1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

42

In the Port Wine Country,

open window,and a fresh sample was submitted for examination. In all cases the question of price seemed to be very speedily settled. It was a little painful to watch the faces of the farmers when the decision went-against their wine; for since the Alto Douro vineyards have been ravaged by the phylloxera, and there have been several years of othei*wise bad vintages, the farmers as a rule have become greatly reduced in circumstances, and many of them so far impoverished as to need to sell their wine offhand to meet pressing necessities. Each one, as he quitted the audience-chamber and passed down the long flight of stone steps,had his coimtenance anxiously scanned by his neighbours; while his more intimate acquaintances sounded him as to how he had fared, doubtless with a view of profiting by whatever information they might succeed in extracting from him. It is the custom in the Upper Douro when a sale of wine is effected to makea payment,knownas"the signal," of one pound sterling per pipe to the farmer, so as to clinch the bargain. In thefollowing spring,whenthe wineis readyfor being drawnfrom the large tonels into which it has been run fi'om the lagares to complete its fermentation,empty pipes are sent up to the farmer, andthe agent oftheshipperseestothe wine being duly measured mto them. Usually,as soon as the river floods have subsided, the pipes are sent down the Douro to the shipper's storesat Villa Nova de G-aia,a transpontine suburb of Oporto. On the vessel being loaded, the farmer receives one-third of the remaining purchase-money,another third is paid to him at Midsummer, and the balance at Michaelmas,the latter payment furnishing him with funds to meet the expenses of the ensuing vintage. The levfe concluded,we mounted our horses for an excursion to several quintas higher up the Douro,the wine of which is regularly purchased by the Messrs. Sandeman. Our party was rather a large one, comprising a couple of members of the firm andtheir able commissario,and including altogether half a dozen horsemen, each with his attendant arrieiro to take charge of the horses whenever we required to dismount. We descend the hill on which the Quinta dos Arregadas is perched by a break-