The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-12-10

tered by others from the north and east
winds. Even the valley Of vineyards Is
billy and precipitous, the vines growing
on barren looking soil, peculiar brown.
crurnbling. staty schist, built up into
miIltitudinous terraces from top TO bot
to N OF the hills. The entire strip of coun-
Try. about sixty miles above the mouth OF
Il Douro. is only twenty-seven miles long
b. FIVE or six miles wide. In winter it is
almost as cold as the climate OF Maine, but
in summer the sun fairly revels in the mar
row vale and is reflected from the hill
amphitheaters with particular intensity.
Cut off from every breeze. the whole re-
gion lies still and becalmed in tropic heat.
though in about the same latitude as Bos-
ton or Chicago. Nowhere else in Europe
can the vines get such roasting, and
nowhere else are the juices of the grape
elaborated into such a rich and potent
liquor One understands port wine at the
first glance of the vine country. 1t would
be easy to find hotter suns-in Cuba, for
instance, but the vine that produces the
wine par excellence is not tropical plant
ana needs the severe cold of winter to give
il a seasonable rest. The wine district Is
one of the few in Portugal where Ice forms
in winter thick enough to bear the weight
Of man. The vines are grown as bushes
more like English gooseberry trees than
anything else. Early in the year they are
closely pruned and the summer shoots are
supported by stakes. Elsewhere in the
peninsula, except where a specially good
wine is wanted, the vine is trained over
trnl ofpc Ia I'd 6 that
way more grapes may be had, but the wine
is poor. The vintage begins toward the
end of September. Much care and knowr-
edge are required in selecting the right
proportion of the many varieties of
grapes grown on a single plantation-some
for color, some for flavor. some for bouquet
and some for strength The ripe grapes are
thrown into a vat and trodden under bare
feet-not unwashed, let us hope-and the
weary process reminds one Of the biblical
phrase, HE hath trodden the wine press
alone" The skins. stones. juice and stalks
are then allowed TO remain until the liquid
ferments. AS soon as the heat of fermen-
tation begins to abate the wine Is run into
large casks (tonels, 1 believe. is the tech
nical name). whereby the active fermenta-
ton is checked, but is not wholly arrested
until the cold weather of winter sets in
Then the wine clears, the casks are filled
to the tops, bungs are driven in tight and
the beverage is fit for consumption. This
Is how red wine has been made since the
first juice of grapes was pressed out and
fermented. how IL is still made in France
Italy. Greece. Spain, Portugal and Hun
gary. the ingenuity of man having added
very little to the time-honored process Of
variations and improvements, such as scien-
tifc instruments, called saccharometers, for
determining precisely the right moment for
drawing off the must and in few cases
frauds are practiced such as adding burned
sugar to the poorest and thinnest sour wine
to initiate the flavor of Madeira and doc
toring II with an alkali to take away over
acidity. The "Sherris sack of shakspeares
time, which then all England drank, was so
sour that 1t had to be sugared as we
sweeten tea. You remember thai Poins ad-
dresses Falstaff as ''Sir John Sack and
Sugar" and that worthy gentleman plain
lively replies: IF sack and sugar be a
fault, God help the wicked
ENEMIES OF THE GRAPE
There Is a wine disease called "odium"
which appears in early summer a white.
filmy mold or fungus on the leaves. Later
it shows in the unripe fruit, and if allowed
to run its course binders the growth of
the grape and causes 1t to split open and
rot. AS the most highly bred animals sue
cumb soonest to an epidemic, so the finest
growths of wine grapes suffer first So
bad has this been two or three times
within the century that estates producing
an average of 160 pipes a year came down
to five pipes of quality so poor that even
the laborers could not drink 1t, and the
wine which they will not guzzle must be
very poor indeed. Finally the quicker
witted French found remedy in powdered
sulphur blown on the leaves from bellows
The natural wines o. Europe-those made
to be consumed on the spot-which are in
proportion of thousand to one of the
wines produced, are intended to be drunk
the summer they are made and will very
rarely keep two years. 1t is curious fact
that the common claret wines grown I'm
the neighborhood of Oporto and drunk by
the peasantry are often dearer than the
costliest vintage of the port wine district
The apparent anomaly is accounted for
by the fact that, while the commoner wine
Is drfnkable within six months after leav-
ing the VAT, the young port wine, as the
trade puts it. has then gone but one stage
of its long journey. Ii has to be kept long
er. to be racked. to be fined, to be skill
fully turned over. to be carefully watched.
perhaps to be fortified with distilled wine.
Before all this it has to be carried on
perilous voyage down the Douro. to pay
warehouse charges in Oporto and again
in England or wherever it goes. to pay
tax on export and a heavy import duty,
beside merchants profits, freight and in
surance charges. Therefore port wine must
need start very cheap indeed or none but
millionaires could ever taste it. Any wine
farmer in Portugal will sell you a quart
of honest red wine for refs to the value
of about cents in our currency. But at
that early age it would hardly recommend
itself to the cultivated taste. The port
wine trade is a good deal of a monopoly.
but legitimate one resulting from capital
Invested and skill and knowledge applied.
FANNIE BRIGHAM WARD