ON THE ALTO-DOURO WINE DISTRICT OF PORTUGAL. 147 



doses of spirit than the healthy growths of former times, and receive it, 

 therefore, in the " tonel " and in the pipe. The old plantations in the 

 lowland district, called the " feitoria primordial," or the " Baixo Corgo," 

 supply the lightest wines, and those which require the smallest admixture 

 of extraneous spirit. These are the wines originally known abroad as 

 Port wine. They are still light, delicate, tawny, and lightly hranclied. 

 The more recent additions to the " demarcation," all higher up the river, 

 and called " Cima Corgo," supply a wine naturally more full-bodied, and 

 alcoholic, but requiring at the same time a larger admixture of extraneous 

 spirits for its preservation. This difference is owing in a great measure to 

 the different castes of grapes, but also to the different geological and topo- 

 graphical conformation of the soil. The whole region of " Cima Corgo " is 

 a series of precipitous rocks, cidtivated at great expense and unfit for any 

 other crop but the vine. There is little depth of soil, consequently these 

 grapes superabound in saccharine, and are deficient in water, the result 

 being a wine of full body, high in flavour and colour, and rich in natural 

 alcohol generated from the saccharine of the grape. The only regions 

 available now for an extended growth of Port wine are the banks of the 

 Douro, a little above the present '' demarcation," but not those below it. 

 In this locality is situated the largest wine-farm on the river — viz., the 

 Quinta do Vesuvio, belonging to the Ferreira family. It has produced, in 

 healthy years, 800 pipes, or 92,000 gallons of wine. It lies outside the 

 legal " demarcation," yet the wine is of prime quality, and has always been 

 sent to Oporto for shipment by means of false " bilhetes." There is still 

 a limited extent of territory adjoining the " demarcation," of the same 

 geological formation, and producing good ripe wines. Beyond Sao Joao de 

 Peschiera, however, these wines soon lose the distinctive flavour of Port. 



All Douro wines leave a thick sediment on the cask or bottle, being 

 much richer in tartar than those of any other country. As far as is known, 

 young Douro wine contains the greatest amount of tartaric acid, and holds 

 in solution the largest amount of colouring matter. When quite clear, 

 and drawn off into bottles, it still deposits, without intermission, and 

 during a series of years, a sediment of organic matters, which may be 

 loosed from the bottom of the bottle in complete cakes. This is possibly 

 the cause of the rapid decomposition of this wine, notwithstanding its 

 intrinsic richness in alcohol. It is certain, that all the wines of this river, 

 and of Portugal in general, are very perishable, and require adventitious 

 spirit for their preservation. It might be supposed that this large propor- 

 tion of solid ingredients is owing to the rudeness of the process of 

 manufacture. 



But I am informed that the same excess of tartar has appeared in a 

 Douro wine, manufactured carefully, by way of experiment, on the French 

 principle, by means of a wine-press. The best castes of grapes, such as the 

 "Alvarilhao" and "Bastardo," will degenerate if removed to the Minho 

 Province. They will at first produce a ripe wine, but in a year or two wil 

 yield what is termed green wine. Even the best Douro wines are, in their 



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