The times., 1899-12-03

miles above the mouth of the DOuro is only
twenty-seven miles long by 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 narrow vale and is
reflected from the hill amphitheatres with
/ particular intensity. Cut off from every
( breeze the whole region lies still and be-
Gained in tropic heat, though in about the
same latitude as Boston or Chicago. No
/ where 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 a tropical plant and needs the severe
| cold of winter TO give it 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 a man.
The vines are grown as bushes, more
! like English gooseberry trees than any
| thing else. Early in the year they are
/ closely pruned and the summer shoots are
| supported by stakes. Elsewhere in the pen
! insula, except where a specially good wine
! is wanted, the vine is trained over treI-
/ lises, or against polarded trees, In that
way more grapes may be had, but the wine
is poor
Making the Wine.
The vintage begins toward the end Of
September Much care and knowledge are
required in selecting the right proportions
Of the many varieties Of grapes grown on
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 un-
washed, let US hope, and the weary pro-
/ cess 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-
tatton begins to abate the wine is run into
large casks donels. / believe. is the tech
nical namel, whereby the active fermenta-
tion is checked, but is not wholly arrested
until the cold weather of winter sets in
Then the wine clears, the casks are filed
10 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
1 gary, the ingenuity of man having added
very little 10 the time honored process of
Abrahams day.
I 1 . Be sure luEIt are some variations and
! Improvements, such as scientific instru-
ments, called saccharometers, for determ-
/ ining precisely the right moment for draw
ing OF the must" and in a few cases
frauds are practiced such as adding burned
sugar to the poorest and thinnest sour
wine to initiate the flavor of Madeira. and
doctoTng it with an alkau to take away
/ oVer-acidity The "Sherr-is sack" of
Shakespeare's time, which then all Eng
land drank, was so sour that it had TO be
sugared as we sweeten tea
There is a wine disease called "Odium. "
which appears in early summer. as white
hlmy mold, or fungus, on the leaves. Later
! il shows in the unripe fruit and if allowed
TO run its course, hindeTs the growth of
the grape and causes it to split open and
rot AS the most highly bred animals
succumb 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 100 pipes a year, came down
TO five pipes, of a quality so poor that even
/ the laborers could not drink it--and the
wine which they Will not guzzle must be
! very poor indeed Finally the quicker
/ witted French found a remedy in powdered
sulphur blown on the leaves from bellows.
The natural wines Of Europe-those made
10 be consumed on the spot-whch are in
proportion Of a thousand 20 one of the
wines produced, are intended to be drunk
the summer they are made, and will very
rarely keep two years. It is curious fact