Top wines from prison

The prison has been growing wines 70 kilometers northeast of Lisbon since 1944. Many vintages from there have received a prize already. There are 27 hectares of vineyards that belong to the prison and really not all of the 481 prison inmates have the chance to work there.

"There are many inmates who wish to volunteer", says assistant prison director Jorge Gregorio. "We select them according to the length of their sentence, normally they must have a third of their sentence behind them. But their behaviour also plays a role and how much of a danger they could be." Manuel is one of the maximum of 60 chosen inmates. "I really enjoy it, it is great being outside", says the 58-year-old, whose father was also a vintager -however not inside a prison.

The prison guards were tought how to be a vintager, because besides ensuring that nobody escapes, they also have to make sure that the inmates make good wine. According to main guard Gabriel Vaz, there has not been a serious problem with security in the past five years.

The inmates produce 85.000 liters of red wine and 25.000 liters of white wine a year. Most part of this wine is sold as simple table wine. However, 10 000 bottles of the "Chao de Urze" are considered special; this wine has already won a local wine contest. Every bottle has a label that says - made in the prison of Alcoentre.

"This is a technically produced wine. No chemicals or mashines are used, this is pure nature", Francisco Cruz Ferreira, a real wine lover, says proudly. According to him, you can tell from the wines how good the climate and the soil in Ribatejo are for growing wine. The low salaries for the inmates - €3,60 an hour- make it possible to produce the prison-wine in a traditional way, namely without mashines. In comparison to that, there are many wineries that now believe in industrial production. (aw.yoopress)