🍷 Lagar

A lagar is a wide stone trough in Portugal in which grapes are trodden by foot. Lagares are especially well known in the Douro valley, where port is made. They are low granite vessels, shallow and roomy. The grapes are tipped into the lagar and people step in. At first they walk shoulder to shoulder, holding hands, crushing the berries. Then the work becomes freer, with music and song. They tread for several hours, at night, when it is cooler in the lagar. The crushing is gentle and does not break the seeds, so the wine has soft tannins. Then the must ferments and at the right moment it is run off and spirit is added. The best wines were made this way, and now some wine farms keep the practice, especially for Vintage Port. Beside lagares today, mechanical "robot feet" work, repeating the movements. The lagar is at the same time part of the harvest festival and tradition. It shows how winemakers worked before machines. A similar trough in Georgia is called a satsnakheli.