278 ON COLONIAL WINES. 
making, the principal wine districts of the kingdom. 
The department allotted to Viscount Villa Maior is 
that of the districts north of the Douro ; Antonio 
Augusto de Aguir, the district comprised between the 
Douro and the Tagus, except that of Lisbon ; and J ohn 
Ferreira Lapa, the district of Lisbon and the other dis- 
tricts lying south of the Tagus. The Commission will 
draw up a report embodying its labours and studies, 
and forward it to the Government not later than 15th 
November. Commission dated 10th August, 1866." 
I consider the above a model of a working Royal 
Commission ! Work, report, and all, finished in three 
months. Returning to the " studies and labours" of 
Viscount Villa Maior, he says : — " The predominating 
kinds of grapes in this region are, among the reds, one 
called Alvarelha5, the Bastardo, and some deep red 
kind they call Molle (soft). And among the white 
varieties the Arinto, which they call Bual (our Reis- 
ling), the Terrantez, and D. Branca. The red kinds 
are far more abundant than the white ; and the wine 
they make is red." The lagares (places in which the 
grapes are trodden and pressed) are rectangular tanks 
of ordinary masonry (and such are in common use in 
the province), mostly small, affording little accommoda- 
tion, and seldom clean, not to say that they are often 
deplorably dirty. Formerly the vintage took place not 
before the 29th of September ; there being usually 
made a proclamation of the time by authority. At the 
present time the vintage takes place earlier, and, as a 
consequence, the wine is, as they say, inferior to that 
made in former times. The better class of cultivators, 
even still, hold their vintage later, and succeed in 
making excellent wines." 
