130 A SPRING TOUR IN TORTUGAL. 



dentally, and quite nnintentionally, stumbled upon all the 

 wine-ofrowino: districts which are most noted. Thus, ou 

 the banks of the Rhine and its tributaries, I have watched 

 the process employed in preparing the Hocks and Moselles 

 we esteem so highly in England. In Italy I have witnessed 

 the vintage and the pressing out of the grapes which result 

 in the rich, luscious wines for which that classic land is 

 famous. In France I have visited the champagne district 

 at Epernay, the Burgundy district in the Cote d'Or, and 

 the claret district in the neighbourhood of Bordeaux ; 

 while in Spain I have rambled through the Val de Penas, 

 and, lastly, the native land of Amontillado and sherry, and 

 have experienced the perfection to which those wines can 

 attain, in the famous Bodega of the Messrs. Duff Gordon 

 at Xeres. To complete the catalogue, therefore, it only 

 remained to seek the home of the port, the wine par 

 excellence of the Englishman, and which the connoisseur 

 places far above all others, declaring indeed that all other 

 wines would be port wine if they could. 



Our kind friends at Lisbon had furnished us with 

 letters of introduction to the house of Messrs. Sandeman, 

 who are (I believe) the largest port-wine merchants in 

 Oporto, and we paid several visits to their very extensive 

 stores, or rather lodges, as the cool, dark sheds are termed, 

 in which the rows of casks of the precious liquor are 

 deposited. Moreover, we were in daily communication, 

 during our stay in the northern capital, with some in- 

 telligent Englishmen, who were connected with various 

 houses of business in the wine trade ; so that we had ample 

 opportunity for satisfying our curiosity on this head. 



All the wines which we call port, without exception, 

 come from the wild, half-civilized, little-explored province 

 lying at the north-eastern extremity of Portugal, called 

 Traz-os-]\Tontes. This district is so entirely destitute of 

 roads and of inns, is so rough and even savage, not only in 



