1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

Somefamous Quintas on the Douro and the Rio ToHo. 77

Alto Douro, being situated midway between tbe Costa do Eoncao and the mouth of the Pinhao, at the point where the vaUey of the Douro expands and the opposite bank subsides into a more gentle slope, over which the sun flashes its rays from the south upon the terraced amphitheatre of Koiida. The quinta,which is of some antiquity,wasin all probability planted after the increased demand for Portuguese wines had sprung up in England consequent upon the Methuen treaty. From an inscription on the stone gateway it is certain that it was in the possession of an Englishman, the "Sor Bartolemev Bealsley," in 1744. A century afterwards it was acquired by its present owner, who entuely renovated the old vineyard and materially extended its area at very considerable cost, so that to-day the quinta comprises about 270 English acres. Prtor to the appearance of the oidium, when its plantations of vines were much less extensive than at present, the Quinta da Eoeda yielded in good years 220 pipes of wine. After that malady had invaded the Alto Douro there came a year when Barao da Eoeda derived from his estate no more than 2| qupes of wine. Now, under favourable conditions, Rocda, according to its owner's estimate, should produce 350 pipes; but, owing to the phylloxera and the unfavourable season, its yield the year of our visit was merely a fraction of that quantity. The vines at this quinta are not planted at a higher altitude than 600 feet above the river level,the majority of them being found at less than half this height, consequently the whole of the wine vintaged is of the first quality. We found the vintage almost terminated, and but little animation in the casa dos lagares, containing its ten lagares,two of which hold thirty pipes each, while the eight others contain from fourteen to fifteen pipes respectively. A.s it frequently requires two,and even three days when labour is scarce,to fill one of the larger lagares a delay which is likely to prove detrimental to the wine—Barao da Kocda,like many other growers, gives a preference to the smaller ones. In the adjacent adega we counted no fewer than- six-and-twenty tonels, ten of them holding two-and-twenty pijies each.