1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

Somefamous Quintas on the Douro and the Rio Torto. 79

by chains of winding bills. In many parts tbeir slopes offer a succession ofgently-rounded buttresses,presenting great varieties ofaspect,and being in every way admirably adapted for the culti vation of the vine. Of recent years the yield of wine has greatly fallen off owing to the violence with which the phylloxera seems to have assailed this particular region. Generally speaking,it may be said that all the vineyards on the left bank of the Torto, from Bateiras at its mouth to as high up as Castanheiro,and on the right bank from the same point to the neighbourhood of the Quinta da Soalheira—a distance in a direct line of some half-dozen miles—have more or less suffered. We started from Pinhao shortly after daybreak,and pro ceeded along the new road to the left of the Eio Torto, which, passing by Ervedoza, conducts across the bleak and lofty table land to Sao Joao da Pesqueira. Our intention was to visit the famous Cachao da Valleira well-nigh at the extremity of the Paiz Vinhateiro,or wine district,and in whose dangerouseddiesBaron Porrester—a real enthusiast on the subject of Port wine, and intimately associated in various ways with the Alto Douro,the vineyards, mountains,and tributary streamsof which he person ally suiweyed—unhappilylost his life. Alittle beyond the village of Cazaes we sighted the Quinta da Cascalheira, belonging to Senhor Arnoldo de Souza,the j)roduce of which,reduced the year of our visit to80 pipes,is purchased by Messrs.W.and J.Graham. Three of the four lagares here are worked with metal screws, according to the Jerez system,the fourth being provided with the ancient heavy beam which,besides being verycumbersomeand far less efficient than the metal screw, has the further disadvantage of being more costly. The original expense of conveying one of these huge pieces of timber up the Douro—where nothing larger than an olive-tree is ordinarily to be metwith is,of course,con siderable, and its mere transit from the river-bank to a quinta, some few miles distant along the rude steej) narrow mountain roads,often costs as much as ^£10 in this country ofcheaplabour. Higher up the Eio Torto valley, and with its vines spread over the lower slopes descending to the river's bed,is the Quinta