1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

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In the Port Wine Country.

fourteen tonels,tolding their ten or twelve pipes of wine each, we were shown a solera,the original foundation of which dates from the year 1827. This wine is known in the lodge as the Bismarck Port, from the circumstance of several pipes of it being supplied regularly every year to the Prince Chancellor, for his own special drinking,through the German Consul at Oporto. Prince Bismarck has quite a Johnsonian reverence for Port,and the wine to which he gives the preference proved to be of a light, tawny tint, possessing considerable body for its age,combined with great flavour and a rich perfume. The oldest existing house in the Port wine trade is that of Hunt,Roope, Teage,and Co., who date back to the first half of the last century. Port wine forms,however,only a branch of their business,they being the largest importers into Portugal of dried codflsh, an article of almost universal consumption among the Portuguese. Their lodges at Villa Nova,although ancient, are very compact,and the long doubletiers of pipes have a more venerable appearance than any we encountered elsewhere. The wines shown to us were generally of a superior class, com prising several vintage growths remarkable for'their pure high flavour and depth of colour, with tawny wines retaining much of the aromatic richness which had distinguished them in youth. Another old Oporto house is that of VanzeUer and Co., whose capacious and well-constructed lodges are situated within a few yards of the Houro,in close proximity to one of the prin cipal landing and shipping stages of Villa Nova. They comprise two distinct sets of stores,separated from each other by anan-ow roadway,and having a cooperage installed in the rear. One striking feature aboutthem is their"extremely cleanly and orderly appearance. The samples of vintage wines here shown to us were varied in character and of fine quality,the older ones being soft and liqueur-like, others dry and beautifully round, while the more youthful qualities were generally rich and often almost luscious. We also tasted some admirable tawny wines, mostly concentrated and powerful in flavour, although one or two