1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

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In the Port Wine Country.

would Lave been a good load for a mule,each of these poor creatures had to stagger along with on their heads. The Quinta Moinho de Vento overlooks the Douro,and among the vines on the opposite bank gleam the white houses of Pezo da Eegoa. At this quinta some fifty pipes of wine are produced,a smallpor tion of which is white,while at the Quinta das Bellas,a mile dis tant to the east,thirty pipes of red and ten of white mne are vin- taged. Everywhere it was almost a repetition of the scene we had left behind us higher up the Douro,the only difference being that everything was on a smaller scale. There were fewer pickers in the vineyards, and fewer treaders in the lagares> which,like the tonels, were smaller and less numerous. The mode of vinification was precisely the same. The three last- mentioned quintas belong to Senhor Antonio da Costa, ofEegoa- the able commissano in the Alto Douro of Messrs. G. G.San- deman and Sons. At the Quinta das Bellas we tasted some choice tawny Port vintaged in 1847,fresh in flavour and with an. agreeable sub-pungency, but so pale in colour that it would never have been taken for a red wine. On descending the Douro from Eegoa, vineyards dotted over with olive-trees,and fields and orchards interspersed with clusters of oaksand chestnuts,are seen on either hand,with little villages crowning the more prominent heights, and the bright-looking- casas of liver-side quintas rising upat intervals along the margin of the stream. On the right is Caldas de Moledo,backed by terraced slopes of vines, and immediately afterwards the valley,, through which the Eio Seromenhacomes rushing from the Serra. do Marao to mingle its waters with those of the Douro,opens to- our view. Here we momentarily catch sight of the bleak and barren summits of the distant Marao range. Below this valley are the meadows and orchards of Eede,and farther on are thes^ vineyards of Mesao-Erio sweeping round the base of Mont Soa Silvestre as far as the village of Barqueiros,where the vdne- district ofthe Alto Douro ends. In the Baixo Corgo vineyards the leading varieties of grapes, cultivated are the alvarelhao and the bastardo. Although the-