130 Port anD the Douro
and in contact with the fermenting must, planks are placed across the lagar and a couple
of men with long spiked paddles known as macacos (‘monkeys’) will stand over the must
and plunge the manta back into the fermenting must. Carried out at periodic intervals
during the fermentation, this further aids extraction and prevents the cap from drying out
and developing acetic off-flavours. The incorporation of air or micro-oxygenation of the
must helps to stabilise colour. The alcohol itself has a solvent effect and further increases
the rate of extraction.
Once sugar levels have fallen to around 7 or 8 degrees Baumé (i.e. have fermented to
between 5 and 7% alcohol by volume), the must is run off the skins and mixed thoroughly
with the fortifying aguardente. Blended in a proportion of roughly 20 per cent aguardente
to 80 per cent grape must, the alcohol is raised to a level where the fermentation yeasts
are unable to survive. The result is a deep, dark, naturally rich wine with between 80 and
120 grams per litre residual sugar, according to house style, and an alcoholic strength of
19 to 20% ABV: embryonic Port.
In the Douro, where there are few flat sites, adegas have traditionally been built into
the hillside on two levels. The lagares on the upper level correspond in size to horizontal
wooden vats (toneis) situated in the armazém on the floor below. Before electric pumps
became the norm, the partially fermented must was simply run off from the lagar by
gravity, leaving behind the mass of grape solids. (Interestingly, a number of recently built
wineries are organised in much the same way.) The remaining stalks and skins then have
to be manhandled into a basket press to extract the last of the fermenting must. This in
itself is a time-consuming process, taking up to two hours. There can be no delaying the
point at which the must is run off and fortified and it is ‘sod’s law’ that most lagares seem
to reach this point at 2 or 3 in the morning!
Over recent years some of the lagares that were abandoned in the 1960s and 1970s have
been restored and the practice of treading has been revived. Although it is impossible
to be accurate, around 3 per cent of all Port is currently made in lagar in the traditional
manner. Some larger lagares have been divided in two in order to give greater flexibility
to producers looking to make small lotes of wine from the finest grapes. A number of
technical innovations have helped to reduce labour costs and improve the viability of the
lagar over the long term. These are described below.
Pressure, PuMPs anD PaDDles
The mass emigration that afflicted rural Portugal in the early 1960s (see pages 44–45)
presented the Port shippers with a problem. The difficulty of finding the equivalent of one
football team – let alone the couple of rugby teams needed at some of the larger quintas –
nearly turned lagares into things of the past. It fell to the larger shippers to find a substitute for
foot treading and the quest to find a method of extraction to emulate that of the traditional
lagar has been a polemic ever since. The principal shippers resorted to building large,
centralised wineries to which outlying growers could deliver their grapes. Electricity was still