1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

102

In tlie Pm-t Wine Country.

days making excursions in the Baixo Corgo district, -where, owing to the dearth of hands,the gathering and pressing of the grapes was still going on. I returned by the same road along whichI had ridden nearly three weeks pre-vdously,and profited by the circumstance to -visit one of the largest Douro quintas— namely,that of Valm6r—^belonging to the viscount of the same name. This quinta is situated on the left bank of the Douro, between the Eio Tedo and the Valley of Folgoza,and one rides along its borders for a distance of more than two miles. It •comprises 200 acres, not,however,all under cultivation with the vine, but nevertheless yielding in good years as many as 256 pipes of first-class wine. The highway separates the capacious oasa dos lagares from the vast and well-arranged adegas, and the -wine is run off from one to the other by means of pipes passing -under the road. Eegoa,standing on the slope of a low hill, on the right bank ofthe Douro,which here expands itself, as it were,on emerging from a gorge,is a town of no very ancient date, owing its origin entirely to the Port-wine trade. The surrounding hills subsiding into gentle slopes,-with endless undulations, are planted -with vines, and dotted -with scattered villages and numerous casas, while the loftier summits are cro-wned with pines and other forest trees. .A. couple of centuries ago,when the -vineyards were principally concentrated hereabouts, all the Do-uro -wines de signed for Opoito used to be shipped at this convenient point. In the course of time there sprang up wine-stores, erected by thelarger merchants on the margin of the river,and then houses for residence clustered around them. Centuries before,however, a,little town,known to-day as Pezo da Eegoa,existed higher up the slope, and here at the present time the aristocracy and wealthy vine-proprietors of the district have their residences. On the same side of the river on which Eegoa is situated, but a few hundred yards higher up, the Eio Corgo mingles its waters with those ofthe Douro. In years gone by this little river used to form a line of demarcation, the wines grown above which were not allowed to be shipped to England,on the plea that they