1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

66

In the Port Wine Country,

tmconcemedly as tlie bullocks do. A few of tbe better-class bouses bave flights of stone steps outside leading up to tbeir first floors, round wbicb run open wooden galleries. Here are tbe family living-rooms, tbe ground floors in tbis case being- mostly used as stables, adegas, or casas dos lagares. Eoq,dside stone crosses are numerous, but scarcely ever carved, as one sees tbem in Ebineland villages; and cbapels, witb massive escutcheons of preposterous dimensions surmounting tbeir low doorways, appear every now and then between tbe dingy tene ments. In France it is very different. There nothing resembling a wine village in tbe Upper Douro is to be met witb throughout tbe length and breadth of tbe wine-producing districts, all tbe villages of wbicb bave an unmistakable air of comfort and prosperity about tbem. It was to tbe casa grande, as tbe country people call it, of tbis unclean village of Celleirds that I was bound. Standing on tbe higher ground, at tbe farther end of tbe main thoroughfare, blocked up -with buUock-carts just come in witb casks of brandy,is a large white bouse built in tbe modern style, wbicb, together -with some new and extensive adegasfacing it,belongs to Senbor Arnaldo de Souza,tbe largest winegrower hereabouts. Senbor Souza is noted throughout tbe Alto Dourofor bis sagacity and enterprise,and bis well-appointed residence, at wbicb we were hospitably entertained for several days,is like a gleam of civilisation in those outlandish parts. He owns three large quintas at Celleirds, and three others on tbe Douro and in tbe famous Eoncao district—namely, Malbeiros,near tbe rapid of Carrapata,Liceiras, and Sarrao as well as tbe quinta ofCascalbeua on tbe Eio Torto. These proper ties united,however,were only expected to produce between 200 and 300 pipes of -wine instead of tbe 500 pipes wbicb are tbeir ordinary yield. Two of tbe Celleiros quintas—those ofPias and Verdigal—face tbe valley of tbe Pinbao, while tbe third,known as tbe Quinta de Celleirds, is just beyond tbe village on tbe road to Villa Eeal. These three quintas yield a good red wine oftbe second class, witb a certain quantity of white wine of very