We left the ship and hopped on the bus again for a 45 min drive to visit Mateus Palace. We drove through very hilly country with all possible land planted with grape vines. The roots of these vines go down around 45 ft as the climate is very dry and the soil is mostly shale. It's amazing that they grow at all.
The villages are all preparing for grape harvest which will start around the first of Sept. They need so much help as it's still done by hand. With the vines on the steep slopes it would be impossible for any mechanical device to be used.
The grapes used to all be shipped to Gaia for making wine and Port but now they are processed in the areas on the farms(quintas) and the wine is then shipped to Gaia and Porto for distribution all over the world.