9 March, 1908.] Viticulture in Europe. 185 



is marked by the high mound of soil which covers it. Care must be taken 

 that the different cultural operations do not interfere with the young graft. 

 Though some growers strongly recommend autumn grafting it is not very 

 generally practised. Spring grafting is far more common. 



Wine Making on the Douro. — To completely describe this would 

 need a special report. At this stage it will be sufficient to briefly out- 

 line the principal points of importance. 



The varieties employed have already been dealt with. 



The maturitv of the grapes is not allowed to proceed so far as might 

 be thought necessary for a sweet wine. 



The grapes must be quite ripe, but not over ripe. In this Port differs 

 from most other sweet wines of high quality. 



The grapes are brought straight from the vineyard to the "Lagar," 

 or fermenting house, and go through no extra ripening process of any 

 kind. The must of those I saw being crushed varied between 11 and 

 12 degrees Beaume (1.081 to 1.089 specific gravity). This is rather lower 

 than usual, late rains having swollen the fruit. Last year I am told 

 that it was a high as 14 degrees Beaume, and last year's was quite a good 

 vintage. It seems that the must from which Port is made seldom has 

 a higher gravity than 15 deg. Beaume (1.114 sp. gr.). Very over-ripe 

 grapes have an unfavorable influence on the stability of the colour, an im- 

 portant point, especially for Vintage Ports. The difference between 

 Vintage and Tawny Ports will be, dealt with later. The making of both 

 at vintage time is the same. 



Rain during vintage is much dreaded, as it is liable to cause the 

 grapes to rot. Faulty, and especially mouldy or rotten grapes produce 

 a very inferit>r wine the colour of which gives much trouble. 



The question of the removal of the stalks is one on which wine-makers 

 do not agree. At one of the best vineyards I visited, all stalks were re- 

 moved with a stemmer of French make (Egrappoir) similar to the ones 

 we use in Victoria. In another vineyard, famed for the quality of its 

 wine, the stalks were not removed at all, and in others varying proportions 

 of the stalks were taken out by means of a large meshed riddle. 



The grapes, whether stemmed or not, are placed in large, shallow, 

 stone fermenting vats known as " Lagars" in which they are trampled 

 on at intervals during the whole of the fermentation by gangs of bare- 

 footed men. These "Lagars" vary in size. They are usually about 

 15 ft. X 15 ft. X 2 ft. deep. As a rule, they hold enough grapes to yield 

 from 15 to 18 pipes of wine. (The pipe contains about 120 gals.). 



The first trampling, known as "breaking the lagar," is hard work, 

 especially if the grapes have not been stemmed. It is carried out by at 

 least 20 men, who trample or dance on the grapes for four hours until 

 they are reduced to a uniform pulp, which fills the lagar to a depth of 

 a little over the men's knees. Subsequent tramplings are carried out in 

 spells of from four to six hours at a time, separated by intervals of rest 

 of similar duration. This goes on for the whole of the time the grapes 

 lemain in the "lagar," usually from three to four days. This "work," 

 as it is termed, is held to be essential for the quality of the wine. It 

 is not desirable that fermentation should be too active, as this would cause 

 the wine to become drv before it could have received what is considered 

 a proper amount of work. No hard and fast rule can be laid down, but 

 lagars seldom receive less than twenty-four hours' work in intermittent 

 spells. 



