1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

THE CitriHXA DO SEIXO.

III. How Poet Wine is Made. The Quinta do Seixo—Its commodious and well-arranged Casa, Lagares,and Adega/—Vintagers Singing the popular ditty"Marianinha" Prevalence of Celtic, Jewish,and Moorish faces among them—The Women frequentlj decked out in heavy Jewellery—The Casa dos Lagares of the Quinta—A gangofSixty TreadersatWork—Theysing andshoutto encouragetheweak and lazy—Are accompanied by Drum, Fife, Fiddle, and Guitar Nips n of Brandy and Cigarettes served round—The first Ti'eading, the SovM o vinho," or Beating the Wine, is completed—Interval of rest—Treading resumed in a listless fasHon—Music loses its Inspiration and Authority its Terrors—Fermentationof theMosto—The Wineisrun offinto theTonels— Clears itself in the Cold Weather—Is Racked into Pipes and sent down to the Wine-hoats—The Alto Douro Bullock-carts and their unearthly"Clul- dreda"—Loading the Wine-hoats—The Rapids they encoimter on the Voyage to Oporto—Skilfulness of the Steersmen—Characteristics of the Douro Boatmen—Their Toil when Ascending the River. The Quinta do Seixo, the headquarters for the vintage of Messrs. Cockbum,Smithes,and Co.,whose hospitality we expe rienced on more than one occasion,is one of the most important in the Upper Douro,having prior to the inroads of the phyl-