i8o Journal of Agriculture. [9 March, 1908. 



These two factors appear to have permitted the vines of the Minho to 

 resist phvlloxera. I saw vines near Regoa and Penafiel, on the borders 

 of the Minho and Douro districts, growing in granitic soil and trained 

 on trees, &c., in the Minho style, which showed no signs of disease 

 though the Port Wine vineyards onlv a few miles away have long since 

 been reconstituted. 



The Douro or Port Wine District. 



This certainlv is the most interesting wine district of Portugal. Port 

 is not grown near Oporto, though it owes its name to that town, but a 

 good manv miles up the river from it. 



It is not until one reaches Regoa, some 50 miles from Oporto, that one 

 enters the Alto Douro district. This is not a regular district in the strict 

 sense of the term. It is the name given, in viticultural circles, to the limited 

 stretch of countr\- where the high class Ports are grown. It consists of 

 the valley of the Douro from the town of Regoa to near the Spanish 

 frontier and includes portions of the valleys of several of its tributaries 

 such as the Corgo, Pinhao, Tua and some smaller rivers. It includes 

 parts of the Provinces of Tras-os-Montes and Beira Alta. Its chief 

 centres are the small towns or rather villages of Regoa, Pinhao (pronounced 

 Pin-yung) and Tua. From these the port wine used in old days to 

 be sent down the river to Villa Nova in barges. It is now usual! v sent 

 more safely by train. 



The vine land is limited in extent for the Douro differs from most 

 rivers in not having any flats or level land of any kind along its banks. 

 From the bed of the river the ground rises in steep rocky slopes to the 

 tops of the hills at a height of often 1,000 feet above the level of the 

 river. Its tributaries are, like it, shut in by steep hillsides rising abruptly 

 from high water level. The vines are cultivated on terraces which rise 

 tier upon tier giving the whole district a most characteristic appearance. 

 Above a certain height (400 or 500 feet) vines are not cultivated. The 

 hilltops are covered with stunted scrub w^here goats and sheep are grazed. 

 Above a certain level the quality of the wine seems to fall off. There 

 is an old Portuguese saying that no good wine is produced beyond where 

 one can hear the creaking of the " espadellas " — the immense rudders 

 b\- means of which it is possible to steer over the rapids the barges by 

 v.'hich the wane used, in old days, to be sent down the river to Villa 

 Nova. It is on these rather narrow bands of land on each side of the 

 river that the wines which have made " Port" a household word through- 

 out the English speaking world are produced. Formerlv the whole of 

 the lower hillsides were covered w-ith vineyards. Now^ the scene is 

 a depressing one as viewed from the train or river. Though one sees 

 many vineyards and some very large ones, most of the hillsides are 

 covered with scrub which is growing over the crumbling terraces which 

 once were occupied bv prosperous vineyards. This widespread devasta- 

 tion is the result of phylloxera, which in this drv warm climate and 

 porous soil, spread with extraordinary rapidity. Though now reconstituted 

 and producing nearly as much wine as formerly, the area under vines is 

 considerably less than it was. 



The new vineyards are better planted on ground more carefully pre- 

 pared than the old ones so that from a smaller area an almost equal 

 quantitv of wine is now obtained. This desolate appearance of a once 

 flourishing and prosperous country at once strikes the visitor. The ruiiA 



