fiddle strikes up anew,
the drum rattles, the fife squeaks, the |
guitar twangs, the overseers drowsily up |
braid. BY this time the grapes are pretty |
well trodden, and the men, being nearly |
worn out listlessly lift one purple dyed |
leg after another far into the watches of !
the night In testing the quality of the |
mash a large white convex saucer is used. |
One of the treaders balancing himself on |
one brawny leg and holding up the other |
allows the liquid to drip from off his heel |
into the saucer. This is tasted and the |
amount of sugar determined by the saccha- |
rometer. This instrument also indicates, |
after the treading is completed and the
iuice is left to ferment, when the latter l
process has gone far enough. The
stalks and skins of the grapes
form a thick crust on the top OF
the must, which is then drawn or
into large tonels holding from ten to
thirty pipes each; the superintendent
mass of stalks and skins is heaped up in
the center of the lagare, and the juice re-
naming in them is squeezed out by the
leverage of huge beam OF wood, usually
tbe trnnk of a tree weighted with large
stone. The wine thus obtained is sepa-
rately casked and kept by itself, as lts
ouality is not up to the average marx.
Until the end of December the wine re-
mains undisturbed. BY that time IL mas
cleared and has deep purple tint. u IS
then drawn off its lees into otner toners,
when some pure grape brandy is added 10
:. 80 ,.;,ae ora sent I'D from OpOrtO