UP
VITICULTURE COMKISSN
A ^ v ^ > * t~>j,. .. otA\^
HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION
MODERN WINES.
CYRUS REDDING.
THIRD EDITION WITH ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.
LONDON:
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN
1860.
^ -
TO THE READER.
apart from the present undertaking, called
the Author to the Continent a considerable time before the
first edition appeared. He was absent three years, the greater
part of which was spent in the midst of the finest vine dis-
tricts in the world. His attention was first called to the
subject accidentally, while he had ample opportunities of
observing the modes in which the culture of the vine was
conducted, its fruit collected, and the product cellared.
While his own observations were not few, he omitted no
means of gaining information from individuals experienced
in all relating to the vineyard and the vintage. Eegarding
the culture of the vine in the Peninsula, he has again to
acknowledge himself under great obligations to several indi-
viduals who are residents there.
The Author hopes that he will not be found to have at-
tached greater value to any particular class or quality of
wines than the weight of evidence will sanction. He has en-
iv TO THE BEADEB.
deavoured to be strictly impartial, and to compress all the
information available in a moderate compass, without either
overloading the subject or neglecting necessary illustration.
The additional observations and researches, which are con-
siderable, have occasioned some little alteration of form in
the arrangement of the chapters of the present edition. Time
and commerce have introduced many changes, which it be-
comes necessary to record. Our own colonies are sending us
importations, which bid fair, at no distant period, to be
worthy of very particular notice.
It is hoped that the opinions here promulgated are just in
the main, and that in discriminating between what is pure
and genuine and what factitious, the truth is fairly sought.
"We must not only endeavour to be useful, but to be so
honestly; and where the benefit is universal this should
operate as an additional stimulus.
C. E.
. u
CONTENTS.
PAGE
To the Reader Hi
Contents v
Preface 1
CHAPTER I.
ON ANCIENT AND MODERN WINES.
Introductory Remarks on Ancient Wines "Writers upon the Subject Con-
flicting Statements Wine in England Prices of Wines formerly Supe-
riority of France as a Wine Country 5
CHAPTER II.
OF THE VINE.
Origin and Varieties of the Vine The Grape Wine District of Europe Sites
most congenial to Vine Culture Antiquity of Culture Methods of Train-
ing Propagation Regeneration Various Modes of Treatment Annular
Incision Duration of Bearing Favourite Species, and whence derived-
Tears of the Vine 29
CHAPTER III.
OF THE VINTAGE.
Maturity of the Grape Mode of Gathering Pressing Treatment in the
Vat Course of Fermentation Subsequent Operations 52
CHAPTER IV.
THE VINTAGE (continued.}
Accidents to the Product of the Vintage in its subsequent State Remedies
Treatment and Uses of the Murk Oil of Grape-seed Boiled Wines
Vins de Liqueur, de Paille, Jaune Strengthening the Produce of Weak
Vintages 71
VI CONTENTS.
CHAPTEB V.
WINES FRANCE.
PAGE
General Bernarks France the first Wine Country Quantity of Land in
Vineyards Amount and Value of Produce Heavy Duties to which Wine
Growers are subjected Wine Exports by Sea Value of Exports High
Government Duties in Paris French Wine Measures 81
CHAPTEB VI.
WINES OF FRANCE (continued.')
Wines of the Departments of the Marne, Haut-Marne, Ardennes, and Aube,
comprehending the Ancient Province of Champagne Wines of the C6te
d'Or, L'Yonne, and Seine and Loire, composing Ancient Burgundy Wines
of the Drdme, Bh6ne, and Vaucluse, formerly the Lyonnais Dauphiny,
Provence, Orange, and Languedoc Of the Gironde or Bordelais Of the
Departments of the Dordogne, Vienne, Nievre, Lot, Lot et Garonne, Moselle,
Haut Ehin, Bas Bhiu, &c 95
CHAPTEB VII.
WINES OF SPAIN AND THE CANARIES.
General Bemarks Wines Exported La Mancha, Val de Penas Wines of
Catalonia of Valencia of Arragon and Navarre Andalusian Wines, Ma-
laga, Xeres, &c. Wines of Minorca, Majorca, and the Canaries 194
CHAPTEB VIII.
WINES OF GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND.
Antiquity of the Vine in Germany The Bheingau Species of Soil Charac-
ter of Vines Large Tuns Nature of the Wines, and PricesWines of
Switzerland 215
CHAPTEB IX.
WINES OF PORTUGAL AND MADEIRA.
The Methuen Treaty Quantity of Wine Imported in 1700 and 1800 Mono-
poly of Wine given to a Company Conduct of the Company Vineyards of
the Douro of Madeira and the Azores 235
CHAPTEB X.
THE WINES OF ITALY AND THE ISLANDS.
General Character of Italian Wines Vine Culture Causes of Neglect in
their Manufacture Variation Sicilian and Elbese Wines 26 9
CHAPTEB XI.
WINES OF HUNGARY, AUSTRIA, STYRIA, AND CARYNTHIA.
Hungarian Vines Calculated Produce Practice at the Vintage Different
Kinds of Wine Principal Vineyards Austrian Wines Carynthian and
Sclavonian 282
CHAPTEB XII.
THE WINES OF GREECE.
Greek Wines generally Wines of the Islands Cyprus Wine Wine of the
Comrnandery Mode of Making, and Qualities Wines of the Ionian Islands
of Albania, Bomania, and of the Bussian Dominions 289
COTTTESTTS. VU
CHAPTER XIII.
WINES OF PERSIA AND THE EAST.
PAGE
Persian Legend relating to Jernsheed Of the Grapes and "Wines of Persia
The "Wines of Mount Libanus and Judea Of Indian and Chinese "Wines... 302
CHAPTER XTV.
WINES OF AFRICA AND AMERICA.
Few African Wines North of the Cape Wines of the Cape of Good Hope-
Importations from South Africa into Great Britain Cultivation of the Vine
in America 3fl2
CHAPTER XV.
ON KEEPING WINES.
Wine Countries not given to Ebriety Enormous Duties in favour of Spirit
So Expensive an Article to be carefully kept The Preservation, Cellar-
ing, and Mellowing of Wines 322
CHAPTER XVI.
ON THE ADULTERATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES.
Prevalence of Adulteration Of Brandy and its Uses Mixed Wines forbidden
anciently Increase of Spirit Consumption Various Modes of Sophis-
ticating Wine Of Making or Adulterating Port and Claret Observations 348
APPENDIX.
I. Summary of Distillation from the Grape 371
II. Wines of the First Class 376
French Wines of the Second Class 378
French Wines of the Third Class 379
French Departmental Produce 380
French Exportations 382
Consumption of Wines in France ib.
Importations of French Wines from 1700 to 1850 383
French and Portuguese Trade in the 17th Century ; Drawbacks,
Duties on French and Portuguese Wines from 1786 to 1831, inclu-
sive, per Imperial Gallon, contrasted 391
Table of Gironde Wines and Prices 392
III. Spanish Wines of the Second and Third Classes 393
IV. Importations of Spanish Wines from 1700 to 1849 395
V. Importations of Canary Wines from 1785 to 1849 396
VI. German Wines of the Second and Third Classes ib.
VII. Importations of German Wines for the last 149 years 399
VIII. Portugal Wines of the Second and Third Classes 400
IX. Importations of Portugal Wines from 1700 to 1849 401
Total Export of Wines from Oporto from 1824 to 1833 inclusive 402
X. Wines of Madeira and the Azores ib.
XI. Importations of Madeira Wines from 1785 to 1849 403
Vlll CONTENTS.
PAGE
XII. Methuen Treaty 403
Natural Effect of the Monopoly 404
Table of Portuguese Vintages ib.
Table showing the Mode in which the Qualities of Oporto Wine
are made to meet all Circumstances 405
Modification of the Company's Charter ib.
Decree presented by Jose da Silva Carvalho, declaring Lisbon and
Oporto Free Ports 406
Decree of Don Pedro, abolishing the Oporto Company ib.
Extract of a Letter from the Periodico dePobres } I848 407
Decree relating to Madeira Trade 408
XIII. Italian and Sicilian Wines of the Second and Third Classes 409
XIV. Miscellaneous Wine Importations 410
XV. Hungarian, Austrian, and Sclavonian Wines of the Second and
Third Classes 411
XVI. Cape Wines imported from 1801 to 1849, inclusive 413
XVII. Total French, Spanish, and Portuguese Wines imported from 1700
to 1785 ib.
XVIII. Wine of all kinds imported into Great Britain for Home Consump-
tion from 1785 to 1849, and Revenue 414
XIX. Wine of all kinds imported into Ireland from 1789 to 1828 415
XX. Duties on Wines ib.
Table showing the Fluctuations of Wine Duties at one View, both
of the Customs and Excise, from 1786 to 1850 416
Consumption of Wine in England 418
Scotland ib.
Bottles of Wine consumed 419
Spirits imported and Home made Returns of Consumption ib.
XXI. Wine Measures used by different Nations 421
XXII. British Wine Measures adjusted with the Imperial Gallon 425
Cubic Inches in different Measures 426
Roman Measures in decimals of English Gallon ib.
List of Ancient Wines ib.
Standard Guage for Foreign Wines ib.
XXIII. Old Wine Gallons, with their Equivalent in Imperial Gallons, from
1 to 100 ib.
XXIV. Instrument referred to, page 75 427
XXV. Regulations of the Customs 428
XXVI. Alcoholic Strength of Wines and Liquors, after Mr. Brande, except
those in italics ib.
XXVII. List of some of the various Liquors in use among Modern Nations
besides Wine 430
XXVIII. List of some of the various Liquors in use among Modern Nations
beside Wine 431
Index of Wines 434
A HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION
OF
MODERN WINES,
PREFACE.
Two editions of this work having been required, nothing could be more
decisive of a favourable reception. The present or third edition con-
tains much additional matter; various corrections have been made, and
the price has been reduced.
The author did not intend to add anything more to his announcement
in the first edition, had it not come to his knowledge that interested in-
dividuals considered he had done injustice to the merits of the red
wine of Portugal. He was charged with depreciating port wine in
that edition, and laying upon the Oporto wine monopoly the burden
of evils existing in his own imagination alone, seeing that the monopoly
had been destroyed, and that, whether the monopoly existed or not, the
wine of Oporto was the only proper wine for this country.
The common sense of the public is insulted by an assertion, that
duties to favour one nation at the expense of all others are wise, honest,
or beneficial. The wines imported must be paid for by exported manu-
B
& PREFACE.
factures of some kind, either in direct interchange, or by a more cir-
cuitous operation. Wool had no claim to protection on export over iron or
cotton. Such a distinction was an injustice to consumers ; it obliged them
to pay a high price for what they purchased, and it encouraged monopoly.
Right principles will ever finally prevail in commercial legislation, and
baffle the caprice, or false views of a minister. In the present instance
they have triumphed, and the country confesses its obligations to that
clearer insight into the principles of trade, which made government
abolish the Portuguese monopoly. It is thus of great importance to
have right principles acknowledged by those who rule, retraction be-
comes impossible, and the future will effect all else that is desirable.
But, although the Methuen Treaty is no more, the same cannot be said
of the system it organised, of its spirit, of the habits it generated, of
its ill-treatment of the vinous product, its local influence, its preju-
dices, and its struggles to maintain prices by capital previously invested.
The preference for Port wine in England at first, not because it was the
best wine, but because the duty was formerly low, had, from the invete-
racy of habit, rendered a proper examination of the simple question
what " qualities really constitute good wine" impossible to be consi-
dered. The predilections of a century were in its favour. Time alone
could alter these, and direct into another channel the capital employed
in sustaining the high prices and sophistications of Port wine. The
wine of Oporto is the standard by which Englishmen were once led to
judge of all other kinds of wine, a good natural growth injured by bad
management.
The effect of the monopoly was twofold : it depreciated the good
wine, blending together vintage after vintage, and burying merits and
defects alike in a sea of brandy, because " quantity paid better than
quality," and it raised the prices of the wines exorbitantly. Thus,
imitations of Port wine were rendered worthy of study, and importa-
tions from Prance were effected under that name by transhipping,
while the heavier duty on French wines was evaded. I have shown
that very large quantities of wine have been received into this country
and drunk as Port, without the discovery of their origin; and, secondly,
I have touched briefly upon the consequences which may ultimately
follow this knowledge and the equalisation of the duties, for to this
last measure succeeded changes in commerce as respect wine, which
are very far from being apprehended in all their extent.
"When long-established monopolies, and the mischiefs they generate,
become prejudicial to the consumer, changes cannot be remote. The
Oporto trade was too long a serious injury to the people of England.
The concentration of British capital, and the unwearied activity of
British merchants acting on the Company, it succeeded in raising the
price of the wine enormously. It was not any fresh demand on the
PREFACE. 3
part of the consumer, making the commodity scarcer, but a monopoly
in the management of the market by the capitalist, that caused this
increase of price. When commodities can be sold or withheld at
pleasure, and be mingled and adulterated with no regard to the natural
principle of the article in adherence to blind cupidity, the result
will ultimately defeat expectation. The price, too, ceases to be the
natural market value, which becomes in consequence forced and facti-
tious. That which is morally unsound may flourish for a time, but it
is liable to be destroyed on the occurrence of contingencies that seem
in themselves very insignificant. The basis for all enduring transac-
tions is the rock of right principle.
The object of these observations is a public one. Every clear-
sighted merchant must know that what benefits the public benefits
himself. To uphold the cause of the public, is to support the best
interest of the home merchant. The public have a right to candid
and honourable dealing; and now, it must be added, when all foreign
wine countries, save the Cape, are open to England at one rate of duty,
it is proper that every wine should be rightly designated, that every
variety should come openly into the market, and that Englishmen
should be able to choose for themselves, not drinking wines of Cette,
Beni Carlos, or Roussillon, or adulterated Oporto wine as genuine port,
but for what they really are, whether in respect to merit or price. It
has also been deemed right to show to the world, what no one can
gainsay, that we have been drinking in this country for a long time
the wines of other countries as port wine : such wines entering under
that appellation and rate of duty. This statement has been proved in
the sequel.
The temptation to call wines by fraudulent names has been great,
but the common sense of the public will find out the secret; a little
time only being required for that purpose. The wines of the south of
France are now made to suit the English taste, which values wine, not
for its ripeness or vinosity, but for its heat and fruitiness. The stock
of old French wine of the south has been so much in demand in Brazil,
the north of Europe, and in England also, under the name of Port, that
the supply was not at one time adequate to the demand although the
production was abundant.
The author shows that the stock of Portuguese wines, when abundant,
bore an excessive cost, owing to artificial causes ; and that makers must
attend to the pure growths, and descend to fair prices again, or they
will be supplanted by other wines of vinous qualities more than equal to
those that the British public have drunk heretofore.
Such is the nature of what was deemed worthy of consideration in
the former and present observations upon the wines of Portugal in
this work. The author trusted that he had answered those who
censured his previous remarks. He saw no necessity for making si^fc
B2
4 PEEFACE.
facts more prominent in his first edition, intending to give the reader
his own opinions, without the data on which they were formed ; indeed,
after that edition went to press, he accumulated new facts. Those
opinions were stated to be wrong, the Port wine trade to have always
been a most advantageous one for the public, and the wine itself as
beneficial for the stomachs of Englishmen as any that nature bestows.
If only nature was concerned, this might be true: the author con-
demned the interference of art in the business; and it is here "issue
was joined," as the lawyers say. This preface, he trusts, explains his
remarks upon Oporto wines in his first edition.
Continual changes occur in the modes of treating the product of the
vintage, and new growths appear. There is a considerable alteration
in the taste of those who take the better classes of wine since this
work went first to the press. Wines artificially strengthened and
skilfully adapted to the tastes of all orders of consumers with the same
name and quality ascribed to all, are now rejected for natural growths,
which are cooler and more exhilarating. The tendency of all refined
persons of the present day is to the purer and better growths, and of
such wines new varieties have been introduced by the best merchants.
The long interval of peace enjoyed in Europe has made individuals of
competent means better acquainted with the choice wines of Europe,
and among such, less of some of the old and customary kinds have been
taken. The same circumstance has probably tended to a less con-
sumption of every kind at the table. People do not now sit as long
as their fathers, and in both the foregoing respects lean towards an
imitation of their continental neighbours. There is an increased desire
peculiar to the time everywhere, in all classes, to become as much as
possible acquainted with the nature of what tends to luxury or com-
fort, and in regard to a very ancient contribution to living enjoyment
in all ages and nations the information sought will, it is hoped, be
found improved in this upon the preceding editions
The author is gratified to find that some of his prognostications on
the subject of changes in the public feeling in regard to wine have been
fulfilled in the advance of a purer taste. The value set upon German
wines in proportion to their extravagant age has died away. These
wines, some of the most pure, perfect, and healthy in the world, are
now drunk in perfection at a reasonable time after the vintage. There
are several other circumstances which might be noticed of a similar
character, which the reader will find in the body of the work. The
processes pursued at the vintage are more minutely given in one or
two instances than was done before. The means by which the great
end of fermentation is conducted, are so varied, yet the termination is
so uniform, that to burden the text with new details, which have
reached the author's hands, would be superfluous.
C. R.
London, October 1, 1851.
CHAPTER I.
ON ANCIENT AND MODERN WINES.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON ANCIENT WINES WRITERS UPON THE SUB-
JECT CONFLICTING STATEMENTS WINE IN ENGLAND PRICES OF WINES
FORMERLY SUPERIORITY OF FRANCE AS A WINE COUNTRY.
THE separation of all knowledge which is of a useful cha-
racter from pedantic terms and idle conjectures, seems ex-
plained by the demand for works which convey as much as
possible of fact. Man is a more active animal than he ever
was before. While human life appears to have received pro-
longed duration, the gift seems conferred only to stimulate
activity and leaves the impress upon the mind, that years
fleet with accelerated rapidity.
Yet the interest connected with the present subject cannot
be denied. If an equal attraction in ancient as well as
modern times be a virtue, that virtue belongs eminently to
wine. Sacred and profane history have alike dwelt upon it.
Even the name, so similar in the more civilised nations,
evinces the universality of it as a subject. In England we
call it wine, not from the Latin vinea, which we have trans-
ferred to the tree that produces it, but from the French
vin, or Anglo-Saxon win, or Grerman wein, Dutch vinn,
Danish wyn, or, as our tongue is so complex, from more
ANCIENT AND MODEBN WINES.
southern countries, as the Latin vinum, the Italian vino, the
Spanish vino, or the Portuguese vinho. The Greek oinos is
clearly not of the same family origin.
Among the ancients, the value for wine, expressed in many
ways, was in none more strongly so than in mingling it with
their mythology. Osiris, or the sun, in Egypt, was the source
whence the Greeks drew their beautiful fable of " Dionysus,
-or Bacchus born of Semele," " to be a joy to mortals."
Egypt and Palestine had wine at a very early period. The
history of Noah's drunkenness, and of Pharoah and his
butler, are the oldest accounts of wine that have reached us.
The Mareotic wine of Egypt was a white wine, mentioned
by Horace. Merb'e was a wine country of that kingdom.
There were wines grown near Alexandria. The Tseniotic is
mentioned as an Egyptian wine. Phoenicia had her wines of
"Byblos, and there are wines recorded as being grown in
Lydia, at Tmolus. Though wine is alluded to in sacred his-
tory, the names of only two kinds have come down to the
present day, one of which is that of Lebanon, the other that
of Helbon, near Damascus, which the Eomans called Chaly-
bon, supposed to be a sweet species. Homer mentions wines
which it may be presumed were of the sweet kind, from the
epithets applied to their description. The wine of Maro-
nea, in Thrace, is mentioned in the " Odyssey," named from
Maron, a priest of Apollo, and grown on the hill of Ismarus,
supposed to have been of a very potent quality. Almost all
the Greek islands produced wines, many of which were vino
cotto, or boiled, used either alone or to mingle with other
growths. Honey and different substances were mixed with
them, and sometimes drugs. Crete, Lesbos, Thasos, and
Chios were noted for their wines. The Phanean wine was
grown in Chios, the most celebrated of all the islands for the
character of its growths. The Eoman, Lucullus, never saw
more than a single cup of this wine served up at one time at
the table of his father. Rhodes,, Corcyra, Zante, Cos, and
other islands, are alluded to by ancient writers as having their
own wines. The Mendean wine was from Thrace, and the
Malmsey of the present day owes its origin in the renowned
land of Greece, to the Morea, known a few hundred years
since as Malvasia and Eomania.
The Greeks seem to have had peculiar ideas of wine.
AKC1EKT AIS'D MODEK^ WIKES. 7
They mingled sea-water with their wine before drinking it,
which they thought improved its flavour. It was boiled before
the mingling. The Boinans copied the example, which ori-
ginated in the effort of a slave to prevent detection, who,
having robbed his master's cask, filled it up with salt water.
The Eomans borrowed from the Greeks, however singular the
custom might be, whatever was their fashion. The substances
they mingled in their wines were of opposite characters,
and must have destroyed the natural qualities. Besides
salt water, they infused asafoetida, tar, bitumen, pitch, myrrh,
aloes, gums, pepper, spikenard, poppies, wormwood, cassia,
milk, chalk, bitter almonds, and cypress. All these were
steeped, each or more than one of them in the different wines
drunk by both Greeks and Eomans.
The ancients exposed their wines to the action of smoke,
in a sort of kiln or chamber called a fwnarium, which thick-
ened and matured them. It would appear that their wine
was made from vines suffered to grow to the full natural ex-
tent, unpruned, and, therefore, the must being weak might
require some kind of preparation to prevent ascescency,
though at the expense of delicacy. "Wine-mixing seems to
have been an important employment, not as with the moderns,
implying, for example, the mingling of Cape and other white ;
wines to simulate sherry, but with some of the substances i
just mentioned. This explains what was meant by " mixed
wine" among the Jews, whose wine was mixed with aloes
and myrrh, or wormwood. Ovid deifies a wine-mingler who
had quitted life :
one of giant line
Who to the gods does mix immortal wine
The wine thus mingled was taken in Murrhine cups; a
substance about which critics are not agreed. It was said to
impart a peculiar flavour to the wine. But the wines were
commonly drunk out of small glasses called cyaths, of which
as many were taken as there were letters in the name of the
party toasted, and they were crowned or filled to an overflow.
The cyath was not equal to the modern wine-glass in size.
It was just the twelfth of a pint, or O469f of a cubic inch.
So that a lady's name of six letters would demand only three
of the middle-sized wine-glasses of the present day. The
most renowned of the ancient wines among the Eomans was
8 ANCIENT AND MODEBN WINES*
the Ealernian, which grew upon the volcanic Campania near
Naples, where also the Massic was produced. The Ealernian
was the product of a hill-side. It was rough, of a dark
colour, and strong. It was drunk at ten years old, when it
was mellowed, softened, and had imbibed somewhat of a bitter
taste. The price was high. Calenian, and Egrinian wine
as well, were products of the vine^in 'the time of Augustus
Caesar;* as was the Caecuban, so named from the city of
Caecubum, where the vineyards were situated on the Palus,
or low grounds, near Amycle. Ealernian was sometimes
mingled with Chian to soften it. These wines were taken
after being cooled in snow. They were brought to the table
in flasks, not corked, but having a little fine oil poured into
the necks to exclude the air. Sea-water boiled was de-
manded, a small quantity of which was mixed with the wine.
Ealernian wine was distinguished by wine of Grauranuni, of
Eaustinianum, and of Ealernum, frojn growing on the top,
middle, and bottom of the hill. The ancients noted the years
of celebrated growths, as that of the Opimian year, or the
year of Eome, 632, when Opimius was consul. It was in
high esteem a century afterwards. The Romans marked
their amphora, or wine vessels (containing seven gallons and
a pint modern measure), with the consul's name, which in-
dicated the year of the vintage. Many amphorae now exist
with the legible mark of the vintage.
Other famous growths among the Romans were the Setine,
the favourite wine of Augustus Caesar, said to be lighter than
the Ealernian, and supposed to possess medicinal virtues. It
was grown near Setia, in the beautiful Campania, a town
overhanging the Pontine Fields. Surrentine was a wine com-
mended by the Emperor Caligula. It was made at Surren-
tum, and was little inferior to Ealernian or Massic. This
wine was described as a mild wine, less affecting the head,
according to Pliny, than some other kinds. The Alban wine
was grown on the hills of that name. Eaudine was like the
* Hence Martial:
Crown the deathless Falernian, my boy !
Draw the quincunx* from out the old cask
Of the gods who can heighten the joy ?
'Tis for Caesar five bumpers I ask.
* The quincunx is the five letters in the name of Caesar.
ANCIENT AND MODEBN WINES. 9
Falernian in quality, and was grown in the Campania Felix.
Near Naples, the Trifoline Hill was noted for its growths,
and Mount Aulon, opposite Tarentum, now called Castri
Yetere. Mamertine wine was made in Sicily, near Messina.
Nomentine was a light Homan red wine. Spoletine was light,
sweet, and had a yellowish tinge. Signian was astringent,
and recommended medicinally. The Ceretan was grown in
Etruria, and is supposed to have resembled the Setine. Pol-
lium was a sweet Syracusan wine. That of the Sabine Farm
is immortalised by Horace more through its connexion with
genius than any intrinsic excellence of its own. The vine-
yard was situated where two mountains opened, and formed a
secluded valley, the sides of which faced the east and west
respectively. The stream from the Fount of Bandusia ran
through the fields of the farm. Horace mentions having on
this farm to oifer his guests some five-year old wine of Min-
turnae, grown near Sinuessa. The poet had also some Mar-
sian wine, the best of his stock, of the age of the Marsian war,
or about the year 65 before Christ. Opimian wine could
not be bought in the time of Augustus Cassar, such was the
value set upon it. Thus, all that remained was probably in
private cellars. Other wines of Italy, the names of which
remain, are the Pucine, grown on the shore of the Adriatic,
upon a stony hill-side. This wine was said to have prolonged
the life of the Empress Julia Augusta to eighty-two years.
The Khsetian wine was grown in the territory of Yerona.
The Praetutian, Latinensian, Statonian, Palmesian, and Gra-
viscan wines, are mentioned among those of the Romans.
Pliny states that the number of wines in esteem in his time
was fifty-four Italian and twenty-six foreign species. (See
Appendix, No. XXYII.)
That adulterations of wine were practised in Eome in the
time of Horace, as they are at present in England, is clear,
from the accounts of the entertainments of those times still
extant. Greek wines were thus imitated.
The age of the wine of the Sabine Farm is stated by
Horace, and that it was used to cheer the ancients much in
the same social domestic manner as the temperate among
the moderns use it at present, when winter's chill blasts
prevail :
10 ANCIENT AND MODERN WINES.
Heap up tlie fire, drive off the cold,
Bring Sabine wine of four years old,
And leave the Gods our cares !*
Some of the Boman wines are mentioned as twenty-four
years old, some as sixty-five. Several centuries elapsed be-
1 fore ' the Romans made their own wine. They imported it
' before that from Greece. Among the Greek wines, that of
; Clazomenae was in considerable repute in Home. The Palig-
rian, from the Abruzzi, and the Massican, seem to have been
/held in small esteem. The wine of Massilia,now Marseilles,
I was censured for being smoky by Martial. The same writer
compares the bouquet of a bottle of Falernian, upon opening
it, to the sweet breath of Diadumona. The wine of Tarracon,
, now Tarragona, in Spain, is said to have approached Falernian
in excellence. The wines of the Rhone were not highly
valued, except those of Vienne, then called Vienna.
The Eomans seem to have been partial to thick wines.
They boiled down their must one-third, and then mingled
drugs with it, to impart the desired flavour. Pliny says that
the drunkards of his day took pumice-stone before they set
to at a drinking bout in honour of Bacchus. Some of them
swilled amazing draughts; a gallon was a common matter.
They used both skins and amphorse for holding their wine ;
the former were called utres. The amphorse were made of
baked clay, anointed with a proper substance to close up the
pores, and prevent leakage. They held from seven or eight
gallons up to several barrels. They were fixed in the ground,
having a pointed termination. They have similar, but ]arger,
clay vessels at Manzanares to this day. In shape, the am-
phorae were conical, with a mouth and handles : a cover of
clay was luted on, and waxed, to keep out the air. The date
of the vintage was generally marked in red letters. The
vessels out of which the wine was drunk were various, and
some exceedingly rare, rich, and costly, ornamented with
amber, gold, and gems. They had also bottles and cups of
glass. Some were made in Egypt, some at Surrentum ; and
the flasks they used were manufactured in Syria. JSTot only
in libations to the gods, but on all great occasions, they seem
* Dissolve frigus, ligna super foco
Large reponens. Hor.
ANCIENT A^D MODEEN WINES. 11
L
to have been careful to adopt the most costly material. ] The
Greeks mingled water with their wine at public entertain-
ments, by a law of Amphytrion, revived by Solon, in order
that people might return home sober. The Jews were or-
dered to use pure " unmixed" wine in their sacrifices, and the
same point was observed in the sacrifices of Nuina, at Rome.
This plainly shows that mixing wine with drugs, as in modern
times with brandy, was to render it more intoxicating, which
would desecrate wine used in libations to the gods. Bumpers,
or crowning the glass on drinking a toast, was a practice bor-
rowed by the Eomans from the Greeks, and most probably /
original with that wonderful people.
When the wines were closed np in the amphorae, they were
placed in the fumarium, to mellow by warmth and to thicken, \
as well as to imbibe a slight smoky flavour. This has some
resemblance to the modern custom of our Indian voyage, to
mellow Madeira by heat and motion. The amphorae were
then placed in the ground, regularly arranged, and marked.
The accounts that have reached us forbid the supposition that
the Greeks had any depositories like modern wine-cellars in
temperature and dampness, for they placed their wine where
there were cloths, costly vessels, and brazen armour, which a
damp cellar would have spoiled. The amphora being her-
metically sealed, and the earthenware impervious to atmo-
spheric influence the wines, too, being so thick and viscid
that they were diluted with water very frequently it is
probable that temperature was less a matter of moment
with the ancient than the better modern wines, which are
valued for freshness and delicacy. The Eomans, on the other
hand, had extensive buildings, where large quantities of wine
were stored up after the vintage ; and there can be little
doubt that they had cellars in their houses as well.
The colour of their wines was various. They perfumed
them, and thus their fragrance was evidently the product of
art, and not the natural bouquet of pure wine. The poets
supply many passages that point to the characteristics of the
ancient wines, and make continual allusion to them, in pas-
sages of great beauty. Homer, Anacreon, and other Greek
writers, and Horace, Martial, Persius, Virgil, Plautus, and
other poets among the Eomans, make allusions which may or
may not be literally correct regarding them. These, and the
12 ANCIENT AND MODEKN WINES.
writers on agricultural subjects or natural history, afford the
sole glimpses of all we know upon the subject among the two
greatest nations of antiquity.
The wines of the moderns, there is no doubt, are much
more perfect than those of the ancients as far as can be dis-
covered by anything carrying the stamp of authenticity,
which has reached the present time. It may not be amiss to
mention briefly those writers who have treated upon the sub-
ject, and treated it generally with that attachment to favoured
theories which renders so many men of talent agreeable en-
thiagiasts in behalf of all that is old, however dubious the
authority upon which they found their conclusions. What
we know of the ancients in the way of fact, we may safely
use ; what we guess relating to them, if always amusing, it is
not always useful to communicate.
The wines drunk by the Romans were mixed or adulterated
wines, and were consequently not pure, in the modern sense
of the term. Even in the ancient sense, as the reader will
see in the account of the best wine given by Mago, quoted
hereafter, the dry wines were not considered the most worthy.
It was in the flourishing times of Eome, in the Augustan
age, that we discover wine to have been deteriorated. Yet
this was the age of the Ealernian, the taste and colour of
which have been so much disputed. Some have fancied it was
of the colour of Madeira. One writer thinks it was white,
and many commentators declare it was black, while it was
very probably neither. The poets frequently use the slight
apparent colour which an object may assume for the real hue,
hence the "black" of Martial, applied to Palernian, might
be intense red, or purple, or violet, but was hardly white.
To receive the language and allusions of poetry as direct evi-
dence in such a matter, would be to change the nature of
poetry itself, which professes to accommodate most things
upon which it touches to a standard of ideal excellence.
The historians of wine have hitherto been of the medical
profession. To render it more singular, even the laureate of
the vine, Redi, with his " Bacco in Toscana," was a physician,
while in treating the subject he affords, by his facetiousness,
a striking contrast to the solemnity of style and manner
which marks the grave periods of his brethren. Bacci, a pa-
tient and learned writer, wrote his history in Latin, and died
ANCIENT AND MODEKN WINES. 13
at the close of the sixteenth century ; his work on wine is, in
many respects, valuable, though Haller speaks of it slight-
ingly. In 1775 Sir Edward Earry, having read Bacci, became
" wine wise," to borrow a word from Beaumont and Fletcher,
and composed his observations on the " Wines of the An-
cients." Using all of Barry's treatise which was worth
taking, Dr. Henderson compiled his volume on wines. He
designed at first only to publish an improved edition of
Barry, until he saw that making sense of so strange a jumble
was impossible. Barry, in treating of Greek wines, cannot
refrain from introducing Bath waters, while his implicit faith
in everything mentioned by ancient writers, is carried to a
ludicrous extent. He finds that Hippocrates gave his patients
Thasian wine in the proportion of twenty-five parts wine to one
of water, and he thence infers the potency of the wine, beyond
any belonging to these " degenerate days," with the weight of
the still in their favour, of which the ancients knew nothing.
A brief account of the contents of Sir Edward Barry's vo-
lume will explain them sufficiently. Little information of
moment on the wines of the ancients is mixed with much
absurdity. Much is gathered from poetical passages that
have come down to us, that allude but generally to the sub-
ject of wine ; and after all, with what information is left upon
the subject of agriculture by one or two of the ancients, the
information of that which it was most important to know,
the quality and flavour of the ancient wines, amounts to
little.
Hippocrates first led Dr. Barry to the subject of wines, by
his medical rules respecting them ; hence he was induced to
inquire into their nature and principles. He thinks Hippo-
crates mistaken, when he speaks of black wines, " which are.,
nowhere produced." Now there are the "black" wines
made at Cahors, in France, at this day ; their colour is appa-
rently that of ink, arising from their intense violet hue.
Nor was Barry aware that Hippocrates, when he speaks of
wine and its ancient use in different degrees of strength,
might be treating of a remedy for fever, at this moment used
in several parts of Greece. * This is a much better way of
accounting for what seems " obscure," in the rules of the
Greek physician, than any light Barry has been able to throw
upon the subject. Old thick wine is still a remedy in Cyprus
14 ANCIENT AND MODEBN WINES.
for tertian and quartan agues, common in that and some
other of the Greek islands, where the old wine used to burn
like oil. Dr. Henderson does not seem to be aware of this
circumstance, when he corrects Barry, by supposing the
drink was used merely as a diluent, for even in that character,
in most fevers, wine would seem oddly applied, unless the
patient were in a state of convalescence ; I say this with all
due deference to better Esculapian knowledge.
Barry's first chapter treats of the nature and principles of
wine, and gives Boerhaave's idea of fermentation, a subject
now better understood. "Water, fire, terrestrial, saline, and
oily parts, with ardent spirit, Barry describes as the compo-
nent substances of wine. In his second chapter, he enters
upon "the wines of the ancients," and introduces Galen and
the Italian wines ; Dioscorides, Pliny, and Athaeneus, too, are
quoted. " Inspissated" wines are touched upon ; Cato, Varro,
Columella, and Bacci are introduced. The doctor then con-
siders the mode adopted by the ancients in making and pre-
serving their wines ; and announces the notable discovery,
that they were either weak, strong, or intermediate. He
laments that modern wine-coopers know nothing of fining
with isinglass, eggs, and similar matters, though it has been
practised across the Channel, and probably in England, time
out of mind. The mixing of salt water with viscid wine is
noted, and that Chian wine was adulterated into Falernian by
the use of hepatic aloes, a pleasant example of the purity of
ancient wines. He next alludes to the wine-measures of
the ancients, quoting Dr. Arbuthnot for an authority. The
" wine-cellars of the ancients" form another chapter. The
custom of burying a vessel of wine on the birth of a child,
common at this day in Greece, was, it appears, anciently pre-
valent at Rome. Barry then treats of Eoman wines and the
wines of the Campania Felix. The descriptions are drawn
largely from the poets. The mixture of twenty parts of water
with on of wine, is quoted from the ninth book of the
Odyssey of Homer, to show how powerful the wine must have
been. Such quotations prove nothing. The poet, when he
extolled the strength of the wine, naturally exaggerated, ac-
cording to the custom of poets at all times. Besides, the
Thasian might have been in the case to which allusion is
made, a mixed wine, after the sense of the term which the
ANCIENT AND MODEKN WINES. 15
reader will find in the latter part of this volume. Again, in
some wine countries of the South, wine is rarely drunk un-
mingled with water, especially in Greece, where the resin and
pitch at this day flavour it so intensely. The taking such
passages as proof at all, is a fallacy throughout his work.
The " entertainments and suppers of the Greeks and
Romans" are treated of at length by Barry, mingled with
professional remarks. The triclinia, cups, vessels, and vinous
preparations of the ancients all come under review, with the
medical and dietetic uses of wines. The author precedes
them by his chapter on " the nature and qualities of water,"
which he introduces for the unanswerable reason, that as
water is a constituent in wine, it should have similar con-
sideration. He then wanders from the vinous subject to
his own locality, giving a disquisition on Bath springs and
their virtues a deviation not uncommon with physicians
in fashionable watering-places.
The following extract is a specimen of Sir Edward Barry's
style of scientific writing : " I have long been inclined to think
that there is a peculiar quality in that kind of water which
constitutes the greatest part even of the strongest wines, but
prevails almost entirely in the weaker kind, wJ^h are ani-
mated only with a very small portion of a vinHpirit ; and,
therefore, from the nature of it, must certainly possess some
qualities very different from those of the common water, which
is that of the soil where the vine is planted ; and which in
that state is first received into the small absorbent vessels of
its extended fibres ; from whence it is collected, and more di-
gested in the bulbous parts of its root, and thence distributed
through the trunk, into its various ramifications; where it must
have been almost, if not entirely separated, from all the hete-
rogeneous and terene parts which it contained, before it con-
stitutes the aqueous parts of the grape ; as it is very evident,
from late experiments, that the whole size and weight of the
greatest tree is owing to water alone. It is likewise remark-
able, that the fibres and vessels of the vine are more dry and
rigid than those of any other tree, and that it chiefly delights
in a sandy soil. This water, therefore, originally of the best
kind, and passing through the finest strainers, must approach
nearer to the unmixed, elementary qualities of water, than
has yet been found in any place, even when depurated with
16 ANCIENT AND MODERN WINES.
the greatest art. This seems confirmed, from the specific
gravity of common water being found greater than that of
any pure vinous liquor ; and though this has been generally
imputed to the prevailing lighter qualities of its spirituous
parts, yet it seems to be more owing to those of the water."
A part of Sir Edward Barry's volume is devoted to a no-
tice on modern wines. His information upon this part of his
subject is very imperfect. He concludes with an account of
the "wines used in England," and of the attempts made to
plant the vine here ; and, among others, relates an experi-
ment made by Mr. Hamilton, his friend, at Painshill, proving
that good wine has and can be made in England, and that
such wine has been sold at seven and sixpence and ten and
sixpence a bottle.
Though it is not the design of the present volume to illus-
trate modern wines by the imperfect and glimmering views
which can be obtained of the ancient, a few remarks on the
subject may be casually made. That the wines of the an-
cients differed from those most in repute in the present
day is clear, although it is very probable that in Cyprus
and the East there are wines still made closely resembling
the ancient, the most prized of which, as well as the purest,
were generally of the sweet or luscious kind. The flavour
of wines made in Italy from vines suffered for the most part
to luxuriate and grow without pruning, would hardly please
a modern palate, especially when mingled with sea-water,
tainted with resin, and rendered viscid by the smoke of the
fumarium. Yet, as the fumarium was used more to mellow
the wines by heat than smoke, and time removed much of
the taint, the flavour might not be so objectionable as it
appears on the first reflection.
The ancient writers on the present subject, of whom we
have any knowledge, are Yarro, Cato, Pliny, Columella, and
Palladius. Hanno, the Carthagenian, wrote on the sub-
ject ; and Athseneus, Plutarch, and others, make allusions
to it. Columella quoted Mago. The oldest account of ancient
wines that can be deemed satisfactory, through its leading
the reader to understand the quality by any mode of making
wine pursued at present, is given in this quotation from
Mago. He was a Carthaginian, who composed twenty-eight
books on husbandry, and flourished about 550 years before
ANCIENT AND MODERN WINES. 17
Christ. Besides these, all the information by which we can
gather any knowledge about ancient wines is gathered from
Eoman writers, or Greeks resident in Eome. Aristotle,
indeed, gives some little information respecting those of
Arcadia particularly, not very consonant with our notions of
what contributes to vinous excellence. The Eomans, in
describing contemporary manners, give an insight into the
use of wine and mode of drinking it, particularly the poets,
Juvenal, Virgil, Martial, Horace, and Petronius. But of all
the ancient writers Mago alone teaches us, by the mode of
making the wine, that the class of sweet wines must have
been in quality and flavour very much like those of the South
in the present day.
The directions given for making the best sort of wine, or
'possum optimum, except the use of pitched vessels, were, in
the age of Cyrus of Persia and Mago of Carthage, clearly
these : " Let the bunches of grapes, quite ripe, and scorched
or shrivelled in the sun, when the bad and faulty ones are
picked out, be spread upon a frame resting on stakes or forks,
and covered with a layer of reeds. Place them in the sun,
but protect them from the dew at night. "When they are
dry (sufficiently shrivelled), pluck the grapes from the stalks,
throw them into a cask, and make the first must. If they
have well drained, put them, at the end of six days, into a
vessel, and press them for the first wine. A second time let
them be pounded (or trodden) and pressed, adding cold must
to the pressing. This second wine is to be placed in a pitched
vessel, lest it become sour. After it has remained twenty or
thirty days, and fermented, rack into another vessel, and,
stopping it close immediately, cover it with a skin." Now,
this also was done by Columella, who lived fifty years after
Christ, and between five and six hundred after Mago. He
prefixes the remark, that " Mago gives directions for making
the best sort of wine as I myself have done." Thus the best
wine is not a dry wine, nor the best luscious wine only, but
the best wine as the luscious wines are esteemed before the
dry in the South at this day. Now the best wine in Car-
thage, A.C. 550, and at Eome, A.D. 50, must have continued
pretty much the same in kind and quality during that in-
terval, notwithstanding the reign of Augustus and the poetry
of Horace, or such mixtures as the fluctuations of fashion
18 ANCIENT AND MODEKN WINES.
dictated. The reader will be at no loss in this volume to find
wine made the same way as by Mago in more than one place
in the south of Europe, during the present century. It may
therefore be presumed, 'that the best wine, in the esteem of
the ancients, resembled the l^grimas of Malaga, or some of
the straw wines of France. As to what poets say in favour
of any wine, it goes for nothing in regard to its quality :
Shakspeare may extol sherry for the most exquisite, E/edi
Montepulciano, Prior claret, Boileau Burgundy, Crabbe
vulgar port, and Moore sparkling champagne ; but this^would
decide nothing a thousand years hence about the nature or
flavour of the wine, and each kind cannot be the best. Dr.
Henderson, with his chemical knowledge, and laborious inves-
tigation of classical authorities, saw the concentration of all
excellence in the ancients ; but the knowledge of the essen-
tial properties of the ancient wines is a sealed book to us
for ever.
The modern traveller in Greece cannot drink a small
quantity of the wine there without water, for the intense
headache it excites, owing to the infusion of resin, pitch, and
similar ingredients ; substances of the same nature as were
infused in the Augustan age, in the dry as well as other
wines. But it does not appear to be prevalent in the
small islands in the same degree, and not at all in Cyprus.
These, it is evident, are properly " mixed wines," in the
sense before mentioned among the Jews under that title.
It is not wonderful that Augustus could only drink his
pint at a sitting, even when mingled with honey ! What
should we now think of wine that had been matured by being
exposed four years to the sun ! A modern wine-drinker
could hardly manage half as much of such a mixture, without
sickness, any more than the emperor. These wines, from all
that can be now gleaned respecting them, were little entitled
to the praise of purity. There seems to have been in all
ages a tendency to render the juice of the grape stimulant
and injurious to the constitution. The Persians infuse pop-
pies in their wines at the present day, and the English gene-
rally give the preference to those which are unnaturally
mixed with the largest quantity of the product of the still.
Henderson seems so much aware of this in praising ancient
wines, while agreeing that no wine deserves to be drunk
ANCIENT AND MODEBN WINES. 19
which is not the unadulterated juice of the grape, that he
palliates the practice, by observing in substance, that a taste
in wine varies, and is at best an acquired taste. This is
hardly correct ; a taste for pure wine is natural. A child will
drink pure wine, but not wine and pitch the union of the
two would yield a flavour only to be relished by a gradual
introduction to their usage. The difference of flavour in pure
wine is not against this argument. If it were the fashion to
mix saltpetre with coffee, though its becoming the fashion
would immediately make the nauseous mixture habitual in
what is called "fashionable life," the coffee would not, de
facto, be less adulterated, or the fashionable taste be less an
acquired and depraved one on that account.
Every rational person must admit, that to judge the modern
by the ancient wines, without knowing more of them, is only
not the greatest of absurdities. Dissertations, however in-
conclusive, may amuse individuals of fortune not unprofit-
ably who have leisure to bestow upon speculations of a
similar nature* The being carried through the pages of Cato,
Varro, and Columella, as it were, into the midst of the pur-
suits of the ancients, is pleasant and agreeable ; while it is
true, the agricultural operations they describe we can under-
stand. Of the flavour of the ancient wines, their colour, and
spirituous strength, on the other hand, we can know nothing
in our sense of those terms. Their merits are a secret as to the
qualities we hold in esteem. An ancient, as a modern poet
would do, might style the same wines soft, sweet, or luscious,
in his verses, as fancy dictated ; so in colour they might be
intensely red, approaching black, or purple, or violet. Barry
might be of opinion that the wine given by Ulysses to Poly-
phemus was Thasian, because it made the Cyclops drunk so
soon, and required twenty-four parts of water to make it
palatable to any one but a giant ; while some other writer,
who eschewed luscious wines, might think it was of the dry
class, because the disorder in his own stomach, produced by
sweet wines, was somewhat slower in effect than when pro-
duced by the dry, and the stomach of Polyphemus seems to
have been rapidly and most effectively agitated.
Barry has a statement respecting the enormous produce of
ancient vineyard land, to which allusion has already been
made. It is remarkable on several accounts, as well as for
c 2
20 ANCIENT AND MODEBN WINES.
exhibiting how much, the ancient writers differ in the simplest
points, and how hard it is in consequence for the moderns to
obtain the truth in things apparently simple. An English
acre is forty-three thousand five hundred and sixty square
feet. Varro says that a jugerum (twenty-eight thousand eight
hundred square feet, or two roods eighteen poles as some
state) had been known to produce ten, nay, fifteen culei of
wine. Prom ten to fifteen is a great step. He then adds, that
Marcus Cato says a certain piece of land gave ten culei
repeatedly. Yarro then states further, that the same quan-
tity of land, near Faventia, usually gave three hundred am-
phorae of must, and was thence called "Tricenary," a term
bestowed on vines (vitis tricenarii) that produced thirty
measures of wine. Columella, evidently thinking this incre-
dible, remarks that such was unquestionably the case in
former times ; but now, he continues, at the residence of
Seneca, not fifteen, nor ten ; no, but eight culei were no un-
common produce for each jugerum. He then observes on
the astonishing exuberance of Spanish vines, where seven
culei had been obtained from eighty stocks of two years'
growth, and a single vine had produced two thousand bunches
of grapes. In respect to Spanish vine-produce, it must be still
very great, as the reader will see if he turns to the chapter on
Spain in this volume, and observes what an abundance of grapes
is gathered annually near Malaga ; but then there are three
gatherings in the year, which neither Columella nor Varro
state regarding the Italian vines. Now Yarro is extolling
Italy, and evidently placing it in rivalry with Greece, and
his statement, after all, is but ten culei ; and in the time of
Columella only eight could be cited as a fact. In deter-
mining similar questions, it should be always asked whether
it is most likely that a writer should exaggerate or be mis-
taken, or that nature should change. Common sense supplies
the answer. In such cases it is ever the best course to
abide by universal experience. A district may change in
fertility, and sometimes the change is recorded as being
caused by some public calamity; but generally man will
rather be found to have neglected culture, than nature to
have forsaken the soil of an entire country. It is probable
that Italy and Spain are as capable of producing the fruits
of the earth as they ever were. It may be questioned if the
ANCIENT AND HODEKN WINES. 21
latter country does not now produce as fully for the pur-
poses of commerce, when it is diligently cultivated, as it did
anciently. There can be no question that the Axarquia is as
rich as it was in Columella's day. Vines are now pruned,
and even the buds taken off, to improve the quality of the
wine, disregarding the quantity. A vine is not now suffered
to run wild, and produce an exuberant quantity of fruit, and
in consequence a weak must, which requires pitch, resin, and
other ingredients, to prevent it from turning acid, as must
from wild grapes soon does ; and as it soon will, however
carefully managed, if cultivated vines are allowed to run at
large, and give out fruit at random to their full bearing.
Modern science has taught a lesson to its children in the
better manufacture of wine, if it cannot be partaken at
the enviable symphosia of Plato or Xenophon, the myrtle-
wreathed suppers of Horace, or around the carved bowl of
the immortal MaBonides.
Barry says, a British acre, at fifteen culei the jugerum,
would produce forty-five hogsheads. Henderson says, fifty-
four hogsheads and a half, no trifling difference ; both cannot
be correct. The latter remarks, that Columella deemed the
estimate of Yarro exaggerated. Columella's experience, it is to
be observed, relates to one of the most fertile spots on earth.
Neither Barry nor Henderson, it is presumed, were acquainted
with the returns of certain vineyards in Prance. The earth
has not, as respects quantity, materially changed in what it
gives out in culture. The Hampton Court vine has produced
in one year two thousand two hundred bunches of grapes of a
pound weight each, or two hundred more than the quantity
quoted by Columella, who does not say what the grapes
weighed. One branch of this vine is one hundred and four-
teen feet long. At North Allerton, in 1585, there was a vine
that covered one hundred and thirty-seven square yards, and
was then a hundred years old. A vine at Yalentines, in Essex,
produced two thousand bunches of a pound each, and covered
one hundred and forty-seven square yards. At Chevening, in
Sussex, a muscatel vine, reared from a cutting thirty-four
years old, in 1836, extended over a space one hundred and
fifty-eight feet in length, and bore that year two thousand and
forty bunches of grapes, while a vine of the same species near
it was of no more than the ordinary size. The average of a
22 ANCIENT AND MODERN WINES.
province is no scale for a particular vineyard, nor does the
must of the grape increase as the South is approached. At
least, this is by no means the rule. The entire department
of the Seine and Oise, a part of Prance, some portion of which
is north of Paris, averages 1373*480 gallons per hectare, or
every two and a half English acres. But the wine is watery,
and will not keep long ; the pitch or resin of the ancients
might perhaps give it endurance. It appears, uniformly, that
where the quantity of must given is very great, it is generally
weak. In the Meurthe, where the average product is but
5O64|^ hectolitres, from a hundred and fifty to two hundred
hectolitres per hectare are frequently the produce in certain
spots, yielding the almost incredible quantity of two thousand
one hundred and twelve, or 2112-0282 gallons each acre,
according to the well-established statement of M. Thomassin,
cure of Achain. Now eight culei are about one thousand
seven hundred and forty-five gallons, and ten about two
thousand two hundred and eighty-four per acre. The wines
thus produced are the commonest and most ordinary in cha-
racter, yet still they are from vines not allowed to run at
random, nor give the utmost quantity of fruit. Therefore,
that vines in a certain spot in Italy should produce eight
culei, especially where the amount of produce was the sole
object desired, though the quantity is large, does not seem, all
things considered, so very wonderful.
Wine appears to have been anciently cheap, for we are told
that, at the vintage, one hundred and forty-three gallons were
sold for two pounds eight and eightpence. This was common
wine. Sir Edward Earry thinks that good wine was about
eight pounds sterling per tun of two pipes. In the consulate
of Opimius, A.TJ.C. 633, a remarkably fine vintage, the choice
wine sold for seven pounds one and tenpence the hogshead.
.Afterwards an amphora of the best Chian sold for eight
pounds eleven and fivepence, being about fifty-seven pints.
A.D. 303, " Conditum," a mixed wine, in temp. Dioclesian,
was fixed at twenty-four denarii the sextarius, or about an
English pint ; Absintham twenty denarii ; Hosatum, or with
roses infused in the wine, twenty denarii. The only difficulty
here is to settle the value of the denarius, which was much
depreciated at that time.
Both the authors above mentioned have dwelt on the
ANCIENT AND MODERN WINES. 23
medical effects of wine and its dietetic qualities. These are
so well known, that they need not be repeated here. It would
never be thought, that before A.D. 1581 the English were
noted for their sobriety. There is one distinction should be
made, respecting the abuse of wine, in the character of a
modern people ; this is the separation of inebriety by wine
from that produced by agents not the product of vinous fer-
mentation. There are few individuals comparatively, among
the intemperate, who can lay the fault upon wine, in this
country, if the pure juice of the grape be understood by that
term. It is the produce of the still, mingled with wine, that
operates the mischief, when wine is concerned at all.
The northern nations have always drunk hard, and those
who least approach the habits of the more civilised, have been
most remarkable for this vice, while in the more civilised
countries the lowest orders of the people have been most habi-
tuated to it. In wine countries, people mix water with their
wines, and when they drink them pure, take them in modera-
tion. Their wines have no more than the natural alcohol,
and wisely used, prove a blessing, as they did to old Cornaro
the Venetian. In no country are the effects of ebriety more
fatally visible than in our own. There can be no doubt, that
in a northern climate, a moderate quantity of pure wine acts
beneficially on the constitution, except in certain habits of
body, where the most trifling stimulants are injurious. In
all ages of the world, in sacred and profane history, the abuse,
not the use of wine, has been condemned. It is painful to
reflect how much this abuse has converted what is naturally
so generous into an evil of no ordinary magnitude ; so diffi-
cult is it to mark the limit of rational enjoyment, even in the
best things. The practice of drinking largely of wine has
much decreased of late years, and though " Attic taste with
wine' J may be a union as rare as before in any class of society,
it is certain that wine was never less abused by consumers
than in the present day, nor excess more generally avoided.
It would be trespassing on the ground of those who have
so well described the effect of wine on the human frame, to
say more on the subject here ; especially as it is generally well
understood. It is safest to drink the French wines, and to
take all wines pure. French wines are rated first in whole-
someness. Next come the wines of the Ehine. After these, /
24 ANCIENT AND MODE UN WINES.
sherry, port, and Madeira, when sound and free from the de-
structive influence of unblended alcohol.
The vine was once cultivated in England, and this might
be done now, were it not that other productions of the soil are
more lucrative. There is no doubt but a wine, equal to that
of the Moselle, might easily be made, and that every two or
three years a vintage sufficient to remunerate the grower
might in certain places be perfected ; but the uncertainty of
the climate, and the cheapness and superior excellence of
foreign wines, would hardly allow a British wine, of little
vinosity, the chance of competition. Dr. Barry says, some of
Mr. Hamilton's wine was thought superior to the best cham-
pagne. The grapes used were the Burgundy, cultivated in
the French fashion.
The wines used in England in former times have been
traced in other works upon the subject. It would be foreign
to the nature of this volume, and occupy too much room, to
speak of them here ; besides, they comprised the Italian,
Spanish, and even the Greek wines, as well as the French.
These last came early into England. Langland in " Piers
Plowman" writes, about the time of Edward II. or III. :
Whit wyn of Oseye and of Gascoyne,
Of the Ruele and of the Rochel wyn.
Osey wine, or oseye, is a species not at present ascertained.
It has been supposed French from Auxois or Alsace, of which
it was the old appellation, pronounced much in the same
manner. Eochelle wines were French of course. Euele is
near Angouleme. Grascony and Gruienne wines, in the reign
of Henry VIII., were sold at eightpence the gallon, and
malmsey, romaney, sack, and sweet wines at twelvepence, and
at three-halfpence the pint, under a penalty. Rhenish, sold,
temp. Edward IV., by the fat of three almes at thirty shillings
the alme. At this time only a limited number of places were
allowed more than two taverns ; London was limited to forty.
The usual feudal influence was carefully kept up where the
gratification of the sense was concerned. None but those
who could spend a hundred marks a year, or the son of a
duke, marquis, earl, viscount, or baron were allowed to keep
in the house more than ten gallons of wine, under a penalty
of ten pounds. No taverns were allowed to retail wine to be
drunk in the house. Merchants might use the wines they
A:NT> MODERN WINES. 25
imported for themselves, but not sell them. Only high-
sheriffs, magistrates of cities and towns, and the inhabitants
of fortjfied towns might keep vessels of wine for their own
use. S<*much for the commonalty ; yet in this very reign,
the Archbishop of York consumed a hundred tuns on his
enthronement. Pour pipes a month were consumed in some
of our noblemen's households of that day. " Malvasia, rome-
nay, osey, bastard muscadelles, and other sweet wines," were
drunk in England, in 1469, according to a document relating
to the royal family. There were two Greek towns, called
Napoli di Malvasia, and Napoli di Eomania, from whence the
wine called Malvasia, or Komaney, the modern Malmsey,
was originally exported, before the Turks occupied the main-
land of Greece. After that event, Candia was the place
whence this wine came, even when the island fell into the
hands of the barbarians. Pietro Quirino, whose shipwreck
is so singular a record of the times, had eight hundred casks
of Malvasia on board from Candia, when he was lost in the
North Sea, in the year 1431. The "wine of Tyre," the
Helbon wine of Ezekiel, made near Damascus, was imported
here in the reign of Richard III. by Venetian vessels, which
were bound to bring with each cask ten yews for bows : yew
abounding in the Levant. Nearly down to the revolution of
1688, French wines were imported in the largest quantities,
even to the extent of twenty thousand tuns a year. Heavy
duties upon these, and the Methuen or woollen treaty, drove
out the wines of France, and introduced Portuguese and
Spanish.
I may be charged by some, particularly those who from
habit are advocates for spirituous wines, with too great a pre-
dilection for the wines of France. I do not think I have in
any case exceeded the limits of fair comparison. Wine, let
it be of what quality it may, whether abounding in alcohol,
or weak in spirit, if it be the pure juice of the grape alone,
after due fermentation, is that to which I confine my mean-
ing when I use the term "pure wine."
The French wines are among the best and purest ; the
G-erman and Hungarian wines, besides their truly vinous qua-
lities, are among the most delicate and perfect in character.
The love of brandied wine, and spirits of all kinds, is too
much gaining ground in this country. Whether foreign
spirit be taken mixed with water or wine, the effects are the
26 ANCIENT AND MODEKN WINES.
same on the wealthy user of them, as the spirits of the
British still are upon the poorer classes, and the injurious
consummation will in both cases be very little protracted.
Prance has supplied the want of information respecting
her unequalled vinous productions by suitable details of ac-
knowledged merit and accuracy. These are given in the text
and appendix, nominally and according to the departments
in which they are grown, when worthy of notice. As soon as
other nations shall follow her example, something like an ac-
curate account of the vine and its products may be written,
which will contain every particular of this branch of agricul-
tural science useful for all nations. There is reason to think
that the dissimilarity between the mode adopted both in vine
culture and in the vintage in various countries, is already as-
certained prettynear the truth, and that the differences are not
greater anywhere than will be found described in the following
pages. It would be well if the same approximation to truth
of description could be attained with respect to the quality,
properties, and flavour of the products of the vintage, a thing,
however desirable, it is to be feared impossible to be put in
the execution. France yields the standard by which all wines
^- jaay be classed in their relation with her numerous varieties.
From her weak northern products near the Moselle, to her
rich, luscious, powerful wines of the south, among which,
it is probable, there is no variety in the world which might
not find an approximation to some one of her growths, a
classification might be adopted. The roughness of port, the
lusciousness of Cyprus or Syracuse, the dryness of amon-
tillado, the endurance and flavour of hock, and the sweetness
of lagrima, may be all found among her wines, respecting
many of which, in England, little is known. In an attempt
made, upon French authority, to classify its wines generally
under their respective heads in the Appendix, it would have
occupied too much room to carry them down to the sixth
class, as it is not probable that any beyond the third will be
imported into Great Britain, and the varieties are exceedingly
numerous. This classification will serve as a general guide
in all cases, and may be rendered more perfect, as the inter-
course between the two countries, and a more liberal com-
mercial exchange shall familiarise the public with those rich
productions of the soil.
My endeavour has been to render myself as intelligible as
ANCIENT AND MODEBN WINES. 27
possible, and to refrain from useless detail. A volume might
be filled with the accounts of the vine itself, its varieties, and
different modes of cultivation. This part of the subject has
been compressed. While the best growths of the various
wine countries are given in such a manner that the gentle-
man on his travels for pleasure, or the merchant during a
commercial journey, may know the spots most eligible to
visit, either from curiosity or business. The prices of the
wines in France particularly have been annexed, drawn up
from the mean of several years. It is obvious that the prices
of one year, in a work like the present, would be useless ; the
mean has, therefore, been fixed from returns made in the de-
partment, and will still be found perhaps an approximation only
to the vintage prices for any series of years. In Prance, of
late, every statement relative to existing agriculture has been
rendered nearly accurate by the advanced situation of the
government surveys. In other countries nothing like the
same accuracy of detail ; in fact, statements of a very general
nature, collected from a variety of sources, and it is to be
feared not usually very authentic, are all which can be ob-
tained. I have avoided, as much as practicable, the use of
foreign terms without explanation, because a volume of the
present kind cannot be rendered too intelligible to the
greatest number of readers.
I cannot look back without pleasure to seasons spent in
the lands of the vine, not in the towns, but in the heart of the
country, amid the cheerful rural aspect and scenes which of
all others, at parting, leave the deepest regret in the heart.
In 1816 the grapes, in many places in the middle 'vine districts
of Europe, remained ungathered from the badness of the sea-
son. After shooting in vineyards, where even in November
the fruit hung neglected in many places, I witnessed the
disappointment of the laborious vine cultivator, and the suf-
ferings of the agrarian population, of which, except in vine
countries, little idea can be formed. The vintage has been a
jubilee from time immemorial. When, as is rarely the case,
there is no joyous celebration of the vintage, the toil of the
labourer is unrewarded, the bosoms usually cheerful are
oppressed, and the gripe of poverty clutches its wearied vic-
tims with redoubled violence.
In the present volume I have no intention of trespassing
28 ANCIENT AND MODEEN WINES.
upon the ground of other writers. From some, indeed, little
was to be learned. I have endeavoured to avoid that abstruse-
ness, and mixture of ancient learning and scientific terms,
which renders Henderson's work fit only for the scholar.
The writers whom I have consulted are numerous. To
Bacci, " De Natura Vinorum," Crescenzio, Serres, Eoxas Cle-
mente, Herrara, Salmon, Dru, Dussieux, Cavoleau, Choiset sur
1'Appareil de G-ervais, Barry, Chaptal, Jullien, Lebat, Redi,
Mariti, Labaud, Berneaud, the Cours Economique, Tavernier,
Columella, Ulloa, Bright, Du Halde, Inglis, Harris's Travels,
Gay Lussac, Bowditch, Maculloch, and others, I am deeply
indebted. Those who are curious upon the subject of wine
may read the " Conversations Malaguenas ;" " Dell' Arte di
faro il Vino," by Fabbroni; " L'art de faire le Vin, Paris,
1819." The statements in the " Memorias economicas de
Academia Heal," &c., in the Portuguese, are to the point.
The following works also treat upon the subject : " Wein-
leher, Mainz, 1817;" "Ueber Tokay's "Weinbau, Vienna,
1796;" " Eheinslandische "Weinbau ver J. Horter, Cob-
lentz ;" " Notitia Historica," &c., " Zempleniensis. Autore,
A. Szirmay de Szirma, Cassovise, 1798 ;" " Tableau de 1' Agri-
culture Tuscane, G-eneva, 1801;" "De Protopo, apud Een-
della de Vinea Videmia, et Yineo, Yenice, 1629 ;" " Euroyo
sobre las Yariedades, de la Yid comun que Yegetan en An-
dalusia, Madrid, 1807;" "Kempfer amsenetales Exotica;"
"Macbride on the choice of "Wines, 1793 ;" and " JSTonnius
de res Ciberia," &c. ; the " Enologia" of Count Dandolo,
published at Milan; Demerson's "Histoire Natural de la
Yigne et duVin, Paris, 1825;" "Proust on the Contents of
the Grape." There are also numerous works indirectly
touching upon the subject.
These remarks will, it is hoped, guide the reader in the
search for good wine, and tend to confirm a preference for
that which is reallv excellent.
[Different Modes of Training the Vine.]
CHAPTEE II.
OF THE VINE.
ORIGIN AND VARIETIES OF THE VINE THE GRAPE WINE DISTRICT OF
EUROPE SITES MOST CONGENIAL TO VINE CULTURE ANTIQUITY OF CUL-
TURE METHODS OF TRAINING PROPAGATION REGENERATION VARIOUS
MODES OF TREATMENT ANNULAR INCISION DURATION OF BEARING
FAVOURITE SPECIES, AND WHENCE DERIVED TEARS OF THE VINE.
THE varieties of the vine are very numerous. Those which
flourish in the hot-houses of England give no idea of the dif-
ferent species known in the countries most noted for its cultiva-
tion. A thousand distinctions have been reckoned in the vines
of France, though the traces of difference must be very obscure,
even to the eyes of the experienced cultivator or naturalist.
The garden of the Luxembourg in Paris has five hundred
and seventy species. In Spain a hundred and twenty kinds
have been enumerated in Andalusia alone. M. Dumont, who
has attempted to classify the vines of the Jura, confirms the
ttO THE TINE.
fact of tho obscurity of their dillcrenccs. Ho remarks, too,
that tho task of classifv \\\$ thoin generally throughout.
1-Yaneo \et remains to be executed. Tho most favoured
species of tho \iuo at present, according lo lYeuch treatises
.e subjeet. obtain thoir denomination trom the varieties
in thoir produce, bein^ tho original plant, altered in somo
Cases but ^cry slightly, by ditVereuees in t he soil and movio of
cult nation.
It vunild boa wasfo of tiino to enumerate the various con-
jooturos which aro upon record ris|u\'tiu^ tho ori
ocnintry of tho vino. If it oaino from tho 1 \hioh
ihcre is little reaaou to olonbt, tho naino of him u ho first
oin tlitMvihl plant, is lost in obliuon, uuloss tho
of Noah in Holy \Yrit -.ipposoti lo ti\ tho
oror prior to tho Uiou\sus of tho Gh
iliiulv^os. Aloxaiulor fho v
,1 \ino on tho banks of tho Hydaspos. Tho
mountains of bYnlistan, in lVr>ia. probably aupplioil tho
vinos \\hu-h \\ .iltivatoil b\ man: tho \\ino of Shirax
is inado of unos LTi\nvn on thoso h I wiKl orooping
with its liarsli fruit is gonoral in tho Kast. In America
no loss than sovonty kinds of uild vino aro knoNvn. though
not moro than ono-half boar truit. From Kiivpt. Palostino,
or Asia Minor, into tho luvok .Islands, tho transition of tho
vine was natural) as well as from the islands to the mainland
of Greece, and thence along the shores of the Mediterranean
to the Straits of Hercules. Vinos wore oultivatod in Kraiuv
before the time of theCassars: first, it is lvlio\od. at Mar-
seilles, They were found both there and in Narbonno v\ hen
,lnlius Caesar conquered G-aul. It would bo ourious to I
possible, the transmissions of tho vino from country
aniry, as the MaLvasia grape is said to ha\e been i
mitt lul to Madeira, and the Hock to the Cape of Good Hope.
auce, but ofteuer design, etVeeteii these elia
b wrought novelties in the prodnet. Thus a tew si I
i randrieu, of the Soyras grapi\ transfon-iHl to the
granite declivities of Tain, jjave, as the result, the ^oih
.o and red Hermitage. In the thirteiMith eentnn the
:d fanatieal expeditions to Asia to eombat the Mo-
ieda.ns. made no return for their disasters better than
the introduction of tho vines of C\ prus and Palestine into
TIII: VIM:. 31
and th< ir produce of tlie wines of Kronti^nac. L
i oilier;-, before unknown. The;, mted
the Pyrenees. Th" vine was introduced into
Germany later; the fir rdfc being on the Kbine in a
Cleared portion ofthe Black EOT
\ niinnl.fr description of 1 he vine in the la: >f the
botanist would be out of place hen:. The ^fncrai cL
>f the plant an,- familiar 1o every reader. The fruit,
too, it is well known, differ.-- in flavour ;:
dobular or oval in form ; BOmetmiefl hir^e and sweet in
ore varieties a! i as a pea, of a
. crabbed, disagreeable flavour. The graj iffers
much in colour, from a rich violet to a jet-black, or a
white, green, or golden hue. The bloom, upon the grape,
which so delicately tints the skit:. --red in proportion
to its prevalence a proof of attention or ne^liirence in the
culture. The colour is wholly in the skin ; the pulp of every
kind of irrapc, save one variety, having the same internal
hue. When the vine blossoms it exhales a perceptible odour,
of which the people of the East are very fond. This odour
is thought, by the inhabitants of many countries in which
the 1 vine is cultivated, to induce fecundity in the human
species. The general qualities of the plant are the same in
all countries ; they only vary in degree as the action of the
sun in a genial climate matures more or less those virtues
upon which the excellence of the juice depends. It need
scarcely be remarked, that upon their degree of perfection
depends the goodness of the wine.
vine is a hardy plant, and will grow so far north that
it can do no more than blossom. In some parts of England,
in propitious seasons, the grape will ripen very well ; but the
uncertainty of the climate prevents any attempt at cultivating
the vine with a view to profit. There is abundant evidence
that vineyards did once exist in England, and that wine was
made here; but now that land is so valuable, a crop that
would not repay the grower more than one year in seven,
would not be worth attention.
The limits within which the vine may be successfully
o as to make a proper return, do not depend upon a
ripening of the fruit now and then for the table. These
limits are capricious, and connected with causes, if not wholly
THE VINE.
unknown, at least very unsatisfactorily explained. Half a
degree north of Coblentz is nearly the exact limit in that
direction. South of that wine is made that will repay the
grower from fruit reared in the open air. Moselle is made
as far north as Coblentz, and though a wine of secondary
quality, it is by no means of so common and poor a class as
some which is grown several degrees further south. From
Coblentz, in latitude 51 north, an oblique line of defini-
tion for the wine country in the west of Europe might be
extended to Mouzon, in the department of Ardennes in
Prance, in 49^ north latitude. Let such a line then be
continued concave towards the north, through a portion
of the department of the Seine and Oise to the town of
Bcauvais. From Beauvais to Pontoise, across the Seine to
Evreux, and from the latter town through part of the depart-
ments of the Sarthe and Mayenne to the mouth of the
Vilaine, excluding entirely the departments of the JSTord,
Pas des Calais, Somme, Seine Inferieure, Calvados, Manche,
Cotes du Nord, and Finisterre. In this large extent of ter-
ritory, except an isolated spot or two of no moment, in which
a little miserable sour wine may be made in a favourable
season, as an exception to the rule, there is no vine country.
Yet some of the most celebrated wines in the world, both
French and German, are made tw r o or three degrees north of
the mouth of the Vilaine, which is in latitude nearly 47 25'.
Hock and champagne are made a good way to the north of
that latitude, while in Hungary the rich, sweet, and far-famed
Tokay is made in latitude 48. The vicinity of the ocean
cannot affect this singular boundary. The coast from the
Loire to the Pyrenees is an excellent wine country. The
cold, biting spring north-east winds, which retard summer so
much in England, even after passing the sea upon the eastern
coasts of the island, blow over the flat, chill, marshy lands
stretching on the south of the Baltic far inland, and may
probably be the cause. These winds having their origin in
the north-east of Eussia, sweep over plains of snow before
they reach the Baltic coast. It is found that their verge south-
west is about the commencement of the vine country, lying
obliquely between Amiens and Paris. In the former city, in
the spring months, the arid, biting wind will prevent sitting
in the open air sometimes even at noon at the close of the
THE TINE. 33
month of May. Proceeding to Paris the reverse will be the
case, and the temperature will be found full warm enough even
at night. Returning to Amiens again, the former cold tem-
perature will be sustained. The author has more than once
experienced this in the space of a few days, and made remarks
upon it. There is a range of hills to the north of Beau-
vais which may turn this wind in some degree, but it still
follows the coast obliquely. The greater prevalence of these
winds of late years is acknowledged, and they produce a chill
which the vine is too delicate to withstand. The north-west
wind, sweeping along a vast extent of ocean, and across the
British Isles, is always comparatively soft, and from that
cause the country in question cannot be rendered unpro-
pitious to the plant. The soil is rather favourable than other-
wise to the cultivation of the vine in these districts. There
are chalk and other favourite strata, but much of the territory
is of a very trifling altitude above the oceanic level in any part,
and is more humid from this circumstance.
Doomsday Book proves that wine was made in Essex, six
acres producing a hundred and sixty gallons. There has been
a change of some kind in that climate, as in different parts of
Europe. Eabelais, who was born in 1483, makes an allusion
in his works to wine of Britain not Bretagne, but England.
William of Malmesbury, in his book, " De Pontificibus," says
that the Yale of Gloucester used to produce, in the twelfth
century, as good wine as many of the provinces of France.
Near Tewkesbury is a field still called the " Vineyard." A
messuage and land in Twyning were held of the lord of
Tewkesbury on certain conditions, one of which was the
" finding a man for sixteen days in digging in the vineyard,
and gathering the grapes for three days." Ing. ad. q. d. 39
Ed. III. Fosbr. Grlouc., ii. 293. It is well known that in
the counties of "Worcester, Hereford, Somerset, Cambridge,
and Essex, there are lands which bear the name of vineyards,
many of them having been attached to particular church
establishments, whose ruins are yet in their vicinity. Ealeigh,
in Essex, was valued, in the time of King Edward, at ten
pounds, propter vimtm. In regard to the Yale of Gloucester,
William of Malmesbury says, " There is no province in Eng-
land which has so many and good vineyards, neither on ac-
count of their fertility nor the sweetness of the grape." The
D
THE TINE.
tithes of the vines of Lincombe, near Bath, were confirmed to
the abbey there in 1150, by Archbishop Theobald. The vil-
lage of Winnal, or Wynall, near "Winchester, was so named
from a vineyard, and not from any saint, as some pretend.
Besides the counties above mentioned, Hertford, Middlesex,
Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent, Hants, Dorset, and "Wilts, had vine
cultivation, as appears from Doomsday Book ; but no county
north of Cambridge is said to have borne vines. Hence it
may be concluded that the vine did not yield any profit if it
grew northward of that place. The etymology of Winnal is
said to be the Welsh " gwinllan," a vineyard. Yines are dis-
tinguished in old writings as "portantes" or " non portantes."
The terms, " Vineanova," " Yinae noviter," and " Nuperrimi
plantata," occur about the date of the Norman conquest.
Six " arpens" of land were then said, if the vines turned
out well si lene procedit to produce, by one author, a hun-
dred and sixty gallons by another, a hundred and twenty.
In seeming opposition to this, it is recorded, in " Memoires
pour la Yie de Petrarch," p. 337, tome i., in an extract from
one of Petrarch's own letters to a friend, A.D. 1337, that "in
England they drink nothing but beer and cyder. The drink
of Flanders is hydromel; and as wine cannot be sent to
those countries but at great expense, few persons can afford
to drink it." Petrarch, however, must have spoken from
hearsay alone. More recently, M. Arago, of the French
Institute, has commented on the changes in the climate of
France. He says, that at Macon, in the department of the
Saone and Loire ancient Burgundy wine, in 1553, was
made of the Muscat grape, which it is not now possible to
ripen there. The vineyards of Etampes and Beauvais were at
one time celebrated. Their wines, if now made, are unworthy
of notice. According to a report compiled in 1830, no wine can
be made in the whole department of the Somme. M. Arago
instances a similar change of climate in England, proved by
old chronicles. At one time vines were cultivated in the
open fields throughout a large extent of the country, while
now it requires the utmost care and attention to bring
grapes to maturity in the open air. M. Arago, inquiring
into the causes of this change, thinks that a very marked
alteration of climate has taken place both in France and Eng-
land. " The cause," he says, " is certainly not connected
THE VINE. 35
with the sun a proof of which is given in the steadiness of
the temperature of Palestine."
The southern boundary of the wine country is in Asia, at
Shiraz, in latitude 33. The vine is grown in more southern
latitudes, but no good wine is made south of that Persian
city. Between Coblentz, or 51 north latitude, and Cyprus,
34 30', is comprised the vine district of Europe, an extent of
sixteen degrees of surface, within which are found the choicest
wines known. The principal countries are Prance, Spain,
Germany, Portugal, Italy, Sicily, Greece, Hungary, Styria,
Carinthia, and Transylvania. There is also some wine made
in Eussia, the larger part in the Crimea. In 1831, no less
than six hundred thousand vedros, or nine millions six hun-
dred thousand bottles of a red wine called Kokour, were
made in that province. In North America the vine is culti-
vated with some success. Near Washington there is grown
a species of vine named Cataroba, unknown in Europe, and
at Boston there is a good grape, called by some Isabelle. The
Hock grape was introduced into Canada many years ago by
German settlers, and also into the province of Ohio, in the
United States. *
In the southern hemisphere, at the Cape of Good Hope, in
Australia, and in South America, the vine is successfully cul-
tivated.
A soil too elevated in a northern country fails to mature
the grape sufficiently for wine, as might be expected, from its
being some degrees colder than the plain, and rendering the
grape too harsh. A warm sun alone develops the saccharine
principle in abundance, and prevents austerity in the vine.
Thus in latitude 48 or 49 a slope of small elevation best
suits the vine. Proceeding southward, though the slope may
increase in height and steepness, it will be found equally
eligible for ripening the grape. Owing to the increase of tem-
perature in the south, the vines grown at a considerable ele-
vation will be found to produce wine of a quality equal to
that made from Ifines grown on a plain farther north, while
the southern plain grows a vine of much more body, strength,
and generosity than the plain to the north, supposing the soil
of both to be in every respect similar in quality.
With the difference of temperature northwards, the vine
cultivated for making wine in open vineyards decreases in
D2
36 THE YI1TE.
size. At the northern boundary of the vine country it is a
stunted shrub, in the warm south it spreads from tree to tree,
with a luxuriance of vegetation proportioned to the more
genial influence of the climate. The vines of Tuscany, or of
Grenada, and those of Coblentz, present a curious contrast
both in appearance and fruit. On the one, ISfature bestows a
prodigality of beneficent nurture, on the other she seems to
abandon her stunted offspring to man.
The French, who understand the culture of the vine better
than any other people, say, that the art of adapting each par-
ticular species of vine to the soil most congenial to its culture
is yet in its infancy. Yet this, and the choice of the vine-
shoots, embraces all upon which success in the quality of the
wine depends. This, in the first wine country in the world,
would be deemed inexcusable, were it not very well known
that the interference of the government, and the discouraging
system of extortion which it lately exercised, left the cultiva-
tor no means of trying experiments. AVine of ordinary cha-
racter generally pays the grower much better than the supe-
rior growths. This is a truth in relation to most countries
wh^e much commerce in wine prevails. Hence the proprie-
tor has no motive to improve his wines, or to search out know-
ledge by tedious or expensive processes. Until 1789 he was
not allowed to increase -the extent of his vine land, because it
was supposed to diminish the growth of food for the labourer.
It is the same in the East at this moment ; the ignorance and
rapacity of the ruler stinting the industry of the cultivator.
The vine-grower of Cyprus hides from his neighbour the
amount of his vintage, and always buries part of his produce
for concealment; the exactions of the government are so
great, that his profit upon what he allows to be seen is too
little to remunerate him for his loss of time and labour.
"When the taxes upon the industry and capital of a people are
no more than are needful for good government, the aspect of
nations will be wonderfully changed for the better.
Whether plains or hills are the best situations for the vine
has been much debated. The majority of rich wines are cer-
tainly produced on the slopes of hills, whether abruptly or
gently inclined. " Bacchus loves the hills," said Virgil, seven-
teen hundred years ago. Though wines of the Gironde in
Trance, so much esteemed, are produced on the plain, the suf-
THE TINE. 37
frages in that country are decidedly in favour of the hills, which
must be understood with the qualification that they are not
hills of great elevation, or, in such cases, that the allusion is
made only to the lower portion of them. Argillaceous hills are
not those in which the vine most delights. Calcareous hills
are the best for plants producing dry wines, especially when
their summits are well wooded, the southern sides being open
to the sun. It might be supposed from this circumstance, that
in the climates farthest north, where the vine is cultivated
with success, the southern aspect would be indispensable.
This, however, is not the case. The vine is productive on both
banks of the Ehine and Moselle. In some parts of Trance a
western exposure is found to answer best. There are instances
were even a gentle slope to the north has done well, as at
Chatellerault ; also in the department of the Indre and Loire,
as well as on the banks of the Loire. A great deal of the best
mountain wine of Eheims is produced from vineyards with a
northern aspect, almost up to the northern boundary of the
growth of wine in Europe. The vines receive the sun's rays
obliquely, on very gentle northern slopes. Yet few would
think it safe to plant a vineyard in the north, where it would
not receive the direct rays of the sun, and it would ill answer
to take the exception for the rule in this respect. The south-
eastern aspect in many instances produces good wine, though
in Burgundy they complain that vineyards with this aspect
are exposed too frequently to the latter frosts. On the whole,
in the north the southern aspect is preferred, and in the south
the eastern.
The most fatal scourges to the vine grower in the north-
ern parts of Europe are frosts in April and May, especially
after the preceding portion of the year has been sufficiently
mild to allow the vines, which are very susceptible of atmo-
spherical changes, to be advanced in budding. To obviate the
consequences of this they have recourse to artificial means,
particularly on the Rhine, where an hour before sunrise they
burn litter among the vines. Four persons are sufficient to
smoke an arpent of vines, or one acre one perch English
measure, which they effect by torches of straw. They con-
tinue to operate until the sun shines on the plants/ The
melted frost falls off. It would seem, therefore, that the in-
jury arose from the sun's action on the frost and not from
38 THE TIKEV
the cold. The expense is about tenpence an arpent, exclu-
sive of the labour. Another mode is practised in G-ermany.
Paragelees,* or frost-guards, are used, made of cords of straw,
hemp, or the rind or bark of trees. "With the cord they sur-
round their fruit trees, letting the ends drop into a vessel of
spring water. One vessel will do for all the trees of a large
espalier. Cords must necessarily be joined together to sur-
round a greater number of trees, and the two ends must be
plunged into the vessel, placed four or five yards away from
the trees in front. In Poland and Prussia this singular pre-
servative is found to be effectual in sheltering fruit trees of
all kinds from late frosts. Hail is another enemy to the vine
grower. This is said to be completely obviated by the use
of paragreles, which are now adopted on the continent where-
ever hail is likely to do mischief; their construction is well
known, being simply that of lightning conductors, only less
substantial. Cold spring rains and wet summers are injuri-
ous to vine culture, and fog is highly prejudicial. Then
come the diseases of the plant itself, which a want of know-
ledge in regard to causes renders obscure in all but their
fatal effects.
The vine has a disorder styled plethora, one which arises
from want of nourishment, a kind of paralysis ; the canker ;
several diseases affecting the leaves ; the fall of the fruit, and
others, all necessary to be guarded against in culture. Be-
sides these, wild boars, foxes, and even dogs, enter the vine-
yard to prey on the grape. Birds of many species are ene-
mies of the grape, though some come on a friendly errand to
devour the insects, of which there are many to be found about
the plants in fact, no less than fourteen well-known varieties.
These render the attention of the cultivator incessant ; in
fact, there is no rural occupation, at particular seasons of the
year, more onerous. The insect called by the French hanne-
ton (Scardbceus vitis), in two species, attacks the vine leaf in
the south, and does great mischief ; snails ; the puceron,
called larlot in Medoc, of a golden green colour ; also the
Cryptocephalus vitis, called by the French, among other
names, the writer (ecrivairi), because its track on the leaves
* Paragele'es, not paragreles ; the latter are hail-guards, or conductors, of
which mention is presently made. The paragel^e would be worth trial in British
gardens.
THE TIKE. 39
resembles letters. It sometimes disappears for years to-
gether, and then returns and commits fatal ravages. The
Rhyncliites lacchus and rulens lay eggs in the young leaves,
and the larvae prey upon them and the buds ; but it would
occupy too much room to designate each species, and the
methods adopted for their destruction, which are too often
but partially successful. At Xeres, vines are afflicted by a
worm which finds its way into the heart of the vine stalk,
and destroys whole vineyards. The remedy is to prune the
vines, leaving a knot on each branch cut off, as the insects
would enter the stock by the incision were it made too close.
The vine will grow in any soil which is not infected by
stagnant waters ; but it flourishes most in that which is dry,
light, and stony, or sandy. In the Arriege, in France, a rich
wine, like Tokay, is obtained from mountain-sides covered
with large stones, as if the cultivators had left all to nature.
Q-ood rich soils never produce even tolerable wine, for the
wine is not excellent in proportion to the size and luxuriance
of the plant, but rather the contrary. It is best as the soil is
lighter and drier. Porous soils, particularly those which are
chalky, produce the best wines, fresh and light. Volcanic
debris are congenial to the vine. In such soils it comes on
slowly, but once rooted it flourishes well. In short, the soil
which from dryness and lightness is scarcely fit for any other
culture, is best adapted for the grapes designed for wine
making, if it be either calcareous or volcanic.
The soils which are granitic, or mingled with decomposed
particles of that kind of rock, grow good wines. In Italy
and Sicily, the best vines grow among the rubbish of vol-
canoes. Any light, mixed, friable soil, in which water will
not lodge, is congenial to this plant. Such a soil on a hill-
side is certain, with a genial sun and climate, to yield wine.
On the quality of the soil, in every case, the nature of the
wine depends. *
Good vines do not grow well in close valleys where there
are rivers, if they are planted near them, though in vales
tolerably wide, where the sun can act with fervour, this is of
small moment, as in the Grironde, where about a league from
the river are the finest vineyards. Some circumstances rela-
tive to differences in the vine are singular. In one little
vineyard, that of Mont-Eachet, in Burgundy, hereafter men-
40 THE TINE.
tioned, the soil is the same, the aspect alike, the vines receive
the same care and culture, and the wine is made in the same
manner, and yet three varieties of wine are produced : one, of
the very first character, perfect, Mont-Eachet Alne; another,
far less perfect, Mont-Eachet Chevalier; while the third,
Mont-Eachet Bdtard, has rarely any of the qualities of the
first-named wine at all ! The cause seems inexplicable, un-
less one portion of the vines draws its nourishment from a
stratum which the others do not reach, and thus a different
quality attaches to the fruit from something which it obtains
from its own peculiar sources.
In ancient times the Eomans trained their high vines as
they now do in Tuscany, along palisades, or from tree
to tree. This mode is followed in some parts of southern
Prance. The vine is planted near a maple, a cherry-tree,
or an elm, sometimes with a single stem, sometimes with
two ; the vine is suffered to interlace itself with the
branches of the tree. The grapes are often shaded this way,
by the leaves above them, from the heat of the sun, and
do not reach maturity, so that the wine made from them is
acid and cold. When two stocks are planted, they are suf-
fered to grow up to the fork of the tree, and are then carried
in festoons to the neighbouring branches. Columella says,
the ancients planted six stocks to one tree ; but not more than
three are ever planted now. The trees were twenty feet
asunder, too, in ancient times, as is gathered from another
authority. It is found that by the present method the fruit
ripens well. The land is cultivated below with leguminous
vegetables : although no object can be more beautiful than a
vineyard planted in this manner, the product of the vines is
injured by the cultivation beneath, if too extensive. Most
persons believe that this is the mode adopted in all vineyards ;
hence they are disappointed on first seeing vineyards upon the
continent, particularly those of the north.
It happens in too many instances that the trees which sus-
tain the vines are irregularly planted ; some are too near each
other, and some too far off. In particular places a kind of
ladder work has been substituted for the trees, about eight
or nine feet in height, and placed about the same distance
asunder ; the vines are then led in festoons from one to the
other. At Weissemburgh they are trained in bowers, or
THE VINE. 41
upon palisades. The different methods are denominated in
Prance, that of the high stem training (tige haut), in oppo-
sition to the low (tige las) .
By far the greater part of the European vines, if not all
north of Provence, are of the low training, and, indeed, this
may be styled the general method in Prance, Germany, Swit-
zerland, and Hungary. Trellis work of arches is adopted in
Italy for most villa gardens. In the Campagna, and in
Lombardy, poles and trellis work are both used. The vines
on the hills are dressed in terraces, and wheat sown between.
The vines of Greece, Cyprus, and Candia, are seldom above
three feet high, but being very thick in the stalk, and grown
like pollards, they are left to themselves for support. In the
low mode of culture in various places there are methods
equally various adopted for propping the plant. The simplest
is the single prop, to which the vine about three feet high is
affixed. Another method is to train its branches one over
the other, like espalier fruit trees. The plants in some places
are so low as to be left to themselves ; or they are trained
along little rods in circles, or on low trellises near the ground,
and carried out horizontally. In Baden they are trained on
pyramids of poles, in a complex manner. The result of
experience is, that the high training by festoons is best
adapted to certain situations in warm climates, and the low
to those which are colder ; while the vines grown on a sandy
site may be left to run along the surface of the earth, though
this cannot be done to advantage in soil of any other quality.
Though most vine proprietors have their favourite species
of plant, yet many are not choice enough in this respect, and
manufacture wine from a dozen different kinds of grape
mingled together. The consequence is, that while some few
species ripen their fruit at the period of the vintage, others
in an unripe state find their way into the wine, and too often
impart tartness. It would be unsafe to hazard a vintage on
one species of vine alone ; but five or six kinds selected with
care would do away with this evil. It is from neglect of a
similar kind that vineyards become deteriorated.
The grape which furnishes the most saccharine matter
makes the best wine ; no other quality will remedy a defi-
ciency in sugar. The red fruit should be grown with the
white, in the proportion of three red to one white, where
42 THE YI2TE.
there is no attachment to deep colour rather than a more
delicate wine. The red grape contains the colouring prin-
ciple, the white is believed to impart the delicate flavour.
Vineyards are made in autumn, by which mode a year is
gained in the bearing ; and not only is there that advantage,
but many vines planted in spring fail entirely. In Erance
the vine is propagated by layers of buds, which are taken up
after the vintage, and by slips chosen from among the cuttings.
They are planted in lines, where the ground will admit, and
terrace fashion, one above another, where the declivity is
considerable. An interval of four or five feet is left between
each line of plants, which are so placed as not to range with
each other frontways. The vines from cuttings live longest, and
bear most fruit ; those from the layers shoot earliest. Crops
of vegetables are obtained in some districts from the space
between the rows the first year ; yet most kinds of vegetables
thus grown in vineyards are thought to impart a disagreeable
taste to the wine. Slips for propagating the vine, cut in
winter from kindly stocks, are tied in bundles. They are
immersed in a miry soil for seven or eight days, and planted
in spring in a slanting direction.
The ground of a vineyard is dressed in different ways,
according to the custom of the cultivator and the nature of
the soil. If it be dry and sandy it is sometimes deeply raked.
Many vine growers use the plough between the vine, and
some substitute the hoe; pickaxes of various shapes are
adopted in particular places, the spade, and even the pitch-
fork. On steep slopes the ground is turned over or raked
in a diagonal direction. "Weeds must be hoed up, and a
hollow left round the roots of the vine in young plantations
to retain the moisture ; in fact, the earlier years of a vine
plantation require great and incessant attention. Though
the ground must be kept clear of weeds in light soils, the
earth is not turned up to any depth from the surface. Over-
labouring at the soil is prejudicial, while everything must be
accommodated to the nature of the stratum below. In Spain,
and in some parts of the Lyonnais, the ground is left in its
natural state, when the roots are imbedded in a rocky super-
ficies slightly covered with vegetable matter. Three or four
times a year, in certain districts, the ground is laboured, and
in others many times more.
THE VINE. 43
"Wlien vines are dressed it must be with great judgment in
the choice of material. March is the best time for dressing
vines, but litter is never to be used for that purpose. Pigeon's
dung is in high esteem. The scouring of ditches or roads is
excellent. Ashes on some soils are considered useful ; but
the nature of the soil of the vineyard must settle the com-
post to be used when it is required at all. Lupines in some
parts of France are sown among vines, and buried when in
flower round their roots, where they decay ; a practice found
to be of singular utility to the crops. A good dressing may
be obtained in various old earths from meadows or woods, of
a different quality from those of the vineyard ; one dressing
of this kind will last ten years, and keep the vine in bearing.
After all, the judgment of the cultivator must decide on the
compost most suitable to the situation. Many obstinately
use rich dressing in a considerable quantity, and injure the
fruit. The wine made from vines so treated is apt to turn
ropy, and be ill-flavoured. The leaves in a year or two ac-
quire a yellow tint, the stems decay, and there is no resource
but to renew the vineyard. A moderate dressing only should
be given. The decayed branches of the vine itself, the
simple leaves of most vegetable substances, such as broom,
briar, thorn, lucerne, and several kinds of grasses are observed
to fertilise the vine. Marine weeds must be used very
sparingly, so must animal manure. That of birds alone is
found to be beneficial. The Portuguese and French agree in
their experience of the substances useful or detrimental for
vine dressing. Some of the finest dry wines are grown where
no dressing is ever used, especially where the soil is calca-
reous. For sweet wines the dressing is not so carefully re-
gulated when used at all. A little road mud, old vegetable
earth, and the calcareous wreck of ruined houses, sparingly
used once in five years, are said to have proved beneficial in
Grermany.
Next to the soil and care of the cultivator the season is of
importance. A cold wet season, as already stated, is inju-
rious ; the grapes produced being insipid. The prevalence of
high winds is a source of mischief, and lastly, too high a tem-
perature for long periods together. The favourable season is
that which allows the vine to flower in calm, warm, dry wea-
ther, followed by soft showers just as the fruit begins to form,
44 THE TINE.
and when the heat desirable in the lasb stage for bringing
it to full maturity is uniform, and uninterrupted by hu-
midity.
Vines may be regenerated. This operation in France is
performed by what is called provignage and couchage. In the
first mode, the-worn out or weak plants are removed and
their places filled with provins from the stronger ones, the
old vines being laid in the ground. Only two or three of the
younger shoots are suffered to appear above the surface.
This should be done in autumn in a warm climate, in a cold
one, in February. After the layer takes it is cut from the
old stock, which dies off after becoming the root of two or
three young plants. In this mode vineyards are often
wholly renewed by burial every fourteen or fifteen years. The
coucliage differs in some respects from the former method,
but has the same object : the tine is laid in the ground from
December till March, but not till the buds appear. Old
vines are frequently dug up and cleared, and again planted,
by which they receive great benefit.
The vines are pruned three times before they bear fruit,
when this operation is again repeated. In pruning there are
rules to be observed, dictated by experience, which are too
copious to detail. The pruning is directed more especially to
the objects of the proprietor as to present or protracted
Erofit. In hot climates pruning takes place just before the
ill of the leaf, and that is considered the best period. In the
northern and middle districts of France, the first or second
week in March is by most growers deemed an eligible time.
The vine is frequently pruned with an instrument made on
purpose, which accelerates the operation, and prevents the
branches from being bruised. Besides pruning, the vines are
deprived of a portion of their buds, to increase the size of
the fruit; to do this well is considered a work of judgment;
and it is generally undertaken immediately after the flowers
are put forth.
The vine, as already shown, is not always propped, though
in the North of Europe this is generally the practice. The
time chosen is after the first labouring of the ground in
spring, before budding takes place, care being taken to avoid
injuring the roots. The vines are tied to the props in a par-
ticular manner, with oziers if attached to a single prop ; or if
THE YTffE. 45
to espaliers or props placed palisade fashion, with straw bands.
"Whichever mode is adopted, it should be undertaken just
as the vine has done flowering. There is also an operation
styled clipping, which is performed by taking off certain
shoots above the joints ; the object of this is to increase the
flavour of the fruit, and it requires great care in the perform-
ance. In Cyprus the ground is hollowed in a cup-like form
round the plant, to retain the moisture, and reflect the heat,
a certain degree of humidity being needful at the proper
season.
In order to hasten the maturing of the grape, and increase
its good qualities, recourse is frequently had, where wine is
carefully made, to the annular incision. A tight band of iron
wire has been adopted in Italy and in Germany for this pur-
pose. The practice of incision is supposed to have been
known to the ancients, to have been lost in the middle ages,
and again resumed at the beginning of the eighteenth cen-
tury. The method in Italy is to loosen a band of the bark
all round the branch, or stem, a little time before the plant
flowers. The operation is performed only when a wet or cold
season would prevent the setting of the fruit, six or eight
days before the flowering, as damp seasons make harsh or in-
sipid ascesceiit wine. Incision may take place on the old or
young wood. The breadth is from a line to an inch. The
vine leaves soon show a tint of advancing maturity. Nature
generally clothes the naked part of the stem with a substance
from between the bark and the body above, which replaces
the bark taken away. If this does not happen, the vine dies
above where the incision was made, and fresh shoots yield
fruit from, below. Maturity is advanced from ten to fifteen
days by the annular incision, according to the French cultiva-
tors of the Cote d'Or and TTonne. It is performed there
with an instrument made for the purpose. In some coun-
tries, on young trees -a hempen string, steeped in oil, is
used.
The age to which the vine bears well is from sixty to seventy
years, or more, and in the common course of things it is six
or seven before it is in full bearing. In parts of the Grironde
department in France, the vine does not bear well beyond
forty years. In others, on a sandy soil, it will live and bear
well to one hundred and fifty, or more. Bosc says, a vine in
46 THE VINE.
Burgundy had reached four hundred years, and in some
Italian vineyards plants three centuries old still nourish and
bear. The ancients gave the vine a longevity of six hundred
years. The loss of time in bearing may be obviated by graft-
ing on the stocks, or rather roots. There are two or three
different modes of doing this. By that commonly adopted
in the Bordelais, a whole vineyard may be grafted for three
francs per cent, of the successful grafts, to the workman, and
he will graft two hundred vines or more in a day. Vegeta-
tion proceeds slowly until July, when the shoots almost dart
forth, and grapes are produced for the same year's vintage.
The operation is simple but curious, and in saving time to the
grower is of the utmost importance, besides husbanding his
capital.
There is yet another operation to which the vine is made
to submit, in order to improve the quality of the fruit, and
that is taking off the leaves. This is adopted only in humid
seasons, or situations in the North. In the Calabrias, and
south of Italy, they are obliged to have recourse to the oppo-
site mode, and shade their vines with fern from the too-fer-
vent heat of the solar rays.
It is not possible to make the reader comprehend the minute
distinction between one variety of vine and another, by any
verbal description. In many countries there is one prevailing
kind which remains the favourite, as in the south of Spain,
where the variety called Pedro Ximenes is that with a large
proportion of which the wines most valued are made. It was
first brought to Malaga by a person of that name, two hundred
and fifty years ago. The skin is fine, and the fruit exceed-
ingly sweet. An idea may be formed of the variety of Spa-
nish vines, and the slight distinction there is between them,
when Eoxas Clemente describes one hundred and twenty
species in Andalusia and Grenada alone. Besides the Pedro
Ximenes, there is Uva de Hey, a white variety with a fine
skin. The Mbllar black, ripening early. It is generally
planted in the arenas, or sandy soil, sometimes to the propor-
tion of a third, in the vineyards near Xeres. The Tern-
grana, a valuable species, from the name an early ripener. It
is white, and is the same with the common List an of Xeres.
It is also an eating grape, and is much used in sweet wines.
The Layren, white, cultivated at Malaga. The Doradilla,
THE YltfE. 47
white, used in Malaga for wine and raisins, and often mixed
for wine with the Pedro Ximenes. The Larga, white. The
Jaen, white and late in ripening ; it yields much brandy. The
Bueno, white. The Moscatel Gordo is the large white mus-
catel from which the best Malaga raisins come. There is
also the small white muscatel, or Moscatel Menudo JBlanco,
the Mantuo Castillan, of a fine grey skin, the Marbelli and Co-
Mel; aH these last more esteemed for eating than for making
wine. Crescenzio, when he wrote his " Opus ruralium com-
modorum," reckoned forty species of vine in Italy in the
thirteenth century. In France, the kinds most noted are the
early black Morillon, of two varieties, the Madeleine, white,
and the vine of Ischia, the first originally from Italy. The
vine of Ischia produces fine fruit as high north as lat. 48.
It is supposed to have reached Italy from Ohio. Then there
is the Meunier, the earliest bearing species known. The black
Bourguignon, or Franc Pineau ; the Pineau blanc, noir, dore,
vert; the Teinturier, or great Garnet, and the little Garnet; the
pearl grape ; the violet Cornichon ; the white Griset; the white
Morillon; Pique-poule gris ; the white Moiirnain; the Muscat;
the Chasselas, originally from Cyprus ; the Cioutat ; the black
grape of Corinth ; the Aleppo grape ; the Vionnier, grown at
Condrieu with the Shiraz, or Scyras grape, said to have been
brought from Persia, from whence the hermitage vines are
taken. Then there is the Muscat noir and violet, the Isabelle,
an American variety, with a raspberry flavour, the white
Verdet, the black Muscade. The Sowvignan of the Grironde,
white ; Barsac, Sauterne, and the Graves, are planted with
this variety, and two or three other white species. The Li-
verdun, of the department of La Meurthe, wonderfully pro-
ductive, yielding at all times twice as much as other vines,
and in good seasons sometimes two thousand five hundred
gallons to the English acre. It is a black species. The Car-
binet, of two kinds, has a high reputation in the Grironde, also
a black species. In Provence they have the Passe, or Panse, a
white species, with a tender skin ; the Arignan, white ; the
Bouteillant, black, a hardy kind ; and the Urunfourcat, which
gives excellent wine. The Muscat of Bivesaltes, of which
there are three species : the Gouais, which has several other
names ; the Verjus ; the Macaleo, from whence a sweet wine
is made in the country; the violet Corinth; and numerous
48 THE TINE.
others. Hervey's catalogue of the Luxemburgh collection,
published in 1812, reckons of the black oval sorts, thirty-
seven ; black round, ninety-eight ; white oval, forty-four ;
white round, seventy-three; grey or violet oval, five; grey
or violet round, ten ; in all, two hundred and twenty-three.
The Botanic Garden of Montpelier has five hundred and
sixty varieties. Columella reckons fifty-eight varieties an-
ciently, in his book De re Rustica; Herrera, fifteen essential
species in Spain; Duhamel, fourteen species, with distinct
marks adapted to the French soil ; while in respect to minute
differences in species, no less than nineteen were counted by
Dumont, in one vineyard at Arbois.
In the Grironde seven kinds are grown for white wine alone.
The Pineau, and its varieties, afford the wines of Burgundy
and Champagne. There are eighteen varieties. Hermitage,
as before observed, is produced from the Scyras, or Shiraz
grape. The Cote Eotie comes from the Serine.
In Madeira there are many varieties of the vine ; and it is
there planted in rows. At the Cape of Grood Hope it is
planted in the same way, and there are several varieties of the
plant. At Madeira, the VerdelJio seems to recal the French
Verdot ; there is also a species called Tinto, from the Spanish
Tintilla. The grape of Candia, as already stated, was planted
there from the East. A French grape from near Orleans pro-
duces, on the Ehine, some of the best Grerman wines. Then
there is the Traminer with a small berry, sweet, and fond of
a marly soil. It is sometimes used with two parts of the
J&iesling, a favourite species. The Kleiriberger is seldom
used for good wine. The Orleans, Riesling, and Traminer
produce the finer wines. The Kleinberger is sometimes grown
on trellis work to shelter the other vines. It is a good dessert
fruit. But it is useless to occupy further room with this
topic ; the foregoing sketch will suffice, generally, for a sub-
ject on which much more might be written.
It is clear that the species of vine chosen should be
adapted to the peculiar nature of the soil, country, and cli-
mate in which it is planted. Too often this affinity is over-
looked ; the custom of the province or country, or the ca-
price of the proprietor, overruling the more rational and
scientific method of adaptation. Very celebrated wines are
produced in vineyards where the species of plant is by no
THE VINE. 49
means held in the best repute. There appear to be anoma-
lies in the vine, and the making of wine, which require more
acute observers to explain than have yet written upon the
cultivation of the plant, and the process of maturing its
produce.
It is impossible to determine what particular circumstances
cause those alterations in the nature of the vine which occa-
sion its varieties. There is an obvious difference in the pro-
duce of vines grown upon particular soils, but they do not
alter sensibly the character of the plant. The vines grown
upon calcareous or chalky soils are not exclusively designated,
any more than such as nourish upon those which are volcanic,
and therefore they cannot be thus classified. The best dry
wines seem to be intimately connected by nature with a soil
more or less calcareous ; the sweet are not thus remarked,
but provided there be sun enough to mature or shrivel the
grape, are produced on every kind of soil. Change of climate
may alter the nature of the fruit, but the ground favourable
to the plant generally is favourable to each variety, as gra-
velly, rocky, or sandy spots, whether in the north or south.
It is allowed by the French that there is much knowledge
yet to be acquired respecting the vine, its adaptation to
particular situations, and certain mysteries in its bearing.
They do not themselves pretend to know much upon the sub-
ject ; and if they are not among the initiated, it is in vain to
look further for information, since nearly all we know of the
vine and its generous produce that is worth knowing is the
fruit of their experience and communication.
There is no part of the vine which is not applied to some
useful purpose. In Switzerland the leaves are used for me-
dicinal or surgical cures. In cuts and green wounds they
are esteemed a sovereign remedy. Decoctions of the juice of
the leaves are used in poultices with great advantage. The
leaves afford an agreeable tea, requiring more sugar than that
of China; it is observed greatly to strengthen the nerves.
The primings, well bruised and pressed, yield excellent
vinegar. The leaves and tendrils bruised, and the juice fer-
mented, give a pleasant light drink of a vinous character.
On this head the late Dr. Macculloch has treated fully in his
work on British wines. The leaves are also excellent food for
cows, sheep, and hogs, when other food is scarce ; but they
E
50 THE TIKE.
are of so much more importance in the vineyard that they are
rarely spared for that purpose. "When thus applied, they
must not be taken till they begin to fall off. They must then
be gathered, put in a dry place, and if salted, pressed, and left
to ferment, so much the better. In some places they are
stratified with straw, and afford still more excellent fodder.
Animals are sometimes turned into the vineyards after the
vintage, to browse upon the leaves.
What are called the " tears of the vine" are a limpid dis-
tillation of the sap at the time the plant begins budding.
The same liquid will make its appearance on the slightest
wound. The latter is injurious, but the former is a necessary
emanation. The " tears of the vine" are thought in some
places to be possessed of valuable properties in keeping off
disorders. The liquid is collected in a bottle. The end of a
shoot being cut off, it is bent into a circle without break-
ing, and inserted in the neck : in a few days the bottle is
filled. Vine branches furnish potash and salts when burned ;
basket-work is fabricated from them, and the bark is used for
bands to tie the vin.es to the props. The Glermans not only
procure wine from the grape, and dry the fruit for raisins,
but they distil brandy from the skins or murk, use the
sweeter unfermented juice for syrup in place of sugar, and
extract an oil from the pips. The pips are collected before
the skins ferment, dried, and broken in an oil-mill. The oil
is used for domestic purposes, and for burning. The skins,
when pasturage is scarce, are given to oxen, but not to cows,
as it affects the quality of their milk.
A plant so useful, it need be matter of no surprise, has its
superstitious applications. Not only do the leaves decorate
the hair of the village girls in some of the southern vine
countries, but the mode of plucking them, under certain
spells, is thought to discover to the vintage lasses the truth
or falsehood of their lovers.
This chapter might be extended ; but as the cultivation of
the grape for wine is of no moment in England, the general
outline of the plan pursued is sufficient to satisfy curiosity
upon the subject.
It is not commonly known that the tendrils of the vine
may be made to produce fruit. By cutting off branches near
the place from which the tendrils spring, in a short time
THE VINE. 51
small nobs make their appearance. These nobs become
grapes, equal in excellence to any on the tree. This dis-
covery was made by a gentleman of Strasburg. If report
say true, the experiment has been frequently tried by other
persons since, and found to succeed.
This must suffice, as old G-ower says,
Of howe men should set vines,
And of the grape make wines ;
which wine-making is described in the next chapter.
[The smaller Wine Press.]
CHAPTEE III.
OF THE VINTAGE.
MATURITY OF THE GRAPE MODE OF GATHERING PRESSING TREATMENT
IN THE VAT COURSE OF FERMENTATION SUBSEQUENT OPERATIONS.
THE vintage is the next important operation connected with
the vine after the cares of the dresser are over. Not only
do the opinions of individuals in wine countries differ very
widely upon the management of the vintage, but in some the
period of the gathering is regulated by authority. In France
this barbarous custom still continues in many districts, the
prefets of departments, or sous-prefets, and even the mayors
of the communes, who may, or may not, know anything
about the matter, issue the order for the vintage to com-
mence, as if the vine grower were not the best judge of the
state of his own produce, and did not know when his pro-
perty was in the best order for yielding him a profitable re-
THE YINTAGE. 53
turn. The consequence of this relic of feudal outrage upon
property and free will is, that the -vintage being seldom fixed
in a proper manner, the fruit after all cannot be collected at
once ; for while in one place it is matured, in another it is
far short of the necessary degree of ripeness. The proper
moment for gathering the grape is agreed to be when the
pellicle is thin and transparent, not breaking easily between
the teeth ; when the colour is deep ; if the grape be white
when it takes a grey tint ; if red when it puts on a dark
colour, or if violet a deep black. The stems of the clusters,
when they have become in substance like wood, losing their
green hue, and resembling the main branches of the vine in
texture, are another sign ; and, finally, when from the pen-
dant cluster the grape gives way readily, the fruit, particularly
in the South, shrivelling up from the sun's action, if required
for the sweet and luscious wines. These signs are observed
in the South of Europe about the end of September, or com-
mencement of October.* In the North the fear of autumnal
frosts, which injure the unripe grape, makes the seizure of
the exact moment proper for the vintage a matter of great
importance. In Hungary the vintage terminates generally
before the middle of November, but sometimes later, when
frost announces the approach of winter. The vines are then
cut. The props are removed, the prunings carried away, and
the whole vine-stock laid with its branches along the ground,
and covered a foot deep in earth, if possible, before the first
snow falls.
The time of the vintage being fixed, the gathering is begun
as early in the day as possible after the sun has dissipated
the dew. The red grape is generally ripe before the white.
In the North they are not so particular respecting the dry-
ness of the fruit when gathered as in the South ; in fact, it is
often gathered in the north of Prance with the dew upon it.
The gathering is uniformly continued with as much rapidity
as possible, if the weather continue fair, so as to terminate
the pressing in one day. If this cannot be done the vintage
is suspended; for the fermentation in a warm, or even a
* So our poet Spenser:
Then came October fall of merry glee,
Nor yet his noule was totty of the must,
Which he was treading in the wine-fat's sea,
And of the joyous oil.
54 THE VINTAGE.
moderate temperature, is far more energetic than in cold
damp weather. It ruins the durability of the wine if the
fruit be gathered and fermented at such a time. In Spain
the vintage lasts for several weeks, so as to ensure maturity
to all the grapes, beginning in September, and ending some-
times not until the close of October. The fermentation
takes place only in the casks, vats not being employed in an
operation so prolonged.
The clusters in some countries are cut off the plant with a
knife. In France the scissors is used, by which the stems of
the bunches are rapidly severed. In ruder countries the
hand only is applied, a mode injurious to the grape as well as
to the vine. The most approved plan is to make three sepa-
rate gatherings of the fruit. The first includes all the finest
and ripest bunches. The green or rotten grapes, or such as
have been eaten into by insects, are cleared from the clusters,
which are then carefully carried home. The second gathering
implies naturally a second pressing. The grapes are not quite
as ripe as for the first. The last gathering and pressing con-
sists of the inferior grapes. The gathered bunches are depo-
sited as lightly as possible, to prevent the fruit from being
bruised. All dry or spoiled grapes are cast aside, where
proper care is used, or fine and delicate wine is to be made.
Each labourer places his gathering in an ozier basket, or in a
sort of wooden dosser, borne by another labourer with the least
possible motion. In France, in the department of the Marne,
the fruit is carried on horseback, and covered with cloths.
The grapes in the better vine districts are plucked from the
bunches ; in the others placed entire in the press, steins and
alL The best grapes only are used for making the best kind
of wine. The astringent principle lodged in the stems is
thought to be beneficial, and to impart to the wine a capacity
of endurance. "When the grapes are picked off it is only for
red wine, and is generally performed by the hand. "White
wine grapes are rarely picked from the clusters. In Spain all
the grapes, even for the best sherries, are flung into the press
together ; nothing but their being at perfect maturity is re-
garded. In G-ermany, in the Eheingau, the bunches of fruit
are cut off, and sometimes bruised with clubs in place of
being trodden. The press is frequently used as far as to
the fourth time.
THE TINT AGE. 55
"Where a vine grower has land producing different qualities
of fruit, he mingles his produce according to the wine he de-
sires to make. Light, or stony soils, yield a bright wine, of
a fine bouquet. The fruit from a different soil, by blending
the grapes together, may produce a wine more desirable for
other qualities, observing that growths of the first quality
must alone be intermingled. No improvement can ever take
place by mingling good wine with that of inferior quality.
Perfect wine can only be made by superior combinations.
Delicacy, colour, aroma, bouquet, transparency, are only to
be retained by a strict adherence to this rule. A cloudy
wine, of little merit, is the result of a good mingled with an
inferior growth.
In making white wine, it is desirable that the grapes should
be bruised or shaken as little as possible on the way to the
press ; for when the contrary happens, the colour will infal-
libly be disengaged from the skin, and the wine will be what
is called "partridge eye," and not white. E-ed wines are
bruised or trodden previously to pressing, to disengage the
colour from the skin, which is so much avoided in making
the white wines. After treading they are thrown into the
vat, the colour disengages itself, and the press is applied to
the murk.
Grapes were anciently trodden out after being exposed on
a level floor to the action of the solar rays for ten days, and
were then placed in the shade for five days more, in order to
mature the saccharine matter. This practice is still followed
in certain cases in one or two of the islands of the Greek
Archipelago ; at St. Lucar in Spain, in Italy, at least in
Calabria, and in a few of the north-eastern departments of
Erance. The fermentation is facilitated greatly by this pro-
cess. In some parts of France a labourer with sabots treads
the grapes out as they come from the vineyard in a square
box, having holes in the bottom, placed over a vat a very
barbarous method. The murk is then removed, and he pro-v
ceeds with fresh grapes, until the vat beneath is full. Some-
times they are squeezed in troughs, by naked men getting
into the vats, using both sabots and 'hands at once. In
other places the press is first used, under which the bunches
of grapes are placed, and the must is pressed out ; but it is
found that by this mode the grapes oppose a resistance so
56 THE VINTAGE.
strong as to render the operation tedious. A bebter mode
than treading has been adopted, not unfrequently, in Prance.
Two wooden cylinders, turning in opposite directions, are
employed to crush the fruit. There is a still more complete
invention of a machine by M. Acher, of Chartres, which does
not permit a single grape to escape its action.
The wine-press differs in construction in different coun-
tries. There are several forms. It has already been ob-
served, that for red wine the grapes are trodden before they
are pressed, to disengage the colouring matter from the skins ;
and that in making white wine this operation is never per-
formed. In either case, when the press is applied, the first
pressing is despatched as quickly as possible. Of presses,
there are commonly the small and the large. The first is a
simple screw-press, furnished with blocks of wood, to replace
the void when the murk has been pressed nearly to its ut-
most. This common press is easily understood. Instead,
however, of placing the bar which turns the screw in a hole
in the screw itself, it is frequently omitted altogether. A
wheel, of a diameter as large as the space between the cheeks
of the press will allow, is substituted, the circumference of
which is grooved to receive a rope, that it may act in the way
a rope acts upon a drum, in mining machinery. One end of
this rope is attached to a capstan, with a wheel of larger dia-
meter, forming the circumference of half a dozen spokes,
which are the levers. The rope from the press being wound
round the main tree of the capstan, is turned by men at
the extremity of the radii, and consequently exerts an im-
mense power upon the murk. Others, having the wheel
fixed to the screw, are worked by the spokes. Presses are
generally of oak, about eight feet square. Some have two
screws. Most of the presses used in wine countries might be
greatly improved in the workmanship. In Spain they are
very rude, many being mere levers ; while in certain districts
portable ones are employed, carried from vineyard to vine-
yard.
The plank which rests on the lower part of the press on
which the grapes are placed, is called the maye in France.
It is furrowed, and slopes a little for the wine to run forwards,
where one channel conveys it into a vat sunk in the ground.
"When the press is heaped as high as is thought necessary,
THE YINTAGE. 57
three pieces, or rather beams of wood, are placed upon the
grapes parallel with the side of the press one in the middle,
and one at each extremity of the heap, on which rest thick
planks, their ends towards the cheeks. Upon these again
rest transverse beams, and over them the beam attached to
the screw comes down.
At first the press is used gently, that the wine may not
overflow. The pressure is then gradually increased, until the
murk is moderately acted upon. This is the first pressing.
The grapes that did not sustain pressure being scattered over
the edges of the heap, are now gathered up, the press relaxed,
and being placed upon the murk, the press is tightened again.
The wine from this is called of the second pressing. The
edges of the whole mass are now squared down with a cut-
ting instrument, so that the mass of fruit is reduced to the
form of an immense oblong cake, upon which the cuttings
of the edges are heaped, and the press worked again, which
makes wine of the third pressing, or, as the wine maker calls
it, " wine of the first cutting." The pressing and cutting
are repeated two or three times, and what liquid flows is
called among the labourers wine of the second or third cut-
ting. Last of all, the murk is frequently steeped to make
piquette or small wine for the labourers. At Ay, in Cham-
pagne, the press is used with great power, and the murk is
as hard as a board.
The wine of the first pressing is always kept apart from the
rest, especially when the season is hot, and the fruit ripe.
It would be apt to take a red colour if mixed with wine of
the second pressing, when it is designed to make white wine.
There are seasons, however, when it is useful to mingle the
first and second pressings. The third, in Prance, must
never be mixed with the two first. In Spain, the agua pies,
or last pressing, is often mingled with the first, although
a jar or two of water has been flung upon the murk between
the pressings.
The larger of the wine-presses consists of a screw, acting
upon the extremity of two immense levers. "It is capable of
making no less than twenty-five pieces of wine in four hours.
"Where vineyards are extensive, as it is desirable to press the
produce of the gathering in one day, however much in quan-
tity, this press is useful ; but it is the instrument for making
58 THE TINT AGE.
a large quantity of secondary wine, rather than a little of a
choice character, and is used principally by the larger vine
growers. There is one species of 'wine made without beat-
ing, treading, or pressing ; this is what they call in Spain
" lagrima" The grapes melting with ripeness, are suspended
in bunches, and the wine is the produce of the droppings.
This can only be effected with the muscatel grape of the
warm South. In this way the richest Malaga is made. In
Cyprus the grapes are beaten with mallets on an inclined
plane of marble, with a reservoir either at the side or at
one end.
The vats are always cleaned and put in order by the time
the vintage commences, in those countries where due regard
is had to the character of the wine. The fermentation,
carried on in barrels in Spain, in France and Q-ermany, is
effected in vats more or less capacious. Some wash their
vats with particular substances. Yats made of stone are
washed with layers of quick-lime, to saturate the malic acid
existing in the must. Many wash the vats with warm water
if they are made of wood ; or with brandy, decoctions of aro-
matic plants, salt water, boiling must, and similar liquids.
The practice of using quick-lime for this purpose is very
liable to injure the wine.
The quicker the succeeding operation is effected the better
is the wine. To this end each vat is filled on the same day,
wherever the process is well understood ; but they are not
quite filled up, lest the must should ferment over. Vats of
a very large size are not often employed in cold climates,
where the seasons are hazardous, because they take too long
a time to fill. In warm climates, the larger the vat the more
active is the fermentation.
Fermentation is the mysterious change of certain vegetable
matters, when separated from the vital stem, and about to
form new combinations. It is rendered active by warmth,
while it is retarded by cold. The great principle is the sac-
charine, without which it would be in vain to expect the
process to be perfect. Yet the saccharine principle will
remain inactive, unless it be combined with other vegetable
matter in due quantity to effect the result desired. A relative
proportion of sugar must combine with the substances thus
necessary. An attempt has been made to ascertain, by an
THE VINTAGE. 59
instrument, when fermentation is perfect, but its success is
doubtful, and of the precise time experience alone still re-
mains the judge.
Certain substances are absolutely necessary to be present
to effect those changes, without which nature is inert, and
no process goes forward. The materials necessary to fermen-
tation are five in number ; for although chemical skill may
detect fractional parts of other substances, they are not
essential, and only those which are readily distinguishable
are necessary, as hereafter enumerated. Other matters, ob-
vious to the observer in wine, do not belong to this mys-
terious natural process, and may be altered, omitted, or
destroyed, without affecting it. Such are colour, flavour,
and the astringent quality communicated by tannin from the
bruised stones or pips of the fruit.
This subject may be interrupted for a moment to add that
there is in wines an essential oil, not known except to che-
mists. It has been met with in decomposing spirit of wine
with sulphuric acid. Two parts and a half of sulphuric acid
poured upon one of anhydrous alcohol is a mode of procuring
it. It resembles peppermint in smell, and is soluble in alcohol
or ether. Of its composition nothing certain is yet known.
The sugar of the grape and of the cane are different. It
is the first species that effects vinous fermentation in the
natural mode. This species of sugar is the sweet principle
in honey, and therefore sugar of honey and sugar of the
grape not being the same in quality, this last is the only
kind which should be added to the produce of the wine
when sugar happens to be deficient in the must, or in making
home wines from garden fruits. It is the sugar of the grape
that prevails in our wall-fruit, when ripe, and not that of the
cane. This ought to be borne in mind, as it may have a con-
siderable effect on the flavour of wine artificially made.
Sugar of grapes consists of
37-37 carbon
6 % 7 8 hydrogen
56*51 oxygen
Sugar of the cane consists of
44'78 carbon
6'40 hydrogen
48'82 oxygen
-100-66 parts 100 parts.
The sugar of grapes will not go into fermentation so
quickly as the sugar of the cane, and this is one reason why it
should be always adopted in preference for aiding the fer-
mentation artificially. This sugar is procurable from starch
60 THE TINT AGE.
by a simple chemical process, and may be obtained more easily
still from honey.
The temperature of twelve degrees of Beaumur, or fifty-
nine of Fahrenheit, is most conducive to the success of this
process ; and therefore, when the weather retards the fermen-
tation, it is customary in the North to add hot must to hasten
its progress ; this must is not allowed to remain on the fire
longer than to obtain the highest degree of heat possible
without actual ebullition. If the season has been cold, sugar
in a small quantity is sometimes added to the must, if the
saccharine matter be deficient; shoots of peach or almond
trees, or a handful or two of dry elder flowers, are also added.
The must is stirred and agitated, and then covered up. In
many places the mode of management is different from this,
but not materially so. In warm weather, when fermenta-
tion proceeds naturally with sufficient rapidity, no artificial
methods are taken to expedite it, as in the South of Europe.
Even in the North, when the season is propitious, the fer-
mentation is best left to nature.
Vinous fermentation begins in a few hours, or may be
retarded several days, especially if there be no communication
between the must and the atmosphere ; for though wine will
ferment when excluded from atmospherical communication,
it then ferments exceedingly slow. Some erroneously contend
that the wine thus treated is better, and keeps its bouquet in
higher perfection.
Sugar, vegetable extract, tartaric and malic acid, and water,
are ingredients in the composition of wine ; and as they vary
in quantity in the fruit, different results are produced on the
must undergoing fermentation. First, then, sugar is a great
ingredient in fermentation, making the larger part of the
product of the matured grape. This substance exists pure in
the fruit, and also combined with a vegetable matter which is
supposed by experienced chemists to be the great fermenta-
tive agent, having a near resemblance to albumen, or the
glutinous matter observed in wheat, in which the substance
called azote has been discovered. It is to the amount of
sugar in the grape that the alcohol, or, as it might in future
for distinctness' sake be called, the brandy, has relation in
quantity, and consequently the body or strength of the wine.
In fermentation the sugar is decomposed and the brandy
THE VINTAGE. 61
formed. In order, however, to make the process effective,
the sugar must be combined with another agent, which is the
leaven or fermenting principle ; this is the substance just men-
tioned, and enumerated above under the title of, secondly,
"vegetable extract," which acts in the process of vegetable
fermentation throughout every species of substance submitted
to the operation. Azote is present in the substance, which is
so analogous to the albumen in wheat. "Whether azote is es-
sential to fermentation is undecided by chemists : most likely
not. The extract is found in beer, cider, and in all ferment-
ing liquors universally. Thirdly, tartaric acid, or crude tartar.
This is as essential as sugar in the manufacture of wine. In
dry wines tartar much more predominates than in sweet ;
in these last the sugar predominates. Wines grown in the
South, and of highly matured fruit, cannot, from the want
of tartar, be made dry, but are always sweet, because the pro-
portions of sugar and tartar are out of due relation. Tartar,
in a certain quantity, is necessary in the production of
brandy or alcohol, but in what degree no satisfactory experi-
ment has yet decided. It is to the presence of tartar that
wine owes its superiority over other fermented beverages.
Tartar, however, must be connected with the last-mentioned
substance to proceed into fermentation. The fourth ingre-
dient discovered in wine is malic acid, but not in a large
quantity. It is to saturate this acid, which is injurious to
wine, that, where it is discovered to abound, gypsum, or
plaster of Paris, as it is vulgarly called in some places, is
sprinkled over the grapes in the operation of making, from
the known affinity of the acid for that substance. It is in-
jurious to wine in proportion to the quantity of it present.
The fifth ingredient in making wine is water, in a due pro-
portional degree. Too much water impedes the progress of
fermentation, and renders the wine weak; and too little is
equally prejudicial to the balance of the component parts of
the substances yielding good wine.
If on fermentation a just proportion of tartar does not
appear, a dry wine will not be the product ; for in the rich
luscious wines there is the smaller quantity of tartar, the
great richness of the grape occasioning the saccharine matter
to be in excess. This difference in the fruit is caused by the
climate and sun, and the excessive ripeness of the grape, even
62 THE YINTAGKE.
to the shrivelling of the skin in some cases. Thus the rich
sweet grape of the climate of Malaga, in which sugar abounds,
as may be expected, produces a wine very different from
Burgundy, where the tartaric and saccharine principles are
perhaps nearly on an equality. In the Malaga wine the sugar
is not all decomposed in fermentation ; in Burgundy it is
wholly so. The saccharine matter is in dry wines wholly
changed by fermentation into spirit, or brandy, from simple
vinous fermentation. This is most probably not the case with
the luscious Southern wines, or they would be much more
spirituous than they are. Distillation, however, shows the
quantity of alcohol that may be obtained from them to be
much greater than from the wines of the North. In France,
the wines of the Cote d'Or, or Burgundy, give only one-
eighth of their weight in the brandy of Commerce on distilla-
tion; those of the Grironde, or Bordelais, a fifth; while a
generous wine of the Drome yields a third part of spirit.
The second fermentation in the cask is a miniature repeti-
tion of that in the vat. A precipitation again takes place,
and the wine is afterwards racked. A third, called the insen-
sible fermentation, continues for a long period after the wine
appears as perfect as art can mature it. Time, which mellows
the harshness of the wine, blends more intimately the compo-
nent parts, while all extraneous matter and the tartar are
thrown down, adhering to the sides of the cask. It seldom
happens that the wines of the South become acid, because the
saccharine principle is more powerful, from the action of the
warmer sun, than in those of the North ; but this will be
noticed further on.
Fermentation in the vat is at first what is called " tumul-
tuous;" the carbonic gas ascends in bubbles to the surface
with a hissing noise, and a scum is formed on the surface,
consisting of the lighter portions of the impurities of the
wine. Heat is evolved ; the temperature of the wine increases
to ninety or a hundred degrees. At length the vinous odour
is perceived, and the fermentation ceasing, all is quiet as at
first.
Those wines which effervesce (vim mousseuoc) are impreg-
nated deeply with carbonic acid gas, from their being drawn
off before fermentation is complete. This gas disengages
itself from all kinds of wine during the process of fermenta-
THE TINT AGE. 63
tion, and when it ceases to do so the wine becomes limpid,
and the taste is purely vinous. The first period of fermenta-
tion is one of great disturbance in the must, over the surface
of which is collected what the French call the cJiapeau the
head, or crust, which swells upward as the fermentation pro-
ceeds, the gas escaping through the pores or cracks which
form in it. When it is observed to sink down, the time is
arrived to close the vat. Space enough must still be left for
the carbonic gas to free itself. The time necessary to com-
plete the fermentation differs according to the quality or
ripeness of the grapes, the species of plant, the soil, and the
temperature of the vineyard. In some places in France, as
in Burgundy, the must remains in the vat from six to thirty
hours only. Near Lyons, it is left six or eight days, or even
as many as from twelve to twenty ; in the south-east, from
twenty-five to forty. At Narbonne it is frequently kept for
seventy days, and the fermentation being over, the wine cla-
rifies in the vat, in contact with the stalks, which add strength
to it. It appears that the head, daily acquiring greater con-
sistency, at length completely excludes the atmospheric air,
and the wine is deemed secure. This usage it must be unsafe
to depend upon; there is great hazard to the wine in the
practice. In Portugal about seventy or eighty hours may be
the average of fermentation ; in Spain, from four to five days,
varying according to the temperature. In Germany the
stalks are rarely suffered to remain during fermentation ; in
Portugal always ; and in Spain, too, this is generally the
practice.
Though experience has shown in France that exposed fer-
mentation is the best, an individual at Montpellier, named
G-ervais, claimed the invention, and asserted the superiority
of a close method, by an apparatus which is said to have been
borrowed from others, but was nevertheless secured by patent.
Madame Grervais was a proprietor of considerable vineyards
near Montpellier. She embraced the idea, by no means a
new one, that what is termed the vinous fermentation is a
mild natural distillation. She proceeded to obtain an appa-
ratus that she imagined would operate so as to return into the
vessel the spirit and flavour that was evolved in fermentation,
and let out the carbonic gas, which might burst the working-
tun. Her apparatus consisted of a vessel, resembling the
64 THE VINTAGE.
head of the ancient still, constructed of such a form as to be
capable of being placed securely in the back or vat in which
the process of fermentation was carried on ; the back or vat
was air-tight, with a hole in the top, communicating with that
part of the apparatus called the cone, or condenser. This
cone was surrounded by a cylinder, or reservoir, to be filled
with cold water, so that the alcoholic vapour or steam evolved
during the process might be condensed as it came in contact
with the cold interior surface of the cone, and, being thereby
converted into liquid, trickle down the inside of the con-
denser, and, through a long pipe, be returned into the fer-
menting liquor. By the application of this apparatus a con-
siderable portion of alcohol, which had been suffered to escape
in the form of vapour, along with the non-condensable gases,
was to be condensed and returned into the liquor ; and the
non-condensable gases carried off by a pipe, which, proceed-
ing from the interior lower part of the cone, and running up
the inside of the cylinder in the cold water, passed out through
the side, and the end being immersed some depth below the
surface of water contained in a separate vessel, permitted the
gases to escape, but still under a certain degree of pressure,
the object of which was to confine the alcoholic steam and gas
within the cone, and allow them a sufficient time to cool and
condense. The apparatus being applied to ferment the must
of grapes, was also said to procure an increase of quantity.
This effect, however, has not been confirmed by the makers of
wine in France, who have very little opinion of the efficacy of
the machine. The error of the machine is said to be the re-
tention of the carbonic acid gas, which ought to be allowed to
escape freely, or the fermentation will not be complete, from
the want of considering that the quicker the fermentation, the
alcohol and perfume will evaporate in a less quantity, because
they are superseded by the more vehement evaporation of the
gas, which, in that case, occupies the space above the head
exclusively, and will not suffer either the alcohol or perfume
to rise and mingle with it. The usual method will preserve the
bouquet fully as well. The slower the carbonic gas escapes,
the less likely the spirit and perfume are to pass along with
it. In fact,, the suffrages of the best practical judges are
against this invention, as not imparting anything new to the
wines in quality or perfume, covering the vat being found
THE VINTAGE. 65
fully equal to every object, leaving sufficient space for the
escape of the gas. Some persons in the North, in order to
hasten the process of fermentation, plunge red-hot iron bars
into the wine, and with considerable advantage to the process
when the temperature is untoward.
The vats and barrels require great attention ; if they are
new, the wood of which they are composed is apt to impart a
bad and bitter taste to the wine. This is guarded against
by repeated washings in cold, and afterwards in hot water,
in which peach leaves are steeped, or by a washing of salt
water, or rather soaking, to extract all which is disagreeable
in the wood, and finally they are washed with boiling must,
bunged, shaken, and left to cool. Old casks are washed in
hot must, after the tartar has been scraped from them. In
case of their exhibiting symptoms of decay they are burned,
for sooner or later the effects are sure to be perceived in the
wine. Sulphur match is burned in those barrels which afford
the least suspicion of their imparting a bad taste, and they
are set in a dry place, being bunged up before the match has
expired. Before burning the sulphur the barrels must be
carefully dried, for damp or water left in them will make the
wine taste of sulphur, a flavour which is sometimes much too
perceptible in the wines of Germany. No pains should be
spared to guard against mischief from this cause. Oak is the
wood preferred for casks ; but in some parts of the continent
beech is employed, because there is an opinion that beech- wood
imparts an agreeable flavour to the wine, and brings it earlier
to perfection. Casks, or barrels, have various names in
different provinces, or countries, without immediate reference
to difference of measure. Thus, in the department of the
Marne, the cask is called a queue, which in the Cher is denomi-
nated tonneau ; in Indre et Loire, poincon; in La Vendee and
La ISTievre, pipe ; at Lyons, lotte ; at Bourdeaux, larrique.
When casks are of a large size they are named a muid ; and
when of the largest that are made, foudre. The casks of
Portugal are most commonly denominated pipes, so are those
of Madeira. In Spain, at Barcelona, and in Valentia, they
are the pipe ; at Xeres, the lotta or butt.
Earthen vessels, glazed, are among the most ancient re-
ceptacles for wine, which casks have superseded. If they are
the least porous they cannot fail to be prejudicial. The an-
66 THE VINTAGE.
cients remedied this defect by waxing, pitching, or liming
them ; but the wine must have been liable to injury from
these materials, and the carriage of earthen vases must have
rendered them expensive from breakage. At La Mancha in
Spain, at Val de Penas and Manzanares, they use huge clay
vessels, holding eight hundred gallons each, called tenejas.
Staves are not to be obtained there for vats. The wine mellows
in these receptacles, from whence it is drawn off into skins.
At Pesth in Hungary, marble vessels are employed to hold
wine. In Cyprus, as hereafter stated, conical earthern ves-
sels are used in fermenting the wine, sometimes pitched, or
anointed when they come from the furnace with a boiling
mixture of turpentine and pitch, mixed with vine-branch
ashes, goats' hair, and very fine sand, which never falls off.
These vessels contain from twelve to twenty barrels, and
must not be confounded with the jar by which Cyprus wines
are usually sold. Notwithstanding these last, a large pro*
portion of Cyprus wine is transported in skins. Limed
vessels, and those of marble, are liable to be acted upon by
wine to its great detriment.
Before taking leave of this part of the subject, it may not
be amiss to mention that colour has no relation to the time of
the must acquiring vinosity. If the quantity in the vat be
considerable, and the weather warm, the wine should remain
but a short time, for the fermentation is quickly perfected. If
the saccharine principle abound, the must be thick, and the
temperature low, the fermentation will be slower. The
want of perfection in fermenting in the vat, may be helped
considerably after barrelling ; but wine suffered to become
acid, injured by excess of carbonic gas, or touched with
mouldiness, cannot be properly recovered. In regard to
colour, some of the most perfect wines in that respect, as
well as in delicacy of taste, remain only six hours in the vat.
Time, in fermentation, does not add to the depth of the colour,
the bruising of the skins alone imparting that quality.
The precise time for drawing off wine from the vat, after
the fermentation is perfect, can be attained only by ex-
perience. The moment the head sinks, visible fermentation
has ceased in the rising of gas bubbles, but the sensible
heat being over, it is not always proper to draw off the liquid.
Sometimes the proper period is not less than twenty hours
THE VINTAGE. 67
after the wine drawn into a glass seems fine enough, and in
all respects ready to draw. "When the wine' is drawn off, the
murk remaining in the vat is again subjected to pressure.
It is oftentimes the case that this last wine is mixed with
what is first drawn off from the vat, to its great deterio-
ration.
The wine being barrelled, is removed into the first cellar.
The best cellars should be slightly humid, and as deep under
ground as the nature of the soil will permit them to be, even
to fifty feet. If too damp it affects the wine, if too dry the
staves of the barrels shrink, and waste the liquor. Light
should be admitted by very small apertures, having slides or
shutters to close according to the state of the temperature,
for which end a thermometer or two are indispensable to
hang against the walls. The arch over should be solid, and
as thick as possible, in order to prevent any motion above
communicating its tremour to the barrels, and the whole
should be covered as well in winter as summer with litter,
to prevent the action of both cold and heat. The floor
should be of earth, well beaten, and the recesses, if any,
and the entire floor, should be strewed with sand. If
found too humid, the number of air-holes should be aug-
mented ; and if too dry, a part of them should be stopped,
and those left be narrowed. If by any chance the rays
of the sun penetrate by the air-holes, a wall must be
built before them, or sloping planks, covered with turf, be
fixed above them. The casks should be set upon stands,
six or seven inches high, made of square strong timbers.
Wedges should be placed under, to keep them steady. No
cask should be suffered to touch its neighbour, or the cellar
wall, but should stand perfectly insulated, and at the same
time immoveable from any slight cause. The casks should
stand parallel with a horizontal line through their centres
lengthwise, so that all sediment may lodge in the bellying
part of the barrel which is lowest. No fruit, flowers, garden
produce, or green wood, should ever be placed in a wine-
cellar, as they frequently impart a bad taste to the wine,
which is wonderfully susceptible of all that impregnates the
atmosphere around, and often contracts acidity from extra-
neous substances lodged near it.
The wine cellared from the vintage requires new cares to
r 2
68 THE YIKTAGE.
render it fit for the market. The casks, in consequence of
the disengagement of the carbonic gas still remaining, are
not quite filled up, to allow space for the secondary fermen-
tation. About two inches from the bung is left vacant. A
hole is made near the bung, and stopped with a wooden pin,
to let out the gas from time to time as it fills up the space
above the wine, but care must be taken that no external air
enters. "When it is found that no more gas escapes, the barrels
are filled, and hermetically closed. This last filling in France is
known by the term ouiller, to ullage, and in some places this
operation is performed every day for the first month, every
fourth for the second, and every eighth until the wine is
racked. In this way the celebrated Hermitage wines are
treated. At Bourdeaux it is performed every eighth day.
The wine used for filling should be of a quality equal to that
in the cask. The cellars must be visited daily, and the wine
frequently tasted to judge of its state.
When casks are neglected to be filled up, a white mouldi-
ness, styled "the flower" by the French, covers the surface
of the wine, which soon renders it unfit for drinking. To
remedy this, the atmospheric air is forced out, after which
lighted sulphur is introduced, and the barrel is struck to make
all the air bubbles rise to the surface, and force the mouldiness
towards the bung ; the cask is then gradually filled, and the
mouldiness collected at the bung-hole, until it all comes away.
It is said that there is a sympathy between the wine in the
cellar and the vine. The former is observed to work in a re-
markable manner when the vine puts forth its buds. The
fermentation at this period is often obliged to be resisted by
artificial methods, as sulphate of lime, camphor, sulphuric
acid, and even the application of ice.
The next operation is the racking, to separate the wine
from the lees. In Cyprus the wine is kept on the lees to the
last. In France, racking is indispensable ; such is the dif-
ference arising from climate and soil. In some countries the
wine is racked in the first December after the vintage, in
others once a year in February or March. The first year, in
some places, wines are twice racked, in spring and autumn ;
in others, in May and December, if possible, during a frost.
The necessity for racking more than once a year depends
upon the nature of the wine. Some wines, of a generous
THE VINTAGE. 69
quality, will remain on the lees three or four years, but in
general they should be racked before the first vernal equinox.
There are some who, instead of racking, by troubling the
wine, and remixing it with the lees, establish a second time
a species of fermentation, which is intended to ameliorate its
quality ; but this must be executed with great care, to avoid
ascescency, and the wine must be racked the instant it ap-
proaches fermentation, and be placed in a colder situation
than that it previously occupied, having fined it before the
racking, if it appear at all troubled. This should be done in
fine dry weather.
In racking wine, the cask should be bored about three
fingers' breadth above the projecting part of the staves with
an instrument made on purpose, and the cock introduced, so
as not to waste more than a few drops of the wine," and ex-
clude in the operation the smallest portion of external air.
The bung is slightly lifted, to permit air enough to enter and
set the wine running. At Beaune, in the Cote d'Or, the
wines of which rank so high in estimation, they are racked
by means of a brass tap, having a straight stem. To this
stem is fixed another tube, the end of which is inserted in a
wooden pipe, of a slightly conical form, which is introduced
into the empty cask. The cask is placed on the side ; a small
hole or two are bored with a gimlet in the uppermost stave,
which, when the cask is full, are stopped up, and the cask
set in its place. The wine is thus racked without the least
disturbance.
In some parts of France, as at Condrieu, on the Rhone, the
wine is racked two or three times, twenty or thirty hours
only passing between each operation. If the wine is dis-
placed for any reason, while in the growers' hands, it is gene-
rally racked each time. At Xeres the sherries are racked in
general but once, although there may be here and there a par-
ticular exception to the rule.
"Wines which do not become limpid by racking are sub-
mitted to the further process of fining, as afterwards de-
scribed in this work, and then racked. Many kinds of wine
require, from the extreme fineness of the particles of the lees
held in suspension, to be put through this process before
they are fit for the market. The wine during the operation
is always strongly agitated with a cleft stick. It is observed
70 THE YItfTAGKE.
that the inferior wines lose their harshness by this process,
and that the best growths acquire greater delicacy.
A word or two may be added here respecting the employ-
ment of sulphur matches, which sometimes imparts a slight
taste to wines when ill done. The object is to impart to
wine clearness and the principle of preservation, and to pre-
vent fermentation. A little cotton cloth is rolled up, until
it is an inch or an inch and a half in diameter, and six or
seven inches long. This is dipped in melted sulphur, to
which, rather fancifully, certain aromatic perfumes, extracted
from sweet-smelling flowers, are sometimes added. The
match is lighted, and suspended in the cask by means of an
iron wire, the bung is then closed. This process injures the
colour of some of the red wines, and the substitution of a
little brandy flung into the cask, and set on fire by an in-
flamed string, or cord, while the hand is kept over the bung-
hole, is found to answer the same purpose, without injuring
the wines. The cask, as before stated, must be perfectly dry
when this is done, the smallest quantity of moisture in it re-
taining the sulphur and tainting the wine.
In the south of France a quantity of wine is made, called
muet, for which the grapes are trodden and pressed at the
vintage, and the wine is fined immediately, to prevent fer-
mentation. This wine, or rather must, is next poured into a
barrel until it is only a fourth part filled ; above the surface
of the liquid several sulphur matches are then burned, and
the bung closed upon the fumes. The cask is now violently
shaken until the sulphurous gas is absorbed, so that none
escapes on opening the bung. More must is then added, and
fresh sulphur, and the cask treated as before. This is re-
peated several times, until the cask is full. This must never
ferments ; it has a sweetish flavour, and a strong smell of
sulphur. A quantity of proof spirit is now added, and a wine
highly spirituous is the product. It is sometimes called
Calabrian wine, and is generally employed to give strength,
sweetness, and durability to wines which lack these qualities.
[Gathering of the Grape.]
CHAPTEE IY.
THE VINTAGE (Continued.)
ACCIDENTS TO THE PRODUCT OF THE VINTAGE IN ITS SUBSEQUENT STATE
REMEDIES TREATMENT AND USES OF THE MURK OIL OF GRAPE-SEED
BOILED WINES VINS DE LIQUEUR, DE PAILLE, JAUNE STRENGTHENING
THE PRODUCE OF WEAK VINTAGES.
are subject, from known or unknown causes, to dete-
rioration, or malady, soon after they are made. The two
most dangerous changes to which they are liable in the
maker's hands, are becoming oily, or contracting acidity.
Oiliness is a milky appearance, put on by wines made in a
wet season, and ill fermented. The wine loses its natural
fluidity, and becomes, what is called in England, ropy.
White wines are most subject to this malady, not in the
wood, unless of meagre quality ; but they will sometimes turn
oily in the bottle, however well corked. After a certain time
has expired they will again frequently become pure. The
white substance at first seen in the wine turns brown, shrinks,
and detaches itself in scales. The wine then takes its usual
clear colour, and is cured. It is not prudent, however, to
leave the cure to chance. Cream of tartar is often applied as
a remedy in France. To each barrel holding seventy-eight
72 THE VINTAGE.
1 gallons, about four quarts of wine are allowed, heated to the
boiling point, with from six to twelve ounces of the purest
cream of tartar, and the like quantity of sugar, thrown in, and
well mixed up. This is put into the barrel hot, the bung
made close, and the cask shaken for five or six minutes. In
case there is reason to think the bung will fly, a little hole is
ma4e near it with a gimlet, to be stopped with a peg as
quickly as possible, so that only the smallest quantity of the
carbonic acid gas thus generated can escape, for it is to the
generation of this gas that the wine is indebted for its cure.
Two days afterwards the wine is fined in the ordinary man-
ner, but with the bung closed. The cask is then shaken, and
returned to its place. After the expiration of five days more
it is racked. Wine in bottles so damaged is uncorked, emp-
tied into a barrel, and treated in the same manner. Some
remedy the malady by passing the wine over new lees, then
fining, and sulphuring it ; others, by placing the bottles in a
higher temperature, and in the fresh air ; and some fine it
with whites of eggs and fish glue beaten together. But these
methods will not restore the wine to the state it attains when
naturally cured. In Spain, from the slovenly fermentation,
and mixture of bad grapes with good, ropiness is very com-
mon. It is cured by mixing brandy with the wine, princi-
pally sherry, which also makes it more agreeable to the
English palate. If used early, this is considered to prevent
the mischief altogether. Picking over the grapes would be a
more rational and wholesome preventive, but the Spaniard
is the slave of custom, and perhaps too idle to be at the
trouble.
All wines are liable to turn acid, those which are weak
more especially, if ullage be allowed ; therefore the casks
must always be kept filled up to the bung. Wines are ob-
served to be most liable to this disorder about the time of the
vines being in flower. They never recover from this state
without aid, but get worse and worse until good for nothing.
By taking the malady at the moment of its appearance, the
evil may be arrested. The wine must be drawn into a cask,
well sulphured, and placed in a situation colder than that in
which it previously stood. Honey, or liquorice, is often dis-
solved in the wine, or cream, or the wine is saturated with
acetate of magnesia. Many use gelatine of bones ; but the
THE YINTAGKE. 73
best mode is to pass it over the lees at the vintage, when it
will lose its acidity. In the spring succeeding, however, it
is almost certain to revert to an acid state again. Thus far,
provided the wine is taken at the first appearance of change,
if it be at all advanced, the malady is hopeless, and the wine
will infallibly become vinegar.
Sometimes the acidity of wine is only superficial, and when
that is the case an instrument is adopted in Prance, which
passing deep into the contents of the cask, fills it without
the least disturbance, until the bad portion overflows at the
bung-hole, being displaced by that which is introduced below
in a sound state.
Bitterness is another malady to which the best quality of
wine is subject. It follows the insensible fermentation either
in the wood or bottle, and does not show itself until the wine
is old. Some of the best Burgundy is subject to bitterness,
especially if it tasted rough on attaining maturity. The wine
is generally clear during the time it is thus affected. If it
happen in the cask, it must be passed over new lees, or
wine of a younger growth of the same vineyard ; but this
only renders it liable to new changes, and injures the
bouquet. It should be afterwards fined with eggs, suffered
to rest two or three months, and then be racked. If the
wine is in bottle, it will often re-establish itself in two or
three years, but it must not be moved. The wine will lose
some of its colour and bouquet, but become finer, and good
for drinking. If moved it must be decanted, which some
persons do on first discovering the malady, and repeat it as
often as there is any deposit. Almost all wines change colour
with age, and generally in proportion to their original deep-
ness of hue. When this is the effect of malady, they lose
their transparency ; the red become black, and the white a
livid yellow ; the taste, also, gets worse. This is a pew fer-
mentation, and is stopped with purified tartar, reduced to a
fine powder, an<J put into the cask, which is shaken, with the
bung open, that the gas may escape freely. The wine must
be then drawn off into a well-sulphured barrel, placed in a
cool cellar, racked, and fined. If not thus restored, such
wines are mingled with those of a newer vintage, from the
same vines, but not of a vintage too young. Sometimes
74 THE YINTAGE.
wines thus disordered in the bottle will recover themselves,
though this can rarely be depended upon.
Wine which is pricked, or has a flat dead taste, shows that
the external air has been admitted either by the cork, if in
bottle, or from the bung being ill fitted, if in the cask. In
such a state the bouquet is lost, and in the next state of
deterioration it exhibits the white filaments already men-
tioned from another cause, denominated " the flower.' ' This
mischief is remedied if the wine be not too far gone, and
possess strength and body, by racking it into a cask just
emptied of sound wine, and sulphured. It is then closed
very carefully for fifteen days, fined, racked, and bottled.
Should the wine be too far gone for this mode of recovery, a
third part of sound wine is added, in place of a third sub-
tracted, which should be younger and fuller of spirit. A
better mode is to add to a cask containing two hundred and
forty bottles, thirty or forty quarts of fresh lees, obtained
from racking newer wines; these should be well mingled
with the spoiled wine once a day, for three or four days. It
is then to be racked and bottled. If near the vintage time,
the wine is passed over the murk, and this is found an ex-
cellent remedy. Preparations of lead have been used for the
purpose of recovering wine thus injured. Those who use
them act disgracefully: such wines are highly deleterious,
however small the quantity of lead which may have been
infused. It is an excellent thing to throw cold well-water
over the casks, and apply ice below them, when there is
reason to apprehend that wine is turning ; thus early allay-
ing the elements of mischief.
A taste of mouldiness is a fatal accident in wine, and may
arise from many causes such as a bad or foul cask, a musty
egg employed in fining, or decayed grapes in the vat. M.
Chaptal gives an account of a nauseous odour, which disap-
peared after a long fermentation, found to proceed from a vast
number of wood-bugs which had been gathered with the
grapes and crushed in the press. Drawing off the wine into
a well-sulphured cask is a good practice, adding some bruised
peach kernels, or almond wood, by which means, if the injury
be slight, it is remedied. Bone charcoal is good for the same
end, or burnt bread crust, suspended in the wine. If, how-
THE YINTAGE. 75
ever, the taste be very strong and fixed, it cannot be recovered ;
it is in this case unfit even for distillation or vinegar.
New wine is sometimes frozen. To recover it, racking into
sulphured casks is had recourse to, with the addition of
brandy. After this it may be fined and bottled. The aqueous
part of the wine is that which congeals. This has furnished
wine-growers with the hint to expose their wine to a frost,
that it may congeal a proportion of the watery part, and then
rack off the residue, which is by some thought to be improved
both in body and spirit.
Some wines deposit in growing old a matter totally different
from the lees. One kind is found adhering in alining to the
bottom of the bottle or vessel ; another species is suspended
in the liquor, .being too light for deposition. Some have
imagined these to consist of preparations of lead used by the
maker of the wine. When this deposit is burned upon char-
coal, it gives out a vapour which smells like burned tartar ;
if continued on the burning coal, a white residue, which is
pure potash, will be obtained. Preparations of lead are easily
detected in wine by throwing sulphate of potash, or liver of
sulphur into it, when a black precipitate will be formed.
Tartar precipitates itself in the form of small crystals in all
good wine. In wines which are oily it takes the appearance
of sandy mud, as well as in those not duly fermented. Tartar
communicates no bad taste, nor does it alter the clearness,
except in the slightest possible degree ; on the other hand, it
assists in the preservation, and makes the wine less subject
to change or malady. Its appearance in the bottle should
never cause it to be decanted, if designed to be drunk on the
spot. If the wine is to be moved, it is absolutely necessary
to put it into fresh bottles, or it will remain a good while
cloudy, if not be ruined by contracting a bad taste. In
decanting it into new bottles great care is requisite, and
the operation must not be hurried. In France an instru-
ment has been adopted to decant wine without disturbance,
even to the last drop, which is hereafter described in the Ap-
pendix.
Eed wines give out much more deposition than white.
Those which are of such a light nature that they appear in the
wine the moment the bottle is touched ever so slightly, cannot
76
THE VINTAGE.
be decanted perfectly clear, with, every precaution. Of this
class are the wines that sparkle, or the mousseux.
One cause of a bad taste in wine arises from the gallic acid
which exists in the new oak used for the barrel, becoming
more or less disengaged ; it is apt to render the wine rough
and hard. Oak staves for casks are steeped for some days
in a strong lye of wood ashes ; this prevents the wine from
contracting astringency when the staves are put together. The
taste is very difficult to remove, and often impossible. The
casks are washed with quenched lime, and then with water,
until it comes away clear. "Wines affected by the oak of the
cask, are said in !France to have a flavour of the wood. A
slight musty taste is sometimes contracted from the wood of
the barrel, which is corrected by agitating mustard seed,
juniper, or sage, on the wine. These are supposed to act by
their essential oil, and thus restore it. Another taste is that
of musk, contracted also from the barrel ; it is got rid of by
ventilation.
It has already been observed, under the head of " Culture
of the Vine," that it is one of the most useful plants known,
for every portion of it may be applied to some purpose. The
must of the South is employed in making a rich confection
with citron and aromatic sweets. The richer pears, apples,
prunes, melons, mushrooms, and roots of various kinds, are
mashed and mingled with must boiled down to a syrup, till
they are incorporated by methods which it would be foreign
to present objects to particularise.
The murk, after being taken from the vat, is still rich in
must, and is accordingly again submitted to pressure. The
product is nearly equal in quality to that first taken. This
has been noticed already. On the residue of the grapes, the
refuse of the vintage, together with the murk, hot water and
syrup are thrown, and the product is a very small wine, cool-
ing and pleasant to the palate, flavoured with peaches, elder
for colour, and a little Florence iris. This is commonly called
piquette, and is often given to harvest people and cultivators
in the South during the last burning days of the summer, or
rather autumn. To prevent it from turning acid, honey is
sometimes added, and cream of tartar, which aids the fermen-
tation and the spiritiious product. "White grapes are deemed
better than red for this purpose.
THE YINTAGKE. 77
The murk was anciently thought injurious. Pliny wrote,
that grapes lying among the murk, or the refuse of the ker-
nels and skins, after the press was used, were hurtful to
the head. One hundred and ninety-five parts of the murk
burned furnish five and a quarter of potash. The murk,
beaten in water and distilled, produces brandy of a secondary
quality. Vinegar is also extracted from the murk acidified.
Verdigris is made from the murk by placing plates of copper
and murk alternately in a vessel, to the diameter of which the
plates fit. The whole is wetted from time to time with acid
wine. When the oxidation is complete, the verdigris is taken
out, and put into packages for sale. The murk is eagerly
sought after for nourishment by all the herbivorous animals.
It is given dry, or mingled with other fodder. Fowls are re-
markably fond of it. In some places it is eaten fresh from the
vat by cows and mules, but it intoxicates and injures them
when given in that state. Further, the murk is one of the
best dressings for the vineyard of any known, especially if
mingled with doves' or pigeons' dung. After the vintage, it
is a custom among the more judicious wine-growers to place
large quantities of murk in the dove or pigeon-house, the
pips being eagerly sought after by the birds. From thence
the murk is taken, impregnated with pigeons' dung, to pits
near the hog-sties, which they drain, and which are lined with
the dung of the hog. On this the murk rests, and on its sur-
face is heaped the dung of every kind of fowl which can be
collected. This is considered the best dressing for the vine
of any known. It is placed round the stumps over the roots
in the month of February, when the weather is fine. The
first rains carry the salts from the dressing down to the
roots, and the effect of the operation is sure to appear in due
time.
The murk is often dried from the press, and burned, where
fuel is scarce, being laid up for winter use, exactly like tan in
some parts of England. In a state of fermentation it is
found to be useful as a bath for rheumatic limbs, by exciting
perspiration. It is said to be a specific for the rickets, used
in the same way. Fractured limbs, placed in a vessel of murk
hot from fermentation, for a longer or shorter time, as may
be necessary, are said to be consolidated more rapidly than
by any other means.
78 THE VINTAGE.
Even the seeds of the grape are applicable to useful pur-
poses, besides feeding pigeons. Separated from the murk by-
washing, and carefully dried, they are ground, as already
stated. The produce is very superior to that from nuts, either
for eating or burning. No bad odour accompanies its use,
and it burns as bright as olive oil, without smoke. This em-
ployment of the pips of the grape is an Italian invention of
about a century old. The product is, in Italy, about nine per
cent, of oil. Too little is made to allow of exportation.
It is not needful to go into minute particulars upon the
foregoing applications, because England is not the country
of the vine ; they are enumerated to render the subject more
complete, and to afford an idea of the exceeding value of the
vine where the climate is congenial to its maturity. It will
not be out of place here to mention that there are different
kinds of " domestic" wines, as the French designate them.
What are called domestic wines in France are those which are
rarely exported from the neighbourhood, where they are made
generally for home consumption. Strangers are very little
acquainted with these. Such wines are a preparation of the
grape exceedingly rich. By the term is not to be understood
boiled wine, such as is used for sherbet, nor that made to
mingle with sherry, as at St. Lucar, in Spain, first undergoing
fermentation ; but only concentrated must, boiled, with a
mixture of brandy, and sometimes of aromatic seeds ; in fact,
rich syrups.
Boiled wines, vins cults (vino cotto, Italian), are of ancient
date, having, it is supposed, passed very early from Asia into
Greece. They are common in Italy, Spain, and Prance.
The ripest and finest grapes are selected, generally of the
Muscadine species, gathered during the hottest part of the
day, in order that they may be free from dew, and humidity
of every other kind. They are carefully moved, laid upon
hurdles, and exposed for five or six successive days to the
sun's most ardent rays, turning them at least three or four
times every day. They are then trodden out. as is the usage
with the common grap*e at the vintage. The must is placed
over a clear fire, with as little smoke as possible. The wine
must be boiled until it is reduced to one-third of its original
quantity. It is then skimmed and poured into wooden
vessels, carefully cleaned and quite new, to remain until cool,
THE VINTAGE.
after which it is barrelled up close. This wine is very pleu
sant to the taste, of a deep amber colour, delicate and gene-
rous. Corsica is famous for such wines, which are treated so
judiciously in the boiling, that in the north of Europe they
are taken for Malmsey or Canary. When very old they are
often passed off for Cyprus, Tinto, or Malaga, of the best
kind, as the owner may wish them to appear. Boiling is
also adopted to make new wine have the appearance of old.
Eor this purpose, it is raised in temperature close to the
boiling point, barrelled, and bunged up directly, and in three
months it is found possessed of the character of wine kept
from six to ten years. Bourdeaux wine two years old will
thus acquire the flavour of that which is ten or a dozen in
age. Port wine is often thus treated in England by placing
the bottles in tepid water, and raising it to the boiling point.
After remaining but a short time in the cellar, it will deposit
a crust, and put on the character and virtue of wine which
has been cellared for years.
What are called in France vins de liqueur are those in
which the saccharine principle has not entirely disappeared,
and been changed into alcohol, during the process of fermen-
tation. Wines of this sort abound, both red and white. Of
these are the sweet wine of Cyprus, the white of Rivesaltes,
Syracuse, Malvasia, Malaga, and similar kinds. Unfortu-
nately, the wines sold under this name are not always ge-
nuine ; the practice of adulteration, by which the more valu-
able qualities of this species of wine are deteriorated, is
but too common, and it is less liable to detection than in
dry wines.
The wines called vins de paille are so denominated from
the grapes being laid for several months upon straw before
they are taken to the press. Sometimes, instead of being
laid upon the straw, they are hung up in straw tresses. If
the wine intended to be made is what is called demi paille,
the grapes are thus exposed for fifty or sixty days only ; if
for vin paille wholly, they remain for three or four months in
the foregoing state. In the department of La Meurthe, in
France, vin paille is called vin de grenier.
The Hermitage vin de paille is not fermented for some
months after it is made, so that in reckoning its age, the first
year from the vintage is never taken into account. It is some-
78 'THE YINTAGE.
,imes in a state of fermentation for six years, and not until
this fermentation has ceased for two or three years is the
wine fit for consumption.
What is called vin mousseux, which is best described by
what is understood in England of Champagne, is divided into
grand mousseux and cremans, or demi-moiisseux. The product
of the second pressure of the grape in the department of the
Maine is called vin de faille. The mousseux wines of Arbois
are called mns ~blancs de garde, and when old, vinjaune.
There is no pure wine in France like that which is desig-
nated claret in England. This wine is a mixture of Bourdeaux
with Benicarlo, or with some full wine of France. Clairet
wines in France signify those which are red or rose-coloured.
Thus rose-coloured mousseux wine is called clairet, or rose;
there is no such original term as claret in France for wine ; it
is an English corruption of clairet.
It is the practice of wine-growers to mix several growths of
wine together ; but this is not done by the grower so fre-
quently for the purpose of adulteration, as to give body or
strength to the product of a weak vintage. No honourable
wine grower will sell wine which has been thus treated with-
out mentioning the circumstance to the buyer, supposing he
has been obliged to amend his light wines with those which
are stronger, and of a more generous quality. There are
mixtures of this kind which may even be beneficial. In the
Bordelais they mingle wines on the lees to correct the rough-
ness of their growth. Hermitage, the black wine of Cahors,
or of the best vineyards of the G-ard or Herault departments,
are thus applied. A perfect fermentation ensues, and the
wines thus embodied are excellent Medoc. Adulterations of
wine, of which more anon, are the work of the dealer rather
than of the grower, and rank with those imitations extracted
from all sorts of substances, for which some individuals are
said to be celebrated in the trade.
[The Joys of the Vintage.]
CHAPTEE Y.
WINES FRANCE.
GENERAL REMARKS FRANCE THE FIRST WINE COUNTRY QUANTITY OF
LAND IN VINEYARDS AMOUNT AND VALUE OF PRODUCE HEAVY DUTIES
TO WHICH WINE-GROWERS ARE SUBJECTED WINE EXPORTS BY SEA
VALUE OF EXPORTS HIGH GOVERNMENT DUTIES IN PARIS FRENCH WINE
MEASURES.
is the vineyard of the earth. Her fertile soil,
gentle acclivities, clear sunny skies, and fine summer tem-
perature, place her, in conjunction with her experience and
the advantages of science applied to vinification, the fore-
most in the art of extracting the juice which so gladdens the
human heart. She is able to manufacture within her own '
limits every description of wine : from the harsh product of
her northern provinces to the luscious malmsey of the south;
from her delicious Champagne and Burgundy, which have no
equals, to her rich Lunel and Frontignac ; with all the in-
termediate grades of class and quality. Though custom may
have reconciled wine-growers in many districts to absurd
habits, detrimental to the perfection of their produce, and
though pecuniary means are frequently wanting to enable
82 WIKES OE FRANCE.
wine-growers to have recourse to improvement though
heavy and absurd taxation has made it far more profitable
to manufacture wine in the largest quantity, and at the
cheapest rate, than to grow the best, there are proprietors
of vineyards enough with adequate capital, men of integrity,
industry, and ingenuity, who keep up the excellence of their
wines, and employ every attainable method for improving
their growths, so as to maintain the eminence which Prance
has acquired over all the world for the vinous productions of
her soil. The number of the proprietors of vineyards in
Prance is very great. The highest year of produce from
1829 to 1833 gave 40,038,702 of hectolitres, and the lowest
15,281,395.
The wines of Prance are grateful and beneficial to the
palate and to health. They do not, by being too strongly
impregnated with brandy, carry disease into the stomach at
the moment of social joy. They cheer and exhilarate, while
they fascinate all but coarse palates with their delicate flavour.
Their variety is very great.
There are six departments of Prance which are not friendly
to the vine. With these exceptions, the country may be
called one vast vine garden. In eighty of the departments
wine is made, although of varying quality. The number of
hectares* in cultivation in the year 1823, was 1,736,056, or
about 4,270,000 acres. The annual mean product, 35,075,689
hectolitres, or 920,721,088 gallons, at about 6f d. per gallon,
valued at 540,389,298 francs, or 22,516,220Z. 15s. sterling ;
not, indeed, the prodigious sum which it has been made by
some calculators, but still an enormous amount for a country
which grows corn besides for thirty-three millions of souls. In
1806 the vines were estimated to cover a surface of 1,674,489
hectares, or about 4,142,600 English acres. The minister of
commerce, in 1828, stated that he thought the produce
600,000,000 francs in value, or about 24,000,OOOZ. sterling,
at 6^d. per gallon English. The calculations made in 1806,
and for several years subsequently, were not correct, while
the valuation and produce were exaggerated. This has been
proved during the increased progress of the cadmtre, by which
means more accurate results have been obtained.
* The hectare is 2 acres II rood English.
WINES or FBA^CE. 83
For every hectare cultivated throughout Prance, a mean
produce of 22 hectolitres 6 T 6 ^ litres was given for the years
between 1804 and 1808. The subsequent calculations, which
are more correct, give an average of 20 hectolitres 27 litres
each hectare, or 514 gallons imperial measure to every
2 iWcfife acres English.
A portion of the produce of the vines, amounting to
5,229,880 hectolitres, or 115,057,360 gallons, is distilled into
brandy, and produces 751,945 hectolitres of spirit, of dif-
ferent degrees of strength, besides 70,015 distilled from the
murk, yielding 37,288 of alcohol; the produce in pure
alcohol being 469,817 hectolitres. The total value of wine
and brandy exported from France into foreign countries in
1823 was 76,639,026 francs, or 3,193,2922. 15s. sterling.
Thus, besides growing corn and vegetables upon a system
by no means complete or economical, besides all her sterile
and forest lands, and in great part of the middle and south
a defective husbandry compared to that of England, France
annually exports above three millions sterling of her agricul-
tural produce in wine only a proof of the great fertility of
her climate ; and when her population is taken into account,
a thing by no means discreditable to her industry. Over
and above the foregoing quantity of grape brandy, 93,457
hectolitres are distilled from corn and other substances be-
sides the vine ; and between eleven and twelve millions of
hectolitres of beer, perry, and cider are made. From these
latter, as well as corn and potatoes, brandy is distilled, carry-
ing the total amount of brandy of all kinds to 915,417 hec-
tolitres, or to 553,086 hectolitres 27 litres of pure alcohol.
In gallons this is about 24,029,696, nearly 9,000,000 of
which are exported. In France, the consumption, therefore,
for all purposes, is a little above 15,000,000 of gallons, with
a population of 31,000,000; in England it is nearly 28,000,000
of gallons, with a population of 24,000000. The value of
the wines has nearly doubled since 1788. They were then
valued at 14,853,8772. 9s. 2d., but in 1823 they had reached,
as already seen, 22,516,2202. 15s. sterling.
Some of the wines of France will keep good for a very
long term of years. Eoussillon has been drunk a century old,
and still found in high perfection. Many other kinds are
found at fifty or sixty years old to remain good, particularly
84 WINES OF TRANCE.
such as are grown on the Hhine, in the Eastern Pyrenees,
ci-devant Houssillon, which boasts wines beginning to be
drank in England under their proper denominations, also in
Cahors, in the Grard, and the Var. The wines of Champagne,
Burgundy, and Medoc, are comparatively short-lived, being
more delicate, and having less body. Eor the classes of
these wines see Appendix, also for the departmental produce,
with British imports and duties.
While the cultivation of the vine in France is exceedingly
varied, the treatment of the fruit at the vintage is more or
less in accordance with science, in proportion as the wine
made is in demand beyond the limits of local consumption.
In one part of France the wine vats are oval, and during fer-
mentation the carbonic gas is only suffered to escape through
a bunghole, with the view of preventing too much of the
spirit from evaporating. A cover is luted on in some places,
and a small orifice only left open. In others a coverlid alone
is placed over the vat. Eine cloth is found to answer very-
well in a district or two where it has been adopted, the spirit
being retained while the gas escapes. Thus there is no
general uniformity in an essential part of the process of
wine-making throughout Erance. Districts vary from each
other in practice, and science has not yet universally over-
come usage.
In cultivation it is precisely the same ; and the beautiful
vineyards of Erance, which so charmingly clothe the sides of
hills, otherwise barren from not suiting a different purpose
in agriculture even the rockiest and shallowest lands, from
the Moselle to the Mediterranean, from the Rhine to the
Atlantic display in this way either the skill or the pre-
judices of the people. As a whole, what a picture does this
rich country present, flowing with corn, silk, wine, oil, and
honey! Corn, vines, mulberries, and olives, dividing from
north to south the soil which a genial sun warms, and an
agricultural population look upon with unfailing joyousness.
In other countries, to nature is left almost the sole manage-
ment of the production of such wines as obtain a celebrity
beyond the territory in which they grow. In Spain nature
has done everything, and man very little. One of the finest
red wines in the world is the Yal de Penas, yet it is rarely to
be drank beyond La Mancha without the defilement of pitch,
WINES OF FRANCE. 85
from the goat-skins in which it is carried. In Prance the
slightest foreign taste, scarcely perceptible to the stranger,
would not be suffered in the better classes of wine. The
national honour cannot be more scrupulously watched, than
the purity and perfect quality of the fruit of the vintage is
regarded by the better class of vine-growers.
It is impossible, notwithstanding the self-willed notions of
wine connoisseurs, that anything approximating to the truth
can be known respecting the wines in repute, no longer back
than the middle ages. The aroma, the perfume, the exquisite
delicacy which distinguish the modern wines of France, were,
it is very reasonable to believe, unknown two or three cen-
turies ago. We find that the wines of districts, which were
once celebrated, are now very indifferent, or the palates of
our forefathers must have been much less refined than our
own. That the wines in France once praised highly, and
now deemed of third-rate quality, may not in reality be much
altered by time, is very probable. When the ladies of nobles
made their breakfast in England upon salt beef and strong
beer as luxuries, it is very likely that the taste of the wine-
drinker on the continent, a few miles to the south, was after
a pattern equally coarse, and that in reality it is modern
refinement, rather than the deterioration of the wine, which
induces a belief that either the climate, soil, or wine, in par-
ticular parts of France, is greatly fallen off. That a vineyard
may deteriorate from neglect, or want of care, or through
bad planting, there is no doubt, where the taste, as in our
time, is so nicely adjusted ; but our forefathers were hard
men, and the strength, rather than the flavour of wine, was
their criterion of its excellence. The Church, among the
richer disciples of which good drinking formed a part of
orthodoxy, was the patron of the vine, in the time of her
flourishing authority and almost sovereign power. Among
the sensual of the cloister, rather than the court, was found
the better order of wine tasters and wine cultivators. The
best growths of a district were always on monastical lands,
and to this day they retain their sites. They were cultivated
by the monks, often with their own hands at first, until their
establishments grew wealthy, and then by their dependents.
Where the plants have been carefully kept up, they furnish
86 WIKES OE PEAKCE.
wines not at all deteriorated, it is probable, but rather the
reverse, from the earlier times of their history. Every abbey
had its vineyard: and if, subsequently, the wine produced be
not as good as it was within human memory, it may be attri-
buted rather to less assiduous cultivation, than to change of
soil, or to any natural alteration. There are spots in Prance,
the wines of which it was once the fashion to praise highly,
which* are now deemed. very inferior in rank. Fashion and
taste are for ever changing, and these alone might contribute
to account for what are easily to be traced up to their causes
by an exertion of common sagacity.
In France, wine has .been subjected to heavy duties, alto-
gether amounting to more than twenty per cent. These taxes
are vexatious ; a portion of them is paid only in the towns and
cities. Together, they amount to the sum of 4,000,OOOZ.
sterling. They are excessive, and very unequally levied. The
"octroi," or duty, on entering Paris, is twenty-one francs, or
seventeen and sixpence the hectolitre, which is equal to the
price of the wine itself. These exactions have occasioned
much distress among the wine-growers, by diminishing con-
sumption. It is a lamentable thing, when the home produce
of a country is so burdened, that the most industrious cannot
find a market for the reward of his labour, and poverty in-
creases.
The labours of the vine-dresser are expensive; they are
particularly so in places where some of the best wines are
produced, as upon steep slopes and heights, where all the
work of culture must be executed by hand, as the plough
cannot be brought to act in such situations. The little
farmers are compelled, from want of machinery, to do all their
work themselves. In nothing is the smallness of capital more
injurious than in wine growing, and in consequence a heavy
taxation is proportionally detrimental. A wine-cask hold-
ing, two hundred and twenty-eight litres of Sauterne, will lose
about a twelfth annually by evaporation. If the farmer can
afford larger casks, he will lose proportionably less wine. A
very large cask of fifty-four hectolitres will only lose a
twentieth from that cause. If the farmer can afford casks of
one hundred and fifty hectolitres, only a hundredth part will
be lost. This holds good in other things connected with the
WItfES OF FRANCE. 87
wine manufacture, as well as in vine culture, and points out
the true policy of the government, if it be not, like most
governments, too obstinate to learn.
The persons who are concerned as wine cultivators in
Prance are about 1,800,000; the wine sellers, 240,000. -~V
The commerce of Prance in wine by sea is largest from the
port of Bourdeaux. In 1824, the wines exported from thence,
amounted to 469,627 hectolitres. The port of the next con-
sequence in the trade is Marseilles, which, in the same year,
exported 189,643 hectolitres. The ports which follow are
Montpellier, 180,158 ; and Toulon, 98,766. Cette exports
largely, and Port Yendres also ; the latter is situated close to
the Pyrenees. The total exported by sea is about 1,081,655
hectolitres 15 litres. In 1785, the exportation from Bour-
deaux was 100,000 pipes; in 1827, but 54,492. Prance
exports about the 88th part of her wine produce.
In 1669 the importation of Prench wines into England was
two-fifths of her consumption ; yet in 1701 it was only 2051
tuns. Prom this quantity, the highest point until 1787,
there was but one exception, namely, in 1713, when the
quantity reached 2551 tuns. In 1725-32 the red wines of
Prance were sold, according to quality, from 30Z. to 40Z. per
tun ; the white wines from 207. to 25 1. At the same time the
brandies were from 6s. to 6s. 6d., which now bring from 4s. 6d.
to 5s. 8d., rising higher, according to age. The latter, how-
ever, is the imperial against the old gallon. The amount gra-
dually fell to 475 tuns in 1786, while the coarse brandied
wines of Portugal rose from 7408 tuns in 1701, to 12,171 in
1785. In 1786 the duties were reduced to 501. 16s. 6d. per
tun, and Prench wine was at once imported to the extent of
2127 tuns, though the year before the quantity was only
475 tuns, which paid 99Z. 8s. 9d. per tun. Since that period
the average has been about two thousand tuns, though the
duties were again raised, while wine from Portugal, the larger
proportion of indifferent character, reached twenty thousand
tuns. A treaty, which disgraced the good sense of the Bri-
tish government, and ensured the worst wine in Portugal for
the English market, had been entered into for forcing down
upon wine-drinkers such a produce, under the specious pre-
text of encouraging our woollen manufactures. Grood sense
88 WTJSTES OF FRANCE.
at length conquered prejudice, and put an end to the Methuen
treaty.
Burgundy wines are imported into Great Britain in the
hogshead of forty-nine gallons ; those of Bourdeaux in the
hogshead of fifty-two. The first qualities of French wine
reach England in bottle.
The great depot of wines exported par terre, as the French
say, or from the districts of their growth for home consump-
tion, is Paris. The trade is important. It is carried on in
the Halle aux Vins, a circular building, one hundred and
twenty feet in diameter. The high duties, in the shape of
" octroi," are levied at the barriers. The cellars beneath the
Halle aux Vins, Quai St. Bernard, on the banks of the Seine,
will contain four hundred thousand casks. The building was
begun by JSTapoleon, and is a convenient wine exchange, if it
may be so denominated. The wine consumed by retail in
France, in 1826, was, on a rough calculation, about 14,500,000
hectolitres. By going six feet outside the barriers of a town
the wine may be drunk free of the " octroi" duty ; hence the
wine-shops so situated are much visited. The wine sold
wholesale, for the most part to French families, was calcu-
lated, in 1826, at about four millions of hectolitres.
"Wine in Paris is not, therefore, as cheap a commodity as
it should be. A bottle of good Macon is not to be procured
under from thirteen to fifteenpence. Good Champagne is
charged five francs ; Chambertin, Lafite, and similar wines,
five, or even six francs, or more. The very inferior wines of
Bourdeaux, or Burgundy, may be had at twelve sous, or six-
pence sterling, but to an Englishman they are scarcely pa-
latable. In Bourdeaux twice as much wine is drunk as in
Paris, in proportion to the number of the inhabitants, because
the duty on the wine there is not so much by one-half. A
great deal of the wine consumed in Paris is not worth more
than twelve shillings and sixpence the hectolitre, yet it is
subject to a duty of seventeen shillings and sixpence ! Thus,
the duty upon wine for home consumption in the French
capital is greater than the duty charged in this country on
importation. A hogshead of the best Bourdeaux, or claret,
'bought on the spot, made up for the British market, being
always a mixture, but of a good age, costs nearly fifty pounds,
WIKES OF FKAtfCE. 89
the duty being sixteen pounds thirteen shillings and six-
pence. In England the freight, carriage, bottles, profit of
the home merchant, and other matters, swell the amount,
but to the importer the best Bourdeaux wine may be had
under this charge.
In 1829, it appears Bourdeaux sent to England 431,509
gallons, and Cette 39,796 ; while to the Netherlands Bour-
deaux sent 2,515,193 gallons in the same year, and Cette
520,845.
The cultivation of the vine has increased in France very
considerably during the last fifty years. In 1788, there were
in vineyard 3,988,800 acres, and in 1829 nearly 5,104,800.
The produce has increased in value in proportion. At present
the vine-grower is borne down by fiscal rapacity, which limits
home consumption, and by the prohibitions to the import of
foreign articles in exchange for French produce. The blind-
ness of the government is in this respect very surprising.
The agriculturist is sorely pressed, for it is not his land alone
which is taxed. At a time that the wines of France were
estimated to be of the value of six hundred millions annually,
upwards of one hundred and twenty millions were exacted in
the shape of duties in one form or another, being a full fifth.
So much evil has this caused, that an estate in the last century
producing fifteen thousand francs, scarcely gives any return
now. The cost of production is calculated at double the value
of the rental, while in other agricultural produce it is only
two-fifths of the rental. The following statement is from.
Dr. Bowring's report, and is, if correct, no very flattering pic-
ture of the state to which the government of France has re-
duced that valuable source of national wealth. It seems
strange, if there be no mistake, that the vine should be cul-
tivated at all. There is most assuredly an error somewhere.
The estate of Chollet, valued at 120,000 francs, gives Haut-
Brion wine. The extent is about fifty-eight acres English.
Francs. Cts.
Cost of cultivation 14,067 15
Produce 7,000
7,067 15
5 per cent, on 120,000 francs . . . 6,000
Loss .... ... 13,067 15
90 WINES OE FRANCE.
This estate is the property of the Chamber of Peers, and,
being a government concern, is no doubt managed without
regard to expense, as crown lands too often are. Yet then the
statement must be exaggerated. But that the revenues of
the vineyards have been of late years falling off in the Bour-
deaux district, there is no doubt, principally for want of a
market. The cellars have been everywhere glutted, and the
government is still deaf to applications for removing the pro-
hibitions on trade with foreigners.
The wines of France, being the natural production of the
climate, which England can never imitate, an exchange for
the productions of the British soil, or for such manufactures
as France cannot rival in excellence, or cheapness, placed
upon a liberal basis, would be of great advantage to both
countries, as well as to the constitutions and stomachs of
Englishmen. It is to be wished that the wines of France
were more generally drunk in this country, as they were from
the earliest times down to the beginning of the eighteenth
century. In 1387 Grascon wines and Ehenish were in high
vogue. The best sold for twenty shillings the tun, though
six years before they were at a hundred shillings. The cold-
ness complained of in the varieties commonly introduced may
be easily met by the importation of stronger kinds, the ge-
nuine growth of the vine, but pure in quality. The alcohol
in wine combined in the natural way, when drunk in that
state, is not productive of those complaints of the liver, and
aimilar diseases, which arise from drinking brandied wines, in
which the spirit is foreign. This is a remarkable fact. The
union of the alcohol, mingled with the other ingredients of the
wine by artificial means, is never perfect, and is beyond calcu-
lation more pernicious than the strongest natural product.
The coldness even of the less spirituous French wines, only
arises from the high state of stimulus in which English
stomachs are customarily kept. From thence comes much
of the misery of indigestion in this country. To one
class of persons, it is true, and that unfortunately a large
one, this recommendation is vain, namely, those to whose
stomachs the use of alcohol, in its various forms, has been
familiar.
Before closing this chapter, a list of various customary
WINES OF FRANCE. 91
French measures is subjoined, many of them fictitious or
nominal ; but as they may be met with hereafter, it will only
be necessary to place them before the reader here, for the
sake of explanation. They will be found more fully given at
the close of the Appendix. In the wine districts they are
now all resolved into hectolitres and litres, by which measures
wine is universally sold, however the casks may vary in
size. This is a useful regulation, and should be adopted in
England, to prevent bottles of fourteen to the dozen being
passed off as -full measure. If a bottle of wine from -the
wood is demanded in Paris by the buyer, it is charged at
the same price as the litre, which is one-third more ; but
if the purchaser ask for the litre, it must be given him
without extra charge, though it will require an additional
bottle to hold a part of it. The French, when they send to a
wine-shop for their wine, always send two bottles, and de-
mand a litre.
It must be premised, as already observed, that the names
applied in various wine districts of France to the casks which
they use, differ without reference to the measure ; that in the
department of the Marne, the tonneau is called the queue, and
so on. By the new and excellent French system of measures,
every measure, it must again be borne in mind, is resolved
into litre and hectolitre.
The LITRE is 61-0280264 English cubic inches, or 2-11353
English pints, or a quart is 0-9465 of a litre, while 37860
litres make an old English gallon.
The HECTOLITRE is 22-01 imperial, or 26*4 old English
gallons, or 3-531714693 English cubic feet. The litre, then,
is something more than the English quart, which, and the
hectolitre of 26'4 old English gallons being recollected, the
quantities of the provincial and the old measures may be
easily comprehended.
The LOT of Lisle is 2-064 litres, or 0-545 gallons.
The VELTE is, in some places, 2-017108 English gallons, or
7-60965 litres. At Bourdeaux it is 7-177 litres, 1-896 gallons;
at Bayonne 7-390 litres, or 1-952 gallons. At Montpellier it
is 7-609 litres. The old velte, also called septier, was 7-60965
Litres, or 2*017108 gallons.
The OHM used at Strasburgh is 46*093 litres, or 12-176
English gallons.
92 WINES OF FRANCE.
The MILLEROLLE, at Marseilles, is 64-330 litres, or 16 '990
English gallons.
The ASNE, at Lyons, is 82*549 litres, or 21,809 gallons.
The QUARTAUT, of Champagne, is 90 litres ; in the old
French measure 68*4868, or about 18 English gallons.
The QUART, in La Nievre, is 115 litres.
The BARRIQTJE, of Limoux, from 100 to 120 litres. The
barrique, of Hermitage, 120 litres. Of Eochelle, 174*299
litres, or 46*039 gallons. Of Eouen, 195*648 litres, or
51-688 gallons. Of Bourdeaux, 228 litres. Of the Basses
Pyrenees, three hectolitres.
A PIECE of Champagne, of 160 litres, is only sold on the
spot to traders, the wine being exported in bottles. A piece
of Hermitage is 210 litres. In the department of the Grard,
185. In the department of the Seine, 228 litres. In Au-
vergne, 36 veltes. It is an indeterminate measure, from 27
to 100 veltes. In TYonne the piece is sometimes 28 veltes,
or 213 litres.
A BOTTE is 426 litres.
The BAREILLE, of the Ehone, is 240 litres.
A PIPE is indeterminate ; from 60 to 100 veltes, less or
more, in different parts of Prance.
The POINCON, of 236 litres, is used in the Loiret.
The TONNEAU, of Bourdeaux, is a nominal measure, of 4
barrels, or 912 litres. The queue, in the department of the
Marne, is the same as the tonneau. In Burgundy it is 60
veltes, or 456 litres, or about 114 English gallons. The old
Tonneau de la Marine was 1438*2234 litres.
The DEMI QUEUE, in Burgundy, is 30 veltes, or 228 litres.
In Chalons it is 220 litres.
The QUARTIER QUEUE, in Burgundy, is 15 veltes, or 114
litres, or about 28^ gallons.
The PEUILLETTE de Bourgogne is 15 veltes.
The MUID, in Burgundy, is 280 litres. In Languedoc,
700, or seven hectolitres.
The DEMI MUID, like the muid, differs in different districts.
In Eoussillon and St. Grilles it is 45 veltes.
EOUDRES are the largest casks which are made, holding
each from five thousand to fifteen, and some even thirty thou-
sand litres.
Besides the separate measures in almost every department,
WINES OF FRANCE. 93
the French formerly enumerated the following, which are
given merely to gratify the curious reader :
The SEPTIER, the same as the velte above in some places,
though more generally 7*60965 litres, about 2'0l7108 Eng-
lish gallons.
The BEOC, 11-41447 litres.
The FRENCH GALLON, 3-8048 litres, or 1-008554 English
gallons.
The QUARTE, 1-9024 litres.
The PINTE, -951206 litres, or -2521385 English gallon.
The CHOPINE, called also the settier, '475603 litres ; also
the half settier.
It will not be amiss here, for the benefit of the drinker of
French wines, to mention several terms, employed by the
dealers and connoisseurs in speaking of them.
Vin. French for wine generally.
Bouquet is the aromatic smell which is perceived on draw-
ing the cork of any of the finer wines, on their exposure to
the air. In some of the better classes of French wine it is
highly rich and odorous. It is not a single perfume, and is
named bouquet from this circumstance. It seems to arise
from a union of several agreeable odours, according to the
opinion of the initiated.
Seve is applied to the taste of the wine the instant it is
swallowed, composed both of the spirituous quality and aro-
matic odour united.
Aroma spiritueux intends nearly the same thing as seve,
and both are acquired at uncertain ages of the wine. Infu-
sions of different substances are sometimes used to impart
these virtues.
Cru. This word is applied several ways. It means a
vineyard; a particular spot in a vineyard; any vine land
generally.
Fumeux. "Wines quickly affecting the head from alcohol,
not from carbonic gas, as Champagne. To the latter the term
montant is applied.
Veloute. Wine of good colour and body soft upon the
palate.
Cuvee. The contents either of a cellar or vat at the vin-
tage. It may consist either of one growth, or of several put
together; in short, what we should call " a brew."
94 WINES OE FRANCE.
Vin lourru. Thick, unfermented wine.
Event. Plat wine ; wine with a twang of deadness.
Pdteux. Thick wine, adhering to the mouth.
Plat. "Wine without body or spirit.
Most of the other terms used furnish a key to their mean-
ing from their obvious derivation, or may be found in any good
dictionary.
[Spirits of Champagne.]
CHAPTEE YI.
WINES OF FKANCE (Continued.}
WINES OF THE DEPARTMENTS OF THE MARNE, HAUT-MARNE, ARDENNES, AND
AUBE, COMPREHENDING THE ANCIENT PROVINCE OF CHAMPAGNE WINES
OF THE COTE D*OR, I/YONNE, AND SEINE AND LOIRE, COMPOSING ANCIENT
BURGUNDY WINES OF THE DROME, RHONE, AND VAUCLUSE, FORMERLY THE
LYONNAIS, DAUPHINY, PROVENCE, ORANGE, AND LANGUEDOC OF THE
GIRONDE OR BORDELAIS OF THE DEPARTMENTS OF THE DORDOGNE,
VIENNE, NIEVRE, LOT, LOT ET GARONXE, MOSELLE, HAUT RUIN, BAS RHIN,
&C.
THE wines for which the ancient province of Champagne is
celebrated, rank first in excellence among those of Prance.
By forming France into departments, Champagne is now di-
vided between the departments of the Ardennes, the Marne,
the Aube, and the Haut-Marne. The wines produced there
long disputed the palm of excellence with those of Burgundy.
Gout had been attributed to their use by certain French phy-
yo WINES OF FBANCE.
sicians. The school of medicine entered, about 1652, into a
warm discussion on the respective merits of the two species,
and, though the public had settled the question long before,
did not pronounce in favour of the wines of Champagne until
1778, about one hundred and twenty-eight years after the
dispute commenced.
In 1328, Eheims wine bore a price of ten livres only,
while Beaune fetched twenty-eight. In 1559, at the corona-
tion of Francis II., Eheims wines were dearer than Bur-
gundy ; but the wines of the Lyonnais carried a still higher
price. In 1561 these wines had risen in price. In 1571
they were nearly eight times increased beyond their former
value. Champagne reached its present perfection and estima-
tion about 1610, at the coronation of Louis XIII. The
oldest anecdote which the French possess relative to the ex-
cellence of Eheims wine, dates as far back as 1397, when
Yincesilaus, King of Bohemia and the Eomans, on coming to
France to negotiate a treaty with Charles VI., arrived at
Eheims, and having tasted the wine of Champagne, it is to
be presumed for the first time, spun out his diplomatic errand
to the longest possible moment, and then gave up all that was
required of him, in order to prolong his stay, getting drunk
on Champagne daily before dinner. It is said that Francis I.
of France, Pope Leo X., Charles V. of Spain, and Henry
VIII. of England, had each of them a vineyard at Ay, their
own property, and on each vineyard a small house occupied
by a superintendant. Thus the genuine article was secured
by each sovereign for his own table. If this be true, it shows
pretty accurately the length of time that Champagne wine
has been in esteem. The vineyards on the banks of the
Marne are those which possess the highest character, pro-
ducing most of the wine known by the general term of Cham-
pagne in other countries. The wines are divided into those
of the river and of the mountain, the former being for the
most part white. In a climate so far north, these and other
French wines bear remarkable evidence of human industry.
In the South, Nature does everything, and man is idle. In
the JSTorth, man is the diligent cultivator, and he is rewarded
in the deserved superiority of his produce and the estimation
it justly holds.
Champagne wines are further divided into sparkling (mous-
WIXES OF FRANCE. 97
seux), demi-sparkling (cr&nians or demi-mousseucc) , and still
wines (non mousseux). Some are white or straw-colour,
others grey, others rose-colour, and some are red. They are
of a light quality in spirit, the average of alcohol in Cham-
pagne wine in general, according to Mr. Brande, being but
12-61 per cent.
The entire quantity of wine made in Champagne of all
kinds varies with the season ; but the average may be taken
at 1,560,687 hectolitres, or 40,96S,033f gallons, from 55,540
hectares, or 138,870 acres of vines.* The department of
the Marne is that in which the most famous of these wines
are made. There are 19,066 hectares of land devoted to the
vine in the department, though some say above 20,000, and
of this number 110 are situated in the arrondissement of
Chalons sur Marne ; 6856 in that of Epernay ; 425 in that
of St. Menehould ; 9029 in that of Eheims ; and 2646 in
that of Yitry sur Marne. The quantity of wine made in the
whole department is 422,487 hectolitres, and the value about
11,235,397 francs ; of this sum nearly four-fifths in value are
made in the arrondissements of Epernay and Eheims. Each
hectare gives from 28 to 30 hectolitres. The produce has
increased of late years from the improved mode of cultivation.
The quantity exported from the department is of the best
kind, and amounts to about . 103,043 hectolitres annually ;
the residue is distilled or consumed by the inhabitants. The
best red wines are sold in Belgium and the Ehenish pro-
vinces. The Sillery goes to Paris and to England, and the
sparkling wines, not only over Trance, but the entire civilised
world. Tor England this wine is made more spirituous than
that for export to other countries, and it is valued here in
proportion to its extreme effervescence in place of the con-
trary, which, as all judges of the wine allow, is best recom-
mendatory of it. That which gently sends up the gas in
sparkles is to be preferred, and the finest of all is the still vin
* The vintage of 1834, which was large and good, gave for Verzenay 3000
casks; Verzy and ;Villers-Marmery, 1500; Rilly, Chigny, and Ludes, 1000;
Bouzy 1000, Ambomuy 1000, Ay 10,000, Mareuil and Aoenay3000; Haut-
Villiers, Dizy, and Cumieres, 4000; Epernay 4000, Pierry 4000, Moussy 2500,
Chouilly 1500, Cramant 2000, Avize 8000, Oger and Menil 16,000, Vertus 2000,
total 64,500 casks, containing 220 bottles each; making in quantity 14,190,000
bottles. According to the estimate of the number of bottles whicn could be
procured, it appeared that when this vintage came to be bottled, there would be
a great deficiency.
U
98 WINES OF FBANCE.
du roi. None should be purchased in Prance which does not
cost three francs to the merchant on the spot. That of less
price is good for little. The French merchants of Paris and
Meaux take nearly all the wine grown in the arrondissement
of Epernay.
The vintage of 1832 gave 480,000 hectolitres, viz., 50,000
in white sparkling or still, 310,000 common red of middling
quality, and 120,000 choice red.
The annual consumption of Champagne wine in France
was estimated at 626,000 bottles in 1836, but the quantity
was thought to be on the decline. The export was then re-
ported to be, to England and the East Indies, 467,000 bottles;
Grermany, 479,000; United States of America, 400,000;
Bussia, 280,000 ; and Sweden and Denmark, 30,000.
The mean price in the arrondissements of Chalons, St.
Menehould, and Vitry, which are inferior kinds, is about
sixteen francs the hectolitre ; those of Yitry bring twenty
francs ; St. Menehould fifteen ; and Chalons about twelve.
Though in England most people understand by Champagne
only wine which effervesces, this, as we have seen, is an error.
There are many kinds of Champagne wine, but the best are
those which froth slightly. They are improved in the drink-
ing by ice, which tends to repress the effervescence ; the
Sillery has no sparkle at all. Every connoisseur in Cham-
pagne will select wine of moderate effervescence, and such
wine always carries the best price. When the glass is en-
tirely filled with froth, on pouring out the contents of the
bottle, the better qualities of the wine and spirit evaporate.
The quantity of spirit in Champagne, as we have seen, is but
small, and the residue is a flat meagre fluid.
There is an exquisite delicacy about the wines of Cham-
pagne, which is more sensible to the foreigner than that
which distinguishes the richest kind of Burgundy to the
taste of the French amateur. The French have terms for
distinguishing different qualities in their wines, some of
which cannot be translated ; but the term " delicate" or
"fine," as applied to the wines of Champagne, the peculiar
" aroma," which remains in the mouth after tasting them,
together with the " bouquet," which is understood alone
of the perfume, applying to the sense of smell, are terms
pretty intelligible to Englishmen, who are drinkers of French
wines.
WINES or FRANCE. 99
It is on the banks of the Marne that the best effervescing
wines are made, or, to follow the French designation, in " the
vineyards of the river." We have already noted the general
divisions of river and mountain wines, which are of some an-
tiquity in characterising the wines of this part of France.
The French further divide this district, or vine-ground of
E/heims, into four general divisions, namely, the river vine-
yard district, that of the mountain of Rheims, that of the
estate of St. Thierry, and that of the valleys of Norrois and
Tardenois. There are, moreover, one or two other spots which
do not come into these divisions ; one of them is on the side
of a hill north-east of Eheims.
The river district is situated on a calcareous declivity,
open to the south, at the foot of which runs the Marne,
from Bisseuil to the borders of the department of the Aisne.
The chalk abounds here mingled with stones in the upper-
most soil. The vines are as closely planted as possible. On
this declivity comes first in order the vine-ground of Ay,
which produces on an average, year by year, about 4320 hec-
tolitres of red wine, valued at sixty francs the hectolitre, and
3392 hectolitres of white wine, at one hundred and thirty ;
also the vineyards of Mareuil and Dizy, yielding 3220 hec-
tolitres of red, at forty francs, and 1970 of white wine, at
one hundred and ten. These are the districts which pro-
duce Champagne wines of the very first quality known.
They are light and delicate, vinous, of the most agreeable
taste, and preserve to a great age their virtues and effer-
vescence. When these wines are destitute of the sparkling
quality, they rival those of Sillery, as still Champagne, and
are frequently preferred to Sillery, because they are lighter
and more luscious. The red wines of this quarter also keep
well. It yet remains to account for certain differences in
wine of adjoining vineyards met with here, with apparently
the same soil and exposure.
The next vine lands of this district in rank are those of
Cumieres and Hautvilliers, which yield about 7130 hecto-
litres of red wine of the second quality, at fifty francs.
Hautvilliers was the spot where Father Perignon, a Bene-
dictine, first introduced the mixing grapes of different quali-
ties in making these wines. This wine resembles that of
the hilly district of Eheirns in lightness and delicacy, but
100 WINES OF FRANCE.
will not keep to so great an age. In warm seasons it reaches
maturity the first year. Formerly white wine made at
Hautvilliers rivalled that of Ay, but of late the manufacture
has ceased, in consequence of the division of the property on
which the wines were produced ; the greater part of the vine
lands which grew the finest qualities having got into the
hands of wine-makers who have changed the character of the
vines. That of a spot called la Cote-a-bras has still a repu-
tation. Some proprietors there who have preserved the old
kind of vine still make an excellent white wine. All the
other wines of the river are common, and fetch in the market,
on the average, only from twenty-five to forty francs.
The mountain or hilly district of Eheims is at the back of
the preceding acclivity, and its slope is much less steep than
that towards the river. The soil is of the same calcareous
description. The prices, however, differ with the reputation
of the vineyards. The aspect is east and north. The first
vine lands are those of Bouzy and Ambonnay, producing
2100 hectolitres, either of red or white wine at pleasure, at
about one hundred and fifty francs the hectolitre. Next
come the vineyards of Yerzenay, Sillery, Mailly, and Yerzy,
producing 2832 hectolitres of the same kind of wines, at one
hundred and thirty francs.
It is here that the best red wines of Champagne are pro-
duced. They have good body, are spirituous, fine, and keep
their qualities to an advanced age. The red wines of Bouzy
approach in bouquet the best wines of Burgundy.
It is from this district that the exquisite white still Cham-
pagne, called Sillery, is produced. The vineyard is not more
than fifty arpents in extent, yielding six casks of two hun-
dred and ten bottles each arpent. The hill on which it
stands has an eastern aspect. This wine has more body, is
more spirituous than any other white Champagne wine, and
is distinguished by a dry and agreeable taste. It is grown
principally on the lands of Yerzenay and Mailly, of the
blackest grape, of which also the grey bright wine, having
the complexion of crystal, is made. It is to be lamented
that of late, owing to the changes of property there, they
have planted white grapes, that make a very inferior wine,
which will not keep half as long. The name of Sillery was
given to the wine from that of the soil ; after a marquis who
WINES OP FBANCE. 101
improved it, the wine was also styled vin de la Marecliale.
Very little is now produced in the commune of Sillery, which
covers a considerable space of ground. The grape is sub-
jected for making this wine to a less pressure than for red
wine, and it is kept longer in wood than the other sorts
generally are, or about three years. The quantity made
differs every year, according to the orders received for it.
It is chiefly manufactured for the wine merchants, who buy
the proper grape from the proprietors of the vineyards, in
proportion to the demand made on them for export. It is,
perhaps, the most durable, as well as wholesome to drink of
all the wines of Champagne, the fermentation being more
perfect than that of any other species.
The second class of wines is generally valued at fifty
francs, while there are others, such as those of Ville Dom-
mange, which are only worth from twenty-five to thirty
francs the hectolitre on the spot. They are made from the
vineyards of Ambonnay, Ludes, Chigny, Billy, Villers-Alle-
rand, and Trois-Puits, and in quantity produce about 9408
hectolitres. These wines are some of them of tolerable
quality, and are mostly sold to foreigners. The rest of the
wines of the mountain district are ordinary wines, bringing
only from thirty to forty francs the hectolitre, and some only
fifteen and twenty.
The third Champagne district, or that of St. Thierry,
produces 6592 hectolitres of delicate wines, bearing prices
from thirty to sixty francs, and some ordinary sorts as low
as twenty.
The fourth district, namely, the valleys of Norrois and
Tardenois, as well as that of the hill side near Eheims, pro-
duces only common red wines, the best of which sell from
twenty-five to thirty francs the hectolitre.
In all the distinguished vineyards of Champagne, as, for
example, in the river district of Ay, Mareuil, fiizy, Haut-
villiers, and Cumieres; and at Bouzy, Yerzy, Yerzenay,
Mailly, in the mountain, as well as in many other of the vine
lands, they cultivate the black grape, which is called the
"golden plant" (plant dore), being a variety of the vine
called pinet and red and white pineau. Crescenzio, who
wrote in the thirteenth century, speaks of a vine near Milan,
called pignolus, which was probably of the same species,
102 ".VINES OF
especially as an ordinance of the Lonvre, of tlie date of 1394,
places the pinoz, as then called, above all the common species
of vine. The product of the white grape produces a very
inferior wine to that from the foregoing fruit. It seems at
first singular that the blackest grape should produce wine of
the purest white colour, grey, or straw ; but such is, never-
theless, the fact. The price of the vine land differs much.
It is greatly subdivided ; there are vineyards not exceeding
the tenth of an arpent in size. Some productive land will
not bring forty pounds per acre English on sale, while spots
have been known to sell for eight hundred, which have
yielded seven hundred and fifty bottles the acre. The ex-
penses of cultivation at Ay, a small town on the right bank of
the Marne, a little above Epernay, remarkable for the delicacy
of its wines, are from 600 francs to 900 francs per hectare.
The selling price of vineyards averages about 5000 francs,
the highest has been 24,000 : the lowest 2500 francs. These
wines are grown in a southern exposure upon a range of chalk
hills, on the mid elevation of which the best vines are pro-
duced. The number of vine proprietors in the arrondisse-
ment of T&heims is 11,903 ; for the whole department they
are not less than 22,500. The produce may average in the
districts most noted from 440 to about 540 gallons English,
per acre, sometimes producing 660. But it is well known
that certain spots in this department have given 1000 gallons
the English acre.
The still wines of Epernay, both red and white, are inferior
to those which are made on the lands of Eheims. The best
red wines of Epernay are those of Mardeuil, at the gates of
Epernay, those of Damery, Yertus, Monthelon, Cuis, Mancy,
Chavost, Moussy, Yinay, and St. Martin d'Ablois. They
fetch only middling prices, from forty to sixty francs the
hectolitre. The wines of Eleury, Yenteuil, Yauciennes, and
Eoursault, on the Marne, are only to be classed as ordinary
wines of the district. Those of (Euilly, Maxeuil le Port,
Leuvrigny, Crossy, Yerneuil, and the canton of Doraians,
rank as common wines from twenty-two to thirty francs on
the spot. Among the lands where white wines are pro-
duced, the vineyard of Pierry, in the neighbourhood of
Epernay, is most esteemed. It is dry, spirituous, and will
keep longer than any of the other kinds. Yarying from one
WINES OP FKAKCE. 103
hundred and fifty to twenty francs, the differences in the
wines may be easily conjectured.
At Epernay, where the black grape is most cultivated,
there are lands which produce wine approaching that of Ay
in delicacy, in the abundance of the saccharine principle, and
in the fragrance of the bouquet. Though customarily ar-
ranged after the wine of Pierry, it may fairly be classed on
an equality. The wines from the white grape of Cramant,
Avize, Oger, and Menil, are characterised by their sweetness
and liveliness, as well as by the lightness of their efferves-
cence. To a* still class, put into bottles when about ten or
eleven months old, they give the name oi ptisannes of Cham-
pagne, much recommended by physicians as aperient and
diuretic. The grounds of Chouilly, Cuis, Moussey, Yinay,
St. Martin d'Ablois, and G-rauve, as well as those of Mon-
thelon, Mancy, and Molins, produce wine used in the fabri-
cation of sparkling Champagne, being fit for that purpose
alone.
It is proper to explain that the wines are put into casks of
one hundred and eighty litres each. But white wines of
Champagne are not intended for consumption at these prices
in the piece ; it is only to be understood of such wines as are
thus preserved by the merchants at Epernay and Bheims,
when, during the vintage, or for three months after, they wish
to hold the stock of the growers, which it is not convenient
at the moment for them to bottle, as it is the general cus-
tom among the wine makers to take upon themselves the
expense and trouble of bottling. Thus they are enabled to
dispose of a small quantity at once, if demanded, and can
still wait to the end of the first year for ascertaining the
whole of their stock. They suffer the less by breakage,
leakage, and filling up of the bottles, and obtain a portion of
the profit at once from the immediate sale of a part of their
stock to the merchant. The price of a bottle of Champagne
paid by the consumer, either in France or abroad, varies more
according to the scarcity or abundance of the crop, and the
agreement with the seller, than the difference of the quality
at the place of growth. The following prices will give an
idea of these variations.
The wine of Pierry and Epernay, in a plentiful year, sells
from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty francs ;
104 WINES OE FBANCE.
in a medium year, from one hundred and eighty to two hun-
dred ; in a year of scarcity, from two hundred to two hun-
dred and fifty the piece.
Those of Cramant, Avize, Oger, Menil, from eighty to one
hundred ; and from one hundred to two hundred.
Those of Chouilly from sixty to a hundred and fifty francs
under such circumstances.
Those of Moussy, Vinay, St. Martin d'Ablois, Cuis, Grauve,
Month elon, Mancy, and Molins, from fifty to sixty ; sixty to
eighty ; or eighty to a hundred.
Sold in bottles by the grower to the merchant in gross ;
the waste not replaced, and bottles not filled up, If. 25c. ;
If. 50c. ; 2f. to 2f. 50c ; in medium years, If. 30c., 2f., and
2f. 50c. ; in years of scarcity, 2f., 2f. 50c. to 3f. The bottles
filled, and no waste in abundant years, If. 50c. ; If. 75c. ;
If. 75c. ; 2f. 25c. ; 2f. 75c. In years of average product,
If. 75c. ; 2f. 25c. ; 2f. 75c. In years of scarcity, 2f. 25c. ;
2f.75c. ; 3f.
In bottles sold by the merchant to the consumer in years
of abundance, 2f. ; " 2f. 50c. ; 3f. ; medium years, 3f. 50c. ;
years of scarcity, 3f. 50c. ; 4f. 50c. ; 6f. Prom 3f. to 3f. 50c.
is the average for good quality. Some class the qualities :
The first, from 3f. to 4f. ; the second, from 2f. 50c. to 3f. ; the
third, from 2f. to 2f. 50c. Erom ten to twenty per cent,
fluctuation in price is not common. England and her colo-
nies consume this wine largely. The annual exportation is
about 2,690,000 bottles, with an increasing demand.
In 1818 there were effervescing wines sold at from one
franc twenty-five cents, to one franc fifty cents, after the first
month of bottling ; but this makes nothing against the fore-
going prices. These wines were of a very inferior quality,
and being sweetened or seasoned with sugar and spirit,
could only answer for instant consumption. Such wines are
neither sound nor wholesome, and it is probable are the same
that the advertising wine quacks of London puff off by ad-
vertisements as the best Champagne. Those who have any
regard for their organs of digestion, should avoid them as
poison ; for though good Champagne is one of the whole-
somest wines, the bad is more than commonly pernicious.
Some of the more respectable growers and merchants never
keep any Champagne but of the best quality, and never sell
WINES Or EBANCE. 105
under three francs, let the season be as abundant as it may.
These are the best persons of whom to buy. They have
always the finest stock, and after encountering the first
year's loss by breakage, they have a certain property in
their cellars, which covers the return of bad seasons.
The best red wines of Epernay are fit for consumption the
second year. They gain little by being kept above two years
in the wood, but in bottle they lose nothing of their good
qualities for six or seven.
The wines of Champagne, whether still or effervescing,
white, grey, or rose, whether solely of black or white grapes,
or of both mingled, are generally in perfection the third year
of bottling. The best wines, however, gain rather than lose
in delicacy for ten, and even twenty years, and are often
found good at the age of thirty or forty.
It will not now be amiss to give a cursory view of the
mode in which the effervescing wines of Champagne are
made. By this means some idea may be formed of the care
required in bringing them to a perfection, which has aided in
placing them beyond all rivalry.
The vine crop designed for the manufacture of white Cham-
pagne is gathered with the greatest care possible. The grapes
for the purest wines consist only of those from an approved
species of vine. Every grape which has not acquired a per-
fect maturity ; every rotten grape, or touched with the frost,
or pricked, is rejected. In gathering, or in emptying the
baskets, and in the carriage to the press, every motion that
can injure the fruit is avoided, as well as the sun's action.
On arriving at the press, the baskets, or whatever the grapes
are carried upon, are placed in the shade in a cool spot.
AVhen the quantity is sufficient for a pressing, they are
heaped with as little motion as possible upon the press, and
the bunches are very carefully arranged.
The must is not immediately casked, but is placed in a vat,
where it remains for six, ten, or fifteen hours, that the dregs
may deposit. When it begins to ferment, it is immediately
transferred to the cask.
Perhaps there are none of the productions of the soil which
require more care than the grape, to make it produce the
delicious wines in perfection. In no country is the art of
making wine so well understood as in France, and being a
106 WINES OP FRANCE.
commodity which it is impossible to equal, except in a soil
and temperature of exactly the same character, it is impro-
bable that country will be excelled by any other in her staple
product. An advantage of no slight moment, when compared
to those of her manufactures which time may enable foreigners
to equal, and in many cases to surpass. The following is an
account of the process of bottling, and the treatment of the
wines, of Champagne, before they are ready for the market.
About Christmas, after the vintage, the fermentation being
complete, the wine is racked. This is always done in dry
weather, and, if possible, during frost. A month after it is
racked a second time, and fined with isinglass. Before it is
bottled it undergoes a third racking, and a second fining.
There are some makers of wine who only fine it once after the
second racking, and immediately bottle it, taking care that it
has been well fined in the cask. Others rack it twice, but
fine it at each racking. The best wines are always able to
bear three rackings and two finings ; and the benefit of such
repetitions is found of the utmost importance afterwards in
managing the wine when bottled.
The wine which is designed to effervesce, and the ptisannes
and wines of the third pressing, are racked and fined in March
and April in the cellar, out of which they are only taken in
bottles. That which is designed to be still wine is not bottled
at Epernay until autumn, and is taken to the underground
cellar in April or May. This is not the practice at Eheims
with the Sillery. It has been found there the most advanta-
geous plan to bottle the wine in the month of January, though
at the risk of its imbibing the sparkling quality. In this case,
and forthwith after the first racking, which is called debour-
fiage, it is fined, and drawn off in ten or twelve days. Still
wines are found by this means to be much improved in cha-
racter.
The great complaint against Champagne wine has been,
that it cannot be obtained of an uniform quality. This is
principally owing to its being put into small casks. The
wine in every cask will not be alike, as the minutest difference
in the operation of preparing it for the market will alter the
quality. To remedy this evil, so justly complained of, Mumm,
&eisler and Co., at Eheims, provided tuns holding twelve
thousand litres each, which they imported from the Palati-
WHS*ES or FRANCE. 107
nate, and they found it a mode that fully obviated the
evil.*
The strength of the bottles 'and their uniform thickness, for
the sparkling wines, are most carefully ascertained. Every
bottle with an air-bubble in the glass, or with too long or too
narrow a neck, or with the least malformation in short,
with anything which may be supposed to affect the produc-
tion or retention of the effervescence, is put by for the red
wine. The bottles, too, are jingled together in pairs, one
against the other, and those which crack, or break, are car-
ried in account against the maker.
Some idea of the quantity of effervescing wine made in the
department of the Marne, in the arrondissement of Epernay
alone, is obtained from the fact, that no less than thirty-three
thousand hectolitres, or eight hundred and sixty-six thousand
gallons, have been manufactured in one year. A third was
purchased by the merchants of Eheims, and at least as much
more has been made in one year in this last arrondissement.
In the month of March or April, after the wine designed
for effervescence is made, it is put into bottle. Some begin
as early as February, at the risk of exposing the wine to
failure, or the bottles to more extended breakage in case they
succeed. Fifteen per cent, is a common loss. Sometimes it
reaches much higher.
The effervescence is owing to the carbonic acid gas, pro-
* The following extract of a letter from Cologne to the writer will more fully
explain the experiment: " I venture to submit the new mode which has been
adopted by an establishment at Kheims for getting wines of an uniform quality,
the want of which used to be a constant, and, I may add, a very just complaint
Most of the wine-merchants at Eheims and Epernay put their wines into small
casks, or pieces of 160 litres each, and the wine had to undergo in them all the
various operations mentioned in your first edition. It is very evident, then, that
it is almost impossible to have an uniform wine ; each cask must and will be dif-
ferent. Besides, wine never will develop itself so well in a small vessel as it will
in a large one. In order to remedy this, it was thought a good plan to get some
large Rheipgau tuns, of about 12,000 litres each, into which the new wines were
put ; and it was surprising to see the difference. The wine not only developed
itself far better than it used to do in the smaller casks, but the process of fermen-
tation and all the other operations went off beyond expectation, and the great ob-
ject to have a wine of an uniform quality was thus most satisfactorily obtained.
This new mode has not been adopted generally yet ; the great expense of the tuns,
which must be got from the Palatinate, has deterred others from adopting it ; but
the advantages are so great, that there is no doubt it will be very soon followed by
every other house. Meanwhile, I believe that this is the only firm at Rheims
which makes use of those immense tuns, and which thus can be sure of having in
all respects an uniform wine."
108 WINES OF FBANCE.
duced in the process of fermentation. This gas being resisted
in the fermentation of the white wine, scarcely begins to de-
velop itself in the cask, but is very quickly reproduced in
bottle. In this process the saccharine and tartarous prin-
ciples are decomposed. If the latter principle predominate,
the wine effervesces strongly, but is weak. If the saccharine
principle be considerable, and the alcohol found in sufficient
quantity to limit its decomposition, the quality is good. The
wines do not effervesce in uniform times. Some will do it
after being in bottle fifteen days ; others will demand as many
months. One wine will require a change of temperature, and
must be brought from the underground cellar to another on
the surface ; a third will not exhibit the desired quality until
August. One kind, when patience is exhausted, and the
effervescence so long expected is given up, will give it all of
a sudden. Another wine standing until the following year
without this action, must then be mingled with the product
of a new vineyard, which is known to abound in the effer-
vescing principle, such as that of the white grapes of Avize.
The effervescence of the Champagne wine, considered in all
its bearings, is most uncertain and changeable, even in the
hands of those best acquainted, through experience, with its
management. The difference of the spot of growth ; the
mixture; the process, more or less careful, in the making;
the casking and preservation in the wood ; the glass of the
bottles ; the aspect of the cellars ; the number and direction
of the air-holes ; the greater or less depth, and the soil in
which the cellars are situated all have a varied and often an
inexplicable influence on the phenomena of effervescence.
It will not be amiss to follow up the subject further in
its details, in order that the reader may judge of the attention
necessary in an operation, to a stranger, apparently the least
important relative to the manufacture of this delicious wine.
The bottles must be new, having been some days preceding
rinsed twice in a large quantity of water, and shotted. Five
workmen are required to manage them in what is called the
workshop, or atelier.
The barrel heads are bored, and a little brass pipe inserted
in them with a fine gauze strainer, to prevent the smallest
substance from passing. The bottles are filled so as to allow
about two inches' space between the wine and the cork.
WLSES OF PRAXCE. 109
This space diminishes during the time the gas is forming ; and
in those bottles which burst, it appears that the void is filled
up entirely by the expansion of the liquid.
The workman whose duty it is to fill the bottles, passes
them by his right side to the principal operator, who sits on
a stool, having before him a tittle table, covered with sheet
lead, and not higher than his knees. He takes the bottle,
inspects the allowance left between the wine and the place
the cork will occupy, regulates it very nicely, chooses a cork,
moistens it, introduces it into the bottle, and strikes it
forcibly two or three times with a wooden mallet, so smartly
that it would almost be thought the bottle must be broken
by the violence of the blows, but fracture is rare in the hands
of an experienced workman, who has paid attention to placing
his bottle solidly, and resting it with a perfectly even pressure
upon its bottom.
The bottle, thus corked, is passed again by the right-hand
to another workman, seated in the same manner as the fore-
going, who crosses it with packthread, very strongly tied, and
then hands it over to a fourth, who has a pincers and wire by
him ; he wires it, twists and cuts the wire, and gives it to a
youth, who places the bottles on their bottoms in the form of
a regular parallelogram, so that they can be counted in a
moment. The daily labour for a workshop is calculated at
eight casks, of one hundred and eighty litres each, or a draw-
ing of sixteen or seventeen hundred bottles. M. Moet, of
Epernay, who deals in the bottled wine, has constantly from
five to six hundred thousand bottles in store, and sometimes
no less than ten of his workshops are in full employ.
The cellars of M. Moet, at Epernay, are in the limestone
rock, and of immense extent. The piles of bottles render it
a labyrinth. They rise to the height of six feet.
The bottles are arranged in heaps (en tas) in the lower
cellars. They are carried down by means of baskets, which
enclose each twenty-five ozier cases for the bottles. Two
workmen, by means of leather belts drawn through the
handles, transport them. The heap or pile runs along the
wall of the cellar, most commonly for its entire length.
Among the wholesale merchants slopes are prepared in cement
for the piles, having gutters to carry off the wine from the
broken bottles, and also reservoirs to collect it.
110 WINES OF FKANCE.
The bottles are arranged horizontally, one against the
other. The lowest row has the necks turned to the wall ;
and the bottles placed upon laths. The bottles thus situated
indicate the vacant space left between the wine and the cork,
just at the spot where the bend of .the bottle takes place to
form the neck, by which the diminution in the void space is
easily seen. Small wedges secure the first range of bottles,
and upon them a second range is placed the other way, or
with the bottoms of the bottles towards the wall. All the
rows are placed on laths, the corks of one row one way, and
the other the reverse. The piles of bottles are thus ar-
ranged nearly in the same manner as in English bins, but
are carried to the height of five or six feet. This they call
in France to heap them (mettre en tas ou entreiller) .
The pile is very solid, and any of the bottles with the
necks to the wall can be withdrawn at pleasure, by which
means they can be examined, to observe if they are " up,"
as it is termed in England. If not, they must be got into
that state, let the expense amount to what it may. A bottle
drawn from the heap to examine if it be in a proper state, is
held horizontally, when a deposition is observed, which the
workmen call the jpr^^or claw, from its branching appearance.
The indication of a bottle's breaking is the disappearance of
the vacancy below the cork before spoken of, by the expan-
sion of the carbonic acid gas. It is generally in July and
August that this breakage happens, and that considerable
loss ensues. In ordinary cases, indeed, from four to ten per
cent, is the amount. Sometimes, however, it amounts to
thirty and forty per cent. It is very remarkable, too, such
is the uncertainty of the process, that of two piles in the
same part of the cellar, of the very same wine, not a bottle
shall be left of one, while the other remains without effer-
vescence at all. A current of fresh air will frequently make
the wine develop its effervescence furiously. The proprietor
of the wines is every year placed in the alternative of suffer-
ing great loss by breakage, or is put to great expense in
making wine effervesce that will not naturally develop itself.
Of the two evils he prefers submitting to breakage from too
great effervescence, rather than being put to the trouble and
expense of correcting the inertness of the liquid. If the
breakage be not more than eight or ten per cent., the owner
WHSTES OF TRANCE. Ill
does not trouble himself further about it. If it become
more serious, he has the pile taken down, and the bottles
placed upright on their bottoms for a time, which is longer
or shorter, as he judges most advisable. This makes the
quality of one bottle of wine somewhat different from ano-
other. Sometimes he removes it into a deeper cellar, or
finally uncorks it, to disengage the overabundant gas, and to
re-establish the void under the cork. This last operation is
naturally expensive. It happens that when the gas develops
itself with furious rapidity, the wine is wasted in large quan-
tities, and it is difficult to save any portion of it. Even
that which is least deteriorated is of bad quality. The piles,
as before observed, are longitudinal, and are parallel to each
other with a very small space between each pile. The daily
breakage, before it reaches its fullest extent, will be in one
day perhaps five bottles, another ten, the next fifteen. Those
piles which may have the smallest number broken, still fly
day by day among the mass, and scatter their contents upon
the sound bottles. Sometimes a fragment of a bottle is left,
which contains a good proportion of its contents. In a
short time this becomes acid from fermentation, and finally
putrid ; during the continuance of the breakage, the broken
bottles which lie higher in the pile mingle their contents
. with what is spoiled, resting in the fragments beneath. The
overflow runs together into gutters in the floor. When
there are many of these accidents the air of the cellar becomes
foul, and charged with new principles of fermentation, which
tend to increase the loss. Some merchants throw water over
the piles of bottles two or three times a week during the
period of breakage to correct the evil. The workmen are
obliged to enter the cellars with wire masks, to guard against
the fragments of glass when the breakage is frequent, as in
the month of August, when the fragments are often pro-
jected with considerable force.
The breakage ceases in the month of September, and in
October they "lift the pile," as they style it, which is done
simply by taking the bottles down, oue and one, putting
aside the broken ones, and setting on their bottoms those
which appear, in spite of the cork and sealing, which are en-
tire, to have stirred a little, upon examining the vacant space
in the neck. Bottles are sometimes found in this state to
112 WINES OF FRANCE.
have diminished in quantity to the amount of one-half by
evaporation. This loss must be replaced. In the other bottles
there is observed a deposition which it is necessary to remove.
For this latter purpose, the bottles are first placed in an in-
clined position of about 25, and, without removing them, a
shake is given to each twice or thrice a day, to detach the sedi-
ment. Planks, having holes in them for the necks of the
bottles, are placed in the cellar to receive them, thus slopingly,
three or four thousand together. For ten or fifteen days
they are submitted to the before-mentioned agitation, which
is managed by the workmen with some dexterity, so as to
place all the deposition in the neck next to the cork, and
leave the wine perfectly limpid. Each bottle is then taken
by the bottom, kept carefully in its reversed position, and the
wire and twine being broken, the bottle resting between the
workman's knees, the cork is dexterously withdrawn, so as to
admit an explosion of the gas, which carries the deposition
with it. An index is then introduced into the bottle, to
measure the height to which the wine should ascend, and the
deficiency is immediately made good with wine that has before
undergone a similar operation. As it was by no means an
easy task to do this, from the evaporation of the gas, while
the bottle was open, an instrment has been invented, and is
everywhere used for the purpose, which it is not necessary,
to describe here. The bottle is then a second time corked
and wired.
The wine is now ready to be sent away by the maker. The
bottles are arranged in a pile as before ; but if they remain
any time longer in the cellar they are uncorked, and submitted
to a second disengagement (degagement*) of the deposition,
and sometimes to a third, for it is a strict rule never to send
Champagne out of the maker's hand without such an opera-
tion, about fifteen days preceding its removal. If this were
not done, the deposit would affect the clearness of the wine
in the act of transporting it. Thus the process, to the last
moment the wine remains in the maker's hands, is trouble-
some and expensive. Sometimes, too, in the second year of
* This operation is called degorgement in some works on wine. Degagement
means freeing, and is more scientific in application : degorgement means clearing
a pipe stopped up to an overflow. Degagement is the French word, signifying to
disengage or free, and is here scientifically applied.
WINES OF FBANCE. 113
its age, the wine will break the bottles, though such breakage
will be very limited, it generally remaining tolerably quiet.
The non-effervescing wines, if they are of the white species,
are all submitted to the operation of uncorking and clearing
at least once before being sent out of the maker's hand.
The white wines of Champagne do not admit of being mixed
with any but those of their own growth. The wines of Ay
are sometimes mingled with those of Cramant, Avize, Oger,
and Menil, to produce the gas more favourably ; and the
makers in those places have recourse to that of Ay for a
similar purpose, from its abounding in the saccharine prin-
ciple. When mixtures take place in some districts they are
made simply to meet the taste of the consumer. "Wine which
would please a Parisian palate would not be drank at Prank-
fort. These mixtures are called assortments. They take
place in the first making of the wine by purchases from other
growths ; it is done very soon after the wine is made. For
the purpose of bringing wine to perfection this way, many
makers have in their cellars vats, denominated foudres, which
will contain from thirty to one hundred hectolitres each.
Mixtures are not often made of the effervescing wines.
They generally remain the pure production of the spots the
names of which they bear.
The red wines are differently assorted. The maker often
mingles the productions of his best vines together. The
dealer in white wines, who happens to be the proprietor of
vineyards, buys red wines of the third class, strong in colour
and pure in taste, which he mingles with his wines of the
fourth and fifth of his white pressings, thus ameliorating
them. Experience teaches the maker of red wines, two or
three years in wood and weak in quality, that it is a useful
custom to mingle with each piece ten or twelve litres of very
generous wine from the South, which improves them, and adds
to their body.
The grey Champagne wine is obtained by treading the grapes
for a quarter of an hour before they are submitted to the
press. A rose-coloured wine is obtained by continuing this
process a longer period ; but in the arrondissement of
Bheims, the rose-coloured wines are only wines of the second
quality, lightly tinged with a small quantity of very strong
red wine, or with a few drops of a liquor made at * Fisrnes,
I
' ^3 *** " ^**^, '
114 WINES OF FRANCE.
from elderberries. It is needless to say. that both the taste
and quality of the wine are injured by this mixture.
Indeed, no one who knows what the wines are at all, would
drink rose-coloured Champagne if he could obtain the other
kinds.
In Haut-Marne, a rose-coloured wine is made called
tocanne in the country. The must is racked after being
twenty-four hours in the vat. White wine is also made
there with the red grape, which is pressed without treading,
and the murk thrown into the vat. The pineau plant is used.
The wine made at Montsaugeon will keep many years in
bottle. The price of the best kind is thirty-five francs the
hectolitre.
The red wines of Champagne are little known in England.
Verzy, Yerzenay, Mailly, and St. Basle, near Bheims, pro-
duce what are called the mountain wines. They are of ex-
cellent quality, and the wines of Bouzy in particular are dis-
tinguished by great delicacy of flavour. The red wine of the
Clos de St. Thierry, a league from Bheims, is of a quality
between Burgundy and Champagne, and is very highly es-
teemed by the connoisseur. The price is from thirty to sixty
francs the hectolitre. Aubigny produces a delicate red wine,
and Montsaugeon a red wine which keeps well for forty years,
though of a very delicate quality.
The department of Aisne, part of ancient Picardy, pro-
duces 271,717 hectolitres of wine, both red and white, at
about thirty-two francs. Of these wines the most distin-
guished are those of Chateau-Thierry, which are white, and
are a good part of them bought by the merchants of Eper-
nay, who, after mixing them, sell them as Champagne.
These wines are delicate, but they want body. Those of
Essone and Azy bring twenty francs the hectolitre. The red
wines are consumed in the department, or sent to Paris.
Sugar has been mixed with some of the wines here in a small
proportion, and found to improve them. M. Sarrazin, of
Verdilly, by putting three or four pounds of sugar to each
piece of his wine, of two hectolitres, nearly doubled their
selling value. This is easily accounted for ; the grape, from
the northern temperature of the department, affords less
saccharine matter than a stronger sun gives in more southern
situations. The quantity of wine given out by the vine here
WINES OF FRANCE. 115
is great. At Soissons it is said to be no less than forty-five
hectolitres per hectare, or 1180 gallons every 2-J acres !
In the department of Aube, formerly part both of Bur-
gundy and Champagne, 572,870 hectolitres of wine are made,
the greater part of ordinary quality. Some pieces are, how-
ever, manufactured with care, from the pineau, by selecting
the riper grapes, which sell at double price. In the midst of
ordinary vines in the cantons of Essoyes, those of Mussy,
Viviers, and j^euville are noted for their delicacy, owing to a
difference in the soil, a more careful choice of the plant, and
a happier aspect. At Neuville there is a hill side, called Gra-
villiers, where a white wine, luscious, and very agreeable to
the palate, is made. It will not effervesce like Champagne,
but is simply creaming. Only five hundred hectolitres are
made, at forty francs.
At Hicey there are three growths, the first of which aver-
ages fifty francs. These wines are light, agreeably-tasted,
but a little heady. Some rose-coloured wine is also made at
Eicey. At Bar sur Aube an effervescing wine is manufac-
tured with a white grape called arlanne. It is gathered
when covered with dew, and instantly pressed ; it is then
left until the following February, when it is racked, fined,
and, in order to become sparkling, put into bottles during
the full moon in March.
It is useless here to particularise every variety of wine
produced in Champagne. Some classes are too meagre to
attract the attention of foreigners, while others will not
bear exportation. It suffices to remark that in no other
spot on the globe is the art of making wine of such a deli-
cate flavour so well understood, and that the great pains
taken, and the labour requisite to bring it to perfection,
added to the loss in the process of effervescence, and not
the scarcity of the grape, as some pretend, are the causes
of the high price of the wines in comparison with other
sorts. In truth, they are an article of very highly finished
manufacture.
The first class of Champagne wine, beginning with the
white, for which it is most celebrated, is to recapitulate, in
some degree, Sillery, a still wine, with its dry taste, fine
amber colour, rich body, and delicious bouquet. The wine
called mn die roi, is much esteemed in foreign countries.
i2
116 WINES OF FRANCE.
Ay, an effervescing wine, ranks next in estimation ; Mareuil
nearly equals it. Pierry gives a drier wine, which will keep
longer than the wines of Ay, and nearly equals them in quality;
there is a slight flinty taste in them peculiar to themselves.
Dizy follows next, and, lastly, Epernay, part of the wines of
which are inferior, and part equal to those of Ay. The
wines called Closet, of Epernay, may rank with any grown
at Ay.
The second class comprises those of Hautvilliers, about
nine miles from Eheims, formerly equal to any wines in
Champagne. Then the wines of the vineyards of Cramant,
Avize, Oger, and Menil, all near Epernay, and made of white
grapes, which are excellent; they are often mingled with
the wines of Ay to great advantage, by ensuring their pre-
servation.
In the third class may be comprised some tolerably good
wines and inferior sorts, none of which are exported, except
by those who sell very low-priced Champagne abroad for the
" best," as they turn it. Some of these inferior kinds are
produced at Chouilly, Monthelon, Grrauves, Mancy, Beau-
mont, and other places near Eheims. They do not possess
body unless mingled with stronger growths. In fact, though
pleasant drinking at home, they are not fit for exportation.
The first two classes above enumerated should alone be pur-
chased by foreigners.
The first class in the red is the Clos de St. Thierry, which
mingles the best qualities of Burgundy with those of Cham-
pagne. Vergenay, St. Basle, Mauly, Verzy, and Bouzy, pro-
duce wines held in considerable repute. In the second class
may be reckoned the wines of Cumieres, near Epernay,
Chigny, Ludes, and Villers Allerand, near Eheims. The
third class of wines comprises those of the Terres de St.
Thierry, Ecueil, Avenay, Yertus, Villedommange, Cham-
pillon, and Damery. There are other kinds, which need not
to be enumerated, from the lowness of their quality.
BURGUNDY.
Ancient Burgundy now forms the three departments of
the Cote d'Or, the Saone et Loire, and the Tonne. The
wine district is situated under the forty-sixth and forty-
eighth degrees of latitude, and is about sixty leagues long
WltfES OF PBANCE. 117
by thirty wide.* The most celebrated district is the Cote
d'Or, thus named on account of the richness of its vineyards.
It consists for the most part of a chain of gentle calcareous
hills, which extend north-east and south-west from Dijon
into the department of the Saone and Loire, including a
small part of the arrondissement of Dijon and all that of
Beaune. One side of these hills presents an eastern, and
one a south and south-eastern aspect, both which are highly
favourable to the growth of the vine. The vineyards cover
the elevations nearly the whole length of their range, at the
bases of which a plain of argillaceous deep reddish earth
extends itself, rich in agricultural produce of another species.
The training of the vines is after the low method, on sticks
about three feet long. They are set much closer together
than is in general customary.
The superficies devoted to vine cultivation in the depart-
ment of Cote d'Or is about 25,351 hectares, or 63,378 acres ;
of which the arrondissement of Dijon contains 6912 ; Beaune,
11,789 ; Chatillon sur Seine, 2600 ; and Semur, 4050.
The department of the Saone and Loire, the least important
district of Burgundy as respects the quality of the wines,
contains 30,708 hectares, or 76,775 acres of vineyards. Of
these, 13,954 belong to the arrondissement of Macon, 4208
to Autun, 7248 to Chalons siir Soane, 4269 to that of Cha-
rolles, and 1029 to that of Louhans.
The third district of Burgundy, the department of the
Tonne, nearly equals the Cote d'Or in the quality of its
produce, while its vineyards are more extensive, containing
no less than 33,630 hectares, or 84,075 acres of surface. Of
these the arrondissement of Auxerre holds 13,960 ; Avallon,
4000 ; Joigny, 6083 ; Sens, 4270 ; and Tonnerre, 5317.
The total of hectares of vineyards in Burgundy is 89,689,
or 224,223 acres. The value of the wines produced in the
Cote d'Or is 15,473,530 francs, amounting to 578,252 hecto-
litres, averaging 22,81 each hectare. The total value in the
Saone et Loire from 660,942 hectolitres, averaging 21,52J
each hectare, is 13,027,079 francs. The produce in the
Tonne amounts in quantity to 886,604 hectolitres, at 23,39 J,
in value 23,638,886 francs. Thus the total annual value of
* The common French league is two miles, three furlongs, and fifteen poles
English.
118 WINES OE FRANCE.
the wines of Burgundy, in years of ordinary production,
amounts to 52,139,495 francs. About a million of hecto-
litres, out of 2,125,798, are consumed in the three depart-
ments composing the ancient province : the rest is sent to
different parts of France, and to foreign countries, and natu-
rally consists of the wines of the best quality. The red
wines of Champagne resemble them most in character. The
vine districts of Burgundy are known in the country by the
divisions of Cote de Nuits, Cote de Beaune, and Cote Cha-
lonnaise.
The difference of the qualities of the wine may be judged
by the following lists of prices, taking for example the arron-
dissement of Beaune, in the centre of the Cote d'Or. There
2300 hectolitres, of superior wine, are produced at one hun-
dred and twenty-five francs each ; and 17,700 at ninety-five ;
45,000 of fine wines, at sixty ; 60,000 of good ordinary, at
thirty; and 113,670 of common, at eighteen francs. This
may serve as a specimen of the other districts in respect to
quality, except that in the department of the Saone and
Loire, eighty francs the hectolitre is the highest price, and
fifteen the lowest. In the department of the Yonne the
higher classes of red Burgundy fetch from three hundred to
four hundred francs the muid,* or rather under one hundred
and twenty-five the hectolitre, while the lowest bring but
fourteen francs. The white wines bring from ninety-eight
to twenty-three. Thus the white wines neither rise as high
nor sink as low in price as the red. The quantity of alcohol
in these wines is said to be 13 '50, but in this respect there
is a considerable variation in the experiments, as no two
wines are exactly alike in point of strength, the results yet
obtained are not therefore very satisfactory.
Burgundy is perhaps the most perfect of all the known red
wines in the qualities which are deemed most essential to
vinous perfection. The flavour is delicious, the bouquet ex-
quisite, and the superior delicacy which it possesses, justly
entitles it to be held first in estimation of all the red wines
known. It cannot be mixed with any other ; even two of the
first growth, mingled, deteriorate the quality, and injure the
bouquet.
It is unnecessary to go into the history of the lower growths
* Of two hundred and eighty litres, or 73'930 gallons.
WINES OF PBANCE. 119
of the wines of Burgundy, because they are rarely exported.
It will suffice to take a cursory notice of them, and dwell
longest upon those wines which are best known out of France.
The three more celebrated districts have been enumerated on
the preceding page, namely, those of Beaune, Nuits, and the
Chalonnaise.
The fine wines of Upper Burgundy, in the arrondissement
of Dijon, are the produce of about seven hundred hectares,
while in the arrondissement of Beaune seven thousand are
cultivated for making the better growths. The arrondisse-
ment of Dijon, near Grevray, five miles from Dijon, produces
the red and white Chanibertin. The vineyard is very small.
The soil is gravelly, with loam. The gravel is calcareous, and
the subsoil marl with small shells. It is a wine of great
fulness, keeps well, and has the aroma perfect. It was the
favourite wine of Napoleon. The first class never passes out
of France. They make an effervescing Chambertin, a wine
inferior to good Champagne. It. wants the delicate bouquet
of Champagne, by the absence of which it is easily detected.
The French complain of its having too much strength, but
this would recommend it in England. It is a very delicate
wine notwithstanding, and highly agreeable to the palate.
It has been frequently imported into London, and is much
commended by those whose regard for the delicate bouquet
of Champagne is less than that for the carbonic effervescence
of similar growths. In spirit it is perhaps a little above the
average of Champagne, which it resembles so much, that
persons, not judges, might easily mistake the one for the
other. The principal plants used are those called the noirien
and pineau. The gibaudot and the gwnet, which last grape
has an ill name, are used for the inferior kinds of wine. The
famet yields largely, sometimes a thousand gallons an acre.
t is manured, and is called the poor man's vine. The
chaudenay for white wine is gathered here at the latest period,
and carefully assorted. There is a saying that " a bottle of
Chambertin, a ragout a la Sardanapalm, and a lady causeur,
are the three best companions at table in France." At Beze,
St. Jacques, Mazy, Veroilles, Musigny, Chambolle, the Clos
Bernardon, du Eoi, of the Chapitre,*of Chenove, of Marcs
d'Or, of Yiolettes, of Dijon, in the commune of that name,
most excellent wine is made. In the Clos de la Perriere, in
120 WINES OF TRANCE.
the commune of Fixin, belonging to M. Montmort, a wine
in quality and value equal to Chambertin is grown. Many
of these vineyards produce white wines as well as red.
In Beaune, as already stated, the wine country is much
more extensive than in Dijon. The aspect, as before observed,
is north-east and south-west, being the direction of the main
road conducting from Dijon to Chalons sur Saone, passing
through the towns of Beaune and Nuits, both names familiar
to* connoisseurs in wine. The first commune is Yougeot.
Upon the right-hand, on leaving the village, the vineyard of
that name, once belonging to a convent, is seen extending
about four hundred yards along the side of the road. It
forms an enclosure of about forty-eight hectares, 112^ acres
English, and sold once for 1,200,000 francs. The aspect is
east-south-east, and the slope of the ground makes an angle of
from three to four degrees. Here is produced the celebrated
wine called Clos Vougeot. The upper part of the land turns
a little more south, forming an angle of five or six degrees.
The soil upon the surface differs in this vineyard. The
lower part is clay, while the uppermost has a mixture of lime,
and there the best wine is grown. The average is about two
hogsheads and a half the English acre. No manure is used,
but the soil from the bottom of the vineyard is carried up
and mingled with that at the top. The cellars contain vats,
each of which holds about eighteen hogsheads, in which the
must is fermented. The time occupied is uncertain. The
wine is best when the fermentation is most rapid. Above
this vineyard is another choice spot, called the Essejaux,
which is much esteemed, but less so than the higher part of
the Clos Yougeot. Further on is Yosnes, a village which
produces the most exquisite wines that can be drank, uniting
to richness of colour, the most delicate perfume, a racy flavour,
fine aroma, and spirit. The most celebrated of these wines
are the Eomanee St. Yivant (so called from a monastery of
that name), Eomanee- Conti, Eichebourg, and la Tache. The
vineyard producing the first-mentioned wine is below those
which yield the Eichebourg and Eomanee-Conti, and contains
only ten hectares of ground. The Eomanee-Conti is con-
sidered the most perfect and best wine in Burgundy. Ouvrard,
the contractor, bought this vineyard for 80,000 francs. The
wine is produced in an enclosure of about two hectares in
WINES OF FRANCE. 121
extent, forming a parallelogram, and the quantity made is
very small. The Richebourg enclosure, of the same form,
contains only about six hectares. The aspect of the Komanee-
Conti is south-east, and the ground forms an angle of five de-
grees in slope. There is no difference in the management of
this wine from that of the neighbouring growths.
Continuing to follow the road, about a league from Vosnes,
is the small town of Nuits. A part of the ground extends
south-west, and is mostly flat. Upon this superior wines are
grown ; and among them, on a spot of only six hectares in
extent, in a slope with a south-eastern aspect of not more
than three or four degrees, the well-known St. G-eorges, of
exquisite flavour, delicious bouquet, and great delicacy. The
other vineyards on the road produce wines of ordinary quality.
In the commune of Aloxe, a wine called Gorton is grown,
which is in repute for its bouquet, delicacy, and brilliant
colour. The ground from which this wine is made gives only
ten or twelve litres of wine each hectare, of which there are
but forty-six. Nothing is more remarkable or unaccountable
than the difference of production in these fine wine districts.
The most delicious wine is sometimes grown on one little
spot only, in the midst of vineyards which produce no other
but of the ordinary quality ; while in another place the pro-
duct of a vineyard, in proportion to its surface, shall be in-
credibly small, yet of exquisite quality ; at the same time, in
the soil, aspect, treatment as to culture, and species of plant,
there shall be no perceptible difference to the eye of the most
experienced wine grower. In such a district as the Cote
d'Or, it is difference of site rather than of treatment, to which
the superior wine owes its repute, for there is no want of
competition in labouring after excellence.
Bordering on Aloxe is the vineyard of Beaune, a well-
known wine of a very agreeable character. Not far from
thence is produced the Yolnay, a fine, delicate, light wine,
with a taste of the raspberry, and Pomard, of somewhat more
body than Yolnay, and therefore better calculated to keep,
especially in warm climates. These are wines which, when
genuine, bear a good character all over the world.
Between Yolnay and Meursault the vineyard of Santenot
is situated ; it consists of twelve hectares, upon a southern
slope. The higher part produces a celebrated white wine
122 WINES OE FRANCE.
called Meursault ; the middle and lower a red, which is con-
sidered preferable to Volnay. In the neighbourhood of
Meursault are grown the wines denominated "passe-tous-
grains" by the French, and the dry white wines, of a slight
sulphurous taste, much drank in hot seasons, called wine of
Grenevrieres, of the Groutte d'Or, and of Perrieres. The
quantity of hectares on which these last wines are grown is
but sixteen. The situation to the south-west of Meursault,
where it joins Puligny, is noted for the delicious white wine
called Mont-Eachet, of exquisite perfume, and deemed one of
the most perfect white wines of Burgundy, and even of
France, being the Trench Tokay in the opinion of many con-
noisseurs, but only in renown, for these wines bear little re-
semblance to each other. The vine-ground of Mont-Eachet
is divided into V Aine Mont-Eachet, le Chevalier Mont-
Eachet, and le Batard Mont-Eachet. The vineyard of the
Chevalier, which is on the higher part of the ground, is a
slope of about twelve or fifteen degrees, and contains eighteen
hectares. L'Aine, or the true Mont-Eachet, is but six or
seven hectares. The Batard is only separated from the two
other vineyards by the road which leads from Puligny to
Chassagne, and contains about twelve hectares. These vine-
yards have all the same south-eastern aspect, yet the wine
from them is so different in quality, that while Mont-Eachet
sells for twelve hundred francs the hectolitre, the Chevalier
brings but six hundred, and the Batard only four hundred.
There are two vine-grounds near, called the Perrieres and
Clavoyon, which produce white wines, sought after only from
their vicinity to Mont-Eachet.
Chassagne, four leagues south-west of Beaune, called Chas-
sagne le Haut, and Le Bas, not far from Puligny, is pro-
ductive vine land. The canton of Morgeot contains twenty
hectares, which produce a red wine, much sought after. It
faces the south-west, and owes its good qualities to its excel-
lent aspect. The village of Santenay, on the borders of the
department terminating the elevated land, grows some choice
wines, such as Clos-Tavannes, Clos-Pitois, and the Gravieres,
though not equal in quality to those already enumerated.
There is an infinite variety in the wines of Burgundy which
an. Englishman can hardly comprehend. Accustomed to
wines less delicate than intoxicating, and regardful rather of
WINES OF FBANCE. 123
the wine taken from habit than quality, his favourite be-
verage is chosen more from that cause than perfection of
flavour. The nature of the soil, the aspect, the season, the
plant, and mode of culture, as well as the making, each and
all equally affect the quality of these wines more than wines
in general, on account of their great delicacy. The most
finished and perfect Burgundies, the French say, are deterio-
rated by so short a voyage as that across the channel from
Calais to Dover, including, of course, the journey to the
former place. They are never sent away but in bottle.
The best Burgundies, called les fetes de cuvees, are from the
select vines, namely, the noirien and pineau, grown on the
best spots in the vineyard, having the finest aspect. These
rank first in quality, and are wines, when well made, in favour-
able seasons, which include every excellence that the most
choice palate can appreciate. Fine colour, enough of spirit,
raciness, good body, great fineness, an aroma and bouquet
very powerful, strong in odour, and that peculiar taste which
so remarkably distinguishes them from afl the other wines of
France. The next, called the first cuvees vins de primeur,
approximate very closely to the first class in quality, except
that the perfume is not quite so high. G-ood wines, les bonnes
cuvees, which are grown on a soil less favourable than the
foregoing, and in an aspect inferior, fairly rank third in
quality. Then come les cuvees rondes, having the same colour
as the foregoing, and equal in strength, but wanting their
full fineness and bouquet. ISText they distinguish the second
and third cuvees, the colour of which is often weak to the pre-
ceding growths, they are deficient in spirit, and destitute of
fineness and flavour. These three last classes of the wines of
Burgundy come from the same species of vine as the two first,
but the soil is inferior, or the aspect not so good, being per-
haps more humid, or less exposed to the sun. Their abund-
ance compensates to the grower for their inferiority.
Of the common red wines of the Cote d'Or, there are two
sorts, called wines de tons grains, or passe tons grains, which,
come from a mixture of the noirien and pineau grape, with
the gamay. The wine de tous grains is an ordinary wine,
which, when good, is much esteemed in hot seasons. It has
a deep colour, tending to the violet, much body, sufficient
spirit, and after a certain age, a little bouquet. It is a coarse
124; WINES OF FRANCE.
wine, but will keep a long time without sickness of any kind,
and is much valued for sustaining such wines as tend to dis-
solution. It is often better than those which are called " les
seconde et troiseme cuvees," of a middling season.
There are only two sorts of white wine in the Cote d'Or :
the first made from the white pineau,- and the second from
the common plant mingled with it. These two sorts are each
marked by two or three sub-divisions. The first in quality,
the finest and best, is the Mont-Eachet, already mentioned.
It is distinguishable in good years for its fineness, lightness,
bouquet, and exquisite delicacy, having spirit without too
great dryness, and a luscious taste without cloying thickness.
In making, they endeavour to keep it with as little colour of
any kind as possible, no doubt for the purpose of preserving
that lightness of hue which white wines rarely possess, being
yellowed, probably, by the absorption of oxygen, which incor-
porates with them while in contact with the atmosphere.
Most of the other white wines of the Cote d'Or differ most
essentially from that of Mont-Eachet. The common kinds
are more or less flat, acid, without body, and deficient in fine-
ness and strength.
The prices of the wines of the Cote d'Or differ greatly, and
cannot be fixed. The "tetes de cuvees," or choice products
in the best years, are never sold under a thousand francs the
queue or tonneau ; or two hundred and fifteen francs the hec-
tolitre. " Les premieres cuvees" in such seasons bring seven
or eight hundred francs, according to their grades of distinc-
tion ; " les bonnes cuvees" from six to seven hundred ; " les
rondes," from four to five hundred ; " les deuxiemes et troi-
siemes," from three hundred and fifty to four hundred. The
most esteemed, "passe tous grains," from three hundred and
fifty to four hundred, and above ; the others not more than
two hundred francs.
The Mont-Eachet brings twelve hundred francs ; the other
white wines from three to six hundred ; and the common sorts
from fifty to seventy the queue.
It often happens in superior years that the best wines, after
making, do not bear a higher price than four hundred francs,
and yet in fifteen months twelve or fifteen hundred are de-
manded for them. It may be easily judged, therefore, that
no scale of prices, when the wines are perfect, can be perma-
WISES or FBANCE. 125
nent, owing to this circumstance. The following is a list of
prices the Burgundy wines brought from the vineyards on the
hills of Beaune, on an average of ten years ; but it must be
borne in mind, that the time of purchase was at the vintage
immediately upon making, and paid by the highest bidder,
and not when the wines had been kept. Volney, the queue,
460f. ; Pomard, 450f. ; Beaune, 440f. ; Savigny, 420f. ; Aloxe,
430f. ; Aloxe, the Gorton wine, 490f. ; Chassagne, 410f. ;
Chassagne Morgeot, 470f. The product of Puligny, viz.,
Mont-Eachet, lOOOf. ; Perrieres and Clavoyon, 380f. Meur-
sault wines, viz., Les Grenevrieres, la Goutte d'Or, 450f. ; and
Santenot red wine, 480f. ; the common red wines sell for 90
or lOOf. ; and the white from 75 to 90f., including the cask.
The wines from the Nuits district are superior to those of
Beaune for aroma, body, softness, raciness, and will bear
transport to any distance. Premaux, 500f. ; RTuits, 500f. ;
Nuits St. G-eorge's, 580f. ; Vosnes, 530f. ; the wines of
Yosnes, viz., Eichebourg, 600f. ; La Tache, 600f. ; Eomanee
St. Vivant, 700f. ; Eomanee- Conti, six or seven francs a bottle.
Yougeot, 530f. ; Clos de Yougeot, five or six francs the bottle,
at ten or a dozen years old, if the vintage has been very fine ;
if otherwise, at three or four years from the vintage. It is
preserved till bottled in large vats, in which it mellows better
than in the cask. The quantity produced is but about two hogs-
heads and a half the English acre. The white wine made here
has been long diminishing. The grape is the black and white
pineau and the chaudenay. No manure is permitted. The
vines are fifteen inches apart. The proprietors of the vine-
yards of Yougeot and Eomanee- Conti do not usually sell their
wines in wood, nor, except in years of bad quality, do they
sell them immediately, and then generally by auction. They
keep them in their cellars for years, and only at last dispose
of them in bottles made on purpose, and bearing their own
seals.
In the arrondissement of Dijon, the following were not
long since the prices of two year old wines. It may be
judged, from what has been already stated, that such a list
can only be an approximation to the truth for consecutive
years.
The white wines less celebrated in this district than the
red, carry a price generally of 456 litres the queue, or about
126 WINES OE PRANCE.
114 gallons ; Chambertin, 800 to 1000 francs the queue ;
Gevray, 500 to 550 ; Chenove Montrual, 350 to 400 ; Vio-
lettes, 310 to 350 ; Marsannay, 300 to 330 ; Perrieres, 200 to
to 240. The red wines are, per queue : Chambertin, 1400 to
1500 francs ; Gevray, 700 to 800 ; Chambolle, 700 to 800 ;
Chenove, 400 to 450 ; Dijon, 300 to 400 francs. Marsannay,
and other ordinary wines, 200 to 300 ; Fixin and Fixey, light
wines, good ordinary, 150 to 250 francs, the casks included.
The wines of the Cote d'Or most in repute, and of the best
class, are those which generally develop their good qualities
the slowest, when they have not been cellared for the purpose
of rendering them potable too soon. Opinions are different
upon the most eligible period to bottle them. Some think
that they preserve their good qualities best when they are
bottled at the end of fifteen months from the vat ; but more
think the third or fourth year a better time, when the pro-
prietor can afford to delay it so long. The inferior sorts are
delivered for consumption at the end of the second or third
year, according to the quality. The fine wines are not com-
monly delivered until the month of March of the second year
after the vintage. The good ordinary wines are bottled at
the end of the first year, or they remain longer, if convenient
to the consumer. The care bestowed upon the making, acce-
lerates or retards the perfection of these wines. The longest
duration of the finest wines most capable of keeping, does
not exceed twelve or fifteen years from the season in which
they are made. After that time, though they will support
themselves some years, they decline instead of improve.
Prom the second year in bottle, the fullest bodied and hardiest
wines have attained their highest degree of perfection. All
that can be desired after this period is, that they shall not
deteriorate. The duration of the ordinary wines is not so
easily defined. They are rarely kept long in bottle, for after
the second or third year they would become good for little.
The produce of some of the wines of the Cote d'Or is nearly
a thousand English gallons the acre.
The manner of making the best and most celebrated wines
of the Cote d'Or is sufficiently coarse : the grapes are com-
monly trodden before they are thrown into the vat ; a part
of the stalks are then taken out, and the must is suffered to
ferment. The gathering takes place in the hottest sunshine.
WINES OF TEANCE. 127
The fermentation in the vat, which contains about eighteen
hogsheads, and is usually left uncovered, lasts from thirty to
forty-eight hours, if the weather is hot, and from three to
eight days, and even twelve days, if it be cold, for the first
class of wines. The white wines are longer. The wine is
then drawn off into vats containing each about seven hundred
gallons. The management consists of a racking in the month
of March following the vintage, and a second racking in Sep-
tember, repeated every six months, for the red wines. The
casks are kept exactly filled, and the wine is fined. Many
persons make the first racking soon after the first frost hap-
pens, fine immediately, and rack again in the month of
March, and then in the month of September.
The next division of Burgundy, considered as respects the
excellence of its wines, is the department of the Tonne. It
contains, as has been already stated, more space devoted to
the culture of the vine than the Cote d' Or; but though it
produces some wines of very good quality, they are inferior to
those of that renowned district.
The prices in the arrondissement of Auxerre are from forty
francs the muid of 280 litres, to three hundred and three
hundred and fifty. These wines may be arranged in three
classes. The first is made from the black pineau grape alone.
It has a good colour, and agreeable bouquet, with strength
and spirit, and yet does not injure the head or stomach. In
this class may be placed the following wines in their order
of superiority : Chainette ; Migraine ; Clairion ; Boivins ;
Quetard ; Pied de Eat ; Chapotte ; Judas ; Boussicat ; Eo-
soir; Champeau; the lies. These wines are produced on
one hundred and thirty hectares of land. Hence may be
judged the vast variety of species. They bring from three
to four hundred francs the muid ; the mean price is about
three hundred and fifty francs.
In the communes of Irancy and Cravant wine is produced
called Palotte, worth about ninety francs the hectolitre, and
much esteemed. This district produces red wines still lower
in price.
The second class of wines is made from the grapes called
tresseau, romain, and plant du It&i, alone or mingled. Of
this class the tresseau alone is the superior kind. The wine
sells for thirty-six francs the hectolitre.
128 WINES OF FBANCE.
The third class is made from the plant gamay or garnet,
and is, on that account, a common wine, strongly coloured,
but cold. It is remarkable that this wine, mingled with
white wine, becomes sooner ripe than in its natural state.
Of the white wines of the Tonne, the best class is pro-
duced from the pineau llanc alone. The chief of these is
Chablis. If this wine is the product of a favourable year, it
should be very white. It is a dry wine, diuretic, and tastes
flinty. The best wines of Chablis stand in the following
order : first, Val Mur ; secondly, Vauxdesir ; thirdly, Grre-
nouille ; fourthly, Blanchot ; fifthly, Mont-de-Milieu ; form-
ing together about fifty-five hectares of vineyards. These
wines sell in the common run of the seasons at from two
hundred and fifty to three hundred francs the muid.
The second class of white wines is produced from the
white pineau grape and the species called plant vert. It is
made at Chablis, and in other parts of the arrondissement.
All these wines are called Chablis by the merchant, though
of ever so inferior a quality. They are agreeable wines,
nevertheless, and sell on the average of seasons for a hun-
dred or a hundred and ten francs the muid.
The third class of white wines is the product of the plant
vert ; grown in a bad aspect and soil, it brings about twenty-
three francs the hectolitre.
The white wines of the first quality do not keep so well as
the red. The first class of red wine is often kept in the
wood . for more than three years before bottling. It is ex-
cellent after it has remained a year in bottle, and will keep
good for ten years more. The white wines are perfect at
three or four years old, but are subject to get thick as they
acquire age. In the wine districts of the Tonne the wines
are racked twice the first year, and not again except just
before they are sold. They are never fined except for
bottling.
The vineyards of Avallon produce three distinct qualities
of wine. The first delicate, fine, spirituous, and good, bring-
ing fifty francs the hectolitre ; secondly, a wine of ordinary
quality, bringing forty francs ; thirdly, common wines, worth
very little. The best wines of Availlon are those from
Eouvres, Annay, Monthecherin, Monfaute, Clos de Yezeley,
and Clos de Grivry. Wines which form the ordinary wines
WItfES OF FRANCE. 129
of rich families are Vault, Yalloux, Champgachot, Thurot,
Girolles, and Etandes. These wines are treated very nearly
the same as in Auxerre prior to bottling. The Champgachot
is liable to a singular disease. In spite of racking, and all
the care taken, it is sometimes loaded in spring with a cloudi-
ness which changes its taste and hue. In this state they are
careful not to disturb it, and it soon works itself clear and
of a good colour. It is rarely better than after this sickness,
which never happens but once. Some of the growers are
pleased to see the wine put on the appearance.
The best wines of the arrondissement of Joigny do not
fetch more than forty francs the hectolitre. In the arron-
dissement of Sens there are wines that bring about sixty,
such as that of Paron, but the quantity is smaU.
The arrondissement of Tonnerre merits attention for its
wines. The vines are planted on calcareous slopes differing
in aspect. Those of the south-east and south are very
good. Such as bear a south-west aspect are also much
esteemed, and give the best wine. Of this latter aspect is
the vine-ground from Tronchoy to Epineuil inclusively, where
the most distinguished wines are grown, such as those of
Preaux, Perrieres, des Poches, and others, particularly
Olivotte, in the commune of Dannemoine.
The wines of Tonnerre of the finest kind fetch ninety
francs the hectolitre on an average ; and the other kinds in
gradation from sixty to thirty-five. The wine of Olivotte,
one of the best, has good flavour, is fine, and of excellent
colour, but it lacks the true bouquet, unless in very favourable
years. The communes which furnish the best wines are
Tonnerre, Epineuil, Dannemoine, for the finer red wines ;
those of the second and third qualities are grown at Molosme,
St. Martin, Neuvy, and Yezinnes. "White wines are grown
in the communes of Tronchoy, Eley, Beru, Viviers, Tissey,
Eoifey, Serigny, and Vezannes. Those of Grize, in the
commune of Epineuil, as well as that of Tonnerre, and above
all, of Vaumorillon, in the commune of Junay, are distin-
guished. These wines are treated in making as in the Cote
d'Or, and will keep good in bottle from five to ten years.
The department of the Saone and Loire is the other divi-
sion of ancient Burgundy. The quality of its wines is by
no means equal to those of the Cote d'Or or the Yonne, and
130 WIKES OF FRANCE.
they are, therefore, the Burgundies of the less opulent
classes.
These wines differ in prices : the arrondissement of Macon
furnishes red wines, for example, to the extent of 4349 hec-
tolitres, at sixty francs the hectolitre, and 219,982 hecto-
litres of varying quality at intermediate prices down to
fifteen. There are excellent wines in quality between those
of Burgundy and the Ehone, which at six or seven years old
are in their prime age. They drink with water better than
any other wines. Lyons is a great consumer of these wines.
The wines of the commune of Homaneche, called Les Theo-
rems, sell for fifty-six francs ; la Chapelle de Guinchay,
Davaye, Creuze Noire, St. Amour, at different prices, down
as low as twenty-five francs. The white wines of the first
class, such as Pouilly, are of superior quality, and better
adapted for carriage than the red, but the quantity made is
much less. They sell at fifty-six francs ; Fuisse at forty-
seven ; Solutre, Chaintre, Loche, Yinzelles, Vergisson, Sa-
lornay, Charnay, Pierre-clos, still lower.
The annual value of the wine does not increase in conse-
quence of the goodness of the quality. The wines of Bur-
gundy are generally dearest in years when their quality is in-
different. This has given rise to the proverb among the
wine-growers, vin vert, vin cJier " tart wine, dear wine."
The reason of this is, that the good quality of the wine
always accompanies abundant years, and the reverse. The
cultivation of the vine in these districts has been very much
improved of late. The quantity of fruit produced is also
more considerable. The system in the Maconnais is for
the most part a division of the produce between proprietor
and cultivator. The Vignerons here are a sober, economical,
respectable class of men. The hectare of vines, or about
two acres and a quarter English, represents a capital of 5000
or 6000 francs. Not less than 40 or 50,000 hectolitres
might be sent out of the district, were wine demanded to
that extent.
Of other red wines fche little canton, named Moulin-a-vent,
produces a light and delicate species ; but it must be drunk
in the second or third year. It will not keep beyond the
tenth. The wine of Davaye ameliorates best by age. It
may be drunk in the second year, and will keep till the
WINES OP PEANCE. 131
twentieth. It approaches nearest the wines of the Cote d' Or in
excellence, though considered but an ordinary wine. When
it is kept some time it rises superior to the class denominated
ordinary, in the common sense of the word. The white
wines of Pouilly rank superior to any of the red wines of the
Maconnais. In good years they rival the first products of
the French soil, and compete with the best wines of Cham-
pagne, Burgundy, or the Bordelais, according to the inhabi-
tants of the Maconnais. Their characteristic is the nutty
taste they leave on the palate. At one year old they drink
smooth and agreeable, after which they much resemble dry
Madeira, both in colour and strength. They will keep a long
time. The wine of IViisse does not taste of the nut like
Pouilly, but has a flinty flavour ; is fine and delicate. It be-
comes more spirituous by age. The wines of Solutre are
more like those of Pouilly than Fuisse, but are inferior.
These and the other white wines enumerated before, are
often sparkling or mousseux, of their own accord, in the first,
and sometimes the second year, when bottled in March.
They keep long and well.
The red wines keep a good while in wood, but the white
are bottled in the month of March of the first year. They
are twice racked, and fined only six days before bottling.
In Autun there are three qualities of wine. The best is
called Maranges ; it is left in wood three years, bottled the
fourth, and keeps well. Its mean price is seventy-six francs.
The second quality of wine is that of Sangeot, and, indeed,
all the wines of Dezize, except Maranges. These are ordi-
nary wines, and bottled at three years of age ; will keep
twenty. They increase in quality by age, and become from
vins d' ordinaire to be vim d' entremets. The mean price is
thirty-five francs the hectolitre. The wines of Chalons admit
of the same divisions in quality as those of Autun. The best
wines are from the noirien grape, and the best of the first
growths fetch sixty-six francs, and of the second growths
forty-four francs. These wines have a fine and delicate taste ;
they please by their agreeable odour and aroma. la the
ordinary wines the aroma is not present; still they are
pleasant drinking of their class. The better ordinary wines
of Chalons increase in value by age, augmenting a fourth in
price every year they are kept. A bottle of the finest wine
K2
132 WINES OF FBANCE.
fetches from two to three francs. In the arrondisseinents,
the produce of which is not here detailed, the mean price of
the hectolitre is from twenty to twenty-four francs.
Such are these wines, the most perfect ever grown, and
yet the care taken of them by the maker, from the press to
the bottle, is by no means equal to that taken of Champagne.
Nature and the site, with the observance of a very simple
and common process, are all that are demanded to bring
to its present perfection the first red wine in the world.
The secret of the excellence of Burgundy depends upon un-
known qualities in the soil, which are developed only in par-
ticular places, often in the same vineyard, at all events within
a very narrow district. Whatever be the cause, France has
in these wines a just cause of boast, and a staple in which
she has never been excelled. "While much is owing to the
climate and aspect, it is evident that the peculiar charac-
teristics of Burgundy depend least upon the art or labour of
man, since wines inferior in quality receive as much or more
of his attention than those of Burgundy.
There is very little of the first class of these wines exported
from France, in this respect differing from Champagne, where
the best finds its way into foreign countries. There are
several reasons for this, and among the foremost, the small
quantity produced, which the French, who are choice in
wines, know very well how to distinguish, but which foreign
merchants very rarely do. As good a price can be obtained
in France for the highest class of Burgundy, such as Ro-
mance- Conti, of which only a dozen pieces are annually
made, or for la Tache, as can be obtained anywhere. The
first of these wines, being grown upon less than four acres
of land, is not beyond the supply of the Paris market ; and to
the second, grown upon a spot of ground of about six acres,
the same remark will apply. The genuine Chambertin is a
scarce wine with the foreigner. The other wines of the first
class of Burgundy are therefore substituted for these to the
stranger almost universally. This is, however, of less con-
sequence, when it is considered that very few persons, except
those of the best taste habitually acquainted with them, can
discover the difference. In wholesomeness, and every essen-
tial quality to the ordinary drinker, they are equal to the first
growths.
WINES OE FBANCE. 133
To recapitulate the wines of the Cote d'Or: the finest
Burgundies of the Cote de Nuits are, Bomanee-Conti, la
Tache, Chambertin, Bomanee St. Yivant, Bichebourg, JN^uits,
St. George's, Clos Yougeot, Premaux, Yosnes, and la Pe-
riere. Of the Cote de Beaune, Chambolle, Musigny, Yolnay,
Poniard, Beaune, Savigny, Aloxe, Aloxe de Cortin. Of the
Cote de Challonais, Yosnes, Morey, Santenot, St. Aubin,
Maranges. These are the three first and finest qualities
among red wines. Of white, the celebrated Mont-Bachet
takes the first place, then the Groutte d'Or and G-enevrieres,
of Meursault. The red wines of the second class above are
many of them little inferior to the first.
The first class of the wines of the Yonne comprises those
called des Olivottes, near Tonnerre, and Perriere. Those of
Auxerre have been enumerated in a preceding page, to which,
in the second class, may be annexed the wines of Epineuil,
les Poches, Haute Perriere, Irancy, Dannemoine, and Cou-
langes la Yineuse. The white wines of the first class are
Chablis, Tonnerre, le Clos, and Yauxdesir.
The first class of Burgundies in the Saone and Loire are
Moulin a Yent, Torins, and Chenas. The second class com-
prise Fleuri, Chapelle des Bois, and, in short, all the district
of Bomaneche. The white wines are Pouilly, Fuisse, of the
first class, and Cheintre, Solutre, and Davaye of the second.
WINES OP THE EH ONE, &C.
The wines of the south of France generally may be taken,
without confusing the reader, in the order in which they
happen to offer themselves. Some of them rank with the
best red and white wines of that country in the estimation
of excellent judges.
The department of the Drome was part of ancient Dau-
phine under the old division of Prance. Its vineyards cover
28,212 hectares. The vineyards of Yalence are the most
important for the excellence of their wines ; but those of
Montelimart are two thousand hectares more in extent, and
their produce is somewhat greater, being 219,024 hectolitres ;
those of Yalence produce only 210,000. The arrondissements
of Die and ISTyons are also noted for wines, but they do not
come up to those of Yalence in character. The total value
of the vinous product of this department is estimated at
134 WINES OF
9,918,152 francs, and the return averages about eighteen
hectolitres per hectare. Of these wines above a hundred
thousand hectolitres of the choicest are exported to the north
and to Bourdeaux. The wines of Tain are almost exclusively
bought up for that city.
Of wine grown in Valence, both white and red, the quan-
tity is about 2700 hectolitres, averaging one hundred and
sixty-six francs ; of Grose, red and white, 4230 hectolitres, at
one hundred and twenty-eight ; Chanos-Curson, 3384, at
fifty-two ; Mercurol, 5238, at seventy-eight ; Brezeme, 126
hectolitres only, at one hundred and forty-three. The other
varieties, about 195,000 hectolitres, average only from twenty-
eight to fifteen francs.
Hermitage, a church wine in name, strength, and paternity,
is grown on a hill near the town of Tain, in the arrondisse-
ment of Valence, situated on the left bank of the [Rhone,
with a southern aspect. It is a celebrated variety. The vines
are grown upon slopes ; the principal elevation, of no great
height, is called Bessas. It is part of a chain of granitic
mountains which extend from St. Vallier to Tain. On the
summit of Bessas may yet be seen the ruins of the retreat
of the hermits, of whom the last died above a hundred
years ago. Portions of the granite seem to be in a state of
decomposition. This granite is crossed by veins of a gra-
velly texture, by one of a calcareous character, and by some
of pure sand.
Tradition says that an inhabitant of the town of Condrieu
determined to turn hermit, and established his cell on an
uncultivated hill near Tain. He amused his leisure hours by
breaking the stones and rocks to pieces which surrounded his
dwelling, and planting among them some vine- slips of the
vionnier species, from Condrieu. The shiraz, or scyras vine,
was afterwards introduced. It succeeded to admiration. The
hermit's example was copied by others, and the sterile hill-
side was soon converted into a vineyard.
Hermitage wine is divided into five classes. It is styled by
the French the richest coloured in their great variety of wines,
but it differs much Avith the seasons as to quality. Red Her-
mitage will not keep more than twenty years without alter-
ing. The price of the first class after the vintage is often as
high as five hundred and fifty francs the piece of two hundred
WINES OE FKANCE. 185
and ten litres, or about forty-five imperial gallons. The other
growths or classes sell from four hundred and fifty down to
three hundred, and even as low as two hundred and fifty
francs the piece. When the season is bad, and the wine of
moderate quality, the wine of the first growth will not bring
more than two hundred and fifty, and of the last, one hundred
and twenty francs. All these are to be considered the prices
when new at the vintage, and as only approximating to the
mean prices in the relative cases.
Red Hermitage, of the first class, is not bottled for expor-
tation until it has been four or five years in the cask, in
which, as well as in bottles, it is generally sold at that age.
The price in the former case is high, even if the quality be
moderate. In bottle the best sells for about four francs. The
price of this wine is regulated by the quality, together with
the demand for exportation, and not by the quantity or
scarcity. The quantity produced is only about 2369 hecto-
litres, or 63,000 gallons, including every quality. Grose is
continually passed off for second and third class Hermitage.
Parts of the vineyards have brought as much as 70,000 francs
per hectare. It is fermented in large vats. The fermentation
lasts about five days ; but its treatment is not so perfect, on
the whole, as that of some other French wines. Inferior
classes of wine from this district are exported from the de-
partment, to give strength to wines in other parts of France.
The produce is about twelve casks per hectare, or 220 old
English gallons.
The white Hermitage is made of white grapes only, and
divided into three growths. This is the finest white wine
France produces, and little or none of the first growth is ex-
ported. The French value it highly. The second quality
is generally passed off as the first to the foreigner, and figures
as such in the lists of the foreign merchant. Its colour should
be straw-yellow ; its odour is like that of no other known
wine. It is of a rich taste, between that of the dry and
luscious wines. It is often in a state of fermentation for
two years, but is never delivered to the consumer, if it can
be avoided, until fermentation is complete. The quantity of
real white Hermitage does not exceed a hundred and twenty
pieces annually. It keeps much longer than the red, even
to the extent of a century, without the least deterioration,
136 WINES OF FKANCE.
though after twenty-five or thirty years old it assumes some
what of the character of certain of the old Spanish wines, anc
its perfume and taste undergo a change.
Ermitage-paille, or straw Hermitage, is made from white
grapes carefully selected out of the most perfect and best
These are dried on straw for six weeks or two months, anc
then submitted to the press. But little is made, and tha"
carries a very high price ; for to obtain it in perfection, i
season which brings the fruit to exact maturity is required
dry without cold, during the time the grapes are exposed 01
the straw. Ermitage-paille is a rich, luscious, sweet wine.
Bed Hermitage is produced from the two varieties of th(
scyras plant, the little and great. The vines are abou*
thirty inches from each other. A tradition is current tha -
this grape was brought from Shiraz, in Persia, by one o
the hermits of Bessas. White Hermitage is produced al
most wholly from the greater and lesser rousanne grape.
The charge frequently made against the luxury of convent;
and monastic establishments, though in some cases wel
founded, is on the whole undeserved. The religious houses
in which men secluded themselves so contrary to the law o
their nature, were generally begun with scanty means, am
arose to wealth by slow degrees. The brethren, nine timei
out of ten, sat down upon spots rather calculated to exciti
the contempt than the envy of the agriculturist. Secluded
romantic, and remote spots were chosen. The most sterili
lands were brought into cultivation by the manual labour o
the monks themselves, in many cases close round their inci
pient establishments. In process of time the poor land be
#ame rich by assiduous culture, and then the brethren wer<
accused of being luxurious, drunkards, and the like. Then
are numerous vineyards in France, on the Bhine, everywhere
once theirs, and some of the best wine is the legacy of thi
monastic orders. The vine grows in poor soils, and was
therefore, one of the first fruit-trees that those who had poo:
land would seek to cultivate. Its product would naturally
be better managed by men of some education than by ignoran
peasants with none. Hence the superiority of the wine whicl
their spoils have made known far and wide. This is bu
rendering justice to the race to whom we also owe much ii
the revival of letters, as well as in Hermitage wine, their ad
WINES OF FKANCE. 137
vocacy of depopulating the world through their celibacy not-
withstanding.
The red wine of Grose is of the same character as Her-
mitage. The third growth of Hermitage and the first of
Grose rank together. It is a finer wine and not quite so full.
About 3995 hectolitres are made, some of which is often ex-
ported as Hermitage. The white Grose is a light, delicate
wine, with little vinous body. It sparkles like Champagne,
and hence, perhaps, is often called Cotillon by merchants, a
name given by them only to effervescing wines having fineness
and sweetness, such as Grose and white Mercurol. These
wines bring from two hundred to two hundred and fifty francs
the piece of two hundred and ten litres. In commerce they
sell from two francs to two francs and a half the bottle. They
will keep about fifteen years, but become dry wines in four,
losing their effervescence entirely. They do not approach
Champagne ; they want its perfume and vinosity.
Chanos-Curson is another effervescing white wine of this
district. It is weaker in body than the Grose, but is exported
to Flanders and the north. It will not keep more than four
or five years. It brings from a hundred to a hundred and
twenty francs the piece.
Mercurol is a red wine of the same nature, but lighter than
Hermitage. Its perfume is agreeable ; it is fine, vinous, and
well-bodied. Gervans-rouge, Koche-rouge (the latter earthy
in taste), and Thassis, are all red wines, rarely sent out of the
district. They are grown on a stony soil in general, and
bring from fifty to ninety francs the piece.
The other wines, red or white, are worth only from fifteen
to twenty francs the hectolitre, the wine called Brezeme ex-
cepted, which in most respects may rank with the third class
of Hermitage ; very little is exported, because it is scarcely
known. It is however beginning to be sought after. In the
most productive year only about sixty pieces, of three hun-
dred francs in value, have been made. The vineyard of Bre-
zeme is on a hill belonging to the commune of, and near
Loriol ; it is only one league from the left bank of the Ehone,
three-quarters from the Drome, and seven leagues from the
Hermitage, with the exposition and soil of which it carries a
perfect analogy. In some instances it has brought four hun-
dred and fifty francs the piece.
138 WINES OE FRANCE.
The arrondissement of Die furnislies only common wines.
The "best are grown at Saillans and on the hills of Crest and
Die, and are tolerable white wines. The best known is the
Clairette de Die, a very agreeable effervescing wine. In
price these wines vary from ten to thirty and forty francs the
hectolitre.
Nyons and Montelimart furnish ordinary wines from,
twelve to twenty, or thirty francs the hectolitre ; the better
price is that of years of scarcity. In the arrondissement of
Montelimart, nevertheless, there is a vineyard worthy of
notice; It is in the commune of Eochegude, and the wine
produced there, called Tinto, sells for a hundred francs the
hectolitre.
The department of the Ehone, formerly the Lyonais and
Beaujolais, is noted for good wines. The quantity produced,
of all kinds, amounts to 458,000 hectolitres. The land in
vineyard is 18,126 hectares, divided between the arrondisse^
ments of Lyons and Yille Eranche. The vines here give
25'26f hectolitres per hectare, and are valued at 10,366,400
francs. Of these wines all, except 68,000 hectolitres, are
consumed in the department. The portion unconsumed
there is partly sent to Paris, or to Bordeaux for exportation
abroad, either pure or mixed with the wines of that neigh-
bourhood.
The wines made in the arrondissement of Lyons are small
in quantity, either red or white, which can be arranged among
wines of the first order. The most noted is Cote Eotie. This
red wine is grown near Ampins, on the south side of a hill,
and ranks as one of the first in Trance. The quantity pro-
duced of the very best quality is small, rarely exceeding two
hundred and fifty hectolitres. Wine of the second quality is
often passed off for the first upon the buyer. Cote Eotie is
remarkable for the excellence of its colour, for clearness,
strength, and perfume ; at the nose it has the sweet odour of
the violet. It is very slightly bitter ; when not aged, it is a
little heady, and is much improved by a voyage. It is sale-
able at prices from eighty-three to one hundred and eight
francs the hectolitre, according to the season. Its alcohol is
about 12-32 per cent.
The wines called Grallee, Barolles, and St. Poy, enjoy a con-
siderable local reputation, and fetch from thirty-five to forty-,
WltfES OF FRANCE. 139
five francs the "hectolitre at Lyons. The wines of Chassagny
are of good colour, spirituous, improve by age, and sell for
thirty-five francs. About fifty thousand hectolitres of superior
quality are grown in the arrondissement of Lyons.
Most of the red wines in this district are the produce of
the plant called serine.
The best white wines are those of Condrieu, grown at St.
Colombe, about eight leagues south of Lyons. These are of
a luscious taste, and have a smell and aroma remarkably agree-
able. They keep a long while, and become of an amber colour
by age. The same kind of wine is made in the neighbouring
vineyards, but all are inferior to that made at Condrieu,
though they are sold under the name. The first quality of
this wine brings from fifty to a hundred francs the hectolitre.
It is eagerly bought up by the merchants, both of Lyons and
Paris, as soon as the vintage is over. This wine is made from
the vionnier plant.
The red wines of Cotie Eotie are kept in wood for three
or four years. Those of Grallee, Earolles, and St. Toy, five or
six. They preserve well in bottle for thirty. "While in the
wood they are racked once a year.
In the arrondissement of Ville Tranche, the most esteemed
growths are those of Chesnas, in extent about eighty-five
hectares ; Pleurie, one hundred and fifty ; Brouilly, thirty-two ;
Jullienas, one hundred and forty-five ; St. Etienne, seventy-
two. The second growths are those of Chassagny and Eas-
sieux. The first of these wines are delicate, and of tolerable
quality ; they will keep only about five years in wood, and
eight or ten in bottle ; while those of the second growths, it
is singular enough, are not potable until they are aged, and
will keep well twenty or thirty years.
There are other intermediate wines distinguished in the de-
partment, such as Adenas, St. Leger, Blaie, St. Julien. The
former wines improve on being sent north, and deteriorate
on approaching the south. Their mean price is two hundred
francs the botte of four hundred and twenty litres. They
are racked twice a year while in wood, and fined just before
bottling.
In the department of Isere there is some tolerable vine
ground. The Isere is part of ancient Dauphine. Its pro-
140 WINES OF FBANCE.
duce amounts to 368,861 hectolitres, at 34'58f per hectare.
The value is about 6,106,079 francs. The best wines are
grown near Yienne, but they are of very moderate quality.
Two years in wood and four in bottle is all the time they will
keep good. There is great neglect shown in the treatment
of the vines.
In the arrondissement of Grenoble there is one hilly spot
of thirty hectares, named Mas-des-cotes Plaines ; it is in the
commune of Jarrie. This wine is tolerable after being kept
three or four years in bottle ; and would be excellent were
not the vines much neglected. In the arrondissement of St.
Marcellin there is a wine which brings about eighteen francs
the hectolitre. There are no white wines with the least re-
putation in that arrondissement. The white wines sold at a
distance, as coming from Vienne, are those of St. Perai and
Condrieu, while the red wines, which pass as wines of Yienne,
are grown on the right bank of the Hhone, in the department
of that name, at Cote Eotie, Ampuis, or Cumel. The wines
of Eeventin are of very ordinary growth ; those of Scyssuel
are a little better. The fact is, the wines in the country
round Yienne, in all directions, may be reckoned together in
one class as to quality.
Yaucluse, formerly the Yenaissin, in the principality of
Orange, has 22,038 hectares in vineyards, and the produce
is 362,208 hectolitres, or sixteen per hectare. These are
valued at 6,519,744 francs, of which the arrondissement of
Orange produces the largest quantity. About 29,000 hec-
tolitres are exported, and 13,000 are distilled. The wine of
Chateauneuf is that which is best known out of Prance of
these wines ; indeed, it is almost the only growth which is
exported, except to the home provinces. Its produce is
about 1200 pieces or casks, of ninety veltes each, about two
gallons.
In the arrondissements of Avignon and Carpentras, there
are wines of two qualities ; namely, of G-arigues and the hills,
and of the plains or deep bottoms. The former have con-
siderable spirit, little colour, and will keep a great while.
The latter will not keep so long, having less body, and are
in general obliged to be sold annually before the hot weather
sets in.
WIKES Or FRANCE. 141
The best wines are those of the G-arigues d' Avignon, of
Sorgues, of the mountains of Morieres, of Gradagnes, of St.
Julien, and the white wines, called clairettes, of Caumont.
At Mazan, in the district of Carpentras, there are three
places where a particular species of wine is made, called vin
de GrenacJie. The Grenache grape is bruised, and the must
being pressed out, it is boiled for the space of an hour.
It is then poured into barrels, and one-sixteenth of brandy
is added. After it has been well fined, it is sold to the mer-
chants, mostly for consumption in Paris.
The wine of Chateauneuf du Pape, and that of Nerte,
both in the arrondissement of Orange, are good wines.
They are kept two years in wood, and will keep in bottle a
very long time. The price of the wine of Chateauneuf
varies from thirty-two to forty francs the hectolitre. The
wine of Nerte at two years old, when first bottled, is inva-
riably a franc the bottle. The quantity produced is about fifty
pieces or casks, of ninety veltes each. About eighteen francs
may be the mean price of the wines of the department. Of
these wines, the best next to those already mentioned are
the growths of the Grarigues of Orange, such as Bruxelles
and Peyre-blanche. They are light, clear, and tolerable
drinking. The wines of Serignan are of this class. The
wines of Claux Cavalier and the flat country are meagre, and
soon turn bad. They are consumed by the peasantry.
The department of Grard, part of ancient Languedoc, has
51,198 hectares of vines. The average produce is 1,141,651
hectolitres, at 20'34f per hectare, and is in value 10,949,833
francs. About 308,000 hectolitres are distilled.
The wines of Nismes are in repute in Paris, particularly
the St. Grilles and Costiere. Upwards of 60,000 hectolitres
of wines from TTzes are sent into Burgundy, to mingle with
the wines designed for exportation. The vineyard of Lede-
non, of about 320 hectares, near ISTismes, is the most distin-
guished ; and among these, one in particular, of about 180
hectares, called the Plaine de Paza. The price of the wine
is forty-five francs. This wine has a very agreeable bouquet,
and is served pure at tables of the first rank in France. The
wine of St. Grilles, called vin de remede among the mer-
chants, is the best. It is so called, because it is used to
strengthen and colour the weaker kinds. The average price
142 WINES OF EKANCE.
of the St. Grilles wine is only about fifteen francs, and the
produce 15,000 hogsheads.
These wines, when not sold on the spot the first year, are
kept in wood three, and racked in the month of March the
first season, when a particular management is required.
They deteriorate after the sixth year in bottle. There is a
white wine made at Msmes, said to be tolerably good, called
Blanquette de Calvisson. The wines of Uzes, grown on the
hills bordering the B/hone, are among the most distinguished
in the department. The first in quality are those of Chus-
clan, Tavel, St. Laurent des Arbres; and the best cellars
are those of Codolet. The next wines in order are those of
Roquemaure, St. Greuies, Cornolas, Yirac, Orsan, Laudun,
and St. Victor de la Cote. The surface on which these wines
are grown is -a hilly side of the Hhone, seven leagues long by
two wide.
The mean price of the wines of the first quality is from
eighty to a hundred francs the piece, or from twenty-eight to
thirty-five francs the hectolitre. The inferior wines grown
here are either distilled or drunk on the spot.
The first and second qualities of the foregoing wines are
vinous, delicate, and fine. Those made where the Grrenache
and Alicant grape predominate, are remarkable for their bou-
quet and flavour, and are reckoned to be as agreeable to the
stomach as they are to the taste. They are considered among
the best southern wines ; and are of a light crimson colour.
There is a good vineyard of this kind of wine on the domains
of Sauvage, St. Laurent des Arbres, which is called " wine
of Hannibal's camp."
If not carefully kept, these wines are apt to get paler after
eight or ten years of age.
The white wines of Laudun are much sought after by the
merchants : their qualities are dryness, vinosity, and an agree-
able taste.
The red wines are kept in wood two or three years, and
the white six months. The red are racked once a year, in
March. The white undergo this operation three times in six
months.
The prices of these wines augment twelve or fifteen francs
the first year on each piece, and from twenty to twenty-five
the second or third, after which age they are rarely sold.
WINES OF FRANCE. 143
This district produces commonly from fifty to sixty thousand
hectolitres annually.
Besides the foregoing wines in this department, some com-
mon kinds are made at Mejannes and Bouzac, which are red.
At St. Ambroix there is a sparkling white wine manufactured,
which bears good repute. The process of making this wine
is singular. After gathering the grapes, they are trodden,
and the must left to ferment for thirty-six or forty-eight hours.
It is then racked, filtered with brown paper, bottled, and tied
with packthread.
In this part of France it is the custom to leave the white
wine in the vat with the murk for twenty-four hours, and
then to rack off the must for fermentation in the wood.
At St. Hippolyte, there is a common wine made of an
agreeable taste, and fine bouquet, but it will not keep. A
little very capital wine is made in Alais by the growers for
themselves, or for presents to their friends, but it is never
sold. The grapes are picked, and the spoiled ones put into
a vat separate, and great care is taken in the manufacture.
The department of Haute Garonne, also a part of Lan-
guedoc formerly, has a climate which would be thought ex-
cellent for the vine, but yet no good wine is made. This
may be attributed more to the badness of the management,
and the ill choice of the plants, than to the soil.
The department of Ardeche, formerly Yiverais, grows
14,929 hectares of vines. The total produce is 224,322
hectolitres, or 15'024 per hectare. The value is 3,816,190
francs. These are grown in three arrondissements, Argen-
tiere, Privas, and Tournon. The wines of Argentiere are
transported on the backs of mules into the neighbouring de-
partments ; those of Tournon are in high estimation, even
out of France.
The wines made in two of these arrondissements will not
keep more than two years in wood, and two or three in
bottle. Tournon alone produces the good wines of the de-
partment. First, the dry white wine of St. Perai, spirituous,
delicate, and of an agreeable perfume. St. Perai is of three
degrees of quality. The first brings sixty francs the hecto-
litre ; the second, fifty-six ; and the third, forty-five. The
produce is about seven hundred hectolitres. They are deli-
cate wines, of deserved reputation.
144 WINES Or FRANCE.
The red wine of Cornas ranks, perhaps, with the second
quality of Hermitage. There are two degrees of these as
to quality. The first sells at sixty, and the second at fifty
francs the hectolitre. About nine hundred hectolitres are
made.
Next comes the St. Joseph, of the same quality as the
Cornas, but held more in estimation. There are two kinds ;
the first fetches seventy-five francs. Only a hundred and
twenty-six hectolitres are made.
There are 6000 hectolitres made of a wine called Mauves,
of two qualities, selling at from twenty-five to thirty-five
francs. It is of very good ordinary quality.
The red wines, Grlun, Chateaubourg, Soyons, Tournon,
St. Jean de Musois, Vion, and others, are Rhone-flavoured
wines, a little above the second quality of Mauves, and
bring twenty-three francs the hectolitre, of which 15,643
are made.
The better wines of Tournon augment in value with their
age, though not often to be met with for sale when old.
The best will keep three or four years in wood, and fifteen
or twenty in bottle.
At Argentiere a sparkling or mousseux white wine is
made by the following process : A quantity of white grapes
is selected, and exposed on planks to the sun, if possible,
for four or five days. They are then plucked from the
stems and put into a vat, where they are bruised with the
hands or feet. They are then left for twenty-four or thirty
hours, to give time to the skins to rise and separate the
murk from the fluid parts. The wine is then racked into
large bottles, which are decanted every two days until the
sensible fermentation is terminated. The wine being then
clear is put into very strong bottles, which on the following
day are corked, tied, and sealed.
In the department of Tarn, part of ancient Languedoc,
20,631 hectares of vines are grown, producing 433,297 hec-
tolitres, or 21 g OO^ per hectare, valued at 5,411,160 francs.
The wines of Albi here are distinguished by those of the hill
and plain. The former may be caUed a tenth more valuable in
the market than the latter. These wines are light, are kept
three or four years in wood, and will then be good bottled
for fifteen more. Though only twelve francs the hectolitre
WINES OF FEANCE. 145
at the vintage, they fetch eighty or a hundred when of mature
age. The oest are grown at Caizaguet, St. Juery, and
Cimac. The best wines of the department are those of
Gaillac. The finest quality of the red will bear transportation
to any distance. The price is twenty-five francs the hecto-
litre for the first quality of the red of Graillac, and for the
second quality thirteen. The mean price of the best white
per hectolitre is thirty francs, and the second quality twelve.
To mature the red wines of Graillac, six or eight years in
wood are required, and ten or twelve in bottle, in which
latter state they are rarely sold. These wines will keep
good for eighty or a hundred years. It is not advantageous
to buy the wines mature in wood from the hands of the
grower, unless some stipulated agreement is made before-
hand. As already observed in respect to other wines, the
price the second year in wood is equal to or above the half
of the mean vintage cost in addition.
The department of the Tarn and G-aronne, part of ancient
Languedoc and Quercy, has 23,168 hectares of land in vines.
The quantity of wine is calculated at 264,360 hectolitres, or
ir-40^ per hectare, valued at 3,035,700 francs.
Besides the common tart sorts of wine made in this de-
partment, of the class called by the French vinades, or
piquetteS) reckoned very good of the kind in quality, 196,000
hectolitres of ordinary character are made, and a large quan-
tity is sent to Bourdeaux, to mingle with other wines of less
body and colour.
At Montauban the wines are distinguished into those of
the hills, the plain, and the cances, or vins de cances and vig-
nettes. These last are the product of alleys of vines, isolated
on ground cultivated in husbandry, most commonly on two
lines of approach, and named from that circumstance cances,
or vignettes. As these cances draw their nourishment from
land which is dressed for the produce of husbandry, the
wine is of very bad quality, and in the best years does not
bear a price above half that of other kinds differently culti-
vated. Nothing can be more injudicious than such a mode
of growing the vine, and yet custom is paramount over rea-
son, even when its bad effects are so obvious. The price of
the best wines is from twenty-five to thirty francs. The
hill wines here do not equal those of the plain ; the latter
L
146 WINES OE FRANCE.
having more body and colour, though they are less delicate
than the former ; their highest price is from twenty to
twenty-five francs the hectolitre. In abundant years these
wines sometimes fall as low as five francs. The difference
between new and old wine is fifty per cent. The hill wines
are bottled at two years old, and those of the plain the
third or fourth year. The latter will keep thirty or forty
years. The hills of Eran and Beausoleil, and the plains of
Yilledieu, Montbartier, and Campsas, are the most distin-
guished red growths of Montauban. The best white kinds
are those of Aveyron and Tarn, particularly those called
Aussac.
The best wines at Moissac are those of Yiarose, the Mag-
deleine, and Boudon, and those from Pardigues, Villedieu,
Campsas, Eabas, with the higher part of Cast el Sarrasin.
These wines are hill wines. The secondary growths are
from the plains and cances, which here, planted in double
rows, mark the limits of the fields. The first of the hill
growths have colour, strength, and a slight taste of the
raspberry, and will keep a long while. Their mean price is
eighteen or twenty francs. Those of the second quality sell
for ten only. There are two qualities of white wine, one
ordinary, and the other only fit for the distillery.
In the department of Aude, also part of Languedoc, there
are 36,064 hectares of vines, producing 601,775 hectolitres,
at 16'68f per hectare, and valued at 6,326,136 francs. All
the wine produced here is consumed in Prance.
The wine of Castelnaudary is consumed in the arrondisse-
ment of that name ; a sour, bad-coloured wine, only about
ten francs the hectolitre in price. The wines of Carcassonne
are nearly all used in the distillery. The wines of Narbonne
are used for the same purpose. Being hot and high coloured,
they are sometimes taken at table when aged ; their prices
vary from ten to thirty francs. The prime wines of the de-
partment are those of Lirnoux, which many persons prefer
either to Bourdeaux or Burgundy, as ordinary wines. They
are of the most agreeable taste, and tolerable in quality, but
will not keep. They bring, on the average, fourteen francs
the hectolitre.
In the canton of Limoux the wine called Blanquette de
Limoux is made from the blanquette grape. The fruit is
"WOES OF FJBAKCE. 147
transported from the vine to the house of the grower, where
it is left four or five days upon boards, that the saccharine
.principle may have time to reach a perfect state. Women
are employed to pick out the unripe or rotten fruit. The
grapes are then gathered from the stems, trodden, and the
must passed through a sieve, after which it is placed in bar-
rels holding a hundred or a hundred and twenty litres.
Pive or six days afterwards the wine is cleared, by passing
it through filters of cloth, of a fine texture, and then back
into the same barrels, which are previously well cleansed.
The bunghole is slightly closed, care being taken not to
close it securely until there is no longer any sensible fer-
mentation, or for a term of five or six days generally after the
barrelling. The wine is bottled at the full moon in the
March following. This wine sparkles and effervesces, and,
according to local partiality, well-nigh equals Champagne,
though few strangers would be inclined to confirm such a
judgment.
The department of Herault, a part of Languedoc, has
91,941 hectares of vines, producing 1,713,600 hectolitres, or
18-63^- per hectare, and valued at 17,797,407 francs. Cette
is the principal port for exportation.
Montpellier produces the wine called St. George d' Orgues,
much of which is exported to the North. It is a good wine.
An arpent of thirty acres in a dry soil, such as St. George, St.
Drezeri, Longlade, and others, gives a hogshead of forty francs'
value in wine. But an arpent of good corn land will produce
five hogsheads, at forty-five francs, or two hundred and twenty-
five francs. Montpellier and Cette are the ports of exporta-
tion, and from this department a great deal of wine is exported
to Italy, Genoa, and the North. These wines are commonly
called in the trade wines de cargaison. The wine of St.
George d' Orgues has bouquet, lively colour, and spirit. Its
price is one hundred and sixty-five francs the muid of seven
hectolitres, cask included, or twenty-three francs and a half
per hectolitre. The vineyard of St. George's is 510 hectares,
and the produce about 3690 hectolitres. The favourite
growths are called Serres, Poujols, Cabrides, and those of the
road of Celleneuve.
There is a second class of wines called wines of St. Drezeri
and St. Christol, where they fetch nineteen or twenty francs
L2
148 WINES OE TEANCE.
the hectolitre. A third class exists, noted only for spirit, ward
of fineness, and flinty taste, though in the latter qualit)
equalled by the second class, selling at twelve francs the hec-
tolitre. A fourth class is called Chaudiere wine, from its
large proportion of alcohol. "Wines to imitate Port, Sherry
Madeira, and Figueras, are made in the Herault and vicinity
They are successful imitations, highly brandied, of the hoi
wines drunk in England ; and, being cheaper, are exportec
thither by way of Cette, well repaying the experiment as
genuine Oporto.
There are here two white wines, the clairette and picardan,
so called from the plants which produce them. They arc
dry, or sweet, according to the soil. The sweet fetch twenty-
five francs, the dry seventeen.
The muscadine wines of this department are divided intc
two qualities. The first comprehends those of Prontignac
and of Lunel. These are luscious, fine, spirituous, and sweet :
the Lunel is the lightest. Their mean price is fifty-four
francs and a half. There are 490 hectares of vine-ground of
Frontignac, and only ninety of Lunel, which give, on an
average, 4060 hectolitres, or only seven per hectare. The
vine-ground of Montbazin, which affords muscadine wine of
the second quality, is little more productive, yielding 1600
hectolitres from 160 hectares. The mean price is thirty-seven
francs.
The red wines remain three years in wood, are annually
racked, and will keep five or six in bottle. The dry white
wines will keep from ten to twenty years ; the sweet five or
six, after being three or four in wood.
The muscadine wines, after being two years in wood, will
keep twenty or twenty-five in bottle : when old, they resemble
Malaga. Their price does not augment by age more than
from twenty to twenty-five francs. There is a red Prontig-
nac, carrying a very high price ; only ten or fifteen hogsheads
of which are made.
At Beziers there is a red wine named wine of Alicant, pro-
duced from a grape so called. The price is eleven or twelve
francs, and it is bought up by the merchants of Cette for
mingling with other kinds.
Muscatel, or muscadine wine, is grown to the extent of
twenty thousand hectolitres at Beziers ; the best near Ma-
WINES OF FEAIS'CE. 149
raussan. It sells for forty-four francs, and is reckoned
next after Prontignac and Lunel. There are several other
wines, but of a common kind, produced in the same depart-
ment.
The department of the Var, part of ancient Provence, is
supposed to give about 693,448 hectolitres of wine. From
the mode of planting the vines intermingled with olives, and
the distance of the plants from each other, no accurate esti-
mate can be given. These wines are thought little of in
Prance ; but some of them, from their low prices, are exported
to places in the Mediterranean. At Malgue the wine of that
name is strong, has an agreeable bouquet, and good taste, and
forms an exception to the foregoing remark. Second to this
wine is that of Rivesaltes (not that so celebrated, which is
made only in the Pyrenees Orientales) ; very little of either
of these kinds is grown. The climate favours the vine, but
the cultivators are grossly negligent.
The name of wines of the G-aude is given to those which
are the produce of Cagnes and St. Laurent du Yar. They are
hardy, and will keep long. There is a wine at Antibes which
is considered delicate and agreeable to the palate, but it ranks
only as an ordinary wine, and only sells for forty or fifty
francs when long kept in bottle.
The department of the Pyrenees Orientales, formerly called
Eoussillon, has 29,913 hectares of vines, giving 343,963 hec-
tolitres of wine, or 11*50 per hectare, valued at 7,164,612
francs, the principal part of which is produced in the arron-
dissements of Perpignan and Ceret. A great quantity is ex-
ported from the neighbourhood. Much goes into Spain,
which borders upon the department. Paris, Italy, Denmark,
and Prussia, also take these wines. The merchants buy the
muscadines of Bivesaltes, a town about four miles from Per-
pignan, and nearly all the white wines, either to export pure,
or to mix with others.
The quantity of Eivesaltes muscadine made is about sixty-
five hogsheads per annum. When sold it bears a very high,
price. It is lighter on the stomach than Prontignac, and its
sweetness is peculiarly agreeable on the palate. The soil on
which it is grown is dry and granitic, and appears as if it were
incapable of supporting vegetation of any kind.
The vines most cultivated at Eivesaltes, besides the mus-
cadine, are the grenache, mataro, and crignane, for the choicest
150 WINES OF FEANCE.
exported wines. The pique-pouille noir, the pique-pouille
gris, tlie terret and blanquette, give wine clear and good, but
the wines destined to keep require nicety in selecting the
plant. The niataro is the regular bearer as to quantity ; the
other sorts are sometimes abundant, often scanty in produce,
and for the most part very irregular in bearing. In general,
however, the vineyards are planted with ten or twelve species
of plant, which are more or less esteemed for mixing. The.
new vineyards are formed wholly of the crignane, the fruit of
which is black, saccharine, rough to the taste, and full of mu-
cilage. The mataro, of which others are exclusively made, is
very black, more saccharine, and gives out much spirit. The
black grenache, of which entire vineyards consist, is remark-
ably sweet, spirituous, strongly impregnated with aroma, and
is used to temper the fire of the other species. The mixture
of these three kinds, in which the last species forms a third,
and the second a quarter part, gives a product of late years
assorting best with the character of the wine in demand, and
therefore is that which cultivators labour most to carry to per-
fection. There is a species of grape called the white grenache,
of Rodes-en-Connent, a most valuable species, little cultivated,
because it requires considerable time to bring it to maturity.
The muscadine of Bivesaltes is made from this plant, as well
as from three varieties besides, the Alexandrian muscadine,
the round white, and, before all, the St. Jaques.
The vintage of the muscadine grape begins at the end of
September, or the first week in October, and is performed at
two separate periods. The time is always chosen when the
dew is dried up, and the grape and earth are become warm
from the solar rays. At the first gathering, the ripe grapes
only are taken, and placed separately at the foot of the tree,
where they are left until they are dried or shrivelled up, after
which they are taken away, and immediately replaced by the
second gathering. The fruit is then trodden and pressed.
Some suffer the fruit to dry upon the stem before the gather-
ing takes place. Others take it home, and place it on hurdles,
exposed to the sun's rays ; while it is the custom with a few
to keep it five or six days, piled up in wooden vessels.
The must produced by the treading and pressing is very
thick. It is put into barrels to ferment. Very frequently
the wine is delivered to the merchant after being in the
barrels only fifteen or twenty days, and without being
WINES OF TRANCE. 151
cleared of the dregs. If not sold, it is racked a month or
two after the pressing, and the dregs are then found to be
very considerable.
The greater part of the other white wines are made from
the species of grape called blanquette, which is picked out at
the vintage from the red fruit with which it is mingled.
Sivesaltea furnishes most of these wines. The vintage is
completed at one, and not, as with the muscadine grape, at
two pickings. Some growers leave the whole, with the stems
and skins, to ferment twenty-four hours in the vat. There
are two qualities of these wines, one dry and the other
luscious. The same grape produces both ; the soil alone
causing the difference. The soils abounding in stone and
quartz, such as St. Cyprien, Panissac, Lacombe- Global, Mas
de la G-arigue, and Lejas, at Eivesaltes, give the luscious
white wine. The soils purely argillaceous, or calcareous,
yield the dry. As the last kind is little in demand, they try
to obtain a luscious wine from the blanquette grape, which is
gathered when well ripened, and exposed on the warm earth
to the full action of the sun for ten or twelve days. Eight
hundred hectares, planted with the blanquette, each produce
about twelve hectolitres of wine.
G-ood Grenache wine is made in the communes of Eanyuls
sur Mer, Collioure, Port Yendres, and some in the canton of
Eivesaltes. This wine is not usually suffered to ferment on
the murk. If it is suffered to do so at all, it is never for
more than twenty-four hours. The fermentation takes place
in the cask, and when it is eight or ten years old, it is soft,
generous, and delicate. When it is suffered to ferment on
the murk for twelve or fifteen days, the wine is longer clear-
ing itself, is more generous, and acquires in age a fine topaz
colour. It is ten or twelve years attaining full perfection.
It then takes the designation of rancio, or rusty, or, as some
call it, tawny. It is distinguished from the wines of Eoussil-
lon as commonly denominated, by its lusciousness and par-
ticular aroma. Only about three hundred hectolitres of
Grenache wine are manufactured. The residue of the grapes
grown is thus mingled with the other species in the vats.
Malvasia and Macabeo wine are made by one or two per-
sons in the canton of Eivesaltes with the grapes of those
152 WINES OF FBANCE,
names. Very little is manufactured, simply as a family pro-
vision ; they are rarely met with for sale.
[Red wine is seldom made in this part of France in open vats,
but in large vessels, called tonneauoo a portes, into which the
product of the press, murk and all, is introduced by a square
opening. It has a tight cover, in the middle of which is a
hole, to give vent to the carbonic acid gas disengaged during
the fermentation, favouring the condensation of a great part
of the gas, which fills the void left between the top of the
vessel and the contents. Thus, by pressing on the murk, it
prevents a too rapid fermentation, but slackens when the fer-
mentation is complete, preserves the aroma of the wine and
a part of the alcohol, which exhale with difficulty, keeps from
the action of the air the upper part of the contents of the
vessel, which is constantly bathed in the liquor, prevents its
acquiring acidity, and contributes to extract the colouring
matter of the skins. When the wine is deemed perfect, it is
drawn off by a cock, and the murk is taken out by a door in
the bottom of the vessel towards the front. The door is
supported and crossed by two transverse stays, on the ex-
terior and interior, which are secured by strong screws.
The wines of Banyuls, Collioure, and Port Yendres, are
commonly purchased at the time of the vintage by the Paris
merchants, who generally attend for that purpose. These
merchants buy most of the other growths which go out of
the department. The wines are not drawn off before the
sale, when it is not delayed until the March after the
vintage, as at that time the red wines are always racked.
In general it is done but once, and then only for the wine
which is designed to keep long. Some growers, however,
do it a second time in the March following, but always when
the weather is dry. It is then kept until it takes the denomi-
nation of a ranciOj whether the barrels have been tapped or
not. They are careful, however, to put them in a cool place,
and as far as possible from a road or street, where heavy car-
riages pass. The longer the wine remains in the cask the
better it becomes. They take care to preserve the tartar,
which forms an interior lining, and prevents evaporation
through the pores of the wood. A common custom with
such as keep the wine by them to acquire age is, every year
WIXES OF FRANCE. 153
to draw off some bottles, and replace them with, younger
wine of the same vineyard. The new wine is introduced with
a funnel and pipe, to avoid, as much as possible, any agita-
tion of the fluid.
The white wines, and the muscadines, are bought on the
dregs immediately after the vintage. They are not racked
but when they are to be sold ; and when not sold till March,
as in the case of the red wines, they are drawn off. It is
rarely the case that they are racked a second time before the
sale. When intended for keeping, they are racked in the
months of March the two first years. They give themselves
no other concern about them, and never use anything to fine
or clarify.
The red wines remain ten or fifteen years in wood ; at that
age they have, a golden tinge, and the rancio taste, but they
are not yet at their full perfection. They constantly deposit,
and clarify better in the wood than the bottle. When, after
being fifteen years in wood, they are bottled, they for some
time show a deposit so great, that even then, before bringing
them to table in France, it is customary to decant them.
The white wines are bottled at two years old, and the
muscadines at four. The white wines will keep four years in
bottle ; after that time they lose their virtue.
The red wines and the muscadines will keep more than a
century, and still gain in quality. A French gentleman, on
the authority of Cavaleau (M. de Passa), had, between thirty
and forty years ago, some in his cellar that was made the
year of the treaty between Prance and Spain, 1659. He
said he hoped to leave a portion of it to his children in equally
good condition, though the best part of two centuries old.
The wines of Eoussillon are generally of a deep colour.
One kind is luscious, spirituous, and rich in aroma, used
principally for exportation. The other species is of a deep
colour, but of a less generous quality, and is consumed at
home. As in other places, the same kinds of wine are of
various qualities, and display a difference in their taste, colour,
and strength, according to the nature of the soil, and the
species of the plant predominating in the vineyards where
they are grown. These wines are much drunk in the north
of Europe. Inglis, in his travels in Norway, alludes to them
as imported there in an unadulterated state that is, not
154 WINES OF FBANCE.
brandied to imitate wine of Oporto. Though it resembles
Eort, lie observes that it is far more wholesome than a
irge part of the port wine, or what is sold as such, in Eng-
land. Some of the wines of the first class are grown in the
communes of IBanyuls, Collioure, and Port Yendres, before
mentioned. Others, of which a part of the growths is ex-
ported, come from the same locality, and from the neighbour-
hood of Perpignan. They are of deep colour, and very sweet,
but when aged they take a golden hue, and gain a most deli-
cate and agreeable taste. They have body and fineness,
and lose their deep hue in eight or ten years ; hence their
golden colour, or change to tawny. They have the peculiar
quality that, when once separated from their dregs, they are
not liable to be spoiled, though the casks or bottles remain
but partly filled. The mean produce of the three vineyards
is 15,807 hectolitres.
A wine from this department has been very recently intro-
duced into England, It is a firm-bodied wine, of a very deep
colour, with a fine violet tinge, good bouquet, and rich, racy,
mellow flavour. The growths at ten or a dozen years from
the vintage much resemble good port of an old vintage, but
fresher. They are smooth on the palate, and have the merit of
not causing acidity in those temperaments which are subject to
it as readily as port. This wine is not a factitious French port
from the harbour of Cette, or it would not have merited notice.
It is a genuine production called Masdeu, from the vineyard
which produces it, between Perpignan and Collioure. The
vineyard once belonged to the Knights Templars, and after-
wards to the Hospitallers. It is mentioned in a Latin
work as long ago as 1273, when the estate was sold by the
monastic house of St. Salvador de Cira. The buildings of the
Templars are now converted to farm purposes, and contain
the cellars where this wine is deposited. It is shipped from
Port Vendres. Yet this wine, five hundred years old, was new
to England till 1838. The house of Eobert Selby imported in
one year into England, between 1836 and 1837, no less than
1 648 pipes of this wine, and it may be said to be fixed in the
English market. It is shipped from Port Yendres to England
with the addition of a small quantity of brandy, and, like all
the wines of that part of France, will keep to a great age.
Firmness and vinosity of a very perfect kind are its charac-
WINES- OF FKANCE. 155
teristics, while it so mucli resembles wine of the genuine kind
of Oporto, that the drinker of Portugal wine might easily
imagine he partook of his favourite beverage. The vineyard
of Masdeu is the property of the well-known bankers, Messrs.
Durand. The grapes used are principally the Grenache,
Carignan, and Mataro, all black. The vines are grown on
the plains or on gentle slopes open to the south. The soil
is stony, and the vines are set in the quincunx order. The
produce is about six or seven hogsheads on the English
acre. The wine is fermented in the large vessels or tuns al-
ready described. It is kept in vats of considerable size
for twelve months before it is put into casks, each vat hold-
ing two or three thousand gallons. "When new, it is deep-
coloured, sweet, and full of body.
At Collioure, which is situated about a league from Port
Vendres, where the Masdeu above mentioned is shipped off
for exportation, both dry and sweet wines are made of very
good quality. The vineyards are on the first slopes of the
bases of the Pyrenees, and the soil schist, with a slaty gravel.
The hill vineyards are all planted terrace-fashion. The pro-
duce is less than on the plains ; manure is never used. JSTear
Collioure the Cosperon wine is made, and is a rich liqueur.
The grape being rendered very mature, is pressed, but not
fermented, and to the must a very large proportion of
brandy is added. This wine is nearly, if not entirely, con-
sumed in Trance.
The "wines of the communes of Eivesaltes, Espirande
1'Agly, Salses, Baixas, and Peyrestortes, as well as that of
Torren-Milar, near Perpignan, are wines of the first quality,
and though inferior somewhat to the former, equally come
under the denomination of wines of Eoussillon. They are
known as "wines of the plains" (vins desplaines). They
are longer losing their colour than the preceding wines, and
do not, therefore, become rancio till they are two or three
years older, though rarely kept for that purpose, except at
Lejas. in the commune of Eivesaltes. These wines are of
good consistence, and of real vinous strength, qualities al-
ways belonging to the wines of Eoussillon. They are high-
coloured, fine, luscious, and heady; characteristics which
they preserve in age. The mean product of the vineyards
is 69,540 hectolitres, at twenty-eight francs. There are
156 WINES OE FRANCE.
about 44,000 Hectolitres of wine of a second quality, at
twenty-four francs. There are also wines that are still in-
ferior, but light and delicate, grown at Terraffcs, Corneilla la
Riviere, Pezflla, Latour, and other places, and wines inferior
to them, but they are not exported.
There are 10,800 hectolitres of white wine in this pro-
vince, which are of the first quality, and sell for thirty francs.
About three hundred hectolitres of G-renache, at forty francs,
and the same of muscadine, at eighty.
The gradation in the prices of the red wines of the first
quality increases so much, that at eight years old they sell
for a hundred and fifty francs the hectolitre, and choice
growths frequently reach two hundred. The price bottled,
which is only done when orders are given by the merchant,
is from one franc and a half to two francs the bottle. Yery
old has been known to bring six francs. The gradation of
muscadine is nearly in the same proportion for the first
three years. Old brings three francs the bottle, but it is
rarely thus preserved, except in families. The gradation in
the G-renache wines is the same as in the red. The white
wines are not kept, but exported or consumed immediately
in the province.
The price of the red wine of Roussillon is not regulated
by the scarcity or abundance of the crop. The cost is often
higher after an abundant vintage than after a middling one,
for it depends upon the abundance of the crop in the north
of France and on its quality. In case of a middling vintage
in the North, the wines of E-oussillon, from their strength,
are bought up to mingle with them, and impart to them
body and flavour.
The department of the Basses Pyrenees, formerly Beam,
Navarre, Basque, and the Pays de Soule, produces some
wines of good quality, generally white ; in all 333,330 hecto-
litres, valued at 5,270,433 francs. Of these wines Pan
affords the best ; the commune of Gran also produces wines,
styled de primeur. In this latter commune there is a little
vineyard producing three hectolitres only, the wine of which
sells for six francs a bottle. It is called G-aye Sicabaig, from
the name of the owner. Before the revolution it belonged
to a member of parliament at Pau, who sent the produce
every year to the king. It exhibits a remarkable instance
WINES OE PRANCE. 157
of the unknown qualities of the soil, which give a superiority
to one spot over all around it, though to the observer the
same in every respect, as far as human knowledge can
penetrate.
The prices of the wines of Pau vary from twenty-five
to seventeen francs the hectolitre. The wines styled de
primeur, being of the first class, and keeping a long time,
their value augments in proportion. At fifteen years old,
the first growths of Juran9on and G-an bring two hundred
francs the hectolitre. A wine-grower at Gran, M. Pons,
sold a barrel of his wine, thirty years old, for twelve hun-
dred francs. It must be admitted that great attention is
given here to the manufacture of the wines. The vintages
are frequently prolonged to the end of November, and even
December, at Juran9on, particularly for the white wines,
which are superior to the red, and have a perfume like the
truffle. -
The department of the Hautes Pyrenees, formerly the
southern part of G-ascony, is of a soil in general too elevated
to grow very superior wines ; yet 278,063 hectolitres are
produced in this department, averaging 19 "45 per hectare.
These wines bear a low price, and are of low quality. Those
of Argeles and Bagneres bring only ten francs the hectolitre.
Those of Tarbes fetch eighteen francs the hectolitre, and are
the best ; generous, coloured, and tolerably clear. They are
produced in the canton of Castelnau-Biviere-Basse, under
the general denomination of wine of Madiran (vin de Ma-
dirari). They are not sold until they attain the age of four
years, and those of the first quality alone are bottled. They
will keep well for twelve years ; after that period they alter
much, becoming dry and heady. Some have been known to
keep for twenty years. The want of a facility of carriage
makes these wines little known out of the department.
Some of them were formerly exported to the colonies from
Bayonne.
There are some poor white wines made in this department,
but they will not keep above a year or two.
WINES OF THE GIRONDE.
Under the denomination of the wines of the Grironde are
included those of the districts in the vicinity of Bourdeaux, in
158 WINES OE FRANCE.
some directions for many leagues in extent. Of all the
wines of France these are most familiar to foreigners beyond
the seas, being exported in the largest quantities. The de-
partment of the Grironde is part of ancient Gascony, and is
rich in the produce of the vine. In the quantity produced,
in the variety, in quality, and value taken together, it stands
the first district in Trance, and in a commercial point of
view it is the most important.
With a minuteness, which the reader will readily appre-
ciate, details respecting the wines of Bourdeaux are given
here on account of their being so much used in England,
and curiosity being on that account more alive respecting
them than any of the other wines of France.
The extent of vineyard ground in the department of the
Grironde is no less than 137,002 hectares, or 342,505 acres.
Some state that the number of hectares of vineyards is
141,221, embracing every kind and sort of vine cultivation
used. Of these, 46,931 appertain to the arrondissement of
Bourdeaux alone. The arrondissement of Bazas has 5486
hectares of vine ; Blaye, 16,830 ; Libourne, 30,996 : Lesparre,
18,050; Eeole, 18,709. Their total product in wine is
2,805,476 hectolitres, or 73,643,725 gallons, at 18'72f per
hectare ; a prodigious quantity, valued at no less a sum than
49,177,454 francs, or 2,007,3982. sterling. Of this, one-
half in value is grown in the arrondissements of Bourdeaux
and Lesparre alone. In some years the produce has reached
360,000 tuns.
Of the 2,805,476 hectolitres above mentioned, 1,864,461,
or 204,436-| tuns are disposable, the rest is distilled, or drunk
in the province. It is computed in France that a third more
in quantity, beyond that grown in the province, is exported
from Bourdeaux. This is drawn by the merchants from
Spain, and from other departments of France, such as the Lot,
Lot and Graronne, Haute Garonne, and others, and is mingled
with the genuine wines of the Bordelais for the foreign
market ; it therefore must be added to the wines exported
from the department. The traffic in these and other wines
by sea from Bourdeaux is very great, being nearly 500,000
hectolitres per annum.
The value of wine estates is very considerable in this de-
partment. The Mouton estate, of 135 acres English, brought,
WINES OP FBANCE. 159
in 1830, 356Z. per acre. The Lafitte, of 262 acres, brought
,183 1. 4s. per acre as long ago as 1803. Every acre of the
Medoc estate is worth from 60Z. to 70Z., taking the entire
average.
The districts or arrondissements on the right bank of the
Garonne come first, one of which, that of Libourne, is situated
on the banks of the Dordogne, going from the north-west to
.the south-east. Of these districts, that of Elaye produces
6215 hectolitres of wine, of one hundred and eighty or two
hundred francs the tun ;* the rest may average one hundred
and fifty. The wines of the canton of Bourg, or Bourgeois,
are not so deeply coloured as those of Blaye, but they are of
good quality. They should be kept eight or ten years before
they are drunk. They were once esteemed above those of
Medoc, though now they rank in repute only with the inferior
kinds of the latter class. In a good year they have strength,
a fine colour, and, by keeping, lightness ; together with a
taste of the almond. The vine plants most cultivated in the
canton of Bourg are, the rnerlot, the carminet, the mancin, the
teinturier, the petite chalosse noire, and in poor soils the
prolongeau. The le petit and gros verdot are cultivated in
the Palus, or alluvial land situated between the Garonne and
Dordogne, consisting of river flints and alluvial deposits.
Hence the "wines of the Palus." The Palus of Dordogne
produces wines superior to those of Libourne, which are from
a light soil, and of light quality. These latter wines are grown
at Castillon, St. Eoi, Branne, Coutras, and Guitres, in that
arrondissement.
The hill wines, or vins de cote, manufactured in that neigh-
bourhood, are of a superior quality to the foregoing ; such are
those of Eronsadais, Neac, Lussac, St. Estephe, De Puisse-
guin, and Montagne. "With this quality of wines also may
be ranked those grown on the level grounds where the soil is
sand and gravel, with earth and calcarious elements. The
land in which it is presumed the most silicious matter exists,
seems the most favourable to the vine in the Gironde. The
wines in repute, such as those of Pominerol and of the en-
virons of Libourne, as well as some places in Lussac, Absac,
and St. Denis, are grown in sand and gravel. These belong
to the most distinguished hilly sites, as also those of St.
* This is a nominal measure here of four barrels or hogsheads.
160 WLtfES OE FBAKCE.
Emilion, Cenon, and Barbe-Blanche, near St. Emilion, con-
sidered the finest. Among this class, Cenon and St. Emilion
are most regarded. The wines grown on pure quartz and
sands with alluvial matter, are of a white colour, and very in-
toxicating. In respect to site in Medoc, the south-eastern
declivities of hills are preferred.
But two names are given to different qualities of wines
from the hills in this district, vinsfins, or fine wines, and vins
de cotes, or hill wines. Of the first, 51,660 hectolitres may be
reckoned the average produce, and of the second, 103,320.
The common wines, in addition, in the same district, may
amount to 154,980 hectolitres. The common wines bring
from a hundred to a hundred and fifty francs the tun, in-
cluding the Palus wines. The hill wines from one hundred
to one hundred and fifty, and the fine wines from two to three
hundred francs in abundant years. In ordinary years a third
more, and in years of scarcity nearly double. The common
red wines are bottled a year or two after the vintage, and are
in perfection in three or four. The wines of the hills are
bottled three years after the vintage, and are in perfection
at ten, while those of St. Emilion, Cenon, Barbe-Blanche,
Grenet, and Pommerol, are not bottled for four, five, or six
years, and increase in excellence for twelve more.
The age of wine is reckoned in Bourdeaux 'bjfeuilles, or
leaves, the number of times the vine has flowered since it was
made. The vine cultivation of the Grironde, in Medoc par-
ticularly, is very superior. The vines are kept low, and
trained in espalier fashion. In the Palus, they let the tree
mount to five or six feet. In the district between the two
seas, the vine is planted of late years enjouailes, or in furrows,
leaving seven-eighths of the land for corn, yet yielding more
wine than in the old mode. The quality of the wine is always
considered to depend on the pains taken in the cultivation of
the plant. Sauterne has gained its reputation by modern
labour. The vineyards have now four ploughings, and three
spade turnings, the vines being in single rows.
The St. Estephe wine has an aromatic, violet-flavoured per-
fume. That of Cenon is fine, light, and spirituous. St.
Emilion has plenty of body, and superior flavour and fra-
grance ; and, as well as the wines of Bourg, Tourne, and their
vicinity generally, acquire flavour by age, and a more perfect
WINES OF FRANCE. 161
bouquet. The shipping price of the good is about two francs
the bottle.
Every year for five years after being bottled, the hill wine
gains fifty francs per tun in price, and sixty or eighty francs
each succeeding year. The fine wines, and those grown on
the choicest spots, gain yet more ; so that, when eleven or
twelve years old, they fetch from two thousand to two thou-
sand four hundred francs the tun. The prime St. Emilion,
Cenon, and Barbe-Blanche, above their twelfth year, sell for
three francs and three francs and a half the bottle.
The best hill wine is made with the grape called noir de
pressac, the bochet, and the merlot and carmenere.
The arrondissement of Reole produces only common wines,
at the price of a hundred and thirty francs the tun. The
best of these wines come from the communes of Aubiac,
Verdelais, St. Mexant, St. Andre du Bois, and, above all,
Caudrot.
The red wines in the arrondissement of Bazas bring
generally a less price still, only about ninety-five or a hundred
francs.
The chain of high hills which extends itself along the right
bank of the Graronne, from Ambares to the arrondissement
of Eeole, produces wines known as the hill wines of commerce.
These are good ordinary wines, and little more. They ac-
quire quality by age, are in general firm and of good colour,
and, out of Erance, are principally consumed in Holland,
Denmark, and the ports of the Baltic. In the class of hill
wines the merchants of Bourdeaux comprehend also the vine-
yards on the Dordogne, from Blaye to Eronsac ; but only as
ordinary wines, with the exception of St. Jervais, St. Andre
de Cubsac, St. Eomain, Cadillac, St. Germain, and St. Agnan,
which produce somewhat better kinds. The communes of
Bassens and Cenon give the best hill wines, which are most
of all distinguished by their colour. Those of Eloriac, Bouillac,
and La Tresne, are not so good, having a slight earthy taste.
The wines of Camblanes resemble those of Bassens, have
more body and colour, but are less capable of keeping.
Quinsac, Cambes, and Baurech produce but little red wine
of tolerable colour, and, for the most part, of ordinary quality.
The Palus or plain grown wines have been already alluded
to. The vineyards are situated on rich levels upon the banks
M
162 WINES OP FKANCE.
of the Garonne and Dordogne. Formerly the best vine
plants only were cultivated in them, but now, plants more
common, but more productive, have been substituted. This
is to be lamented, for the good quality of the wines has de-
teriorated in consequence. These wines at present are, not-
withstanding, high-coloured, and free from any earthy taste,
but are generally a little mous, as the French style It, and
rough ; imperfections excused from the greatness of the pro-
duce. By age, or a sea voyage, they acquire an agreeable
bouquet, much body, and flavour. They should be kept
seven or eight years in wood, to obtain their full quality ;
after which they will remain good a long time in bottle.
The vine crops of the Palus, or level districts, are more un-
certain than those of other soils differently situated. The
vines are supposed to be rendered more sensible of at-
mospherical changes, from being in humid low land during
winter.
The Palus district is classed in five divisions. The first
is Queryes, on alluvial land, upon the right bank of the Ga-
ronne, opposite Chartrons, one of the suburbs of Bourdeaux.
The wines grown there are reckoned the first in quality of
the class. They have a deep tinge, much body, and acquire
by age an agreeable bouquet of the raspberry. They are
often mixed with weak wines, to improve their body and
colour.
Bassens and Mondferrand grow the second class of Palus
wines, and are from forty to sixty francs per tun less in
price than those of Queryes. The tliird class is grown in the
communes of Ambes, Bouillac, Camblanes, Quinsac, Les
Valentons, St. Gervais, and Bacalan. The fourth, in St.
Loubes, La Tresne, Macau, Beautiran, and Ison. The fifth
in St. Gervais, Cubsac, St. Eomain, Asque, and the Isle St.
Georges.
All these communes produce wines of good body, fine,
and high coloured, capable of bearing a sea voyage well.
They are generally distinguished as wines de Cargaison, be-
cause they are so largely exported. The mean prices are
three hundred and thirty, two hundred and sixty, and two
hundred francs per tun.
The district styled the Graves, from the soil being gravelly,
composes another vine growth on the left bank of the Ga-
WINES OF TEAKCE. 163
ronne. This is found extending three leagues to the south,
and two to the west of Bourdeaux. In this district the mer-
lot, three varieties of carbenet, or carmenet, the verdot, mel-
beck, balouzat, and massoutet grapes, produce the delicate
Graves wines. They are generally fuller in body, and more
coloured and vinous than the wines of Medoc, but the last
are preferred for bouquet and flavour. They are kept six
or eight years in the cask, according to the temperature of
the year in which they are made. They keep a long while,
and in twenty years lose nothing of their good quality.
There are five sites where the better wines of the Graves
are grown: Merignac, Leognan, Yillenave d'Ornon, Talence,
and Pessac. The first produces about a thousand tuns of
agreeable red wine ; while Leognan gives seven hundred tuns
of wine more firm than that of Merignac, and said to taste
a little earthy. These have a good body and colour, but are
less smooth on the palate than the others. Formerly, these
wines were exported to Ireland, but at present they are sent
principally to 'the north of Europe. About five hundred
tuns of red wine are grown at Villenave d'Ornon, but it is
not equal to that of the foregoing districts, having less body.
The excellent qualities of the white wine made there have
gained for it a reputation well deserved. Talence produces
about eight hundred tuns of red wine, ranking with that of
the second or third quality of Passac. This last district of
the Graves yields from a thousand to fifteen hundred tuns,
generally of a lively and brilliant colour, with more body
than the wines of Medoc, but less bouquet, raciness, and
fineness. The first growth of this noted commune is Chateau
Haut Brion, half a league south-west from Bourdeaux. The
wine here is considered equal to that of the three first growths
of Medoc, although its character has been injured for some
years from the employment of too much dressing. The
wines of Haut Brion are not bottled until six or seven years
after the vintage, though some of the first growths may be
drank at five years old. The flavour resembles burning seal-
ing-wax ; the bouquet savours of the violet and raspberry.
Gradignan, Martillac, La Brede, Beautiran, Castres, St.
Selve, and Portets, to the south of Bourdeaux, furnish the
wines known as the small red Graves wines (petits mns rouges
des Graves) . These are ordinary wines, some of which im-
M2
164 WIKES OF FKANCE.
prove greatly by age. The merchants of Bourdeaux compre-
hend under the foregoing name the common wines of Cau-
deran, Bouscat, Bruges, and Eysines, generally sold for con-
sumption in that city.
The next, and fourth district of the Bordelais, is that of
Medoc, the most important of all for its extent and the
quality of its produce. Its shape is that of a large triangle,
of which the summit is acute, formed by the left bank of the
Gironde, close to its mouth, and the western shore of the
ocean at the entrance of the Gulf of G-ascony. The base is
an oblique line drawn from the left bank of the Garonne at
La Teste, passing by Blanquefort.
The Medoc district is an immense plain, divided on the
side of the Gironde by small hills, which produce the best
wine. These hills are covered with a light gravelly soil, in-
termingled with flints in great quantity, of an oval form,
about an inch in diameter, and of a whitish grey colour,
from one to three feet deep, below which is found a dry and
compact red earth intermingled also with flints. The second
species of ground occupied by vineyards is a gravelly sand.
At eighteen inches from the surface, in some parts of this
soil, is found a bottom of clay, or potter's earth ; in other
places, dead sand. A mixture of gravel and soil often
occurs, called the alios, bounded with ironstone, not very
favourable to the vine ; in fact, it must be penetrated to
make the vine succeed well, that the moisture may descend
beyond the roots. Parts of the same vineyard are often
good, and often untractable from no discoverable cause. In
no other place is the earth more varied in quality or in pro-
duct. The estates also are much divided.
The carbenet, carmenet, malbeck, cioutat, pied de perdrix,
and verdot, are the plants most cultivated in the plain of
Medoc. The wine, when in perfection, should be of a rich
colour, a bouquet partaking of the violet, very fine, and of
a very agreeable flavour. It should be strong without in-
toxicating ; revive the stomach, and not affect the head ;
leaving the breath pure, and the mouth fresh. A sea voyage,
fatal to some of the best wines of France, does not alter the
quality of these fine wines of the Gironde, but, on the con
trary, it is observed to ameliorate even those of an inferior
class. The wines of Medoc, however, have their defects;
TVINES OF FBAtfCE. 165
one of the principal of which is, that most of them tend to
decomposition in sixteen or seventeen years, though some
growths will last ten or twelve longer. The expenses of
wine cultivation in Medoc are very considerable. A vine-
dresser gets If. 60e. per day. An experienced labourer, not
domiciled, from 2f. to 2f. 25c. The wine-press men have
50c. more than others. The vineyards are often cultivated
by a wine-dresser at task- work, who receives 150f. in money,
half the cuttings, four barrels of piquette * wine, a lodging,
and a small garden. On the Graves, the bargainer or
prixfaiteur has 380f. as well as cuttings, wine, lodging, and
garden ; but then he does the work of both the plough and
spade.
The first commune of Medoc, two leagues from Bourdeaux,
descending the river, is Blanquefort, producing a thousand
or twelve hundred tuns, of which four or five hundred are
white, generally known as white wines of the Graves. They
are for the most part dry and agreeable, and do not want
strength. The first growth of this district is Dariste, for-
merly Dulamon. The red wines are of an intermediate
quality, and most of them exempt from that earthy taste
which is too perceptible in some of the hill wines, as well as
in those of the low lands. Their colour is good, and they
have a bouquet, which is not developed until they have been
some time in bottle. They were once exported to America,
but are now consumed for the most part in the north of
Europe. The second commune, Ludon, produces five hun-
dred tuns of red wine, superior to that of Blanquefort. This
superiority arises from the nature of the soil, which is for
the most part gravelly, yet some portion of it, though a
small one, is marshy and alluvial. The Dutch are very fond
of these wines, because they unite the qualities to which
they are partial : high colour, raciness, and an aromatic taste ;
and they are utterly free from tartness, a defect in a Dutch-
man's view for which nothing can compensate.
Macau is the next commune, situated in a plain, two-thirds
of which are Graves, and one-third Palus, or alluvial. The
wine produced here is neither as agreeable nor racy as that
of Ludon. It has, however, a deeper colour, and good body.
Macau produces seven or eight hundred tuns of red Graves,
* A small wine.
166 WIKES OE FRANCE.
and about two thousand of Palus, much inferior in quality to
the Graves. Labarde, the next commune, generally gravel
or sand, produces three hundred, and sometimes four hun-
dred tuns of superior wine to that of Macau, easily observ-
able in its body, colour, and bouquet. Cantenac, the fifth
commune, is remarkable for the excellence of its wines, of
which the product is from one to two thousand tuns. These
wines are of exquisite taste, rivalling the best in Medoc,
whether for the bouquet or raciness which characterises them ;
besides which, they have colour, body, and are agreeably aro-
matic.
Margaux produces from a thousand to twelve hundred
tuns. The soil of this renowned commune is gravelly, inter-
mixed with a great number of flints. Its vines are the most
esteemed in the whole tract. In this commune is grown the
famous first quality, Chateaux Margaux. In average years
about eighty tuns of the first growth, and twenty of the
second, are all which is made. The wines of Margaux, when
in perfection, in a favourable year, have great fineness, a
rich colour, and a soft bouquet, balmy to the palate. They
have strength without being heady, and leave the mouth
cool. These wines are well known in England, though
the wine of the first quality is rarely met with genuine in
this country. It is in Margaux also that the wine called
Rausan is produced.
The wines made in the communes ot Soussan, Arcins, La-
marque, Cussac, Le Taillan, Lapian, Arsac, Castelnau, Aven-
san, Moulis, and Lestrac, differ from each other, though in
no very remote degree. Those of them which are exported
go principally to Holland and the north of Europe, These
communes are all in the Medoc district, and in the arrondis-
sement of Bourdeaux.
St. Julien de Eeignac, in the arrondissement of Lesparre,
is the eighteenth commune of the Medoc vine country. It
produces a thousand or twelve hundred tuns of wines, very
inferior to those of Margaux. They have a peculiar bouquet,
by which they are distinguished from all the other wines of
Medoc. Kept five or six years in wood, they attain the
character of good wines. The inferior growths of La Eose
and Leoville are the produce of this commune.
The nineteenth commune of Medoc is St. Lambert, pro-
or PRANCE. 167
ducing six or seven hundred tuns of good wines of nearly the
same quality as those of St. Julien. In this commune is
made the famous wine of Chateau Latour. This wine is dis-
tinguished from that of Chateau Lafitte by its superior body
and consistence ; but it should be kept in wood at least a year
more than the Lafitte to attain a proper maturity. This is
a favourite wine in England ; it is produced on a soil of sand
and gravel, and in favourable years is nearly all purchased
for the British market. The price is about the same as that
of the Chateau Lafitte and Chateau Margaux. In ordinary
years from seventy to eighty tuns only are made, rarely more
than a hundred in the most abundant, at least of the first
quality. It is less fine than Lafitte.
Pouillac, another celebrated commune of Medoc, produces
from three to four thousand tuns of a wine racy and full of
bouquet. In this commune is grown the celebrated Chateau
Lafitte, a wine surpassed by none of its rivals. About a
hundred tuns of the first quality only are annually produced,
and twenty or thirty tuns of inferior growth. Nearly all
the Chateau Lantte, and indeed most of the other growths of
this commune, are consumed in England. It is lighter than
Chateau Latour, and may be drank somewhat less in age.
The wine next in quality to Lafitte is that of Mouton, or
Branne-Mouton, of which the produce is from a hundred to
a hundred and forty tuns.
St. Estephe produces four thousand tuns of wine, of a dif-
ferent quality from all the other Medoc wines. Light, agree-
able, and aromatic : they are generally bottled after being
three years in the cask. St. Julien nearly the same. The
wine of St. Seurin de Cadourne furnishes about three thou-
sand tuns annually of indifferent and very unequal wines in
respect to quality.
The wines of the district of Haut Medoc are all compre-
hended in the foregoing list. The prices fluctuate greatly,
being dependent upon the season ; so that in favourable years
wines bringing thirty pounds a hogshead will not bring five
in those which are unfavourable. The fine wines in good
years fetch for shipment 14Z. 10s. per hogshead, and average
years about 61. In bottle from two to six francs. Those
called in the country le derriere du Haut Medoc, are St.
Laurent, St. Sauveur, Cissac, and Yerteuil, generally wines
168 wrtfES or FBAKCE.
of tolerable quality. About three thousand tuns in quantity
are made, some of which are exported to the north of Europe.
The soil that produces these wines and the foregoing is light
and stony, with quartz. Below is found ferruginous pudding-
stone, or olios. The exposure is little regarded. The more
gravel the better wine. The vines are planted in rows,
three feet asunder. The vines bear here at five years old.
There are vines in Pouillac two hundred years old, but they
are upon dry soils to a great depth. Manuring is repeated
every ten years to the very roots. The communes of Taillan,
Lapian, Arsac, Castelnau, Avensan, Moulis, and Lestrac,
already alluded to, come under the same general name and
treatment.
The Bas Medoc is applied to the wines grown in the
communes of St. G-ermain, Lesparre, St. Trelody, Potensac,
Blaignau, Uch, Prignac, St. Christoly, Civrac, Begadin,
G-aillau, Queyrac, Valeyrac, Jau, and St. Yivien ; the quan-
tity of the whole produce varies from four thousand eight
hundred to six thousand tuns. These wines are, for the
most part, touched with an earthy taste. In good years they
are reckoned agreeable wines for exportation, when well se-
lected, as their quality improves by age.
Many vineyards, not mentioned above, produce an ordinary
wine consumed in the province. The mean product of the
red Medoc wines is 37,660 tuns, or 343,459 hectolitres.
The wines of the first class in Medoc, including that of
Haut Brion, which is considered as such, sell for about two
thousand three hundred francs the tun. Those of the second
growth for two thousand ; of the third, fifteen to eighteen
hundred; and of the fourth, twelve to fourteen hundred.
The prices augment annually until the fifth year, when they
are generally double the first ; in like manner they diminish
in the descending quality, down to the sixth or seventh
class.
The wines are classed by the brokers, who decide to which
class the wine of each grower shall belong. The growers use
all their efforts to place their wines in a higher class, and thus
emulation is kindled, and they are justified in their efforts by
the profits. The price of their wines, too, is less governed by
particular merit, than by the number which they occupy in
the scale of classification. It often costs them sacrifices to
WINE3 OF FEANCE. 169
reach that object. They will keep their wine many years to
give it a superior title, instead of selling it the first year ac-
cording to custom. Ey this means an individual will get his
wine changed from the fourth to the third class, which he had
perhaps occupied before for many successive years.
It may not be amiss to state, that what are called vins de
paysans, or peasants' wines, in contradistinction to those of
the great proprietors, though grown on the spot, are less
valued. This distinction is just. It is very often found that
vines of the best character, planted in the midst of vineyards
which produce the first growths, do not afford wine of the
same quality. The peasant is, perhaps, less attentive to his
patches than the large proprietor/ or works on too small a
scale ; he secures his wines less carefully from the air ; is less
delicate in the choice of his dressing, or at the vintage he
does not wait, as the great proprietors do, the exact point 01
maturity, and then his wine is too green, an accident prevalent
after wet seasons. He does not choose the days most favour-
able for gathering the crop, or gathers them too ripe, making
the wine sweet, and bad to keep. He does not form distinct
classes of the first, second, and third pressings ; whichever of
these be the cause, the wine is held in less estimation.
As soon as the wines are in the cask, the greatest care is
devoted to preserve and ameliorate them. They are fined and
racked for the most part twice a year, in March and Septem-
ber, or October, and evaporation is carefully guarded against.
After they are five years old they are racked but once a year,
in March.
In the beginning, when the must is duly fermented, it is
clear, and has an agreeable perfume. The taste is soft and
pleasant to the palate, and there is an odour of the raspberry
or violet generally perceptible in it. In the wines destined
for exportation, as in the case of Bourdeaux designed to be
sent to England as claret, they mingle brandy of the best kind
in a small quantity. This is done before the fermentation,
over the picked grapes, when they are trodden. The pro-
portion is not more than four gallons and a half to a vat
of several thousand. The fermentation is covered with
blankets, and left close for three weeks or a month. The
must is tasted by a brass cock let into the side of the vat.
Such is the treatment of the principal vat, for which the
170 WINES OF FBANCE.
grapes are all picked. The grapes and stems of the subse-
quent gatherings are pressed together, and left to ferment,
and when the wine is cold and clear, it is racked into barrels
slightly washed out with proof brandy.
The first growths of Medoc are scarcely ever sent to
England in a perfect state, but are, when destined for that
market, mingled with other wines and with spirit of wine.
The pure wine is not spirituous enough for the English
palate, and more body is given by the mixture of Hermitage,
Beni Carlos from Spain, and alcohol, ordinarily to the extent
of three or four twentieths per cent. This is called " working
them." By this means much of the delicate flavour is
destroyed, to give it a warmer and more intoxicating effect.
Mixing Hermitage or Beni Carlos alone with the wines of
Medoc would not be prejudicial, though it must alter their
delicate quality, and though in time they give it a brickdust
colour, and cause it to deposit. It is often too artificially
flavoured. "Wines so treated never recover their natural
bouquet. All the wines are " worked" for the English
market. Orris root is employed to give the perfume destroyed
by mixing, and sometimes a small quantity of raspberry
brandy is used, two ounces to a cask, in order to flavour it
factitiously and replace the natural flavour it has lost. Beni
Carlos is often mixed with Medoc wines, when they are
nearly worn out, to restore their body. Natural wines, the
genuine offspring of simple fermentation, are not the fashion
in England ; hence artificial means must be used to please an
artificial taste. The Dutch import these wines on the lees,
and treat them as they are treated in Prance, drinking them
pure and unmixed. Eussia and Prussia import them pure,
and of little age. They also drink them comparatively un-
adulterated with spirit.
"White wines are often mixed with very high-coloured red,
such as Palus wines, or those from certain cantons of the
Dordogne, the Lot and Garonne, and Languedoc. These prac-
tices have increased in Prance of late years, and though occa-
sionally useful, are too frequently prompted by lucre. To
such an extent is the practice carried, that serious fears are
entertained by many Frenchmen of its doing an injury to the
credit of the wines of Bourdeaux, and by that means to the
commerce of the city. Ealse stamps are sometimes put upon
WINES OF FKANCE. 171
the bottles. The best mode for the stranger is to deal with
old and respectable merchants alone.
The vines in Medoc and Graves are planted at a distance
of three feet from each other every way. The main stem of
the plant is only allowed to attain a foot in height, and is
fastened to stakes of the same dimensions. To the stakes are
joined laths or switches, ten or twelve feet long, horizontally,
on which are laid two branches of each vine, left when it is
pruned for that purpose. The plough is applied four times
to the intervals between the rows. The grapes are thus pre-
vented from touching the ground, if proper attention is
paid to keep the branches fastened to the laths, and they
receive both the direct and reflected heat of the sun when
they are properly pruned. This is considered the most per-
fect method known for the cultivation of the vine.
Here the account of the red wines of this fertile district
must end ; in white, the department of the Gironde is less
rich.
At Blaye, Libourne, and Beole, the white wines are of a
very common quality, and are often sold under eighty francs
a tun. They are made from a plant vulgarly denominated
enrageat, orfoUe, from which is distilled the prime brandy of
Angoumois and Saintonge. Bazas produces more white wine
than red, from the Blanquette, or Blaguais grape. The
greater part is common in quality, from a hundred to a hun-
dred and fifty francs the tun. The best are produced at
Fargues, Langon, St. Pardon, St. Pierre de Mons, Toulenne,
and, above all, Bommes and Sauterne the last a well-known
wine in England.
The best white wines of the arrondissement of Bourdeaux
are grown in the Graves, and in the southern part near
Bazas, as far as the canton of Podensac in the communes of
Bar sac, Preignac, Cerons, Podensac, Yirelade, Illats, Landiras,
Pujols, to which may be added St. Croix du Mont.
The white wines of a superior quality are divided into dry
and luscious, and those again into first and second growths.
The dry are generally the product of the Graves. The first
in quality are Carbonieux, St. Brice, Chateau du Lament,
Pontac, Sauterne, Bommes, Barsac, and Preignac. Barsac is
a favourite wine with some in England. The best growths in
High Barsac are those of Coutet and Filhot, of excellent
172 WINES OF FRANCE.
flavour and mellowness. There are several varieties and
qualities, inferior to the foregoing, but of good repute. They
must be bottled at four or five years old, as beyond that term
they grow hard.
The second growths are Cerons, Podensac, Virelade, Illats,
Landiras, Pujols, St. Pey de Langon, St. Croix du Mont. The
first growths of both kinds are sold at about a thousand francs,
the second growths six hundred and fifty. But the price aug-
ments with age ; so that at ten years old the wines of Sau-
terne, Bommes, Barsac, and Preignac sell often at two thou-
sand francs, and sometimes as high as three or four, and even
six thousand per tun, diifering in price more or less from each
other according to circumstances. It is hardly of use to fol-
low down the wines of this district further. The third class
may be defined by prices from eight hundred down to six
hundred francs.
Bas Medoc, or that part of it in the arrondissement of
Lesparre, produces nearly ten thousand hectolitres of white
wine of small value, mostly consumed in the wine-shops. In
the commune of Ordonnac there is a small vineyard of eight
hectares in extent, belonging to the ancient Abbey of lie,
which has an odour of roses, and sells, when a few years old,
at seven hundred francs a tun, instead of two hundred when
newly made. Among other methods taken to ameliorate the
wines in this district, a certain quantity of the grapes are
passed through an oven. "With what degree of heat, or for
how long this takes place, or what proportion of the grapes
are so operated upon, it is impossible to say without more
local knowledge.
The best class of white wines in this district are not bottled,
more especially the sweetish sorts, until they are seven or eight
years old, or older. They keep a long time. After the first
racking they are placed in vessels or vats, holding thirty hec-
tolitres and more, where they keep better and lose less by
evaporation. Two rackings a year are deemed necessary to
mature them.
To obtain the more luscious wines, it is requisite that the
raisins be, in the language of the wine-makers, pourri, or in
such a state that the skin can be detached from the pulp on
the slightest pressure. As all the grapes on the same plant
cannot be pourri at once, four or five different gatherings,
WINES OF FRANCE. 173
or rather cuttings, of the ripe grapes take place as they reach
the requisite state, for which purpose scissors are applied to
sever them.
The white wine-growers, anxious, as well as the red, to bring
their wine to the utmost possible perfection, place the must
from the press in large vats, where the lees are precipitated
to the bottom, and then ascending again, form a crust on the
surface. In this state all is left until it is perceived that the
crust begins to crack or open into gaps, the must is then
drawn off by a cock placed at the bottom of the vat. By this
process the wine is obtained sooner, fined quicker, and keeps
its colour to the last, when due care is taken to bung the casks
up carefully the moment they are filled.
The best vines for the more valuable white wines, are the
species denominated sauvignon, semilion, rochalin, blanc doux,
pruneras, muscade, and blanc auba. The semilion should
form two-thirds of. a vineyard consisting of these seven species
of plant.
The white wine vines in the best vineyards are planted in
joailles, as it is called, or after an arrangement composed of one
or two rows of plants, at two and a half or three feet asunder,
removed to the distance of six and a half feet from another
range, and this interval is four times ploughed over.
The quantity of white wine made in the department may
be about 1,185,904 hectolitres, of which 619,000 are produced
in Libourne, 269,280 in Bazas, 100,000 in Bourdeaux, and the
remainder at Blaye, La Reole, and Lesparre. The superior
wines made in Bazas may be arranged as follows in respect
to quantity and quality : Bommes, 7985 hectolitres at forty-
six francs; Sauterne, 6430 at forty-six; Fargues, 8026 at
thirty-eight ; Langon, 11,856 at thirty ; St. Pardon, St. Pierre
de Mons, Toulenne, 18,933 at thirty-one. In the arrondisse-
ment of Bourdeaux, the wines of Preignac, Barsac, Carbonieux,
St. Brice, Chateau du Lament, and Pontac, reckon 20,000
hectolitres at forty-six. St. Croix du Mont, Cerons, Poden-
sac, Illats, Laudiras, and Pujols, at thirty-nine ; 25,000 at
thirty-three; 33,010 at twenty. It must still be borne in
mind, that the prices of these wines augment with their age
so much, that the sweeter kinds reach two hundred francs the
hectolitre. (See Appendix, for prices at Bourdeaux.)
The product called claret in England, from clairet, is a
174 WINES or FRANCE.
mixture of several sorts of wine, as already observed. Beni
Carlos and Bourdeaux are thus mingled up for the English
market ; sometimes Languedoc and Bourdeaux, at others Her-
mitage or Alicant with Bourdeaux, and uniformly a portion of
spirit of wine in addition. Mr. Brande reckons only 12*91
of spirit in claret wine. This quantity cannot be uniform ;
but must frequently differ, as claret is a manufactured wine,
and not the work of one manufacturer alone, who would, in
all probability, regulate his proportions by some uniform
standard. It was, no doubt, originally a good Bourdeaux
growth, and is of long standing in England. " Claret," says
an old book of the early part of the sixteenth century
" claret is a noble wine, for it is of the same complexion that
noblemen's coats be of; and therefore, to furnish their noses
with a hud (ita) of this tincture, they scarlet-fire that promon-
tory, to signify they are such or such nobleman's musicians."
" Hud" is perhaps an old heraldic term.
In 1710, a wine called Obryan claret was sold in London
at three shillings the bottle, or three and ninepence the flask ;
while Hermitage and Burgundy brought five shillings for the
same quantity.
The unadulterated wines of the Q-ironde most held in
estimation in England are equalled by other varieties in the
department, some of which are rarely imported into this
country. The consumption of claret in Great Britain has
been on the decline for several years past, for what reason it
is impossible to pronounce. It appears that the Spanish
wines gain upon those of France and of Portugal. The high
retail prices of the Bourdeaux wines also are generally main-
tained, notwithstanding the reduction of duty. No district
in the world surpasses the present in the excellence of its
growths, and the variety of its products. The consequence
has been, that the Bourdeaux merchants have found it con-
venient to make pretended exports, in some good years, of
much larger quantities of wine of prime growth than the
country has produced. This they were enabled to do by the
substitution of other kinds, which, in good seasons, nearly
approach in excellence those of which they were counterfeits.
Haut Brion, G-orce, Branne-Mouton, La Eose, Bozan, and
others, make very close approaches in quality to the best pro-
ducts of the department.
WIKES OF FBANCE. 175
The exports from Bourdeaux to England in 1832, accord-
ing to the custom-house there, were 1,132,063 litres. Of
these, 896,470 litres were in cask, and 235,593 in bottle.
THE DOKDOQKE.
The department of Bordogne (ancient Perigord) affords
660,704 hectolitres of wine, or 10*27 per hectare, valued at
11,913,854 francs. About fifty thousand hectolitres are dis-
tilled, and 310,704 exported, or cellared to meet deficient
years. Bourdeaux is the principal receptacle for the wines
of Bergerac, which are sent furthest away from the depart-
ment, of which it is one of the arrondissements, producing
nearly half the value of the entire quantity grown in the Dor-
dogne. Prom Bourdeaux these wines are sent to Paris, to
Holland, and- the north of France. Brandy is mixed with
them in the proportion of a velte, or one gallon two-thirds
to a barrel of two hundred and twenty-eight litres. The sweet
white wines of Bergerac were sent to Holland formerly in
much larger quantities than at present.
At Bergerac the best red wines much resemble St. Emilion,
or those wines known in the Bordelais by the denomination
of Ions-cotes. They are of a generous quality, and in gaining
age acquire bouquet.
There are two distinct classes of white wine, the dry and
sweet. The sweet is generous, and strongly perfumed ; in
the taste, the muscadine grape predominates. It has some
resemblance to Frontignac as respects bouquet, but is more
vinous. The dry wine is less spirituous, less perfumed,
lighter, but without tartness or roughness. When carefully
kept until old, it approaches Barsac in seve. These wines
may be drunk at five years old, but should be kept until eight
or ten, when they are better. They will keep good fifty or
sixty years.
The red wines are bottled at four or five years old, and will
keep well for thirty. Neither the red nor white are kept for
sale until they are very old. The sweet white brings from
two to three francs a bottle in the country. The manufac-
ture of red wine constantly increases upon the white so as to
make it nearly four-fifths of the total quantity manufactured.
The best wines are produced on the hills, upon the left
bank of the Dordogne, in the communes of St. Laurent and
176 WINES OF FBANCE.
Monbazillac. Among the most esteemed growths of white
are those of Tcoulet, Marsallet, Eaulis, Suma, Borderie, and
Abrio, containing one hundred and twenty hectares. The
best red are produced at the vineyard of Terrasse, ten hec-
tares in extent. The two vineyards named Les Farcies,
seventy hectares, and Brunetiere, twenty hectares, also
produce good white wine. The price of both is nearly the
same, about thirty-three francs the first quality.
The plants most cultivated are the semilion and muscatfou.
When the grape has acquired a deep golden colour, and the
flavour is sweet and perfumed, so that no acidity is perceived,
the maturity is not sufficient to make very sweet wine : they
wait until the skin is a shrivelled brown, and nearly decom-
posed ; then the maturity only is deemed complete, and the
grapes thought insusceptible of further improvement. When
a part of the bunches have reached this state of maturity,
they begin to gather them. For this purpose they visit the
vine about ten in the morning, taking care never to gather
the fruit during wet weather. When the bunch is wholly
ripe, they take it off entire ; but when only a part of the
grapes are so, these are taken from the bunch, which they do
not itself separate until all the grapes which are appended to
it are ripe, and these they take in succession. The vintage
is thus rendered very tedious and expensive.
Every evening the grapes are trodden. They are pressed
five or six times, until no more juice remains in the murk.
The must is placed in an uncovered vat. When the tempe-
rature is warm, fermentation begins in two or three hours.
It is much slower in cold seasons. When the mucilage and
impurity in the must mounts to the surface, and there forms
a thick head, of a greyish colour, in which numerous cracks
are observable, the fermentation is sufficiently advanced. The
lees then mingle anew with the must, and would soon render
it troubled. To prevent this, the must is drawn off by a cock
in the bottom of the vat, and placed in tuns. The wine is
often kept too long in the vat, exposed to the air, and they
are not in general careful in the barrelling, by which means
it is not so good as it ought to be. The grapes, red and
white, are also mixed instead of being sorted. Some growers,
who have only suffered the wine to remain in the vat five
or six days, instead of twenty or thirty, have found it greatly
improved.
WLffES OF FEA^CE. 177
The department of Yienne, formerly Haut Poitou, produces
435,451 hectolitres of wine, of mediocre quality. There are,
however, some excellent white wines grown at Loudun, in
this department, which merit to be more generally known.
At Poitiers, the vineyards of St. G-eorges, Louneuil, and
Couture, Champigney, Dissay, and Jaulnay, about 1650 hec-
tares in extent, produce the secondary wine, which fetches
only fifteen francs the hectolitre. In the arrondissement of
Chatellerault, the vineyards of St. Remain and of Yaux give
some red wines, which average eighteen francs. At Loudun,
the vineyard of Bellecave, situated in the commune of Saix,
Solome and Hoiffe produces the best. It is the custom in
this department to make no partial sales of their wine ; a
cellar with fifty or sixty barrels is disposed of at once. At
Chalais they make a wine like Champagne. It is managed
with care ; is sweet, light, and delicate to the taste. It is
bottled in March, having been fined the preceding January.
In the department of the Nievre, formerly the province of
the Nivernais, a considerable quantity of white wine is made,
including eighteen thousand hectolitres of Pouilly, grown in
the arrondissement of Cosne. There are also some tolerable
red wines, in quality resembling Bourdeaux ; the growths of
the latter are those of Saulayes, Perrieres, Conflans, and
Yauzelles, near Severs. The mean price is twenty francs,
and they will keep fifteen years, exclusive of three in wood,
and three in bottle, which they occupy in reaching maturity.
The wines of Chateau Chinon, though of inferior quality,
bring four francs more than those of the above-mentioned
growths. The wines near Clamecy are equal to the foregoing
in price and quality.
Cosne is best known for its white wines called Pouilly, in
considerable repute at Paris. These wines are produced on
the sides of the hills bordering the Loire, called the Coteaux
de Lossery, Pree, Nues, and Eoche. The three first grow
white wine, the last red. There are a few qualities of white,
the best of which is small in quantity, and much of it is con-
sumed on the spot, being an effervescing wine. Its price is
about fifty-two francs the hectolitre, being sold generally by
the quart, of a hundred and fifteen litres, at sixty francs.
The second quality, which is also considered a prime growth,
178 WINES OF FRANCE.
sells from forty-three to fifty francs. The third for twenty
francs, and the fourth thirteen.
In the departments of the Lot, and the Lot and Graronne,
parts of ancient Quercy and of Ghiienne, there are some good
vineyards. At Cahors, they make white, rose-coloured, red,
and black wines.
The white wines are made in the usual way ; the grapes
are trodden and pressed immediately after the vintage, and
the must fermented in the cask. The wine is racked twice
a month, until it is perfectly clear.
The rose-coloured wines are made with the weakest white
wines, poured upon the murk of the black wines, which are
never pressed. They gain colour and strength by this opera-
tion, but are not in great esteem.
The red wines are made with the grape named rougets,
mauzais noirs, and the common auxerrois, with the green
stalk.
The black wines are manufactured from the fine auxerrois,
or pied de perdrix grape, so called because its stalk is red.
The grapes are plucked from the stems. After they have
been well trodden, the murk and skins of the grapes are
either partly or wholly, according to the fancy of the grower,
set over the fire in large boilers, and boiled for some time.
After this, the contents are poured into a vat, with the
other part of the juice which has not undergone the same
operation. They commonly remain eight or ten days in the
vat, when they are racked. They do not usually press the
murk. These wines are most commonly treated by mixing
them with one-third of a liquor known by the name of
rogome, and are then said to be rogomes. IRogome is the
must of the auxerrois grape, made to boil for five or six
minutes. They afterwards throw into it the highest proof
spirit of wine, in the proportion of one hectolitre to four of
the must, and it is then put into the cask. It is racked at the
expiration of two or three months. Much of this liquor
is sent to Bourdeaux, to strengthen or colour light wines.
It is sometimes mingled with aromatics, to make a common
ratifia, and sometimes it is sold pure. The price is one hun-
dred francs the hectolitre. The wines treated with rogome
vins rogomes, are forty francs. The black wines in their
natural body are sold at thirty-four francs, and the ordinary
WIXES OE FBAKCJE. 179
red at sixteen. The white wines bring from thirteen to
fourteen francs. The rose-coloured eleven francs the hec-
tolitre.
The Cahors wines carry little perfume, but they are strong
in body. They are bottled at two or three years old, though
they will keep a long time in wood; the white and rose
eight or ten years, though generally consumed after one in
the country. The red and black wines will keep twenty
or thirty years in wood, and forty or fifty in bottle. In
commerce the wines of Cahors increase ten per cent, in value
each year they are kept. They are racked twice every year
while in wood, in March and September, and fined twice be-
fore bottling. The best wines are grown on the hills, and in
the communes of St. Grery, Yers, Savangac, and Cahors.
The heights ealled Gausses in the language of the country,
as Causses de St. Henri, De Cournoux, afford good wines.
At Eigeac the price of the wines depends less on their
quality than on the proximity of the outlet, and the inferior
sorts often bring, in consequence, the higher price.
In the Lot and Graronne the wine of Kocal, so called from
the pebbly ground on which it is grown, is a generous wine,
of a fine colour, and agreeable taste. It improves by age ;
is generally bottled at two, and will keep twenty years.
Moirax is a tolerably good wine, but inferior to Eocal. The
St. Colombe is indifferent, and apt to turn sour. The white
wine of Aiguillon and Porte St. Marie is sweet and luscious ;
it becomes dry and sparkling by sea or land transport, when
left on the lees, and poured off carefully. Among numerous
other wines in this department, are those of Clairac and
Castelmoron, which keep well in wood for six years, aug-
menting ten francs per hectolitre 'in value every year. At
Yilleneuve the best black wines produced at Thesac, Libos,
Pumel, and Pericard, bring for exportation, on an average,
thirty francs. They are of marked colour and body, and
are produced from a grape named cote-rouge, which gives the
wine so deep a colour, that one-fifth, mixed with four-fifths
of white wine, suffices to give the latter a colour strong
enough for ordinary demands. The black wines of this de-
partment being those of the first quality, are sold ready for
bottling at eighty-eight francs. They are usually kept five
years in wood. The most noted growths are those of Eron-
180 WINES OE TEANCE.
tignat, Grimard, and Carabons, near Yilleneuve, and Thesae
and Pericard, near Fumel.
The department of the Moselle produces two qualities of
wine, principally in the arrondissement of Metz, and close to
that city their price is about eighteen francs. The dismem-
berment of the department of the Rhine and Moselle from
France, gave to Germany the greater part of the vines grown
on the latter river, where the wines generally understood as
Moselle are made. In the neighbouring department of the
Meuse, anciently part of Lorraine, 546,523 hectolitres are
made. The hills planted with the pineau noir, which are
sheltered from the north, and open to the rising sun and
the south, produce the wines of the first class, which they
denominate tete de cuve'e, being grown in vineyards having
the most favourable exposure. These wines amount to about
ten thousand hectolitres, at fifty-five francs.
The wines of the second class are the produce of the
same plant, with a southern aspect, having the setting sun
on the reverse of hills of small slope, and trifling elevation,
or on flat places with a good aspect. There are about
15,000 hectolitres of these wines grown, at forty-two francs.
The third and fourth classes bring, respectively, thirty and
nineteen francs the hectolitre, and are made from different
fruit. The grape called vert-plant being then mingled with
the pineau noir.
The best vineyards are those of Bar and Bussy. At Bar
they make what is called vingris, and also some rose-coloured
wine. When they find that the wines clear quickly, they
rack them in February, but in no case leave them without
racking longer than March. The second racking takes place
immediately before or after the vine has flowered. "When
the grape begins to ripen, as well as when it shoots and
flowers, insensible fermentation is observed to trouble it,
and sometimes it becomes oily. In either case it must be
racked a third time, for if neglected the wine deteriorates,
and a larger part of red hard wine is required to recover it.
After the first season it is racked but once a year, and
always when it is moved or sent away. It is only fined
when not found, on bottling, sufficiently clear. At the age
of two or three years, if observed to weaken, they put into
every cask a bucket or two of a stronger quality, from a pos-
WINES OF FKJJS T CE. 181
terior vintage. Sometimes they pour a measure or two of
red wine of Tavel, or St. Grilles, into their grey or rose-
coloured wines. Merchants often preserve the wines of Bar
in full quality by mixing with them a little of the Hhone wine,
that of Bourdeaux, or Burgundy, which agrees well with their
constitution. These wines will not keep more than three
years in wood, and five or six in bottle.
The department of the Meurthe, part of old Lorraine, pro-
duces an abundance of wine, no less than 688,358 hectolitres,
at 50 '64^ per hectare. The quantity of must given out by
the vine here is enormously great. At Nancy it amounts to
fifty-five hectolitres per hectare. At Toul from forty-four to
forty-five. At Chateau-Salins it is often a hundred. This
is almost incredible, and yet within the truth; the mean
produce being oftener a hundred and twenty than a hundred
for each hectare. The curate of Achain, a correspondent of
the French Board of Agriculture, declares that he has often
obtained two hundred hectolitres, and in the worst years
never less than fifty.
There are three classes of wine in this department, of
which much is made from the pineau plant alone. The first
is light and agreeable, and brings twenty-five francs the hec-
tolitre. The second is from a mixture of different plants,
of good quality. The third is made from the grapes called
grosse race, and is a hard, acid, tartrous wine, averaging
only twelve francs the hectolitre. These wines are both red
and white, of which the best are produced at Buley, in the
arrondissement of Toul. There is near Nancy a hill called
la Cote des chanoines, which is superior to the rest, rather
owing to the goodness of the plant than the aspect of the
vineyard.
The wines grown at Toul will keep ten years in wood, and
will bear from twelve to twenty in bottle, if bottled at three
years old. The ordinary wines are kept four or five years in
wood, and are submitted to what is called there traversage,
or racking every year after the two first, when a great part
of new wine is mixed with them, or else they would dete-
riorate.
There is a vine common at Chateau-Salins, called Iwerdun,
a variety, it is said, of the pineau. It produces a wine which
will keep well for ten years, and bear a long transportation.
182 WIKES OP ITEA^CE.
Its bearing is enormous. If its buds are injured by the
spring frosts, it is observed to put them forth anew, and yet
the grape reaches maturity in due time.
The department of the Maine and Loire, formerly Anjou,
produces some tolerable wines. Those of Saumur are in
esteem. Except at Saumur, all the wines made in the
department are white wines. The best are only kept a year
in wood, and will keep twenty-five or thirty years in bottle.
If intended to be effervescing, they are bottled in the month
of February or March, and placed upright on their bottoms
for a year. They are made from the pineau plant, and the
vintage is protracted as late as possible, so as to have the
skins of the grapes shrivelled. The red wines of Anjou,
though little known abroad, are some of the best in France.
The white wines are superior to the red ; they are made
from the same plant as the red, and are of two qualities, hill
and plain wines, which are subdivided into two divisions,
called, after the mode of cutting the vines, " short wood"
and "long wood." The short wood is that on which two or
three buds are left on each of its two branches. It produces
better wine than that which is called long wood, or where a
long branch is left with eight or ten buds. In the valley of
Lanthion the vines are planted in rows, at the distance of
four, six, or eight metres from each other; and corn or
vegetables are grown between. This wine, as may be sup-
posed, is of the worst quality. The price of the best is
from thirty to forty francs the hectolitre. The best wine
made near Angers is grown on the schistous hills of Layon,
and brings about twenty-seven francs.
The Haut Bhin, formerly part of Alsace, produces 347,335
hectolitres of wine. The first is classed under the generic
title of gentil, whether red or white, and is designated as
rouge gentil, vin gentil llanc^ &c., the plant which produces
it being that named the gentil. The second classes of wine
are produced from the plants named the riesling, and bour-
geois. The other plants are the tockai, chasselas croquant,
chasselas commun, and chasselas rouge. With these latter
they make a straw wine, or vin de <paille, in seasons when the
fruit attains a sufficient maturity, for which purpose they
leave the grapes on the vine until the first frost, when they
gather them, and place them on the straw. There they
WINES OF FRANCE. 183
remain several months in a dry airy situation. They are
visited daily, to take away any spoiled grapes. When they
are sufficiently dried they are pressed. The wine of the first
pressing is of a superior quality. The second and third are
kept separate, the quality of the wine deteriorating, as usual,
tmtil the murk is exhausted. The wine is placed in wood
until the sale is effected, when it is delivered in bottles,
which sell from five to seven francs each. The other wines,
denominated gentils, sell from eighteen to twenty francs the
hectolitre. The white wines are rarely bottled for keeping ;
the reds reach perfection in two or three years. After four
years they lose something of their strength, but will keep
well in bottle, and be very agreeable drinking at twenty
years old. The white gentil reaches perfection in ten years,
and will keep good a hundred. These wines are kept in
casks of eight hectolitres or more, which are sold full. The
red wine is racked twice a year ; the white three times the
first year, and twice a year afterwards. When the deposition
ceases, the wine is not racked more than once in four or five
years. Some growers leave the wine on the lees closed up
in the cask for three years together, when not wanted for
immediate sale, and do nothing more than mind the ullage
monthly. In three years they rack, and keep it until wanted.
At Altkirch white wines are made, which sell in plenti-
ful seasons at from seven to twelve francs, but in those of
scarcity from thirty to fifty francs the hectolitre. At Belfort
the white wines are divided into three classes, namely, that of
Eangen, of which there are only twenty hectares grown, the
next of middling, and lastly, a class of common wines. The
Eangen brings sixty francs the hectolitre; the middling thirty-
six, and the common twenty. The vines of Eangen are from the
gentil plant. This wine, filtered until it is limpid, is pleasant
drinking, very heady, and produces a singular effect on those
who go beyond certain limits in the quantity taken. "While
seated at the table, no inconvenience is perceivable from its
effects, but on going into the open air, the limbs are attacked
so as to render any movement of them impossible, and yet
the mind is not at all altered, as in ordinary cases of intoxi-
cation. A small quantity of straw wine is made at Belfort.
In some families in this district an effervescing wine is
made by a process used nowhere else. The first must is
184 WINES OF FKAFCE.
taken from the press, and filtered until it is as clear as pos-
sible ; it is then put at once into jars or bottles, corked and
wired. The wine ferments in the bottles, and many of them
break, but they are content to preserve half. The wine runs
out of the bottle clear to the last drop on drinking.
At Strasburgh, in the neighbouring department of the Bas
Ehin, the best red wines are those of Wolxheim and Neu-
willers, not far from the former place. The white wines are
ranked in quality as follows : Riesling, Muscadine, Kleber,
or Klebner, and common.
[Riesling wine is distinguished by a particular bouquet, by
strength, and durability. It will keep a century. It is
diuretic and cold. The best is that of Molsheim and "Wolx-
heim ; that of Molsheim is best known by the denomination
of Finclcenwen.
The muscadine has but a weak flavour of the southern
muscadine ; it is as cold and diuretic as the Riesling.
The Klebner is sweet, and of an agreeable taste. The first
quality is grown at Heiligenstein, as well as at "Wolxheim.
These wines are rarely as they should be. Too many
species of grapes are mingled in the vintage, so that the
wines bear their prices as the superior species of fruit are
more or less abundant in them. The Riesling wine at Stras-
burgh will keep a hundred years, as before stated ; but that
grown at Sehelestadt will only keep fifty, while in Wissemberg
it reaches a century, as well as at Strasburgh. At Saverne,
not far away, it will not keep good more than two or three
years, though the same wine in every respect, as far as growth
and treatment are concerned. These wines on an average
fetch about eighteen francs the hectolitre. They are drawn
off in March and October the first year. They sulphur the
casks into which they first rack them, a step necessary for
the preservation of the wine in a good condition. They rack
them annually, and if it happens that they become ropy, they
repeat it every time the disease begins to subside. When
the wines are five years old, they make up any defects in
quantity with wine of the last vintage, which has been at least
once racked. The rod wines made there are poor, and will
turn sour from the slightest cause. A storm, a bad cellar, or
a particular place in an ordinary one, or the introduction of a
cock into the cask, will often spoil them.
WINES OF FRANCE. 185
In the department of the Cher, formerly Berri, a white
wine is grown called moustille ; it ranks with the second
growths of Chablis in quality.
In the department of Correze, formerly Bas Limousin,
wine of the value of four millions of francs is grown. The
most noted vineyards are those of Saillant, Danzenac, Alias-
sac, and Yarez, situated in the arrondissement of Brives. The
great merit in the wines of the Correze is their capacity of
enduring well, and improving by age. "Whether in wood or
bottle, they ameliorate constantly as they grow old. A piece
of wine belonging to M. de St. Priest, of Tulle, grown at
G-ranne, near that place, was opened, having been in wood
twenty-four years without being racked or fined, and was
found delicious in quality, and perfectly good. When ex-
ported to the North particularly, these wines increase in
excellence.
In the canton of Argentac a fine, delicate, white wine is
made, sharp to the taste, which possesses most of the qualities
of an effervescing wine, without being so entirely. The fruit
is carefully selected from the ripest, and gathered when the
weather is warm and dry. The stems are thrown aside, as
well as the grapes, when either unripe or spoiled. They are
pressed, fermented in the barrel, and bottled in March, taking
the precaution not to cork the bottles for five or six days
after they are filled.
Two species of straw wine of different characters are made
here. The grapes are gathered and treated as above men-
tioned ; they are then spread on straw in a dry place until
the month of December, when they are judged sufficiently
shrunk. They are then separated from the stems, and suf-
fered to ferment whole in a tun with the upper end out, in
a place sheltered from cold. When they have fermented
some time in this way, they are crushed as uniformly as pos-
sible. A new fermentation takes place, and when the head
formed by the skins begins to be depressed, the wine is racked
by a cock fixed near the bottom of the tun. Below the level
of the cock straw is placed, which serves as a filter, the wine
rnns through limpid, and remarkably saccharine. It is put
into a tun, where the fermentation continues. In the upper
part of the tun one or two little holes are made, to allow the
186 IS OF TEAKCE.
ie of the carbonic acid gas. This wine, when bottled, is
sparkling, luscious, and AV:
For the other spt < ilu-y choose t 1
from the ripest of all kinds indiscriminately, and
for two months on straw. They then press them, B
all. and the must is fermented in barrels, racked in March,
and bottled in t\v< afterwards. This wine in many
ularly in colour and taste, resemble.-
The department of the Indre produces a small quant i:
..Me wine, of the common class, at about sixt<
the hectolitre. From the department of the Indre and '
wines of middling quality are exported to Belgium ; the
quantity grown is considerable. Near Tours the win
divided into three classes, namely, what is called red noble,
wine of the Cher, and common red. The most est<
t lis are those of Joue, about a league from Tours ; St.
Cyr sur Loire, about half a league west of that city ; and
St. Avertin, a league to the south-west; Blere, five lea
and Ballan two, have some merit, but those of Joi
finest. The price of the wine of Joue* varies as to the first
quality from twenty to forty-five francs the hectolitre. The
mean price may be from thirty to thirty-five francs. Th
du Cher varies from twenty to forty. These wines will
three or four years in wood, and ten or twelve in bottle,
especially when they are mingled in the vat with a grape
called caux or cos, common on the banks of the Cher. This
grape imparts colour and body to the wine.
The white wines of the Indre and Loire are a little under
the red in price.
The department of the Jura produces some tolerable wines,
which are frequently exported into Switzerland, Savoy. Ger-
many, and even Eussia. At Lons le Saulnier red and dry
white wines are made, as well as straw wines, white wines de
garde, and effervescing wines, white, grey, and rose-coloured.
The best white wines de garde are made at Chateau-Cha-
lons; the effervescing at Etoile and Quintigny. The best
red at Chateau- Chalons, Menetru, Frontenay, and Blandans.
The straw wines are luscious and stomachic, resembling a
little the wines of Spain. The white wines de garde resemble
much the wines of the Ehine. The effervescing white wines
WINES OF FBANCE. 187
are good, though not equal to Champagne. The reds are
generous, but light. The wines de narde, as well as the straw
wines, are only drank when old. The price of the former is
three francs the litre; of the latter, four or five. The effer-
vescing white wines are from eighty centimes to a franc. The
red wines of the first growth in wood, at three or four years
old, from fifty to sixty-seven francs the hectolitre.
The white wines de garde, or wines for keeping, as it may
be rendered, are made of the best white grapes, from the must
of a single pressure. The must is put up in iron-bound casks,
very strong, as it comes from the press. The bung is made
as close as possible, and they cover it with linen soaked in oil,
over which are placed fine ashes, well pressed down. The
wine is racked twice at the end of eight or ten months from
the vintage. After this, the cask is left without closing or
filling up for ten or twelve years, when the wine is bottled,
and improves the longer it is kept.
At Arsures some excellent red wine is made, which brings
forty or fifty francs the hectolitre. The wines of Molamboz
and Vadans are good. Those of Arbois bring from twenty-
four to thirty francs. The wines for which this department
is most noted are straw, yellow, white, and clairet.
The yellow wine is only made at Arbois, and brings from
three to six francs the bottle, the price varying in proportion
to the age and vintage. It is the same with the straw wines
in bottle. In wood, the latter bring from three to four
hundred francs the hectolitre. That of Poligny is the best.
The white wines are made everywhere. The best, however,
are grown at Arbois, Pupillin, and Montigny, and sell from
one franc to one franc and a half the bottle in ordinary years.
The price of the clairets is nearly the same ; the best are made
at Poligny. Those of Arbois are more fiery, and not so agree-
able to the palate.
The straw wine is made at Poligny, of the best grapes, per-
fectly ripe, and gathered with care. They are placed on
planks, or suspended by twine, in a room where the north
wind cannot enter. Three or four months after, when the
fruit has lost half its bulk by desiccation, it is pressed. The
must is commonly left six months in the cask fermenting.
When the fermentation is complete, the wine is racked to
clear it of the grosser lees. It is barrelled up, and left alone
188 WINES OF FEAKCE.
for five or six years. It is then racked again and fined.
This wine is sweet and luscious, and will keep a long time.
The older it becomes, the yellower is its colour. It is much
sought after in France, and will bear carriage well. It has
some analogy with Tokai in its qualities, getting thick by
age.
An effervescing, or sparkling wine, is made at Arbois,
which has been famous for a very long time. Hence " wine
of Arbois is not Champagne though it sparkles." After the
grapes have been treated as usual, the must is placed in a vat
for twenty-four, thirty-six, or forty-eight hours, according to
the temperature at the time, the object being to let it settle,
and get rid of impurities, which rise to the surface in the form
of a crust. This crust is suffered to get as thick as possible
before the fermentation is so far advanced as to be visible,
because, if it were, there would not be time to rack off the
wine in a clear state. The maker always passes the night
watching it, so as to catch the favourable moment, which is
indicated by little bubbles of carbonic acid gas appearing on
the surface. Having racked it off once, the must is placed
in a vat until a second crust or scum forms, when it is again
racked, and this is repeated two or three times, until the must
is perfectly limpid. The wine is then put into casks, which
are carefully kept full. The cellar is visited several times in
the day, to see that the bung is safe ; but if the wine has
started, the cask is carefully filled up with the same sort of
wine again. "When the fermentation has subsided, the cask
is closed from the air. The wine is racked again several
times in January and February. In March it is fined and
bottled during clear weather. The corks are tightly driven,
fastened with packthread, and sealed. The bottles are then
removed to a cellar of the proper temperature.
Some keep their wine in wood for ten years and more, and
thus obtain yellow wine (vinjaime). It will last a long while,
some of the growers offering it forty years old. The clairet
is made in the same way as the white wine. Poligny is noted
for the best sort. It is very agreeable, especially when
mingled with water, and is taken as a refreshing draught by
those who live where it is made. Clairet here means the same
kind of wine which at Lons le Saulnier is called rose, or rose-
coloured. It is made by strongly pressing the murk of the
WLN-E3 OF FKANCE. 189
red grape, having first extracted some of the must by a light
pressure. It is then treated in the same manner as the effer-
vescing wine.
The white wines are produced by the morillon, bourguignon,
meslier, savagnin jaune, or rnoulan grape.
The department of the Landes, remarkable for containing
vast plains of sand formed of those on the ocean shore im-
pelled by the winds over the fertile soil, contains a consi-
derable vineyard 'tract. Some of the wines are called Cape
Breton wines, being produced at that place. The vines are
planted on the sandy downs which border the Grulf of Gras-
cony, in small squares, surrounded by palisades of fir, to pre-
vent the progress of the sand; but, notwithstanding this
defence, they are soon buried so deeply beneath it, that, at
the end of every ten years, they are obliged to be transplanted
to another part of the downs. In Cornwall, bordering St.
George's Channel, they plant rushes, for the purpose of stop-
ping the like encroachments of the sands on vegetation, and
with very good effect.
The wines of Landes are generally made from the white
piquepoint plant. The red are light of colour, and have a
tartness which is very disagreeable. The white wine is better.
In the canton of Arjuzanx there is a vineyard of about thirty
hectares, which produces a wine like Bourdeaux in bouquet
and colour. The wine of tolerable quality in this department
is very small in quantity. The greater part is bad, and finds
no favour either with Frenchmen or foreigners.
The Loire and Cher boasts some tolerable white wines.
One of them, grown in the Yendomois, at Prepatour, called
vin de Henri IV., is of very good quality ; it is a dry wine.
The department of the Loire produces some good wines, as
the St. Michael, which sells at seventy francs the hectolitre
the first year, one hundred and twenty the second, and one
hundred and fifty the third. The red wines of that place all
fetch nearly the same prices. They do not gather the grape
until it has begun to wither on the stem. The first pressure
is called the "flower," and is the wine of the first quality.
In this department they rack the wine as soon as the fermen- .
tation has sensibly disappeared, which is in seven or eight
days; two or three times, in eight days more, it is racked
again, and it is then ready to be delivered to the purchaser.
190 WltfES OF FEANCE.
That which is kept in the grower's hands is racked four times
before the first frosts, and then fined with fish-glue twice in
the space of fifteen days, and drawn off each time with the
utmost care. The earlier it is bottled afterwards the better
is the wine.
The department of Allier, formerly the Bourbonnaise and
part of JNlvernais, produces some low-priced wines. The best
red is about eighteen francs the hectolitre, and capable of pre-
servation for ten years in bottle. At Moulins they make a
species called vin fou, or mad wine, or rather, " drunkard's
wine." They fill a small, strong-bound cask, having no bung,
with must; this they put into another cask, and plunge it
into the vat, from which it is not withdrawn until the fermen-
tation ceases. This wine is very intoxicating. Others, to
obtain a stronger wine than usual, roll a tun into the open
air during a severe frost, and taking out the head, having set
the cask on its end, it becomes frozen to a considerable depth
in the upper part. The lower portion of the liquid is then
racked off and bottled. This wine will keep long, and is very
strong in quality.
Ancient writers have said that in some parts of Germany,
during the Augustan age, the cold was so intense that the
wine was frozen in the casks, and cut out with hatchets.
Mr. Parkes made some experiments on wine exposed to a
degree of cold of 22 below the freezing point, and it was
singular enough, that this gentleman stated he could not
find any difference in taste between the frozen and unfrozen
portions, and he even thought the fluid part tasted more
vapid than the other. The proportions were as follows : Of
Port wine 560 grains froze, and 580 remained liquid. Of
Sherry exposed in a similar situation, 288 grains were
frozen, and 1056 remained liquid. There seems to be a
singular difference between the results of the experimentalist
and the practice above recorded.
At Grannat they make white wine with the red grape.
They gather the grape when wet with dew, immediately
press it, and ferment the must in casks. The wine thus
manufactured is as clear as the finest rock water, heady,
and capable of effervescence when put into bottles in the
month of March following the vintage.
A vin gris, a grey or rather brown wine, is made here by
WIKES OF FEANCE. 191
leaving the must to ferment for forty-eight hours. A rose-
coloured wine is also manufactured by racking it after three
or four days' fermentation in the vat. This last wine is ex-
cellent, of a very agreeable taste, but, what is singular, has
not yet become an article of commerce.
At Mees, in the department of the Basses Alps, there is
some good red wine made, which at ten years old sells for
one franc and a half the bottle, and at twenty years old for
three francs. These wines are kept by the inhabitants in
demi-jeans for ten or fifteen years. Malijay, Oraison, Kiez,
Valensole, and Chabrieres, are the principal vineyards.
One of the most extensive vine districts in France, if quan-
tity rather than quality be considered, is the department of
the Seine and Oise. It contains 16,298 hectares of vines,
producing 849,718 hectolitres of wine, at 52'13 per hectare,
valued at 14,775,880 francs. These wines are of very mid-
dling quality, even considered as ordinary wines of the
country. In the fifteenth century Mantes produced a wine,
which some reckoned among the best ordinary. It fell into
disrepute a century ago, on the grubbing up of the vineyard
of the Celestins, called that of the Cote de Celestins. This wine
is said to have resembled Bourdeaux. It was exported to
England and Holland. There remains nothing commendable
in the qualities of these wines at present ; but the consump-
tion in the capital makes the average price sixteen francs the
hectolitre. In the department of the Oise, also, some ordi-
nary meagre wines are grown.
In the five departments composing the old province of
Normandy, the Eure grows the vine with a view to making
wine. There is a small vineyard in Calvados, near Caen.
In a recent biography of the " Queens of England," there
is the information that the wines of Normandy were held
in great repute by the Romans, and immortalised by Horace,
that they had subsequently regained a portion of their an-
cient renown, and become a source of wealth and prosperity
to the province. The author resided more than a year in the
department of the Eure, not long after the last peace, and
read the history of the province, of which he remembers no-
thing to confirm such a statement. The wine, such as it is,
hardly equals cider, a great Norman beverage, as may be
inferred from the climate. In regard to Horace, if the poet
192 WINES OE FBANCE.
really wrote verses in praise of Norman wine, they must have
slipped out of the only two copies of the poet which the
author possesses, or else they carry an allusion too obscure
for common optics. Yoltaire observed that Adam did not
trouble himself about the authorship of " Virgil," nor can it
be imagined Horace troubled himself much about the terri-
tory Eollo severed from Neustria, and made a dukedom. The
vines in the northern part are planted upon steep chalk hills,
close to the Seine. The cider made in the department is
617,000 hectolitres ; the wine, 59,240 hectolitres, at about
8 Jd- the gallon. The principal vineyards are at the Andelys,
Evreux, Louviers, Pont Audemer, and Bernay.
The departments of the Cotes du Nord, of the Creuse,
Pinistere, la Manche, 1'Orne, Seine Inferieure, Pas de Ca-
lais, and JSford, produce no wine. The Somme produces but
700 hectolitres in a very favoured locality, and of the very
worst kind.
The wines of Corsica amount only to 310,730 hectolitres,
at 31-12 per hectare, in value about 4,660,950 francs. The
portion exported goes for the most part to Leghorn. The
vines are good ; but care and attention seem wanting in ma-
nufacturing the wine. Only 30,000 hectolitres are exported.
The most noted growths are those of Ajaccio, Bastia, Cape
Corsica, Corte, Verdese, Serra, and St. Lucia. The mean
price of the hectolitre is but fifteen francs.
A very excellent variety of grape is grown in Corsica, called
the sciaccarello. At Sartena a wine is made, called by the
native particolore. It is of a fine red, of prime quality, a
delicious flavour, and is stomachic. The best grapes are
chosen in situations most exposed to the sun's rays. The
stems of the bunches are twisted eight days before the vin-
tage ; the bunches are then gathered, and kept eight days
more on a floor, when the grapes are taken from the stems
and pressed. The must is placed in a small tun for fermen-
tation, and the wine is racked into smaller barrels or demi-
jeans. It is not fit to drink for two years, before which
time it would be too sweet. It may be kept twenty years,
and in gaining age it acquires strength, and an exquisite
bouquet.
All the Corsican wines are exported from Cape Corsica.
The wines destined for exportation are generally mingled
"WINES OF FKANCE. 193
with boiled wine. The must is put into boilers, and reduced
a third or fourth part in quantity, and to three barrels of
wine one of boiled must is added. This mixture gives it
the colour and taste of Malaga, and it is frequently sold for
such to the merchants of the North, when it reaches Leghorn.
This kind of wine is not drunk in Corsica ; it sells for fifty
or sixty francs the hectolitre. It is said that sometimes
from boiling the must too long a disagreeable taste is im-
parted to the wine, and that the oxide of the copper boilers
has been perceived in the taste. The French are attempting
to amend the practice of the Corsicans in this respect, for the
climate is excellent, having every variety of hill and plain,
and a temperature congenial to the growths, which are suit-
able to both sites.
[Wine Skins of 'La Mancha.]
CHAPTEE VII.
WINES OF SPAIN AND THE CANARIES.
GENERAL REMARKSWINES EXPORTED LA MANCHA, VAL DE PENAS
WINES OP CATALONIA OF VALENCIA OF ARRAGON AND NAVARRE
ANDALUSIAN WINES, MALAGA, XERES, &C. WINES OF MINORCA, MA-
JORCA, AND THE CANARIES.
SOUTHWARD of Prance geographically, Spain should, from its
happier clime as a vine-growing country, precede it in the
excellence of its wines. These, as it is, deservedly rank high
in general estimation. This estimation is not founded upon
the value in which the Spanish sherries are held in England.
It would be unjust to form an opinion of the wines of
Spain from the general taste of a people, too many of whom
think adulterated wine of Oporto the best product of the
grape. If France rank before Spain in its wines, it is be-
cause science has led the way to excellence there, and enabled
the French to attain, by delicacy of management, by art and
WINES OE SPAIN AND THE CAN ABIES. 195
labour, that which nature had well-nigh accorded to Spain
without such appliances.
The wines of Spain are grown on a soil highly congenial
to the culture of the vine, for the most part upon chalk,
called in the country albariza, of which carbonate of lime
forms two-thirds, and often three-fourths. The sun ripens
the grape without those hazards from chill and humidity to
which, in a more northern climate, the vintage is constantly
exposed. Hence the crop rarely fails, though in the southern
parts of the country the heat is so intense in summer, that
they are obliged in some places to irrigate the vines. Prom
north to south, sites, soils, and exposures of the happiest
kind, cover the face of the country.
Some of these wines are said to possess medicinal qualities.
According to Baccius, they were once held in high estimation
at Eome, and were exported in his time in large quantities, on
account of their reviving qualities to invalids and sick per-
sons. Those in a low and languid state were thought to
derive great benefit from them, when taken in a moderate
quantity.
With every disadvantage in the process of making, there
are both red and white wines in Spain of surpassing excel-
lence. The rude treatment of the grape at the vintage has
not made the traveller insensible to this truth. The treat-
ment is somewhat changed at Xeres and Malaga, where,
from the demands of 'commerce, improved methods of manage-
ment have been introduced by foreign interests. The wines
commonly drunk by the people of Spain are not the white
luscious wines, nor the dry Xeres, but very excellent red
wines, often too much deteriorated, it is true, by the care-
lessness of the manufacturer. The sweet wines of the South,
so highly esteemed by the natives, are usually drunk in but
small quantities at a time : rarely more than a glass after
each meal. The red are drunk in the houses of the better
class in a state that may give some idea of their excellent
qualities, untainted by the odre, or skin, which the lack of
staves for barrels, poverty, or perhaps the absence of com-
mercial stimulus, may lead the peasantry to substitute. The
white wines grown near the coasts are not liable to this
taint, the foreign demand removing the evil. The best red
wines, grown far in the interior, are generally kept in skins,
o2
190 WINES OF SPAIN AND THE CANAEIES.
as being easier of carriage. They are often found so defiled,
even in the tavern, with the pitchy taste, and the filth of the
uncleansed skin, to say nothing of the deposit owing to the
coarse conduct of the vintage, that they cannot be drunk by
a foreigner at all.
From Catalonia some thousand pipes are annually sent to
England, and twelve thousand are exported from Valencia
and Malaga. About twelve thousand tuns were imported
into Great Britain alone from Spain in 1808, which is less
than in 1700, when the amount was 13,649. Holland and
the north of Europe have, in some seasons, taken twenty
thousand pipes of all kinds. The home consumption at
present it is not easy to ascertain ; about five thousand hogs-
heads are annually consumed in Madrid. Three hundred
and fifty thousand pipes have, in some years, been exported
from the country, before the Spanish colonies of America
were lost to her.
The province of La Mancha is most of it a wine district,
and there the justly celebrated wine called Val de Penas, or
Manzanares, is made. These are both towns of the wine
district of La Mancha. This wine is red, of excellent body,
perhaps with as much as Port before it is made fiery with
brandy. In the hands of frenchmen it would be found
equal in strength, flavour, and body to the best southern
growths of the country. The vineyards in good part belong
to Don Carlos, the brother of Ferdinand VII., and to the
Marquis of Santa Cruz. This wine requires age to perfect
it, and then it is equal to any red wine in the world, for
every quality, save, perhaps, the delicacy which distinguishes
the higher class of Burgundy. It is grown upon a rocky or
stony soil, as Val de Penas, or "Valley of Stones," indicates.
It is produced in great plenty, selling at from seven to ten
rials the arroba, in the town of Val de Penas, or from
three shillings and twopence to four shillings and eightpence
per 4|- gallons. The higher orders of the inhabitants of the
Castile s rate it very highly ; but no idea can be formed of
this wine from what is drunk at Madrid. The vines employ
all. the inhabitants of the district, where the wages of the
labourer are only about sevenpence a day. This wine, except
in the skin, can only be drunk upon the spot, where it is kept
in tinejas, or huge clay vessels, holding each eight hundred
WINES OF SPAIN AND THE CANAEIES. 197
gallons. These have steps to mount up to them, and cocks
introduced into their sides. ~No wood to make vats, or even
casks, can be obtained. The wine, therefore, is transported
in skins on the backs of mules, and, in consequence, has a
taste not at all agreeable to those unaccustomed to it. It
is a rich, racy, and noble wine, and bears a price at the rate
of only three pounds ten shillings per pipe from the grower.
Six thousand skins have been seen in the store of one of the
growers, each containing ten arrobas, or about forty gallons.
English merchants going with wine staves to La Mancha,
just before the vintage, might secure, on speculation, some of
the very finest of wines, well adapted to the English taste.
But the staves must be very strong, and fit to bear knocking
about when filled, and they must be of small size to fit the
mule's back. - A little has in this way sometimes reached
England ; but the journey to the coast is long and tedious,
and the expense considerable.
In Catalonia, where the soil is propitious, the plains are
carefully cultivated ; even the highest cliffs which are acces-
sible are planted with a great variety of vines. Wherever
there is a slip or fall of the cliff leaving a few feet of surface,
a mere ledge, to which there is no other mode of access than
being let down by a rope, even there the vine is set. The
fondness of the Spaniards for this branch of husbandry is so
strong, as to make them in some places neglect every other
species of cultivation. The wines of this province are not
in very high esteem, which principally arises from the sloven-
liness with which they are made, both red and white. The
Spaniards formerly sent the larger part of these wines to
their colonies in America. Some of the Catalonian wines
have been accused of imparting an earthy taste. This pro-
bably arises from bad management. About Hosas the hill-
sides are planted in double rows, and corn sown in the inter-
vals, until the hills become too steep to admit of corn culti-
vation, and the thin soil, consisting of broken granite, has
hardly earth enough to give it root. At Eigueras, the
country is cultivated with great care, even to the Pyrenees,
and on their bases themselves, and the vines are carefully
attended. Eigueras wine is well known as a mixture used
to give lighter wines body. The red wines of this province
are not remarkable for quality. The Malvasia, made at
198 WINES OF SPAIN AND THE CANARIES.
Sitges, about fifteen miles west of Barcelona, is considered
very good. It is pale and clear, but acquires colour with
age, while the manufacture is negligent beyond example.
They have in this province a good rancio, a dry white wine
called Xarello, not very commendable, and a Macabeo, made
of the grape of that name, sweet and white. The exporta-
tion of" wine from Catalonia of late years, though consider-
able, has been chiefly for mingling with other wines of less
strength. From Tarragona, five thousand pipes of wine, and
much good brandy, are annually shipped off. These wines
are of tolerable body, but manufactured in the careless mode
of the country. The grapes are used without selection, and
no pains are taken in the cellar, yet the wine finds a tolerable
market. Borja produces a luscious white wine. The coun-
try about Tarragona, on the road to Barcelona, is almost
wholly a wine country. Mataro has some excellent vines ;
but the red wine is made here, as usual, in a negligent
manner, and neither fined nor racked. The quality is some-
what harsh, between Port and Claret.
Prom Valencia a considerable quantity of Beni Carlos, a
strong deep-red wine, is exported to France, expressly to
mingle with claret for England. It comes from a town of
that name, to the eastward of the city of Valencia. Vineros
has also a red wine, very similar to Beni Carlos. There is also
a wine made at Beni Carlos, of tolerable quality, consumed
upon the spot. The wines of La Torre, Segorbe, and Mur-
viedro, are generous and good ; that of the latter place is
strong, and the best part of it is on this account distilled into
brandy, which was formerly shipped to America. The wines
of this province, too, are often bought up to mix with port in
the English market, and are sent there for that purpose. Much
vino de ration, or common wine, is grown in this province.
The brandy of Spain is next to that of France in excellence,
and much is made in this province, as well as in Catalonia.
At Alicant there is an excellent red wine, which becomes
of the very first order by age ; it is made from grapes of two
or three sorts, mingled together. Some dry white is also
made there, but the town is most noted for vino tinto, or red
wine, strong and sweet, of which, however, a very small quan-
tity indeed is now exported, the commerce of the place having
gone to decay. Like Cyprus wine, it is said to possess heal-
WINES OF SPAIN AND THE CANAKIES. 199
ing qualities, and to cleanse wounds. "When old it is called
Eondillon. It comes from the tintilla plant. Near Alicant
the irrigation of the vines has been carried on upon a large
scale. The reservoirs are a grand undertaking, of great cost
and much labour. El Pantano, about twelve miles from
Alicant, is a tank, formed by damming up a valley with an
embankment, two hundred feet high, and forty thick. This
supplies water for an entire year. Not far away from Ali-
cant there is another of these reservoirs, having a wall sixty
feet high, and broad enough for three or four carriages to
travel upon. The cultivation of the vine in the South is there-
fore an expensive work, from the climate being over dry. It
has been calculated that three gallons and an eighth of wine
cost from the press fourteenpence, English, for labour alone
in this part of Spain. Vinaroz, Santo Domingo, and Perales
produce tolerable red wines. The wines grown near Yillena,
in Murcia, are almost all distilled into brandy.
In Arragon there are tolerable wines. The best are a vino
tintOj and that of Carinena and the Hospital, from the vine
which the French call Grenache. The best wine in Arragon
is called the Campo de Carinena. In the estimation of Eoxas
Clemente, it excels all the other wines of Spain for delicacy.
The district in which it is grown lies in a hilly country, be-
tween Saragossa and Madrid, near Calatayud. In Biscay, at
Chacoli, a wine of the second class, a vino brozno, or austere
and harsh wine, is produced in great quantity. The best is
made at Vittoria. Five or six different kinds of vines are en-
grafted in Biscay on one stock, which must render the wine
of very dubious character. It smacks of the skin, and sells
for about threepence the bottle. Euen9aral, not far from
Madrid, produces a very good wine, of the muscatel class, not
inferior to the best Malaga. It is mostly consumed in the
neighbourhood.
In Navarre, Peralta is remarked for a good dessert wine, a
rancioj from the same cause as the French wines so called,
namely, long keeping. It is also famed for its dry and sweet
wines. There are well-known country growths at'Tudela and
Puerta de la Eeyna, but none reach the sea, or come into
commerce, from ^being made far inland. Near Pampeluna
there is a good wine de liqueur made. In Leon the best wines
are found at Medina del Campo ; in old Castile, at Eioxa,
200 WINES OE SPAIN AND THE CANARIES.
near Terra del Campo, and at Carbezon, not far from Valla-
dolid. A wine much esteemed in the country is made near
Ciudad Real. Murcia principally produces vins de liqueur.
G-allicia has a second growth, for home consumption, called
Eibadavia, a white wine. The details respecting the manage-
ment of the wines in the interior of Spain are very scanty, but
the same slovenly treatment injures them all, and the pitched
hogskin of the vinatero, or wine-seller, generally completes
what the carelessness of the grower began. "With so many
evils in such a delicate article as wine, it is rather to be won-
dered at that any Spanish wine is palatable, and that the
proverb of the country, " Pregonar vino y vender vinagre,"
" To cry wine and sell vinegar," is not more frequently ex-
emplified.
To return to the wines of the coast. It is in the beautiful
provinces of Grenada and Andalusia that the wines most
valued by foreigners are made, and the favourite species of
grape is the Pedro Ximenes. This species enters into all
the wines of that country in the present day. When used
alone, and kept to be old, it makes a choice and valuable
sweet wine. The mountains round Malaga are clothed to
the summits with vines, one half of the plants being of the
foregoing species. A great number of presses are continu-
ally kept at work during the vintage in that and the border-
ing districts. ]STo labour is spared on the vineyards. Here
the benefits of commerce, in spite of all obstacles, have
forced their way, and the wine is made in a far better man-
ner than where this active principle of improvement is un-
felt. The most celebrated wines of this province are white.
There is a wine here flavoured with cherries, called Guindas,
the Spanish for cherries. As well as the preceding class,
this is consumed at home.
They have a custom in some parts of the country of putting
roasted pears into wine, to improve it in drinking, fancying
that it becomes better ; whence the saying, " El vino de las
peras dalo a quien bien quieras, " Give the wine of pears to
him. you regard," because the wine is supposed to be made
more agreeable and wholesome by the addition.
The mountain wines of Malaga have long been well known
out of Spain. The vines cover the hills from the valley
depths, the little habitations of the dressers peep out roman-
WINES or SPAIN AND THE CANABIES. 201
tically on the declivities from among them. Wines, dry,
sweet, and luscious, are made in the districts around the city.
There are also several kinds of dry wine. The Malaga,
usually so called, is sometimes mingled with a proportion of
wine burned a little in the boiling, imparting a peculiar taste.
The reason of this is, that they are not so careful at Malaga
in making the arrope for mingling, as they are at San Lucar
de Borrameda, and, in consequence, the wine gets a singed
flavour. It is a powerful wine, long in high repute. This
wine is from a white grape, and contains a very large pro-
portion of alcohol. The mountain wines are pressed from
the grape somewhat riper than for the preceding kind. The
"lagrimas" wine, which is made from the droppings of very
ripe grapes, commonly called virgin juice, is a very luscious
wine, from the large white Muscatel grape of course it un-
dergoes no pressure. There is here the Pedro Ximenes, a
wine named from the grape so common in most parts of Spain,
of excellent quality. The dry wines are generally pressed
from fruit not so mature in ripeness as the sweet. At Ma-
laga, too, there is a white wine produced, of a coarse .cha-
racter, but strong ; very like bad or inferior sherry. It is
too often imported and passed off for the growth of the
sherry district in this country. As this wine is much lower
in price than sherry, it is turned, among the ignorant, to
the dealer's account, and forms a class of our misnamed
cheap sherries. Still more is shipped off to America. Very
little old Mountain or Malaga sweet wine is grown at
present.
The vineyards around Malaga alone are estimated to pro-
duce annually between thirty and forty thousand butts of
wine, of which nearly twenty-seven thousand are exported.
The prices vary from thirty-five dollars to one hundred and
seventy a butt. The Americas now import the greatest part
of these wines. As much as two hundred pounds sterling
has been paid for a cask of very old wine of prime quality.
Yet, in 1733, old Mountain Malaga was sold for twenty-four
pounds per tun, and new for twenty and twenty-one. The
wine called "bastard," in old books, was a sweet wine,
most probably from this part of Spain, and made of the
"bastardo" grape.
The price of labour and the expense of the vineyards are
202 WINES OF SPAIN AND THE CANAEIES.
much, less at Malaga than at Xeres, where the sherry wine
is grown. Most of the vines flourish in about eighteen
inches of a rich loam or mould upon a blue shaly substra-
tum, which scales up, and, mingling with the mould, imparts
to it a looseness and free quality allied to the rocky or
gravelly sites, found to be so congenial to the vine in other
countries. It is not, therefore, so calcareous as the soil in
the vicinity of Xeres, and hence not so well adapted for
dry wines. Close to Malaga, however, limestone inter-
mingles with the schist. The vineyards are, many of them,
situated at a great height above the sea, where the earth
around the vines must be carefully secured. In the treat-
ment of the vine they are by no means as careful as at
Xeres. Yet every spot is cultivated, although the country
is exceedingly uneven. Manure is rarely used at all. The
varieties of vine in the district are very numerous, and in this
fine climate there are three gatherings of grapes in the year.
The first gathering takes place in June, and furnishes the
Muscatel raisins, and the bloom dried in the sun. The
lexias, which are exported as such, are dipped in lye, and
exposed to the sun's action. The Larga grape, that yields
the sun raisins, makes an excellent wine mingled with
the Pedro Ximenes. The vintage grapes are gathered in
September and October. It is wonderful to view the fruit-
fulness of the soil in this district. In 1829, eight millions
of pounds of Muscatel and bloom raisins, and 30,000 arrobas
of lexias in casks, were exported from Malaga, the produce
of one season, with no less than 20,000 jars of grapes, yet
the quantity of wine made was not diminished ; it not being
less than 35,000 butts. The fine climate renders the vintage
in this part of Spain not only rich in produce, but certain in
crop. The exports of fruit and wine to England from Malaga
are on the decrease, but to America it is the reverse. The
Muscatel grape cannot be cultivated more than four leagues
from the coast.
The district called the Axarquia is that in which these
vines are grown. Though mountainous, wherever it is prac-
ticable, the vines are planted symmetrically, about eight feet
asunder. In the worst seasons nineteen arrobas of wine are
produced from five hundred plants. It is impossible to form
a true idea, without seeing it, of the amazing fertility of the
WINES OF SPAIN AND THE CAN ABIES. 203
Axarquia. Wherever the soil on the acclivities is not occu-
pied by vines, the prickly pear grows, and feeds the cochineal
insect, while olives, almonds, figs, oranges, lemons, pomegra-
nates, and even the sugar-cane, nourish in profusion under
that glorious sky. Yelez Malaga, five leagues from Malaga,
produces much wine, passing under the general name of
Malaga.
The wines are conveyed from the press, half fermented, into
the merchant's stores in sheepskins. Wine is constantly sent
from Malaga to America unbrandied, and, notwithstanding
the treatment it receives at the vintage, it bears the voyage
well, although English merchants assert that the decomposi-
tion of the wine, for want of brandy, is inevitable. The
truth is, that the bad mode of preservation of the southern
wines causes' whatever defects are found in them. If they
were treated with as much care as the French bestow on their
better wines, no such results would ever be observed.
The sherry wine, which some will contend was the " sack"
of our forefathers, but which was, no doubt, a general name
to designate the wines of Xeres, Teneriffe, and others of a
similar character, belonging principally to Spain, is made in
Andalusia, near Cadiz, on the west coast, between the rivers
Guadalquiver and G-uadalete. The district included in the
province of Cadiz is of a triangular form, having on the
northern angle the town of St. Lucar de Barrameda ; on the
southern angle, the Puerto de Santa Maria ; and the eastern
point formed by the town of Xeres de la Frontera, from
which the wine takes its name, the English having first
changed Xeres into Sherris, and finally into Sherry. This
triangle encloses a space measuring about twelve miles on
each side. The vineyards which produce wine for the Eng-
lish market cover eighty thousand acres. Upwards of four
hundred thousand pipes are made of all kinds, including
those which are exported, and such as are consumed in the
district.
There is a great gradation in the prices of sherry, for
though the average is not above thirty-five pounds the butt,
the charges are from fifteen up to sixty-five pounds. The
value of the sherries exported is calculated at four hundred
and fifty thousand pounds. There are no export duties.
The manufacture of the sherries takes place under the care
204 WINES OF SPAIN AND THE CANAEIES.
of the agents or principals of foreign houses, who reside on
the spot, and this is the reason of the improvement of late
years in the wines of Xeres. The vineyards are principally
on slopes or declivities. The grapes are left to hang until
they begin to shrivel in the sun. The fruit is white, one-
eighih being generally the Pedro Ximenes grape, mixed with
other varieties. In those at Malaga and Grenada, one-half of
the Pedro Ximenes grape is used in the vineyards, at Motril
four-fifths, and at Paxarete one-fourth. The Temprana is used
largely at St. Lucar, at Xeres, and at Port St. Mary. It is
adopted in the Paxarete, Ximenes, Muscat, and Tintilla wines.
The grapes are sometimes exposed to the sun on mats for a
day or two after they are gathered. They are turned and
sorted carefully for the better wines. The vines, planted
about five feet asunder, are carefully dug round immediately
after the vintage, and little hollows are left by some growers
round the roots to retain the moisture. In January, or soon
after, they turn up the mould, and carefully weed the ground.
The pruning takes place in March, and the earth is afterwards
raked over, when the vines are propped with canes until the
vintage. The labour of the vineyard is continued even to
hunting out the insects on the vines. There is, however,
seldom or never a failure in the crop, owing to the benignity
of the climate. The high price of good sherry is not wonder-
ful, when the care in the growth and the home duties are
taken into account. A bottle of very superior sherry fetches
three shillings and fourpence on the spot, though the common
ordinary wine of the country is but sixpence.
The soil of the Xeres vineyards, by which is understood
the entire district for six or seven leagues round, at least the
better portion of them, consists of what is called " albariza,"
or chalky soil, of " arenas," or light sandy ground, and of the
" barros," the last being an ochrous earthy soil, with here and
there clay and other substances intermingled. The vineyards
are exceedingly productive. The produce in average years
in fair sized good vineyards, is from fifty to sixty butts, or
about three hundred gallons the English acre. Some, how-
ever, produce six hundred. The soil is dug deep and trenched,
but not manured. "Where sand prevails, or in the arenas,
the product is about five butts an acre; on the albarizas
about three.
WINES OF SPAIN AND THE CANAEIES. 205
The grapes are submitted to the usual mode of pressure,
being sprinkled with gypsum to saturate the malic acid in the
fruit. The mosto, or must, is left to ferment in the cask, with all
the scum retained which the fermentation raises. They do
not suffer it to work over, but leave it to itself. The March
after the vintage it is racked. The elements of the wine must
be good, when so little care is necessary in the process. The
time the wines are thus left is ten or twelve weeks. Casks
are left exposed in all temperatures, and sometimes in the
open air, without mischief. Any kind of shelter is considered
sufficient, and a good cellar, as it is held in the North, is
considered of no moment. The places in which the wine is
left to ferment are strongly constructed of wood, above
ground, and the casks are placed in tiers, with the bungs
slightly closed, so as to keep out all extraneous matters, but
at the same time to allow full breathing to the wine. In
fact, the ropiness of the wines, an accident of very frequent
occurrence elsewhere, owing to the slovenly mode of treating
it after fermentation, seldom occurs here. The process causes
matter for surprise, in some cases, how so excellent a product
is obtained. When the same care is observed in the first
treatment of the must and its subsequent management, as is
observed towards the vines, no graise is ever the result.
The varieties of sherry depend, in a great measure, upon the
species of the vine used, the class of soil in which it is grown,
and the care taken in the management of the process of fer-
mentation. All sherry wine is by nature of a pale colour,
the darker shades are conferred by age, or by vino de color,
or boiled wine. This arrope, as it is called locally from the
Arabic, is made only at San Lucar de Barrameda, in the fol-
lowing manner. They take six butts of must before fer-
mentation commences, and boil it down to one butt, keep-
ing the liquid constantly stirred and the surface carefully
skimmed, so as to remove all impurities that arise in the
boiling, taking care that the liquid be not singed or burned.
The process is conducted over a gentle fire in a large copper-
boiler, and when it is quite thick, the fire is gradually with-
drawn from it, so that the liquor may cool without being too
sensibly effected. This is the arrope which, afterwards mixed
in a quarter or less quantity with the pale wines, makes the
brown sherry of different shades which is so much esteemed.
206 WINES or SPAIN AND THE CANAEIES.
The wine is not at all deteriorated by this treatment, or by
the mixture of wines of the same quality. The pale sherries,
then, are the pure wine, containing nothing but the admix-
ture of a couple of bottles of good brandy to the butt ; and
this is wholly unnecessary.
The wine called Amontillado is not always the product of
design. The quantity made is small. It is a drier wine than
the common sherry, and is very often the result of accident.
To make this wine the driest of all the Xeres wines, the fruit
is plucked two or three weeks earlier than for the other
species. It allows of no foreign mixture of any kind. The
white grapes are trodden by the peasantry with sabots on their
feet. The wine is then allowed to ferment for two months
or niore, when it is racked, and placed in the wood in the de-
positories above ground at Port St. Mary and at Xeres.
These depositories generally hold three tiers of casks. The
bungs are carelessly closed without affecting the quality of
the wine. It is singular, that of a hundred butts of sherry
out of the same vineyard, some of them will be Amontillado
without the manufacturer being able to account for it. Not
a drop of brandy can be added to genuine Amontillado with-
out spoiling it. The sherry wines of the best quality average
about 14 alcohol per cent. The statements otherwise given
at 18, 19, and 20 of alcohol, are erroneous, or refer to those
wines in which brandy is added to disguise mixtures by the
dealer, some of which, passing in England for sherry, are
either the common growths of the country, or are altogether
factitious. Of this last class is the larger part of inn and
tavern wines.
San Lucar de Barrameda stands on the left bank of the
river G-uadalquiver, at its junction with the sea. Between
this town and Xeres de la Erontera are situated the vine-
yards which produce the wine called Manzanilla, properly
Mancanilla, lately come into great use in England. This
wine was very highly spoken of as a choice wine in the
fifteenth century, and it is at present held in higher estima-
tion by the natives than any wine produced in Andalusia.
It is a light, delicate, pure wine, of a fine- straw colour, highly
aromatic and stomachic. With many constitutions it operates
as a diuretic. Much discussion has taken place in regard to
the name and place of origin of this favourite species of wine.
WINES OF SPAIN AND THE CAN ABIES. 207
Both Herrara and Eoxas Clemente say that the name is de-
rived from a pueblo, or village, near Seville, called Manzanilla,
and not, as some suppose, from man9anilla, a small apple.
In modern days there is no Manzanilla wine produced in that
vicinity, nor is there any existent record of any having ever
been grown in that part of the country. At St. Lucar, how-
ever, where its growth and celebrity are traced to remote
ages, it is generally believed to have derived its name from
camomile, the Spanish name for which is " Manzanilla." This
similarity of name, with the strong resemblance there is in
its flavour with that plant, tends to confirm the opinion that
this derivation of the name is correct. This wine is the
driest of all the Spanish wines, scarcely any wine what-
ever surpassing its delicacy and purity. It admits of no
mixture of any kind, not even the smallest quantity of brandy,
without a manifest deterioration in taste and flavour. When
carefully made, it becomes a "perfect wine," and improves
by age beyond all other kinds, both in flavour and firmness,
so as to surpass almost every dry wine. The vineyards that
produce the Manzanilla are planted with various species
of vines, but where what is called the Eustan grape pre-
dominates, the best wine of Manzanilla is the result. The
soil is light and brittle, being composed of a mixture of
Albarizas, of the Arenas, and the Barros. The grapes are
mature at an early period, and are gathered ten or twelve
days before the general vintage of the country. These vine-
yards produce about five thousand butts of must, nearly
four-fifths of which are consumed in the country. It was
supposed at one period that this choice and delicate wine
could not bear the transit to other countries, or from its own
naturally warm to a cold climate, without undergoing a
change in quality and flavour. This prejudice is not founded
in fact, as, when carefully bottled in Spain, in good condition,
and with the commonest precaution, it will stand a voyage to
any distance, and to any climate, cold or warm. This fact is
abundantly proved in the Manzanilla shipped twenty years
ago by the house of G-orman and Co., of London, so well
known for its superior Xeres wines. It retains, even at this
time, in full perfection, its quality and flavour, although until
recently it was not extensively known, even among persons
208 WINES OF SPAI2T .AXD THE CANAE1ES.
of refined taste. Mr. Ford, an experienced and able author
of much upon the subject of Spain, by his notice of it in his
writings, was the means of bringing it into general notice
two or three years ago.
There is a wine which is grown on the right bank of the
G-uadalquiver, called Moguer. This wine is sometimes twice
brandied, and sent to London as common sherry by houses
that can be named; but the object here is to expose base
practices, not to publish names ; to caution the public, not to
punish individuals. Moguer is of a cheap and light quality.
The wine is not otherwise adulterated by the exporter;
though often so treated afterwards in London with Cape and
less costly ingredients. The exporter sends his wines, high
or cheap-priced, from the country, strictly for what he an-
nounces them to be. Good sherry of a year old would cost
the merchant thirty pounds the butt without duty in the
country, if it should be exported ; so that, duty included, it
could not be imported into Great Britain under thirty shil-
lings the dozen to the merchant, nor good four years old under
forty-four. Sherries are not to be judged by colour, but
solely by taste. The best kinds are mingled with nothing
but wine of the same quality, which is inevitable, owing to
the mode of keeping up the merchants' stock by replenishing
the casks : except the small quantity of brandy, already men-
tioned, when sent to England. Even this small quantity
would, we think, be much better omitted. At all good tables
in England hot wines are deservedly gone out of fashion.
Not only are they, to a certain extent, injurious, but they
retain none of the true flavour and aroma of the genuine
wine. Pine sherry wine wants no brandy for its preserva-
tion, and the refined palate cannot want what is an injury
to the flavour in ever so small a quantity. (See Appendix,
No. IV.)
At Eota, opposite Cadiz, a very excellent muscadine red
wine, called Tintilla, is manufactured. At Montilla, near
Cordova, they have a very fine-flavoured dry wine, called
Montilla, which is generally consumed in that place and
neighbourhood.
Paxarete, a wine made at an ancient monastery about five
leagues from Xeres, and about eight from Eonda, is a rich,
WIISTES OF SPAIK A^D THE CA^ABIES. 209
sweet, and full tasted wine, from the same grapes as the
sherry, but in different proportions, very well known in this
country, and made from the Pedro Ximenes grape.
The red wine above mentioned, called Tintilla and Tinto di
Rota, or, as it is styled in England, Tent, is rich and
luscious. It carries about thirteen per cent, of alcohol.
Eota is about five leagues from Cadiz. It is made of a grape
which is said to be coloured all through, and is principally
used in England for communion purposes in the Church.
In Andalusia, towards Seville, there is a reddish- white
species of wine, very sweet and luscious.
The wines of Spain generally, both red and white, will one
day rank much higher in estimation than some of them do
at present. The importation of them into England is fast
encroaching upon the Portuguese. The dry and sweet wines
are almost all that are now known to foreigners; but the
red wines of Spain, properly treated, would be found equal
to most others in goodness. (For imports, see Appendix,
No. IV.)
Strength and durability are characteristics of all the Spanish
wines. Their boiled wine, the Italian Vino Cotto, or vin cuit,
as the French call it, is mingled with other growths, as well
as with sherries, for the sake of deepening colour or improv-
ing flavour. Their wines de liqueur sometimes receive also a
proportion of boiled mosto. A good age is required for
almost all the Spanish wines to impart to them the proper
flavour, and attach to them that mellowness so grateful to the
palate.
The following may serve as some guide to the prices of
sherry in England, reckoning the butt at one hundred and
eight imperial gallons, or one hundred and thirty of the old
measure, duty paid.
Pale sherry of a middling quality may be imported at from
sixty-five pounds per butt to seventy-five. The better quali-
ties run from eighty to one hundred pounds the butt, and
even more ; and fine amontillado higher still, up to a hundred
and fifty pounds. Two hundred pounds have been given for
a butt of rare excellence. In 1733, sherry was sold in the
market at a price varying trom twenty-six to twenty-eight
pounds per tun, or about fourteen pounds per butt. The
brown sherries sell at about the same prices.
p
210 WINES OF SPAIN AND THE CANABIES.
The islands of Majorca and Minorca are well situated for
the culture of the vine. The last-named island produces a
muscadine wine called Pollentia. There are also some red
wines grown there, but none are exported. In Majorca there
is a very good red wine, called Aleyor, from the vineyard out
of which it is made ; used principally for home consumption ;
very little, at least, is exported. The white wines are made in
a slovenly way, somewhat in the mode adopted in Cyprus,
which would seem to indicate that the art had been brought
there first, and not acquired from Spain. They use earthen
or stone vats in precisely the same manner for the purpose
of fermentation. At Banal Busa, a wine resembling that of
the B/hine is grown, well known by the name of Alba Flora ;
it resembles hock, but is not so dry.
The Canaries produce annually about twenty-five thousand
pipes of white wine for exportation, while fifteen thousand are
consumed in the islands, or submitted to distillation. The
brandy thus distilled used to be sent to the Spanish colonies.
Teneriife alone produces about twenty-two thousand pipes, of
a hundred and twenty gallons. There has been a great cor-
ruption of names in the wines of these islands. Canary was
once much drunk in England, and was known only by that
name as late as 1733. In that year new wine was worth from
twenty-six to thirty pounds per tun, and old Canary thirty-
six pounds. The writer of this tasted some which was a
hundred and twenty-six years old, it having been kept during
all that period in the family cellars of a nobleman with whom
he happened to be dining, and who produced the bottle, in
contents little more than a pint, as a bonne louche. Its flavour
was good, and it had ample body. "What is called Yidonia
is properly the dry Canary wine, of a good body. It improves
by age, and is known often under the general name of Tene-
riffe. Perhaps it was so called because it is derived from the
vidoyna grape, or is a corruption of Yerdona, a green wine, of
good body, but harsher than Teneriffe, formerly grown on the
western side of that island, and shipped at Santa Cruz for the
West Indian market, little or none coming to Europe. Tene-
riffe produces the best wines of all the islands, having the
greatest body. The Yidonia is a wine which improves in
warm climates, in this respect resembling Madeira. The
Malmsey of Teneriffe is small in quantity, but excellent in
WINES OF SPAIN AND THE CANARIES. 211
quality. At Canary both Malmsey and Vidonia are grown.
The Malmsey has been accused of possessing an acid quality.
At Gomera the wines improve so much by age, that the dry
kind gain the flavour of Madeira, and may be easily mistaken
for it. In fact, it is often sold for it in England by the inferior
class of wine merchants, to persons who are 110 judges of
what good Madeira should be. On the eastern side of Palma,
Malvasia, or Malmsey, is grown, which in a few years gains
a bouquet like a ripe pine-apple. The dry wines here are not
as good as those of the other islands. The best vines do not
grow much more than a mile from the sea. In the voyage of
Sir John Hawkins to these islands, in 1564, he speaks of
grapes there, which for size were equal to damsons, and says
of the wines, that "they were better than any in Spain."
(See Appendix, No. V.)
In the early voyages to these islands, published in Hak-
luyt, and therefore as old as 1598 at least, there is a passage
relative to sack, which will puzzle wise heads about that wine,
by Nicola, who lived eight years in the islands. The island
of Teneriffe produces three sorts of wine, Canary, Malvasia,
and Verdona, " which may all go under the denomination of
sack." He says that the best wines in his time grew on a
hill-side called the Eamb, in Palma. The term sack, it
would thus seem, was applied to sweet and dry wines of
Canary, Xeres, or Malaga. In Anglo-Spanish dictionaries
of a century and a quarter old, sack is given as Vino de Cana-
was. Hence it was no doubt Canary sack, Xeres sack, or
Malaga sack. It was much drunk formerly, for an old work
of the beginning of the seventeenth century says of some
of the fashionable rakes of that time, " Sacke is their chosen
nectar ; and they love it better than their own souls ; they
will never leave off" sacke, until they have sackt out all their
silver, nay, nor then neither, for they will pawn their crouds
(fiddles) for more sacke." In Dodsley's " Old Plays," vol. v.,
the sack drunk at gentlemen's tables is described as a
mixture of sherry, cider, and sugar; sometimes eggs were
added, and those who did not think it sweet enough, put in
more sugar. HowelTs " French and English Dictionary,"
1650, translates sack vin cFEspagne, vin sec, or dry. Some
have supposed sack is derived from saco, or the odre, or lor-
212 WINES Or SPAIN AND THE CANABIES.
racha, in which wine is carried ; but the Spaniards do not apply
saco to wine skins. The best authority perhaps is Tenner's
" Via recta ad vitam longam" printed in 1628. This author,
describing Canary wine, says, that Canary " which beareth
the name of the islands from whence it is brought, is of some
termed a sacJce, with this adjunct sweete, but yet very im-
properly, for it differeth not only from sacke in sweetness
and pleasantnesse of taste, but also in colour and consist-
ence : for it is not so white in colour as sacke, nor so thin
in substance." This author says nothing of mixing sugar
with this Canary sacke. He says, " sacke and other stronger
wines are best when they are two or three years old," The
same author says sack is " completely hot in the third de-
gree : and that some affect to drink sacke with sugar, and
some without : and upon no other ground, as I think, but as
it is best pleasing to their palate." Again : " Sacke taken
by itself is very hot and penetrative : being taken with sugar,
the heat is both somewhat allayed, and the penetrative
quality thereof also retarded." Sugar was in those days
taken with Rhenish, and several white wines. The con-
clusion is, that " Sherris" sack, and all such, were the dry-
white wines of Spain and the Canaries, not the sweet. Vi-
donia, for example, was a sack as well as sherry, and the dry
mountain wine of Malaga ; a Canary sack is said to have
been distinguished by the adjunct sweete : this was no doubt
Malmsey, and plainly shows that sack was a dry wine.
The price in 1667, in "Anthony Wood's Life," as fixed at
Oxford, ran " Sack and Malagaes one shilling and sixpence
the quart, and no more." Again, in 1673, " Sack and
Malaga" occur together at one shilling and tenpence the
quart. These wines are always together in the lists. " Ca-
nary, Alicant, and Muscatel" precede.
Yines in the Canary Islands are said to have been first
planted there in the regn of Charles V., having been brought
thither from the Shine, and the change in the climate and
soil produced Canary wine ; but the vine of which the Malm-
sey, or Malvasia, is made, was transported there from Candia.
A pipe of Malvasia used to sell, about the year 1610, for
twenty ducats, which with a duty of seventeen ryals on ex-
portation, made the total expense, for above a hundred Eng-
WINES OF SPAIN AND THE CANABIES. 213
lish gallons, only three pounds fifteen shillings sterling on
the island, when new. Buena Yista, Dante, Oratena, and
Tigueste, were formely boasted of on the island as the
favoured spots. The soil is mostly volcanic ; in Palma the
best wines grow in a soil of this sort, called the Brenia.
The Malmsey is very rich and perfect of its kind, and was
formerly in great repute. The produce was once annually
twelve thousand butts. The dry wine is inferior, and does
not keep so well.
The importation of wine from the Canaries into Great
Britain, though formerly great, had declined as low as sixty-
five tuns in 1785. In 1808 it had again increased; the
amount being 1683 tuns. In 1821 it had fallen to about
a thousand, and it has not since increased. The wines of
the Canaries are second to those of Madeira, but the cause
of this difference is unknown. Perhaps it may be ascribed
to want of care in the management of the vintage; for in
Madeira there have been great incitements to improvement
from the increasing demand for the wine, and the influx
and residence of foreign merchants, all anxious to obtain the
best wines, and to create a useful emulation among the cul-
tivators of the vine, which may not have been experienced at
the Canaries.
Wine of an ordinary kind is made in the Cape de Yerde
Islands ; in that of St. Antonio the quantity manufactured
is very considerable.
The wine measures of Spain are the arroba majore, which
varies in different provinces ; that which is commonly used
contains 4- 245 English gallons, or six make twenty-five gal-
lons. A butt of wine contains about thirty of these arrobas.
Twelve arrobas minor es are thirty-nine ol'd English gallons.
That of Malaga is 4-186 ; and of the Canaries the same as
that of Spain. The arroba of Yalencia is 3'112 gallons.
The Cantara, in like manner, differs ; that of Oviedo being
5-098 gallons ; of Alicant, 3*052 ; while that of Arragon is
only 2 -724 gallons.
Majorca and Minorca have the Quartin and Grerra, of
7-168 and 3-187 gallons. In QaUicia the Moyo, of 42*798.
At Xeres the lotta, of 120 gallons, and at Barcelona the
carga, of 32'695 gallons, and^pe, of 120.
BorracJia means a leathern bottle ; so also does Bota.
214 WINES Or SPAIN AND THE CANARIES.
A wine skin made of hog or goat's hide is called odre,
dressed with the hair inwards, and pitched or rosined, being
more convenient for carrying on the back of a mule, and
cheaper than a cask. The bad taste thus communicated,
the Spaniards notwithstanding call olor de BOTA, the " smell
of the bottle, 11 by custom, and not de odre of "the skin,"
as it is in reality. Tet they say, odre de luen vino, a
" skin of good wine." El de los odres, " you with the wine-
skins !"
.
[Heidelberg Tun.]
CHAPTEE VIII.
WINES OF GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND.
ANTIQUITY OF THE VINE IN GERMANY THE RHEINGAU SPECIES OF SOU
CHARACTER OF VINES LARGE TUNS NATURE OF THE WINES, AND PRICES
WINES OF SWITZERLAND.
THE Germans have expended much research upon the an-
tiquity of the culture of the vine in their country. "While
many of their writers ascribe its introduction to the Emperor
Probus and his legions about the year 280, others go up to
the Asiatic Bacchus, and pretend that Bacharach, in the
vicinity of which so many excellent vineyards are found,
derived its name from the deity of wine : a stone still existing
in the river, which they call " Bacchus' altar." Had the
etymology been treated metaphorically in this way, to de-
scribe the vine country on the Rhine, and some of its tri-
butary rivers, it would not have been out of place to call it
the country of Bacchus. The G-ermans boast of four other
places sacred to Bacchus : Steegbach, situated on a hillock,
they call the ladder of Bacchus ; Diebach, the finger (digitus) ;
216 WINES Or GKEEMANY AND SWITZEKLAN D.
Handbach, or Manersbach, the hand ; and Lorch, or Laurea,
the bay or laurel, formerly it was impossible to enter a
German house without being offered " large jacks of wine,'*
so attached were they to the rites of the purple deity. The
banks of their rivers are covered with vineyards. The Ehine,
Moselle, Neckar, and Maine, are gardens of the vine. Nor
have the Germans been content with cultivating the banks
of rivers alone, but the higher lands are planted with the
greatest success. It matters very little whether the terri-
tory of Treves poured out its abundance in the time of the
Romans or of Charlemagne ; the Germans have enjoyed it
since the year 400 ; and the Frenchman who said the Ger-
mans had found out the perpetual motion in their cusps, or
tall old wine glasses, was not far from the truth. The Ger-
man loves his gias-s of cheerful wine ; and while he cultivates
his vines, let the grave burgher of Treves swallow Ma wein
(wine) of Augenscheimer, his Thiergartner, Schaonet, and
Pitcher, out of his green glasses, to fourscore years of age,
provided he will allow the foreigner to share a little of the
superfluity of his golden vintage. From Bonn to Coblentz,
and from the latter city to Mayeiice, the country is covered
with vineyards. The Johannisberger of "father" Rhine, the
Gruenhauser or the Brauneberger of the Moselle, and the
Hochheimer of the Maine, each distinguish and hallow their
respective rivers in the eyes of the connoisseur in wine. They
are some of them powerful wines when genuine, as their de-
votees can well attest. Ehenish wines are mentioned in
England, temp. Bichard II., and ordered to be sold at a hun-
dred shillings the tun, and retailed at sixpence the gallon,
which was higher than the French wines of Gascony.
Whoever has visited the noble Bhine must have felt sen-
sible of the beauty of its vineyards, covering steep and shore,
interlaced with the most romantic ruins, towns ancient and
venerable, smiling villages, and the rapid broad German
river, reflecting the rich scenery on its banks. Nowhere is
the fondness for vine cultivation more evident in every grade
and class of farmer than in the German wine districts. The
humblest peasant has his square yard of vineyard. Every
accessible spot on the declivities with an auspicious aspect
is decorated with the favourite plant. From Mentz even to
Bonn the vineyards of the Rhine are observed to greater
WI2TES OF GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND. 217
advantage than any similar cultivation in other countries :
Erbach, enthroned on its vines ; the Eheingau, its Johannis-
berg on a crescent hill of red soil, adorned with cheering vege-
tation, every cranny cultivated that will carry the vine ; Mit-
telheim, G-eisenheim, and Eudesheim, the last with its strong,
fine-bodied wine, the grapes from which bask on their promon-
tory of rock, in the summer sun, and imbibe its generous heat
from dawn to setting ; then again, on the other side, Bingen,
delightful, sober, majestic, with its terraces of vines, topped
by the chateau of Klopp. The narrowed river, its steep hills
and vineyards, the corn and fruit which the vicinity produces,
all remind the stranger of a second Canaan. The Bingerloch,
the ruins, and the never-failing though formal vines scattered
among them, like verdant youth revelling amid age and decay,
give a picture nowhere else exhibited, uniting to the joyous-
ness of wine the sober tinge of meditative feeling. The un-
clad hill summits back the picture, with feudal relics or
monastic remains. From below Assmannshauser to Lorch,
crumbling ruins still mingle with the cool leaf and rich purple
of the grape. Bacharach is near, the wine of which, pro-
bably the fancy of the drinkers having changed, is now pro-
nounced second rate in quality, though not long ago even the
French celebrated it in their Bacchanalian songs. This wine
is still very good, fashion may say what it chooses. Land-
scapes of greater beauty, joined to the luxuriance of fruitful
vine culture, can nowhere be seen ; perhaps there is some-
thing to be added, for the alliance of wine and its agreeable
qualities, with the noble scenery of the river. The mind will
have its associations upon all subjects.
To the north of Coblentz the wines are of little compara-
tive note, though Bodendorf, near Bonn, has been said to pro-
duce a Ehenish wine of the second growth thus far to the
north. Coblentz is about the latitude of Plymouth, while
Mayence itself is nearly on the parallel of the Lizard in Corn-
wall. Either on the Ehine, or on.it s tributary rivers between
these two places, the most celebrated wines of Germany are
grown. There is much limestone to the west of Mayence,
and a varying surface soil. It is at Coblentz that the soil
first becomes particularly well adapted for the cultivation of
the vine. The right bank descending is most noted for its
wines, but the vineyards, in many parts, cover both banks.
The Eheingau is a district about fifteen miles in extent, and
218 WINES OF GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND.
here are made the most celebrated wines, including the far-
famed Hochheimer. The valley of the Ehine, taking from
Mayence a western and north-western course, exposes it to
the warm south-west winds, which have a salutary effect
upon the maturity of the fruit, which its northern latitude
would else hardly impart. This wind, to reach the Eheingau,
does not pass over the high Alps, but over the Jura range,
which is lower, and without snow. JSTone of the better wines
of France are grown so far to the north.
The soil on the banks of the Ehine, from the variety of
rocks, throughout the great wine district, is various ; to the
limits of that district, north and south, we have already
alluded. To the east and west the boundaries are irregular,
as embracing the Moselle to Treves, the Ahr, the Maine, and
other streams. Granite decomposed, and quartz in favour-
able sites, offer good vine land, and so does sienite. Clay
slate, mingled with quartz, is observed to be highly favour-
able. The temperature is thought to be increased over this
species of soil by the colour retaining the heat. Basalt is
found a productive soil, especially when mingled with marl,
and some of the best vines grow upon land of this descrip-
tion where the basalt is pebbly. Where marl, mingled with
pebbles, occurs, the vines succeed best ; nearly the same cha-
racter, but, if anything, still a better, may be given to dolenite.
Variegated sandstone in decomposition does not do well for
the vines in dry seasons, though light in its nature ; when
mingled with clay, or other earths, its produce is tolerable, but
it gives no remarkable wine. Otherwise than when mingled
with different earths, it is barren. Shell marl, where the
calcareous properties are most prevalent, when mixed with
the clay soil, will grow tolerable good vines, and the same
when they are reared upon a coarse limestone well worked.
Kiffer produces only weak wine. Schistous marl, where it
occurs decomposed, yields a fertile soil for the vine. When
mingled with round stones or sand it is very favourable, but
no remarkable wine is produced from it, though its dark
colour is favourable for maturing the fruit. The Germans
dress their vines with strong manures, which the French and
Portuguese pronounce to be injurious. Land gained from
the water, or newly alluvial, is not at all favourable for the
vine. It is too wet in moist seasons, and even by nature.
On the other hand, clay and sand, arising from the decompo-
WINES OP GEKMANY AND SWITZERLAND. 219
sition of different species of rock, is found too arid for the
German vines in dry seasons.
The grapes which are preferred for general cultivation are
the riessling, a small white species, harsh in taste, but in hot
seasons furnishing a remarkably good wine, having a fine
bouquet. The kleinberger, a productive species, ripens easily,
and a small Orleans variety is very widely cultivated. These,
with the Traminer, are considered the fruit producing the best
wines. The Orleans is much cultivated about Eudesheim,
thriving well on a rocky soil. The vines are all of the low
training, about three or four feet high. The produce of all
the vineyards it is impossible to ascertain. The circle of Cob-
lentz contains nearly seventeen thousand Prussian acres, each
of which is calculated to yield wine to about fifteen pounds
sterling annually in value. The circle of Treves, containing
twenty-three hundred acres, gives an annual product of thirty-
nine pounds sterling each acre. In "Wirtemberg, the product
of the kingdom, or of sixty-one thousand five hundred acres,
has been valued at about four million of florins. The true
Hochheimer is grown to the eastward of Mentz, at Hochheim,
between that place and Frankfort. Each acre contains four
thousand plants. The produce, in a tolerable year, is twelve
large casks, which sell for about one hundred and fifty pounds
each. It was once the property of General Kellermann, and
since of Prince Metternich. Worms was formerly reported
to grow a hundred and fifty fuders within the territories of
the city, " sweeter than virgin's milk" (liebfrauen milch).
The vintage does not take place until the grapes are more
than perfectly mature, in fact, until they are soft from over
ripeness and on the verge of change. They are carefully
gathered, the bad fruit picked out, and with the stalks put
aside. The wine of the pressings is separated, most vom ersten
drilch, vom nackdruch. The more celebrated of these wines
are all fermented in casks, and then, after being repeatedly
racked, suffered to remain for years in large fuders* to ac-
quire perfection by time. These huge casks contain each
about three hundred and fifty tuns. The wines mellow best
in large vessels ; hence the celebrated Heidelberg tun, thirty-
one feet long by twenty-one high, and holding one hundred
and fifty fuders, or six hundred hogsheads ; the second and
* A common fuder contains about two hundred and fifty gallons.
220 WIIfES OE GKEEMANY AND SWITZERLAND.
later of these was built at Heidelberg in 1663. That which
preceded it held but one hundred and thirty-two fuders.
This tun is decorated with all kinds of fantastical ornaments.
Tubingen, Grriiningen, and Konigstein, could all boast of
their enormous tuns, in which the white wines of the country
were thought to mellow better than in casks of less dimensions.
The last was made at Fort Konigstein, near Dresden, by Ge-
neral Kyaw^in 1725, seventeen Dresden ells long, and twelve
wide at the bung. It contained 3709 hogsheads. A Latin in-
scription affixed to it was to the following purport: "Welcome
. traveller, admire this monument, dedicated to festivity (in
order to exhilarate the mind with a glass in the year 1725),
by Frederick Augustus, King of Poland, Elector of Saxony,
the father of his country, the Titus of the age, the delight of
mankind. Therefore drink to the health of the sovereign,
the country, the electoral family, and the Earon Kyaw,
governor of Konigstein ; and if thou art able, according to
the capacity of this tun, the most capacious of casks, drink to
the prosperity of the whole universe and so, farewell!"
These tuns were once kept carefully filled. The Germans
always had the reputation of being good drinkers, and of
taking care of the "liquor they loved." Misson says, in his
Travels, that he formerly saw at Nuremberg the public cellar,
two hundred and fifty paces long, and containing twenty thou-
sand ahms of wine.
The G-erman are a distinct class in character from all other
wines. They are generous, drier than the French, finely fla-
voured, endure age beyond example, and have of late years been
much improved in quality by the sedulous attention bestowed
upon their growth, and a better management at the vintage.
Indeed, the tendency to improvement in all the vine countries
of the Hhine is too obvious to be passed over, and the wines
show a corresponding excellence. They average about 12'08
per cent, of alcohol. They have been supposed to turn acid
sooner than other wines, though the reverse is a remarkable
fact. On this subject a recent author observes, with respect
to Moselle, and the same will hold good with other wines of
Rhenish character, that " The country which borders on the
Moselle produces abundance of grapes, and some of the
wines have an agreeable flavour, especially the vintage of
Brauneberg. This highly-flavoured wine has within the last
WINES OF UEBMANY AND SWITZEBLAND. 221
seven years become a fashionable beverage at the first tables
in London, and when iced in summer, nothing can be more
grateful. Some of it has the flavour of the Prontignan
grape, without its sweetness. This wine has a singular
quality ; it is difficult to make it into vinegar. The author
accidentally discovered this property by putting a few bottles
into a green-house, and afterwards into his cellar, for the pur-
pose of using it as vinegar ; but the following spring he was
surprised to find that no acetous fermentation had taken
place. It has been generally supposed in England that the
wines of the Rhine and Moselle are more acid than the
white wines of France ; but if the above experiment may be
any criterion of the qualities of the former, it would prove
that they are less acid than Sauterne, Barsac, and the Graves ;
for it is well known that it is necessary to sulphur the casks
of these wines to prevent the acetous fermentation taking
place. Acids are supposed to generate gout, and in Eng-
land Rhine wines are on this account forbidden to gouty
subjects ; yet the gout is a disease rarely known on the banks
of the Rhine, where hardly any other wine is drunk. We
therefore conceive this to be a vulgar error, and that no
wine is better for a gouty patient than that of the Ehine ;
the author can testify this from his own experience, and the
evidence (which can be more depended on) of an eminent
English physician, who practised at Mayence for many years,
and was of opinion that the strong wines of the Rhine were
extremely salutary, and that they contained less acid than
any other ; moreover, they are never saturated with brandy,
as the French white wines are. Although Moselle is become
so fashionable, it is a cheap wine, the best Brauneberg only
costing twelve Napoleons per ahm, of thirty English imperial
gallons, and, including the duties and all expenses, may be
imported for three shillings a bottle into England."
That this is correct, as far as regards himself, the writer of
the present volume can vouch. If he take no more than a glass
or two of port, so that the spirit taken with it is not enough to
stimulate the stomach, acidity is certain to be felt, but this is
never experienced with sound Ehenish wine. Some writers
account for this property in German wines by the complete
proportion of the constituent parts, and their equal balance
in the fermentation. Hence the difficulty of deranging them
222 WINES or GEEMANT AND SWITZERLAND.
from the closeness of their affinities. If the tartaric acid be
too abundant, the wine will be apt to become sour. If the
saccharine principle be too great for the quantity of tartar,
there will be a part of it unconverted, or if the leaven be
deficient, the fermentation will not be perfected. Where,
however, the necessary quantities are in due proportion to
each other, the wine will be perfect and enduring, possessing
no acidity, and such is, therefore, the safest wine to be drunk
(if it be the real wine well made) of any blood of the grape
whatever.
To proceed northward with the "Bhine wines," following
the course of the main river. The ordinary wines are not
worthy of note : but wines up to the best class are found in
great variety. The Liebfrauenmilch, already mentioned, is
a well-bodied wine, grown at "Worms, and generally fetches
a good price. The same may be said of the wines of Kces-
terick, near Mayence, and those from Scharlachberg are
equally full bodied and well flavoured. JSTierstein, Oppenheim,
Laubenheim, and Graubischeim are considered to yield ex-
cellent growths, but that of Deidesheim is held to be the
best; the last of 1825 sells for twelve pounds sterling the
ahm, of thirty gallons, in the present year. The prices vary
much, and depend in a great degree upon the age of the
wine. New wine may be had from fifteenpence the moos*
to four and sevenpence. Very aged wine from eight or ten
up to eighteen shillings the bottle. The Ehenish wines, and
particularly Hock, drunk in their native territory, were not
offered at table in respectable families until of late, before
they were nearly, if not quite, fifty years of age. It is dif-
ferent now. They are drunk out of green glasses as thin as
paper, so that the stranger almost wonders they are strong
enough to retain the liquid. It it thought the flavour is
improved by thin glasses. Perhaps this is mere fancy, but
every one experiences how much pleasanter Chateau Margaux
drinks this way at our own tables.
The river Maine runs up to Frankfort close to Mayence,
and on its banks the little town of Hochheim stands upon an
elevated spot of ground, in the full blaze of the sun. From
Hochheim is derived the name of Hock, too generally applied
in England to all G-erman wines. No trees are seen to
* A little more than two quarts,
WINES OF GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND. 223
obstruct the genial fire from the sky, which the Germans
deem so needful to render their vintages propitious, nor does
it favour them to the full glow required more than once in
five or six years, so as to perfect a vintage of tolerable re-
nown. The town stands in the midst of vineyards. That
which produces the Hochheimer of the first growth is about
eight acres in extent, and is situated on a spot well sheltered
from the north winds, upon a little hill behind the deanery.
The Hochheimer dom, near the village, is in high request.
The wine of 1766 and 1775 fetched forty-two and fifty
pounds the ahm, before the fancy for old wines was given up.
The other growths of this wine come from the surrounding
vineyards. The whole eastern bank of the Ehine to Lorch,
or the Eheingau, throughout its entire extent, has been re-
markable for its wines during many centuries. It was once
the property of the Church. The whole district is a delicious
vine-garden. In this favoured spot grows the castle, or
Schloss-Johannesberger, once the property of the Church,
and also of the Prince of Orange. Johannesberg is a town,
with its castle (schloss), on the right bank of the Ehine below
Mentz. The Johannesberger once took the lead in the wines
of the Ehine. The vines are grown over the vaults of the
castle, and were very near being destroyed by Greneral Hoche.
The quantity of wine is not large. The price of the vintage
of 1811 was about thirty-six pounds the ahm, of thirty
gallons. That of 1779 sold for seventy-five in the year
1833. The vineyard, as before observed, is the property of
Prince Metternich. The other growths near the same vine-
ground are excellent. The Johannesberger of P. A. Mumm
of Cologne and Johannesberg, his own growth of 1822,
brought, in 1833, from twenty-five to sixty pounds the ahm,
and it still ranks quite as high.
There is at present a great rivalry between the two vine-
yards of Johannesberg and Steinberg, and in some years
Steinberg has fetched a much higher price than Johannes-
berg. In 1836, a stuckfass of Steinberg of 1822, which, on
account of its great delicacy and excellence, was named " die
Brant" (the "Bride"), was sold by auction, and bought by
several crowned heads and three London wine merchants, at
about twenty shillings the bottle, taken at the cellars at
Eberbach. The great care and energy displayed by Mr.
Koepp, kellermeister of the Duke of Nassau, in the manage-
224 WINES OF GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND.
ment of the vineyard, will no doubt much increase its present
popularity. In addition to this, the Schloss-Johannesberg
being under a kind of trusteeship, or sequestration, for the
payment of many years' arrears of taxes due to the state of
Nassau, and still repudiated by Prince Metternich, has in
some measure prejudiced the wines, so that the two vineyards
may be now considered upon a perfect equality. For this and
some other recent information connected with the subject,
the author is indebted to the house of Eddison, in "Wai-
brook, the large connexion of which with Grerman wines is
well known.
Rudesheim and its Hinterhausen produce wines of the first
Rhine growths: the ahm of 1811 brings fifty-five pounds
and upwards. The highest quality is called Rudesheimer-
berg. The Steinberger, belonging to the Duke of Nassau, takes
rank after the Schloss-Johannesberger among these wines.
It has the greatest strength, and yet is one of the most deli-
cate, and even sweetly flavoured. That called the " Cabinet,"
from the vintage of 1811, brought seventy pounds sterling the
ahm. In 1811 it was sold on the spot for 5^ florins, or half
a guinea the bottle. The quantity of the first growth made
is small. Grraefenberg, which was once the property of the
Church, produces very choice wine, which carries a price
equal to the Rudesheimer.
Marcobrunner is an excellent wine, of a fine flavour, espe-
cially when the vintage has taken place in a warm year. The
vineyards of Roth and Konigsbach grow excellent wines.
The wine of Bacharach was formerly celebrated, as before
mentioned, but time produces revolutions in the history of
wines as well as in that of empires. Notwithstanding the
quality of endurance many of the second-rate growths pos-
sess, and a freedom from acidity equal to those which hold
the first place, they are by no means so well known as they
ought to be. The oldest wine which is commonly offered to
the purchaser is that of 174*8, a year when the season was
exceedingly propitious to the vintage. Older wines may be
met with, but less frequently. The excellence of the wine in any
particular year always depends more upon the warmth of the
season than upon any other cause, and the high price of the
wine in corresponding years rates accordingly. The Germans
say, the wines of the best body are made on. the higher lands,
and the worst on the lower ; the last requiring the longest
WIKES OF GKEBMAKT AKD SWITZEBLAJSD. 225
keeping, to render them mellow for drinking. The stocks of
some of the merchants are very large, although the wine is
not kept out of the market so long as formerly. It is a mis-
taken notion that the virtue of any wine depends upon its
great age. The wines of 1783 bear a very high character the
highest of any during the last century. There is something
unaccountable in the extraordinary durability of wines grown
so far to the north, where the slightest increase of warmth,
in a season causes such a difference in the quality of the wine.
While strong southern wines suffer from age after a certain
period of years in bottle, and begin to deteriorate sensibly,
the Ehine wines seem possessed of inextinguishable vitality,
and set the greater part of rivalry in keeping at defiance. It
is generally found that wines with the smaller proportion of
alcohol change sooner than those which are strong, yet the
[Rhenish wines' averaging so little spirit, will endure longer,
and continue to improve by age as much as the more potent
wines of the South, having double the alcoholic strength.
The best vintages were 1748, 1766, 1779, 1783, 1800, 1802,
1811, 1822, and 1834. The Steinwein of 1748 brought, in
1832, seventy pounds the ahm of thirty imperial gallons.
This may serve to show how much these wines gain, in re-
pute at least, by age. This fashion in Germany, of valuing
wine by its age alone, is deservedly gone out. It is no proof
of any good quality in the wine beyond its power of en-
durance. The Ehine wines are diuretic in quality, and the
Germans say, " keep off the doctor." They are remarkable
for promoting cheerfulness in the native constitution.
On the whole, the wines of Eischeim, Assmannshauser,
and Laubenheim, are very pleasant wines ; those of rather
more strength are Marcobrunner, Eudesheimer, and Mer-
steiner, those of Johannisberg and Geissenheim belonging
to Count Ingelheim, and Hochheim, give the most perfect
delicacy and aroma, and freedom from acidity. The Germans
themselves say, " Rhein-wein,fein ivein; Necker-wein, lecker
wein; FranJcen-wein, tranken wein; Mosel-wein, unnosel
wein" "Ehine wine is good; Neckar pleasant; Frankfort
bad; Moselle innocent."
AJI effervescing Ehenish has recently been produced. It
is made from the lower wine growths, but is by no means
worthy of the regard which some would claim for it, being
Q
226 WINES OF GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND.
destitute of the qualities of genuine Rhenish, and equally so
of the fine flavour of Champagne.
A letter to the writer states that, " "With regard to the
effervescent Rhenish wines, which have lately come into
notice, they are made after the example of Champagne wines.
They are generally taken from a common growth, and the
effervescence is produced by the carbonic acid gas in the
process of fermentation. The experiment is not new: it
was successful many years ago ; but after all it will never
answer, for although the effervescence of a Champagne wine
may be thus obtained, yet the delicious flavour which cha-
racterises that wine will be always wanting, for that flavour
is derived from the soil, and no art can substitute it. Besides,
it must be observed, that there is an immense difference be-
tween the Rhenish Wines and those of Champagne, not only
in the making, but also in character. The grape of the former
requires, in order to be really good, the most perfect matu-
rity, even to an overripe state, and the grape of the latter
does not admit of its being more than ripe ; consequently, all
the good qualities of the Ehenish wine, which are brought
forth by the great maturity of the grape, are entirely lost
when thus prematurely used, and for this reason nothing
particular can be expected from an effervescent Rhenish
wine. The process is resorted to, principally, with a view
to get rid of the lower growth of wines, and with no other."
The red wines of the Ehine are not of extraordinary quality
compared to the white, yet the red grape becomes more per-
fectly ripe than the white on the Rhine. The Assmanns-
hiiuser is the first, grown near Rudesheim. It closely resem-
bles some of the better growths of Prance. At Ingelheim,
near Mayence, and near the Ahr, there are good red wines
of the country. Near Lintz, at Neuwied, a good wine, called
Blischert, is made. Konigsbach, on the left bank of the
Rhine, Altenahr, Rech, and Kesseling, yield ordinary red
growths.
The Moselle wines are light, and secondary to those of the
Rhine and Maine. They are plentiful and cheap, some ot
them resembling the growths of France. They are sometime?
sold as low as a penny the bottle in the country. The most
celebrated is the Scarzberger. The varieties grown near
Treves are numerous. A Dutch merchant is said to have
WINES OF GEBMANY AND SWITZERLAND. 227
paid the Abbey of Maximinus for a variety called Griin-
hauser, in 1793, no less than eleven hundred and forty-four
florins for two hundred and ninety English gallons in the
vat. This wine was formerly styled the " Nectar of the
Moselle." It made men cheerful when drunk in a quantity,
and did good the next day, leaving the bosom and head with-
out disorder such is the character of it by the German
jurist Hontheim. These wines being light, with a good
flavour, have of late become favourites in England. They
will not keep so long as the Rhine wines, but they are
abundant and wholesome, as indeed are all the Rhine wines,
particularly for convalescent persons after low fevers. Near
Treves are grown the wines of Brauneberg, Wehlen, Graaeh,
Zeltingen, and Piesport. The wines of Rinsport and Becher-
bach are considered of secondary rank. The wines of Cusel
and Yaldrach, near Treves, are thought to be possessed of
diuretic properties, and even to cure the gravel. In about
five years these wines reach the utmost point of perfection
for drinking. They will not keep more than ten or twelve
in prime condition.
The wines called "wines of the Ahr," resemble those of
the Moselle, except that they will keep longer. Some of
them are red. The character of the wines of the jNahe may
be included in the foregoing descriptions, being intrinsically
German.
The "wines of the Neckar" are made from the best
French, Hungarian, and even Cyprus vines. The most cele-
brated are those of Bessingheim. They are of a light red
colour, not deep, and of tolerable flavour and bouquet.
Wisbaden grows some good wines at Schierstein, and
Epstein, near Frankfort. The best wines of Baden are pro-
duced in the seigniory of Badenweiler, near Eribourg. At
Heidelberg, the great tun used to be filled with the wine of
that neighbourhood, boasted to be a hundred and twenty
years old, but it gave the wine no advantage over other
Neckar growths. There are many good wines grown in
Baden, and particularly near OiFenburg. The Khugelberger
has gained a certain reputation, and at Durbach, where the
Johannisberg grape has been planted, a wine is now pro-
duced called the Johannisberger Durbach, which bids fair to
stand a comparison with many of the wines of the Eheingau.
Q 2
228 WINES OE GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND.
In this locality is also to be found a good red wine called
Zoller, which in some years is equal to Assinannshauser^
In Baden the ahm or auni contains three or four more
gallons than in the Hheingau. The red wines of Wangen
are much esteemed in the country of Bavaria, but they are
very ordinary. "Wiirzburg grows the Stein and Leisten
wines. The first is produced upon a mountain so called,
sold very dear, and called "wine of the Holy Spirit" by the
Hospital of Wiirzburg, to which it belongs. The Leisten
wines are produced upon Mount St. Nicolas. Straw wines
are made in Franconia. A vm de liqueur, called Calmus,
like the sweet wines of Hungary, is made in the territory of
Frankfort, at Aschaffenbourg. The best vineyards are those
of Bischofsheim. Some wines are made in Saxony, but they
are of little worth. Meissen, near Dresden, and Gruben,
produce the best. Naumberg makes some small wines, like
the inferior Burgundies.
The importation of Grerman wines into England in 1831
was about seventy thousand gallons.
The better wines of Germany are of a drier quality than
those of Prance, and, while compared to the vim de Graves,
they are in reality of a very different character. Some of
them have what the French call the gout de pierre; but as the
soils that produce them are very various, so no two kinds
exactly resemble each other, even to a taste not over nice.
Perhaps the better kinds are the most wholesome wines in
the world. The " golden wine" of the father river deserves
its peculiar altar to Bacchus.
In order to secure good wine, none but respectable mer-
chants in these wines, of all others, should be treated with.
Persons ignorant of the character of the best Grerman wines
are continually liable to impositions. Travelling dealers mingle,
on the banks of the Rhine, the low-priced palatinate growths
with some of the analogous products of France. They adopt
the aum cask, or the case, as may be required, and put flou-
rishing seals upon the corks when the wine is sold in bottle,
telling extravagant falsehoods of its history and excellencies.
By this means frauds are continually practised upon private
individuals in regard to the wines of the Rhine, the more suc-
cessful in proportion to the want of knowledge respecting
them prevalent in England. Low Hoch and Moselle wines
WINES OF GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND. 229
are constantly sold at prices in this way when there is a rage
for everything at small cost, so that the quality is taken upon
trust, on the strength of the cheapness. G-ood G-erman wines,
like all others, must be paid for.
The ahm of wine differs in quantity. The Eheingau mer-
chants send wines to England by the ahm of thirty imperial
gallons. The common German ahm has been usually reckoned
at forty old English gallons, and a little more. About " two
ahms and a half formerly made a pipe," em weinfass von
anderhalb ahm, ein pipe. A botJi, or butt, contained three
ahms, or a hundred and twenty-six gallons. A Hhenish wine-
cask of eight ahms, called a fuder, or stuck/ass, contained
about two hundred and fifty gallons, or a tun of Rhenish, ac-
cording to the old measure ; but wine is now almost univer-
sally sold by the ahm alone. (For imports and classes, see
Appendix.)
Switzerland does not supply more wine than suffices for
home consumption. The best is produced in the canton
called the Grisons. It is named Chiavenna wine, and is of
an aromatic flavour, white from the red grape. In the Valais
they make a Malvasia of good quality. Both these are white
wines of the luscious kind. The Yalais also produces red
wines, made at La Marque and Coquempin, in the district of
Martigny.
The other wines are for the most part red. Schaffhausen
produces them in plenty, and of tolerable quality. At Basle
they make the "wine of blood," as it is called, from the
combat of Birs, in the reign of Louis XI. of France, when six-
teen hundred Swiss fought thirty thousand French, and only
sixteen survived, dying more of the fatigue of the combat
than by the power of the enemy. These wines are also
known as those of the Hospital and St. Jaques. The red
wines of Erlach, in Berne, are good. The red of Neufchatel
is equal to the third class of Burgundy. St. Grail affords
tolerable wines. In the Yalteline the red wines are remark-
able for durability, and are of very good quality. They make
a wine in that district which much resembles the aromatic
wines of the south of France. A very generous red wine is
made in the Yalteline from the red grape, which is suffered
to hang on the vine until November, by which time the fruit
has become very mature. It is then gathered, and carried to
a large room or barn, and hung up by the stems for two or
230 WINES OF GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND.
three months. The bunches are picked over with great care,
and every decayed or injured grape is thrown aside, so that
none but sound fruit is submitted to the press. The must is
placed to ferment in an open vessel, and twice a day it is
skimmed. It continues to ferment for a week or fortnight,
according to the weather, during which the operation of
skimming is constantly repeated. After the fermentation is
over it is put into a close vessel, and set by for a twelvemonth.
This wine is remarkably luscious, and will keep well for a cen-
tury, having great strength and body. The Swiss, when it is
a year old, bore a hole two-thirds of the way up the head of
the cask, drink the wine down to the hole, and then refill the
cask.
The canton of Vaud produces the largesb quantity of wine.
The wines of Cully and Desales, near Lausanne, resemble
much the dry wines of the Ehine in quality, and are of con-
siderable durability.
The following extract of a letter given verbatim, is from a
German correspondent, and will serve as a general corrobo-
ration of the previous statements.
" The Moselle, which, as indicative of its milder character in
appearance and produce, is frequently called by the G-erman
poets the l Bride of the Hhine,' flows into this river at Cob-
lentz, and the wines grown on its banks are all of a lighter
and less spirituous description than those from the B/hine.
They are appreciated for their peculiar perfume, and are,
principally during the summer, a very delicious beverage.
They are recommended frequently by physicians as a pro-
tective measure against the malady of the stone, having a
relieving effect, and that disease having never been known in
those districts.
" The best Moselle wines range as follows :
" The G-riinhauser (a former property of the Abbey Maxi-
min at Treves) .
" The Eeltinger : the best vineyards here are those of the
old Schloss (Castle), the Brauneberger, Pisporter, Graacher,
"Wehlener, &c. But in good vintages these wines are sur-
passed by the Scharzberger, and especially by the Scharzhof-
berger, a denomination for the hill, which was formerly a
priory estate, and which produces the best of this description.
" The situation of the Scharzberg falls back from the Mo-
selle for about five English miles from Treves, between the
WINES OF GEKMANY AND SWITZERLAND. 231
Moselle and the Isar, and is, therefore, called also Elecken-
vine. The Thiergartner ranges in the same category.
" The Moselle wines are sold in fuder casks of 6 J Cologne
aums of 30 gallons each.
" The Ahr, which falls into the Ehine opposite Linz, has a
home notoriety for its red wines, but is not much known
abroad, yet its productions are agreeable and wholesome, and
not very powerful. The best marks are those of Walporz-
heim, Ahrweiler, Bodendorf, and of good vintages bear in
taste a resemblance to a light Burgundy wine. They are
sold per aum of 30 gallons.
" The whole wine production of the Prussian Rhenish pro-
vince extends over a superficial content of 50,625 morgen
(acres), which give in a good vintage about 500,000 eimer, or
250,000 aums.
" The sentence/ The grapes preferred for general cultivation
are the Biessling, a small white species, harsh in taste, but in
hot seasons furnishing a remarkably fine wine, having a fine
bouquet. The Kleinberger, a productive species, which ripens
easily, and a small Orleans variety,' is correct ; but there
ought to be joined to it, ' The last description of grapes is
cultivated only in the boundary of Budesheim, whilst in all
the other first-rate vineyards of the Bheingau the preference
is given to the Biessling.' This species gives at full maturity
incontestably the finest and most flavoured wines, which also
fetch the highest prices.
" However, in inferior years, when the Biessling does not
ripen entirely, the wines derived from them are in the same
proportion inferior to those from the other softer grape sorts,
and even out of inferior vineyards.
" The proprietors of large wine estates are always anxious
to gather and press the different grape sorts separately, in
order to obtain as far as possible an uniform harmonious
wine, which operates vastly on its quality. The little wine-
grower has not this advantage, and must vintage altogether.
" The head of the Bhenish wines belongs indisputably to
those of the Castle of Johannisberg. This estate was ori-
ginally a convent, founded in the year 1106, by Kurmaintz,
which held it until 1715, when it became the property of the
High-chapter at Fuld.
" In 1802, in consequence of the peace of Liineville, Nas-
sau- Oranien took possession of it, and in 1807 it was given
232 WIX.ES OE GEEMANY AND SWITZERLAND.
by tlie Emperor Napoleon to Marshal Kellermann, who re-
mained its lord until 1815, when it fell, in consequence of the
Congress of Vienna, to the share of the Emperor of Austria,
who in his turn gave it to its present holder, Prince Met-
ternich, as Austrian and male-hereditary fief.
" His highness, who entertains a particular predilection for
this beautiM estate, has shown for it a high personal interest,
and has spared no expense nor means to obtain through his
administration the utmost perfection in regard to the culture
of the vine and the treatment of the wines, so that the Jo-
hannisberg may be considered as a model school for both
these main objects.
" The superficial content of the vineyard is 66-J- morgen
(acres), which have produced in the better years as follows :
1822, 33i stuck "I
1825, 31
1834, 514 J-One stuck contains 8 Cologne aums and one aum 30 im-
1842, 34" peria gallons.
1846, 45 J
" The wines of the best vintages are sold in bottles only,
which are filled under the immediate direction of the Castle
Cellar Administration, and bear labels signed by this autho-
rity; the corks are branded, sealed, and stamped with the
prince's arms. The sale is entrusted exclusively to the firm
of Mr. D. Leiden, at Cologne, who appointed Mr. Charles Ellis,
of Bichmond and London, agent for the British Isles.
" The varieties are distinguished by different coloured seals
The first of these varieties has a blue seal, and is probably
not only the finest German wine, but the highest specimen
of what the vine can produce. For this quality the grapes
are selected with scrupulous care, the best berries only
being taken from the ripest bunches. The juice is expressed
from them with great force, so that not a drop of the precious
liquid may be lost. It can only be made in the most favour-
able years, and the quantity then never exceeds two stiicks,
or sixteen aums of 30 gallons each.
" The wines derived from inferior vintages are sold periodi-
cally at public auction in the casks, and their produce is
generally very little. The following shows that in the year
1832, 34 stiicks have given an average price of 280 francs per stuck.
1833,57* 560
1837, 5 ,, ,, 77 ,, ,,
1838,13* 174
i6'39, 28?, 515
WINES OF GEKMAtfY AND SWITZEBLAND. 233
" The vintage usually takes place only in the beginning of
November, as it is highly desirable to keep the grapes on the
vine as long as possible, in order to offer them the chance of
overripening. Cold or wet weather, however, occasions often
an earlier vintage. The Village Johannisberg and the vine-
yards on the back of the castle give but inferior wines, which
are not to be compared with the castle wines, and range far
below the first marks of the Rheingau.
" The Steinberg is a domain belonging to the Duke of Nas-
sau, and cultivated exclusively with Eiessling ; in good years
it produces wines of the first rank, which have great merit with
regard to their fragrant bouquet and vivid flavour. The
whole vineyard, removed from the river-side about three
English miles, is surrounded by a wall, and measures 108
morgen (acres). Its product, in 1846, amounted to 100 stuck;
the wines are generally disposed of in the wood by public
auction, of which the most recent has obtained 200 francs ;
1700 to 700 francs for vintage 1848, and 7000 francs for
vintage 1846, per stuck.
" The manipulation of the vine and of the wine is analogous
to that of the Johannisberg. The Steinberg was formerly a
dependency of the neighbouring abbey Eberbach, which was
transformed into a domain at the abolition of the convents,
and since that time serves as a penitentiary.
" A few years ago a large hospital for the insane was built
on one of the neighbouring hills, whose beautiful construction
offers a charming sight from the Rhine.
" The vaults of the abbey contain the Cabinet of the Duke
of Nassau, which is a rich collection of his finest wines from
all vintages and situations.
" Marcobrunn extends over an elevated plain between Hat-
tenheim and Erbach, and produces also very fine wines, espe-
cially the Auslaas, which is made only in good vintages, the
ripest grapes being gathered and vintaged separately. A
stuck cask of this description of wine from the year 1846 has
been sold at 5000 francs. The boundary itself subdivides
into a great number of small possessions. The Count of
Schonborn is the greatest holder there , next to him is the
Duke of Nassau.
" The GTraefenberg, near Kiederich, is not of a great extent,
but furnishes also very good wines. They are distinguished
234i WINES OF GEBMANY AND SWITZERLAND.
by a peculiar flavour, and are almost of as high a standing as
the Marcobrunner.
" The same may be said of a hill near Geisenheim, the Ro-
thenberg, which belongs principally to the Count of Ingelheim.
" Eudesheim is that district in the Eheingau which offers
the greatest difference and variety in the quality of the wines ;
it extends from the lowest to the very highest. The Eudes-
heirner-berg and hinterhaus range amongst the best wines
from the Eheingau the first exceedingly powerful (Orleans
grapes), the latter of a more vivid bouquet (Eiessling grapes).
In good vintages they produce likewise a remarkably fine
Auslaas.
" Hochheim has the same standing as Eudesheim, and, al-
though situated on the banks of the Maine, it is yet counted
amongst the Ehenish wines. The best vineyard is the Hoch-
heimer Domdechant, belonging formerly to the chapter of
Maintz. It is extending from the church down the hill, con-
tains about 8 morgen (acres), and is likewise far the greater
part a domain of the Duke of Nassau. Its wines from good
vintages fetch heavy prices.
" The Eheingau produces but one renowned and noted de-
scription of red wine, the Assmannshauser, about three Eng-
lish miles from Eudesheim, down the river. This wine has a
good deal of strength and of delicate flavour, and is disposed
of in good years from 125 to 300 francs per aum. The Duke
of Nassau is also here the chief proprietor."
[The Atlantic Islands.]
CHAPTEE IX.
WINES OF PORTUGAL AND MADEIRA.
THE METHUEN TREATY QUANTITY OF WINE IMPORTED IN 1700 AND 1800
MONOPOLY OF WINES GIVEN TO A COMPANY CONDUCT OF THE COMPANY
VINEYARDS OF THE DOURO OF MADEIRA AND THE AZORES.
THE history of no country in the world furnished an example
of greater political absurdity than our own, in the conclusion
withT Portugal of what was commonly called the Methuen
treaty. (See Appendix, No. XII.) By this treaty English-
men were subsequently compelled to drink the fiery adultera-
tions of an interested wine company, and from the coarseness
of their wines exposed to imitations of them without end,
from materials some of which had never been in Portugal.
Sophistications were complained of in 1730, but greatly in-
creased after the monopoly had been granted. The delusion
of encouraging our woollen manufactures was the bait held
out in exchange for the rejection of better wine, and the
236 WINES or POKTTJGAL AND MADEIRA.
substitution of a third-rate article. The objections to a
treaty of such a nature are obvious enough to every impartial
reasoner.
Had the wine of Oporto been of a first-rate class, and
Englishmen a little less attached to coarse wines of a hot
character, it is probable the difference in the wines themselves,
unless indeed the adulteration was very gradual, would have
struck them by its singularity. It is impossible to believe
that the port wines of 1700 and 1800 were of the same degree
of excellence. The lapse of a century would, it is true, render
the comparison impossible in the span of human life. This,
no doubt, prevented a change in the original quality of the
wine from being discovered. The writer, a few years ago,
dining with a diplomatic character belonging to Portugal,
drank port wine, he believes, for the first time in his life, and
a better wine he never tasted ; but this was of a kind called
vinhos separados, not export wine. It wanted, the delicacy of
the highest wines of Prance, but it was everything else that
could be desired: stomachic, mellow, of good strength, and
colour. It was what all port wine drunk in England should
be in respect to body, flavour, and quality. The author was
informed it had been brought over from Lisbon out of the
wine sent there to be consumed by the better classes in the
country. The mystery was revealed ; it had not been pre-
pared for the English market.
The increase in the consumption of the wine of Oporto,
found in comparing the consumption of the first ten years
of the last century with the like number of the present, is
striking : it is as follows :
Tuns. Hhds. Gall.
Wines imported from 1700 to 1710 . . 81,293 9
Ditto 1800 to 1810 . . 222,022 2 52
Difference in 1810 . 140,729 2 43
The non-importation of the pure wine first took place
about 1715. It was then the Portuguese began to min-
gle a little brandy with the wines they sent to England.
About this time, or two years later, a duty of 55Z. 5s. per
tun was laid upon French wines, while Portuguese wines
were admitted at 71. 5s. 3d. a tun ! It is evident, therefore,
that the demand for the worst wine arose out of the cheap-
ness of one article, and the almost prohibitive duty placed
WINES OF POBTTJGAL AND MADEIKA. 237
upon the other in other words, that our taste for port wine
was forced upon us by our rulers, really out of jealousy to-
wards France. There is no necessity to search for any other
reason why port wine was so generally drunk in England.
It was no intrinsic worth in the wines themselves which in-
troduced them. Englishmen become wedded to long usage,
and numbers believed port wine the only real red wine in
the world, and shivered whenever Bomanee Conti, or Lafitte,
was named.
In 1756 a monopoly of the wine country of the Upper
Douro was given to a company. They obtained a charter
through the Marquis of Pombal, whose wines they gratefully
took in return. They fixed the price of the wines, and re-
stricted the limits of the vineyards, outraging private pro-
perty and preventing competition. The ostensible objects of
the company were plausibly expressed.* It was alleged that
inferior wines, from bad situations, had been bought and
lotted with those of the factory ; that the farmers did not
allow the wine fully to ferment ; that it was stopped in the
fermentation by throwing in brandy " a diabolical act !"
(so styled) by not separating the white from the black
grapes, and "by using confections." Thus, one main plea
was to prevent adulterations of the wines, though there was
no evidence that anything but a small quantity of brandy had
ever till then been mingled with them, from the unfounded
notion that it was essential to their durability. This first
* The following are some of those useful regulations which won over all oppo-
sition, for they are in themselves good. They turned out, however, to be pro-
hibitive only upon those who were not of the company :
" 1. That the district calculated for the growth of the export wines should
be marked out, and the mixture of these wines with others from without the
boundary prohibited.
" 2.^That no one should be permitted to cover the vines with litter, as this
operation, though it considerably augments the produce, tends to deteriorate the
quality of the wine.
4 | 3. That, in the ^manufacture of the wine, no one should use elderberries,
which not only give it a false and evanescent colour, but also change its natural
flavour.
" 4. That after each vintage, a list should be made out of the number of pipes
in every cellar within the district ; and that the wine-tasters of the company,
and others to be nominated by the farmers, should prove them, and arrange
them in classes, distinguishing such as were fit for exportation, and delivering to
the proprietors a corresponding ticket.
" 5. That the market should be opened on a certain day, and should be free to
all English merchants, to such Portuguese as were qualified as legitimate ex-
porters, and to the company itself."
238 WLSES OF PORTUGAL AND MADEIRA.
happened, as mentioned above, about 1715. In 1756 began
the era of the deterioration of these wines.
H'ow the company proceeded in exemplifying their zeal
for the preservation of the genuine character of the wine is
a well-known history. It may first be necessary to remark
that no wine, let it be grown where it may, can ever approach
to the character of a first, or even of a second rate wine, un-
less it be the pure juice of the grape, unmingled with any-
thing but wine, and that of its own class. "Wine of a prime
growth, if mingled with an inferior kind of ever so good a
quality, is apt to become cloudy, and to be deteriorated, but,
mingled with brandy, its distinct and delicate character is
destroyed. The company were, as they alleged, well con-
vinced of this truth. They were not ignorant that the wines
of Prance, of the first class, were the finest in the world,
unmatched out of that country. Did they then determine
to raise the Portuguese wines into competition with them ?
They did no such thing. They began, it is true, by pro-
scribing all offenders, but only that they might themselves
put on the character. They levied fines upon all other
persons who had elderberries in their possession, and got
the trees rooted up. They then began their own career of
amendment, by buying or making brandy, and pleading the
necessity for its use in adulterating the wine in a greater
degree than before. They charged the taste of Englishmen
as their excuse, and gradually proceeded to encourage the
mixing together all sorts of grapes, and fermenting their
must carelessly, with a view to quantity. They grubbed up
the fine old vines, and got those substituted of less virtue
but fuller bearing. They did not spare brandy in the opera-
tion, nor elderberries, nor burnt corn, nor anything that
would answer to colour the wine when it was not thought
deep enough. They created at length such a wine as the
world never before saw. This wine was sometimes so im-
proved by subsequent adulterations in London, where the
imitations of port wine were found to be facile, in conse-
quence of the absence in much of the wine imported of the
prime qualities of good wine, that a vast quantity more was
sold than Oporto with its company had ever been able to
export.
The company, as soon as it was installed in full plenitude
WINES OF PORTUGAL AND MADEIRA. 239
of monopoly, guided by merchants from England, settled in
the country, not only blended good and bad growths together,
to make one profitable class of wine, but raised the price to
the consumer, while deteriorating the article he purchased.
The prices were soon carried far beyond what they had been
originally, until the Portuguese themselves complained of
the extortion. The privileges of the company were then so
far moderated; that the export wines alone were left wholly
in their hands, and so remained, quadrupled in price to
Englishmen, and debased in quality. Englishmen were thus
forced to drink worse wine, and that wine exclusively. In
1730 good port wine was sold in England at two shillings the
bottle, and white wine of Portugal at the same price. Canary-
was a third dearer ; French wine was so taxed, that it was
charged double that of Portugal.
If the company had acted up to its professions, the wine
of Oporto, which is naturally of a good character, would have
been improved into a wine of the first class. A generous
and honourable competition with French wines, until by
perseverance, and a liberal outlay of capital, wine approaching
Burgundy, Cote Hoti, orBourdeaux, was produced, would have
been something meriting praise, and every step attained in
the improvement of the wine would have rendered imitation
in England more difficult, by which means the British nation
would have escaped the impositions practised upon it from
the facility of imitation. Five-eighths of the wine brought
to England is so coarse, and is such a medley of ill-flavoured
heterogeneous vine produce, brandy, and other matters, that
any ingenious person may increase one pipe to three by the
addition of unexciseable articles, without any fresh injury
to the stomach of the consumer, or to the appearance of
the wine.
No wine is worthy to be drunk in a highly-civilised com-
munity which is not made of grapes alone, carefully selected
from vines upon which practised labour has bestowed the
proper culture, and that is not carried through the operations
of the vintage and into the cellar with the most watchful
attention. Such wine must be exported with scrupulous
regard to the nature of the article. In Spain, where, in con-
sequence of a demand for low-priced sherry, Moguer wine is
mixed with a better kind in such a proportion as to reduce the
240 WINES OF POBTTTGAL AND MADEIBA.
butt to the intended value, there is no disguise in the matter.
The grower disposes of the wine to the merchant for what it
really is, and the merchant exports it under the same cha-
racter. But the best class of these wines cannot be success-
fully imitated, for the growth and manufacture have gone on
improving; and though the absurd custom of adding two
bottles of brandy to the sherry butt continues, no other mix-
ture whatever is permitted in the country. A just proportion
of brandy exists in southern wines naturally, and, from the
same consequence, in those of Oporto. "What is added to
wines by nature of so much strength must be injurious, and
can never assimilate, as the natural alcohol does, with the
wine, even during fermentation. The trade may talk of
fretting in, "working," and what not; the commingling is
never perfect, and the alcohol uncombined is so much more
noxious to the stomach of the drinker, who, in fact, drinks not
water and brandy, but wine and brandy. "What, then, is to
be said of the addition of brandy to wine naturally strong, and
that, too, during the process of fermentation, when the must
or wine is in the most delicate state of transition, and the
least interference is destructive to its quality ? This has been
done with the Portuguese wines in the teeth of better know-
ledge, to the extent of four and a half gallons per pipe at the
beginning of the present century. Now, no less than twelve
gallons are thrown in during fermentation ! Then, the colour
of the skin of the grape not being deemed deep enough, elder-
berry colouring is added, according to fancy, and four gallons
more of brandy with it. The wine now goes into Oporto, is
racked, and receives two gallons more of brandy, and often,
when only nine months old, is considered fit to go to England,
another gallon of brandy being added on shipping. In all,
twenty-four gallons of brandy are added per pipe, whether
this mode of treatment is generally adopted or others very
similar, and whether shipped off at nine or twelve months'
age. When sent thus immature, in which state full two-
thirds of the port wines are sent, they are sweetened and
softened. Of the remainder which comes to England, the
fermentation is suffered to be more perfect, though in that
the grapes are for some indiscriminately mixed, and in some
few cases carefully selected. Very little of this is without a
mixture of geropiga, afterwards added, besides brandy. This
WINES OF POBTTJGAL AND MADEIBA. 241
adulterate consists of fifty-six pounds of dried elderberries,
sixty pounds of coarse brown sugar and treacle, seventy-
eight gallons of unfermented grape-juice generally of the
black, deep-coloured Souzao grape and thirty-nine gallons
of the strongest brandy. There is even reason to believe that
logwood is sometimes used, for there are continual shipments
of it to Oporto, as the " price current" shows.
Elderberries are said to have been purchased by one of the
proprietors of vineyards, in 1842, to the extent of 400Z. The
abolition of the old Company has been met by a new one.
Its monopoly and abuses have been seconded by indivi-
duals, eager to meet the demand of the factory merchants, or
those who wanted the strength, colour, and sweetness which,
nature never gives. The stoppage of the fermentation, in a
delicate part of the process, is to be remedied by brandy.
Hence it is easy to tell how modern port produces such effects
on the stomach as were not felt in the old time, with honest,
good wine. The wines are no longer light and cheering, but
heavy and dull in their effects. It would almost seem as if
the Portuguese made their wine a vehicle for disposing of
their brandy. The export of the adulterating matter of gero-
piga to England is carried on openly. In 1843 no less than
12 1| pipes of this adulterated must of brandy and elder-
berry were exported to London from Oporto, to mingle with
port, or simulate port elsewhere, in wines that perhaps never
saw Portugal.
Of the wine of the first quality, described as having every
" requisite, and to spare" such is the phrase six thousand
pipes are about the number produced in the " careful" district
of the Douro. Of wine made up, or compounded by being
mixed with other wine, about six thousand more pipes are
made. There are about fifteen or eighteen thousand pipes of
the " second quality" made ; that is, in the phraseology, wine
that has " requisite qualities, but none to spare." The third
quality is not legally exportable ; but laws are cobwebs in com-
merce. "Wines of second quality are promoted to the first
rank, and the third quality wines promoted to the second.
Tasters are appointed, who will sometimes approve half a
tonel of wine as of the first class, and the other half of the
same as of the second. Standing as second quality, it cannot
be exported to England ; but the dealer sells his half-tonel of
242 WISHES OE PORTUGAL ASTD MADEIRA.
first-rated wine, and, with the license covering it, he brings
his second half into Oporto as first, and so passes that into
the market. These licenses are called " papers," and cost
a sum varying in amount according to circumstances.
In wines so deteriorated, the difference which should exist
between the first and second growths cannot be discovered ;
and it is clear, from the complexion of the thing, that as little
as possible of such a distinction is desired. The company
is far better pleased that there should be one favourite
class, absorbing the middling as well as the best, since by this
means all the wines approach a fixed price. It may be re-
plied, how can such a supposition be reasonable, when port
wine is found to differ so much in quality ? To answer this,
it may be observed, that age, brandy, and the soil, will make
a difference in the strength and taste of a wine, but they
cannot alter the character of the class ; it may be ordinary
wine notwithstanding. The wine of the company's exporta-
tion cannot be mistaken.
Never was there more sophistry displayed than in the
laboured answer made by the company at Oporto to the
charges brought against them ; they published utter nonsense
in their defence. An eminent wine-merchant of London ob-
served, " that it seemed as if the Oporto people were fools
enough to imagine no one knew anything about wine but
themselves, and that there were no other growths than those
of Oporto in the world."
"Why Englishmen should not have the benefit of the best
wines of the Cima do Douro in a pure state, without adventi-
tious mixtures, and as cheap as other nations, no rational
answer can be given. The late alteration of the duty upon
[French wines was a wise and considerate step, and will lead
the way to so just an estimate of the merits of wine that the
company of Oporto will some day see the existing system
of operations perish. Old habits will decline, perhaps, more
rapidly than they arose.
The powers given to the company formerly were of the
most despotic character. As all competition was swept away,
and they were the sole dictators, so they found the usual evils
of arbitrary power recoil upon themselves. They set bounds
to the vine country " so far shalt thou grow and no farther"
was the mandate to the possessor of the soil. The conse-
WINES OP PORTUGAL AND MADEIKA. 243
quence was, extensive smuggling. Smuggling, as it naturally
does when prohibition is overdone, demanded injurious and
tyrannical power over the agrarian population to repress it,
in vine. The next step was to crave military aid of an arbi-
trary government for the purpose, and military interference
was followed, as usual, by waste and ruin to the inhabitants
without removing the evils ; those evils which were the pre-
tences for the establishment of the monopoly of the company,
and the removal of which they urged as most necessary for
the interest of the trade, but which they renewed imme-
diately, and systematised for their own advantage. Having
monopolised the wine and brandy trade, and even the taxation
upon them and the brandy imported into Portugal, they
purchased inferior wines to dispose of as port, or mingle
with the stronger kinds, to all which they affixed the price,
and for ever barred the rating into classes which could only be
effected by greater remuneration from the merchant to the
grower, and in consequence by a larger rate of payment for the
first wines from the consumer. They levelled the superior
growths known before that pernicious interference, and amal-
gamated the white wine manufacture into the common hotch-
potch which composes the unique species for which England
now pays such a heavy export duty.
This mischief was accomplished long before a sort of modi-
fication of the company's charter took place in 1823, in con-
sequence of the injury to agriculture and commerce arising
out of the existence of this sordid body, even in the view of
so short-sighted a government as that of Portugal. (See Ap-
pendix, No. XII.) Their power had been too long absolute.
Approached for such a time only by memorial or petition,
they were considered within their agrarian and mercantile
domains as very lofty and potent dignitaries. Though their
wings were apparently clipped by the government, the in-
fluence of long-exercised power could not rapidly suffer a
diminution ; years have elapsed since the decree was issued,
but the wine has not changed for the better but the worse.
Trade must be free as air. The folly of the interference of the
government of a country with its manufactures, either directly
or through the grant of a monopoly, does not now need any
effort of the pen to expose. The wines of Portugal, left at
first to the emulation and spirit of individuals, would have
244 WINES OF PORTUGAL AND MADEIBA.
risen in estimation. They would have been divided into classes,
each grower being emulative to attain the highest. High
prices would have purchased wine of proportionate worth,
and England would not have had to pay dearly for an inferior
article. The coarser vines of Portugal would have been suc-
ceeded by those of a better and choicer character. The grower
would have been enriched, and the British public, that was
forced to purchase under a most specious and impolitic treaty,
would have had less love for ardent-spirited wine, decidedly
injurious to health. It was doubtful whether such desirable
consequences could follow after long abuses. The individuals
concerned acting separately, it would be difficult to free from
their attachment to former usages, and their desire to admi-
nister to a corrupted taste created previously by themselves,
to oblige the spirit-drinkers in the home market, who ask for
sweet, strong, and deep-coloured wine. They had assumed also
the direction in the details of the vintage, which their want
of experience caused to be injurious, imagining in pride of
capital and trade that they conferred an ability for every un-
dertaking. In defence of brandying the wines, the company's
agents say that the English cannot have them too strong.
How comes it, then, that before the old company engrossed the
wine trade of Oporto, very little brandy was ever used, and Eng-
lishmen did not complain ? The fact is, the company created
the bad taste, which afterwards became a standard, as full of
convenience for promoting their objects as it could well be.
Next, they say the wines will not keep so well without
brandy : this excuse is alleged for the little spirit which is
mixed with the Bourdeaux wines before they are shipped to
England ; the reply which will do in the latter case will do in
the former how comes it that Bourdeaux wines are drunk in
Holland, Prussia, and St. Petersburgh, in their natural state,
and yet will not reach England pure. The truth is, that the
Oporto company knew what is so well known in Erance as
to be a matter of complaint, namely, that a large quantity
of secondary wine pays better than a little wine of the
highest quality.
In 1841, a bad vintage year, out of 77,894 pipes, they
passed 58,033 as of the best or most desirable quality. The
reverse is the rule in every other vine country under the sun.
In 1842, a very indifferent year, out of 73.23L| pipes they
WINES OF POETUGAL AND MADEIKA. 245
contrived to Lave 47,351 of what they call their first class in
other words, that of which they could make the most in
quantity. The object since has been to bring down the fine
growths, and raise up the poorer, and thus keep a medley of
a very middling quality. Brandy was the best means of
equalising the two extremes. The wine could not be drunk
until the vinous qualities were nearly all gone, and the brandy
tamed down, and then the cheat passed off; freshness and
bouquet ceased to belong to the wine. In this way only is it to
be accounted for, as may be seen in the Appendix, that three
bad years together did not change the prices or quantities of
these wines ; nay, that the same season one part of the wine
was said to be good and another bad, as if in a fine season
the entire vintage would not be either good or bad. Accus-
tomed as we now are to these wines, the improvement of
them is to be greatly desired. The merchants from England,
it is said in their defence by those in Portugal, were always
demanding colour, fruitiness, ripeness, softness, and so on.
The farmers did all they could to meet the demand on their
part. They applied artificial means to sweeten, strengthen,
and colour the wines, and he who succeeded best sold his
wine first, and at the highest price. In fact, he " made," but
did not " grow," the wine most in demand. The objects re-
quired should have been effected by attending to the nature
of the grape, by adapting cultivation to the end, and by a
judicious intermixture of the fruit, not by the system of Apo-
thecaries' Hall.
Tear by year the drinking of port wine has fallen off.
People exclaim, " I cannot drink port as I used to do !" Some
put it upon their own advance in life, others upon dispepsia,
but more are puzzled to know how it disagrees with them,
having neither age nor dispepsia to lay it upon. Port is
seldom seen now on good tables, except with cheese. The
truth is, that the wine has fallen off in goodness within the
last thirty years more rapidly than could be dreamed of,
owing to still grosser interferences with its management than
existed before. If the customer does not know what wine is,
the wine must be made to meet the customer's notions,
however out of the way of what the wine should be. He
wants it sweet, high-coloured, and strong, and there are in-
gredients ready to give the wine that or any other character
246 WINES OE PORTUGAL AND MADEIRA.
required, except what is pure and healthy. " Ah," says the old
" celibataire," " there is no port wine now like that of the old
time : I wonder how it is !" Small quantities, comparatively,
of the purely fermented must of the Oporto grape are now
met with. Hence a good glass of port gets rarer and rarer,
and the sweet, strong, dark "fruity" wine of art takes its
place, often smelling like medicine, and soon changing to a
bad colour by keeping. Pure wines are actually left on the
hands of the farmer in Portugal, unless he makes a wine to
suit the customer's desire. Nay, English dealers are openly
charged by the Portuguese with going to Portugal and
making wine " after their own fashion," and prevailing on some
farmers, in the hope of gain, to do the same ; the merchants
themselves taking their cue from petty innkeepers and strong-
stomached rustics, the customers for such wine in England.
Yet it is a fact, that the taste for cool, pure, exhilarating
wine has been continually gaining ground among the refined
and wealthier classes in this country.
It is now fitting that something should be said of the dis-
tricts and vineyards, the farmers and proprietors of which
have been thus weighed down, and whose wines have been so
sunk below their real merits by the pressure of the foregoing
monopoly ; secondly, as regarding prices.
The wine country of the Douro extends along the banks of
that river about fourteen leagues from the city of Oporto.
The vine is very generally cultivated in Portugal ; but it is
from the vineyards of the Douro alone that its wines have
derived a celebrity in England, through the injudicious finan-
cial measure to which allusion has been already made. The
best wine of this district was capable of great improvement
had competition been suffered to exist, and the market re-
mained open. The wines of Portugal are now inferior to the
wines of Spain, the sherries of which country have continued
to improve, and to approach much nearer to the first class of
wines than formerly. This arose not from any fault in the
soil or climate of Portugal, which is admirably adapted for
the growth of the vine, But from the sordid monopoly already
dwelt upon.
The wine country of the Douro is called the district of the
Cima do Douro, or the Higher Douro, and that is again sub-
divided with respect to product, into first, ^Factory wines,
WINES OP POBTUOAL AND MADEIEA. 247
Feitorie; and, secondly, Branch wines, Ramo. The sites
which it affords are excellent, and the powerful sim of the
south renders the failure of the crops a matter of rarity.
The vine training is of the low kind, the tige ~bas of the Prench,
and the vineyards are on the slopes of schistous hills, of most
favourable aspect. No less than sixty-seven varieties of vine
have been reckoned in Portugal ; but in the wines no nicety
of choice has been exemplified ; the favourite species is the
product not of the best vine, but of that which gives out the
greatest abundance of a black fruit : the leaves are exceed-
ingly coarse, rough, and deeply serrated. The species called
Donzelinho, Alvarelhao, a small black grape, giving a light-
coloured, durable wine, and the Souzao, black, astringent,
giving a deep coloured wine, but harsh, are in much request ;
the Bastardo is black and small, grown in a deep slaty soil.
It is one of the best species.
The Tinta Lameira yields excellent wine, and there are
several other kinds in use, as the Touriga and Tinta Caa, but
whatever are the varieties, or the different qualities of their
must from inferior or superior situations as to growth, they
are all mingled together, and the wine is sweet or harsh as by
accident one particular species of grape may predominate,
while the choice must which the best grape might afford has
its good qualities utterly wasted, and flavours confounded.
It is evident, therefore, that no justice has been done to the
wines of the Douro, nor have their " capabilities" been fairly
put to the proof. The wines of the Upper Douro are gene-
rally dry, and ought to be kept three years in the country.
The grapes are trodden in vats in a slovenly way with the
stalks, and while the process of fermentation proceeds, this
uncouth operation is repeated. The time of fermentation
varies, but it rarely exceeds seventy-five hours. The wines
are then removed into tuns, containing upwards of a dozen
pipes each. The wine is racked after the great wine sale in
February, and carried to the cellars of the company, or of the
purchasers. ^ The taint of the brandy which it holds until age
ameliorates it at the expense of its natural vinous flavour and
perfume is now all-prevalent. Thus, in order to drink the
wine of Oporto, it must be swallowed in a fiery state from
brandy ; or if the consumer wishes to avoid the ardent nature
of the combination, and cause less injury to his stomach, he
248 WINES OF PORTUGAL AND MADEIRA.
must wait until the better vinous properties are deteriorated,
and the flavour and aroma of the wine are utterly destroyed
He is fortunate who is able to meet with the little of the pure
port of the old time that there is in the market.
No valid excuse has ever been made for the practice of
adding such a quantity of brandy to the wines of Oporto, in
the extraordinary manner which has been the custom. The
quality of some of the Portuguese brandy has been often bad.
It has sometimes been distilled from figs and raisins, of which
no other use could be made. A couple of bottles of good
brandy to a pipe when put on board ship, would answer every
purpose of preservation. In some years twenty thousand
tuns of port wine have been imported into Great Britain,
in every one of which, supposing the portion of brandy, in
place of four gallons and a half as formerly added, to be twenty-
four gallons to the pipe, artificially introduced, it would give
the enormous amount of 960,000 gallons of brandy thus dis-
posed of. This must be an object of some moment to the
export trade of Portugal. No one in England ever dreamed
of a brandy trade of Portugal being carried on in this man-
ner, and so largely, too ! To get rid of this pernicious liquid
fire, none of which is really required, Portuguese wines having
both durability and flavour adequate to any purpose, the wine
must be kept a dozen years, and utterly ruined in freshness
and bouquet. Can it be wondered at, that people complain
of the effect of modern port upon their stomachs, and declare
it is not what it was formerly ?
In 1775, Sir Edward Barry, in his treatise upon wine, re-
marked that those of Portugal were at that time become more
heavy and heating than formerly, and took a much longer
time to mature. The practices at present carried to such an
extent were then beginning. What would the good physician
say of nine-tenths of modern port wine, its brandy, and gero-
piga ? The stock of this last adulterating mixture in hand
in Oporto, in 1849, was, 2144 pipes !
If the Oporto charge made against the English taste were
true, how came it that even down to 1754 the admixture of
the small quantity used till then was censured as flagitious
and abominable ? Port wine had been drunk in England for
nearly sixty years, and the wines were found warm enough
for the taste of Englishmen. The truth is, as already stated,
WINES OF POETUGAL AND MADEIEA. 249
that brandy and mixing aid in making all growths equal, after
being kept a longer or shorter time, for the inclination of the
inferior qualities always is to descend in the market even
below their worth, as that of the better is to increase. "Wines
of a worthless or very inferior quality have been imported to
the extent of several thousand pipes in one year into Oporto,
to mingle with the port wines, such as those of Anadia or
Pigueras, when the quantities have been short. Thus there
was always plenty to export. Bad or good years were run to-
gether. (See Appendix, No. XII., table of quality for twenty-
one vintages.) By such means, too, the wines of Oporto
sent to Guernsey and Jersey, not in amount equal by two-
thirds to the port sent into England from these islands as
fsnuine wine of Portugal, are carried up to the required mark,
his is a singular instance of the gullibility of the English
people, who consumed annually hundreds of pipes of wine as
Portuguese, that never had been in Portugal at all. Spain
with Beni Carlos, and Prance through Cette, make up the extra
supply. By these practices, and the ease with which the
mass of any people is cajoled, a taste in wine of a most extra-
ordinary kind had come to prevail in this country, among the
bulk of those in the middling classes who drink wine, and who
seemed to prefer the juice of the grape the more it was unlike
the product of simple fermentation, the very excellence of
which consists in the slight interference of artificial effort for
completing its product, after the earth and sun have done
their part.
Between 1750 and 1755 a pipe of the best Oporto wine
could be bought in the country of the grower for two pounds
sixteen shillings, so low had these wines fallen, and yet up-
wards of ten thousand tuns were brought into Great Britain,
and in 1753, nearly thirteen thousand. But in 1756 the old
company was formed, and the wine neve'- fell so low again,
although the consumption was very nttie increased. Yet in
1819, 1820, 1821, and 1822, the quantity imported did not
more than average the foregoing amount. The average
import from 1813 to 1822 was but 12,182 tuns. Prom
1787 to 1810 seems to have been the high and gaining state
of the Oporto trade ; the company's triumph. Once in that
time the importation into Great Britain reached 28,639 tuns,
namely, in 1801. Twice, in 1803 and 1810, it was above
250 WINES OF POBTTJGAL AND MADEIKA.
27,000. The average from 1715 to 1787 seems to have been
about 12,000 tuns : a remarkable circumstance, arising no
doubt out of the advance of duties, since the increase of the
population of Great Britain from 1715 to 1826 must have
otherwise greatly enhanced the demand. In 1831 only
11,639 tuns were imported. In the luxury of wine, there-
fore, the inhabitants of England, from 1715 to 1787, were
better provided than they are now, as a far greater number
in proportion were able to afford wine. The excess of these
wines, imported between 1787 and 1810, must be placed to
the account of a stimulus given by the war, and the con-
sumption in the navy and army. The largest vintage in the
Douro was in 1804, when the best part of 77,000 pipes was
made or manufactured. In 1798 above 64,000 pipes were
exported. It is evident, therefore, that Portugal must have
suffered in her export wine trade since 1810, as far as Great
Britain is concerned. JN"o longer ago than 1837, of 25,782
pipes exported from Oporto, 21,110 came to England, all the
rest of the world taking but 4672, and the larger part of this
last number going to the Brazils. (For ten years' export
from Oporto, see Appendix.)
The best wine exported suiting the English taste is pro-
duced at and above Pezo da Eegoa, which is situated in the
centre of the Upper Douro. In that place the annual port
wine fair is held. When the wine grown here is preserved
pure, it resembles some of the Ehone growths in France, or
the Cote Eotie. The Eamo wines have little brandy mingled
with them 'by the farmer, being reckoned inferior to the
Cima do Douro ; still the company found a dishonest use for
them in mingling, or filling up their casks, and completing
ullage. ViUarinho des Ereires, Abasas, Galafura, and Gor-
vaens, are among the best vineyards of the Eamo, and their
wine is light and ^hclesome when left in the natural state.
In the province ot IteLra the vines are of the high growth,
tige Jiaut, and there they also mingle brandy with the wines.
Lamego, Alenquer, and Monaon produce the best ; they are
of good quality. The white port of this country was at one
time much in request, and thought better than the red. It
was subsequently forbidden to be made by the monopolists
of the red wines. Vim de liqueur are made at Carcavellos,
both red and white. Common Carcavellos, a wine of a
WItfES OE POBTTJGAL AKD MADEIBA. 251
sweetish species, growing gradually drier by age, is a well-
known wine in England ; so is Bucellas, a good wine, which
comes from a vineyard near Lisbon, but is too apt to be
spoiled, by being sophisticated with brandy when sent to
this country. Setuval produces a dry and a muscadine wine
of good quality ; and Colares a good light port, when ob-
tained pure. Of Lisbon there are two kinds, a dry and sweet
wine, both much more neglected than they should be. .For-
merly dry Lisbon was a noted table wine, but was said not
to be good for nervous persons ; very probably an unmerited
scandal. In fact, it is easy to perceive, on examining the
wines of Portugal, how much monopoly, abuses, and the
want of competition, as well as of science in treating their
wines, have kept back the vinous productions of a territory
blessed with every natural advantage. ' Some of the wines of
Portugal were known in England in 1600. Charneco is a
wine mentioned by Shakspeare in Henry YI. It came
from a village of that name, not far from Lisbon, to the
northward.
The monopoly of the company, it may be further remarked,
though it did not increase the excellence of the wines of
Portugal, enhanced their price. This is the natural effect of
all monopoly, as well as lessening consumption. It may be
inferred, as will be seen from the tables at the end of this
volume, that the demand from England has scarcely increased
at all, in consequence of the high duties levied on wine here
at a later period. From 1715 to 1787, the importation was
about 24,000 pipes, and that is little less than the average
since 1813. After the company was formed, though there is
no proof that the wines were at all improved, they speedily
rose to twelve pounds a pipe, and then to eighteen in the
country. In 1818, when the quality was ordinary, and the
quantity as great as it ever was, the price demanded was
forty-eight and fifty pounds at Oporto. Money had not
altered in value. The same quantity of wine was made and
exported within both periods, and England was almost the
sole consumer. It would be a very reasonable thing to
inquire how this happened. Although wine from Oporto
fell afterwards, it was only to a price a little lower. Erom
thirty-five to forty-five pounds sterling was a large price for
wines neither recherche, nor diminished by lack of product,
252 WINES OF POBTTJGAL AND MADEIBA.
neither improved by superior skill and capital, nor made
with greater cost to any serious extent than they were fifty
years before. The brandy expended, it is true, became a
source of cost that did not before exist, but still this is a
point never satisfactorily explained. Perhaps there was
a predilection for dear wine among buyers, which mono-
polists encouraged. "Whatever the cause, the public was
equally the sufferer.
In 1710, or about that year, the wines of Portugal brought
into England were more varied than at present. "White port,
as well as red, was sold in the city at five shillings per gallon.
Red and white Lisbon at five shillings and sixpence. The
red wine monopoly most probably put a term to the import
into England of more than one species from Oporto. Sub-
sequently the price of port in London, duty included, was,
in 1733, red port from thirty- two to thirty-six pounds per
tun of two pipes ; white port from twenty-four to forty
pounds. Eed Lisbon from thirty to thirty-six ; white Lisbon
twenty-six.
Events in Portugal, since the first edition of this book, had
led to the hope of improvement in wine-growing and ma-
nufacturing there for exportation. Let the wines of the
Douro have fair play ; let care and delicacy be observed in
the vintages ; let the wines be classed ; and there will be no
fear of a noble and generous product. British capital, and
a practised hand or two from the Cote d'Or to direct, and
we might have wine of Oporto of the first class. It is not the
soil, nor the climate, but the slovenly management of the
vintages, the gripe of monopoly, and the lust of cupidity,
that has prevented the wine of Oporto from doing justice to
itself. A taste of what accident has yielded more than de-
sign, has shown what may be produced in Portugal, by a
pipe now and then a sort of " angel visitor" to this coun-
try. Some excellent wine got over here in the late confu-
sion of political events astonished many an old wine-
drinker. In buying port, as in buying all other wines, the
rule is never to be impugned that good wine can be pur-
chased of the most respectable merchants only at the most
respectable prices.
After the foregoing paragraph was written in a former
edition, a politic decree (see Appendix) was issued on the
WINES OF PORTUGAL AND MADEIEA. 253
downfal of Don Miguel, which abrogated that nuisance
the old wine company of Porto, and restored the free
disposal of their vineyards and wines to the cultivators of
the Upper and Lower Douro ; therefore, we expected dif-
ferent classes of Oporto wine, as our wine merchants might
go unshackled to market, and import as much brandied wine
as they chose for those whose taste it suited, and as much of a
high delicate flavour and of an unadulterated quality as good
judges can get. Unfortunately, nature must still be forced.
Are sweet wines wanted, they are made sweet artificially,
or strong in the same way. In 1849, the rintage was re-
ported bad, and the wines bad in quality. To meet this evil,
the price of brandy was advanced at once, from the quantity
demanded or expected to be in demand, to carry them up
to the mark of the gainful intermediate class, between the
small quantity of good and the mass of common or very bad,
by the resuscitated or "new" company. (See Appendix,
" Letters in the Periodica des pobres")
But there is one evil of the old system yet unnoticed ; and
that is the introduction into England of wines foreign to
Portugal as port. No wine is so easily imitated. Wines
under that name have reached England from Bourdeaux. If
the case be proved, then no one will contend that there
would be any difference in the flavour of the wine if it were
called by the right name, and importers returned to the path
of integrity. Let any one take a good-sized map of Trance,
and, finding Marseilles, trace the Grulf of Lyons to Cette,
and from Cette a hundred miles further west or south-west.
There he will see the small harbour of Port Vendres, situ-
ated near Cape Creux, at the base of the Pyrenees. Dou-
bling Cape Creux, he will discover, five or six hours' sail dis-
tant, the little bay of [Rosas, in Spain. Now, wines for
England were always designated "French" by law, if they
came from France, in order to secure the high rate of duty
attached to them. The same wines coming from Spain, as
Spanish, were only liable to a duty, from 1786 to 1793, of
321. 16s. 6d., while French wines paid 49Z. 14s. 4-|gd. per
tun. (See Appendix, No. II.) A house at Bristol, for years
before and up to the time of the French revolutionary war,
drove a thriving trade by getting the wines of Eoussillon
from Port Vendres into Kosas, and then shipping them to
254
WINES OF PORTUGAL AKD MADEIBAi
England. The warehouses used for this purpose are yet in
existence at Port Yendres. These wines, as good or better
than those of Portugal during the monopoly, were purchased
much cheaper ; and a very large profit must have accrued
upon their sale. The house of Ireland, of Bristol, was among
the parties that carried on this commerce. " Eristol ports "
had a great run, and were favourite Oporto wines, without
ever being in the country ! Under the absurd monopoly,
the trade was perfectly fair, although the passing off such
wines to the public in England as port wines was not just.
The war ended this traffic. Something very similar is now
carried on through Cette. In Eowring's parliamentary re-
port on "Wines it is stated, that factitious Port and Madeira
are prepared and brandied for exportation through Cette.
Now, good wines of the south of Prance need no disguise ;
they have every quality of pure, sound wine.
A vessel chartered for " London or Brazil," left Cette for
Oporto, with some hundred pipes of wine, in November,
1833, for a house the name of which was well known. This
was her third voyage in the same trade within no long space
of time. The trade of Oporto to the Brazils has been ruined.
There were sent from Oporto to Brazil, of port wine, in
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
7410 pipes
9585
6212
3568
824
434
131
In 1831, Prance shipped to Brazil 4500 pipes, and in-
creased her shipments every year since. In that year, her
total exports were 152,000 pipes.
The exports from Oporto to the Channel Islands touch
another of these positions. There were shipped from Oporto
for the Channel Islands, in
1826 pipes 38 Imported into London 293 pipes
1827 93 99
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
75
90 ;;
147
143
263
862!,,
Now why was all this, if the object were not to introduce
WINES OE POKTUGAL AKD MADEIBA. 255
a commodity purchased cheaper, in place of a dearer, and
when the customs entry demanded wines grown in Prance
to be entered as French, to take them to another port, and
tranship them there as wines of Portugal ? "When the dif-
ference of duties existed, the revenue loss was great. In
1812, about 135 pipes and 20 hogsheads were exported from
Oporto into the Channel Islands, but 2545 pipes and 162
hogsheads were imported from these islands into London,
the duty being then lls. 5d. French and 7s. 7d. Portuguese,
per gallon, the difference exceeding the cost price of such
wines. Guernsey and Jersey did not grow the wines. Thus
if legislators follow a tortuous policy, or keep up unwise re-
strictions upon trade, its spirit is certain to baffle them, even
with an army of excisemen.
Constant importations of wine from Hamburgh and from
Amsterdam, into London took place, no less in some years
than five hundred pipes. It is true there was wine sent
directly from Oporto to both these places, but it is not less
true that France exported to both places annually above a
hundred times the quantity which Oporto did. French wines
were brought into London from Holland as port. No less
than 24,000 pipes of French wine entered Hamburgh in
1831, and 10,000 were received into Holland. London
brokers offered French wines for sale in London, by way of
Oporto, as port wines.
By the decree of Don Pedro of the 3rd of April, 1833, a
duty of twenty per cent, ad valorem allowed the import of all
foreign wines. There was nothing to prevent vessels from
any port whatever touching at Oporto, which, since March
22, 1834 (see Appendix, JN"o. XII.), has been declared a
free port. Between the 3rd of April, 1833, and the 6th of
March, 1834, the return of imports included 586 pipes, 72
hhds. 96 qr. casks, 339 barrels, and 2636 garrafas of such
wine. Cette port wines of French assortment could be
transhipped at Oporto for England, as well as the native
growths, and certainly might be sold even coming through
Oporto at a much less price. Cautions were issued by mer-
chants against " spurious ports." All these things prove
the necessity of a great alteration in the commerce in wines,
the principle of which will be that every wine shall bear its
true designation. To this the good sense of the public must
256 WINES OF POETTJGAL AND MADEIEA.
aid. by not declining wines for their name, but their de-
merits' sake. If the enduring, full-bodied wines of Eoussil-
lon were drunk as port in 1790, and thought excellent under
the name of portif port wine came to England from the
Channel Islands that had never been in Portugal at all why-
should not such wine have been drunk equally well without
a false designation, or a hue of fraud being attached to it,
when the prices were no higher than those of port ought
to be?
In the first edition it was stated that Prance was able to
manufacture, " within her own limits, every description of
wine." This was not said lightly : the English know nothing
of two-thirds of the wines of Prance. Prom Moselle to
Malmsey, from the meagre ordinaire of the north to the rich
muscadines of Eivesaltes and the vinose, full-bodied, deep-
coloured, lasting red wines of the south, some are found as
much superior to Port wine, and as much resembling it, as
pure wine can well do. "Was it to be supposed that those
wines were only to reach this country through Oporto, and
that their real denominations would be for ever concealed ?
Cheaper, purer in respect to vintage, and deeper-coloured,
there are wines of Prance that may become most formidable
rivals to the Portuguese. The secret was blazoned in the
Masdeu, which is a Eoussillon wine, and wanted only age to
perfect qualities equal to any port wine, while in vinous
merit it was superior, when not dosed like port with brandy.
The reader who will examine the climate of Prance, and con-
sult this volume on her immense wine produce, and her skill
in the growth of wines, will perceive that the author has
in no case exaggerated her variety or capability, or amount
of production.
In 1668 we imported 30,000 pipes of these and other
Prench wines. A tax equal to nearly double that on Por-
tuguese wines was laid on, and in 1697 only four pipes were
imported. Common sense will by-and-by operate upon the
people of England in this regard. The strong, full-bodied
wines, of good vinous principles, even the delicate growths
of the Grironde also, will again extend in consumption, and
reduce that of the coarser wines of Portugal, as soon as our
habits can be operated upon in a beneficial manner, if wine
consumption increase again, and that of spirits, in place of
WINES OF POKTUGAL AND MADEIEA. 257
increasing as it does at present, should fall off. Their su-
perior cheapness forced the Portugal brandied wines upon
us, and the same sort of reaction will take place against
these wines in the end ; in fact, it is doing so already in the
case of the healthy growths of Spain.
In the editions of this work, published in 1833 and 1837,
it may be seen that no less than twelve thousand hectolitres
of Roussillon wine went into Spain, or had gone there an-
nually since the peace of 1815, corroborating in some measure
a trade like that of 1790. This quantity most probably found
its way into England from Spain as port wine, paying port
duty until the duties were equalised.
It is natural that when the quantity of Oporto wine was
tripled or quadrupled in price, while the quantity grown or
sold was not increased, an advantage should be taken by spe-
culators to substitute wines equal in quality, and purchased
at one-third of the price of port. Prom Prance this was
easy when hostilities did not exist. When they did, Spain
supplied wines that mingled with port, in the proportion of
two-thirds, so that the system could be still pursued. As if
it were not enough that prices should be raised at Oporto as
respected England, and not other countries, the government
of Great Britain has allowed that of Portugal to levy a tax
for the Portuguese exchequer of 4Z. a pipe, in the shape of
export duty, over and above other dues, reaching altogether
to 61. This duty had not been paid by other countries ; so
that it has been said port wine could be taken to America
from Portugal, and brought from thence to England, and be
cheaper than if brought direct from Portugal. This mode of
traffic actually began, and the Portuguese government, in
1850, endeavoured to put a stop to it by a decree ; with what
success the author is ignorant, but 1400 pipes are said to
have been actually passed to England in that mode. Yerily
the public here were taxed enough on the cost of the article,
and in home duties, without paying as well for the trappings of
the court of Lisbon. The new Oporto company, never remark-
able for consistency, nor commonly politic in its views, de-
nounced the English trade for violating the Portuguese law,
by shipping wine via America, as if the British shipper had no
right to evade an unjust law, while the company is a party to
the issue of bad wines. Between 1843 and 1849 it approved
s
258 WINES OF POKTTTGAL AND MADEIBA.
as first-rate wines for export 158,111 pipes, but afterwards
reduced their own approval to 83,000 pipes. The difference,
or 75,111 pipes, being without export permits, fell to the rate
of second-class wines, although they were of the same quality
as the first ! The difference was not in the wine, but the
permit. This shows how little quality is regarded by the
company, which, in the teeth of this fact, pretended that
these last wines, shipped some of them to England via Ame-
rica, were of inferior quality, which they had passed as first-rate
so little does the company regard the inferior wines coming
to England. Such port has been sold, to the extent of thou-
sands of pipes, from 14Z. to 181. per pipe; and, in 1848,
wines barely saleable, at 8Z. and 9Z., were all shipped direct
with company permits. The company is a mere subterfuge
as to the protection of the market in England against in-
ferior wine.
In 1753, or about that time, as already stated, a pipe of
port wine cost 21. 16s. There were 26,000 pipes imported
into England. The Methuen treaty had then lasted fifty
years, and the wine was slightly brandied to what it has been
since, as there is tolerable good reason for believing.
In 1756 the price rose to 12Z. and 14Z., no larger quantity
being imported than before.
In 1798 and 1799 no less than 48,000 pipes were imported,
and the prices varied from 14Z. to 18 1. a pipe.
Prom 1830 to 1835 the average importation was only
26,100 pipes, or just what it was in 1753, and a little more
than half what it was in 1799 ; and yet the price was from
32 1. to above 40Z. per pipe shipped ! JN"ow the dullest indivi-
dual that ever walked the surface of the earth without a leader
must perceive that this is the effect of monopoly, speculating
upon a forced national predilection. The Portuguese eman-
cipated colonies take little or none of her wines, as they once
did, for France supplies Erazil ; but some years' stock of port
being always hoarded, there is no decline of prices.
Of the enormous overcharge on wine effected by the
company and the monopoly, out of all ratio with the value
of the article to the consumer, the following will afford some
idea:
A pipe of Oporto shipped, 32Z. to 40Z.
English duty, 5s. 6d. per imperial gallon in addition,
W1KE3 OF PORTUGAL AND MADEIEA. 259
Now here is the cost to the home merchant of an article
not worth more than 12 1. sterling. Deducting that sum
from 4.01., we have the enormous expense to the public of
28 /. over and above the necessary sum to be added by the
merchant at home for freight, dock charges, interest of
money, bottling, and profit. Port drinkers, who were using
the cheapest article they could procure, were paying " dear
for their whistle." It may be said that the grower raised
the price of the wine, from the natural increase of rent upon
him. This may be true to a certain extent ; but it must be
recollected that it was the capital of the monopolist that
enabled the landowner to raise his rent. In proof of this,
let us see how a pipe of a so-called " Port" wine, from a finer
and richer country, will tell; or suppose it be a pipe of
Eoussillon. The price is 12Z. only; the duty the same as
port : just 28Z. of difference shipped.
Now it is easy to discover from this the species of agent
which will finally bring down the Oporto monopoly, and at the
same time enable the reader to guess the profit on Guernsey,
Hamburgh, or Amsterdam ports, when, on one pipe, 282.
difference accrues in the cost prices. Port wine ranged
from two shillings to two-and-sixpence the bottle anterior
to 1756. At 12Z. a pipe it could be sold at this price still.
The country of its growth is glutted with wine ; its exports
are diminishing, and other wines are substituting for them
abroad, and yet the prices of tolerably good port wine are as
high as ever.
To repeat a little in substance. "When Oporto wines were
only from seven to eight pounds a pipe, or in 1727-8-9-30-31,
the imports into Great Britain were 13,385 tuns of two pipes
each. In the five years ending with 1822 they were 252
tuns, or 504 pipes less. During the French war, when the
wines of that country were not attainable in England, was
" the high and palmy" state of the Portugal trade. In two
years, the Oporto exports between 1801 and 1815 reached
55,000 pipes. Since that year they have gradually diminished
as the general exports of Prance and other wine countries
have increased. It was natural to suppose, therefore, that
the wines would decline in price, and they would have done
so had the trade always been open and fair.
The author finds pleasure in discovering himself indirectly
82
260 WINES OF POBTUGAL A^D MADEIRA.
corroborated in opinion respecting the existing spirit of the
Portuguese monopoly, and its consequences, by respectable
houses in the city of London, dated in 1833. One of these
states that
" The prices of the British factory of Oporto, as well as of
the Eoyal "Wine Company, in the years 1797, 1798, and
1799, were from 14Z. to 181. per pipe, on board, at the usual
credit of nine months, &c.
"The shipping prices charged at Oporto, in 1830, 1831,
and 1832, were from 32 1. to 401. per pipe for the same classes
of wines ; and the export from Oporto, at the first of the
two periods named, was considerably the greatest. "Whatever
causes operated to create the advance from 1799 to 1832,
there seems to be none for the continuance thereof."
The House proceeded to state, that allowing DonPedro's war
to have wasted from 15,000 to 20,000 pipes, at least seven years'
consumption for the United Kingdom remained in Portugal
and England. The opinion was held that the shipping prices
must decline. This was a rational expectation; but the
capital, habit, and management of best part of a hundred
years was not to be quickly altered. Individuals, when sud-
denly made free, often act according to previous usage against
reason. The accumulation of wines must be supported to
the last possible means by the capitalist, till distress force on
the measure ; he will die inch by inch. If he baffle con-
jecture in his resistance for a time, the fall will ultimately
come, while other wines drive those of Portugal out of the
market, in so great a degree as to quicken that inevitable
event.
To place in a clear point of view the monstrous legislative
blunder, which abstracted enormous sums from the pockets
of the public for the last thirty-five years alone, it may be
proper to examine what England would have paid for her
port wines, had not the monopoly existed. There is no
reason to believe that, as the wine of Oporto, before 1756,
realised from four to seven pounds a pipe, the consumption
not materially increasing, it could ever have got above^ twelve
pounds ; ten pounds, it is probable, would have been the
maximum. Now our imports of port wine from 1801 to
1835 inclusive, did not much exceed those from 1765 to
1800, when the wines realised between fourteen and eighteen
WINES OF PORTUGAL AND MADEIRA. 261
pounds. The average may be taken at about 30,000 pipes,
which at twelve pounds per pipe, would be 12,720,000?., the
utmost that would have been paid in the last thirty- five
years. Instead of that sum, the public have actually paid
38,160,OOOZ. sterling, reckoning the average prices at 36Z.
per pipe. It must be acknowledged, that 25,440,OOOZ. was a
tolerable sum to throw away it was a noble bounty on the
exportation of a little coarse woollen cloth ! Now, the wisdom
of our rulers has equalised the duties, yet the wines retain
high prices. Such is the effect of our national disposition to
take things for granted : thus are we duped, because we fear
to exercise our reason in the teeth of ordinary custom.
The foregoing statement naturally leads to the inquiry,
whether wines that have been drunk in this country as good
port, will not be consumed under their own names very
soon, at half the price of Oporto wine. There can be little
doubt but they will. The alteration and equalization of the
wine duties is effecting important changes in the trade. If
we drank the wines of Roussillon or the Herault as port, via
Oporto or the Channel Islands, we might as well drink them
rightly designated, at a third of the price we paid for their
Oporto titles. The merchants must extend the varieties of
their shipments, and suit every taste and every degree of
cost which a public emancipated from the influence of a
long-standing monopoly will not fail to desire. The capital at
Oporto has kept up prices ; but it cannot arrest a course of
events which is irresistible. "With cheaper and more vinous
growths from France, or any other country, the habits of
Englishmen will change too ; it will be singular, indeed, if
they do not. In fact, the Oporto wine trade must still
decline. The evils of domestic war were quickly recoverable ;
those of the monopoly cannot soon be eradicated, too much
capital sustaining them.
It may be said that sherry wine, about 1799, was only
from fifteen to twenty-nine pounds the butt, and it is now
from thirty to fifty-eight. This is very true ; but not de-
ciding whether there has been a demand raised artificially or
not, it suffices that sherry becomes the fashion. Not only
BO, the importation of Spanish wines, free from any mono-
poly, increased from 1,401,960 imperial gallons in 1799 to
2,246,085 in 1834. Now, the port wine imported in 1799
262 WINES OE PORTUGAL AtfD MADEIBA.
was 48,600 pipes, and in 1834 only 23,138 ; and yet the
price at the latter period doubled upon the former. Sherry
has risen with a rapid demand ; port has risen, with a rapid
decline of its consumption. One is a natural, the other an
unnatural course of things. The truth is, the consumer's
pocket was getting restless ; it had been struggling to unite
the convenience of economy under our heavy taxation with
a rightful freedom of choice.
Erom the wines of Portugal, in the mother country, it is
natural to turn to those of the colonies. Of these, Madeira
and the Azores alone produce wine which is known in foreign
countries.
There is much uncertainty respecting the period at which
the grape was first introduced into Madeira. It was most
probably stocked from the Malvasia grape of Spain or
Portugal, originally from Candia; though it is stated by
some it was brought thither directly from that island. Pre-
cisely the same thing is said of the Malvasia grape having
been transplanted to the Canaries direct from thence or
Cyprus. It is much more natural to suppose, that as these
species were grown in Spain and Portugal at the time,
they were transplanted from the mother country. Chaptal
is in error when he says that vines were planted in Ma-
deira in 1420. Tristan Yaz and Juan G-onsales only dis-
covered the island the preceding year, and called it Madeira
from finding it thickly covered with wood. Prince Henry
did not colonize it until 1421. The vine was, no doubt,
early introduced there afterwards, and the volcanic soil was
singularly favourable to its growth. Sugar canes were first
planted there from Sicily, by the before-mentioned prince.
The wood was a great deal of it consumed by a conflagration,
kindled by the discoverers, which raged, it is said, a long
time afterwards, and thus the way was cleared for the vines*
It is on record that wines were exported from the island
before 1460. The first colonists of North America were no
sooner settled there than they carried pipe staves to the
island, and exchanged them for wine.
The hills, says a writer in 1689, were then covered with
vines, and the valleys with ripe grapes, which yielded a fra-
grant smell. It is added, that the fertility of the island was
abated from what it had been on the first discovery. The
"WINES OF POETUGAL ASD MADEIEA. 263
wines were brought to the towns in hogskins, upon asses ;
hence the wines of this picturesque island had formerly the
lorraclw taste. They then cultivated the black pergola grape,
and made several kinds of wine. One, like Champagne, was
not much valued. A second was stronger, and the colour of
white wine. A third called Malmsey, and a fourth Tinto,
inferior to Tent in taste, was never drunk by itself, but
mingled with other wines, to make them keep. The Ma-
deira wine, it is then remarked, has the peculiar excellence,
that it is ameliorated by the sun's heat when pricked, only
by taking out the bung and exposing it to the air. When
they fermented their wine, the growers are described as
bruising and baking a certain stone called jess, of which nine
or ten pounds were thrown into each pipe. The product of
the vintage was divided between the proprietors and the
farmer, and the latter was said to remain poor, while the
former got rich. The Jesuits at one time contrived to hold
a monopoly of the Malmsey, of which there was but one
good vineyard in the island. From 20,000 to 30,000 pipes
were thought to be the annual produce of the vineyards.
The wine was drunk a century and a half ago in America
and the West India Islands in considerable quantities. The
produce was sixty for one to the first proprietors of the vine-
yards, from the ashes of the trees "bringing forth more
grapes than leaves, and clusters of a span length:" it was
called the " Queen of Islands." Indeed, some of the clusters
of a dessert grape there now often weigh twenty pounds.
The varieties of grape grown on the island are numerous ;
the malvasia, pergola, tinta, bastardo, muscatel, vidogna, ver-
delho,cercial, or esganuacao, bagoual,and others which flourish
in volcanic lands. The best soil is a mixture of red and
yellow tufa, called saibro and pedro molle, exceedingly light,
but mingled with a clayey earth named massapes, and a vol-
canic cinder, arraya. The vines will bear well for sixty
years. The hills are steep, and the surface of the soil
generally is of a light red colour. The slopes are admirably
adapted for growing the vine, but the vineyards do not
appear so numerous as the stranger would expect. The
implements of husbandry are rude, and the operations of
the vine-growers by no means so careful or neat as they
ought to be. The Malmsey, of which there are several
264 WINES Or PORTUGAL AKD MADEIRA.
qualities, is, when of the best kind, a most delicious wine.
One species is reserved for the royal table in Portugal. Of
the very best little reaches England. It is remarkably rich
and cordial. There is a variety of it called greets Malmsey.
The best is produced from an " avalanche of tufa,"' lodged at
the bottom of a cliff, almost inaccessible. In sorne*^ places
deep trenches are dug, and ashes placed in the bottom, \yhere
there is a fear of the vine reaching a clayey stratum b(.^ ow
the volcanic debris, which has fallen from a precipice of giteat
height. 'i
If the vineyards are on a dry spot, they are watered thrice &
the summer season. Some growers use animal manure, which
others reject, and, as the French do, they sow lupines among
the vines, and bury them at their feet every second year.
Jhe vine is generally propagated by cuttings. The cuttings
from the north side of the island are preferred for the south.
The vines give no wine until the fourth year, and the average
produce of all the vine-land now is not more than a pipe an
acre. Some of the merchants contract for the produce of the
entire vineyard on the ground. They mingle the fruit of
different vineyards together, assorting them in the way best
adapted to the market where they are to be consumed.
These wines vary much in quality, and a nice judgment is
required to select the better kinds on the spot, as the word
of the seller can rarely be relied upon.
The vines are planted in lines in the vineyards in front of
the houses upon trellis-work seven feet high. The branches
are conducted over the tops, so as to lie horizontal to the
sun's action. They thus afford a canopy to those who walk
under them, yielding a delicious shade in that ardent climate.
The stalks of the arundo sagittata are used for constructing
the frames. On the north side of the island they are trained
up chestnut trees to shelter them from the violence of the
wind. The soil near the chestnuts does not seem to suit
them so well as that which is of a different character. A por-
tion of the vines is trained on frames not more than three
feet high. Some fruit is grown as high as two thousand
seven hundred feet of elevation, and wine is made at two
thousand. They prune their vines in February and March.
The flowering takes place about two months after the
pruning.
WINES OF PORTUGAL AND MADEIRA. 265
A traveller who was there in 1823, says the wine of the
first quality, which is called pingo, is that which arises from
the treading only, in the vat or trough, by bare-legged pea-
sants. The wine is then pressed, in the same trough, with a
lever like a cider-press, to the fourth operation ; this is called
the mostOj or must. The vintage is in September, except
for Malmsey. The fruit is sorted. The fermentation takes
place in the pipes, and gypsum is used during the process,
unless the vintage is green. This is probably the sub-
stance once called jess. The fermentation generally lasts six
weeks. The must is agitated while the fermentation pro-
ceeds.
They ripen and mellow their wines in stoves, which they
keep in a temperature from 80 to 90 of Fahrenheit, by
which they save six years of age ; but a voyage to the East
or "West Indies gives a preferable quality to the wine.
An agreeable sweet wine is made in the island by checking
the fermentation, and adding brandy to the must. The
wine from the muscatel grape is never exported. The sercial
is said to be the product of the hock grape, transplanted to
the island. The leaf is of a light yellowish-green, and downy.
It is one of the last that ripens, and requires to be kept a
good while before it attains perfection. It should not be
drunk under seven years old, but it does not attain at that
age its highest perfection. Only about forty-five pipes of
sercial are made annually upon the average. The Malvasia,
or Malmsey, is of the finest quality. Of this there are three
kinds, produced from three varieties of the plant ; that from
the cadel grape is considered the best. All the Madeira wine of
the first class is produced in the southern part of the island.
The main distinction between these wines is that of the north
and south, the latter bearing three times the price of the
former. The south wines are, notwithstanding, very unequal
in quality. San Antonio Campanario, Carna de Lobos, and
San Amaro are among the parishes which produce the best
growths, the soil and aspect being there the most favourable
for the grape.
The tinto wine resembles Burgundy when new, but is said
to be softer. It should be drunk at two or three years old,
because it afterwards loses it colour and quality, and takes
that of rich old Madeira, retaining its own for not more than
266 "WINES OF PORTUGAL AND MADEIRA.
a couple of years. It is said to be derived from the Bur-
gundy grape transplanted to the island. It has an agreeable
perfume, and is a genuine wine. It is observed to be astrin-
gent, and to be an antidote in dysentery. The vineyard
where the best is produced is called Fagaa-do Pereira.
Calhota and Santa Antonia produce wines of the same
class.
The produce of the island is reported to be about twenty-
five thousand pipes, of which not more than three are of
prime quality. Of these, about five thousand of all kinds
reach England. Brandy is not allowed to be imported into
Madeira, even from Portugal ; that which they require they
make themselves. For what object this prohibition exists it
is difficult to tell, as the wines of Madeira always receive an
admixture of brandy on exportation, the growers say, to
enable them to bear long sea voyages, the usual excuse. (Por
imports, see Appendix.)
Madeira wine must attain age on the island, if it be not
sent a voyage to a warmer climate, to gain its utmost excel-
lence through a perfect decomposition of the saccharine
principle. The expense of a voyage to the East Indies for
this purpose is superfluous, as motion and heat will do in any
climate, and complete the decomposition of the principle
which tends to fermentation. This must not be done too
suddenly, as so me imagine ; a year is probably the least
period in which it can be effected. In the island of Madeira
bottles of wine are said to be plunged into a trench filled
with fermenting horsedung, being first well corked, and in a
few months the maturity of a voyage is gained. This is very
doubtful. It is not the temperature alone that will produce
the effect desired in a short time ; agitation is necessary. Of
the good effects of this in the first fermentation the wine-
grower is sensible, or why does he agitate his must ? In the
further decompaction of the saccharine principle it must be
equally grateful. A pipe of Madeira has been attached to
the beam of a steam-engine, in the engine-house, where the
temperature is always high and the motion continual,
and in a year it could not be known from the choicest
East India.
Madeira wine is one of those which bears age remarkably
well, and the wine has not yet been drunk too old. Its fla-
WINES Or POBTUaAL AKD MADEIEA. 267
vour and aroma perfect themselves by years. It is in perfec-
tion at twenty years old and does well in extremes of heat
and cold, in India or Canada. There is no mixture of any
kind, but a little brandy, made to good Madeira wine of the
first growth for any purpose whatever. Almonds and various
additions are used to bring up the character of the inferior
growths to the standard of the first, and impose them upon
the world for that which they are not. Some imagine the
character of the wines to have deteriorated of late years, but
there seems no reasonable ground for the supposition. Infe-
rior growths have been continually imposed upon buyers for
those of the first class, and there was naturally a reaction.
Madeira wine is imported in pipes, hogsheads, and quarter
casks of 92, 46, and 23 imperial gallons respectively. Some-
times it is sent away in butts and half butts of 138 and 69
imperial gallons. The freight to England direct is, per pipe,
from 20s. to 25s. Ey way of the East Indies, 7Z. By the
West Indies, 4Z. 4s. Ey the Erazils, from 5Z. to 6Z. At
home there are the customs, at 5s. 6d. per gallon, and the
dock dues, if cleared in a week, about 7s. per cask. The price
of the very best wine, measuring 92 imperial gallons, is 46Z. per
pipe, put on board free of charges. Malmsey, Sercial, and
Tinto, are 80Z. per pipe. The other classes of Madeira run lower.
The best London particular, 38 1. What is called " London
Market," 34Z. India Market, 30Z. Down to " Cargo," 221.
Thus the finest old Madeira may be had in full quart bottles
for about a couple of pounds per dozen. As this wine has been
so unjustly deteriorated by the introduction of 'inferior kinds,
the above may be some clue to the later prices the winea
bear, adding the duty. None but merchants of undeniable
respectability should be treated with in purchasing this wine.
Advertising dealers, in an especial manner, have trafficked in
a bad article, and affected the character of a noble growth in
the market, while the public, little considerate, judge by
wholesale impulse in place of that reason which ever pre-
vails so little with the multitude. What are called " India
Market," "London Market," "New York Market," and
" Cargo" wines are to be shunned. They are rejected wines
of the south of the island, or are wholly from the north,
nicknamed " Muslin Madeira" and " French wines," from
268 WIHES OF PORTUGAL AND MAUEIBA.
being often passed off in exchange for other commodities.
(See Appendix for a decree relative to these wines.)
The Azores produce about five thousand pipes of wine.
The best are called vino passado, a Malmsey, and vino seco,
a dry wine. These are grown at Pico. As long ago as the
year 1639, these wines were described as they are now, and
their inferiority to the wines of Madeira was also acknow-
ledged.
[The Italian Vintage.]]
CHAPTEE X.
THE WINES OF ITALY AND THE ISLANDS.
GENERAL CHARACTER OF ITALIAN WINES VINE CULTURE CAUSES OF
NEGLECT IN THEIR MANUFACTURE VARIATION SICILIAN AND ELBESE
WINES.
THE wines of Italy have not obtained that high character
which might be expected, if the excellence of the grape, and
the congeniality of the climate to the culture of the vine, be
duly considered. The wines of modern Italy are all made
for home consumption. The interests of commerce, which
lead to competition, have not yet interfered to improve them.
England, amidst her traffic with all the world, drew from
Italy raw silk and oil, but held out no premium for the im-
provement of Italian wines by a demand for them. The ex-
change of a few pieces of woollen goods with a nation, not
less insignificant for extent than trade and population, ex-
cluded the English from exciting fifteen millions of Italians
270 -WINES OF ITALY AND THE ISLANDS.
to improve their wines, yet Italy took annually nearly five
millions in British goods, while Portugal only absorbed two
millions and a half in exchange for a deluge of coarse wines
and her friendship, pretty much on a par in value. It is
singular that statesmen do not see, when they talk of national
friendships, that there can be no such thing, and that the
law ofinterest is the sole bond of political relationship ; but
this is foreign to the subject. That Italy does produce good
wine is undeniable, as well as that she grows a vast deal of
what is bad. There are many^ causes which contribute to
this, besides the want of a stimulus from commerce. The
petty sovereignties of Italy are a blight upon her manufac-
tures no less than upon her civilisation. Many of these are
shut up to themselves, as regards their productions, and can-
not interchange with the neighbouring states without a great
disadvantage, owing to pernicious duties, high beyond all
reasonable limit compared to the value of the article,
It is not, therefore, because England imports no wine from
Italy, the opinion is to be entertained that there is no good
wine grown there; nor because the Venetians imported
Cyprus wine in considerable quantities, are we to conclude
there was none in Italy. In 1733 Florence wine was in all
the market lists of imported wines, and to be had in coffee-
houses. The price was from sixty to sixty-three shillings per
chest. That the growths of Italy are not what they ought
to be, or what they might be made, no one can deny. A vast
deal of vine fruit is grown in a mode subsidiary to other pro-
duce. Wine* is made in a defective manner, but it satisfies
the home consumer, and this being the only object of the
farmer, he is careless of improvement. JSTo part of the pro-
cess among the generality of the country people is managed
with the slightest care, but a great lack of judgment is uni-
versally displayed. Besides, what object has an Italian in
labouring to improve that which cannot by improvement turn
out of the slightest profit to himself. Trampled by the Aus-
trian military tyranny, or by the feet of Church despots, des-
titute of adequate capital, and weighed down by a vexatious
system of imposts, what has he to hope for by carrying
towards perfection an art which can bring him no benefit?
In Tuscany, indeed, things have been at times somewhat better
* Vino, vinello, vinetto, vinettino. Wine weak and very weak.
WISTES OF ITALY AND THE ISLANDS. 271
for a moment : but unless the stimulus of gain, and a generous
emulation can be substituted for labour without prospect of
reward, no improvement can be expected to take place
throughout Italy generally. A fine climate, to which the
vine seems wedded, produces a large quantity of rich fruit
with little trouble, and why should the peasant not enjoy,
without extra care and labour, that which, on his bestowing
care and labour, will yield him no additional benefit ?
There are places, however, where very good wine is made,
and something like care bestowed upon its fabrication ; but
these exceptions are the result of the care of the proprietor
for his own individual consumption. The curses of a foreign
yoke and of domestic exaction blight the most active exer-
tions, and render that land, which is the gem of the earth in
natural gifts, a waste, or a neglected and despoiled heritage
to its inhabitants. The Italians would soon make good wine,
if good wine would repay the making if they might reap
that reward due to industry and improvement, which common
policy would not withhold in other countries. The peasantry
generally are not an idle race.
In particular districts in Italy it is by no means a rare
thing to meet with good wine. The general neglect of a
careful and just system of culture, and the want of that ex-
citement which interest creates, have not prevented the capa-
bilities of the Italian vineyards from being known. In cer-
tain instances much care is bestowed upon the vine. In
spots among the Appenines the vines are carefully dressed,
terrace-fashion, and were they well pruned, and the fruit
taken in due maturity, and regularly assorted, which it rarely
or never is, a vast deal of excellent wine might be made, with-
out altering anything essential besides, in the present system
of vine husbandry. There is good bodied wine to be procured
in Naples for twopence-halfpenny English a bottle, and at
Rome and Florence for fourpence. In Calabria, so far is the
system of high vine training from being prejudicial to the
mere ripening of the grape as in the north, that they are
obliged to shade the vines from the sun, lest in that volcanic
territory the grape should become too ripe, shrivel into a
raisin, and be only fit for making wine of the thickest and
sweetest kind.
"We have no means of knowing what the taste of the an-
272 "WINES OF ITALY AND THE ISLANDS.
cient Italians was in the product of the vine ; the allusions
of their poets furnish nothing definite : all is general, and no
modern conjecture can be shown to be well founded. It is
to be inferred, that the wines of Tuscany have not been
much altered since the time a more modern poet, Eedi, wrote
his jBacco in Toscana, and sang,
The ruby dew that 'stills
Upon Val d'Arno's hills,
Touching the sense with odour so divine,
That not the violet,
Its lips with morning wet,
Utters such sweetness from her little shrine.
When I drink of it, I rise
Over the hill that makes all poets wise ;
And in my voice and in my song,
Grow so sweet and grow so strong,
I challenge Phoebus with his Delphic eyes !
Give me, then, from a golden measure,
The ruby that is my treasure, my treasure !
The Italian wines have stood still and remained without
improvement, while those of Trance and Spain (the latter
country being, in the most prominent examples, indebted for
it to Englishmen) have kept pace to a certain extent with
agricultural improvement and the increasing foreign demand.
Moreover, there is a fashion in wine, as in everything else,
and no standard exists for judging its caprices.
The system of training throughout Italy is the high
method, though in some parts of Piedmont, Naples, and
even in Tuscany, there are vineyards trained in the low
manner, and pruned. It is not, however, to the mode of
training, that the inferiority of the greater part of the Italian
wines is to be ascribed. Corn is sown between them, and
other grain, or vegetables are grown. The vines are planted
upon soils oftentimes the least congenial to their growth, as
in the plain of Pisa. They are suffered to run up to any
height, and in many places are never pruned at all. In the
Boman States the vines producing every quality of wine grow
together, without assortment of any kind. They are con-
ducted from tree to tree, generally of the elm species, along
the boundaries of inclosures, and even by the high roads,
where they run up in wild luxuriance, and waste their vitality,
not in the fruit, but in leaves and branches. Even where
the vine is raised on trellis-work or on poles, it is rarely
WINES OF ITALY AND THE ISLANDS. 273
pruned or trained. In some parts of the Appenines, where
a better system prevails, even there corn is sown between
the rows, and the dressing is of the richest and grossest kind,
highly pernicious to the flavour of wine, and preclusive of
delicacy. Still there is excellent wine to be drunk in Italy
in particular places, in the literal sense of the term, and
potent wine too, though the inveterate drinker of strong
wines might find the same defect in it as he discovers in the
finest growths of Burgundy or the Bordelais.
But if the Italians neither prune their vines, nor consult
the proper soil for their culture, nor refrain from leaving
them secondary to the other productions of the earth, they
are still more censurable in their mode of conducting the
process of the vintage. Neither slenderness of capital, nor
the iron grasp of foreign or domestic tyranny, can bear any
portion of the blame in this respect. The grapes, after being
trodden, are all thrown together in the most slovenly manner ;
ripe and unripe, sound and unsound, are commonly inter-
mingled, and flung into vats that remain uncleaned from the
last year's vintage, the press being rarely used. The process
of fermentation is thus conducted in the most careless mode.
The must is not suffered to remain without fresh additions
until the vintage is over. "Whilst in France they will only
suffer the pressure of one day's gathering to ferment toge-
ther, the Italians will throw in fresh pressings in the height
of the process. That wine so made, whatever may be the
defects in cultivating the vine, could ever be of tolerable
quality, is not to be expected. There are some landowners,
however, who possess excellent wine, which they have been
at considerable pains to manufacture, but then it is not to be
drunk beyond their own families, and has no connexion with
what is commonly sold in the country in respect to quality.
If the vintage were as well conducted, and the same pains
taken with the must as in France, very superior wines would
be the result, since the climate is matchless.
Some of the best wines in Italy are found in the kingdom
of Naples. The soil there being volcanic is eminently adapted
for the vine. These wines are chiefly of the luscious kind.
The site is favourable for growing the dry wines, had it been
undertaken by the inhabitants with proper care, and with
due attention to the most kindly places for vineyards. Some
274 WINES OP ITALY AND THE ISLANDS.
parts of the Neapolitan territory differ in temperature very
considerably. In Calabria, though certain places are too
warm for vineyards, others are exceedingly well adapted to
every species of vine. Some of the wine grown there is
strongly tinctured with sulphur from the soil.
The principal wine grown in Naples is the Lacryma Christi,
a sweet or rather luscious wine (vin de liqueur), which holds
a place in the foremost rank of the first class produced by
any country. Yery little of the genuine wine is made even
in the most favourable years. It is an exceedingly rich
variety, of a red colour, and exquisite flavour. Vino Grseco
is a sweet wine from a grape of that name. A white musca-
dine wine, of fine colour, delicate, and rich in perfume, is also
made near Yesuvius. At Pausillipo there is a very palatable
wine. The grape of the Yino Grseco, which is a favourite
for cultivation, is said to have been brought from Greece.
A good deal of Lacryma Christi, of an inferior quality, grown
in various places around Yesuvius, as at Torre del Grseco
and Novella, is exported as the genuine wine. The best is
grown at Galitta. At Gierace, about forty miles from E,eg-
gio, an excellent wine is made, which seems to partake of the
lightness of the Prench, mingled with boiled wine. At Baia
and Tarento both muscadine and dry wines are made of good
quality.
The Lacryma Christi of Naples is said by some to be the
Palernian of Horace, as if anything like precision could be
attained from the poet's description of the 'luxury in his
existing works. "Writers for the last five hundred years have
had different opinions on the subject, and all are of equal
value. Many assert Monte Messico to be the place of its
production. Brydone says it was grown in the present desert
spot called Monte Barbero. There are others who think it was
made about sixteen miles from Capua, on the hills near
Santa Agatha. It was of this Lacryma wine that a Dutch-
man exclaimed, " Christ, why didst thou not weep in my
country !"
A white mousseux wine, having a pleasant sharpness, is
made on the Campagna, called Asprino. It is accused of
acidity, and certainly does not suit a northern stomach. The
islands in the Bay of Naples all of them produce wine ; that
of Caprea of very good ordinary quality. At Eeggio two
WINES OF ITALY AND THE ISLANDS. 275
kinds are made from the same grape, a muscadine and dry
wine. At Carigliano a muscadine wine with a flavour of
fennel is grown. The shores of Lake Averno and the hills
near Maria de Capoua produce both red and white wines,
some of which are nearly equal in quality to those grown on
Mount Vesuvius.
The wines in the Eoman states are generally common, but
several of them good. The better kinds, most probably
from negligence in the manufacture, will not keep ; though
in the country they are thought excellent. In Eome most
of the best wines of Italy are consumed. Many of them
drunk there are of the sweet kind from Tuscany, Naples, and
Sicily. Of the home growths, that of Albano takes the first
place. It resembles Lacryma Christi. Another is the
Monte Fiascone, of a fine aroma, and intoxicating. It is
grown near the Lake Bolsena. It is this wine which is also
called " Est, Est" from its having caused the death of a
bibulous German bishop, named Defoucris, who was so fond
of good wine, that when he travelled he sent his valet forward
a post, with instructions : " That he should taste the wine at
every place where he stopped, and write under the bush the
word ' est', 'it is,' if it was tolerable, and 'est, est,' 'it is, it
is,' if it was very good ; but, where he found it indifferent, he
should not write up anything." The bush is a bunch of ever-
greens, hung up over the entrance to a house to show that
wine is sold there. Defoucris's valet arrived at Monte Fias-
cone, and approved so much of the wine, that he wrote up
" est, est." The bishop soon followed, found it so palatable
that he got drunk, and, repeating the experiment too often,
drank himself dead. His valet wrote his epitaph as follows :
" Est, est," propter nimium " est,"
Domimis meus mortuus " est."
"Which may be rendered
" Tis, 'tis," from too much " 'tis,"
My master dead " is."
Orvieto produces excellent muscadines, of good perfume
and flavour, and also some dry wines. Their sweet wines
the Italians call Abbocati ; their dry they denominate Asciati.
Of the former kind are the Moscatello, Aleatico, and Yer-
naccia 3 the last a wine of considerable note among the
T2
276 WINES OF ITALY AND THE ISLANDS.
writers of Italy, all made from the common vines of the
country. Yernaccia was consumed once in England, under
the name of Yernage, a red Tuscan wine. No system is
adopted in preparing the wine ; but every vine-grower pur-
sues his own method. Both high and low training are practised
in the Roman states, though the wine made close to Rome
is as bad as any in Italy. The most delicate wine is pro-
duced at San Marino, called Moscatta. Imola, near Bologna,
is remarkable for its boiled wines. These, in their natural
state, are eifervescent, like Champagne. At Bologna they
boil most of their wines, which are then called vino cotto, the
unboiled they call vino crudo.
In the better days of our Lady of Loretto they had a
cellar of remarkably good wine there for the use of the
faithful. The Church, as was her custom, exhibited her
good taste, constantly keeping up a stock of not less than
a hundred and fifty tuns for this purpose. The wines of
Yicenza had once a good name ; they were styled, in the
way of the Italians, who love epithets, " dolce et piccante."
" The wine of Yicenza, the bread of Padua, the tripe of Tre-
viso, and the courtesans of Yenice," were formerly said to
be the best of their kind in the world. On the shores of
the Lake of G-arda they make a sweet wine, like Canary, of
prime quality, called Yino Santo. It is not extracted from
the grapes until Christmas, and is drunk at the following
Midsummer. In Parma and Placentia they grow wines
which are very unpleasant, from having a strong taste of
honey. Brescia has some tolerable red wines ; among them
is that which they call Toscolano, thought good in inter-
mittent fevers. It is a durable wine compared to most
others in Italy, as it will keep twenty or thirty years. At
Castiglione they have a Yino Santo of a golden colour, which
is not fit to drink for four years, and then bears some re-
semblance to Tokay. In the Yeronese they make a poor
muscadine. The dry wine there is flat and bad, and appro-
priately named " Yino Morto." Lombardy produces some
tolerable light wines. At Pavia a dry mousseux is manufac-
tured, of no great note. The vines of Lombardy and Yenice
are said to return annually eighty-three millions of gallons.
But Tuscany is considered the country of the vine in Italy ;
and so much has the notion been cherished by the natives,
WISTES or ITALY A:NT> THE ISLANDS. 277
that " Corpo di Baceo !" is the common oath, of tlie lower
classes. The poet of the Tuscan vine, Redi, with his " Bacco
in Toscana," has enumerated his country's wines as if they
were the first in the world, and gives the palm to the
"manna of Monte Pulciano," la manna di Monte Pulciano, &
sweet wine of the second class ; which has the stain on its
character of having killed a churchman, who drank of it too
magnificently, unless an error has been made by confounding
it with Montefiascone and Bishop Defoucris.
The treatment of the vine, then, is much better in the Tuscan
states than in other parts of Italy. In Florence even the
nobles sell their wine by retail from their palace cellars. The
term "flask of wine" is essentially Tuscan, the wine being
served out to the consumer in vessels so denominated, in
shape that of a well-known oil vessel. A flask holds about
three quarts. When filled, a little oil is put into the neck,
which keeps the wine effectually from the air, as was a cus-
tom in ancient times. When the wine is to be poured out,
a bit of tow is first inserted to draw off or absorb the oil
from the surface of the wine.
The luxuriant vines of Tuscany are almost all of the high
training, and the wines are made in some places with con-
siderable care. The hill wines only are good, those of the
plains are generally poor, and of Lecore proverbially so.
The plains were once forbidden to be planted with vines.
Among the nobility and landowners excellent Tuscan wine
will be found, which has been made under their own super-
intendence. The liberal character of the government
liberal compared to other states in Italy, where so much of
the soil is ruled by foreigners has exhibited its advantages
even in the manufacture of so common an article, for it has
excited emulation among the better classes of society. At a
Tuscan villa, the owner will, with some degree of pride, extol
the vinous growths from his estate, and mention the efforts
he is making to increase the excellence of the produce.
They who introduced Lancastrian schools, gas, and steam
machinery into Austrian-Italy were made exiles or languished
in dungeons a Porro, Gonfalionieri, or Arrivabene ; and it
is something to find that a Tuscan nobleman may introduce
improvements on his lands, borrowed from more enlightened
countries, without individual hazard, and that a generous
278 WINES Or ITALY AND TIIK ISLANDS.
ruler, in the person of a late grand duke, set the honourable
example himself. 'Without any excess, all das-
cany enjoy their wine, fancying it makes good blood; in the
words of their poet
II buon vino fa buon sangue.
It has been remarked that no two traveller :bout
the merit of Italian wines. This often arises from the same
names being adopted in different Italian states for wines of
very opposite qualities. There is a vino santo, for example,
in the Roman states, and a vino Grseco. There are wines
of the same name in Naples. Even a wretched Veronese
wine, truly "vino debolissimo e di niuna stima,"
"vino santo," while there is an excellent " vino santo
Brescia. It is the same with half a dozen of the most i
wines of Italy, and unless the place of growth be ann
11 as the name, one traveller will praise a wine of the
same appellation as that which another pronounces execrable.
There is no other guide than the place of growth to make
the quality clear ; for though the wine is often called from
the grape of which it is made, as vino Graeco from the Gre-
cian grape, even this is not uniformly the case.
The celebrated Verdea is a white wine, having a bright
green tinge, grown at Arcetri ; it was formerly held in high
esteem. The plain of Pisa produces poor weak wines un-
worthy of Tuscan neighbourhood. The red wine of Chianti,
the wines of Val di Marina, Carmignano, Poncino, Antella,
Artiminio, and others of the same class, are produced not far
from Florence, and are several of them excellent. The wines
of Sienna among them Montelcino, Eimaneze, and Santo
Stefano are good wines de liqueur. The "Aleatico" of
Tuscany resembles "tinto," and is a red muscadine wine,
made near or at Monte Pulciano. It is a wine of great ex-
cellence, luscious, with a rich perfume. The Malvasia wine
of Trebbio is a very fine variety. The red Florence wine, as
it is called, is deeper in colour than claret, and harsher, being
left long on the murk.
It has been observed that near Ravenna, on land recovered
from the Adriatic, the vines attain an extraordinary size.
From Verona to Vicenza it is the custom to plant the trees
lozenge fashion. In Lombardy they are planted in the same
manner, for the support of the vines, and between Bologna
WI> T ES OF ITALY AXD THE ISLANDS. 270
and Modena. The soil in Lombardy is, however, far too rich
to produce good wine. In the north, from Bassano to Trent,
the valleys abound in vineyards, but the wine is of too luscious
a character to be drunk by any but the inhabitants. The
vineyards here were formerly so pestered with bears, which
devoured the fruit, that they were obliged to erect straw huts
upon the top of a post, just large enough to conceal a man,
from whence he could shoot the intrusive animals without
being perceived.
There is an endless variety of grape used in the wines of
Italy, without regard to the quality. The mammolo is a red
grape, much grown at Florence ; the canajuol, a black Tuscan
variety ; then there is the moscatello,from mosca, a fly, whence
also muscat and muscadine, from the ancient name of wines
apiance, according to Eedi ; the Barbarossa, or red-beard, so
called from its long clusters of red fruit ; the malvagia, or
malvasia, from the Morea ; and the Greek grape. The wine
of Chianti comes principally from a creeping species of vine,
vifce bassa ; there also is the vernaccia and aleatico vine, with
numerous other kinds, many of them of the first excellence.
Chianti wine was formerly imported into Great Britain
before that of Oporto had nearly excluded the other species,
and the red wine of Florence continued to arrive after the
importation of Chianti had ceased. The last was most pro-
bably sold for adulterating or mingling with other growths,
to give them body and colour, and deceive the purchaser. It
does not appear that a single cask from that country is im-
ported now, though Sicilian wines are constantly introduced.
While the wines of France, so superior to all others, are ad-
mitted at the same duty, there is little chance of such as are
of a middling quality at best.
Savoy and Piedmont produce red wines of tolerable quality ;
those of Montrnelian and St. Albero, in Savoy, are among the
best in the country, and come from the slopes of Mont Ter-
mino and St. John de la Porte. One of these wines is deno-
minated clairet, from being fermented but a short period :
there are several other red wines. The best vin de liqueur is
made upon the Ehone, near Chamberry, from a Cyprus species
of vine. An effervescing wine is made at Lasseraa from the
malvasia grape. Asti, near Marengo, and Biella, produce red
280
in i: LSL \
wine- ..f tolerable flavour. At Asti. the plants call
retta and Malva.-ia .Xebiolo prod;, de lif/ucur, with the
smell of the ray pberrv. The wine of Montferrat, near Ma-
ren<n), is esteemed : the red is deep coloured and intoxicating.
The wines of the Genoese territory are of liti -. In
thai city there was formerly a monopoly of wine by the <j;< -
incut, and the innkeepers were obliged to purchase of their
MI|>< ;!>!>. ]t was upon this account, most probably, that a
church was built to our Lady of the Vineyards, the monopo-
lists, as monopolists will, turning even religion to account for
lucre's sake.
In Sardinia, the produce of the vine is very abundant, so
that the fruit is frequently left upon the vines for want of
vessels to hold the must. An amber-coloured wine
-, and a red wine named Giro, are the most remarkable.
There are also several sweet and ordinary wines. The wines
called Caunonao, Monaca, and Garnaccia, are exported to
Holland and :
Elba grows a little red wine of excellent quality. A hundred
will produce from twelve to fourteen barrels on the
The older the vine the richer is the wine :
one hundred and fifty years old. The hermitage of 3 I
Serrato and the environs grow Moscatello wines. ]
tico and Bianillo of Elba are red Moscatello, and resemble
Monte Pulciano when it has lost its peculiar odour. They
make there a champagne of the Procanico grape. They have
also a wine called Bischillatto. The Elbese wines will bear a
sea voyage well; some have been exported to America with-
out injury. They plant their new vineyards in December,
and are assisted in their vine culture by labourers from the
neighbouring coast of Italy. It is remarked, that the wine
made from the vineyards in the valleys of the island, will not
keep long, while that from vines grown on the hills is durable.
The soil is a red sandy stone. Little is known of these wines
in England, but as the taste for strong wine, even in the middle
circles, is on the decline, it may be hoped that a variety from
other countries will supply its place ; by this means competi-
tion will be excited, and wines of greater excellence be pro-
duced to exchange for our manufactures, from places hitherto
little known here for the cultivation of the vine. The Lipari
WIXES OF ITALY AND THE ISLANDS. 281
Isles have tolerable wines of the ordinary class. Their
Malmsey is excellent ; that drawn from the volcano Strom-
boli is held in much esteem, and nearly all exported.
Sicily produces wine in great abundance ; but the same re-
marks which apply to the bad husbandry and vintage of Italy
will apply to this island. The best wines of the province of
Mascofi grow on Etna, and are red, being almost the only
good red wine of the class in the island, though others are
produced at Taormina and Faro, but they have a taint of pitch.
Syracuse produces over its mouldering remains a red musca-
dine, equal to any other in the world, if not superior. A
white vin de liqueur is also made there, but only of the second
class. Messina furnishes much wine for exportation. The
Yal di Mazara and its vineyards give wines known in Eng-
land, as well as Etna and Bronte. Marsala, when obtained
without the admixture of execrable Sicilian brandy, is an
agreeable wine, something like Madeira of the second class,
and of great body. A voyage to India and home renders
this wine, when of the best quality, a most excellent dinner
wine, equal to Madeira. The difference is scarcely to be
credited. Augusta produces wine having a strong flavour of
violets. The Sicilian wines may be said to have received
more attention since the closer connexion of England with
the island took place. The soil is excellent, and when the
true interests of the vine-owners and merchants are clearly
seen by them, growths may be obtained which will add con-
siderably to the variety of the table, while their strength will
meet the class of persons who relish the more fiery wines, for
of this class are all those with which commerce has yet fur-
nished Great Britain from Sicily.
[Wine Vessels.]
CHAPTEE XL
WINES OF HUNGARY, AUSTRIA, STYRIA, AND CARYNTHIA.
HUNGARIAN VINES CALCULATED PRODUCE PRACTICE AT THE VINTAGE-
DIFFERENT KINDS OF WINEPRINCIPAL VINEYARDS AUSTRIAN WINKS
CARYNTHIAN AND SCLAVONIAN.
THE wines of Hungary have long enjoyed a well-merited
fame, and though no great variety is known of such wines as
go to foreigners by exportation, they rank so high in the
highest class of the products of the vintage, that they have
borne the name of Hungarian wine far beyond where it has
ever been seen or tasted.
It is pretended in the country, that Probus first introduced
the vine into Hungary from Italy, planting it near Mount
Almus ; but it is far more probable that it passed from Tran-
sylvania, and came into the country from the north-west of
Asia. The produce of the wine districts of Hungary is
estimated at eighteen millions of eimers, of ten gallons each.
The vineyards which produce the best wines are those of
Ofen, Pesth, Tokay, the Syrmia in the south, Groswarden,
Erlon, and Warwitz in the Bannat. The consumption in the
country is very considerable, and a great deal is exported.
Tokay wine was first noticed extensively and became fashion-
able about the middle of the seventeenth century. It has
WINES OF HUNGARY AND AUSTRIA. 283
rather increased than diminished in reputation since. In
1807, the common Tokay, Tokay Ausbruch, and Ausbruch of
other kinds, amounted in value to 657,762 florins, including
thirty thousand eimers of superior, besides 2813 casks of
common Tokay. The great fair for the wines of Hungary is
held annually at Pesth. Great encouragement is given by
the government to vine cultivation. The Hungarians enjoy
their wine, and generally carry a flask on their journeys
called Csutora. Their songs dwell much on their wine of
Tokay : they sing that their
Muses, young and laughing,
Dwell in vineyards of Tokay.
The manufacture of the wine is very coarsely carried on by
the peasantry, who are, notwithstanding their want of care
and system, very observant of cleanliness in all that concerns
the vintage. The wine presses and vats are well cleaned
with boiling water, in which vine leaves have been steeped.
The fruit is collected in wooden vessels, which are carried by
the labourers, and overseers attend to see that no grapes are
left on the vines. The different gatherings are collected in
vats having a double bottom, the uppermost of which is
pierced with holes for the juice to pass through, while the
grapes are beaten and bruised with a stick. "When the upper
vessel is full, its contents are taken to the press. They
generally divide the gathering for the red and white wines,
but do not reject the bad grapes. All are pressed together,
and the must thrown into a large vat to ferment. When the
grapes are too abundant for the operation of pressing, they
put them into sacks and tread them out, and the contents of
the sack are afterwards put by for distillation. The red
grape is seldom pressed at all. Cattle are fed on the re-
fuse of the press. The Hungarians reckon sixty varieties of
grape.
The vineyards in Hungary are permitted to be purchased
by the peasantry. They are obliged to pay a tenth to the
lord of the soil, which is considered a heavy tax upon their
industry, and they are kept in a state of miserable poverty
by their lords and rulers. The price of old red Ofen wine,
astringent, and like Burgundy, was at Pesth, in 1813, from
fourteen to twenty florins the eimer of about ten gallons.
284 WINES OF HUNaABY AND AUSTEIA.
!N"ew wine from eight to twelve, and common wine from six
to eight. In 1814, old red Ofen wine was from thirty to
forty florins, and old white from thirty-two to forty-five.
Fivepence a bottle, which is about the price in 1814, was
much dearer than the wine had been in preceding years.
About thirty kinds of Hungarian wine have been reckoned.
The most celebrated is the Tokay, called the "King of "Wines,"
the product of a district around the town of that name,
extending about twenty miles, called the Submontine or
Hegyallya, in North-East, or High Hungary, in the county, or
circle, of Zemplin. The Hegyallya is a range of the Car-
pathian mountains, in latitude 48. Throughout this district
the grape is large, and of a rich luscious taste. The best
grapes in Hungary are those of Yirovichitz, near Vacia.
To return to the Tokay. The grapes for this wine are
the Hungarian Blue, when ripe called Trockenbeeren. They
are collected late in the season, almost shrivelled up to rai-
sins, and then carefully picked one and one. The species
called Formint and Hars-levilii furnish the prime Tokay,
called Tokay Ausbruch. The vines are reared pollard fashion,
and the vintage seldom takes place before the end of October.
The Trockenbeeren, or overripe shrivelled grapes, are by that
time shrunk enough, and are carefully placed on a table
grooved, from which the juice runs into earthen jars, and
forms the rich "essence of Tokay/' through their own pressure.
This wine is like the syrups of the south of Prance, and is
set aside by itself. The quantity made is small, very thick,
and considered most precious. The thickness made it a cha-
racteristic ; hence the remark, " Spain for strength, France for
delicacy, Italy for sweetness, and Hungary for thickness."
The grapes thus used are trodden in a vat with the naked feet,
and a small portion of wine essence is added to the must,
which is allowed to stand twenty-four hours, and then set to
ferment. This last is the famous Tokay wine, or Tokay Aus-
bruch (ausbruch, or flowing forth of the syrup). It ferments
for two or three days or inore, during which it is stirred, and
the matters which arise to the surface are skimmed off. It is
then strained into casks. Tokay has a powerful aroma. It
does not become bright for some time after it is in the cask,
nor is it ever as bright as the favourite wines of the "West of
Europe. The taste is soft and oily. The flavour earthy and
WINES OF HTTNGABY AND AUSTEIA. 285
astringent. Tokay Ausbrucli contains sixty-one parts of
essence, and eighty-four of wine. The Maslas is a more
diluted species of the Tokay, containing sixty-one parts of
essence, and a hundred and sixty-nine of wine.
The best wine of Tokay has so peculiar a flavour of the
aromatic kind, and is so luscious, that the taste is not easily
forgotten. In truth, it is more a liqueur than a wine. This
wine sells in Yienna for twelve pounds sterling the dozen.
The vineyard belongs to the Emperor and certain of the
nobles ; the Tarczal grape produces the best. The side of
the slope on which the vineyards lie, is about nine thousand
yards long ; but the choice portion, called Mezes-Male, is but
six hundred, and is reserved with its produce for the Emperor
and a few of the nobles. Tokar and Mada fruit rank next ;
and their wines are remarkable for sweetness and delicate
aroma. The vineyard of Tallya is reputed to have most
body, and that of Zambor the greatest body. The wines
from Szeghi and Tsadany are aromatic, while the wines of
Tolesva and Erdo Benye are best for exportation. Tokay
cannot be drunk under three years old. The wine ferments
in the casks on transportion by sea, and thus clarifies itself.
In bottling, a space must be left between the cork and the
wine, or the bottle will break. In Hungary, a little oil is
poured upon the wine ; it is then corked, and a piece of bladder
tied firmly over the cork. At Cracau this wine has been
kept of the hundredth vintage. The new is called there, vino
slotki ; the old, vino vitraivno. The colour of the prime
Tokay should not be of a reddish hue, though there is an
inferior sort of that colour ; the taste soft, and not sharp or
acrimonious ; it should appear oily in the glass, and have an
astringent twang, a little earthy. The aroma, however, can-
not be mistaken, as that of no other wine resembles it.
Almost all the wines sold as Ausbruch-Tokay are the pro-
duce of the Tokay vineyards in general. St. Gyorgy, (Eden-
burg, nine G-erman miles from Presburg, and feust, produce
an Ausbruch of good character. Menes, or Menesch, in the
county of Arad, grows a red wine, sweet, with a fine bou-
quet. The Ausbruch of the (Edenburg is less powerful.
Gpengyaesch, near Mount Matra, produces red and white
wines.
The wine of Buda is red, and was once a favourite wine in.
286 WINES OF HUNGARY AND AUSTRIA.
England. The Sexard resembles Eourdeaux. The Gros-
warden wine is of excellent body. "Warwitz, in the Bannat,
produces wine which resembles Burgundy. The rich red
Meneser wine is very good, and, with Menes Tokay, is grown
upon a range of hills of clay-slate, so called from the village
of Menes, or Menesch. The strata on which the Tokay is
grown differ, but all consist of substances favourable to
the vine, and mostly volcanic. There are numerous other
wines, of various qualities, never exported. There is a red
wine called Schiller, and another species, like Champagne,
called Schisacker.
The wines called Palunia and Tropfwermuth pass under the
general name of Wermuth. They are a preparation of grapes
with wormwood, seeds, and spices of different kinds, over
which they pour old wine, and cork it up. It is drunk at
home, and rarely exported. This, too, is a wine used medi-
cinally, and drunk as a mixed wine. At Oxford and Cam-
bridge, "Bishop" used to be made by infusing lemons or
oranges in claret, with sugar, and warming it with spices. In
Germany they use Burgundy and toasted oranges for bishop,
old Ehenish for " Cardinal," and Tokay for "Pope."
The vineyards of the Ausbruchs and the Maslas pay no
tenths to the lord of the soil. They are not confined to Tokay
alone, but extend to other places in the Syrmian. The tenure
of the peasant is generally only the good- will of the lord.
Many of the estates are but temporarily occupied about a
month before the vintage. The proprietor at other times
leaves his house and vineyard to the care of a peasant, for
which his wages are increased. The vintage is over early in
November ; the fruit is, a large part of it, white. The vine
cuttings are taken away, the poles removed, and in some
places the vines laid in and covered with earth, all being pre-
pared before the first snow falls upon the land. The average
produce is almost a hundred thousand eimers.
The wines of Tokav were at one time not permitted to be
made beyond a certain quantity in a limited district. The
thick Tokay essence is enormously dear, and even in Vienna
is rarely to be tasted at the tables of the opulent. The prac-
tice of mingling the essence with the common wines has
given the latter a celebrity which they scarcely deserve, and
lessened the quantity of the essence sold. These wines have
WINES OF HUNGARY AND AUSTEIA. 287
a harsh taste, which is highly esteemed in some parts of the
Continent. The genuine Tokay is not commonly exported in
wood, but in small bottles. It is an enduring wine, of a
colour to be compounded out of umber and ochre, with a
bouquet and taste very peculiar. The bottles do not contain
much more than a pint English perhaps what is called in
Hungary a "media," eighty of which make the small barrel
denominated an " anthiel."
The value of Tokay is another example of the caprice of
taste or fashion in wine. The rich muscadine of Syracuse, or
the lagrima of Malaga, seem in every respect equal, and even
superior to it in richness. Though the peculiar flavour in the
wine of Tokay will easily distinguish it from them, yet that
flavour itself has nothing more than its singularity to recom-
mend it. Few Englishmen would prefer Tokay to wines very
much its inferior in fame.
The Austrian wines are, some of them, of very good quality,
though they are little known. Blumenbach states the pro-
duce of the whole Austrian empire, including Hungary and
the Italian provinces, at thirty-three millions of eimers of ten
gallons each, or above two millions and a half of pipes of a
hundred and twenty-three gallons each, or about a third of
what is produced in France. Some make the produce higher,
or nearly six hundred millions of gallons, of which sixty mil-
lions are said to be exported. The archduchy is reported as
producing thirty-six millions of gallons. The product of
Moravia is six millions and a half gallons ; of Bohemia, four
hundred thousand. Burgundy vines are planted in Bohemia,
but the red wines made from them are not of an enduring
quality. Some tolerable wine is produced at Poleschowitz,
in Moravia. In Austria Proper the best wines are grown in
the neighbourhood of Lichtenstein. They are stronger than
Rhine wines, are of a greenish hue, and may be drunk young.
The mountain wine, to the south of Vienna, called Giberwein,
will keep thirty years.
A good wine, next in quality to the Hungarian, is made in
Transylvania. An Ausbruch, resembling Tokay, is grown
there. Some very good wines are also made near Birthalmen.
The produce of the country is said to be fifteen millions of
gallons. In the Tyrol and vicinity of Trent, there is a common
wine, of excellent quality, but all consumed in the country.
288 WINES OF HUtfGABY AND ATJSTBIA.
In Carynthia, some wines resembling those of Italy are
made; and in Carniola, near Moettling and Wipach. In
Styria, eighteen millions of gallons are produced. The Lut-
tenberg wines of Lower Styria are among the first ; and those
of Sansal and Wiesel are extolled. In Istria tolerable wine
is also made. Prosecco, Antignana, St. Servo, and Trieste,
produce both red, white, and mousseux, well flavoured. Ber-
chetz is a wine grown on a rock in the Adriatic, sweet, and
of a deep-red colour. Vins de liqueur are made at Capo
d' Istria, Pirano, and Citta JN"ova, called St. Patronio. Piccoli,
Petit Tokai, and St. Thomas, are good wines of their class.
At Priuli much wine is made; and that of Corregliano is
highly esteemed at Venice, The luscious wine made at Pic-
coli is equal to the vino santo of southern Italy.
Syrmia and Posega, in Sclavonia, produce red and white
wines of good flavour and strength, and the neighbourhood
of Carlowitz is noted for its red wine. The kingdom of
Illyria produces nearly eleven millions of gallons, consumed in
the country. The wines of Croatia are made best at Mosy-
vina, and resemble Burgundy. At Vinodal a sparkling wine is
made, of good flavour. In Dalmatia they make a wine at
Sebenico called Maraschina, whence the name of the liqueur
Maraschino di Zara, from Zara, in the same territory. The
best wines of Eagusa are produced at Gravosa. In general,
the vines are much neglected in Dalmatia. The vineyard
ground occupies in Zara about 36,426 acres ; in Spolato,
53,861 ; at Eagusa, 18,132 ; and in Cattaro, 3567 : in all,
111,987 acres. The wines are not of a goodness sufficient to
render them adapted for commerce. They have, however, a
delicious wine called Marzenius del Teodo ; and they have a
tolerable Muscatel. At Prosecco some good wine is grown.
The whole produce of the country is estimated at eight mil-
lions and a half of gallons.
In Moldavia the best reputed vineyards are near Cotnar.
The wines of Piatra are held in good esteem. The wine of
that name is green, and becomes deeper by age. It is nearly
as spirituous as brandy, and by many is preferred to Tokay.
Much wine is sent from this province to Eussia. In "Wai-
lachia they have light wines. There are also tolerable wines
produced in abundance in Eomania. In Macedonia, the
monks of Mount Atlas are great cultivators of the vine.
[Bacchus and Demeter, from a Cameo.]
CHAPTEE XII.
THE WINES OF GREECE.
GREEK WINES GENERALLY WINES OF THE ISLANDS CYPRUS WINE WINE
OF THE COMMANDERY MODE OF MAKING, AND QUALITIES WINES OF
THE IONIAN ISLANDS OF ALBANIA, ROMANIA, AND OF THE RUSSIAN
DOMINIONS,
OF the wines of the ancient Greeks we know little. That
they preferred old wines to new, that they mixed water with
their wines, and sometimes used them perfumed, that an
habitual drunkard was considered infamous, and that the
names of some of their* wines may be found in the works of
the writers which have reached our time, together with the
names of the cups or vessels out of which they quaffed the
juice of the grape, is familiar to every incipient scholar. To
the quality and taste of the wines of ancient Greece the
moderns must remain strangers. Prom all which has come
down to the present day, it does not appear that aught which
can be of the least advantage to our age is known respecting
the treatment of the vintage or culture of the vine. It is to
useful information, rather than to the gratification of curi-
osity, that this volume is directed. The manufacture of wine
in Cyprus at the present hour, which is described at length
u
290 WINES OF GKBEECE.
in this chapter, is that which, it is most probable, resembles
nearest the general conduct of the vintage among the ancient
Greeks. The general character of dry, sweet, or luscious
wines, which depends principally upon the soil, or moment of
gathering the fruit, must have been similar in their times to
that in our day. It is not thus uncertain with matters of a
more important character. The glory of Greek literature
and art is as brilliant now as ever, and matters of mere gour-
metise may well be spared, seeing others of so much more
importance remain to us. The flavour of the old Greek
wines would, in all likelihood, have been to a modern palate
worse than " caviar to the general."
Since the time of the conquest of Constantinople by the
Turks, it is not at all likely that in the Greek islands the
mode of manufacturing the wine should have much changed,
however the quality might have become deteriorated. So
recently as the period when the power of the Venetians was
extended over these islands, the vintages were celebrated.
In Napoli di Malvasia, about seventy miles from Napoli di
Eomania, in the Morea, was made the renowned Malvasia or
Malmsey, which has since been imitated in almost every other
wine country in the world. The vines from thence are said
to have been transplanted into Candia. The yoke of Turkish
despotism falling less heavy upon the islands than upon the
mainland, habits were less altered there; and when little
Malvasia wine was made in the Morea, it continued an
article of very considerable importance in the exports of
Candia, even after the subjugation in 1670. Malmsey in
England was only twopence a quart in 1492, but in 1550
the price was doubled. Henry VII. , whose love of wine was
as great as his heart was mean, laid an increased duty upon
wine from Candia.
The soil of the islands and the mainland of Greece differs
very much, but a large proportion is particularly favourable
to the growth of the vine. Hills of calcareous earth, with
slopes of benign aspect ; gravelly soils, and others of volcanic
origin, offer situations for vineyards of rare occurrence. The
rule of the Moslem, unfortunately, made the profit of the
slave too small, and his tenure of land too precarious, for him
to labour more than enough to answer barely the ends of
animal existence, after satisfying the rapacity of his masters.
WI1STES OF GBEECE. 291
The vine is cultivated in different parts of Greece in various
methods. In Thessaly where the Turks used to drink the
must, though they would not touch the wine, in order to
evade the breach of their prophet's command in Thessaly
the vines are trained for the most part after the low order,
being what are styled dwarf vines. They are not propped.
The bunches are for the most part fine and luxuriant, of a
luscious and rich taste, and as large as plums. The wine is
sweet, and would be good, but it is tainted with the disagree-
able taste of pine resin, introduced with the notion of flavour-
ing and preserving the wine ; an ancient custom. A careful
fermentation, with the naturally saccharine nature of such
fruit, would be adequate to every measure of durability.
On the mainland of Greece the vines were formerly nume-
rous, and the produce considerable. In the late war whole
vineyards throughout entire districts were rooted up by the
Turks, and in the Morea the most wanton devastation was
committed upon them by the troops of Ibrahim Pacha. In
some places the high method of training over trellises pre-
vails, in others the plant is not allowed to rise but a foot
from the ground, and is kept closely pruned. A cup is ex-
cavated round the main stem to retain humidity at one season,
and at another to prevent the grapes from touching the soil
while the heat of the sun concentrates within it. At Corinth,
where the vine flourishes remarkably well, it is not trained
upon trellis- work, as in some other places, but the vines are
shaped like currant bushes, and the clusters of small pearly
grapes hang around them. Near the Field of Platsea, vines
are planted to a considerable extent. Nothing but the want
of a better and more scientific method of conducting the
vintage, prevents the wines of modern Greece from ranking
higher. The fermentation is carelessly executed, and the
skin, with its pitch, makes the wines worse, yet some of them
would be drunk and pronounced good by foreigners but for
this defect.
Candia produces much excellent wine at this day, though
since it was conquered by the Turks its vintages have
greatly deteriorated. The principal wine manufacturers are
the monks. At Arcadi large and noble cellars are shown at
the monastery, where the produce of the vintage was formerly
stored. Much boiled wine was prepared in this island. The
292 WINES OF GREECE.
grapes are some of the finest in the world. The lands of the
monastery of Arcadi extend to the sea, and the wine they
make is a rich Malmsey. Grood clairets are produced at
Kissanos ; and at Eethymo the Jews make a tolerable white
wine, called the " "Wine of the Law." The white muscadine
is not equal to the red, which is named Leattico : it is plea-
santer then tent to the palate, and is sold very cheap. The
wine-drinkers of Candia were once so notorious, that a party
of them would sit round a cask, and not rise until it was
emptied.
The wines of Ehodes are said to be excellent ; but they
are nearly all of the sweet or luscious kind. One grape is
as large as a damascene plum, and very similar in colour.
The sun is sufficiently powerful in this island to keep the
vines in bearing every month in the year, provided water is
judiciously given to them, so that ripe and incipient grapes
are seen on the same vine. This practice being thought to
impair the plants, the watering them in December and
January is customarily omitted.
In Cyprus, the hills on which the vine is cultivated are
covered with stones or flints, and with a blackish earth mixed
with ochrous veins. Some soils contain particles of talc.
The vines are planted in equi-distant rows in the rainy season,
or about November. Young vines are in some spots planted
in trenches three feet deep, in which thyme plants grow, or
have been planted to shelter them in the wet season, and to
preserve the earth about them. The plants are put into
the ground with a ladder-shaped instrument of two staves, to
receive the foot that forces it down. The plant is sunk about
eighteen inches, a little water is poured in on the root, and
the opening filled up. In other places no trench is made,
unless a hollow round the plant, when the fruit appears, may
be so called, excavated to prevent the grapes from touching
the ground and rotting. This is further beneficial by retain-
ing water or moisture, so needful in a climate intensely warm.
No trees are allowed near the vines, and the surface is well
weeded. The vines grow thick in the stem, but are not more
than three feet high. They are pruned in February and
March. Two shoots are left on each plant, and two buds on
each shoot, or if three shoots are left, only one bud is re-
served on each. No props are used, for it is believed that
WINES OP GREECE. 293
the grapes receiving the concentrated and reflected heat from
the ground, as well as from the sun's direct rays, ripen faster.
A few grapes only are borne on each plant, but these are
plump and fine. They hang by long stems ; are of a rich
purple colour, and the pulp a reddish-green. The grapes
of the Commandery have a thin delicate skin, and the pulp is
compact. The vintage lasts six weeks, beginning about the
twentieth of August, and the grapes for the more common
wines are first gathered. When collected they are placed
on covered floors, called punsi, and spread out with care to
the depth of eighteen inches, where they remain till the seeds
begin to drop from them. They are then raised with shovels
and carried into rooms paved with marble, or covered with a
cement equally hard and durable, a little sloping on one side.
They are there bruised with a flat mallet, and squeezed three
or four times under small presses, called patitiri, the thick
expressed juice flowing into a vessel placed at the lower side
of the floor, which is emptied as it fills into small vases, and
conveyed into baked earthen vessels, half buried in the
earth, their bases cone-shaped, ending acutely like amphorae.
The wine ferments in these forty days. In some parts of
the island the vessels are covered during fermentation.
The wine in the fermenting state cannot be taken without
causing severe colic pains. To prevent these it is sometimes
fined by filtering it through bags filled with vine ashes, but
when thus treated it never afterwards attains perfection.
When the forty days of fermentation have expired, the
vessels are uniformly shut up close with covers of baked
earth. The wine is now observed to be much lighter in
colour than before. The vessels in which it ferments are
either simply coated with pitch or painted internally, as soon
as they come from the potter's furnace, with a boiling liquid
composed of turpentine and pitch, mixed with vine ashes,
goats' hair, and fine sand, which effectually closes the pores,
and never falls off. The art of making these vessels is very
ancient, even to the remotest ages. They contain from
twelve to twenty barrels each. The deposition of the wine
in them is styled mana. The wines are often transported to
the coast in leathern bags, carelessly pitched, and detrimental
to the flavour of the wine, which it takes many years to lose.
The cellars, though in so hot a country as Cyprus, are all
294 WHITES OF GKEECE.
above ground. The casks are placed about six inches from
the floor on joists. They have little light, and no attention
is paid to aspect.
The country in Cyprus, situated between Limassol, Paphos,
and Mount Olympus, not the ancient mountain of that name,
contains a good many hamlets and villages, and was anciently
occupied by the Commandery of the Templars and the
Xnights of Malta. The wine made of the best grapes is
that still called the wine of the Commandery. The villages
of Zopi, Omodos, Limnari, and Effragoni, afford good wines
also. At Limassol the wines of the country are collected
and transported to the cellars at Larnic, which are the largest
in the island, and there the wine trade is concentrated, or
rather was some years ago, for the commerce of the island
has of late much declined.
The wines of the Commandery are made in August and
September, from grapes of a red colour. In hue it resembles
the Italian wine of Chianti. As soon as it is made it is put
into the earthen vessels before mentioned. After being thus
left for a year, its red colour changes to a yellowish tint. It
fines itself by age, so that at eight or ten years old it is of
the same hue, or nearly, as the sweet wines of Southern
Europe. The dregs it deposits are very thick, and they are
supposed by attraction to aid the fining, so that the wine
remains upon the lees until it has attained its last degree of
limpidity. "When the wine is brought from the country into
the towns it is placed in casks, where there are dregs, for it
must always remain on them a year at least after it is made,
to acquire perfection. They do not regard whether the casks
are full or not, for it makes no difference in the quality of the
wine. They even deem it necessary in some places to empty
the casks several inches down when they are put into the
cellar. Thus various are the modes of bringing wine of dif-
ferent qualities to perfection in different climates.
Cyprus wine is sold at the vineyard by the load. Each
load is sixteen jars, and each jar holds five Florence bottles.
The vendor must warrant the goodness of the wine until the
fifteenth of August following the vintage, or for the space of
a year, no matter whether it remains in his own possession or
in that of the purchaser. If not found good it is returned ;
if the contrary, it is deemed a proof of its goodness in every
WINES OJF GEEECE. 295
way satisfactory. The quantity of real wine of the Com-
mandery produced is about ten thousand jars, though forty
thousand were once sent out of the island under that name.
The Venetians were the largest purchasers of the inferior
and newest kinds, which did not bring more than a piastre a
jar in Venice. Some of the same quality is sent to Leghorn.
The better kinds sent to Italy, France, and Holland, are sold
for two and a half or three piastres a jar, equal to five bottles.
This wine is generally exported in casks, of three hundred
and fifty bottles each. The duties in the island used to be
about ten piastres the cask. None of the wines exported
are more than ten years old, and very little exceeding twenty
will be found even in the private cellars.
The wines of an inferior quality produced in Cyprus are
generally drunk by the inhabitants. Like the wines of the
Commandery, they grow yellow by age, and, singular enough,
seem then to 'approach very near in quality and flavour to
those famous wines. A little of them is exported to Syria,
but none to Europe. They taste insupportably of pitch.
About five thousand jars of muscadine wine are made in
Cyprus ; the best at Agros. The sweetness of this wine is
excessive ; it drinks best at one or two years of age. It is
clearer than the Malmsey of most other countries, and at
first is white, but acquires a red colour and increase of body
by age. The price is the same as that of the wines of the
Commandery, a little varying with the goodness of the
vintage.
These wines, it is most probable, have undergone little or
no change since the days of Strabo and Pliny, who reckon
them among the most valuable in the world. Selim II. con-
quered the island, that he might be master of them. At
that time wines of eight years old were found, which it is
said burned like oil. Cyprus wine, the Cypreots say, is,
when old, a remedy for the tertian and quartan agues, so pre-
valent in the island, and excellent for cleansing wounds.
After sixty or seventy years, some of this wine becomes as
thick as syrup.
The age of Cyprus wine may be known by pouring it
into a glass, and observing whether particles, like oil, adhere
to the sides : this cannot be produced by art. It is often
adulterated with luscious wines and perfumes. Cold is in-
206 WINES OF GBEECE.
jurious to its quality. It should be placed before a fire, if
drunk in the north, during autumn or winter.
One very remarkable circumstance attached to the wines
of Cyprus is the value of the lees : they are always exported
with the wine, if possible. Before bottling, a month or two
of rest must be given to the cask, that they may subside.
They settle with greater difficulty abroad than in their native
island. The cask must be pierced above the dregs, and the
wine will come off limpid ; but this should only be done for
bottling. The wine deposits no tartar on the cask, but the
dregs or lees are sometimes a mixture in colour of black, red,
and yellow, of the consistence of paste, but generally of the
hue of Spanish snuff. The wine being poured upon them,
they rise, clarify it, and subside. They are always left with
the vendor, unless there is an agreement to the contrary.
Ten or twelve bottles in quantity are allowed to be kept back
by the vendor from each cask for this purpose. Casks with
the lees sell for four times the price of those without, and
hence wines that are adulterated by colouring, or with any
other object, do not produce lees, and lose their strength. A
small quantity of lees should be thrown into every cask prior
to exportation, and when eight or ten years old the wine
should be bottled.
A sort of wine liqueur is made in Cyprus, and exported to
Syria and the parts adjacent, but little, if any, comes to the
West. It is imitated in Paris under the name of mn de
Chypre, and sold as a liqueur in the coffee-houses.
Some of the wines of Cyprus are so tainted with the skin,
that they cannot be drunk by a stranger without water, ex-
cept under the penalty of a severe head-ache. This is much
to be regretted, as it arises entirely from neglect. At Omo-
dos, some Frenchmen, a few years ago, attempted to make
wine after the manner of Provence. When it had been a
year in wood, and bottled for a short time, it was equally as
good, and could not have been known from the Proven9al
wines.
There is a custom in Cyprus, among families, of burying a
jar of wine on the birth of a child, to be dug up on its mar-
riage, which wine is never sold, whatever may be the fate of
the child.
Most of the smaller Greek islands produce wine. Naxos
WINES OF GEEECE. 297
was formerly noted for its drunkards and its temple of Bacchus.
At Pirgo much wine was made about a century since. At
Nicaria a white wine, very remarkable as a diuretic, is made
from vines which grow among the rocks. Milo has frequently
exported wine to the other islands. Samos, the wine of which
was thought in ancient times to be bad, is now noted for ex-
cellent muscadine ; large quantities of vines are grown there :
both red and white are manufactured, and the wine is held
in considerable repute. Tenedos produces both dry and
sweet wines ; its muscadine is famous, it having exported
five hundred thousand okes a year. Santorini is remarkable
for the sulphurous taste borne by its wine when new, and for
its vino santo. This vino santo is sold for three or four parats
the oke at the vintage : it is made from white grapes, which
are first exposed for seven or eight days on the roofs of the
houses, then trodden or pressed, and fermented in close casks.
It is a luscious wine, and a million of okes is said to have
been exported in some years, principally to Eussia. The wine
of Meconi is so mingled with water to increase the quantity,
that few will purchase it. Scio still produces wine called
Homer's nectar, as it did two thousand years ago ; the white
and black grapes are mingled to make the wine, which is in
much esteem in the Archipelago. Another kind, called
Nectar, until matured by age, strangers cannot relish. The
grape is said to be styptic. Mista is the most renowned vine-
yard. The wines which go under the name of " wines of the
Dardanelles," are of very middling quality, and come for the
most part from Lampsacus, in the Sea of Marmora. Lamp-
sacus,Thasos, Chios, and Lesbos, were once famed for excellent
wines, and upon all their coins heads of Bacchus and Silenus
appear, or else ivy leaves, amphorae, grapes, or panthers, in
allusion to the character they bore. Ohio is high and very
hilly on the south side, with deep valleys ; on the other side
the land is low ; it therefore possesses every kind of site
agreeable to vine culture. The hills called Menaleto, St.
Helena, Vicchio, Pino, Cardanella, and St. Angelo, were
noted a century or two ago for their wines ; but Arvisio, a
wild, rough, rocky spot, excelled them all. There was one
species of wine lately grown on this island that almost in-
stantly took away the faculties upon a stranger's indulging
in it. The wine of Ohio or Scio was anciently in great
298 WINES OF GREECE.
repute. Caesar gave away a hundred vessels of it on the
occasion of his triumph.
The Ionian Islands, now in the possession of England,
grow some good wines, whenever proper care is exerted in
the management of the vintage. Zante wines are in much
esteem. This island grows about 8000 casks annually. They
are both dry and sweet. One of the latter is a mn de
liqueur, unequalled in the Levant : it resembles Tokay, is
called Jenorodi, and made of the Corinth grape. Here also
is a rich muscadine wine. All the wines grown on the island
are strong. They make a wine which is taken as a cordial,
although water is added to the grapes after they are crushed.
Corfu produces strong wines, and a cordial liqueur from
dried raisins, called Eosolio. St. Maura and Cerigo grow
red wines of the quality of inferior Bourdeaux. Cephalonia
has a white muscadine peculiar to its own shores, besides
the common red wines of the Seven Islands. The wine of
Luxuria, in Cephalonia, was formerly much esteemed.
Finally, the territory of Greece possesses every variety of
soil to produce the finest wines, but neglect in the vintage
and culture of the vine, as well as in the process of fermen-
tation, render much of the product of the country almost
nauseous to foreigners. The use of the resin, mingled with
the wines to impart that short-lived durability which a pro-
per management of the vine and its products would ensure
without, is considered by the Greeks as a necessary and
agreeable flavour.
The amount of wines grown on the mainland of Greece,
according to Gordon, the traveller, in his excellent work
upon the country, was nearly 4,640,000 okes, valued some-
where about 62,OOOZ. sterling.
Albania, Romania, Macedonia, and Bulgaria, all except
the last, produce very good common wines, both red and
white.
The wines grown in Hussia bear no comparison in quantity
to the ardent spirit to which a coarse, half-civilised people of
the north may well be supposed to yield the preference.
About twenty-eight millions of gallons of coarse brandy are
every year distilled in that empire, besides a variety of other
liquors ; but, as may be inferred, little of this is the product
of the vine. In the southern parts of the empire the vine
WINES OF GREECE. 299
has of late years been cultivated with success, and as the
territory of the Tzars is extended in this direction by force
or fraud, the extent of Eussian wine produce will be yet
more enlarged. That manufactured at present is chiefly
made at Astracan and in the Crimea. It has been already
observed, that 600,000 vedros of a red wine called Kokour
were grown in the Crimea in 1831. The wines sell, from the
grower, at about six piastres the vedro.* The Crimea wines
are thought the best in the empire. Prom the description
of travellers, some of these are good red wines. There are
about three hundred vineyards. Pallas says, that the val-
leys of Soudak and Koos manufacture the best. A large
proportion of them is sent to Cherson on the Black Sea.
The manufacture is stated to have been confided to Greeks
in many instances, which speaks ill for the management of
the Crimean vintage, to judge from the slovenly mode of
conducting operations in Greece. The process of fermenta-
tion is carried on much in the manner of that already de-
scribed as being the usage in Cyprus, or, if anything, rather
coarser. The vats are pits dug in the ground, and plastered
on the inside with clay and lime. Prom the circumstance of
a hundred eimers yielding four of brandy upon distillation,
the strength of this wine may be easily inferred.
The inhabitants of the Crimea formerly prepared thick
wines, or rather syrups, as well as confections, from the
produce of their vines, and distilled brandy from the refuse
of their grapes ; but this is now given up, from finding the
sale of wine more profitable. The vineyards of the Crimea
are on the increase, and the climate is excellent ; but it is
easy to imagine the manufacture of a good wine is likely to
remain a desideratum for some time to come. Bostandschi-
Oglu is the wine most approved, grown at Koos. At Kafia
there is a vin mousseuoc. Wine of the Crimea is now shipped
at Soudak for Tanganrog, which shows that the quantity of
wine made there is on the increase. One recent cargo was
composed of a white wine, very much resembling French
Chablis, and some part of another was a new effervescing
wine very similar to Champagne.
The vineyards of Astracan are old, and the grapes, which
were first introduced there from Persia by an ecclesiastic,
* A vedro is about fourteen gallons.
300 WINES Or GJREECE.
some time in the fourteenth century, have long been noted
for their fineness and flavour. The first vineyards were cul-
tivated by the government, but afterwards abandoned to
private individuals, very few now out of one hundred and
thirty-five belonging to the crown. It is said that Ivan
Yassilievitsh first ordered the vines to be planted there in
1613. In the time of Peter the Great the grapes were first
sent to Petersburg, for his table, from Astracan, on account
of their fineness. They bear a high price there, from the
care necessary in the carriage.
The vineyards of Astracan produce both red and white
wines, of the nature of which it is difficult to convey any
idea, from the paucity of information respecting them.
Twenty different sorts of vines are said to be cultivated.
They are covered with earth or stubble in winter. The
numerous waterings given the vines in summer to improve
the size of the fruit are said to render the grapes insipid.
Some of the wines are described as bearing a resemblance to
Moselle ; others to Lacryma Christi, and some sparkle like
Champagne. They put the grapes into bags of coarse cloth,
and tread them, after which they are pressed.
The Don Cossacks possess a few vineyards, which travel-
lers say produce excellent grapes. The wines they prepare,
though small in quantity, are reported to be good. A white
wine of E/asdorof and Zymlensk sells at Moscow very high :
one vineyard is managed by a Frenchman. The wine of
Tanganrog is much inferior. Sarepta is said to produce very
good wine of the country. In some places of the Caucasus
they hang poppy heads, before they are mature, in the casks
during fermentation, by which means the intoxicating effect
of the wine is much increased. The vines are left to climb,
according to nature, to the tops of the highest trees, where
bunches of grapes are seen baffling the reach of the gatherers
at the vintage.
Notwithstanding the immense quantity of spirits made and
consumed in Russia, not less than a million of roubles has
been paid, for years together, upon the import of wine
into Petersburg alone. An Esculapian visitor to Peters-
burg, who saw many very extraordinary things there, which
have been a sealed book to the travellers who preceded or
followed him, imagined, from the quantities of Champagne
WINES OF GEEECE. 301
he saw drunk in that capital, that some other country ex-
isted of that name besides the Champagne of France. The
doctor would have soon discovered, had he inquired, that
almost all the places in the Eussian empire which contain
vineyards make a vin mousseux, though whether it has the
bouquet and delicacy of that of Ay, is another question.
The Astracan grape, one of the largest and finest to look at
in the world, forced by frequent irrigation to the magnitude
it attains, has its flavour proportionally deteriorated. Before
it is ripe, reasoning with Dr. M'Culloch, it would make a
species of Champagne, and no doubt a vast deal of the
sparkling wine of Astracan is consumed as such in the
Eussian city, to say nothing of the effervescing wines of the
Crimea.
In Georgia, good wine has been made even from wild
vines, but the process is negligent and slovenly. In the
vineyards there is little attention paid to the culture of the
plant, and the fermentation being neglected, the wine will
not keep. The use of skins, daubed with asphaltum, taints
the wine, so that few strangers can touch it. The country
possesses all the requisite materials for making good casks.
The inhabitants are described by one traveller as drinking a
tongue a day, a measure above five bottles of Bourdeaux in
quantity. The wine is so plentiful it does not cost above a
halfpenny the bottle, English money.
[Bala Rama, the Hindoo Bacchus.]
CHAPTEB XIII.
WINES OP PERSIA AND THE EAST.
PERSIAN LEGEND RELATING TO JEMSHEED OF THE GRAPES AND WINES OF
PERSIA THE WINES OF MOUNT LIBANUS AND JUDEA OF INDIAN AND
CHINESE WINES.
SIB JOHN MALCOLM says, in Ms account of Persia, that the
natives have a tradition that wine was discovered by their
"King Jemsheed, through an accident. This monarch had an
extraordinary fondness for grapes, and placed a quantity in a
vessel of considerable size, which he lodged in a cellar for
a future supply. Some time afterwards, the vessel being
opened, the grapes had fermented, and being found acid, were
believed by the king to be poisonous, and marked accord-
ingly. A lady of his harem, tired of life, owing to the suf-
ferings she endured from a nervous head-ache, drank some of
the wine, or, in plain matter of fact, got drunk. She slept,
awoke well, and afterwards took so many potations that she
finished all the poison. The monarch discovered what she
had done, and thence took the hint for his own advantage.
"Whether this story be true or not, the consent of universal
WINES OE PEBSIA AND THE EAST. 303
tradition has bestowed the origin of the vineyard upon Persia.
The fruit in that country reaches a remarkable size, and the
provinces bordering upon the southern end of the Caspian
Sea have been always noted for excellent wine. It is said the
Armenians claim the precedence, because Noah planted his
first vineyard near Erivan, about a league from the city walls,
upon the very same spot where he and his family resided
before the Deluge. The certainty of the truth being thus
upon their side must be settled by doctors learned in casuistry
and divinity. The natural evidence, if it may be so called,
is on the side of the Persians, since their country produces
the finest grapes, some of which are a fair mouthful. Yet
the white wine of Ispahan is made from a small white grape
called Kismish, which has no pips, perhaps first brought from
the island of that name, noted for fine fruits, near Grombron.
The grape of the province of Cashbin is celebrated ; it is
called ShaJionijthe " royal grape," golden coloured, and trans-
parent. The grapes are kept over the winter, and remain on
the vine a good deal of the time in linen bags. A Persian
winter, it must be observed, is very different from an English
one, the air being dry and fine for the whole season.
It is in Parsistan or Perdistan, upon the lowest slope in
the mountains not far from Shiraz, that the largest grapes in
Persia are grown, though the imperial grape of Tauris is
most extolled for eating and the table, being considered
more delicately luscious, The whole country near Shiraz is
covered with vineyards. The best red wine is made from a
grape named Damas ; it is said to be of good strength and
body, and to keep well for fourscore years, preserving all its
virtues in the highest perfection. This wine is put into flasks
of glass, called Carabas, of about thirty quarts, covered with
plaited straw, and packed in chests of ten bottles each. In
this way it is sent to Teheran, Bassora, the East Indies, and
wherever it is exported.
There are twelve kinds of grape grown near Shiraz. Some
species are violet, others red, and even black in colour, as the
Samarcand grape ; a single bunch will weigh a dozen pounds.
They sell their wine by weight, and keep it either in flasks
or jars of well-glazed earth. Their cellars are strong, and
built with great attention to coolness, water being often
804 WINES OF PEESIA AHD THE EAST.
introduced for this purpose. Seats are frequently provided
in them for visitors to enjoy the wine in greater luxury,
although fordidden by the Mahomedan law.
Of the quantity of wine grown at Shiraz it is not easy to
form an estimate. Tavernier states, that when he travelled,
between four and five thousand tuns were made annually.
The grapes are placed in a vat, and well trodden, the must
passing through small holes into another vessel, and thence
into jars of glazed pottery, in which it ferments upon being
placed in the cellar, where the must is agitated briskly. It
is afterwards strained and put into bottles for sale.
One of the wines of Shiraz is a vin de liqueur, made re-
markably sweet and luscious, and full of strength and per-
fume. The celebrated Shiraz wine sent to England as a
present from the King of Persia was white, but some in the
country is deep, even to a dark amber colour. The red wine
of Shiraz, known in Europe, is like Bourdeaux in appearance,
and of a taste not agreeable to strangers. The white re-
sembles Madeira, to which it is by no means equal.
Mr. Morier says, that the vine-dressers of Persia train
their vines up one side of a wall, and then make them hang
down on the opposite side by suspending weights to the
tendrils or branches. This ingenious traveller observes that
they only water their vines near Shiraz once a year, about the
tenth of April, the soil holding the moisture sufficiently well
to answer every purpose until that time twelvemonth.
A great deal of wine is drunk secretly in Persia by the
Mahomedans, independently of what is consumed by the
numerous inhabitants of that country who are not of the
Moslem creed. A vast proportion of the empire disappoints
the traveller, who has heard of the beauty of the country, and
the luxuries with which it abounds. The fertile spots, indeed,
are equal to everything which has been reported of them ; yet
in proportion to the extent of the empire they are not nu-
merous. Shiraz about a century and a half ago was more
populous than at present, but even then the ruins were ex-
tensive, and among them vineyards were planted. At that
time a pottle of Shiraz wine was sold for half-a-crown English.
Mandelsloe, in 1638, says Shiraz was noted for the excellence
of its wine and the beauty of its women, and repeats a saying
"WINES OF PEESIA AND THE EAST. 305
of the Persians, that " if Mahomed had been sensible of the
pleasures of Shiraz, he would have begged of God to make
him immortal there."
Marco Polo, the traveller, met with boiled wines on the
confines of Persia as long ago as the middle of the thirteenth
century. He says, that the Mahomedans of Tauris, to
whom wine was forbidden by their religion, used to boil it, by
which means they changed the taste of the wine, and conse-
quently the name, whence they might lawfully drink it,
through the gloss thus flung over the stumbling-block which
their faith cast in the way of their enjoyment. The same
writer adds, that the people were great drunkards. Tauris
boasts of sixty different kinds of grapes.
Teheran, Yezd, Shamaki, Grilan, and Ispahan, are the
principal wine districts in Persia known to strangers. In
Mingrelia, the ancient Colchis, the soil is bad, but the wines
are characterised as excellent. G-eorgia sends its wine to
Azarbazaii and Ispahan. At Teflls wine is sold openly.
"Wine tolerably good is said to be made in Chorasan. The
Turks, both in Persia and the neighbouring countries,
when they take the forbidden draught, laugh at Christians
for mingling water with it ; and yet if they but spill a single
drop upon their own garments, however valuable they may
be, they immediately throw them away as polluted. The
Turks always intoxicate themselves, hence the wine manufac-
turers in Mahomedan countries add stimulating and in-
toxicating ingredients to the wines made for secret sale to
the children of the Koran. Of late years the manufacture
of wine, even at Shiraz, has been neglected, and it is much
to be feared the produce of the still has taken its place with
the Mahomedans in their covert oblations to Bacchus.
Tavernier says, that Shah Abbas II. was much addicted to
wine, but did not on that account neglect state aifairs. Sir
John Chardin states much the same, and informs us that his
successor, Solyman, loved wine and women to great excess,
and being always half drunk, was exceedingly cruel in conse-
quence. His son, Hussein Abbas, was so struck with the
ill effects of wine, probably from his father's example, that he
forbade the use of it in his dominions, until his mother feigned
illness, and her physicians declared nothing but wine would
save her life. Hussein instantly conceded the request out of
306 W1KES Or PEBSIA AKD THE EAST.
filial piety, and obliged her so far as to taste it himself, on
which he became, as his two predecessors had been, a slave to
a love for the juice of the grape ; and the result was more
fatal to Hussein than it had proved to them.
The red wine of Shiraz has been extolled by the verses of
Hafiz in exaggerated strains, but, it is to be feared, from the
best estimate which can be formed, that it was of a quality by
no means first-rate. The Falernian of Horace and the Shiraz
of Hafiz are, it is too truly to be apprehended, both exaggera-
tions, if they could be placed in comparison with the delicate
flavour of modern Trench growths of prime character ; be-
sides, who constituted them connoisseurs in wine for any but
their own palates ? Both wines would no doubt intoxicate,
and both wines were delicious to the taste of the poets and
their friends ; but in times when plain truth is most valuable,
the probability, however much it may injure early and agree-
able associations, is always to be strictly preferred. "Writers
who follow their predilections are apt, with little regard
for other considerations, to imagine modern things deterio-
rated from those existing in past time. Thus some assert that
the wine of the ancients was best, though they are incapable
of deciding the question one way or the other. JSTo one
is justified in accrediting a fact that rests upon varying and
worthless conjecture.
The Armenians at Chiulful were formerly great drunkards,
though not profane or quarrelsome in their cups, like their
fellow- Christians who drink port wine. Instead of this, they
became doubly devotional, and, when very much intoxicated,
poured forth incessant prayers to the Yirgin. Had this re-
sult been general in Europe, Jesuitical influence would have
turned it to some advantage in the days of priestly power ;
perhaps proclaimed intoxication a virtue.
The other wines of Asia are few and little known. In
Arabia the wine is cultivated both by Jews and Christians.
The followers of the Koran, as elsewhere, drink the juice in
secret, no doubt finding it sweeter for being denounced by
their religion. In Arabic they call it " Khumr." In Ana-
tolia much wine is made, and particularly at Trebisonde.
Syria produces red and white wines of the quality of Bour-
deaux. At Damascus the " wine of Tyre" of the Scriptures,
called by Ezekiel " wine of Helbon," and by the Greeks "wine
WINES OE PEESIA AND THE EAST. 307
of Chalybon," is yet made; it is a sweet wine. On Mount
Libanus, at Kesroan, good wines are grown, the most part
boiled. They are of course sweet and white, some much
less sweet than others. The wine of Lebanon sells for
ninepence and a shilling a bottle, white and red. The strongest
of the former kind is the best. The common wine sells at
about fourpence the bottle. The wine is preserved in jars. A
wine called vino d'oro is in much esteem there; a dry, delicate
wine, which, when boiled, sparkles like Champagne. In cul-
tivating their wines on Mount Libanus the spade is not used,
the plough superseding it entirely, as the vine rows are suffi-
ciently distant to allow its free passage between them. The
vines are not propped, but suffered to creep along the surface
of the ground. Some of the wine is exceedingly delicate and
pleasant to the taste. The grapes are as large as plums.
These they say are of the class the Hebrews saw when ap-
proaching the Land of Promise, to which they belonged of old
if so, they might well covet the soil which grew them. The
soil is strong ; in certain places iron stone prevailing, in others
volcanic rocks. The Maronites and natives drink freely of
their wine, and are said to be remarkably convivial. At Jeru-
salem, white wines are made, of very poor quality.
The territory of India was the fabled birthplace of Bac-
chus. Sir "W. Jones compares to him Bala E/ama, who married
an old maid named Eevati, of four millions of years' virginity,
so tall that the hands clapped seven times could only just be
heard by her. Suradevi is the Hindoo goddess of wine.
India at present produces little or none of the juice of the
grape, except in the northern parts, between the Sutlej and
the Indus, bordering upon the former river. To the south-
ward the climate is too hot, and the soil too rich for vine cul-
ture. The Indians said, according to Diodorus, that Bac-
chus first taught them the art of pressing grapes and making
wine, and that he resided in his capital of Nysa, in the modern
Punjaub, that he ruled India with justice, and was after his
death adored as a god. All this, whether fabulous or not,
only relates to the territory west of the Sutlej, or, as it
was anciently called, the Hyphasis river. Eastward of this
the arms of Alexander ne^ver penetrated, nor does it appear
the ancients knew anything of the country. At Lahore, be-
yond the Sutlej, wine is made of good quality, and all the
308 WINES OF PEESIA AND THE EAST.
way from thence to Candahar, and northward to and in Cash-
mere, vines are planted and wine is manufactured. That of
Cashmere resembles Madeira. "Wine is made in Nepaul,
where the best is prepared in the common way. The must
is called sihee. Hot water is poured upon the murk and re-
sidue, and a less worthy sort is thus manufactured. At Can-
dahar wine is forbidden to be drunk, according to custom in
Mahomedan countries ; but that drunkenness does happen,
is plain from the punishment attached to those who are dis-
covered intoxicated. They are seated on an ass with their
faces towards the tail, and so led through the streets, pre-
ceded by the beating of a gong, and surrounded by a crowd
of vagabonds.
"Wine was once made in Grolconda upon the hills. During
the reign of the great Akbar, whose tomb near Agra has lately-
been repaired, though wine was forbidden, yet it was evi-
dently used in this the noblest city of his empire. It is re-
lated that Akbar, standing in need of good gunners, got some
from on board English vessels trading to his dominions. One
of these, who from the dry character of the man was evidently
a tar, being ordered to fire at a carpet suspended as a mark
that the emperor might see his dexterity, purposely shot wide
of it. He was reproved, and told he was an impostor ; upon
which the fellow answered, with great pretended humility,
that his sight was bad from having been debarred the use of
wine, but if Akbar ordered him a cup, he could hit a smaller
mark. A cup, a full quart was brought him, which he drank
off, and then, firing, hit the mark, to the applause of all pre-
sent. Akbar ordered it to be recorded, " that wine was as
necessary to Europeans as water to fish, and to deprive them
of it, was to rob them of the greatest comfort of their lives."
He then gave permission to foreigners to cultivate vineyards
in his dominions. There can be no doubt but the vine would
flourish well on the table-lands and mountain-sides of India,
as on the Nilgarry hills, where the temperature and soil are all
that can be desired for the purpose. The wine used at Delhi in
the time of Aurung Zebe, was imported from Persia by land,
or by sea, at Surat. The wine of the Canaries was brought
to the same port, and both sent overland to the imperial city,
where a bottle cost in those days three crowns, though no
more than three pints in measure.
WINES OF PEBSIA AND THE EAST. 309
A king of Oude very recently showed a fondness for wine,
and yet was anxious, like a right son of his Church, to maintain
the " appearance" of being a good and true believer, knowing
that this was all about which he need trouble himself. He
found great difficulty for some time in gratifying his anti-
Mahomedan desire and preserving his reputation for holi-
ness. At length he consulted a pious and learned mufti, who
had a regard for monarchical favour as strong as the odour
of sanctity with which he gratified the nasal organs of the
faithful. The mufti understood the case in all its bearings,
as a son of the Church anywhere.would not fail to do ; but what
puzzled him was, how to advise to keep the matter secret. At
length, the king, knowing that he could trust his hookah-bur-
dar, who was an old attached servant, proposed that the wine
should be placed in lieu of the water in his hookah bottom.
"Excellent," said the mufti ; " that can bring no scandal on
our faith." He took his leave of the king, and the next day
returned to ask a favour, which, as he was in the secret of the
hookah, the king could not do otherwise than grant. In the
mean while the king enjoyed his wine in security, and was
considered one of the most faithful of the prophet's disciples.
IS"or did he ever miss the heart-cheering beverage whenever
inclination pointed to it.
The Chinese are said to make a small quantity of wine,
though they prefer the produce of the still from animal flesh,
as in their spirit distilled from lambs' flesh, said to be very
potent and disagreeable. They have a rice wine called Sain
Zou. The Chinese say, that under the Emperor Tu, or Ta-yu,
twenty -two hundred years before Christ, wine was invented
by an agriculturist named I-tye. The government of that
time, however, laid what are now called heavy prohibitory
duties upon it, not with the mercenary and ignoble motive of
modern rulers, to fill their pockets, but lest the people should
grow effeminate from the use of so delicious a beverage.
This philanthropic kind of legislation was vain. Those who
had tasted could not refrain from tasting again, and indulging
to excess ; so that a sort of northern Tzar, named Kya, about
fifteen hundred years before Christ, filled a lake with it in
one of his freaks of autocratism, and made three thousand of
his subjects jump into it. Grape wine was always esteemed
310 WI]SES OF PEKSIA A^TD THE EAST.
there the " wine of honour." Yet mandates have been
issued at various periods for rooting up the vines, until the
grape was almost forgotten. Grape wine is spoken of in
annals of China long before the birth of Christ. Rice and
palm wine are made in large quantities. The Chinese, it is
certain, will buy European wines, particularly sherry, for it is
often imported in British vessels, and sells well. The grape
is also grown at Siam, but only for raisins to distil into
brandy.
The islands in the East many of them produce the grape,
but it is too luscious for making wine. Near Batavia, in
Java, the vines bear ripe fruit three times in the year.
The vine has been introduced into New South Wales, in all
its varieties. "Wine, said to be of a very tolerable quality,
has been made there in small quantities. The climate is ad-
mirably adapted for the vine, and it may be expected that in
a few years a product of value may be supplied for home con-
sumption, if not for exportation. Of the quality of the wine
which had been made in Sidney, there is yet no means of
judging. Mr. Busby, who wrote an account of a tour which
he made in Europe, for collecting choice varieties of the vine
to introduce into that colony a business which he seems to
have followed out with great diligence and a patriotic spirit
highly to his credit, proves that durability, without brandy-
ing, is one of the virtues of the New South Wales produce,
for he brought it to Europe and took it back to Australia,
perfectly sound on his arrival: another proof of the idlo
notion that all wines must be brandied to bear a voyage, no
matter how short. It is only to be feared that the soils
chosen for the vine in our colonies may be selected too often
from those which carry the rich decay of vegetable refuse, in
place of sand or calcarious strata. Grood dry wine is the
product to be desired. The heat of our Australian territory
will ripen in many places, there is no doubt, the musca-
dine grape for sweet wines and raisins. The difficulty will
be found in getting a good sound palatable dry wine. The
idea of a beneficial product from a rich arable soil it is
difficult to eradicate from the minds of those who have not
"been witnesses of the real state of the case.
Australian wines, it is gratifying to learn, have been made
WIKES OF PEESIA AND THE EAST. 311
so successfully as to sell in the market at Calcutta for thirty-
two shillings per dozen.
In 1849 the number of acres of vines was 1127, producing
101,063 gallons of wine, and 1781 of brandy. A first con-
signment reached London in 1851, amounting to 255 dozen,
described as "Australian Wine," and "Australian Red Her-
mitage."
[Symbols of the Vine.]
CHAPTEE XIY.
WINES OF AFRICA AND AMERICA.
FEW AFRICAN WINES NORTH OF THE CAPE WINES OF THE CAPE OF GOOD
HOPE IMPORTATIONS FROM SOUTH AFRICA INTO GREAT BRITAIN CUL-
TIVATION OF THE VINE IN AMERICA.
THE continent of Africa no longer boasts through Egypt of
its famed Mareotic wine ; the vines once so famed are now
cultivated principally for their shade, and the fruit neglected,
or dried for making raisins. It does not appear that wine is
made 'on either side of the vast peninsula of Africa, though
Ethiopia yields very good grapes. On the northern coasts,
at Morocco, wine is manufactured by Jews, and in Tetuan it
is made nearly equal to the Spanish wine of Xeres. In dif-
ferent parts of the Algerine territories vines have been grown,
and good red wine made by persons not Mahomedan. The
visits of the locusts, however, have been found very destruc-
tive to the vines. The Mahomedan religion is an obstacle
to this species of cultivation, which must be in the hands of
individuals of a different faith, though in secret the faithful
quaff the produce with great relish. The heat and aridity in
some countries, and the excessive richness of the soil in
WINES OF AFKICA AND AMEEICA. 313
others, are equally prejudicial to the culture of the vine.
Deserts of burning sand, and a population completely savage,
occupy the middle portion of this quarter of the globe, and it
is only at European settlements in the southern hemisphere
that civilisation has introduced one of its greatest luxuries on
any tolerable scale of extent or success.
The vineyards of the Cape of Good Hope are some of them
in the vicinity of Cape Town itself, where the beauty of the
climate and equality of the temperature are particularly
favourable to vine cultivation. The proper choice of a site
for a vineyard was seldom taken into consideration by the
Dutch, who first planted vines, under the governorship of
Yon Kiebeck, in 1650. At least, so the Dutch say, but on
the revocation of the Edict of JSTantes, the Dutch settled a
colony of emigrant French, at Franschehoek, a secluded
valley, and the residents at the Cape give them the merit of
the introduction. Their descendants are still the principal
vine growers. There are many places where the soil is ex-
ceedingly favourable, but these are neglected for situations
which have been chosen from local convenience, the caprice,
or mistaken policy of the planters. The fertility of some of
the land near the first settlements was very great, and on
that account the less applicable to vine culture, yet vine-
yards were planted in such places very early after the Dutch
began to bring in the land. It is not far from Cape Town,
or about half way between the Cape and Saldanha Bay, so
well known to seamen, that the Constantia, both red and
white, celebrated among the first class of sweet wines, is
grown. Of the two, the preference is given to the red,
though both are luscious, and the white is remarkably full in
the mouth. Both are what the French call vins de liqueur,
and are drunk as such. The vineyard is very small, and is
divided into two parts, belonging to different proprietors,
called the Higher and Lower Constantia, separated only by
a hedge, and having an eastern exposure. It was named
from the farm on which it stands, and the farm from the wife
of the Dutch governor, Vander Stel, who formed it. The
wine of both vineyards is nearly alike in quality, though the
Cape connoisseurs pretend that there is a considerable dif-
ference. Formerly, when the Cape belonged to the Dutch,
their East India Company always took off a third part at a
314 WTSTES OF AFBICA AND AMEEICA.
fixed price. Threescore years ago the wine sold for between
two and three shillings per bottle on the spot. It lies about
eight miles to the west of the town, and the produce both of
the red and white does not exceed eighty or ninety pipes
annually, though some have calculated it at twelve thousand
gallons. The soil of the Constantia vineyard is a sandy
gravel, lying upon a gentle slope. The vines are of the
Spanish muscadine species, and cultivated without props ;
when pruned, only a small number of buds is left for bearing.
The wine is pressed after the grape is freed of the stones and
every extraneous substance. The casks are deposited in a
cellar, where the air has a free circulation, upon a level with
the ground. The price of Constantia varies from a hundred
to a hundred and forty dollars the half aum of nineteen
gallons. The other wines run from twelve dollars as high as
seventy-six.
Stellenbosh, so called from the Dutch governor Stel, and
the bushes which covered it, is a second wine district, north
of False Bay, by the Stellenbosh river. Stel seized upon
large portions of territory for himself with more than Dutch
cupidity, and drew a great profit from the vineyards and corn-
fields in that part of the colony. He constructed a reservoir
in the mountains to water his farms and vineyards, which he
conveyed in a channel by his wine cellars to a mill where he
ground his corn. The valleys are described as being very
fertile in corn and vineyards. Drakenstein, another settle-
ment to the north-east of Stellenbosh, was settled by Trench
refugees in 1675. In Simon's Valley, one Yon Blesius planted
vineyards, and, as well as Stel, seems to have turned the
country into a source of private profit, until an ordinance
from Holland in 1707 forbade the civil officers of the colonies
to traffic for their own advantage in wine, corn, or cattle.
It appears that wherever land was proper for the growth of
corn, vineyards were introduced, and to this conduct the bad
quality of most of the Cape wines may be ascribed. There
was no care discovered in the choice of the site or soil. The
beauty of the vineyards at the Cape seems to argue against
their existing site and mode of culture. Two vineyards in
1722, near Cape Town, were described as the most beautiful
in the world, one fourteen hundred paces long by two hundred
and thirty-five, with a rivulet through the midst. The Dutch
WIKES OF AFKICA AND AMEEICA. 315
placed high duties upon the wine sold at the Cape to strangers
touching there during the infancy of the colony. Dampier
speaks of the strength and sweetness of the wine in his
time; but he probably alluded to the Constantia. In no
wine country is there room for greater improvement, nor is
there any in which care and science, properly directed, would
earlier exhibit their effects. JSTo method recommended by
European science or experience prevails. The improver would
have to encounter very considerable obstacles. That it would
be highly beneficial to Great Britain, as well as the colony,
there is no doubt. Things are undoubtedly better now than
they were twenty years ago ; but amendment is very slow. The
obstinacy of the Dutch character is proverbial. Old habits
can with difficulty be overcome in a long series of years.
The boors are a- very ignorant, dogged race of people, and not
at all of speculative habits, but content to do, in the same
mode, what their fathers did before them, and no more,
contented with " the wisdom of their ancestors."
Except a soil consisting of volcanic remains, there are
traces of every other species of land congenial to vine cul-
ture. There can be no doubt that were vineyards planted on
the sites better adapted to their growth, and the grapes
selected with due care, a vast deal of good wine might be
sent from the Cape into Great Britain. The quantity of
produce is now the only object kept in view by the farmer.
The vines are not always propped for the common wines. It
is observed already, that they never are propped for the Con-
stantia wine, but left too frequently to grow like currant-
bushes in England, and even to rest upon the ground. Erom
this custom, perhaps, arises one cause of the earthy taste of
the wine. The customary mode of doing everything as it has
been done before, together with an inveterate adherence to
precedent, renders it very difficult to effect the least ameliora-
tion. The Dutch farmer presses his grapes under any cir-
cumstances that will ensure quantity of product. Careless-
ness in training and dressing the vines also equally contributes
to perpetuate the bad nature and bad character of the wine,
in a country where nature is free from any share of the
blame.
The wine grown at the Cape is both red and white, and
the larger part is dry. They have, besides the red Constantia,
316 WINES OF AEBICA AND AMERICA.
a red wine called Kota, and various wines grown at Stellenbosh,
Dragenstein, and Perle. The real Cape Madeira is a boiled
and mixed wine, and used to be sent to Holland, India, and
America. The farmers sell their new wine to merchants at
Cape Town for thirty-six dollars the leaguer of fifty gallons,
which the latter retail at an advanced price, adding execrable
native brandy. They also ship it off to the quickest market,
rarely having capital to retain it in their own hands until it
is properly matured by age. The greater part of the wine
produced goes by the general name of Stein wine, some of
which, when carefully prepared, and after due keeping, is
really excellent when about seven years old. The absurdity
of government interference exists at the Cape; tasters,
inspectors, and what not, get a living upon the wine owners,
mere tools of the government, for which the people are taxed.
The wine is not permitted by these agents to leave the
grower's hands under six months or longer at their caprice.
A duty, equal in some cases to one-half the price of the wine,
is laid upon that which enters Cape Town for consumption.
The entire product of the vineyards of the Cape is calculated
at fourteen thousand leaguers, of which the colony consumes
six thousand ; two are sent to St. Helena, and the rest ex-
ported, a large part to this country. Erom the parliamentary
papers in 1817, the total quantity was then estimated at about
twenty-one thousand pipes and upwards.
The importation was as follows, in tuns, from 1816 to
1820:
1816 . . 1,631 2 21
1817 . , , 4,218 29
1818 . . 3,648 15
1819 , . ,. 1,648 3 19
1820 . . . 1,925 60
13,071 3 18
Of which were exported again . . . 1,923 1 17
Total consumed in Great Britain in five years 11,148 2 1
(See also Appendix, No. XVI.)
A large proportion of Cape wine is used in England to
deteriorate the growths of other countries, by making what
are called cheap wines. In the six years ending with 1849,
the quantity decreased from 349,257 imperial gallons in 1844,
to 241,845 in 1849, as returned to January 5, 1850. It is
WINES OF AFRICA AND AMERICA. 317
singular that British example has been unable to make an
impression upon Dutch doggedness in the way of improve-
ment, and that efforts, if made, have been directed as igno-
rantly as that of the older Dutch, with an utter disregard
to later precedent. Yet tolerable wine is to be drunk at
the Cape itself, from its own vineyards. Eed Cape drunk
of a proper age in the country is a sound, good wine. "Who
would believe this, from the specimens tasted in England ?
The merchants at the Cape are more careful of their cellars
and appurtenances than of the wine they export from them.
In these they deposit the produce of their purchases from
the farmer in large tuns, made of a hard dark wood, holding
six or seven hundred gallons each. The bungs are kept
locked down by brass plates well scoured, and only opened
in presence of the owner.
The grapes were first brought to the Cape from the banks
of the Ehine. The muscadine grape, as before stated, is
found there, as well as other European species. The fruit is
rich, full, and fine, and has none of the earthy taste found in
the wine. It is therefore very probable that this taste is
further aided by the stalks and stems, for the grapes are
neither picked nor sorted, ripe from unripe, except for the
Constantia, and what earth may cling to them all go into the
vat together, the whole management being generally en-
trusted to emancipated slaves. The casks, too, are ill-prepared
for the wine. The vintage labour takes place in February
and March. The process of fermentation is ill-conducted ;
even the operations preceding the vintage are rude, and
managed as coarsely as cider-making in Devonshire. The
grossest manure is applied to the vines. It is, therefore,
not wonderful that Cape wines have become depreciated in
public opinion. This is the more to be lamented, because the
mother country possesses no colony where a more congenial
soil exists, or where better wines might be grown. The
reduced duties, and extent of the home population, would
secure a consumption for a superior wine, which would render
the Cape in return pecuniary advantages that could not fail
to be felt by the colonists. It is wonderful that English
speculation, securing a few French cultivators, has not made
new attempts to raise the character of these wines, of which
even the worst find a market. The return would not be slow,
318 WINES OF AFBICA A:N T D AMEEICA.
the capital be secure, and a little patience recover the
market for any distinct well-characterised wine which might
be grown. There is, however, another obstacle to be over-
come in the ill-managed fiscal regulations of some of our
colonies, and the arbitrary enactments of military governors
ignorant of everything but regimental duty, whose will is too
often the sole law by which everything in them is regulated.
Until this system is abolished, and the colonists become self-
governed in all things of which they have the true compre-
hension, little emendation is to be expected.
In America, wine is made in many places, both in the north
and south continent. The wild vines on the Ohio attain an
immense growth, and wine has been frequently nflade from the
grapes they produce. Some species of wild vine are of pro-
digious size, their trunks being from seven to ten inches in
diameter, and their branches hanging down sixty or seventy
feet from the tops of the tallest trees. Certain Swiss settlers,
in the states of Ohio and Indiana, have cultivated the vine
with considerable advantage. The crop in 1811 was as much
as twenty-seven hundred gallons, though the vineyard was
only planted in 1805. The wine was said to resemble Bour-
deaux in quality. Vines from Madeira and the Cape of G-ood
Hope are found to succeed well in the soil here. "Wine was
known to be made twenty years ago from the native grape of
America, to the value of six thousand dollars. Of these, and
the wines grown near Philadelphia, the author has no means
of ascertaining the quality. In several parts of Mexico good
wines of the second class have been produced, as at Passo del
JSTorte. Those of Paras, in New Biscay, equal them. "Wines
are also made at St. Louis de la Paz and Zalaya, of tolerable
quality. Lower California has some vineyards, which give an
agreeable red wine. A vineyard established on the Kentucky
Biver, in 1798, did not meet with success, probably from the
rich state of a primeval soil, owing to the excess of vegetable
decomposition. The banks of American rivers must for the
most part be uncongenial sites for the vine, as they flow
generally through a very fertile and level country.
"Wine was long ago made in Louisiana, and in the French
colonies of America. In Florida a considerable quantity was
produced from a native grape, resembling that of Orleans, as
far back as 1564, according to the testimony of Sir John
WINES OE AFBICA AIS'D AMERICA. 319
Hawkins. Twenty hogsheads were made in one year at a
particular spot, and it was well tasted, but the colony got
into a dispute with the Indians, and was ruined in conse-
quence, together with the manufacture. Laudonniere says,
writing his voyage to Florida, in 1562, that the trees were
environed about with vines bearing grapes, so that the num-
ber would suffice to make the place habitable.
In Mexico, where the small wild grape was indigenous, the
Spaniards had introduced that of Europe as early as 1572.
" Master Ealph Lane," the head of the first colony esta-
blished in Virginia, wrote to England, in 1585, that he had
found in that country " grapes of suche greatnesse, yet wilde,
as France, Spaine, nor Italie have no greater." This perhaps
savoured a little of exaggeration. Thomas Heriot, who com-
piled an account of the productions of Virginia for Sir "Walter
Ealeigh, says : " There are two kinds of grapes yielded natu-
rally, one small and sour, of the size of those in England ; the
other far greater, and of a luscious sweetness."
The island of Cuba has an abundance of wild grapes, which
have an acrid taste, and afford a light, cool, sharp wine. The
trunks of the vines are often as thick as a man's body, and
with their branches interwoven extend in thick woods over
leagues of surface.
South America abounds in vineyards. "Wine has been
made in Paraguay long ago : it was forbidden to be manufac-
tured in the Brazils during the sovereignty of Portugal there,
lest the home-made wine should suffer detriment. Vines are
grown at numerous places between Buenos Ayres and Men-
doza ; they are remarkably productive, and bring forth fine
fruit wherever the owners have taken the necessary trouble
with the cultivation. The post-houses on the road, after that
of Achiras, surprise the traveller with the richness and beauty
of the fruitage surrounding them. The clusters of grapes are
remarkably fine and rich, and are intermingled with the pear,
apple, and peach, in the most luxuriant manner, all in great
perfection. A very good second-class wine is made at Men-
doza, at the foot of the Andes, on the eastern side, which is an
article of considerable traffic with Buenos Ayres, a thousand
miles distant across the Pampas. They are transported even
during the summer heats, and so far from spoiling, are found
to improve by the carriage. The quantity thus sent is con-
320 WINES OF AFBICA AND AMERICA.
siderable. The wine is not carried in the odre, or hogskin of
the mother country, which so infects the otherwise sound
wines there, but it is conveyed in small barrels slung on each
side of a mule. Sweet wine, resembling Malaga, is made at
Mendoza, to which end they suspend the grapes for some
time in bunches to mature, after they are taken from the
vine. On approaching Mendoza, fields of clover and vine-
yards greet the eye on both sides, and the gardens of the city
are filled with some of the best muscadine grapes in the world,
both for size and flavour. The vineyards produce black and
white grapes alike ; the vines are not suffered to grow above
four feet high, and the vineyards are irrigated. Both red
and white wines are made, the latter bearing in the United
States the price of Madeira. The wines are sent in exchange
for barrel staves: a plan which Old Spain had never the
sagacity to imitate. Brandy is also distilled from these
wines.
Peru affords delicious grapes of various kinds, principally
for eating, near Lima. No wine is made near that city, from
the great demand for the fruit. The vines grow in a stony
and sandy soil, and are of good flavour ; that called the Italian
is remarkably large and delicate. The vines are regularly
pruned and irrigated, and require no other attention. The
culture bestowed on the vines, from which the wine imported
into Lima is made, at lea, Lucumba, Pisco, Nasca, and other
places, does not differ ; the vines are generally trained upon
espaliers. The soils there are stony, sandy, or consist en-
tirely of smooth flints and pebbles ; not more than eighteen
inches of earth anywhere covers them even in the part devoted
to arable purposes. The land may, therefore, be imagined
very congenial to vine culture. The trenches which still
irrigate these lands are the work of the unfortunate Incas,
which, amid all their blind devastation, the Spaniards had the
foresight to preserve. The olive flourishes here in whole
forests, and gives finer oil than in any other country.
The wines made both in Peru and Chili are white, red,
and dark red. Those of Chili are thought the best, the
muscadine being remarkably good. The wine of Nasca is
white, and least in request, being of inferior excellence ;
brandy of good quality was once distilled there, and sold
at Lima. The wine of Pisco sells best, and is highly es-
WINES OF AFBICA AND AMEEICA. 321
teemed. Callao is the great entrepot whence the wines are
re-exported to Guayaquil, Panama, and Gruamanga. In
Chili, though the vines produce better fruit for wine than
in Peru, purchasers of the wines to a remunerating extent
are wanting, and much of the vine ground lies neglected.
The red grape is most cultivated, and is remarkable for rich-
ness and flavour. The muscadine far exceeds that of Spain,
as well in the fruit as the wine it produces. The vines are
grown on espaliers. The Chili wines were formerly sent to
Lima in considerable quantities. At Cumana they were sold
as low as fivepence English a bottle. The white wines were
celebrated long ago in all South America. They were first
made of two species of grapes which bore the names of Uba,
Torrentes, and Albilla. The red wines were made of the Mollar
grape, and had considerable perfume. Nothing can equal
the beauty of some of the clusters of the Chilian grape. A
bunch has been gathered so large as to fill a basket of itself.
The trunks of some of the pollard vines are as large round as
a man's body. The Spanish traders formerly presented the
Caciques of Arauco with wine when they wanted to traffic,
and by that means always obtained leave. In 1824 the
Spaniards forbade traders to carry more wine into the In-
dian territories than was sufficient to treat the masters of
families to a passing cup, because the inebriation of the
Indians was followed by lamentable excesses.
[Wine Vessels The Sack Cup is at Cothele. Cornwall.]
CHAPTEE XV.
KEEPING WINES.
WINE COUNTRIES NOT GIVEN TO EBRIETY ENORMOUS DUTIES IN FAVOUR
OF SPIRIT SO EXPENSIVE AN ARTICLE TO BE CAREFULLY KEPT THE
PRESERVATION, CELLARING, AND MELLOWING OF WINES.
ADAM SMITH, in his " "Wealth of Nations," b. iv., c. iii., says :
" The cheapness of wine seems to be a great cause, not of
drunkenness but of sobriety. The inhabitants of the wine
countries are in general the soberest people in Europe ; wit-
ness the Spaniards, the Italians, and the inhabitants of the
southern provinces of France." The enormous duties laid
upon wine above spirit (see the Appendix) render the cheapest
wine on which it is worth while to pay the duty a valuable
commodity ; and while it is forced to be a luxury, which,
were it less so, would contribute greatly to health and so-
briety, it becomes requisite to know how to preserve it from
injury in the most convenient way.
The modes of making wine, so varied in detail in different
countries, and yet in the general operations of expression
KEEPING WINES. 323
ind fermentation the same in all, furnish much matter for
eflection. The division of wines into three grand heads, of
Iry, sweet, and luscious, would, perhaps, be the best method
)f * classing them, while treating of their qualities ; but the
;erms of dry and sweet having been adopted customarily, it
nay be as well to follow the general rule, for the sake of
simplicity, as the subdivisions from these two heads may be
nade to include the thicker and more luscious mider the
generic term of " sweet," as well as the more meagre in
sugar, under that of " dry" wines.
It is singular that good wines should be made under such
multifarious modes of treatment as are shown in the fore-
going part of this work. The process of fermentation is
carried on in many different modes, not regulated by locality
3r climate, and wine of excellent quality is produced under
3ach. It seems difficult to decide which mode is to be pre-
erred. The first requisite to make good wine seems to be a
)eculiar quality in the soil in which the fruit is grown, more
;han in the species of vine itself. Every treatment after the
vintage is secondary to this. The quality in the soil which
operates upon the plant, so genial in some spots, yet scanty
and confined in limit, is in its precise nature unknown. The
general character of the soils friendly to the vine is already
amiliar to the reader ; but the nature of the influence pos-
sessed by one small spot in the same vineyard over another,
as exhibited in the productions of several choice varieties
of the vine, will, perhaps, for ever baffle the keenest spirit of
inquiry.
The second requisite to good wine is the species of plant,
aided by a judicious mode of training and cultivation. On
the whole it appears, that, to refrain from attending to the
soil at all, is better than to overwork it. Three-fourths of
all vines are grown on hills, and wines of the first character
are made from those that flourish among stones and pieces
of rock, with little attention, more than occasionally raking
the ground between them, where it is possible to do so.
Hermitage was first grown among granitic rocks and stones,
broken smaller by art, and little or no dressing was used ; on
the other hand, no wine of tolerable quality is grown on rich
highly-dressed land ; this may be taken as of equal truth in
the north and south. It is remarkable, also, that the quan-
Y2
324 KEEPING WINES.
tity of must, afforded in different situations in all respects
similar, differs much ; and that, on approaching the south,
the quantity rather diminishes, as if with the increase of the
saccharine principle of the grape. Thus, as before seen, in
the department of the Meurthe, in France, the quantity of
wine per hectare is never under 50*64^ hectolitres. Ex-
amples of two hundred are on record : an incredible quan-
tity. B,bkoning the hectare at two acres and a half, and
the hectolitre at twenty-six gallons, this amounts to upwards
of twenty-two hundred gallons for the English acre. On the
other hand, the produce in the Cote d'Or only averages
22-81 each hectare, and only ten or twelve for the richer
wines, while the poor wines of the Seine and Oise yield
52'13f . The table of the relative products of the French
vineyards, at the end of this volume, is curious, and will
show these variations in quantity more fully. The species of
plant which is a favourite in one district is discarded in
another. In making the drier wines, the species seem more
regulated by caprice than judgment ; while, for the luscious,
the rich grapes of the East are cultivated in preference, from
their abounding so much in sugar.
The fermentation is carried on in troughs, rats, or casks,
in all countries, covered or open, or in .France with the appa-
ratus of G-ervais, to which allusion has already been made.
This last mode is recommended, because the inventor supposes
it retains the strength and aroma of the wine ; but a far better
method is adopted in tonneaux a portes (p. 152). (See also
Appendix, No. II.) It is argued by some that the process
should be as quick as possible, and by others that it should
be slow, each pursuing his own method. As fermentation has
been already touched upon generally, the mention of it here
is rather with the intention of recalling the various modes of
accomplishing it in different places than to describe the opera-
tion. Effervescing wines in Champagne are casked soon after
the fermentation commences. The must is not allowed to free
itself of the carbonic acid gas, nor to remain in the vat but a
few hours, nor is it racked until the Christmas after the
vintage. In the Ardeche, on the contrary, the wine of Argen-
tiere, designed to effervesce, remains in the vat twenty-four
hours, the must is racked into large bottles, and decanted
every two days, until there is no appearance of fermentation,
KEEPING WINES. 325
and then bottled, corked, and sealed. The effervescing wine
of Arbois, once so celebrated, is made by suffering the must
to remain from twenty-four to forty-eight hours in the vat,
until a crust of the lees is formed as thick as possible before
the fermentation begins. The moment gas bubbles ascend
it is racked, left until a second crust is formed, racked again,
and the double operation repeated until the must is limpid.
It is then casked, and, until the fermentation is complete,
kept full. "When the fermentation ceases, the cask is bunged.
It is several times racked, and once fined before the following
month, when it is bottled. Here are three modes in one
country of making mousseux wine. ^Nor can the best wine
of the three settle the question which mode is preferable, as
the growth may cause the difference in the goodness of the
product. Other modes might be cited, but the preceding
will exhibit to the reader, in a clear point of view, the variety
of treatment to which wines are subjected, and he will find
others himself, if he wishes to follow the comparison further.
Neither with red wines is there any uniform treatment.
The fine Burgundies of France are managed in the simplest
manner, while great labour is bestowed upon wine of very in-
ferior character. Some wines are left but a few hours in the
vat, as in the Cote d'Or; others remain, as in the Lyonnais,
six or eight days or more, and at Narbonne even seventy.
Nor does any difference of product prove the discrepancy be-
tween one mode of treatment and another, where the wines
are good. This being the case with every class, it may reason-
ably be inferred, that much less of the peculiar excellency of
wine attaches to its treatment after it enters the vat than is
generally imagined. "When the must has been judiciously
placed in a state ready for fermentation, after due care had
been exercised, the simplicity of all which remains to be done,
and very frequently the opposite methods adopted from
caprice or custom, to make it ready for the market, tend to
substantiate this opinion, not to excluding improvement in
numerous existing cases of management.
In treating of the cares of the wine-maker, allusion has
been made to the diseases which the contents of his casks may
sustain in the cellar before they go out of his hands, or are
transferred to the market in fact, while they are yet preparing
for that purpose. The due care of wine in the* hands of the
326 KEEPING WOES.
mercantile purchaser, or in the custody of the private indi-
vidual, remains to be noticed. He who has a good cellar well
filled, cannot too soon make himself acquainted with its
management, and with the history of that beverage which,
taken in due moderation, may be reckoned among the most
precious gifts of Heaven to the temperate and rational man.
He should become acquainted with the phenomena of
secondary fermentation, for that process often continues in-
sensibly for a long period after wine is in the bottle, and will
affect it accordingly under varying circumstances of locality
or temperature.
The chemical analysis of the ingredients in the composi-
tion of wine has already been given in the second chapter.
Secondary, or " insensible fermentation," as it is called,
takes place in the cellar. This fermentation, from exposure
to an exciting cause, sometimes becomes acetous, and spoils
the wine. To this mischief distinct allusion is necessary, in
order to point out its prevalence. This it is which, if neglected,
most commonly brings on the principle of decay that had
until then been resisted, and which would be so longer, were
the due balance and proportion of the substances in the wine
correct at first, and the decomposition of the tartar and sugar
perfect. Durability in the cellar can only be ensured by the
change of the sugar into alcohol to such an extent as to afford
the necessary resistance. Where the sugar is great in quan-
tity, the wine is less liable to turn acid in the bottle, if the
fermentation in the vat has been good. "Weak wines, in
which tartar is predominant and the principle of preservation
feeble, are often lost irrecoverably before the owner imagines
it possible. It is against this degeneration of the wine that
the purchaser or consumer has more particularly to guard, as
of all the accidents to which wines are liable after leaving the
grower's hands, to fall into the acetous fermentation is the
most common.
The description of a wine cellar of the most eligible class
has already been given, to which there is little that can be
added. It should, if possible, face the north, and in England
consist of two divisions, one of which should be some degrees
warmer than the other, for there are many wines which do
best in a cellar of high temperature. Madeira, Sherry,
Canary, Malaga, Syracuse, Alicant, Cyprus, and some others.
KEEPING WINES. 327
keep better in warm than in cold cellars. The wine of Por-
tugal is so hardy, that even the cellars under the streets of
the metropolis will little injure its quality ; but this is not the
case with other kinds. The wines of Bourdeaux, Champagne,
and the Rhone, should be kept in cellars where no motion
can affect them, far from the vibration, or rather trembling,
of the earth, from the traffic over granite pavements. They
should be as far removed from sewers and the air of courts,
where trades of a bad odour are carried on, as possible.
These in wet weather do not fail to affect the wine, and give
a tendency to acetous fermentation. ISTo vinegar must be
kept in a wine cellar, and the temperature ought to be un-
changed throughout the year.
The fermentation of wine in close cellars is very apt to
affect the atmosphere around to a considerable degree, and
this is an additional reason why they should be well aired,
The vapours which are found in similar cases produce some-
times distressing effects upon those who encounter them.
Intoxication, vertigo, vomiting, deadness of the limbs, and
sleepiness, are frequently experienced, but these disappear
upon returning into the fresh air, and taking repose, after
swallowing an infusion of coffee, or acidulated water. There
have been instances, however, in which dangerous paralysis
has occurred from too long exposure to the carbonic acid
gas, and even death has ensued. It is proper, therefore, always
before entering a closed cellar some time shut up, and where
the wine is thought to be in a state of fermentation, to halt a
moment, when the peculiar odour of the gas will be perceived.
A lighted candle is a good test, by the diminution or extinc-
tion of its flame. Upon first perceiving the flame to diminish
in intensity, and burn fainter, it is a sufficient warning to
retreat, until the cellar is purified.
The quantity of the wine in a cellar must be regulated by
the rate of consumption in each class, so that too large a
stock may not be kept of such as is least durable. This, in
a large establishment, where a curiosity in wines is indulged,
is a matter of much importance. The details, however, do
not come within the scope of this volume. They are easily
regulated by attending to the history of each particular wine,
and the length of time since the vintage in which they were
made.
328 KEEPING WINES.
Artificial heat may be introduced into cellars which hold
the wines of the South, in very cold weather, with considerable
advantage. This may be done by means of a chafing-dish.
The cellar should be kept clean, and swept as often as con-
venient. In this climate a cellar should have an ante-room,
and be entered through two doors, closing one before the
other is opened, and keeping, by artificial means, if natural
ones will not do, the same temperature throughout the
winter and summer, judging by a thermometer.
The choice of wine is a very difficult task, especially for
the uninitiated. The difficulty is twofold : in the first place,
no two persons have the same ideas of the flavour of any
particular wine ; secondly, the wines of the same vineyard
differ in different years. Age, care in keeping, or accident,
cause a change in the flavour of the same class of wine, per-
ceptible to an amateur, though little noticed by strangers
not accustomed to the variety. A purchaser should always,
if possible, choose for himself the wine which is most
agreeable to his palate. There is much of pretension in
the general taste for wine ; and it has been asserted that
oftentimes the worst judge complains first of the quality of
the wine set before him. At one moment, the example of a
fashionable person will make a wine held in very little esti-
mation before, and perhaps very worthless in reality, the
prime wine of the table for a season. In England, it is this
fashion, or accident, and not the true regard for vinous ex-
cellence, which makes the demand considerable for any par-
ticular species.
The first object to be attained in choosing wine, next to
the taste meeting the approbation of the purchaser, is its
purity. "Whatever be the country from whence it comes,
whatever the class, if it be adulterated with anything foreign
to its own growth, it ought not to be selected. To distin-
guish genuine wine from that which is mixed requires great
experience, when the species to be judged is of a second or
third-rate class. The bouquet may be imitated, and even
the taste, unless long practice has habituated the purchaser
to a nice discrimination. It is needful to know whether
new wines will keep or change, and to what alterations the
flavour will be liable. Without this knowledge, great loss
may be sustained by a purchaser. "Wines may appear good
KEEPING WINES. 329
and bright which will not keep a year, and others, that at
first seem by no means deserving of preference, may prove
in the end excellent. The private purchaser has no resource
then but in the dealer of extensive connexions and high
character, while the dealer himself must acquire, by long
experience and nice observation, the requisite qualification.
The taste is the criterion by which a judgment is to be
formed ; but a taste in wine, which can be depended upon,
is a rare gift. The particular impression on the sense is so
liable to alteration by the state of the bodily health, or by
the last substance taken into the mouth, that it is difficult
to depend upon. Sweet or spiced food taken a good while
before will affect the judgment. Many recommend cheese,
but after that all wines have an agreeable relish, while those
who are in the habit of drinking strong wines or spirits lose
entirely that nicety of taste so requisite in judging of the
superior product of the purest growths. A habit of tasting
the superior wines will alone give the healthful palate the
power of discriminating minuter differences in the aroma,
bouquet, and seve of the choicer kinds. Such a palate judges
by comparison of what ought to be found in the best growths,
and the opinion is formed by an effort of memory upon pre-
vious sensation. Good wine is most frequently found among
capitalists, who can afford to buy up large quantities in
favourable years, the cheapest mode of purchase, who can
bottle as it may be deemed most fitting for the contents of
their ceHars, and who have a reputation to lose. The pea-
sants' wines on favoured spots, mentioned in a preceding
chapter, do not bring a good price, because the owners
have not capital enough to make them in the best man-
ner, or keep them in stock until it is most eligible to offer
them in the market. The same rule holds good with the
merchant.
The higher classes of wine are transported to the pur-
chaser with great care. The best season for removing the
more delicate wines of Prance, and, indeed, wines of every
kind, is the spring and autumn, when the weather is tempe-
rate. Cold or hot weather is equally prejudicial to the car-
riage of most wines. If transported in wood, they must be
racked before they are removed ; if in bottle, they should
be decanted. Due precautions are taken to guard against
330 KEEPING WINES ,
the frauds of carriers on the continent, by running plaister
on the heads of the casks, and covering them entirely with
hoops. The transport in cases, of the high bottled wines, is
most generally adopted. These cases are strongly put toge-
ther, and carefully packed, each bottle being bedded in straw,
after having been previously wrapped in cartridge paper.
With Champagne the case is also lined throughout, to guard
as much as possible against atmospherical influence. Cham-
pagne wine sent to America is embedded in salt, so that it is
kept always cool. In this mode, bedded in salt and straw in
very tight and strong cases, Burgundy has been successfully
transported to India. The wine should be left in the cases
until the moment it is wanted for use.
Wine of strength, intended to mellow in the wood, should
be put into the largest casks which can be conveniently
obtained, for most wines mellow best in a large body. They
should be frequently examined, and if the cellar be moist,
placed upon elevated tressels, touching no part of the walls.
If the cellar be too humid, new apertures should be made, or
the old ones enlarged. In such cellars the barrel staves are
apt to decay, and let out the wine. Old cellars are better
than those newly built, for it is observed that in the last the
wine does not keep so well. The loss in a humid cellar by
evaporation is much smaller than in one which is dry. Aque-
ous, and no doubt some spirituous evaporation, by the pores
of the wood, goes on while the wine is mellowing. This does
not amount in a cask holding eighty gallons to more than a
glass a month in a humid cellar ; but in a dry one, though
the casks are preserved better, the loss is frequently as much
as two bottles in the same space of time.
The barrel should be placed, after the vintage, as observed
in chapter the second, upon square pieces of timber, and these
should rest upon traverses of a larger size, placed upon the
floor three feet asunder. These traverses should not be more
than five inches square, nor the uppermost pieces, on which
the barrels rest, be more than three or four. The casks must
be kept steady by wedges, and they must be so far forward
from the wall of the cellar that the inner ends of the casks
may be easily examined with a candle. Casks should never
be placed upon each other when it can be avoided, as in case
of accident, or for ullage, it is difficult to get the lower tier
KEEPINGS WINES. 331
cleared. The French call this mode of placing casks engerber.
"When cellar room is scanty, however, it is difficult to dispense
with the practice.
It is agreed, that the longer the wine remains in the wood
the better it gets, the uttermost term which it will bear in
that state being known. Delicate and light wines should be
bottled as short a time as possible, for this class gains little
by remaining in that state. Strong bodied wines, on the
contrary, should remain long in bottle, in which state they
improve best. Bottling, though a very simple operation, re-
quires care and regularity in the performance. The admis-
sion of air into the cask during the process of bottling is in-
evitable, and, if the operation be protracted, the wine, espe-
cially if it be of a very delicate or superior kind, is certain to
be-injured. The best plan in bottling delicate and expensive
wines, which will enable them to be drawn off to the last drop
in full perfection, without hurrying, or even to be drawn off
slowly for drinking, is that adopted on the continent. A
bottle of fine olive oil is poured into the cask, by which means
acidity or mouldiness is effectually prevented. It must be
the purest that can be procured. Eor a year's duration the
wine will preserve its quality perfect. This arises from the
oil covering the surface of the wine and excluding entirely
all contact with the external air.
Bottles should be selected of good manufacture, and of
equal diameter throughout, or they will be liable to break in
the bin when piled high.* Twenty-four hours at least before
they are filled, the bottles should be cleansed and rinsed. Shot
should never be used, for the acid of the wine is apt to act
upon such as are left jammed in the hollow of the bottom.
Clean gravel is better, or a small iron chain, the links minute,
and yet as loose as they can be procured. The bottles should
then be reversed to drain in planks, having holes for the necks.
Afterwards they should be rinsed in a little brandy, if the
* M. Collardeau of Paris invented a machine for trying the strength of French
bottles. It consists of a forcing pump, with a regulator and manometre, to ex-
hibit the pressure exerted. Bottles for Burgundy or Champagne average a re-
sistance to internal pressure outwards equal to twelve or fifteen atmospheres.
The weakest parts of a French bottle are at the junction of the neck, or at the
bend in the bottom. The utmost number of bottles for Champagne that all the
manufacturers can make, for the next year's bottling upon an extraordinary vint-
age, is 10,800,000.
rfET
332 KEEPING WINES.
wine to be bottled is weak and of small body, letting them
drain as with the water, but not until quite dry. Yery fine
wines are injured by the brandy, and for them this process
must not be used. The corks must be sound, well cut, so as
to press equally on every part of the neck, and perfectly new,
or they will impart a bad taste to the wine. They must be
supple, or there is a chance of their breaking the bottles.
Any corks with blackness, or the remains of the bark upon
them, must be rejected. The corks should be driven home
with a wooden mallet, the weight of which is regulated besb
by experience.
Bottles should be waxed, or rather stopped with a compo-
sition. It is the custom among many wine merchants merely
to seal over the tops of the corks. This is not enough ; the
glass should be included, to prevent any air passing between
that and the cork. In Prance, for every three hundred bottles
two pounds eight ounces of rosin are mixed with half that
quantity of Burgundy-pitch, and a quarter of a pound of
yellow wax, adding a small portion of red mastic ; these are
melted together, and taken off the fire when the froth rises,
then stirred and placed on again until the mass is well com-
bined. In some places tallow, in a smaller quantity, is substi-
tuted for the wax, for, if there be too much, the substance
will not harden sufficiently ; and if neither wax nor tallow are
employed, it will be too dry and brittle. The corks, and a
quarter of a ninch of the bottle-necks, are dipped in this sub-
stance while it is hot, and then set by to cool.
"When the bottles are corked and waxed they should be
placed in a perfectly horizontal position, so that the cork be
always in contact with the liquid. The soil on which the
bottles lie should be first beaten very firm. Laths may be
placed between each tier of bottles, and a bed of clean sand
should lie in the interstices of each tier, and cover the bottles ;
for sand, though not commonly adopted, has great advantages.
Piles, a yard in height, the ends of the piles confined by
wooden posts, are a better situation than when the bottles
are placed touching the cellar walls, or in bins.
The rich wines de liqueur, such as Malaga, Syracuse, Ali-
cant, and the like, may be placed on their ends ; but the dry
wines must be arranged in the horizontal position. Upon
the lowest tier of bottles the whole pile naturally depends.
KEEPING WIKES. 333
and these should be very well placed. The necks of this
range of bottles should be supported either by laths, or by
embedding them in the soil of the cellar. The lowest range
of bottles should be about fifteen lines asunder, having a bit
of thin cork between. By this means the upper ranges will
be certain to come within the allotted space, as there may be
some small difference in the size of a bottle or two. The
laths used must be thicker than common, if the pile be more
than from three to five feet high. The preferable mode is to
have vertical supporters placed at the distance allotted for
the ends of the piles, by which means they may be reared in
the middle of the cellar, which, as already observed, is pre-
ferable to the common mode against the walls, when room
will admit of it.
The wines are now left to ameliorate, according to their
various qualities, a greater or less space of time. Tet thus
excluded from external impressions," as it might be imagined,
they are subject to decomposition whether by the evapora-
tion of their alcohol, or of some other constituent principle,
it is not easy to ascertain. Those wines in which the sac-
charine principle exists in abundance, or where it has formed
a strong-bodied wine, are much less liable to change com-
pared with the more delicate classes, unless from some pre-
vious mismanagement. . That in bottles, stopped in the most
careful way, in fact sealed hermetically, wine is still subject
to the action of external causes, though some of them are
trifling in their nature, is an admitted fact. It is during the
secondary fermentation, and the consequent deposition, that
wines are apt to become acid in the wood, and what is called
the insensible fermentation in the bottle is a state in which
it has the same tendency. If the fermentation be once per-
fected, and the tartarous and saccharine principles be com-
pletely developed, the wine being supposed to possess the
just balance, it will be proof against change from any common
cause for a long period of time, as may be supposed the case
with hock, already mentioned in another chapter. Where
the sugar predominates, alcohol sufficient is produced to
ensure durability ; but neither of these contingencies, it is
probable, accompanies the cellaring of the finer and more de-
licate wines, which will not keep at most more than twenty
years. It is in vain that the impurities are cleared away by
334 KEEPING WIKES.
racking ; the cause of the evil still remains, perhaps, in the
very delicacy itself.
The precipitation of wine in bottle is only the continuance
of that which began in the vat, and keeping this in mind, the
remedy is apparent. All wines deposit in this their last
state of preservation, from the coarse crust of port to the
depot pierre of Champagne, or the almost invisible sediment
in some other wines. These consist of tartar, colouring
matter, and in white wines supertartrate of potash. Some
substances are observed in particular wines, which have too
much levity to sin-k, and always remain in suspension while
the wine is acquiring age. This substance burned is found
to be pure potash. The same wine will often deposit under
two different forms in the same bottle. In Champagne, what
is called the depot pierre is like very fine sand or small flinty
crystals, but it is nothing more than an appearance put on
by the crystallised tartar of the wine. This substance is
found in every vinous precipitation, in some form or another,
more or less apparent. Those wines which deposit freely are
observed to be the most durable. "Wines which deposit much
should be decanted into fresh bottles in case of removal, or
the deposit may ascend and injure the wine.
"When wines in wood are observed to ferment about the
time of the equinoxes, they exert a great force upon those
barrel staves which have decayed more rapidly than common,
from being attacked with a species of dry rot, which generally
begins in the wood nearest the cellar walls. The casks
burst, and the wine is lost, unless the decay is observed early,
and the wine drawn off, for which purpose the casks should
be frequently visited and narrowly inspected, for the staves
will quickly become so rotten in particular places as to yield
before the finger. The French call these accidents, or rather
the attacks of the rot, coups defeu.
The casks should be filled monthly, to make up for the loss
by evaporation, or mouldiness will cover the surface of the
wine and spoil it. Racking should be performed in the most
careful manner, so as not to agitate the wine more than can
possibly be avoided ; and for this purpose, in the more deli-
cate wines, a tube should be used, to prevent as much as
possible all contact with the atmosphere. When the wine is
labouring under any of the accidents while in the cellar
KEEPING WINES. 335
which are enumerated in the chapter on the vintage, recourse
must be had to the same remedies laid down there.
It is evident that the preservation and amelioration of wine
in the bottle depend upon its maturity in the wood, and upon
the utmost possible freedom from all substances it may hold
in suspension while so situated. The time for this operation
differs with the character of the wine. The first class of the
more delicate Burgundies should be bottled at the end of a
year after the vintage, while the more generous and higher-
coloured should remain in wood four or five years, such as
Pomard, Vosnes, or Chambertin ; Bourdeaux may mellow in
wood for ten years. "White wines may be bottled for the most
part earlier than red, and so may the muscadines. The Rhine
wines may remain in wood for many years ; so may most of
the southern dry wines ; the effervescent wines, on the other
hand, require to be bottled early. A clear, dry, cool atmo-
sphere, with a northerly wind, after a racking within the pre-
ceding six or eight months, so that perfect limpidity can
be obtained, is the best time for putting any wine in bottle.
The early part of the month of March is the time of the year
preferable to every other.
A great object in the preservation of wines in the cellar is
to keep the bouquet as long as possible, with that agreeable
aroma which marks the highest class of wines, rarely met with
save in those of France. This is the characteristic of the fine
wines, and in some degree of all wines of the first quality
which are pure, though in the secondary sorts it is less per-
ceptible. Wines lose their bouquet by being kept too long.
There is always a middle age, a maturity of years, so to speak,
equally removed from the extremes of youth and senility, in
which the finer wines should, if possible, be drunk. When
they lose anything of their virtues or good qualities, it is cer-
tain that this maturity is past, although the wine may keep
good for a long while, perhaps for many future years. It is
an error, caught up from the notion that old axioms are indis-
criminately correct, it is an error to suppose that the wine
which will keep long should only be drunk when it will keep
no longer. Mere age is no criterion of the excellence of wine,
though a certain age is necessary to carry it to the state when
it is best for the table. Wines differ in the quality of en-
durance, and proportionably in the time requisite for improve-
336 KEEPING WINES.
inent. Burgundy of the first class, it is an acknowledged
fact, will support itself to twenty years, but after twelve or
fourteen it does not in the least improve ; and the third year
in bottle, or the sixth from the vintage, is the time when it is
most perfect in every good quality for which the wine is
famed. Grood Champagne, on the contrary, will often be
found to improve for ten or fifteen years, and will support
itself until thirty, and sometimes until it is forty years old-
The best age for the use of this wine is about twelve years.
On the other hand, hock is in full perfection when it is
forty years old, and it will keep well four times that term.
The red wines of Roussillon, though kept fifteen years in
wood till they acquire a golden tinge, are then bottled, and
kept seven years longer, and after that continue to deposit.
These wines keep well for a century and a half. The luscious
wines keep long, and the dry wines of the South, Sherry,
Canary, and others of similar class, endure for a long term.
But this endurance is in no case a proof that wine, at the ex-
treme point of its durability, is in the highest perfection ; for,
on the contrary, the term age can only be rationally used
when intended to comprehend the fitness of wine for drinking,
and to describe that which is arrived at maturity, as the
word "new" might explain wine not yet arrived at the full
development of its qualities for use. Many wines, which keep
well to a great age, lose some of their vinous qualities not-
withstanding. Port wine, when it is old, retains but a very
small proportion of its vinosity. Time is requisite to destroy
the fiery mixture with which it is adulterated, or the potency
of the brandy ; but before that moment arrives, the vinous
characteristics are generally gone. Tawny port may be very
good, and well-mellowed brandy-wine, but it ceases to possess
the original qualities of the juice of the Oporto grape. It is
important that this should be borne in mind. It will render
the very small quantity of first-class port wine which comes
to England more valuable, as this alone can be drunk nearest
the vinous state.
The characteristic bouquet of the finest and best wines
cannot be transferred, because the delicacy cannot be imi-
tated, and they accompany each other. They are unrivalled
in their nature. "When we take them we drink " the very
blood of the earth," as Alexander the Great said to Andro-
KEEPING WLN'ES. 337
cydes. A taste may easily be imparted to wine by artificial
means, but this cannot deceive the palate well acquainted
with what is genuine. Age softens what the French call the
seve of the finer wines, or their spirituous aroma, but it is
often fatal to the bouquet. To preserve both perfect, the
best method is to take care that the casks are kept well filled
with wine of the same vineyard and quality, to bottle it at
the exact time, and only to remove it for the table. The
finer wines will not bear any mixture, and the barrels should
be kept filled, by putting in pebbles well washed and dried
in the sun, rather than by the introduction of any different
species of wine, or any but that of the same vineyard, and
spot of the vineyard to which the growth belongs.
The French allow no dry wines of the first class to be grown
out of their own -country, and it is difficult to substantiate
either a charge of vanity or error against them on this
account. All other dry wines but their own prime growths
they rank in the second class, and this rule has been observed
in the list of wines in the sequel, with the exception that
the highest class of hock and amontillado sherry, on account
of their delicacy, and not bearing any intermixture, seem as
well entitled to that rank.
The mixture of wines not of the finest class, which last
will not bear it, taking place while they are in the hands of
the grower, and mingled in fermentation, must not be con-
founded with that which is practised with the view of adulte-
ration, treated of in a subsequent chapter. A weak wine,
the product of a bad year, is mingled with a more generous
growth, and respectable growers always state the fact to the
purchaser, the object not being to cheat the latter by the
imposition of a false growth, but to render agreeable a wine
which would otherwise be found feeble or too sharp for the
palate. New wine of a high colour, though of a good growth,
is not agreeable to the taste, and in bad seasons possesses
frequently an earthy taint, but mingled with old wine it
becomes excellent when duly mellowed. Sometimes the
wine of one year is mingled with that which follows, if one
crop has been deficient in body. "White wines, which have
contracted a yellow tinge, are frequently poured over the lees
of red, or are mingled with a deep-coloured red, to lighten it ;
but such wine cannot be bottled for some time afterwards.
338 KEEPING WINES.
The wine thus treated is found to be ameliorated when judg-
ment is shown in the proportion of each kind which is used.
The wines of Torins, in Burgundy, according to a distinguished
French writer on the subject, when mingled with Bomaneche
or Chenas, keep longer, and are better drinking than when
kept separate. The price of both kinds of wine is the same,
and the only object is to obtain by the mixture a better
article. Thus the use of what the French call vins rapes is
unobjectionable, being only boiled wines to deepen colour,
made for the purpose. Champagne is mingled with its
neighbouring growths to prevent too great an effervescence,
which frequently happens when the wine is bottled from one
vineyard. This mingling takes place generally for the pur-
pose of improving the wine, and consisting of no foreign or
adventitious mixtures, may be regarded as perfectly legiti-
mate. The mixture of the Moguer wines with the second
class of sherries in Spain, to lower them to cheap sherries, is
legitimate. These mixtures are avowed, and the price of the
wine lowered accordingly. Brandy and syrup of raisins are
mingled with the wines of France to please the foreign palate,
but never for home consumption. Such is the travaillage a
V Anglaise at Bourdeaux with the wines for England; the
quantity of spirit of wine added to the very purest and best
kind is about six per cent. But Spanish wine, or the Rhone
growths, are mingled also, because the standard of taste, as
respects red wine in England, is formed upon the wines of
Portugal, which are full-bodied.
It is from the habit of drinking so much brandied wine
that the English palate, except among the more fashionable
classes of society, so little relishes the virtues of pure wine of
any kind, but particularly of those most delicate and recherche.
The effects of these wines upon the feelings are as different from
those of port or the heavier wines as possible. Bourdeaux,
Hock, Burgundy, and similar growths, cheer and exhilarate
almost insensibly, whilst there is a pleasant ease in the
cheerfulness arising from their use a buoyancy which it is
in vain to look for in the spirituous heavy wines, which seem
to force on a boisterous artificial mirth, a joy that is like the
laugh of unwieldiness or decrepitude, without levity and that
airy feeling which the other kinds always induce. Their
effects on the constitution, too, are diametrically opposite
KEEPING WTN-ES. 339
when taken largely. All wine which is mingled loses en-
tirely the perfume and fineness of that which is pure, though
it may, notwithstanding, be of a very good healthy quality,
when the mixture is of no other kind than that alluded to
already, consisting of sound wine alone. With the indi-
vidual who is in the habit of drinking only the prime growths
at the proper age, no mixture in imitation of them can go
oif ; it can only impose upon the ignorant.
There is something exceedingly susceptible in the nature
of the finer wines. Thunder, the rolling of heavy bodies
over the cellar, and some things scarcely credible, are said
to occasion the renewal of the fermentation. That other
matters in a fermenting state should affect the wines by
affinity, whether in cask or bottle, may be credited upon the
weight of testimony existing in proof; but that the presence of
workmen or persons in cellars afflicted with particular disor-
ders, should bring on acetous fermentation, as well as carry
wines already in that state into one of putrid decomposition,
is almost incredible. Yet such is averred to be the fact, and
the presence of individuals in such a state of ailment, is said,
on the authority of French authors of experience, to be in-
dicated promptly by the wine, particularly in the spring and
autumn, and even when the wine is fermenting in the vat.
The fermentation of the wine in the cellar is perceptible by
a peculiar odour throughout, familiar to persons of experi-
ence, by the force with which it is projected when a cask is
opened, and by a species of glutinous mushroomy substance
formed round the bung, and any other porous part of the
cask. A hole should be bored with a gimlet in the bung,
and stopped with a peg, to ascertain from time to time the
state of the liquid. If the latter be projected with force
through the opening, it must be enlarged, that the carbonic
gas may escape, and not burst the cask. Sulphur should be
burned in the cellar, or the wine drawn off* into a barrel
which has been sulphured ; but care must be taken not to do
it so as to impart a taste to the wine, by seeing that the
barrel is perfectly dry before the sulphur is'burned. During
chis secondary fermentation a slight taste of acid is percep-
tible in the wine, which is evidently not the acetous fermen-
tation, but only the production of carbonic acid. To this
secondary fermentation, young wines which still contain
z 2
340 KEEPING WINES.
some of the saccharine principle remaining convertible, are
liable, and it is not at all injurious. "Where this is not the
case, as in old wine, the process must be stopped at all
hazards by sulphur or cold, and the wine racked, to prevent
its degenerating into vinegar. Old wine should be kept as
far removed as possible from new, and sulphur matches
should frequently be burned near the casks of the older wine
to purify the air, and repress any tendency to ferment. The
sweet or luscious wines disposed to ferment should be
racked into fresh casks, in which a third part of a quart of
brandy has been previously burned. Spirit of wine would
be still better, and might supersede the use of sulphur,
taking care, in the case of dry wines, to lessen it to one-half
the quantity.
Champagne is a wine which requires attention in keeping.
The bottles should be carefully laid on laths, or in sand, in a
cool cellar where air is admitted, and never be placed on
their bottoms, as from this cause they will very speedily lose
their effervescence. When once placed they should not be
touched, but for removal to the table. If they are left in
the cases the mark of the upper side should be carefully at-
tended to. The effervescing Sillery is sometimes apt to
effervesce after carriage, or on being placed in bad cellars.
The bottles should in that case be placed on their bottoms
for some time, and, before drinking, the wine should be kept
an hour in ice. The most esteemed of the effervescing wines
is the vin cremant d'Ay, which is the least frothy and the
fullest bodied. The best Champagne in the best year has a
slight tinge of the rose colour, which is one proof of its being
of excellent quality. The deposit in Champagne, already
mentioned in these pages, is not the only one to which the
wine is liable. While the depot pierre is considered a proof
of the goodness of the wine, a black or yellow deposit, which
will on motion float in the liquid, is a bad symptom, and
shows that the wine is deteriorating fast. Deep cellars are
best for Champagne, and as little variation of temperature as
possible. The older it gets the less liable it is to be attacked
by changes to its disadvantage ; and the better this wine is,
the more it is liable to accident from heat, cold, or bad cel-
lars ; it will, however, in most cases, very soon recover itself.
The wines of Prance generally require the same kind of
KEEPING WINES. 341
cellar as Champagne. It lias been already remarked that
the wines of the South should be kept in such as are of a
warmer temperature.
Claret, which is Bourdeaux worked up with other wines,
as already stated, is very apt to exhibit its artificial com-
position in the cellar by changing its original colour. When
this wine is not fine it should be racked over its own. lees,
agitated, and then treated as usual ; by this means the evil
will be removed. Claret is thought to drink best about ten
years old.
The amelioration of wines in the cellar by age is not by
any means clearly understood. "Wines deposit both in wood
and bottle, until they become pale, rancio, or tawny. Port
wine, at first harsh and hot, is best judged by occasional
trials. This wine should be suffered to deposit nearly all
its impurities in the wood, besides getting rid of its brandy.
The bottle deposit, too often exhibited as a convincing proof
of vinous excellence, really means little. It might be sup-
posed that the spirit evaporated, because that which was at
first so spirituous, when it gets old, loses its strength in a
great degree, and becomes more agreeable to the palate,
though at the expense of its vinosity. Yet, in other in-
stances, it may be conjectured that not the spirituous, but
the aqueous part of the wine evaporates. M. Yon Soem-
mering, after some experiments directed to ascertain if pos-
sible the actual truth, recommends that wine should be kept
in glass vessels having their orifices closed with bladder.
He asserts it ameliorates much quicker by that mode of
treatment, and he took great pains to ascertain the fact.
He found that water escaped through dried bladder, but
that the spirituous portion of the wine did not do so with
equal facility. He, therefore, prefers glass to wood, in every
state of amelioration ; and, covered with bladder, he asserts
that wine will mellow more in twelve months in glass than in
the cask in twelve years. There is also the advantage of
saving the wine lost in the wood by evaporation, the dis-
pensing with ullage, and the preservation of the taste and
colour. It was remarked, that the shallower the glass vessel,
and the wider the orifice, the sooner the amelioration was
perfected.
The experiences of the inhabitants of the countries in which
342 KEEPING WINES.
each particular species of wine is grown, furnish, whenever
they can be obtained, some of the best hints for the future
management of the wine when it has quitted the grower's
hands. Wines of a delicate character are treated abroad
with a care in private cellars which is seldom bestowed upon
them in England. The treatment of port, and the cellarage
altogether, are not the model for keeping pure and delicate
wines, that receive detriment from heat and cold, putrid
effluvia, the presence of vegetable matter, and the shaking of
street vaults from the rolling of carriages.
Spirituous Madeira wines are ameliorated by heat and
agitation. The bottle perfects the fermentation, but whether
alone, by the evaporation which takes place, is a difficult
question to answer, whatever has been said about it. Wine
has been placed in a bottle with a glass stopper, and found
to have acquired mellowness from age, where there seems
ground to believe no evaporation could happen, except
through the pores of the glass. In such a case it is con-
jectured by some to be matter of proof, that the mellowness
of wine arises from a change in its constituent principles,
and a blending together of them more intimately. An in-
sensible change in some of these principles may be effected
by time and contact alone ; the change in the colour of old
wines proves there is ground for this supposition, and as
many wines become more mature in large vessels, in which
the pressure must be greater than in small ones, the mellow-
ness is thus hastened. At all events, if the latter suppo-
sition be groundless, it can but take its rank with other
conjectures on the same subject, towards fixing the certainty
of which not a fractional portion of truth seems to be yet
established.
IK 75
[Genuine Wine Manufactory.]
CHAPTEE XYI.
ON THE ADULTERATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES.
PREVALENCE OF ADULTERATION OF BRANDY, AND ITS USES MIXED WINES
FORBIDDEN ANCIENTLY INCREASE OF SPIRIT CONSUMPTION VARIOUS
MODES OF SOPHISTICATING WINE OF MAKING OR ADULTERATING PORT
AND CLARET OBSERVATIONS.
THE spirit of traffic, which attracts to our doors the luxuries
of the earth, rarely limits its aim to legitimate profit. As in
war all stratagems are lawful, so in trade the desire of gain
wearies imagination with contrivances for turning to account
every substance of which money can be made. To be over-
scrupulous about the mode would argue tardiness in the pur-
suit of an object, to which every generous feeling of life must
be sacrificed if it intervene, and to gain which, honesty is
344 ADTJLTEBATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES.
only the best policy when knavery is insecure from discovery
As an article of commerce finds a larger consumption, and
the cost is increased by an extravagant taxation of two or
three hundred per cent., the temptation to defraud is greater
because the profits are proportionably enhanced. The adul-
teration of wine, among that of other articles, has of late
become almost a scientific pursuit. The clumsy attempts at
wine brewing made a century ago, would now be scorned by
an adept. It is said that when G-eorge the Fourth was in
the " high and palmy" days of his early dissipation, he pos-
sessed a very small quantity of remarkably choice and scarce
wine. The gentlemen of his suite, whose taste in wine was
hardly second to their master's, finding it had not been de-
manded, thought it was forgotten, and, relishing its virtues,
exhausted it almost to the last bottle, when they were surprised
by the unexpected command that the wine should be forth-
coming at an entertainment on the following day. Conster-
nation was visible on their faces ; a hope of escaping dis-
covery hardly existed, when one of them, as a last resource,
went off in haste to a noted wine brewer in the city num-
bered among his acquaintance, and related his dilemma.
"Have you any of the wine left for a specimen?" said the
adept. " Oh yes, there are a couple of bottles." "Well,
then, send me one, and I will forward the necessary quantity
in time, only tell me the latest moment it can be received,
for it must be drunk immediately." The wine was sent, the
deception answered ; the princely hilarity was disturbed by
no discovery of the fictitious potation, and the manufacturer
was thought a very clever fellow by his friends. "What
would Sir Bichard Steele have said to so neat an imitation,
when in his day he complains that similar fabrications were
coarsely managed with sloe juice : the science of adulteration
must then have been in its infancy.
It is to be lamented that adulterations of such wines as
port and sherry may be so easily practised as to deceive
very experienced tastes, owing to their spirituous strength.
Any attempt to fabricate BomaneeConti would not thus easily
answer, because the fineness, delicacy, and perfume of the
wine are not to "be copied. Much of the Oporto wine in the
British market being of inferior quality, is peculiarly subject
to imitation. The ignorance of many persons of the true
ADTTLTEBATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES. 345
baste of Champagne has of late caused the importation of a
wretched and cheap manufacture from the continent, which
is sold for the genuine article ; but still larger quantities of
a fictitious wine, under the same name, have been .made here
of common ingredients, and passed off at public places.
Balls, races, masquerades, and crowded public dinners, are
profitable markets for adulterated wines, and the practice is
not confined to the metropolis.
By the adulteration of wine is not to be understood the
mixture of two genuine growths for the sake of improvement
already noticed, but, in the first place, a clandestine amalga-
mation of an inferior kind of wine with one which is superior,
to cheat the purchaser, by passing it off for what it is not ;
and secondly, what may be denominated with more propriety
the product of fictitious operations passed off as genuine
growths, having .little or no grape juice in its composition.
The first of these heads may be divided into adulterations of
wines before and after they are imported.
"Wines adulterated abroad are generally so operated upon
in the cellars of the exporter, and but seldom in those of the
grower, who, when he has disposed of them to the wholesale
dealer, ceases to have an interest in their fate ; the dealer
generally knowing how to take care that no imposition is
practised upon himself. There may be instances in which
the grower and the dealer have an understanding or interest
together ; but this is not commonly the case. By the prac-
tice of mingling wines in the ports of wine countries for the
English market, a facility is given for adulterating wine
which comes to England beyond that which is sent elsewhere,
because a taste accustomed to a pure wine is much less liable
to be deceived than one habituated to mixtures. The Dutch
import most of their wines pure on the lees, and thereby
show their wisdom. The northern nations of Europe gene-
rally drink them in the same state as they are drunk in the
lands of their growth ; some of the Grerman provinces alone
excepted. Eor England, however, no wine will do without
brandy, and the delicious sherries of Spain, which are of a
quality sufficiently spirituous by nature, and come over as
pure as any wines to this country, must be strengthened for
British consumption. The wines of Spain, are, however, no
other way deteriorated abroad, and a good price will always
346 ADULTERATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES.
procure good wine. Low priced sherries come over without
concealment for what they are, and with what is done in
England the foreigner has no concern. In England, sherry
of the brown kind, and of low price, when imported, is
mingled with Cape wine and cheap brandy, the washings of
brandy-casks, sugar-candy, bitter almonds, and similar pre-
parations. The colour, if too great for pale sherry, is taken
out by the addition of a small quantity of lamb's blood, and
it is then passed off for the best sherry by one class of wine
sellers and advertisers. The softness of good sherry is
closely imitated. G-um benzoin is used to produce the coun-
terfeit brown sherry, which in the real wine is given by boiled
must. The whole is tempered in a large vat, and sold out in
bottles of fifteen to the dozen, on which a profit is often-
times made of twelve shillings upon every dozen impudently
sold as genuine pale sherry.
Dr. Paris has made some ingenious observations, the result
of experiment, upon the alcoholic principle in wine. If
alcohol or brandy be mingled with water, in the proportion
of one-fourth of spirit to a quart, this gives half a pint of
pure brandy. The effect of such a combination, taken fre-
quently, it is easy to comprehend, when applied to the
stomach. The same quantity of alcohol, however, contained
in a quart of wine, formed and combined with it in the
natural process of fermentation, is by no means so intoxica-
ting, or prejudicial to the constitution. With the natural
wine it is moderated in its effects, so as to exert much less
power upon the stomach, and by consequence, is not inju-
rious, except in too large potations. That this is correct
there can be little doubt, from the test of daily experience.
In England, the natural alcohol of the wine is not deemed
sufficient. "Wine, often containing much brandy natu-
rally, is strengthened by the artificial mixture of an enor-
mous quantity which is raw, and which never combines in
the natural way with the wine itself, notwithstanding the
practice of " fretting in" by the maker. To this adulteration
the injurious effects of mixed wines on the constitution are
mainly attributable. How this difference between combined
and uncombined alcohol happens, baffles the research of
science to explain, but it is sufficient to know that such is
the incontrovertible fact. It must be admitted that the
ADTJLTEBATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES. 347
alcohol in wine is that constituent portion which diminishes
greatly in strength by evaporation, and naturally combines
with the wine less than when artificially introduced. Nor
Lave the experiments as to the quantity of spirit in wine
been yet very satisfactory.
But the foregoing absurd and injurious practice is not
alone followed by bad consequences to the constitution of
the unwary individual who drinks in years of suffering with
the cup of momentary conviviality, it further renders the
whole community liable to imposition respecting all wines,
from depriving it of power to judge between pure wine and
that which is deteriorated, and from making impure wine
the standard of the general taste. It has already been
stated, that to drink tawny port is to drink a wine after its
vinous properties are destroyed by the process necessary to
kill the spirit with which it is saturated ; that spirit by time
evaporating too, after all the principles of good wine have
long been gone.
In the more delicate wines, by the admixture of brandy,
the aroma and perfume perish, together with that peculiar
freshness which renders pure wine so estimable beyond every
other potable. In England, among common wine drinkers,
it is the alcohol of the wine alone that gives a momentary
elevation to the spirits, not at all different in its nature from
that which brandy mingled with water will afford, and re-
acting heavily. The exhilaration from pure wine is of a very
different character, either from the mode in which the spirit-
uous strength is applied to the stomach, and affects the ner-
vous system, or from its combination with other elements.
In the one case, as in Champagne, where it is true the car-
bonic acid gas may be supposed to produce the modification,
though in the finer wines of France, as Romance or Lafitte,
it is the same thing, the spirits are elevated, and even a
slight excess in the quantity taken passes away speedily, nor
leaves any ill effect. In wine mingled with brandy, the ex-
hilaration is the first access of a fever, and the head and
stomach suffer severely for the indulgence, not to comment
upon the certain ruin to the constitution of the individual
who follows the constant use of such wines, without taking
them to excess, in the shape of indigestion, and ultimately
of apoplexy or dropsy. Brandied and adulterated wines are
348 ADTTLTEBATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES.
the bane of Englishmen, though the ill effects may be slower
in some cases than others ; while, in like manner, diseases
may not be so obvious that really owe their origin to them.
The wish is patriotic and humane, that Englishmen could
drink only wine pure and unsophisticated. That an abuse
of the good things which the Creator has bestowed for the
enjoyment of man, should be followed by just punishment
in the miserable consequences that succeed excessive indul-
gence, is just and natural. The intemperate man, in the
vinous product preferred in England at present, will find his
reward; but it is singular enough, that in proportion as
drunkards have abounded in any nation, the wines drunk
there have been more sophisticated, and strengthened with
substances foreign to them. The healthy stomach relishes
plain food ; the sickly one must be pampered with savoury
or spiced dishes. The truth of this is clear ; we have the
"mixed wine" of the Hebrews in proof. Like the taste too
general in England, from which the better classes and people
of information are most exempt, "strong drink" is that
which is most desired. Pure wine is chill to the arid and
burning stomach. The Jews knew nothing of the product
of the still, and strenigthened and mixed their wines with
stimulating and intoxicating herbs. The denunciations in
the Scripture are against mixed wine : " They that go to
seek mixed wine." " Woe to them that are mighty to drink,
and men of strength to mingle strong drink :" (sheJcJiar IDE?).
The Greeks and Eomans rendered wine more intoxicating
by the use of strong aromatics. Turpentine, resin, and
pitch were mingled with them for this purpose. Distilla-
tion being unknown, spices or hot peppery substances, as
our East Indian countrymen sometimes practise now, were
had recourse to in certain countries. The very use of
these adulterations shows that the stomachs which relished
them had either first been debauched and debilitated by ex-
cess, or that health and social cheerfulness were not objects
in the vinous draught, but that a stimulant, operating rapidly
and producing ebriety with speed, was the real thing sought
after. In the West Indies formerly, when a stomach was
well-nigh worn out, the acceptable stimulant, taken as a
cordial, was a glass of brandy, with Cayenne pepper in it,
usually termed " a flash of lightning." That to the gene-
ADTTLTEKATKXS- AND SOPHISTICATION OF WIJSES. 349
ralityof the nations of the oS'orth, accustomed to drink quan-
tities that would be instant death to those not inured to
them, of the burning product of high distillation, the gene-
rous soul-enlivening juice of the vine, in its pure state,
should be cold and inert as spring-water, is not a subject for
marvel. Pure wine was not made for men who can drink
two or three bottles of brandied wine at a sitting. Bur-
gundy, or Chateau Margaux, to such palates would be spring-
water. If they drink wine at all, it must be adulterated
with alcohol; yet the northern fondness for strong drink
does not prevent all the nations of the North from relishing
natural wine. In Sweden, where ardent spirits are much
drunk, wine is enjoyed unadulterated, in its genuine state ;
and even in Petersburg, where the strongest product of the
still is consumed, people drink wine in its pure state.
The consumption of wine in this country has not increased
with the increase of population, while that of spirits is enor-
mous. The following will show the lamentable increase of
spirit distillation in 1830, for home consumption only, in
England, Scotland, and Ireland. (See more of this in the
Appendix.)
Population.
Wine, 1831.
Spirits, Home
Made, 1831.
Spirits,
Foreign.
Colonial.
Total
Spirits.
13,889,675 )
2,365,930 J
7,500,000
Imp. Gals.
6,928,466 j
795,909
7,732,101
6,007,631
9,004,539
1,267,397
38,967
10,406
3,503,141
137,806
18,011
12,502,639
6,184,404
9,032,956
23,755,605
7,724,375
22,744,271
1,316.770
3,658,958
27,719,999^
Thus the inhabitants of the United Kingdom swallow
above a quart of wine a head, man, woman, and child, and
more than a gallon of spirits annually, to say nothing of
oceans of malt liquor, beside home-made wines, cider, and
perry. As the fondness for spirit increases, that for wine
diminishes. The cuticle on the hand of a blacksmith is
hardened by the hot iron, and cannot distinguish objects
by the^sense^of feeling; in the same manner the stomach of
the spirit-drinker is lost to the healthy freshness of wine,
being too cold and unseasoned for his seared stomach, while
350 ADULTEBATION AND SOPHISTICATION OE
adulterations or coarse mixtures of the grape remain undis-
covered.
It is, after all, a very indifferent compliment to good taste,
that in a consumption of 6,628,496 imperial gallons of wines,
consumed in England in 1830, even Canary, Eayal, and
Sicilian, made 5'54 per cent., Cape 8'] 4, but Trench only
5 per cent, of the whole. Ehenish made but 1 ; Madeira,
3-44 ; Spanish, 32'63 ; while Port was 44'25 ! out of 100
parts. The least vinous and coarsest in taste, but most
potent in spirit, was, as usual, preferred ; for not more than
one-fifth of the port wine imported can be considered of the
better quality. It is something, however, to find, that in
1833 the port had fallen to 43*85, and the Spanish had risen
to 35 : it is to be lamented, on the other hand, that the
French had fallen from 5 to 3-81.
In the better Bourdeaux wines, even " when prepared" for
the English market, the fine qualities of the pure wine still
exist, though they are to be less strongly traced. In the
wines of Portugal they cannot be traced at all. Indeed, so
coarse are three-fourths of the wines commonly drunk in
England, from the foregoing cause principally, operating as
a disguise for the vilest imitations, that they might easily be
made without the juice of the grape forming a part in the
composition. A person named Legrand proposed to give
wine, and even vinegar, not from the grape, the same appa-
rent qualities as if they had been, by means of tartaric, citric,
and oxalic acids, introduced into the wash or liquors during
or after fermentation. The acids also to be mixed with
spirituous liquors, for the purpose of converting them by
acidification into vinegar, or by distillation into brandy ; the
vegetable acids to be employed to increase the strength of
vinegars, and imitate those made from wine. This idea is
crude enough, but the intention is not the less dishonest.
If by such combinations perfect wine could be made, then
have we arrived at the mystery of uniting substances which
possess chemical affinity, while we had hitherto discovered
only the secret of analysation a union which nature had
sealed until now in darkness. If it be possible to make per-
fect wine this way, why not embody the diamond from
carbon, or, triumphing over the ancient alchemists, fill our
coffers with gold of our own fabrication ? It is not worth
ADULTERATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES. 351
paying so much money for wine, if it be deficient in all which,
gives wine the first place in human luxuries, if spirit and
colouring matter are productive of the same effect ; if the
aroma, bouquet, and liveliness of the genuine liquid are
neither wanted nor valued, and heavy, dull intoxication, and
the brutalising of the faculties, are preferred to a pleasant
elevation of the spirits, and to the draught which enlivens
without injury. It is as little detrimental to the stomach,
and much more beneficial for the purse, to drink none of the
juice of the grape at all, but only that beverage, quantities of
which have been passed off for wine at country inns and
similar places. Yet the mistake is not confined to the country
parts of England, of judging wine by its potent effects rather
than its vinous qualities. Why have recourse to natural
wines at all, if combinations, formed out of the discoveries
made by chemical analysis, will answer as well ? It is as pro-
bable that tartar, spirits of wine, and other ingredients should
combine, and form wine under the hand of the experimental-
ist, as that raw brandy should combine with fermented wine.
Brandy, cider, sugar, tartaric acid, logwood, or elderberries,
and alum, in proper proportions, would make a beverage not
distinguishable from a vast deal of what is drunk for wine in
this country, and not be more injurious. In fact, quantities
of wine have been made of similar ingredients, and yet, on
any one well acquainted with the pure wine, scarce as it is,
the imposition could not be practised. The wines of Portugal,
Spain, and Sicily, are, from the deterioration of their vinous
properties by brandy, most liable to imitation ; for in propor-
tion as the true virtues of the wine remain, the difficulty of imi-
tation is increased.
It cannot be denied that the wines of Bourdeaux, called
" claret" in this country, though not adulterated like the
wines of Portugal, suffer injury before they are considered
fit for the English market. It has been thought necessary
to give the pure Bourdeaux growths a resemblance to the
wines of Portugal, in some respect, in consequence of the
false taste which has been given by the use of legislated
wine ; thus one mischief treads upon the heels of another.
Bourdeaux wines in England and in Bourdeaux scarcely re-
semble each other. The merchants are obliged to "work"
the wines before they are shipped, or, in other words, to
352 ADTJLTEEATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES.
mingle stronger wines with them, such as Hermitage, or
Cahors, which is destructive almost wholly of the bouquet,
colour, and aroma of the original wine. So much are the
merchants sensible of this that they are obliged to give per-
fume to the wine, thus mixed, by artificial means, such as
orrisroot and similar things. Easpberry brandy is some-
times employed, in minute quantities, for the same purpose,
and does very well as a substitute in England, though any
[Frenchman conversant with the wines would instantly dis-
cover the deception. The perfume is sensibly different from
that given by nature. These operations cause the clarets of
England to be wines justly denominated impure, though not
injurious to the constitution. There is nothing in them
which does not come from the grape. It is only encouraging
a coarseness of taste, which, after all, is but matter of fancy,
while wholesomer wines cannot be drunk. When old, claret
is apt to turn of a brick-red colour : this arises solely from
mingling it with more potent wine. The cheapest Bour-
deaux is continually passed off in England for fine claret.
It is to be bought cheaply enough. Chateau Margaux may
be had (so named) at 442. the hogshead, and less ; but it is
only so named, and is really a low growth. Eighty pounds
is about the price of prime Chateau Margaux to the mer-
chant in London, if the wine is of a good year. It must be
acknowledged that there are good wines to be had in the
Grironde, upon which fashion has not set its seal, that are
as well worthy of being drunk as those which are in such
favour, but this cannot justify the fraud of selling one
article for another.
In the south of Prance, Malaga, Lacryma Christi, and
Cyprus, are imitated by mingling wines of age with boiled
luscious wine of a later date ; but there does not appear to be
in the adulteration anything but what comes from the vine,
and they are therefore no more reprehensible than because
they are passed off for the wine they imitate. In Erance the
principal adulteration used is water, to increase the quantity.
Cette ports and sherries designed for England are brandied.
There is much Bourdeaux of a common quality, little more
than a vin du pays, brought over and sold as claret at seven
and sixpence the bottle, worth only ninepence or tenpence in
the country. The inferiority to good claret is not discovered by
ADTJLTEBATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES. 353
those who only ask for claret to cool their port. This end it
answers admirably.
Thus far belongs to the wine whilst in the custody of the
foreigner, or when it is transmitted to the hands of respect-
able merchants in England. Eut there are large quantities
of what is miscalled claret, manufactured in this country, for
making which, as well as improved claret of prime character,
many receipts are extant. A very inferior French wine, sold
to the adulterators at a few sous a bottle, is now frequently
mingled with rough cider, and coloured to resemble claret,
with cochineal, turnsole, and similar matters. This is pro-
nounced of fine quality, and sold as such in this country.
Certain drugs are added as they appear to be wanted, and
the medley, to which a large profit is attached from the impo-
sition, is frequently drunk without hesitation, and without
any discovery of the cheat.
JSTew claret is made to imitate old, by uncorking and pour-
ing a glassful out of each bottle, corking the bottles, and
placing them for a short time in an oven to cool gradually ;
then they are filled up again, finally corked, and passed for
wine nine years old. Port is put into warm water, which is
urged to the boiling point, and then, as already stated, the
wine is put into the cellar, and deposits a crust that looks like
the growth of years. Madeira is thus artificially treated. The
ancient fumarium seems to have had the same object of forcing
a premature mellowness.
A vast deal might be written upon the methods adopted
and ingredients used in carrying on these deceptions ; the
present object is only to touch upon the subject, in order to
illustrate certain principles recorded in this volume; but
more especially to show the reader how necessary it is to form
a just judgment, and obtain a perfect acquaintance with
genuine wine of every species, that he may thereby be better
enabled to escape imposition.
Champagne is a wine in which adulteration is most obvious
to such as are well acquainted with it in the genuine state,
and it is adulterated in England with more boldness than any
other. There is a very weak Champagne made in the country,
which was until very lately consumed wholly on the spot,
incapable of resisting decomposition for more than a year.
2 A
354 ADTJLTEBATIOH AND SOPHISTICATION OE WINES.
This certain shrewd wine-makers from England have disco-
vered, and imported as the best Champagne. It is without
the flavour or bouquet of the genuine wine ; it froths or effer-
vesces freely, but the colour is paler than that of better
quality. This wine is not worth more than a few sous the
bottle in the country. In England it is purchased and drunk
for the genuine article by those who are only now and then
introduced to wine of that name ; yet the exquisite bouquet
of Champagne, so different in the genuine kind from all others,
is the best mode of detecting the bad sort. Some will direct
attention to the effervescence, and assert, that in genuine
Champagne it is marked by a peculiar kind of sparkle. This
is no criterion ; for carbonic acid gas alters nothing at all in
quality or appearance, where the fluid may possess a very
opposite flavour. The bouquet of genuine Champagne cannot
be imitated. Gooseberry wine itself is often passed off for
Champagne upon the inexperienced, and the full price of the
genuine wine exacted. The very bottles are bought up for
the purpose of filling with gooseberry wine, and are then
corked to resemble Champagne. The most wretched wine
that could be bought in the country at a franc a bottle is
known to have been imported, sold, the wine drawn, and the
bottles refilled with Champagne from the gooseberry, on which
a profit of forty or fifty shillings a dozen has been made. In
France, Champagne is never adulterated by the grower, who
has the wine of various prices and qualities, and is interested
in its reputation ; he sells the inferior kinds for what they
really are.
An advertiser in London of the "best Champagne," at a
price at which it could hardly be purchased at Epernay, was
suffered to obtain a verdict for libel against a weekly periodi-
cal some time ago,* because it exposed the deception. It
was still more extraordinary that no defence was made, as it
was a public duty to make one, and a hundred credible persons
could have proved that the best Champagne was not to be
purchased at such a rate in France. The first charge per
bottle at Epernay was then from three and fourpence to three
and tenpence ; Sillery four and sevenpence to five shillings ;
carriage to the sea, freight, duty on bottles and on wine not
* The Literary Gazette, which might easily have reversed the tables. A ver-
icfc in favour of the trash was heedlessly given, and 502. damages.
ADTTLTEBATION AND SOPHISTICATION OP WINES. 355
included. There are inferior wines of Champagne down to
the fifth or sixth grade, the lowest and poorest of which might
then be purchased of dishonest dealers, but they would only
keep from a twelvemonth to eighteen months. The best
Champagne was out of the question here then at the price
of five shillings and sixpence.
In imitating the still Champagne, an accusation has been
made against the numerous adulterators, that lead is used in
the process. In France, it does not appear that lead in
any form has ever been employed in altering their wines,
though in Germany, a century ago, it is said to have been
detected. On the 13th of March, 1824, a member of the
Chamber of Deputies moved for a law to punish the practice.
The motion was rejected, and very properly, because neither
litharge, nor any other preparation of lead, was shown to have
been used, nor was any instance cited in which it had been dis-
covered, though an ordinance was made against its use in 1696.
"Wines seized in France as bad, by the council of health, and
analysed, have never shown the presence of lead. From 1770
down to 1825, not one instance had occurred in the analysis
of the wines which were brought to Paris of this dangerous
intermixture, upon the authority of M. Cadet Grassicourt,
whose duty it was to examine them. M. Jullien, by a course
of experiments, proved that litharge will not deprive wine of
its acidity ; that it decomposes the wine if much is added
to it, and, if little, the wine remains unchanged, that it is
easily detected, but in no case does it alter the acidity of the
wine. This able writer concludes, that tartar in some form
has deceived observers. Potash, too, may have been taken
for it, but in no case has it been of late years detected in
France. Fixed alkali has been employed frequently to cor-
rect acidity ; but it does not appear that, in France, adultera-
tions of any other kind than the mingling of different wines is
practised in a manner worthy of notice here. Water and
perry seem to be the mixtures which have come mostly under
the lash of the law there. A small quantity of sugarcandy
and cream of tartar is sometimes added to Champagne in bad
years ; but the quantity is so small, it cannot be called an
adulteration. In truth, the detection of adulteration in wine
drunk in the country is so certain, if substances not vinous
2 A2
356 ADULTERATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES.
be employed, that it may be concluded tlie practice is not by
any means general, while those of such a nature as take
place here are wholly unknown. It would not be easy to imi-
tate cider in Hereford or Devon, so as to deceive the people
who are constantly in the habit of drinking it genuine.
In England Champagne has been made from white and
raw sugar, crystallised lemon or tartaric acid, water, home-
made grape wine or perry, and French brandy. Cochineal
or strawberries have been added to imitate the pink. Such
a mixture at country balls or dinners passes off very well ;
but no one in the habit of drinking the genuine wine can
be deceived by the imposition. The bouquet of real Cham-
pagne, which is so peculiar, it is repeated, cannot be imitated ;
it is a thing impossible.
Acidity in wine was formerly corrected in this country by
the addition of quick ]irne, which soon falls to the bottom of
the cask. This ^furnishes a clue to Falstaff's observation,
that there was " lime in the sack," which was a hit at the
landlord, as much as to say his wine was worth little, having
its acidity thus disguised. As to the substances used by
various wine doctors for flavouring wine, there seems to be
no end to them. Vegetation has been exhausted, and the
bowels of the earth ransacked, to supply trash for this
quackery, which nothing will annihilate but the habit of
drinking pure, unbrandied, unadulterated wine of the best
vintages, let the wine be of the first or third class. Of
this, people will soon come to see the wisdom and good
sense. It may be asked, how they are to obtain it ? The
reply is, go or send to the country. A few families might
combine to pay a trustworthy person at first to go to the
wine-grower, or deal at home with a particular merchant,
and pay a good price to a man of honour, whose determi-
nation it is to keep all classes of nis wine from the pure
offspring of the grape truly designated.
It is impossible to calculate what the loss to the public in
revenue must be by the adulterations of wine in this country.
The basis of most of these is Cape wine, which pays a low
duty, and is consequently most conveniently useful in this
transmutation of wines for purposes of lucre. It can hardly
be supposed, that when the population of the empire was ten,
ADULTEKATION A^D SOPHISTICATION OF WINES. 357
and when it was sixteen millions, no more wine was consumed.
The deficiency must not all be charged to the badness of the
times, nor to the increase of the cost of port wine, which,
notwithstanding the stationary character of the demand, rose
in price in a very rapid manner after 1753. England took
then from eleven to twelve thousand tuns ; and now, when
she takes on an average only two or three thousand tuns
more, it is found to cost many times as much. The truth is,
that a vast quantity of fictitious port is passed off in this
country for that which is real, and the idea derives credit
from the very considerable importations of wine which can
only be used for such purposes, to which two or three-and-
twenty hundred tuns of Cape, a quantity of Beni Carlos,
and of Eigueras wines undoubtedly contribute, to say nothing
of what is made without having in its constitution a single
drop of grape juice at all.
In a most useful work, professing to treat of the art of
adulteration, the following mode of managing this branch of
trade is well exposed.* It relates to the first class of manu-
factured wine in contradistinction to the second, which has
none of the component parts of wine at all in its composition.
It is premised that all wine manufacturers keep large vats
for the object of similar fabrications. Beni Carlos wine can
be purchased, including duty, for thirty-eight pounds a pipe ;
Figueras for forty-five ; Red Cape for thirty-two ; of moun-
tain wine, to follow the author, " a small quantity may be
added, if required, to soften and give an appearance of rich-
ness. Sal tartar, a portion to occasion the compound when
bottled to crust firm and soon, dissolved with a proportionate
quantity of gum dragon, to impart a fulness of flavour and
consistency of body, and to give the whole a face. Berry-
dye, a colouring matter extracted from German bilberries,
and known under this name. In addition to these may be
introduced brandy-cowe (the washings of brandy-casks),
which costs nothing, in the proportion of about three gallons
to every hundred gallons of made-up wine, in fabricating the
second quality of fictitious wine. Into this may be racked
as follows :
* Wine and Spirit Adulterators Unmasked. Kobins & Co., 1 vol. 12mo., 1829.
358 ADTTLTEBATIOtf AND SOPHISTICATION OE WINES.
Imp. gal. . Imp. gal. . s. d.
2 Pipes of Beni Carlos 230 at 38 per 115 cost 76
2 Pipes of Figueras .
1 Pipes of Red Cape
l| Pipes of Stout Good Port
1 Pipe of Common Port
Mountain
Brancty-Cowe
Colouring
Etceteras: 2lbs. of Salt of Tartar and
31bs. Gum Dragon
230 45 115 90
137 32 91 48 3 6
165 76 115 109 10
115 63 115 63
20 60 105 11 8 7
20 000
30 031
00 040
00 300
Extra allowance for loss by bottoms
8 Pipes Port, 115 gal. ca. Pipe . 920 Imp. gallons. 401
" The value of the empty pipes and hogsheads is 51. 5s.,
and not being deducted from the amount in this example, is
supposed to pay all expenses of cartage, that part of the
etceteras which may not be sufficiently charged, or paid for
by the water used to dissolve them, and which is sold as wine,
and for any additional loss which may be sustained by the
bottoms. Thus, then, we have eight pipes of superior port
wine, made up according to the best and most approved plan,
and which stands advertising dealers at 50Z. per pipe of 115
imperial gallons, every expense included, and reckoned at the
very outside. The wine thus made up, if drawn off in bottles
of the size of sixteen to the gallon, old measure, and adding
a charge of 6d. per dozen extra for corks, would cost only
16s. 9d. per dozen!"
Wines under the names of Eritish Madeira, Port, and
Sherry, are also made, the basis of which is pale malt ; sugar-
candy, French brandy and port wine are added in small quan-
tities to favour the deception. So impudently and notoriously
are these frauds practised, and so boldly are they avowed,
that there are books published called " Publicans' Guides,"
and " Licensed Victuallers' Directors," in which the most
infamous receipts imaginable are laid down to swindle their
customers. One of these recommends port wine to be ma-
nufactured, after sulphuring a cask, with twelve gallons of
strong port, six of rectified spirit, three of Cognac brandy,
forty-two of fine rough cider, making sixty-three gallons,
which cost about eighteen shillings a dozen. Another receipt
is forty-five gallons of cider, six of brandy, eight of port-wine,
two gallons of sloes stewed in two gallons of water, and the
liquor pressed off. If the colour is not good, tincture of red
ADFLTEEATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF "WINES. 359
sanders or cudbear is directed to be added. This may be
bottled in a few days, and a teaspoonful of powder of catechu
being added to each, a fine crusted appearance on the bottles
will follow quickly. The ends of the corks being soaked in a
strong decoction of Brazil wood, and a little alum, will com-
plete this interesting process, and give them the appearance
of age. Oak bark, elder, Brazil wood, privet, beet, and turn-
sole, are all used in making fictitious port wine.
"Wines of Madeira are in like manner adulterated, or wholly
manufactured in England, which, from these devices, may
justly claim the title of a universal wine country, where
every species is made, if it be not grown. The wine thus
manufactured is not served up at the tables of the rich, but
is principally consumed by those who only drink wine occa-
sionally, on the presence of friends. Not that the better
classes of purchasers escape being imposed upon, but that
they are cozened in a different manner, by giving West India
Madeira an artificial flavour, and passing it off for that which
is East Indian, and in consequence much dearer. The basis
of the adulteration of Madeira itself is Vidonia, mingled with
a little port, mountain, and Cape, sugar-candy and bitter
almonds, and the colour made lighter or deepened to the
proper shade, as the case may require. Even Yidonia itself
is adulterated with cider, rum, and carbonate of soda, to cor-
rect acidity ; sometimes a little port or mountain is added.
Bucellas, in short, every species of wine that it is worth while
to imitate, is adulterated or manufactured in this country with
cheaper substances. Common Sicilian wine has been meta-
morphosed so as to pass for Tokay and Lacryma Christi;
even Cape wine itself has been imitated by liquids, if possible,
inferior to the genuine article.
A large quantity of bad wine is passed off in London in
exchange for other goods. This opens another system of
dishonesty and fraud, purchaser and seller each striving to
outvie the other in trickery; the wine-seller generally, it
need not be remarked, having the advantage on his side. It
may be well for the government of the country to consider
whether some obstacle cannot be thrown in the way of these
practices by legislative enactment. The possession and use
of large casks, or rather vats, absolutely necessary for the
purposes of adulteration, and of little advantage to the dealer
360 ADULTERATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES,
who does not contemplate similar frauds, might certainly
admit of the control of the excise officers. However, in this
as in all cases, persons of good sense can take care of them-
selves if they will but exercise a sound discretion.
There are a variety of tests which may be applied to the
more vulgar adulterations by those who do not understand
chemistry. Sulphur will detect the presence of lead, turning
the wine black or dark if it be present ; sulphurated hydro-
gen gas, acidulated by muriatic acid, will detect it in a mo-
ment. Alum is detected by equal quantities of lime-water
and wine being mixed and examined within sixteen hours,
when, if there be no alum, crystals will be found, easily
separable by nitration ; a muddy deposit will be seen if there
be. The presence of colouring bodies is least injurious,
and may be discovered by numerous tests, such as lime-
water, if beet-root has been employed, acetate of lead, bil-
berries, elder, or logwood. The best mode, where adultera-
tion is suspected, is to apply to any chemist of tolerable
skill, who can easily analyse the wine.
According to M. Chevalier, the following are the best
wine tests for the colouring matter : potash, applied as a re-
agent, to ascertain the natural colour of the wine ; this it
changes from red to bottle or brownish-green. The change
of colour produced by this agent, it must be remarked, is
different in the wine of different ages. JNo precipitation of
the colouring matter takes place when potash is applied.
Acetate of lead, lime-water, muriate of tin with ammonia,
and with subacetate of lead, should not be employed, because
incapable of producing uniform colours with wines of natural
colour only. Ammonia may be employed, the change of
colour it produces not perceptibly varying. It is the same
with a solution of alum, to which potash has been added,
which will answer the purpose.
The best precaution against the adulteration of wines
would be an act of parliament, levying a heavy penalty upon
all sellers of wine, on the detection of any substance in the
same that is not strictly vinous, upon an analysis made by
competent persons. Such an enactment exists in Paris, and
it might be introduced into London with good effect. The
adulteration of wines would thus be much more difficult, and
though the mingling of inferior with superior wines could
ADtrLTEBATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES. 361
not, perhaps, be abolished, it would be less frequently prac-
tised, whilst the making of fictitious wines would cease. The
penalties should not be so excessive as to defeat the end, as
is the case with some of the excise laws, which are in many
cases at war with the objects they have in view, and* in
practice, as secret, . dark, and impenetrable as those o the
inquisition. They are destructive of the social compact, and
of the principle of justice (the basis of all law), by encou-
raging men to commit offences that they may, through ob-
taining accomplices in their own frauds, make them legal
victims, and obtain a further reward by their own infamy.
What other construction can be put on the permission of a
man to sell smuggled goods, and put the money into his
pocket, that he may convict the individual he has induced,
perhaps by falsehoods and entreaties, to purchase. No go-
vernment, on any consideration, should violate, for the plea
of revenue or any other excuse, the great fundamental prin-
ciples of natural morality the natural justice of universal
conscience. Such enactments are unworthy of modern civili-
sation, and will not much longer be tolerated in the code of
civilised nations. The revenue must be protected, but in so
doing, both in money and morality, more may be paid than
is at all politic.
Laws against adulteration of wines are of old standing in
this country, and it is only of late years that they seem to
have given way before enactments against the state crime of
cheating the excise. Anciently, there was an effective com-
pany of vintners, who took care of similar matters ; and men-
tion is made of a Lord Mayor, in 1426, flinging a hundred
and fifty butts of adulterated wine into the kennel. Charles
II., among whose vices the want of regard for good wine is
not enumerated, signed an act, which showed that he was de-
termined there should be.no mixture of any kind in his wine,
by prohibiting the use of any substance whatever, even wine
itself from being intermingled. This act, 12 Car. II., might
be modified with great advantage in the present day. As it
stands it is inoperative, for no merchant can fine or flavour
his wines if it be enforced, and, if taken literally, there are a
great many substances used by adulterators which are not
forbidden in its clauses. To such an extent is this base mode
of swindling carried in the present time, that some severe
362 ADULTERATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES.
measure seems doubly necessary to restrain it, for to prevent
it altogether is impossible, unless the public will declare the
purity of the article rather than its cheapness their main ob-
ject in purchasing, and more especially make it a rule never
to buy of wine sellers who advertise cheap wines. There is
no scarcity of good wine, if it be wisely sought after, and
paid for liberally. Government is more especially bound to
do all its power to aid in this desirable object, because, were
wine free of taxation, it would not be worth while to adulte-
rate it, and the mischief would remedy itself, the fraud on the
revenue as well as on the purchaser tempting dishonest traders
by its double profit.
The various docks on the Thames do not secure purchasers
from the malpractises of dishonest dealers ; in this many are
deceived. It has been naturally, yet erroneously imagined,
that wine purchased in the docks must be a pure article.
Malaga sherry is constantly shipped to England for the real
sherry of Xeres, Figueras for port, and so on. Port wine
being sent from the place of its growth to Guernsey and
Jersey, and there reshipped with the original quantity tripled
for the English market, the docks are no security. "Wine,
too, may be racked in the docks into casks of less measure,
and there is plenty of room for fraud in this apparently well-
timed permission, of which the dishonest have known how to
avail themselves.
Finally, the best test against adulterated wine is >a perfect
acquaintance with that which is good. Those whose test of
wine is the degree of spirituous strength it affords, may re-
main satisfied with wines as they are. They who commend
the purple draught for the warmth it imparts to the stomach,
which has been perhaps for years at the temperature of a
hundred and twenty of Fahrenheit, can only value it in pro-
portion as it stimulates the already over-excited organ. Swal-
lowers of Madeira and Cayenne pepper, cognac and capsicum,
proof whisky, and similar fiery liquids or compounds, may
purchase their wines anywhere. Indeed, be the desired
virtue of potency but mentioned to the adulterator or maker,
it will be provided high coloured and burning enough for the
most tropical taste, or for Chaubert himself. To such this
chapter is at least a "vox, et prseterea nihil." But by those
who seek not " strong drink," nor " mixed wine," who relish
ADTJLTEBATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES. 363
the healthful glass that cheers without inebriation, that en-
livens conversational ideas without coarse mirth, and kindles
social friendship in the hour of relaxation, without passing
the limits of "well-regulated enjoyment, these remarks may
be better received. The effect of pure wine upon a healthful
stomach is known in this country but by few. It is lament-
able that the general taste has been so perverted. Those
whose judgment of what wine should be is founded upon the
general run of port for the last forty years in this country,
are not in the situation of judging what is really intended by
wine. Who would think of valuing the malt liquors of this
country in proportion as their composition was deteriorated
from the pure malt and hop, in proportion as gin, coculus
indicus, or tobacco, imparted to them a strength and flavour
not derived from the corn which is their basis ? Yet such is
the too general taste for wine indulged in by the bulk of the
community. The man of taste, on the contrary, whose
stomach is not a " burning fiery furnace," who knows how
to enjoy wine of delicacy, perfume, and aroma who finds in
the juice of the grape alone those virtues which a proper and
rational participation in the benevolent gifts of Providence
enables him to discriminate will feel the truth of what has
been laid down here, and acknowledge its justice. " Claret
for boys, port for men, brandy for heroes," said Johnson,
whose coarseness was not among his virtues. " Burgundy
or claret for gentlemen, port for carters,* and brandy for
savages," would have been a more just apophthegm.
A word or two may not be inappropriately added here in
regard to drinking wine, though not strictly the historical part
of the subject, belonging rather to manners.
Nations differ in the mode of using wine. The Prench.
take theirs at dinner ; the Germans sit late and early ; the
Russians are only a little more moderate than the Germans.
The two last are boisterous in their cups ; the first takes just
enough to make his conversation sparkle like his own wines,
among the ladies, with whom he rises from the table. The
* It is not to be imagined the author supposes there is no good port wine ; but
only that a very large proportion of what is so called is not worthy to be called
wine, from not having the true vinous properties, and being spirituous enough for
stomachs of caoutchouc. A glass of good old port, pure and generous, may be
met with occasionally yet, and valued the more from its rarity.
364 ADULTERATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES.
Englishman, in respect to the quantity he takes, formerly
adopted the French and G-ermaii modes combined ; he took
wine with dinner and much afterwards. In this respect he
has of late years wonderfully improved; inebriety is very
happily gone out of fashion in good society. Still the national
characteristic of the grave effect of wine on the Englishman
remains, owing to the strong species in which he delights ;
for, just as old Froissart describes, he still " gets drunk very
sorrowfully."
In the better circles of society, and where expense is of no
moment, the purer wines are generally taken ; but great care
is necessary in going into company, as to the quality of the
wine a guest may find before him. If he have any apprehen-
sion, it is better he select one kind which is sound and take
no other. Madeira, Sherry, or Bucellas of tolerable quality
are safer than any red wine of dubious quality and spirituous
strength. A light Trench white wine is very far better. The
acid of a wine with little spirit will speedily give way to a
spoonful of magnesia, should it by accident happen to dis-
agree from ill quality, but if it be a strong brandied wine, the
effect of only half a dozen glasses is quite enough to make
them long remembered. At public dinners, with six-sevenths
of tavern wine, great hazards are run. In a large company,
where the individual is thrown off his guard by speeches,
toasts, and claptraps of all kinds, it is far better to order, if
it agree with the individual, a decanter of weak brandy and
water, and pass the wine bottles as they come round. Many
would this way escape a fearful headache. A decanter of
sherry and water half-and-half, if it can be obtained, or even
lemonade, may be thus substituted. It is at public dinners
that bad wines are got off, just as bad Champagne and genuine
gooseberry pass unnoticed at balls and places of public resort,
where dancing and exercise, or the heat of the rooms, make
any liquid grateful to the palate.
"With the foregoing caution as to public dinners, or parties
where " mine host" is not conversant with good wine, and
scarcely knows Sherry from Cape, a good look-out must be
kept : this is easily done, for, if there is a variety, no doubt
something tolerable may turn up. At tables of consideration
in society there will always be good wine of some kind, if
there be any one species bad at aU. It is not a good rule to
ADULTEBATION AND SOPHISTICATION OP "WINES. 365
drink of too many kinds of wine at dinner. A gfiiss of full-
bodied strong white wine should always follow the soup.
Good sherry is perhaps the best, and then Madeira may be
taken until the soup or first course is removed ; then the light
wines may be introduced with effect, except Champagne,
which should be drunk when the things are removing for the
dessert. The still kind is the best, then the creaming, and
last of all the more effervescent.
In fashionable life there are always three, four, or more
kinds of white wine on the table during dinner, besides port on
the sideboard. It is not common to take any red wine with
dinner, as with some dishes it comports very ill. The Trench
commonly begin with white wine of some kind, as they fre-
quently take oysters first, with which red wines do not har-
monize. The sweet wines and liqueurs should come after the
ices. There is a method or fitness in all these matters. In
the middling class of society in England, where expensive
wines are often given, the correct order of things is reversed,
and no regard is paid to the course of the dishes in which at
the moment of taking wine the guests may be participating.
A Frenchman will take oysters and a glass of. Pontac or
Chablis. Then his soup is followed by a glass of good ordi-
nary red wine, such as Macon. With the other wines he
follows his inclination ; sometimes Burgundy, Hermitage, or
white growths, except that, after the first course is taken off,
he pours out a very small glass of Madeira, rum, or something
similar. The French never decant their finest wines, such as
Eomanee, Chambertin, or Lafitte, and they take them out of
very thin glasses. Champagne is drunk just before their
dessert, and the ices are followed by liqueurs, sweet wines, or
a glass of punch a la Romaine. The wines are never demanded
but under the name of the particular growth. At private
dinners ci la Eusse the wines are placed upon the table, but no
dishes. The guests help themselves to wine according to
their fancy. ^ The dishes are on side tables, the guests being
presented with a card of a variety ready for that day, so that
each may order the servants to bring what most pleases his
fancy. The centre of the table is commonly decorated with
an ornament, near which the wines are placed, when the table
happens to be circular. Sometimes the servants pour out the
wines. In most other countries of Europe, in good society,
366 ADTJLTEBATIOH AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES.
the French mode is imitated pretty closely in the variety of
wines, time, and mode of taking them. Bhenish wines of all
kinds are taken out of green or coloured glasses, after the
manner of the country. Always ice white wines in summer
if the weather be hot ; but with red wines this must not be
regarded, as a great degree of cold is apt to affect their flavour.
If the cellar be of the requisite degree of coldness, say 52 or
53? and the thermometer stand at 70, the wine is full cold
enough to be grateful ; and, brought directly from the cellar
to the guest, which it should always be at that season, the
outside of the decanter will be clouded, a sure test that the
wine is sufficiently cold. "Where ice is not obtainable the white
wine decanter may be hung up in a flannel bag, previously
well soaked in water in the full glare of the sun's rays, where
there is also a strong draft of air. The constant evaporation
keeping the bag dripping wet, will cool the wine almost to
the freezing point. The water of a covered well or spring
drawn fresh, in which a pound or two of salt is thrown, placed
in a cool cellar, will reduce the temperature of wine to a very
low and agreeable point. Perhaps the old Italian custom of
lowering the wine for dinner in a well, an hour or two before
use, renders it cool enough. Lastly, if expense be no object,
freezing mixtures may be used. Eleven parts of sal ammo-
niac, dry and powdered ; ten of nitre ; sixteen of Glauber's
salts ; and thirty-two of water, will cool wine sufficiently in
any climate observing that the operation should be carried
on in the coldest place possible.
In winter, when a bottle of wine instead of being bright
looks clouded, which is the effect of atmospheric cold below
the cellar temperature, it may be placed in a room where there
is a good fire for an hour or two before dinner. The strong
white wines, such as sherry or Madeira, may in winter be de-
canted two or three hours before dinner with advantage, and
the stoppers of the decanter left out, if they are deposited in
the dinner room in the interim. This should never be done
with light or delicate French wines, either red or white, be-
cause their bouquet and freshness are thereby affected. It is
for this reason that such wines are best drunk out of the
bottle the ^moment they are drawn, and without decanting.
As to wine-coolers, they are ornamental luxuries ; nothing
more ; unless, indeed, they contain ice and water, and then
ADTJLTEBATION AND SOPHISTICATION OP WINES. 307
the wet bottle is no very pleasant thing to hand round over
the snowy damask, which, in the best society, is never taken
off the table until the guests have departed from the dining-
room. "Wine that deposits should be strained into the de-
canter, if the owner be very particular about its brightness.
The common silver funnel, perforated, used for this purpose,
by some called a strainer, is of very little use, and does its
office ill. A funnel of the inverted cone shape, having a little
way down within, a wire, round which is fastened a muslin
bag, like those used for coffee, is by far the best strainer. It
may be made of silver, with a bent beak and tolerably large
orifice. The cork being carefully drawn, shaking the bottle
as little as possible, the wine should be poured in with a uni-
form stream, the orifice of the bottle being previously cleared
of every particle of dust, wax or cork, that may hang upon
it. For a steady extraction of the cork with the bottle in a
state of perfect rest, the patent spiral corkscrew is the best,
as it not only permits the bottle to remain without chance of
motion while it is used, but it prevents the danger of fracture
in the bottle if it be cracked or made of very thin glass, an
accident attended with much danger to the hands. It is to
guard against this danger that waiters in taverns are fre-
quently seen to strike the bottle before drawing the cork,
that they may find if it be sound, and then to wrap a cloth
around it. There is some little attention required in using
the patent screw, that is all. If the operator is not a perfect
master of his art with that instrument, the old way and a
common screw are best. To prevent accident, a napkin must
be bound round that hand which grasps the bottle, though
even then the inside of the thighs, above the knees, is by no
means free from danger ; while, if the bottle be broke at all,
the wine is lost. No hazard of either kind is incurred by a
correct use of the patent screw. What is called the bees- wing
in port will not render the wine turbid, though few like to see
any substance floating in it. Some wines have a deposit like
mud, which, once set in motion, will render the wine highly
turbid for a time, and no strainer will cure it. Such wine
must be very carefully managed in decanting, particularly in
keeping the same side of the bottle up that was uppermost in
the bin, while the liquid is poured, and not emptied out too
near the dregs.
368 ADTJLTEBATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES.
The art of taking wine is the science of exciting agreeable
conversation and eliciting brilliant thoughts for an idle hour
between the repast and the drawing-room. "Wine makes some
men dull ; such persons should on no account drink the strong
brandied wines of the south, but confine themselves to the
light red French growths, or to the white, pregnant with car-
bonic gas. If these fail to promote cheerfulness ; if with the
light Burgundy, with Lafitte, or the ethereal sparkle of Cham-
pagne, a man continue unmoved, he may depend the innocent
use of wine cannot be his. He may excite himself by the
stronger kinds, and half intoxicate himself to raise a leaven
of -agreeability which is altogether artificial ; he may woo
mirth " sorrowfully," but he will only injure his stomach and
cloud his brain. Oftentimes do Englishmen drink themselves
into taciturnity below-stairs, and, ascending to the drawing-
room, sit silent and solemn as so many quakers, among the
fair sex. Such are past the stage of innocent excitement by
a rational quantity of the juice of the grape. They take it
because the effect is a temporary indifference, an agreeable
suspense from pleasure and from pain. Such are not the true
enjoy ers of. wine in its legitimate use ; and they should always
rise and retire with the ladies, for the effect upon them is
that of a narcotic.
The true enjoyer of wine finds it exhilarate the spirits, in-
crease the memory, and promote cheerfulness. If he be some-
thing of a wit, it draws out his hoarded stores of good sayings
and lively repartees, during the moment of relaxation from
thought, at the hour when it is good "to sit awhile." The
cheerful glass calls into action his better natural qualities,
as with the ruby liquid he swallows " a sunbeam of the sky."
He makes his wine secondary to his conversation, and when
he finds the latter at what he thinks its keenest edge and
brightest polish, he leaves the table to mingle with beauty, and
exchange the wine for a sparkle of more attractive and higher
character, perhaps to bask in " the purple light of love." He
who would destroy good wine, by taking it when its flavour
is no longer fresh to the palate, is a drunkard ; he knows
nothing of the refinement in animal enjoyment, which consists
in taking rather less than enough. Always to rise from the
feast with an appetite is a maxim which, however gourmands
and sensualists may despise it, is the course for a rational
ADULTERATION AND SOPHISTICATION OE WINES. 369
being, as well as that which yields the richest enjoyment. By
this we preserve the freshness of the first taste, the full flavour
of the first sip. As the odour of the rose deadens upon the
sense after the first exhalation, so is it with wine and with all
our enjoyments. Thus we learn how we may, in the truest
and most refined sense, enjoy the pleasures by which the
benevolence of Him who has given us the things enjoyed is
best repaid by our enjoying wisely.
Many who are of the earth, earthy, imagine, as long as they
get wine into the stomach, it is no matter how the thing is
done. Such persons may be styled " stomach-drinkers," and
may as well attain the lodgment of the fluid in the part de-
sired by means of a forcing pump and a tube as any other
mode. The palate to them is secondary to the warmth of
this general magazine of liquids and solids. One of true
oinographical taste must feel a horror at association over
wine with such persons. A refinement even in our sins is
better than the grossness of the coarser natures of mankind
in animal vices. How much does this tell in innocent enjoy-
ment. As Chesterfield felt when his son licked the plate at
table, despite all his instructions in good breeding, it may be
imagined how the man of refinement feels in the company of
coarse, vulgar companions over wine. One half our pleasures
are relative or conventional, and therefore alloy in any mode
turns them to pain.
All delicate wines should be taken out of thin glasses. The
reason why wines of this class drink better out of such glasses
it is impossible to say. The greatest objection, except to the
opulent, is the ease with which such glasses are broken by
servants, which renders them expensive. Their form may be
adapted to the fancy or to the reigning fashion. To a man
of taste in such matters, Romance and Lafitte would lose half
their flavour in heavy coarse glass, though to the thick oily
wines de liqueur or to sweet wines, the same rule of adaptation
does not seem to apply. The glass and the specific gravity of
the wine should harmonise. The ancients had a passion for
particular wine-cups. The rich murrhine cup, out of which
the emperors and patricians drank their Falernian wine, the
Surrentine, the cups or vases of Saguntum in Spain, and so-
on. The murrhine cup was the great luxury, because it im-
parted a perfume to the wine drunk out of it. The modern
2s
370 ADULTEBATION AND SOPHISTICATION OF WINES.
preference of thin glasses for the first-class wines has there-
fore the merit of a species of precedent. If we could divide
a soap bubble in half while floating on the zephyr, we should
have a perfect bowl out of which to quaff Komanee, Lafitte,
or Sillery.
In all cases wine-glass coolers, with the coldest water,
should be laid on the table and the glasses reversed in them.
No one should pour out more wine at his dinner than he
intends to take at one sip, and then immediately reverse his
glass. For this purpose, glasses without feet are sometimes
used, so that the reversing them in the water it is impossible
to omit.
The chief thing in the art of drinking wine, is to keep
within those salutary limits which mark the beneficial from
the pernicious. In good society, in the present day, this line
is well defined ; but a man must mingle in this distempered
life with every class, and the difficulty is to keep the mean
in those cases, where others have no regard to it. This is
best done by studying self-respect, and the art of saying
"no," when the necessity for saying "no" is strongly 'felt.
The courage to do this, and that absence of all fear of being
accounted singular which it is a man's duty to cultivate, if
he wish to be thought worthy of his specieswill prevent his
suffering in stomach or moral character from that table-com-
plaisance which the too pliant force upon themselves contrary
to their better feelings.
APPENDIX,
No. I.
DISTILLATION was a process unknown to the ancients, and though
practised by chemists in Europe, it is probable, from 1150, or about
the twelfth century, it did not, until the beginning of the eighteenth,
become a general art. We are indebted to the Arabs for the inven-
tion of distillation, about the year 900.
Curious distillation in England is inferior both in the mode of the
operation, and the excellence of the product, to that of France. Some
of the French apparatus is exceedingly complex and expensive, and
each kind has a specific application. The excellence of French brandy
of the first quality need not be dwelt upon here. In 1639 the art was
well established in France. {Since 1789 the increase in quality has
kept pace with a great improvement in that year. Wine from the
grape is the subject of general distillation, although alcohol is produced
from numerous other substances.
( 13'04 Hydrogen.
Alcohol is composed of < 52'17 Carbon.
I 34*79 Oxygen.
Total 100-0 Parts.
Of wine, 5,229,880 hectolitres are distilled, and give 55,497 hecto-
litres of spirit, in strength nineteen degrees of Cartier's hydrometer ;
169,807 at twenty degrees; 343 at twenty-one; 353,883 at twenty-two;
and 172,415 at thirty -three. In pure alcohol the whole amount is
469,817 hectolitres, 36 litres, according to M. Gay Lussac. The prin-
cipal departments where distillation is carried on are those of Aude,
Herault, Gard, Gers, Charente, and Charente Inferieure. Then come
the Loire and Cher, Gironde, Lot and Garonne, Var, Loire Inferieure,
Dordogne, Deux Sevres, Bouches du Rhone, andLandes.
The murks, however well pressed, always contain a portion of unde-
composed sugar, besides being impregnated with the wine in the vat,
whether red or white. These are fermented anew and distilled, and
the product is called brandy of the murk. The produce is about
37,288*07 hectolitres of pure alcohol, from 70,015 hectolitres of brandy.
Cider and perry, corn, potatoes, prunes, cherries, the residue of brew-
eries, furnish together 93,457 hectolitres more of brandy of nineteen
degrees of strength. In all, 915,417 hectolitres of brandy, yielding
553,086*27 of pure alcohol. Common distillation was formerly effected
in France by an apparatus that made small quantities of spirit at a
time, of a very faulty construction. The more modern apparatus of
372 APPEKDIX.
every kind is improved, so as to work well, and give French spirit, let
the substance distilled be what it may, a very great advantage over our
own, where the process of distillation is in the hands of the Excise, and
the distiller is not permitted to make a liquor which can be drunk.*
In large stills the head is of copper, but in small ones of tin. In the an-
cient still, the head was made with a neck, to retain the descending steam,
and carry it into the beak of the head ; but at present this is omitted,
as being of no real service, because a free passage is allowed to the spi-
rituous part, which is not condensed until the vapour has passed out of
the vessel. The worm is of copper in the large apparatus, with as
many spiral turns as possible, its diameter being nicely adjusted to the
condensation demanded. It is kept cool by fresh water continually in-
troduced into the vessel which contains it. The utmost care is taken
that the fire be not too high. In fact, this is considered one of the
operations in distillation requiring most experience, and to this end the
masonry of the furnace is adapted with great care, so that the heat shall
be distributed as equally as possible ; the fire being concentrated against
the bottom of the still. The chimney is frequently provided with a valve
to enlarge or contract at pleasure, and thus equalise the current of air,
which keeps the fire in activity, according to the state of the atmo-
sphere. The greatest improvement in the chimneys is considered to be
one long known, but not brought into general use until Count Chaptal set
the example. It consists, instead of the straight funnel of the common
chimney, in the introduction of a spiral flue, which winds several times
round the still two- thirds of its height, and thus makes the flame
which, in the common method, is lost, to the last possible moment
available for the work. Care must be taken, however, that these
spirals be not carried above the usual level of the liquor in the still,
lest the metal be destroyed by the flame.
The marine bath is used for delicate liquors, that cannot bear the
direct action of the fire without being tainted or altered. A still, in
this case, is always made of the purest tin, and placed within the
larger, which last is filled with water. The first is carefully isolated
from the sides and bottom of the external vessel, and in consequence
its contents are not exposed to a greater heat than that of boiling
water. These vessels are luted with care. The substances employed
are quenched lime, well mingled into a soft paste with whites of eggs;
the only defect of this luting is, that it dries too quickly if the whites
are not beaten up with a little water prior to mixing and tempering the
lime with them. Lime tempered with curdled milk or bullock's blood,
or new wood ashes and bullock's blood, are used. Chalk or lime tem-
pered with boiled linseed oil and litharge, formerly adopted, is now
* Government will not allow the distiller in England to distil a wash that will
produce less than nineteen per cent, of spirit, which of course cannot be drunk.
Although a duty of ten and sixpence a gallon is levied upon the spirit in its pure
state, the distiller must dispose of it to a rectifier, who adulterates it with juni-
per, spirit of turpentine, and similar trash, and sells it diluted as gin, or, spoil-
ing it with spirit of nitre or prunes, calls it brandy. By this means England has
no pure distilled spirit from the grain, like Scotch or Irish whisky. Such is ill-
managed taxation, which sacrifices the end and usefulness of a thing to the ex-
tortion of a revenue by increased injury to the stomachs of consumers.
APPENDIX. 373
very rarely applied. Lime kneaded with whites of eggs or fresh cheese
is considered the best luting of all others.
The main object of distillation with the French is to disengage the
spirit speedily, with as much purity as possible, together with the
aromatic principle belonging to the substance distilled, where any such
may be. It is carefully seen that the liquid remain uniformly at the
proper temperature. The still is filled three parts full of wine, and the
vessel being luted and secured, and cold water let in round the worm,
the fire is raised until the wine is in a state of ebullition. The air
within the apparatus now becomes violently dilated, and escapes by the
inferior part of the worm, or through the joints, and is speedily fol-
lowed by the condensing steam, which begins first to cover in drops
the head of the still, and run back into it, until the head has acquired
a degree of heat from the contact sufficient to prevent the condensa-
tion. Cold water is then thrown upon the head, and the condensation
renewed until no more takes place within the still, but the constantly
ascending vapour drives all into the worm, where it condenses in the
same manner as the first ascending vapours did, against the head of the
still while it was yet cool. The cold water round the worm is continu-
ally renewed. If this is not done, or if, by any accident, the surround-
ing temperature become too elevated, though the vapour may not be
of Sufficient strength to burst the apparatus, the aroma and fine taste
of the liquid distilled are injured or entirely destroyed. Wines which
most abound in spirit naturally boil quickest, and the largest quantity
of fuel is required for the poorest wines. The brandy which is first
given out from the still is weak, and not well flavoured; it is always
flung back into the vessel. This is speedily followed by the purest
product, which is called eau de vie premiere, to distinguish it from that
which is given out subsequently. The excellence and strength of the
premiere depend naturally upon the quality and richness of the wine
and the management of the fire under the still. As the distillation
proceeds, the brandy given out becomes weaker, so as at last not to
exceed the strength of ten or twelve degrees. When the spirit nearly
ceases to be what is called preuve de Hollande, from eighteen to nine-
teen degrees, or preuve de /mile, from nineteen to twenty-two degrees of
the hydrometer (so called, because on letting a drop of oil fall from a
small height into the brandy it sinks to the bottom), they put aside
the eau de vie premiere, or first brandy, and this operation is styled
couper a la serpente, literally, " to put a stop to the worm." This first
brandy is supposed to contain a considerable quantity of an essential
oil from the wine, which imparts to it an agreeable bouquet, not to be
met with in that which succeeds it, being among the substances first
volatilised in the operation. This taste or bouquet is lost in the
brandy which comes to England, denominated Cognac, owing to the
prejudice indulged here in behalf of particular flavours, to obtain
which, in the use of burnt sugar, all its traces are destroyed. Still.
eau de vie premiere is the only kind exported, because the manufacturer
finds it more advantageous to redistil the other and inferior products
into a stronger spirit, or, as it is called, spirit of trois-six, as it saves
expense both in casks and transport. In distilling common and poor
374 APPEKDIX.
wines, it is not customary pour couper a la serpente, or to put aside the
first spirit. That in the still is generally worked out, and then con-
verted by redistillation into spirit of trois-six, from the state called
petites eaux de vie, or second products. Brandy beyond preuve de huile
is called eau de vie double, up to twenty-eight degrees. Brandy is,
however, not generally made quite up to twenty-two degrees of strength,
because the duties are nearly doubled upon all above that scale. The
best cognac is 2 if. Spirit of wine is measured in strength in the
same manner as brandy, but the mode of expression is different. Thus,
spirit of five-sixths requires one part of water to reduce it to eigh-
teen degrees, and is therefore called of the strength of twenty-two.
Alcohol of three-sixths requires three-sixths, or one half water, and
is in general about thirty-three degrees of strength. The last is the
only spirit of wine exported.
The mode in which the strength of spirit is calculated is always
regulated by the temperature of the product from the worm, for the
temperature and strength bear a regular proportion. If it be more
than ten degrees of Reaumur, when taken' immediately from the still,
it is found proper, in stating exactly its degree of strength, to calcu-
late for every five degrees of the thermometer one less of Cartier's
hydrometer.
So strongly marked is the spirit with the taste of the wine from
which it is distilled, that persons of experience can always easily tell
from what wine district it comes, and from what species of grape
The brandy distilled from the grape, it is needless to say, after this,
is easily discriminated from that produced by any other substance.
From the still it is apt to contract two bad qualities, the one called hi
France the gout defeu, or taste of the still. This, time generally cures;
the other an empyreumatic taste, caused by a minute portion of the*
copper of the still becoming decomposed, and, by being burned, im-
parting a bad taste to the brandy, which some assert to be poisonous.
The preservation of the aroma of any liquor may be secured, or the
aroma diminished at pleasure, by taking the spirit as low in strength
as will answer the end proposed, keeping up the fire to make the odour
or savour ascend rapidly. On the other hand, when it is necessary to
get rid of any particular taste, the distillation should be carried to the
highest degree. Aromatic liquors lose much of their peculiar flavour
by redistilling. The manufacturers of brandy from inferior materials
are so aware of this, that they make their products of the highest
proof, and adding a third of the quantity of genuine brandy of the
strongest character, delude the unwary by its resemblance to the real
quality. If the fire be kept too high, the product is made feeble, from
the too rapid ascension of the vapour ; if too low, its action may en-
tirely cease. An exact and skilful regulation of the fire alone ensures
a good quantity of the eau de vie premiere. Liquids that deposit are
agitated to prevent the burning of the deposition, until they are in a
state of ebullition. Very solid substances are suspended in the still in
cloth bags when the marine bath is not used, and danger of burning is
apprehended. By due care in redistilling, the worst brandy from the
murk is rendered potable. Fine liquors and perfumes are rectified in
APPENDIX. 375
alembics of glass, with the greatest care and delicacy of treatment.
The range of French distillation is very widely extended to all roots,
vegetables, and fruits, that abound in saccharine matter. The fruits
require only to be perfectly mashed, water in a proper proportion
poured upon them, and then set to ferment, with or without the ad-
dition of leaven, as the case may be. The product is a liquor possess-
ing the flavour of the particular fruit, and more or less rich according
to the quality and careful treatment bestowed upon ft. Some of the
kernels, particularly that of the plum, give out so much prussic acid
on distillation, that the product must be carefully diluted. It is best
for security in all cases to separate the stones from the fruit before
fermentation, and to distil them separately, or put them aside alto-
gether, to avoid hazard by those unaccustomed to their distillation.
In France a considerable portion of agricultural produce, which is of
little use for any other purpose, is devoted to making brandy of in-
ferior quality, which may be applied to numerous purposes of domestic
economy. The sediment of wines from garden fruits, honey, molasses
from the best sugar, corn, potatoes (of which latter the product is very-
great), and similar substances, are all distilled in France, and the spirit
is a source of profit to the agriculturist, from which in England he is
debarred by the Excise. The coarseness, or ill-flavour of the brandy,
is much reduced by judicious treatment and by rectification.
All spirit is ascertained to be more or less alcoholic by its specific
gravity, and this is the criterion which the French apply, as least liable
to err, for ascertaining most easily the quantity of spirit in a mixture
of spirit and water. Spirit of trois-six is in proportion to water as
eight hundred and forty to a thousand, so that a cube of water, or a
litre weighing a thousand grammes of the same quantity of spirit, would
weigh but eight hundred and forty. This litre of a thousand grammes
forms a standard by which to try the strength of every mixture of
spirit. It suffices to multiply a thousand, the centimetre cubes in a
litre of water, by the difference between that and the specific gravity
of the liquor to be tried, and to divide the product by the difference
between the specific gravity of a litre of pure spirit, as a point of com-
parison, with that of a litre of water. A table of the specific gravities
of brandy is kept for this purpose, graduated by the hydrometer.
The litre, the quality or proper title of strength of the brandy, is
established by the hydrometer. But as a variation of temperature of
Reaumur, varying five degrees, changes the instrument of Cartier one
degree more or less, the titre of the brandy is always established at a
temperature of ten degrees of Reaumur, and from this temperature the
instrument is graduated on the scale. Thus there is a fairness in the
strength of the spirit proclaimed to the purchaser, who might else be a
loser, as well as the seller, from differences in the volume, and the con-
sequent erroneous analysis.
Brandy must have ae to lose the new taste from the still, yet, if
kept in a warm place in wood, it will lose a portion of its spirit by
evaporation. The wood, too, gives an amber-colour to the spirit, and
impairs its clearness, which should be transparent as water. In order
376
APPENDIX.
to remedy this, the brandy is frequently injured in quality by attempt-
ing to give it limpidity, though in that exported to England any tint
it has received in the still or wood is of no importance.
The heavy wines of the south, and such as are abundant in tartar,
give very middling brandy; that from acid or pricked wines is deeply
tainted. Wines abounding in saccharine matter, which has decomposed
entirely during the insensible fermentation, give the best spirit. These
last wines are not distilled new, as they are apt to burn, and give out
less alcohol. White wines give a softer brandy than red. All brandy
should be of the right colour, and that of cognac should not conceal
an ill-coloured article when it is prepared for exportation. Brandy is
reduced, when necessary, by an admixture of water, which the French
call mouillage. Heat is given out in this operation. The brandy must
be agitated, and the quantity nicely adjusted to reduce the strength to
the required degree. For this purpose, the quantity of strength to be
reduced is multiplied by the number of degrees it carries on the hydro-
meter. The product is divided by the number of degrees of which it
is desired the brandy should consist when lowered. Subtracting from
this sum the quantity of spirit employed, the water to be added is
found. Suppose 25 litres of spirit, at 32 degrees, are to be lowered to
18 degrees, it is found that 800 is the product of 25 multiplied by 32;
this divided by 18, gives 44 litres 44 centilitres. It only remains to
subtract the litres of spirit employed, and the result is 19-44 tho
quantity of water required. Pure spirit of wine is generally sold by
the velte.
Thus everything in the conduct of distillation in France is regulated
by due attention to science, which accounts for the superiority of that
country in this and several similar branches of the useful arts.
This statement respecting distillation will serve without the parti-
culars of the process in other countries, where it is managed in an in-
ferior manner. Spanish brandy ranks next in quality to that of France.
The prices of 1849 ranged from 4s. 6d. to 5s. 8d. per gallon imperial,
according to age.
No. II.
WINES OF THE FIKST CLASS.
FRANCE, SPAIN, HUNGARY, GERMANY, SICILY, NAPLES, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
Wines.
Country.
Place.
Character.
Romance Conti
France
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
C6te d'Or
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
' The first and most de-
licate red wines in the
world, full of rich per-
fume, of exquisite bouquet
< and fine purple colour,
light, yet with body and
spirit sufficient to render
them pleasant and health-
_ful in use.
(continued)
Chambertin
Clos Vougeot
Romance St.Vivant
LaTache
St. Georges
APPENDIX.
377
Wines.
Country.
Place.
Character.
First growths of Pr6maux
Musigny..
France
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
Spain
Germany
Naples
Sicily
Hungary
Moldavia
Cyprus
Africa
Spain
Cote d'Or
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
Gironde
do.
do.
do.
La Drome
do.
do.
do.
do.
Marne
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
Gironde
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
La Loire
Rhone
< Pyre"ne"es ")
1 Orientales j
Haut Rhin
do.
Rh6ne
Andalusia
The Rhine
Naples
Syracuse
(" County of ")
1 Zemplin j
Cotnar
Com. D.
f Cape of Good
1 Hope
Malaga
Burgundies, closely re-
^enabling the above
growths in aroma, and all
their other qualities.
White highly esteemed,
f Fine colour and per-
| fume, light, less warm
<j than Burgundy, with a
taste of the violet, and
Lrich purple hue.
r Wines of the Rhone,
darker in colour than the
J preceding. Red Hermit-
] age the most noted of these,
of good body, and a fine
Lflavour of the raspberry.
( White, still, dry; of an
Camber colour; generally
Uced for drinking.
{Fine effervescing wine,
bright in colour, slightly
frothing,
f The best of the white
wines of Champagne, be-
<{ ing all of the first quality,
but differing a little m
Lcolour and effervescence.
r Fine white wines of ex-
I cellent quality, lightish
<j brown in colour, aroma
most agreeable, and some
Lof rather sweet taste.
f Description resembles
{Full of body, spirit, and
perfume. The white is the
finest of all white wines.
A rich muscadine.
<" Straw wines, rich and
(. luscious.
Do.
Do.
A dry, delicate wine.
Do.
( A fine, luscious, sweet
(.red wine.
( Remarkably fine red
(.muscat.
C Thick rich wines, known
jas Tokay, also Tokay-
Causbruch.
( Very spirituous, by
\ some preferred to Tokay.
C Greenish colour.
Thick, rich, and luscious.
\ Luscious ; two kinds.
Thick and luscious.
Clos du Tart..
St. Jean
Perridre .
Morgeot
Lafitte
Latour. . .
Chateau Margaux . .
Beaume
Bessas, Burges, Landes....
Meal and Gre"fieux
Sillery
Ay
Dizy
Epernay "Closet"
St. Bris
Sauterne
Barsac .
Preignac and Beaumes ....
Chateau Grillet
Rivesaltes
Colmar, Olwiller, KaiO
serberg . . . }
Kientzheim, AmmerO
Hermitage de Paille
Amontillado Sherry
Schloss Johannisberger ....
Lacryma Christi
Tokay, Essence, and its']
first growths, called
Tarczal, Szeghi, Za- I
dany, Tolesva, also \
Erdo-Benye, Zambor,
Tallya, Mada J
Cotnar
The Commandery
Lagrimas
378
APPENDIX.
The dry wines of the first class are all of French growth, except two.
Dry wines of the first class will bear no mixture, except with their
own growths ; are too delicate to be adulterated without instant de-
tection; are the pure offspring of the grape, and rank nearest to per-
fection of any known wines of ancient or modern times.
WINES OF THE SECOND CLASS. FRENCH.
Wines.
Place.
Character.
Verzy, Verzenay, Mailly, St.")
Basle, Bouzy, St. Thierry >
Vosne, Nuits, ChamboUe, Vol- 4 )
nay, Pomard, Beaune, Morey, >
Savigny, Meursalt )
Marne
C6te d'Or
Red wines of Champagne.
(* Excellent red Burgun-
j dies, very little inferior to
Cfirst growths.
Olivotes, Pitoy, Perriere, Pr&iux...
Chainette, Migrenne
Yonne
do.
j Good wines.
Moulin a Vent, Torins, Chinas...
Hermitage second growths
Saonne et Loire,
Rhdne
Rhone
JRed.
Red,
C6te Rdtie
do.
Red.
Rozan, Gorze, Le~oville, Larose,")
Branne-Mouton, Pichon-Lon- >
gue ville, Calon )
Gironde
Red.
Coteau Brule"
Vaucluse
Red.
Basses Pyre'ne'es
Red.
Roussillon, Bagnols, Cosperon,")
Collioure, Tor6nmila, Terrats, >
Masdeu )
Pyre'ne'es Orien-
tales
JRed.
Cramant, Avize Oger, Menil
Marne
( White Champagne wines
La Perriere, Combotte, Goutte")
d'Or, Genevriere, Charmes et >
Meursalt )
Cote d'Or
(. of good quality.
f White Burgundies, of
(.high repute in France.
Guebwillers, Turkeim, Wolx-^)
heim, Molsheim, and Rangen, >
in Belfont )
Haut Rhin
Bas Rhin
C" Dry, white, and vins de
Ipaille, of good repute.
Arbois, Pupillin, Chateau Chalons
Coudrieu .
Jura
Rhone
c Good wine, mousseux
land still.
( A white wine, which
< keeps long, of fine seve
Langon, Cerons, Podensac
Gironde
Cand perfume,
f White wines, capable of
Montbazillac, Tcaulet, Raulis, \
Dordogne
\ endurance.
( Good white wines of the
1 country.
Buzet, Amazon, Vianne
Lot et Garonne
< Generous white wines,
St. Peray St. Jean
Ardeche
C Delicate mousseux and
< non mousseux, of agree-
Juran9on
Basses Pyre'ne'es
Cable flavour,
r White, with an agree-
Frontignan and Lunel Mazet
Bagnols, Collioure, Rodez j
Maccabeo of Salees
Herault
Pyrenees Orien-
tales
do.
? Sweet, rich, and lus-
(.cious; white,
r Red, styled de Gre-
\ nache, rich and sweet.
Sweet, vins de liqueur.
APPENDIX.
379
THIRD CLASS. FRENCH.
Wines.
Place.
Character.
Hautvilliers, Mareuil, Dizy,")
Pierry, Epernay, Taisy, Ludes, f
Chigny, Villers-Allerand, Cu- f
mitres )
Marne
Aube
C6te d'Or
Yonne
Sa6ne et Loire
Puy de D6me
Dr6me
Is^re
Rhdne
Gironde
Dordogne
Landes
Gard
Vaucluse
Aube
Cote d'Or
Yonne
SaAne et Loire
Jura
Gironde
Loire
Herault
do.
Bouches du
Rh6ne
C Eed Champagne wines
< of the second quality ;
(.light and agreeable.
Resembling the preceding.
f Good Burgundies of the
(.the third quality.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Not wines of note ; red.
r Resembling red Hermi-
mitage ; a little less full
<{ and fine, might be called
1 Hermitage of the third
Lquality.
f Red wines, very mid-
(. dling of the class.
Resembling C6te Rotie.
C Pouillac, St. Estephe,
\ good light red wines ; Cas-
"i telnau mediocre ; the
Bother growths agreeable.
C Resembling St. Emilion ;
(.keeping well.
C Red, light coloured,
(.with a harsh taste.
f Red wines grown on the
j banks of the Rh6ne ; will
1 not keep good more than
V.six years.
< Good red wines; keep
(.well.
C Champagne; light and
1 agreeable, white.
f Tolerable wine ; not ex-
l ported.
C In considerable esteem
1 in Paris as wines of the
Ctable. They are all white.
(" Much the same as the
(. preceding.
White.
Do. of middling quality.
C" Ditto ; consumed in the
(. country.
( Second growths of those
< famous and rich white
(.wines.
r Rich, luscious, sweet
1 wines, prepared in the
<| department of Herault,
1 and very little exported ;
Lalso muscadines.
r Rich sweet wines, boil-
< ed wines and malmseys, of
Cgood quality.
Ricey, Avirey, Bagneuxla Fosse...
Gevrey, Chassagne, Aloxe.
Savigny sous Beaune, Blagny,)
Santen ay Cheno ve 5
Fleury, Roman6che.
Chapelle Guinchay ...
Chantergues, Montjuset
Crozes, Mercurol, Gervant
Seyssuel, Revantin ..
Verinay
Pouillac, Margaux, Pessac, St.-\
Estephe, St. Julien, Castelnau t
de Medoc, Cantenac, Talence, (
Merignac Canon )
Farcies Terrasse Campreal
Cape Breton, Soustons
Chuzclan, Tavel, St. Genies,^)
Virac, Ledenon, St. Laurent >
des Arbres )
Chateauneuf
Riceys
Vamnorillon, Grises, Valmure,"}
Grenouille, Vaudesir, Bour- 1
gereau, Mont de Milieu et C
Chablis )
Etoile, Quintigny
Pujols, Hats, Landiras, Vire-^)
lade, St. Croix du Mont Lou- >
Frontignan and Lunel
Vins de Picardan of Marseillan")
and Pommerois. Vins de Ca- >
labria, de Malaga )
Eoquevaire, Cassis, Ciotat. Vins ">
Quite j
380
APPENDIX.
The above are the three first classes of French wines, including all
which are commonly exported; there are, according to the best autho-
rities, six classes of red, seven of white, and four of vins de liqueur. In
these (exclusive of the list above comprising the choicest kinds) there
are two hundred and forty-three white, nine vins de liqueur, and four
hundred and sixty-three red wines, commencing with the fourth class.
The wines of Champagne descend six degrees in class and quality, hence
the importance of ascertaining the proper class by those who purchase
them. It would occupy too much room to give the names of all
the growths and vineyards. The author has a list of sixteen hundred
in his possession, and they do not comprise the whole by a considerable
number.
TABLE OF DEPARTMENTAL PRODUCE.
The following is the departmental product of the French vineyards,
the number of hectares of vines, the product in hectolitres per hectare,
the value of the wines for each department, and the hectolitres dis-
tilled into brandy, being the first statement of the same nature from
authentic data published in this country. The whole are from the
actual returns.
Departments.
Hectares
of
Vines.
Hectolitres
par
Hectare.
Total
Hectolitres
of Wine.
Value in
Francs.
Hectoli-
tres of
Wine
Distilled.
Hectoli-
tres of
Brandy.
Strength
by Carticr.
Ain
16,418
8,494
15,243
3,600
5,850
14,929
1,960
8,843
22,586
36,064
13,714
27,338
5
400
136,124
85,107
13,054
15,804
10,485
25,351
64,346
6,625
28,212
1,780
5,496
22 '78 9-16
31-98f
18-95 1-15
28'00
18*61
15'05 5-7
28-33|
12-15|
25-36i
16-68|
21-19
21-59
20' 00
10-80
13-041
21*05f
25-61 5-12
18-14
31*12
2-2-81
10*27
21-13
18-00
33-28|
2-0-00
373,828
271,717
288,866
99,800
108,900
224,322
55,540
117,453
572,870
601,775
291,435
590,244
100
4,320
1,826,092
1,791,610
332,832
286,682
310,730
578,252
660,704
139,978
507,908
59,240
109,920
5,617,120
6,211,090
5,113,350
1,596,800
1,633,500
3,816,190
1,110,800
1,761,795
9,858,232
6,326,136
4,260,996
8,803,302
1,500
51,840
17,008,844
18,986,060
6,666,356
4,012,148
4,660,950
15,473,530
11,913,854
2,566,812
9,918,152
1,356,096
2,198,400
191,000
45,000
1,300,418
1,095,927
1,260
50,000
27,286
9,000
185,774
148,329
210
7,600
40
(contii
33
20
22
20
19
19
wed}
Aisne ....
Allier
Alpes, Basses ...
Alpes, Hautes...
Ardeche
Ardennes
Arie"ge
Aube
Aude
Bouches du
Rh&ne
Calvados
Cantal ..
Charente
Chareiite Infe"-
rieure
Cher
Correze
Corse
Cdted'Or
Cdtes du Word..
Dordogne
Doubs
Drdme
Eure
Eure et Loire ...
APPENDIX.
381
Departments.
Hectares
of
Vines;
Hectolitres
par
Hectare.
Total
Hectolitre
of Wine.
Value in
Francs.
Hectoli-
tres of
Wine
Distilled
Hectoli-
tres of
Brandy.
Strength
by Cartier.
Finistere
Gard
51,198
47,902
73,785
137,002
91,941
h. a.
93,73
16,625
28,310
10,665
16,487
20,052
22,769
11,254
4,445
28,643
28,591
49,759
38,483
995
26,401
19,066
12,183
681
13,592
12,250
221
5,254
8,054
4,369
21,436
20,483
14,296
29,913
13,087
11,694
18,126
10,698
30,708
9,689
2,504
16,517
16,298
15,885
62
20,631
23,168
15,895
20-34f
9-76
14-83
18-72f
18-63 1-9
29-65i
17-00
23'OOJ
34-58f
18-70
25|
28-43 1-7
24-54
20
28'65
24-25
ll-39
16-43
15
18-69|
22-16
41-82
13*
50-64 5-6
44- 61 1-12
1,041,65
467,723
1,094,61
2,805,476
1,713,60
2,757
282,560
665,224
368,861
308,297
511,209
647,360
276,162
88,900
812,794
693,304
566,859
579,187
14,925
493,452
422,487
509,790
9,494
688,358
546,523
5,876
260,759
161,664
108,316
352,859
333,330
278,063
343,968
464,807
347,335
458,000
232,378
660,942
148,753
99,117
557,516
849,718
264,236
- 690
433,297
264,360
693,448
10,949,83
6,248,12
10,309,46
49,177,45
17,797,40
33,084
3,921,51
10,993,13
6,106,07
5,025,979
6,209,000
8,062,120
5,517,430
1,264,140
7,219,755
11,420,230
9,566,112
10,972,069
268,650
8,239,495
11,235,397
7,292,880
151,904
9,430,296
9,093,656
76,388
4,693,662
3,083,816
3,449,566
7,335,760
5,270,433
3,271,814
7,164,612
8,336,526
4,869,145
10,366,400
4,338,884
13,027,079
2,172,650
1,953,120
8,462,740
14,775,880
3,399,262
13,800
5,411,160
3,035,700
8,303,780
308,20
3,00
300,10
120,00
1,063,60
4,000
40,000
160,00
60,000
3,000
93,250
2,400
30,000
1,200
49,000
1,625
65,000
( 29,61
\ 20,00
46
83,33
24,00
125,12
57
5,71
26,66
8,57
500
17,643
343
5,500
250
7,000
270
12,000
(conti
20
33
20
20*
19
33*
22
19
20
220
19
19
21
20*
20
20
20
20
lutd)
Garonne Haute
Gers
Gironde
He'rault
Hie et Vilaine...
Indre
Indre et Loire...
Jura .
Landes
Loir et Cher
Loir . . .
Loire Haute
Loire Infe'rieure
Loiret ..
Lot
Lot et Garonne
Lozere
Maine et Loire
Manche
Marne
Marne Haute ...
Mayenne
Meurthe . .
Meuse .
Morbihan
26i
49-63 1-2G
20-07i
24|
16-46 2-21
16*26 7-20
19-45
11-50
35-51 8-13
29-70$
25-26
21-72 1-10
21-521
15-36 1-16
39
33f
52-13|
16-69 9-15
11 1-7
21-00$
11-40|
43 '62
Moselle ..
Nieve
Nord . .
Oise
Orne
Pas de Calais ...
Puy deDome ...
Pyre'ne'es,
Basses ...
Pyre"n6es,
Hautes
Pyre'ne'es, Orien-
tales
Rhin, Bas ....
Rhin,Haut
Rh6ne .
Saone, Haute ...
Saone et Loire
Sartke
Seine
Seine Infe'rieure
Seine et Marne
Seine et Oise ...
Sevres, Deux ...
Somme
Tarn
Tarn et Garonne
Var
382
APPENDIX.
Departments.
Hectares
of
Vines.
Hectolitres
par
Hectare.
Total
Hectolitres
of Wine.
Value in
Francs.
Hectoli-
tres of
Wine
Distilled.
Hectoli-
tres of
Brandy.
%%
Vaucluse . ...
22,038
13,374
21,423
2,351
3,116
33,630
16
25-19J
20-67J
15'52i
32- 67J
23'39i
362,208
336,982
435,451
36,506
100,808
886,604
6,519,744
3,369,820
4,881,130
512,922
1,905,720
23,639,086
15,000
11,000
16,000
2,500
1,350
2,288
20
22
22
Vend6e
Vienne
Vienne Haute...
Vosges
Yonne .
Totals
1,736,056
mean
20-27
35,075,689
540,389,298
5,229,880
751,945
70,015
Add Brandy extracted from t
Total Brandy from the Vine .
tie Murk .
821,960
An attempt was made some time ago to value the French wines
according to their qualities, by M. Chaptal. Without being founded
on any positive data, these calculations carried the total value to
718,941,675 francs. The statement was an exaggerated one. The
totals of the Cadastre, and more minute inquiries, have established
that the foregoing table comes as near as possible to the truth. The
calculations of M. Chaptal thus made, it is, therefore, a waste of space
to repeat here, having given the value of the wines in each separate de-
partment, with a total annually of 540,389,298 francs, or 22,516,220/. 15s.
sterling.
The mean exportation of all kinds of wine may be rated at some-
thing above 1,155,074 hectolitres annually, of which England takes
only 14,367. These added to the wines consumed in distillation, make
about 6,384,953 hectolitres, leaving for wines drunk in France, spoiled,
manufactured into vinegar, and the tike, 28,690,736. The consump-
tion of wine in all modes, therefore, reckoning the French population
at 31,000,000, cannot be anything like a hectolitre per head per annum.
The value of the wines and spirits exported in 1823 was 76,639,026
francs; it had increased in 1832, in quantity if not in value, to 28,761,600
imperial gallons. The brandy exported is about 335,697*64 hectolitres
per annum.
To recapitulate, and add the other spirituous drinks in France, ex-
cept liqueurs,
Hectolitres. Value Francs.
The brandy, averaging 19, distilled from
other substances than the grape 93,457
Cider and Perry 8,868,738
Beer 2,300,689
"Wine 35,075,689
14,018,550*
67,178,956
1,335,236
540,389,298
Total of all kinds 46,338,573
622,922,040
It has been estimated at about eighteen gallons, and the annual value
of eight shillings per head, on 33,000,000 population. The following
* This brandy is perhaps valued too high at 150 francs the hectolitre.
APPENDIX.
383
has also been given as the produce of France and its disposal, the pro-
duce supposed to be 924,000,000 gallons.
Consumed by proprietors not paying duty 198,000,000
Manufactured into brandy 141,000,000
Loss and waste with grower 91,344,000
Ditto in conveyance and with dealers 44,000,000
Exported 24,530,000
Made into vinegar 11,000,000
Duty on consumption 308,000,000
Fraudulent consumption 105,466,000
or 42,000,000 hectolitres.
The inhabitants" of the towns consume 8,670,293 hectolitres, those of the
country 19,122,707 hectolitres.
If to 28,690,736 hectolitres of wine are added 12,000,000 more for
beer, cider, and other liquids of a similar kind consumed, there cannot
then be reckoned, including waste, as much as 1 J hectolitre of con-
sumption per head for the population of France.
The prices of the wines of France it would be of little use to give
for the current year, as they vary so much with the season. The
prices approximating as nearly as possible to mean prices are given in
the chapters descriptive of the wines, and need not be repeated tabu-
larly.
The entire imports of French wine into Great Britain for the last
hundred and fifty years were as follow: the home consumption is in
some cases less, a part being exported.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
1700
664 2 26
1729
894 51
1758
274 55
1701
2051 3 62
1730
636 24
1759
338 2 3
1702
1624 14
1731
1007 42
1760
377 2 37
1703
139 3 46
1732
865 2 44
176L
546 2 16
1704
198 3 7
1733
840 17
1762
303 3 49
1705
168 26
1734
780 1 56
1763
441 2 61
1706
158 3 3
1735
667 2 48
1764
446 1 7
1707
103 2 23
1736
528 3 4
1765
540 2 26
1708
167 1 23
1737
633 2 55
1766
497 3 7
1709
238 1 51
1738
471 2 22
1767
545 1 59
1710
113 3 60
1739
607 1 61
1768
441 2 39
1711
532 1 2
1740
856 2 47
1769
460 2 3
1712
116 39
1741
165 36
1770
468 2 27
1713
2551 2 26
1742
435 3 59
1771
535 3 20
1714
1198 1 55
1743
310 1 2
1772
475 3 17
1715
1260 2 48
1744
557 1 10
1773
494 1 61
1716
1570 1 49
1745
140 3 31
1774
560 52
1717
1396 1 37
1746
86 2 32
1775
497 1 43
1718
1798 1 42
1747
206 1 41
1776
434 3 48
1719
1766 2 2
1748
414 2 40
1777
602 1 35
1720
1366 36
1749
464 2 33
1778
595 2 3
1721
1247 1 20
1750
418 1 59
1779
363 1 34
1722
1424 3 16
1751
461 1 28
1780
376 1 33
1723
1037 1 8
1752
407 3 8
1781
378 3 38
1724
1147 3 57
1753
623 2 10
1782
456 3 14
1725
1087 3 14
1754
659 1 11
1783
370 33
1726
633 2 41
1755
650 1 34
1784
385 2 46
1727
1085 3 1
1756
554 3 44
1785
470 1 41
1728
1105 30
1757
350 3 24
1786
475 2 16
384
APPENDIX.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Imperial Gallons.
1787
2127 3 20
1809
13,105 33
1829
5474,37
1788
1445 1 45
1810
4,117 52
1830
408,210
1789
1114 3 26
1811
3,441 2 57
1831
337,093
1790
1101 2 52
1812
5,100 1 7i
1832
278,863
1791
1137 43
1813
741 15
1833
228,627
1792
1617 1 9
1814
3,902 3 32i
1834
260,930
1793
1590 11
1815
2,116 1 17i
1835
271,661
1794
757 3 25
1816
1,612 46f
1836
352,063
1795
1347 2 49
1817
802 2 17
1837
440,322
1796
1809 3 38
1818
1,798 2 6
1838
417,281
1797
850 2
1819
1,543 I 394
1839
270,738
1798
1577 49
1820
1,090 3 30
1840
239,172
1799
1662 61
1821
1,057 1 6 2-20
1841
353,7.40
1800
2078 1 15
1822
1,193 17 11-20
1842
360,692
1801
2506 3 36
1843
326,498
1802
1236 1 16
Imperial Gallons.
1844
473,789
1803
1445 9
1823
307,326
1845
443,330
1804
1425 3
1824
249,520
1846
409,506
1805
2593 1 5
1825
978,635
1847
397,329
1806
5393 1 40
1826
427,801
1848
355,802
1807
5438 1 33
1827
353,904
1849
331,690
1808
7838 58
1828
451,361
1850
342,223
ROUSSILLON WINES. (Page 149.)
The statement in regard to these wines in the body of the present
work was printed as their position when the first edition was pub-
lished. The following bears relation to the wines of the province at
the present time, the letter containing the statement having only just
come to hand:
" The department of the Pyrenees Orientales, part of the old pro-
vince of Eoussillon, contains now about 30,000 hectares of vines, pro-
ducing 11-50 hectolitres per hectare, or 345,000 hectolitres in all, of
which the value is about 7,000,000 francs. The larger part of these
wines is produced in the arrondissements of Perpignan and Ceret.
They form two principal classes, known as 'Wines of the Plain,'
and * Wines of Collioure and Banyuls.' The larger part of these
wines is exported. The inferior qualities are consumed in the country,
or carried into the neighbouring mountains of the departments on the
borders of Spain. The best qualities are bought for Paris, Italy,
Brazil, and the United States. The grapes mostly cultivated are the
grenache, the mataro, and the crignane, for the red export wines. The
pique-pouille noir, and gris, 'the serret, blanquette, and muscat, for
fancy and white wines. The mataro gives the most colour, and the
crignane the most fruit. The grenache contains the most saccharine
matter and greatest quantity of must. The mixture of all these kinds
is the mode generally adopted ; still many old vines, including a great
variety, are more or less appreciated in the mingling.
" The muscadine vintage is the earliest, and begins at the end of Sep-
tember. A time is chosen when the weather is dry and the grape and
soil are still warmed by the sun. If the grapes are not all mature,
they are gathered at two different times, and are left at the foot of the
tree until they are sufficiently dry and even shrivelled. They are then
APPENDIX. t 385
trodden and pressed. Some suffer the fruit to dry on the stem before
it is gathered. The must of the muscadine grape, after it is pressed,
is very saccharine and thick. It is placed in vats to ferment. This
wine is often sold and delivered after remaining fifteen or twenty days
only in the vat, and without being cleared. In case the owner intends
keeping it longer, it is racked a month or two after the pressing, when
it deposits very largely.
"The commune of Rivesaltes, distant six miles from Perpignan,
affords the best muscadine wine. All that is made, about 400 hec-
tolitres, is sold at a high price to the merchants of Lower Languedoc,
who use it to increase the aroma of the muscadine wines of their own
districts. Some of the growers place it in their cellars, where it
ameliorates, and will keep an indefinite time.
" At Rivesaltes, and some other vineyards o the department, par-
ticularly at Rodez en Conflent, the grenache grape is alone planted.
The must is not left to ferment upon the murk, or, if left, it is not for
more than twenty -four hours. The fermentation takes place in the
barrel. This wine is much esteemed, and preserves with age great
clearness, vinosity, and bouquet. At ten or twelve years old it loses
its colour, and takes a fine straw tint or that of a topaz. This class of
wines is not sold, as it would be difficult to find a quantity sufficient
for general purchase. It is the same with the Macabeo and Mal-
vasia wines, which are made by a few persons only for family con-
sumption. The white wines are made with the blanquette grape,
produced from vines wholly of their own kind, or deposited from the
black grapes with which they are often mingled in the vineyard. The
vintage is completed at one picking, and not, as with the muscadines,
at two. There are different qualities of these wines, more or less
dry or sweet, the differences proceeding from the nature of the
gravelly or quartzose soil in some vineyards, and the argillaceous
or calcareous nature of others. About 800 hectolitres, planted with
the blanquette grape, produce each on the average about twelve hecto-
litres.
" The red wines designed for exportation form the most important
part of the Roussillon vintage. Although in this part of the south of
France the time when the vine buds and blossoms is earlier than in the
neighbouring departments of the Aude and the Herault, the vintage
is later, and never commences for these wines before the first days
of October in the plain, and at Collioure and Banyuls before the
8th.
" In this part of France wine is rarely made in open vats, but gene-
rally in large casks, called tonneaux a portes. The must from the press
with the fruit is introduced by a square opening, closed by a covering
having a small hole in the centre, through which the carbonic gas escapes
during the fermentation. A large part of this gas is thus condensed in
the space between the surface of the must and the cask. The pressure
thus arising upon the murk prevents a too rapid fermentation, and pre-
serves the aroma and alcoholic part of the wine. By this means the
surface of the murk is kept from contact with the air, which tends to
2 c
386 APPENDIX.
prevent acidity. The skins of the grapes, too, are constantly submerged,
and the extraction of the colouring matter is rendered more com-
plete.
" When the fermentation is thought to have terminated, the wine is
drawn off by a cock inserted in the lower part of the cask, and the
murk is taken out by the opening already described. The vines of
Collioure, Banyuls, and Port Vendres, are situated on the lower slopes
of the Pyrenees which terminate in the Mediterranean. The soil is
composed of schistose debris. To support the soil upon the steeper
slopes, they form their vineyards in terraces. The produce is less than
that of the vines growing on the plains. Neither the one nor the other
receive dressing. The wines of Collioure and Banyuls are finer and
sweeter than those of the plain, and also carry a higher price. They
are bought by the merchants of Paris to ameliorate wines otherwise
too harsh.
"The wines of the plain are bought in a still larger quantity, the
sales taking place shortly after the vintage. These wines are not
racked before they are sold, when the sale is not deferred beyond the
month of March, at which time the red wines are always racked. In
general this is done but once, and not again unless with the wines
destined to be long kept. Some growers rack a second time in the
March of the second year from the vintage, for which they choose dry
weather. The wine is kept in the cask until it becomes rancio, the
name by which it is generally known in the country, and throughout
Prance. It ameliorates in the cask by age. Care is taken not to move
the tartar which forms on the interior of the staves, and diminishes
evaporation through the pores of the wood. The red wines remain ten
or fifteen years in wood, and at that age carry a golden colour, but
even then they will not have attained full perfection. They deposit
continually. If they are bottled they preserve their colour better, but
as they form a crust and deposit, it is customary to decant them before
they come to table. The muscadine wines are bottled at four years
old. Age deepens their colour, and it is the same with the other white
kinds. The red wines of Eoussillon are remarkable for their fine deep
colour and alcohol. They have the peculiar advantage that they do
not spoil by remaining in casks or bottles but partially filled. The
wines of Collioure, Banyuls, and Port Yendres, are distinguished by
their richness, aroma, and fineness; when they have attained a certain
age, they rival the wines of Andalusia. About sixteen thousand hec-
tolitres are made. The wines of the plain have equal body, but they
are drier, and their quality is more varied, according to the difference
in the nature of the soil, and the variety of the plant from which they
come. The principal growths are those of Torremila, Corneilla de la
Riviere, Pezilla, Baixas, Peyrestortes, llivesaltes, Salces, and Terrets.
The wines of Estagel, Latour, and Us soul, are of less body than the
former. There is a wine of this department, strong in body, deep in
colour, of an excellent bouquet, and rich, soft taste, which bears great
analogy to the wines of Portugal when old, without being as heady.
It is called Masdeu, from the name of the vineyard producing it
APPENDIX. 387
between Collioure and Perpignan. Masdeu, in the Catalan language,
which is the popular language of Roussillon, for a long time a part of
Catalonia, in Arragon, signifies * God's Farm.' It is the property of
the bankers so well known, the Messieurs Fois Durand. Between
Collioure and Port Vendres there is a small vineyard, which produces
the Cosperon wine, a rich, sweet species. The prices of these wines are
very variable, and rise, according to their age, very considerably. Bed,
of good quality, only valued at 24 guineas at the vintage, will be 150
guineas at ten or twelve years old. Kept in bottle, it brings a franc
and a half and two francs the bottle. Very old and fine qualities some-
times bring five and even six francs."
Legislation alone caused the change in our relations with France,
and the rejection of "her delicate for coarser wines. For more than a
century its influence has been felt, while attempting to exclude the
produce of the vineyards of that country from our markets by dif-
ferential duties. It is not difficult to trace the seeds of this commercial
dissonance to the reign of Charles II., during which the French king
(acting under the advice and in agreement with the system of his
minister Colbert), having imposed some duties upon English goods, the
lex talionis was applied.
"It was about the same time (1667) that the French and English
began mutually to oppress each other's industry, by the like duties
and prohibitions, of which the French, however, seem to have set the
first example. The spirit of hostility which has subsisted between the
two nations ever since, has hitherto hindered them from being mode-
rated on either side." Smith's Wealth of Nations.
Notwithstanding these checks and discouragements to the French
trade, our consumption of Portuguese wines was forced down to 1689;
but the revolution which occurred in that year, by widening our
political differences with France, had some effect in obliging the people
of this country to seek elsewhere for their supplies of that beverage
which, in all ages and in all countries, has been so much prized by
man.
The notion that in taking wine from France we promoted the benefit
of that country exclusively, while Portugal returned the traffic in wine
by taking our woollen goods, as if France, if she did not take woollen
goods, took nothing in exchange, is a proof how ignorant we then were
of the simplest principles of political economy. The following returns
show our trade with France before we attached ourselves to Portugal
exclusively:
Years. French. Portuguese.
Tuns. Tuns
1675 7,495 20
1676 9,645 83
1677 6,789 176
1678 7/212 199
31,1-11 478
In 1679 the French wines were prohibited.
2 c2
388
APPENDIX.
Tears.
1679..
1681
1682
1683
1684
French.
Tuns.
3
1
French trade re-opened, 1686.
Years.
French.
Tuns.
1686 12,670
1687 15,518
1688 14,218
1689 11,109
53,515
Portuguese.
Tuns.
1,013
1,003
1,718
13,860
16,772
11,611
12,885
58,862
Portuguese.
Tuns.
286
327
448
579
1640
Thus, in four years, the consumption of French wines, on the open-
ing of the trade, nearly equalled in four years that of Portugal in
seven.
Prior to that important era our demand for French wines amounted
at times to 20,000 tuns per annum.* The war which broke out in 1689
occasioned a stoppage of our supplies from France; and though the
peace of 1693 was instantly followed by an increased import of French
wines, notwithstanding the action of heavy differential duties, yet the
durable commencement of the Oporto trade may be fixed about this
period.
Thus the "Farewell to Wine," published in 1693, runs
Some claret, boy ! Claret, Sir ! Lord, there's none !
Claret, Sir ! why, there's not a drop in town ;
But we've the best red port, What's that you call
Red port ? A wine, sir, conies from Portugal ;
I'll fetch a pint, &c.
And Prior, who flourished at this time, has frequent allusions to the
change in the beverage :
Else (dismal thought) our warlike men
Might drink thick port. Alma First Canto.
And again
And in a cottage or a court
Drink fine champagne, or muddled port. Tliird Canto.
Again
Or if it be his fate to meet
"With folks who have more wealth than wit,
He loves cheap port. Prior's Chameleon.
But spite of the poets, legislation and economy prevailed, and we
accordingly find red port, or some of the other wines of Portugal were
* A tun of wine is two pipes.
APPENDIX. 389
introduced; for it must be born-3 in mind, that formerly the consump-
tion of Lisbon white wines was very great.
In 1697, 4774 tuns of Portuguese wines were imported, while only
two tuns were brought from France, instead of 14,000, or, according
to some, 20,000 tuns, but nine years before.
The support which the Stuarts received at the court of France, and
the intrigues of Louis XIV. in Spain, contributed to make the English
government encourage a still closer amity with Portugal. Though the
imports of French wines had again risen to 1800 tuns, the average in
1701 and 1702, when the war was again renewed, the supplies dimi-
nished, and, to complete their exclusion, the Methuen treaty was
signed in December, 1703.
By that treaty it was stipulated that on condition we admitted the
wines of Portugal at one-third less duty than those of France, Portugal
would receive " the woollen cloths and the rest of the woollen manu-
factures of the Britons till they were prohibited by the laws." Aided
by the ten years' war, the effect of the treaty was, that the imports of
French wines were reduced to 200 tuns in annual average or there-
abouts ; but when the Treaty of Peace and Commerce was signed in
1712, the historian says that "a day being appointed by the Commons
to deliberate on the Treaty of Commerce, very just and weighty ob-
jections were made to the 8th and 9th articles, importing that Great
Britain and France should mutually enjoy all the privileges in trading
with each other that either granted to the most favoured nation, and
that no higher customs should be exacted from the commodities of
France than were drawn from the same productions of any other
people. The balance of trade having long inclined to the side of
France, some duties had been laid on all the productions and manu-
factures of that kingdom, so as almost to amount to a total prohibi-
tion." " Some member observed, that by the treaty between England
and Portugal the duties charged upon the wines of that country were
lower than those laid upon the wines of France; that should they
now be reduced to an equality, the difference of freight was so great
that the French wines would be found much cheaper; and as they were
more agreeable to the taste of the nation in general, there would be no
market for the Portuguese wines in England." Smollett's continuation of
Hume, year 1713.
No wonder that those interested in the Portuguese trade found the
advance of the French imports from 116 tuns in 1712 to 2551 tuns in
1713 "a very just and weighty objection," especially if taken in con-
nexion with what is stated at page 82 of " Original Documents concern-
ing the injurious effects and impolicy of the Portuguese Royal Company
at Oporto," published in London, 1813, "that so late as 1715 the
Portuguese were supposed to have been ignorant of the art of preparing
wine for exportation:" aye, twelve years after the treaty forcing them upon
Englishmen was signed !
Influenced at once by hatred of France, disgusted at the treacherous
treatment of our allies, by the then existing government, and a desire
to be rid of the ministry, Parliament refused to sanction that Treaty
390 APPENDIX.
of Commerce, and the differential duties were continued in full play.
These, in 1726, according to a " Complete View of the British Customs,
by Henry Crouch, of the Custom-house, London," consisted of old sub-
sidy, new subsidy, additional duty, cognage, impost, additional impost.
French wine, French duty; and though at this distance of time the
modes of ascertaining the exact amount to an unpractised person are
far from facile, yet the following, it is believed, will be found the sums
levied respectively on French and Portuguese wines.
The terms " filled" and " unfilled" were modes of entry. When the
merchant took 011 himself the payment of the duties on the " actual
content," as it is now expressed ; that is, on the exact quantity the
cask contains ; the wines were entered " filled." With a view, however,
to save very rigid examinations, an allowance of ten per cent, was made
for leakage on the voyage ; and where this satisfied the merchant, he
then entered the wines " unfilled."
1726. DUTIES PEK TUN ON WINES.
FEEXCH. POETUG-UESE.
Filled. Unfilled. Filled. Unfilled.
For sale 4811 8 46
Private use... 49 810 4617 4
Retailers 49 11 10 48 3 7
For sale 20 7 3 1713 9
Private use... 21 5 6 18 910
Retailers 21 17 6 20 9 2
A trifling difference of duty attached at that time to the uses for which,
in the entry at the Custom-house, it was declared the wines were in-
tended to be applied.
It would be easy to show that drawbacks may exercise either a very
partial or prejudicial effect, or both ; at this period they were constituted
so as eminently to favour Portugal, and injure France.
1726. DRAWBACKS ON WINE PER TUN.
FEENCH. POETUGUESE.
Filled. Unfilled. Filled. Unfilled.
For sale 21 18 3 19 18 10
Private use... 22 6 5 20 6
Retailers 22 11 9 21 3 6
For sale 16 5 4 14 8
Private use... 1617 6 141011
Retailers 17 5 6 15 17 2
Leaving, as follow, the actual amount levied should the wines be ex-
ported ; and in those days neither docks, nor bonded vaults, nor the ware-
housing system, which created both, were in existence:
FRENCH. PORTUGUESE.
Filled. Unfilled. Filled. Unfilled.
Porsale 2613 5 26 710
Frivateuse... 2617 5 2611 4
Retailers 27 1 27 1
For sale 4 1 11 3 13 6
Private use... 480 31811
Retailers 4 12 4 12
The effect of such heavy duties, from the unworthy hatred borne to
everything French by the minister of the day, in endeavouring to force
a taste for Portuguese wine, by making the people pay heavily for that
to which they had been long accustomed, caused much smuggling. In
APPENDIX.
391
a report of a, committee of the House of Commons relative to the
customs in 1733, it appeared that from 1723 to 1725 no less than 4738
hogsheads of wine had been known from informations to have been run
in Devon, Dorset, and Hants alone ! The habits of a people cannot be
changed at the whim of a chancellor of the exchequer, without ex-
tensive demoralisation. Port came into use in London before it was
relished in the country. An invitation from a friend in Devonshire
runs : " If you can leave bowls of Bourdeaux for a pint of port."
None can fail to see why Portugal at that time supplied us with
thousands, while Prance sent only hundreds of tuns. It may suffice to
add an account of the duties levied on French and Portuguese wines,
from 1786 inclusive; premising it with this single observation, that
while we were patronising the wines of Portugal by such discriminating
duties, the Portuguese were sagacious enough to perceive that more
was done than was needful, and actually imposed an export duty to
England only ! Not only, then, were we taxed to exclude French
wines, but so taxed as to contribute liberally to the Portuguese ex-
chequer.
DUTIES ON FRENCH AND PORTUGUESE WINES FROM 1786 TO
1831 INCLUSIVE, PER IMPERIAL GALLON.
Years. French.
Portuguese.
Years.
Fre
nch.
Portuguese.
1786
1787 .
8.
8
G
1
!
10
12
13
d.
8|
24
6
4i
4
7"!
H
S.
4
3
3
4
6
6
6
7
8
9
d.
2
6f
lOf
.3
9f
3
1805 to ....
s.
13
19
13
13
7
7
5
d.
S
84
9
9
2|
3
G
s. d.
9 1*
9 1
9 li
9 H
4 9f
4 10
5 6 still
existing, with 3d.
addition total
5 9
1788 to ....
1795
1814 to ....
1819-. ..
1796 to ....
1798 to ....
1801.. . .
1825
1826- . ..
Ig31
1802
1803
1804
From the period of our Revolution, then, to 1831, French wines
had no opportunity of competing with those of Portugal in our mar-
kets, being burdened by the action of these very heavy discriminating
duties.
But it may be asked, how it happens that though these duties were
equalised in 1831, no material increase is yet observable in the Par-
liamentary or other returns of the quantity consumed ?
Among other causes, it is thought that the following have con-
tributed to keep the demand contracted, and also to hinder the official
returns, which are often but " false facts," from showing any increase.
1st. The very reduction of the duty, by rendering the French wines
then most in use less recherche as a luxury, because less costly, would
and did make them less valued by their former consumers, the
rich and great, while as yet no other class of the community was
familiarised either with them or any of the other varieties of French
392
APPENDIX.
\vines, "respecting many of which, in England, as little is known as of
Shiraz."
2nd. The alarm which the cholera produced tended materially to
diminish the call for French wines, while, by way of compensation, it
fell on the brandies of France.
3rd. In importance may be ranked the frequent changes of duty,
oftener affecting French than Portuguese wines, in addition to their
more onerous character, especially that of 1813, amounting almost to
prohibition.
Besides, time must be allowed for inquiry as to the most suitable
wines for preparation to suit our markets, as also to prepare them
after the choice is made, for only old wines are suited to England.
Security is an inherent principle in the right application of capital ;
and good wines for our market can only be had after long preparation.
"WINES OF THE GIEONDE.
WITH AVEBAG-E PEICES SINCE THE PEACE AS SOLD NEW BY THE GROWERS.
In three or four years the increase for keep and shipping is 45 additional.
MEDOC.
Lafitte Latour Chateau Margot .
Good
Years.
frs.
3000
2700
2400
1800
1500
1000
600
450
Middling
1
Bad.
Tuns.
frs.
1750
1400
1200
i
1000
900
600
400
300
frs.
400
350
325
300
280
250
220
300
620
650
750
1,100
6,000
20,000
20,000
49,420
60
200
3,000
10,000
1,000
3,000
30,000
100,000
961,680
tinned,
Rausan, Durfort, Lascombe, Leoville, Branne
IHouton Larose .
Gorce, Ki'rwan, Chateau d'lsson, Malescot
Brown, Ducru, Tichon, Cabarras, Cosse
Galon, Giscours, Toujet, Loyac, Lacolonie
Lorlagune, Daleure, Dubignon, Ferriere
Durand, Palmer, Desmirail, St. Pierre, Du-
luc, Becheville, Mandari, Montrose, Daux...
Poutet, Cariet, Bedout, Ducasse, Grand Pui,
Turine, Darmaillac, Montpelon, Bataily,
DuHard, Croiset, Carnet, Coutanceau, Pop,
Pergonson, Tronquoy, Morin, Lebose
Of good St. Estephe, Pouillac, Soussan, Mar-
The same lower Quantities . .
Common of the same, and Lower Medoc
Total tuns in all ^ledoc, ordinary year..
GRAVES.
2700
1500
800
500
700
450
400
300
1600
700
500
300
400
280
250
200
350
300
280
250
225
200
180
150
Second ditto
Third ditto
ST. EMILLON-
First class
Second ditto
PALUS, COTES, &c.
Good Car "'O Wine
Lower ditto
Produce of Gironde in common years .
(con
APPENDIX.
393
Good
Years.
Middling.
Bad.
Tims.
WHITE WINES.
Yguem, Coulet, Durvi, La Faurie, Binaud,
Day nie .
frs.
1100
frs.
700
frs.
300
430
Perot, Bert, Guiroux, Baptiste, Carle, Per-
naud, Cave, Latour blanche, Duboscq,
Riouscc. Bouclieraud, St. Brice
950
GOO
300
700
Pilhau, Hersoc, Fiton, Emerigon, Darche,
Mareilhac, Laffont, Laborde, Monfailiis,
Dllos Duboscq, Brim
800
400
^40
4 7
Ordinary Wines of Sauterne, Barsac, Preig-
nac . . . . . ..
450
300
200
I 600
Cerons, Podensac, Fargues, Toulains, Vire-
lade, Arbales, Pujos, St. Pays
500
350
180
2,400
Blanquefort, Yilleneuve, Leognau
400
250
170
550
Flas, Landiras, Budos, St. Seve, St. Medard,
St. Morillon, Labrede, Castres, St. Croix,
Loupiac, Langoiran, Boreche, Tabanac,
Paillet, Rioms, Begage, Cadillac
270
200
135
8000
Cambers, Quinsac, Camblanes, Bouillac, Flo-
rae, Jeuac .
160
140
110
2,000
Eiitre deux mers..
150
120
90
1 2,000
Average of White Wines in the Gironde...
...
28,127
The export of French wines to England diminished as follows : 1828, 948,733
gallons ; 1829, 792,171 gallons ; 1830, 605,908 gallons ; 1840, 239,172 gallons ; 1850,
342,223 gallons. This arises from the want of an exchange of goods between the
two countries. Cash must be remitted for wine purchases.
No. III.
WINES OF THE SECOND AND THIED CLASSES SPANISH.
Wines.
Place.
Character.
Val de Penas
New Castile
C Good body, deeper than
Manzanares
Manzanares
I Bourdeaux in colour.
An inferior Val de Penas.
Ciudad Real
New Castile
A tolerable red wine.
Albacete
Ditto
Ditto
Vino Tinto Alicant . .
Valentia
C Yellowish red colour,
< when old railed Fondel-
Mataro
Catalonia
Uol.
Good bodied and generous.
Torre, Beni Carlos, Santo Do-~)
mingo, Segorbe, Perales, Vi- >
neroz )
Valentia
f Wines of good body,
j some of the most esteem-
1 ed red growths of the
Hospital
Arragon
^country ; colour deep.
( Excellent flavour and
< bodv from the Garnacho
Carignena
Ditto
I grape.
( A vino tinto from the
Tinto Olivencia
Estramdura
\ Garnacho grape.
r Excellent red wine, the
Tinto di Rota, or Tint ilia
Andalusia
(.best in Spain.
KA sweet reddish cordial
wine.
(continued)
394
APPENDIX.
Wines.
Place.
Character.
Rlbidavla
Gallicia
An ordinary red wine
Chacoli
Biscay
A very harsh austere wine
Guindre . ..
Malaga
( Dark, flavoured with
Tinto di Malaga
Ditto
1 cherries.
( Seldom exported a good
Aleyor <
Minorca, near
(. wine.
7 A red wine, consumed
Palma
Mount Taurus
Maiorca
$ on the island.
A full bodied wine
Cordova
Andalusia
-\
Mirando de Ebro . .
Old Castile
(_ Grood red wines of the
Carbezon
Valladolid
f country.
Terra del Campo .
Old Castile
Velez Malaga
Malaga
A luscious sweet wine
Malaga
Ditto
Ditto with a burnt taste
Pedro Ximenes ...
Ditto
Ditto fine and delicate
Malaga Xeres
Ditto
Resembling sherry dry.
Xeres vino seco, pale and brown f
\bocado .
Xeres de la
Frontera
Ditto
j Pale and brown sherry.
A second growth sherry
Jjuesca . .. .
Ditto
A yellowish white wine
Paxarete . >
Ditto and St.
"> A sweet wine of light
Moguer \
Lucar
Niebla, Anda-
) amber colour.
C t Used to lower the sher-
< ries at Xeres, of which it
Negro Rancio
lusia
Rota
Us an inferior species.
(" A sweet wine of a yel-
Montilla .
Cordova
1 low colour.
C A dry wine of good bou-
Borja \
Arragon and
1 quet and flavour.
( A luscious wine
San Lucar di Barameda
Tarragona
Andalusia
A light red muscadine.
Manzanilla
Ditto
C Dry white, of inferior
Zalonge and Carlon
Ditto
( quality ; a vin du pays.
Ditto.
Yepes
New Castile
A well-flavoured red wine.
Fuen9eral
Ditto
A vin de liqueur.
Sitges and the Priory
Catalonia
Malmseys of two qualities.
Peralta and Tudcla . .
Navarre
C White dessert _ wines.
\ Peralto is a Rancio when
Pollentia
Majorca
(aged.
A vin de liqueur
AlbaPlora . .
Minorca
A dry kind of Rhenish.
Vidona
The Canaries
C A wine resembling Ma-
Verdonia ....
Ditto
I deira, of inferior quality.
C A green wine, not now
Palma
Ditto
1 made.
C A rich Malmsey, having
C a taste of the pine-apple.
APPENDIX.
395
No. IV.
The following is a statement of the importation of Spanish wines, from
1700 to 1849.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
1700
13,649 7
1751
3878 1 5
1802
5,325 1 58
1701
11,184 2 17
1752
2918 2 50
1803
6,871 2 56
1702
7,482 2 : J
1753
5175 3 10
1804
6,646 3 29
1703
1 ,359 52
1754
4168 I 30
1805
9,393 2 25
1704
3,020 21
1755
4657 2 8
1806
8,264 3 1
1705
3,011 1 9
1756
3669 3 55
1807
7,640 3 28
1706
2,774 1 21
1757
2401 2 12
1808
11,986 2 8
1707
3,277 2 25
1758
4613 1 12
1809
10,939 46
1708
3,990 1 35
1759
3233 3 52
1810
10,168 1 21
1709
4,904 1 58
1760
3843 1 50
1811
4,541 3 22
1710
8,591 24
1761
4244 3 36
1812
8,068 2 24
1711
6,786 2 7
1762
2611 I 12
1813
Returns lost by fire
1712
5,690 1 51
1763
3504 3 47
1814
5,635 1 58|
1713
7,031 3 10
1764
3720 3 8
1815
5,148 38
1714
8,479 3 23
1765
3854 1 31
1816
3,392 2 15
1715
9,2<!5 2 7
1766
4633 8
1817
4,796 2 7f
1716
7,682 56
1767
3697 2 38
1818
6,935 1 16|
1717
9,106 1 60
1768
3649 3 26
1819
4,3b3 2 56
1718
6,964 12
1769
3970 3 42
1820
4,302 3 48 1-10
1719
6,154 2 62
1770
4194 3 59
1821
4,286 2 22 2-20
1720
6,093 52
1771
3777 49
1822
5,475 1 14 7-20
1721
1722
1723
1724
1725
1726
1727
9,484 1 3
12,063 58
8,549 2 43
7,372 2 62
8,762 1 4
10,530 19
6,524 19
1772
1773
1774
1775
1776
1777
1/78
3012 2 28
3965 12
3532 1 28
4419 1 58
3416 3 51
2982 5
3764 3 49
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
Imperial gallons.
1,541,919
1,955,168
2,531,095
1,988,964
2,242,765
1728
10,255 2 5
1779
2180 2 52
Home consumption.
1729
9,791 25
1780
2902 2 30
1828
1,788,111
1730
10,427 2 36
1781
J875 1 46
1829
1,668,402
1731
9,696 43
1782
1051 3 15
1830
1,802,027
1732
9,166 1 23
1783
2149 1 23
1831
2,153,031
1733
9,092 2 15
1784
2553 3 41
1832
2,161,743
1734
8,392 3 47
1785
2769 3 8
1833
2,080,099
1735
9,598 1 16
1786
3139 3 11
1834
2,279,853
1736
8,667 3 54
1787
4216 16
1835
2,230,187
1737
10,673 2 17
1788
4701 3 7
1836
2,388,413
1738
9,935 2 28
1789
3999 14
1837
2,297.070
1739
6,028 1 14
1790
4868 3
1838
2,497,538
1740
6,596 34
1791
6519 3 11
1839
2,578,997
1741
249 62
1792
5395 20
1840
2,500,760
1742
759 3 26
1793
4363 2 47
1841
2,412,821
1743
527 3 36
1794
6160 1 25
1842
2,261,786
1744
1,471 2 18
1795
8088 3 62
1843
2,311,639
1745
461 1 10
1796
6092 2 18
1844
2,478,360
1746
505 37
1797
2259 57
1845
2,554.877
1747
682 2 42
1798
3571 1 30
1846
2,602,490
1748
2,706 3 44
1799
6676 3 15
1847
2,372,178
1749
7,344 2 3
1800
8354 3 15
1848
2,435,427
1750
5,714 1 1
1801
6335 3 61
1849
2,448,107
In 1849, the Spanish government, besides the usual mode of impor-
tation, permitted English bottles to be introduced into Cadiz, to be
filled there and exported, in order to guard against mixtures in Eng-
396
APPENDIX.
land, and that the wines might be exported strictly according to the
class and price stated. The finest wines come thus into England in
cases at fifty shillings per dozen. Soleras, sixteen years in wood
Amontillado Passado at ten, common pale Cortado, or dinner sherry,
at thirty shillings, and Manzanilla at forty. The house of Gorman
and Co., Port St. Mary and Tower Hill, London, seems to have begud
this business, in order that convenience and certainty as to quality ann
quantity might be attained.
No. V.
Wine imported into Great Britain from the Canaries, from 1785 to
1849.
Tuns. Hds. Gall
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Imperial Gallons.
1785
05 2 35
1809
1569 12
1831
105,875
1786
69 1 44
1810
1563 3 44
1832
97,269
1787
83 2 39
1811
1139 3 51
1833
72,803
J783
118 46
1812
2266 2 33|
1834
68,882
1789
27 2 48
1813
No returns
1835
50,956
1790
139 1 50
1814
2039 44
1791
77 I 62
1815
2327 3 41 i
Home consump-
1792
158 1 27
1810
835 3
tion to 5th Jan.,
K93
57 37
1817
1132 2 40
1837.
1794
186 1 24
1818
1762 1 34
1836
51,120
1795
136 38
1819
1578 54f
1837
41,864
1796
122 1 38
1820
J071 1 15 7-10
1838
97,979
1797
1 1 45
1821
892 3 42
1839
35,178
1798
434 1 15
1822
810 3 5-20
1840
29,489
1799
1841
25,772
1800
55" 'o 12
Imperial gallons.
1842
21,169
1801
37 1 40
1823
169,312
1843
20,597
1802
137 3 21
1824
247,494
1844
20,650
1803
113 3 61
1825
254,278
1845
20,260
1804
199 1 59
1826
273,558
1846
25,312
1805
229 53
1827
417,703
1847
22,921
1806
537 3 47
1828
107,919
1848
2 r ),311
1807
608 46
1829
80,808
1849
19,868
1808
1683 1 28
1830
83,822
No. VI.
SECOND AND THIRD CLASSES GERMAN.
WINES OF THE BHINE AND MOSELLE.
Wines.
Place.
Character.
Johannisberger
Johannisberg
f Grown near the Schloss-
j Johannisberger, in the list
Steinberger
Rheingau
1 of first growths already
(^given.
A very fine growth.
Rudeshei- *) Berg J
Rheingau, six
leagues from
Mayence, facing
mer j Hinterhauser 1
Bingen; on the
hill and slope be-
hind the houses
(continued)
APPENDIX.
397
Wines.
Place.
Character.
Laub c nheiiner
f Mayence ")
C Lighter than Johannis-
Koesterich.
(. district j
Ditto
(. berger ; fine bouquet.
A highly prized wine.
Niersteiner
Ditto
( Lighter than Johannis-
Oestricher
Ditto
(. berger, but delicate.
Ditto.
Liebf rauenmilch
"Worms
C A good wine, with fine
Zornheimer
The Rhine
(. flavour and body.
Ditto.
Hochhpimpi* . . .
C Spire, on the")
f Hence the word hock.
| The first growth is the
j prime hock wine of the
importer. Light, agree -
^ able. 12'08 average of
Graefenberger .. .
1 River Maine.)
Rlieingau
| spirit. Some kinds, when
| new, contain as much as
14*37, according to Mr.
LBrande.
f Choice wine, of fine fla-
Gaubischeimer
(-Near May-")
< ence the pa- ?
| vour.
C Light, agreeable, good
Deidesheimer
(. latinate }
Ditto
(. bouquet.
An excellent wine.
Oppenheimer
Ditto
Ditto.
Bo de nheimer
Ditto
Ditto light and delicate.
"N"ackenliGimer .
Ditto
C An excellent wine, light
Brau/^iberger .
( Moselle, )
s Treves dis- /
I and delicate.
Of first quality.
Scharzberger
C trict )
Ditto
Ditto.
Graach
Ditto
Ditto.
Zettingeu
Ditto
Ditto.
Wehlen
Ditto
Ditto.
Picsport .
Ditto
Ditto.
Montagne Vert
Ditto
Second qualitv
Causel and Valdrach
Ditto
C Moselle, noted for diu-
( Moselle, ")
< Witlich >
{ retic qualities.
Secondary Moselle
Bacharach .
(. Canton )
Near Mayence
^Yme once in high repute.
C Becherbach \
Secondary Moselle.
AYalporzheimer
\ Canton $
Upon the Ahr
Called wine of the Ahr.
Rutz
On the Moselle
C Considered one of the
Steeg
Near Ba^harach
A light Rhine wine.
Montzingen
Ditto
Inferior ditto.
Bodendorf
Near Bonn
A secondary wine.
Affenbourg Hamcn .
Near Coblentz
Ditto, a Rhine wine.
Strang
CNearNeider")
Ditto.
Elzenburger ... ...
I Breisig j
Ditto
Ditto.
Alzenburger .
Ditto
Ditto
LutZ
Near Treiss
Ditto.
"Maas and Huhn ....
C Niedar \
Ditto.
Stuererboes; ....
c. Heimbach >
Rhine
Ditto.
(continued)
398
APPENDIX.
Wines.
Places.
Character,
Engehohe
On the Nahe
C Called wine of the Nahe ;
Neiderborg
Ditto
(. secondary wines.
Ditto
Leinenborn ..
Ditto
Ditto
Bangert .
Ditto
Ditto
Rosenhech . . .
Ditto
Ditto
Rensberger
Tarbach
Secondary Moselle.
Wurzgarten
Tarben
Ditto
Amfuhr
C Burg, left )
< bank of the >
Ditto.
Rothenberger
C Rhine f }
Geisenheim
Soft delicate prime wine.
Scharlach
f Mt. Schar- \
C Pine flavoured; rich
Roth
\ lachberg $
rNear Hoch-^
s heim Spire r
(. aroma.
Hock of good Quality
Konigsbach
(. district )
Ditto
Ditto
Weinheiin
Ditto
Ditto
Porst
Ditto
Ditto
TJngstein
Dit^o
Ditto
Schierstein and Narden
Epstein . ...
Wisbaden
C Near >
Tolerable wines.
Middling wines
Phillipsecli .
(. Prank fort y
Ditto
Ditto
Reichenberg and Wildenstein
Pdnerbach and Laufen
Erbach
( Kear Pri- ^
3 bourg, at I
( Inferior Rhine wine in
I quality.
(" These are considered the
Heidelberger and Kleingenberger
Richenau Island
1 Baden- C
{. weiler )
Baden
C Lake of \
Ibest wines of Baden.
Good wines of the country.
Ditto.
Meresberg and TJberlingen
Cretzingen
I Constance )
Near the Lake
Baden
Ditto.
Ditto.
Berghausen and Stellingen
Ditto
Ditto.
Beringfield and Zeil
Bavaria
s
LindauandRavenspurg
Schweinf urt
Ditto
Ditto
J- Inferior wine.
Liest
Wurtsberg
f Excellent wine, Rhen-
Stein
Ditto
|ish character.
Ditto of a very dear price.
La Harpe
Ditto
( Inferior, but often sold
Escherndorf and Sehalhsberg
Bischofsheini
Ditto
( Near Ha- *)
< nau, Prank- >
C. for Stein.
Inferior to Stein.
( A. tolerable wine, resem-
Calmus
L fort J
( Treiffen- S
3 stein, near f
tbling Rhenish.
A vin de liqueuv.
Guben . . . ~)
y Aschaffen- \
L bourg )
Meissen..... )
Saxony
Very poor wines .
Pranconia ...
Pranconia
A vin de paille ; aromatic.
Assmannshauser
Bessingheimer
C The Rhein- ")
< gau, near >
C Rudesheim )
f Lauffen, ")
C Equal to the second class
1 of Burgundy ; excellent
(.body.
( Well tasted, good bou-
< quet ; called wine of the
1 Wirtemberg /
CNeckar.
(continued)
APPENDIX.
399
Wines.
Place.
Character.
Altenahr
('Rhine coun-")
4 try, left >
Inferior wine.
Mavschof
(. bank J
Ditto
Ditto.
Rech
Ditto
Ditto.
Ahrweiler ....
Ditto
Ditto.
Bruch . .
Ditto
Ditto.
Creutzberger
Ditto
Ditto.
Hoenningen
Ditto
Ditto.
Kesseling
Ditto
Ditto.
Dernan
Ditto
Ditto.
Blischert
Lintz
A tolerable good wine.
Neuwied Blischert
Wangen .
( Hesse )
t Darmstadt )
Bavaria
Ditto.
< Poor, though esteemed
< . , , '
Naumbourg .
Saxony
Cm the country.
C Like fourth class Bur-
s gundy ; styled vins agre-
The wine of Blood, Sang des")
Suisses ... )
Bale
Llets.
C A good wine, called also
< the Hospital and Ceme-
Erlacli
Berne
Ctery of St. James.
Valteline .
5" Made in the ")
Remarkable for durability.
Boudry and Cortaillods .
(. ~\ alteline /
Neufchatel
< Equal to third class Bur-
Cully ...
C Near Lau- ")
l gundy.
Desales
< sanne, and >
Like Rhenish.
La Cote
(. Vevay )
C Between ~\
s Lausanne ?
Bernang
Cand Coppet j
St Gall
T 1
Frangy and Monnetier ..
Geneva
J '
La Marque . ")
C Red and white, and
Coquempin /
Martigny
< muscadine of tolerable
Chiavenna
Grisons
(.quality.
C Aromatic, white, from
(.red grapes.
No. VII.
The following is the importation of German Wines for the last hundred
and forty-nine years.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
1700
1430 3 56
1710
434 1 17
1720
529 1 38
1701
789 1 39
1711
514 3 14
1721
444 2 59
1702
693 3 21
1/12
387 2 27
1722
406 13
1703
748 10
1713
378 47
1723
491 1 35
1704
667 3 33
1714
103 3 34
1724
332 28
1705
441 I 49
1715
502 3 34
1725
269 50
1706
331 1 47
1716
476 1 54
172(5
397 1 49
1707
568 3 50 1717
418 3 61
1727
509 1 6
1708 ! 584 3 31
1718
495 1 16
1728
476 3 12
1709 ! 544 1 46 1719
418 42
1729
616 1 12
(continued)
400
APPENDIX.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
1730
480 2 29
1771
164 3 62
1812
23 1 30i
1731
413 2 41
1772
151 1 8
1813
No Return
1732
412 1 33
1773
125 39
1814
126 3 564
1733
325 2 56
1774
125 37
1815
140 3 isj
1734
367 2 60
1775
160 40
1816
121 2 42j
1735
312 27
1776
1'26 3 50
1817
85 28
1736
198 3 2
1777
151 28
1818
153 2 62
1737
312 3 15
1778
111 1 16
1819
120 1 60
1738
276 3 4
1779
88 3 41
1820
130 1 58 7-10
1739
211 2 32
1780
128 54
1821
110 1 45 13-20
1740
2-21 1 14
1781
94 1 34
1822
115 3 31 6-20
1741
204 2 17
1782
219 1 15
1742
250 16
1783
196 2 2
Imperial Gallons.
1743
205 1 3
1784
124 3 19
1823
26,332
1744
219 5
1785
133 3 47
1824
27,666
1745
162 3 33
1786
187 3 52
1825
146,346
1746
162 2 16
1787
177 1 32
1826
86,023
1747
180 3 45
1788
138 2 27
1827
79,784
1748
193 1 18
1789
117 6
1828
84,264
1749
275 1 33
1790
122 1 20
1829
71,641
1750
272 2 17
1791
128 1 40
1830
66,213
1751
260 48
1792
139 1 1
1831
71,423
1752
249 1 53
1793
110 2 27
1832
60,568
1753
242 2 5
1794
129 1 37
1833
38,197
1754
219
1795
36 1
1834
43,758
1755
213 3 9
1796
54 12
1835
48,696
1756
198 2 25
1797
48 1 15
1836
59,454
1757
171 2 33
1798
61 3 56
1837
44,807
1758
163 I 46
1799
92 3 45
1838
57,584
1759
182 2 23
1800
19 2 18
1839
63,937
1760
219 3 53
1801
105 3 45
1840
60,0. r >6
1761
189 I 47
1802
114 2 4
1841
55,242
1762
186 33
1803
158 42
1842
53,535
1763
199 1
1804
34 3 2
1843
49,943
1764
176 1 31
1805
21 56
1844
53,865
1765
230 3 39
1806
103 1 57
1845
62,519
1768
205 1 25
1807
144 59
1846
64,478
1767
225 58
1808
628
1847
55,774
1768
176 3 12
1S09
43 2 5
1848
44,651
1769
179 3 31
1810
33 1 9
1849
46,405
1770
140 2 62
1811
110 39
No. VIII.
SECOND AND THIRD CLASSES.
PORTUGAL WINES.
Name.
Province or Town.
Remarks.
Carcavellos, or Lisbon |
Bucellas
Between OEiras
and Carcavellos
Near Lisbon.
f Sweetish, white, well known
tin England.
{A fiery wine, from brandy
being mingled with it ; some-
Vinho de Torino
Estremadura
thing like Barsac when pure.
C A light ordinary wine of the
Setuval .
Ditto
t country,
f Two kinds, dry, and mus-
(. cadine ; both good.
(continued)
APPENDIX.
401
Same.
Province or Town.
Remarks.
Lainego
Near Coimbra
An inferior kind of Bordeaux.
Alenquer, Monsaou
Estremadura
(" As the form er, but somewhat
Santorin . . .
Near Lisbon
I better in quality.
An ordinary wine.
Barra a Barra
Near Lavadrio
A good wine.
Colares
Near Ciiitra
A light port, of good quality.
Pezo da Regoa, Abasas, VilO
larinho des Freires, Gor- I
vaens, Alvacoes do Corgo, ^
Honnida, Guials, Conve-
linhas, Galafura J
On the Douro
C AVines of the Douro, of the
-< first and second qualities, or
CFeitoria and Ramo.
Geropisa
General
r Used to mingle with the na-
j tural growths an artificial
1 mixture to assimilate wines to
vvarious tastes.
No. IX.
PORTUGAL WINES imported into Great Britain from 1700 to 1849.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Tuns. Hds. GalL
1700
7,757 1 47
1737 I 14,985 I 14
1774
13,773 2 39
1701
7,408 *2 31
1738
11,487 2 10
1775
12,658 3 61
1702
5,924 3 60
1739
11,747 1 47
1776
12,755 1 13
1703
8,845 1 60
1740
7,524 3 28
1777
14,482 55
1704
9,924 2 49
1741
16,559 1 14
1778
11,871 1 46
1705
8,449 2 59
1742
15,270 20
1779
10,127 2 9
1706
7,709 23
1743
16,611 2 56
1780
17,107 1 48
1707
9,01 1 3 44
1744
8,028 3 27
1781
10,963 28
1708
9,637 2 24
1745
15,209 2 40
1782
8,063 58
1709
7,651 19
1746
11,450 2 35
1783
10,908 1 56
1710
6,729 3 18
1747
13,490 2 30
1784
11,434 3 13
1711
7,647 3 54
1748
11,820 1 40
1785
12,171 6|
1712
6,483 36
1749
13,470 2 29
1786
11,770 1 37
1713
5,975 2 51
1750
9,050 60
)787
16,087 13
1714
8,965 1 8
1751
10,188 47
1788
18,039 3 27
1715
10,721 3 46
1752
10,132 3 4
1789
19,839 1 35
1716
9,105 2 37
1753
12,815 58
1790
21,431 3 22
1717
10,340 26
1754
10,036 1 9
1791
23,606 17
1718
14,617 2 41
1755
11,022 3 34
1792
26,938 3 23
1719
12,171 33
1756
7,841 20
1793
15,629 2 9
1720
11,152 1 44
1757
11,066 2 24
1794
22,229 3 40
1721
14,086 3 26
1758
10,826 1 27
1795
25,286 2 1
1722
11,580 18
17P9
11,669 2 44
1796
15,017 2 58
1723
12,336 3 41
1760
10,986 3 33
1797
12,420 2 14
1724
14,222 3 50
1761
9,622 JO
1798
16,956 3 11
1725
14,403 2 30
1762
12,995 2 33
1799
24,300 1 10
1746
7,772 3 41
1763
12,936 3 39
1800
20,738 47
1727
12,945 3 35
1764
13 ; 046 3 59
1801
28,669 1 27
1728
18,208 58
1765
13,506 1 34
1802
22,023 7
1729
14,371 1 25
1766
13,135 3 37
1803
27,682 3 53
J730
5,279 2 5
1767
12,619 1 39
1804
9,849 2 3
1731
1^, 122 1 58
1768
14,311 3 36
1805
20,003 61
1732
10,939 2 37
1769
13,760 1 17
1806
19,848 1 38
1733
11,162 32
1770
11,919 3 18
1807
23,914 1 62
1734
11,723 1 10
1771
12,396 2 7
1808
22,093 16
1735
13,838 1
1772
11,957 3 52
1809
20,578 1 61
1736
11,367 2 13
1773
11,847 44
1810
27,360 39
(continued,
402
APPENDIX.
Tuns. Hds. Gal!.
Imperial Gallons.
Imperial Gallons
1811
9,'260 2 19
1823
2,775,941
1837
2,573,157
1812
15,007 3 28
1824
2,392,557
1838
2,900,457
1813
f Returns lost by")
) firp \
1825
1826
4,587,616
2,883,891
1839
1840
2,921,422
2,668,534
C. lire j
1827
3,063,394
1841
2,387,017
1814
15,498 48|
1828
3,008,808
1842
1,288,953
1815
16,913 60
1829
2,416,132
1843
2,517,709
1816
8,215 35f
1830
2,608,311
1844
2,887,501
1817
14,125 1 36f
1831
2,933,176
1845
2,688,084
1818
17,944 2 4f
1832
2,762,935
1846
2,699,798
1819
10,311 1 24|
1833
2,617,405
1847
2,360,851
1820
10,598 1 24J
1834
2,780,303
1848
2,446,813
1821
12,092 3 13 12-20
1835
2,780,024
1849
2,648,242
1822
14,814 2 20
1836
2,878,359
TOTAL EXPORT OP WINES PROM OPORTO.
PIPES, FEOM 1824 TO 1833, INCLUSIVE.
England.
Other Parts.
Total.
1824
19,968
6,149
26,117
1825
40,277
170
40,477
1826
18,310
287
18,597
1827
24,207
10,030
34,237
1828
27,932
13,295
41,227
1829
17,832
7,539
25,371
1830
19,333
4,832
24,165
1831
20,171
3,268
23,439
1832
13,573
2,977
16,550
1833
19,432
1,063
20,495
No. X.
WINES OF MADEIRA AND THE AZORES.
Name.
Province or Town.
Remarks.
MaWasia, or Malmsev
Madeira
Rich and sweet.
Madeira
Ditto
A durable, dry wine.
Sercial
Ditto
Ditto, of excellent quality.
Muscatel .
Ditto
Not exported ; a good wine
Tinto
Ditto
( A red wine, changing i
ta few years to rich ol
Fi*aa do Pereiro . ")
Madeira in colour.
( Of inferior kind to th
Santa Antonio S
*Vino Passado [
Ditto
Pico in the
\_ above,
f A species t of Malmsej
*Vino Seco . .
Azores
Ditto
1 of light quality ; keeps ill
C A dry wine, light, no
(. durable.
In 1798, a Portuguese cjeira of land, 240 feet by 120, bore 1000 vim
roots, yielding generally a pipe of wine, valued at 12,000 reis, o]
3l. 7s. 6d. The expense of cultivation was 6000 reis; duties, 1045
contingencies, 945 ; profit, nearly 4000 reis, or about I/. 2s. 6d. on th<
fruit for a pipe of wine.
* The importations of the Azores wines are generally included in the list o
miscellaneous wines imported.
APPENDIX.
403
No. XI.
MADEIRA. WINES imported into Great Britain from 17S5 to 1849.
Tuns. HJids. Gall.
Tuns. Hhds. Gall.
Imp. GalL
1785 ! G13 2 26
1808
2790 50
1829
218,311
1786
526 2 9
1809
2902 1 44
1830
204,956
1787
."57S 1 41
J810
2353 1 24
1831
228,221
1788
K74 2 13
1811
1518 33
1S32
219,102
1789
1174 1 12
1812
2035 2 47
1833
161,042
1790
14G4 3 45
1813
No returns
1834
150,369
1791
1623 2 58
1814
2018 2 5QJ-
1835
139,422
1792
1252 42
1815
1826 Hi!
1836
133,673
1793
1007 3
1816
1512 1 3J;
1837
119,873
1791
783 2 10
1817
1270 2 58i ;
1838
110,294
1795
699 3 52
1818
2316 2 4V
1839
118,715
1796
501 1 23
1819
2922 281
1840
112,555
1797
287 3
1820
2617 1 6l|
1841
107,701
1798
659 17
1821
2411 2 44 3-20
1842
65,209
1799
671 41
1822
2046 1 59 10-20
1843
95,589
1800
967 2 42
1844
111,577
1801
1777 54
Imperial Gallons.
1845
102,745
1802
1497 3 38
1823
450,417
1846
94,580
1803
1564 1
1824
489,816
1847
81,349
1804
1075 40
1825
541,453
1848
76,938
1805
1101 3 41
18-26
569,668
1849
71,097
1806
1605 2 61 | 1827
308,041
1807 1981 3 32 1828
258,795
No. XII.
" METHUEN TREATY." (Page 235.)
Treaty between England and Portugal, signed Dec. 27, 1703.
"Art. 1. His sacred royal Majesty of Portugal promises, both in
his own name and that of his successors, to admit for ever hereafter,
into Portugal, the woollen cloths and the rest of the woollen manufac-
tures of the Britons, as was accustomed until they were prohibited by
the laws; nevertheless, upon this condition:
" 2. That is to say, that her sacred Majesty of Great Britain shall,
in her own name and that of her successors, be obliged for ever here-
after to admit the wines of the growth of Portugal into Great Britain;
so that at no time, whether there shall be peace or war between the
kingdoms of Great Britain and France, anything more shall be de-
manded for these wines, by the name of customs or duty, or whatsoever
other title, directly or indirectly, whether they shall be imported into
Great Britain in pipes or hogsheads, or other casks, than what shall be
demanded from the like quantity or measure of French wine, deduct-
ing or abating a third part of the custom or duty ; but if at any time
this deduction or abatement of customs, which is to be made as afore-
said, shall in any manner be attempted and prejudiced, it shall be just
and lawful for his sacred royal Majesty of Portugal again to prohibit
the woollen cloths, and the rest of the British woollen manufactures.
" 3. The most excellent Lords of the Plenipotentiaries promise and
take upon themselves that their above-named masters shall ratify this
treaty, and that within the space of two months the ratification shall
be exchanged.
" Given at Lisbon, the 27th of Dec., 1703.
" MARCHIS ALEGRETENSIS.
" JOHN METHUEN."
9 T> 9
404
APPENDIX.
"NATURAL EFFECT OF THE MONOPOLY." (Page 287.)
The Oporto Company seem to have possessed astonishing power over
the seasons ; in that the wines were rarely affected in price by bad or
good vintages, but came to England in the same qualities and prices as
usual, however they went to other countries. It must be observed,
that the Company fixed the time of the vintage often without any re-
gard to the chance of the rains setting in, these taking place some
seasons a few days sooner than others, and thus injuring the vintage.
Whether they delayed it to the last moment, in hopes to obtain a riper
and more perfect vintage, or whether any motive more ignoble was
the cause, is not clear. In the fine climate of Portugal the hazard
from bad seasons must be thought very slight, much less than in Bur-
gundy. Neither in a good season in Burgundy, nor anywhere else,
would the first class of wines be some very fine and some very bad.
First and third classes would be equally affected by a good or bad
season, but this is not the Company's experience in a steady southern
climate. The prices of the wine, nevertheless, have nothing to do
with the quantity or quality. The following years carry the prices of
the better wines per tun, and the character of the year's vintage. The
years 1797 and 1798, it must be observed, were years both marked
" very bad;" 1799, 1800, and 1801, the same. In the natural course of
events, the wine of one year would be materially affected by the bad
season preceding, did not monopoly interfere.
Years.
Quality
Prices per Tun of
Two Pipes.
Pipes
grown.
Pipes
imported.
1799
Bad.
s. d.
82 10
64251
4,600
1800
Bad .
92 10
72,484
41,476
1801
Generally bad some good
89 3
71,658
57,338
1802
Good
71 18
46 263
44,046
1803
Good ...
94 9
73,430
55,364
1804
Good .
89 10
76,655
19,698
1805
Middling
82 9
76 550
40,006
1806
Very good
86 9
57,869
39,696
1807
Ordinary . .
84 19
54,707
47,828
1808
Middling
94 9
56 524
44,186
1809
1810
1811
Middling, but some of high flavour...
Some good, of full flavour, but light...
Some good
98 9
114 9
104 to 110
38,633
36,250
42663
41,156
54,720
18,520
1812
Good, some very fine
133
55,913
30,005
1813
Ordinary
108
no ret.
no ret.
1814
Ditto
105
30,996
1815
Very good
93 6 8
33,826
1816
Middling
84
47,819
16,430
1817
Ordinary
84
37422
28.250
1818
Middling, some good
96
53.831
35,888
1819
Ditto, some high flavoured
96
73,936
20,622
1820
Very good ...
78 13 4
70,231
21,196
The total exportation of wines from Oporto has not increased of late years. In
1819 there were 13,146 pipes less exported than in 1780, and in 1820 the quantity
was 4486 less. In 1849 the exports of port wine to England and Europe had gene-
rally averaged for seven years 24,632 pipes annually.
It will be seen that the price of 1800, after no less than three bad
APPENDIX.
405
years, is nearly equal to the good years. It is remarked in other coun-
tries, that abundant years are, for the most part, years of good quality
and good prices, but then they have not the enjoyment of a managing
company to balance natural disadvantages.
These and other abuses were often noticed, but the treaty and the
Company, twin evils, stifled everything like resistance to their despot-
ism. The (jpmpany was always triumphant. The same wine has been
shipped to England from Oporto, in virtue of the treaty, at 40/. a pipe,
and to other countries at 20/. ! The Board of Trade in vain pointed out
the character of this monopoly in 1767.
To exhibit the conduct of the Company as to consistency and the ful-
filment of its duties, the following table will be sufficiently explanatory
to the reader, showing the qualities and produce of the vintage of the
Douro in the years named, and its system of approval and disapproval
of the same wines, as might be found convenient. The table illustrates
the working of the system (page 249), and explains how bad and good
vintages are made of the desired quality;
Produce.
Years.
As
First Class.
As
Second.
As
Third.
Repose.
Total.
Deducted
from First
Approval.
Left
Approved.
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
Totals
18,002
21,338
6,585
35,801
38,214^
25,721
12,450
15,714
12,754
10,162
18,101i
18,7084
21,843
10,909
17,166
15,643
16,127
29,384|
24,448
36,998i
14,239i
21,580
16,931
28,332
19,471
10,356|
22,552|
30,030
72,462
66,666
61,206
102,758
91,727
107,115f
67,628
6,002
7,338
1,585
15,801
20,214$
18,721
5,450
12,000
14,000
5,000
20,000
18,000
7,000
7,000
158,111|
108,192|
154,006^
149,253*
569,5631
75,11U
83,000
"MODIFICATION OP THE COMPANY'S CHARTER." (Page 243.)
"1. The General Company for the Superintendence and Encourage-
ment of the Vineyards of the Alto Douro shall continue in existence,
in as far as the production of wines in that district shall exceed the
quantity exported and used for home consumption.
"5. The existing divisions of Feitoria andliamo shall cease: but the
exterior line of demarcation shall be retained, comprehending all those
lands which are now planted, or may afterwards be planted with low
wines, within the said boundary.
" 6. The Directors of the Company shall continue, as heretofore, to
take an account of the quantity and qualities of wine produced, and to
regulate the tonnage upon it.
"9. The Government, on receiving the Report of the Directors, shall
determine, according to the circumstances, both the day for the opening
of the fair of the Douro, and the time for its duration ; provided always,
that the opening be not deferred beyond the second day of February.
" 10. The preferences which the law had accorded to the Company,
and the legitimate export merchants (negociantes legitimos exporta-
dores), are declared to be abolished.
44 11. Every citizen shall be at liberty to purchase wines in the
406 APPENDIX.
Alto Douro, and to sell them in the town of Oporto, or wherever else
he may find expedient, as well as to distil any wines, whether of his
own manufacture, or bought by him.
" 12. The Company shall be obliged to purchase, at the price fixed
by the law of the 21st September, 1802, all the wine remaining unsold
after the fair of Kegoa, that shall be offered to it by the farmers, until
the end of March.
"13. The wine mentioned in the preceding article, in case it be not
exported, may be applied to the same purposes as the inferior wines,
or sold for distillation.
" 18. Only the Directors of the Company shall have the right to
sell and import brandy for preparing and mixing with wines, within
the barriers of Oporto, Villa Nova de Gay a, and the line of demarca-
tion of the Alto Douro.
" 30. The present decree shall continue in force for the space of five
years, or until the whole or any of the articles contained in it shall be
revised or altered in such manner as may be judged fit."
DECREE.
PEESENTED BY JOSE DA SILVA CAEVALHO, DECLAEING LISBON" AND OPOETO
PEEE POETS.
" Art. 1. The port of Lisbon is free to all merchant vessels of every
country, not at war with Portugal ; and every kind of merchandise and
articles of commerce will be admitted into it for deposit, wheresoever
produced, or under whatsoever flag imported.
" 9. All the provisions of the present decree shall be extended to
the city of Oporto, as soon as the measures necessary to facilitate its
execution shall be taken.
" The Minister for the Affairs of Finance will take notice hereof,
and see to its execution.
(Signed) " DON PEDRO, Duke of Braganza.
" Palace das Necessidados, 22nd March, 1834."
A previous decree, dated April 3, 1 833, permitted the import of
foreign wines into Oporto by sea or land, upon payment of a duty of
20 per cent, ad valorem.
DECREE. (Page 255.)
" Taking into consideration the reports of the Ministers of the In-
terior and of Finance, and with the advice of the Council of State, I
think fit, in the name of the Queen, to decree as follows :
" Art. 1. All the privileges, authorities, prerogatives, and imrnu-
rities, of whatever nature or denomination, granted to the Wine
Company of the Alto Douro, and to the Junta of its administration,
from the time of its establishment to this day, are abolished.
" 2. The free disposal of their vineyards and wines is accordingly
restored to the cultivators of the Upper and Lower Douro, as to those
of all other parts of these kingdoms.
APPENDIX. 407
" 3. All imposts hitherto laid on the wines of Oporto, with the ex-
ception of the subsidio litterario, and of the duties on consumption in
the city of Oporto and its district, as well as that of 12,500 reis on
each pipe exported from the Foz of Douro, are abolished.
" 4. The subsidio litterario shall be received, as in every other place,
by the Receiver General and his deputies.
" 5. The duties on consumption shall be received in the same man-
ner, but those on exportation will be paid at the Custom-house of the
the city of Oporto, on the manifests which are to be presented by the
sellers and exporters under the penalties ordered in such cases.
" 6. The company shall convoke the shareholders within a month,
to deliberate with them on the settlement of the accounts, the employ-
ment of their property, and their interests.
" 7. All ordinances and regulations whatsoever contrary to the
present decree are abolished, as if they were expressly mentioned.
The Ministers of the Interior and Finance are charged with the
execution of the present decree.
" DON PEDRO, Duke of Braganza.
" BENTO PEREIRA DA CARMO.
" JOSE DA SILVA CARVALHO.
" Palace das Necessidados, May 30, 1834."
POET WINE. (Page 253.)
Extract from a letter in the Periodica dos Pobres, dated Regoa, Por-
tugal, October 19, 1843 :
" The grapes in the quintas of the first rank and in the hotter situa-
tions (which an English house declared last year were burned up) were
this year in the most perfect condition, and produced musts of a very
superior kind. The rage for elderberries still continues, and in one
quinta alone it is notorious that a purchase of not less than 400 razas
was made. Elderberry here is at 3200 per raza, and is of a very in-
ferior quality. An exception, however, to this taste deserves to be
mentioned ; for a merchant who possesses property here a few days ago
ordered all the alders, which his commissary had planted, without his
orders to afford shade in the courtyard of his warehouse, to be cut
down ; and I am informed that the same merchant, who has bought
and made wines this vintage, in order to obtain them pure, inserted
the following clause in the contract : * The wines are to be made at the
expense of the purchaser, it being, however, understood that the use of
elderberry is prohibited, in consequence of the purchasers considering
it not only prejudicial to the quality of the wine, but also to the credit
of the contracting parties.' "
It continues : " There is a great demand for brandy, and it has
reached the price of 74 dolls. 400 rs. per pipe. This is to be attributed
to the excessive quantity which it is the present custom to throw into
the wine during its first racking, and also to the extensive orders given
this year for Geropiga. If the ancient system of making wine were
to be reverted to by the merchants in general, we might then hope to
408 APPENDIX.
see port wines in the enjoyment of their full credit; but unhappily, as
the general taste still continues for black, strong, and sweet wines,
which is not the character of the pure wines, the latter are rejected,
and the farmer has no other resource than to make his wines in such a
way as promises to be most lucrative to himself."
In a letter from the same writer, dated from Eegoa, October 30, 1843,
the Velho Lavrador do Douro, so signing his printed correspondence,
and still complaining of the mode in which the wines of his country are
treated, writes:
*' I cannot but declare that the real innovators are certain English
merchants who come here and make wine after their own fashion, be-
fore the right time, and in a wrong way, thus inducing some incautious
farmers to follow their injurious example. I am nearly sixty-one years
of age, and am obliged to declare that never in the course of those
years have I seen so much ignorance and imprudence. If those gentle-
men would only get rid of some of their pride, they certainly could
not deny that, if they had acted in a different manner, they would not
have found themselves under the necessity of distilling or selling for
tavern use the produce of those new discoveries of their ' Progresso'
produce, which conld not have failed to equal that of the worthy
farmers of the Douro, if in the making of it that degree of intelligence
and capacity which abounds in my honoured countrymen had not been
wanting."
MADEIRA. (Page 268.)
A decree relative to Madeira is as follows:
" 1. All such goods and merchandise as are admitted to pass through
the Custom-houses in Portugal shall have the same privilege at the
Custom-house of Funchal, in the island of Madeira.
" 2. The Custom-house at Funchal will be regulated in every respect
by the practice of the one at Lisbon, excepting in any thing which
may be peculiar to that island.
"3. Its wines will pay a duty of three per cent, when exported to
Portugal, and of eight per cent, when to foreign countries, upon the
valuation of sixty milreas per pipe ; all other produce of the country,
such as fruits, salt fish, sweetmeats, &c., will only pay one per cent, on
exportation.
"4. Each pipe of wine which may be ripened by stoving shall be
subject to a duty of two milreas per month."
N.B. The reason assigned for this is, that the government consider
the quality of the wines injured by this process, and they wish, by the
imposition of this tax, to discourage its continuance. The other articles
are not of any general importance.
APPENDIX.
409
No. XIII.
SECOND AND THIRD CLASSES.
ITALIAN AND SICILIAN WINES.
Name.
Trovince or Town.
Remarks.
Lacrynaa Christ! )
Naples,
Mount Vesuvius
Sicily
Naples
Ditto
Sicily,
Mount Etna
Ditto
Ditto
Roman States
Piedmont
Elba
Ditto
Ditto
Tuscany
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
MountVesuvius,
Lake Aver no,
Maria deCapoua
Ditto
Naples
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Near Reggio
Campagna
Kingdom of
Naples
Sicily
Ditto
Lipari Isles
Near Bologna
Near Spoletto
") Red rich muscadine, of a
j fine flavour and perfume.
Luscious red muscadine.
Resembling Burgundy.
Ordinary wine.
r The best red wines in
the island, of excellent
< body, like the secondary
Rhone growths; rare in
Lthe island.
Pitchy taste, ordinary wines.
Tolerably good.
Excellent durable red wines.
Ditto.
C Good wine of the second
1 class.
A durable wine, exports well.
A mousseux wine.
A good wine.
C Resembling the Tinto of
< Alicant in flavour and bou-
Cquet.
Good wines of the country.
Ditto.
") A delicate line coloured
j wine.
An excellent muscadine.
Muscadine, flavour of fennel.
Muscadine and common.
Vin de liqueur.
Good ordinary wine.
C Between light French
\ wine and v in cuit.
A vin de mousseux.
| Good ordinary wine.
Of tolerable quality.
Ditto.
( Ordinary wines and su-
<. pcrior muscadine.
Vin cuit mousseux.
Good wines.
(continued)
Syracuse
Reggio ,
Baia..
Mascoli "^
Macchia (
Catania
Tormina and Faro .
Ovieto .
Asti
Bianillo and Aleatico .
Bischillato
J*rocanico
Chianti
Aleatico . ...
Carniignano, Antella, Artiminio,"^
Tizzana, Mentali, Lamporec- (
cliio. Monte Spertoli, Poncina, C
Glogoli. . J
ValdiMarini . .
Naples muscadine <
Vino Greco .
Carigliano
Bari and Tarento
Reff8n.o .
Baia
Gierace
Asprino
Fundi [
' Mazara -]
Veterano
ValdOIassa \ <1Wf\
Marsala
. Girgenti J
Messina, Milazzo, Avola, Vittoria...
Idpari and Stromboli
Imola
Terni
410
APPENDIX.
Name.
Province or Town.
Eemarks.
Farnese
I^ear Castri
Good muscadine.
Ovieto (white)
Pvomaii States
Muscadine not durable.
Monte Fiascne j
Near the Lago
C A strong muscadine, finely
s perfumed and flavoured ;
Albano
Bolsena
Roman States
Cof great strength.
Ditto, excellent.
Moscatello .. . "s
Aleatico /
{Vins de liqueur, of greater
Vino Santo f
Ditto
or less merit ; not bearing
Vernaccia )
exportation.
Iticcia
Ditto
( Good wine but a small
Buti
Plain of Pisa
I quantity made.
Monte Pulcino ..
Tuscany
Weak wine.
C The most esteemed of
Montalcino, Rimeneze, Pont-")
Ecole, and Santo Stephano )
Vermut
Ditto
Elba
(.the Tuscan muscadines.
Good muscadines.
C A cordial wine, prepared
Rio
Ditto
t with wormwood, c.
Good muscadine.
Vino Morto
The Veronese
< Deficient in spirit and
Vino Santo
Ditto
\ strength.
Good red and white wines.
Bellagio
Lake of Como
Wines of colour and spirit.
Labusca
Mantua
An agreeable wine.
Pavia
Pavia
C Both dry and mousseux,
Monte di Brianza
Milan
1 but very inferior wines.
Good flavoured wines.
Panocchia, Vigatto, Traverse- )
tolo, Casola, Avola, Azano >
Val Irdone, Bottola, Pont6 d'Al-S
lolio,Verdetto,SaladelChristo [-
Creta )
Parnia
Placentia
C Ordinary wines of the
(. country.
Ditto.
Santo Pretasso, Frescale, Caselle, \
Lassurasco, Rugarlo, Castel- (
lina, Salso, Maggiore, Villa- f
Chiara, Claretto, Pazolo )
Katrera and Sapolo
District of Borgo
Placentia
Modena
C Inferior wines, some of
j them, vins de liqueur,
1 having a disagreeable taste
Lof honey.
( Ordinary wine for home
VinPiccolit
Friuli
(. consumption.
Resembling Tokay.
No. XIV
The Sicilian, Fayal, &c., mixed, &c., except wines from the Cape of
Good Hope, are included in the following list of miscellaneous and un-
rated wines imported, of which the varieties are not specified.
Tans. Hds. Gall.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
1785
62 3 21
1795
13 2 40
1805
20 3 3
1786 *
73 1 10
1796
95 1 39
1806
156 2
1787
54 61
1797
37 1 23
1807
161 3 21
1788
42 2 13
1798
27 GO
1808
74G 7
1789
27 1 45
1799
16 1 24
1809
535 f>
1790
15 3 7
1800
18 3 3
1810
1362 2 25
1791
22 2 54
1801
60 2 10
1811
874 3 35
1792
24 3 55
1802
71 3 53
1812
2539 42f
1793
30 35
1803
177 2 29
1813
No returns.
1794
12 30
1804
188 58
1814
1894 1 5i
(continued
APPENDIX.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Imperial Gallons.
Imperial Gallons.
1815
889 1 19
1826
268,853
1838
370,610
1816
897 3 15f
1827
223,850
1839
369,417
1817
64 1 3 35
1828
174,590
1840
383,774
1818
1204 1 12
1829
206,669
1841
401,439
1819
919 2 llf
1830
238,909
1842
393,028
1820
1044 3 S
1831
259,709
1843
398,743
1821
1159 3 5
1832
262,850
1844
463,685
1822
755 1 2 4-20
1833
253,084
1845
506,523
1823
Imperial gallons.
176,141
1834
1835
313,732
374,549
1846
1847
508,285
470,429
1824
265,217
1836
403,155
1848
488,683
1825
331,268
1837
373,458
1849
444,608
No. XV.
SECOND AND THIRD CLASS.
HUNGARIAN, AUSTEIAN, AND SCIAVONIAN WINES.
Name.
Province or Toivn.
Remarks-
Tokay, Essence, and Ausbruch . j
Tokay, Maslas
Near Mount
Tokav, Hungary
Ditto
Mount Matra,
Upper Hungary
Lower Hungary
District of Arad,
ditto
Ditto
Upper Hungary
Lower Hungary
Near Presburgb.
Near Pesth
On the Danube,
in Sclavoiiia
Near the ancient
capital
Between Buda
and Esseh
Near Transylva-
nia, the fortress
In Sirmian
Ditto
Menes
Near Presburgh
Ditto
' See wines of first class.
A secondary Tokay.
"> Wmes, both red and
) white, much esteemed.
Ditto.
) Red kind, much esteem-
) ed for spirit and sweetness.
C Like Tokay, preferred
< by some; rich, aromatic,
C sweet, not cloying.
(" Good red and white
(.wines, and an Ausbruch.
Similar to (Edenbourg.
(" A white wine of excel-
< lent quality, somewhat in
(.aroma like Tokay.
Good wine of the country.
| Resembles Cote Rotie.
| Like Burgundy.
(" Resembles Languedoc, a
< good red wine of the
(.country.
j Ditto.
( Strong and sweet, of a
tred colour.
( Wines prepared with
i spices and wormwood,
f Scarcely different from
\ Meneser.
f Excellent wine, resem-
1 1 bliug Burgundy.
Ditto.
'continued)
Gysengycesch . . . . . j
(Edenbourg .
Meneser <
Meneser- Ausbrucli
Erlon
Rusth
St Gvorerv
Ofen
^arlowitz <
Buda.... . .(
I
Sexard |
Gros Warden |
Schiller
IT- 4.1 CPalunia .... ....")
\\ ermuth [ Tropfwermuth j
Glodova, Menos, Gyordk, Paulis..
Mode on
Katschdorf, Grunau, Obernusdorf.
412
APPENDIX.
Name.
Province or Town.
!
Remarks.
Neustoed, Zschelhae, Kosrad ..
Wersitz i
Near Buda
In the Bannat
Bannat of
Tameswar
Ditto
Croatia
Ditto
Transylvania
iSebenico, Dal-
matia
Moldavia
"Wallachia
Ragusa
Sclavonia
Ditto
Circle of Leut-
meritz, Bohemia
Circle of Bunz-
low
Moravia
Austria
Ditto
Southerly, near
Vienna
Ditto
Lower Styria
Ditto
Ditto
Carinthia
Ditto
Istria
An Adriatic
island
At Capy d'Istria,
Pirano, Cit-
tanova
Istria
In the Tolna
district
} Wines like Burgundy
and Bordeaux.
> Good red wine.
Ditto.
White wine
Ditto; same quality.
C Wine of the country,
(. Ausbruch.
") A wine highly character-
) ised ; not the liqueur.
C Green in colour, and
(. strong as brandy.
Light, rivalling Tokay.
Good country wine.
Good red wine.
{Both red, and of agree-
able flavour, and much
spirit.
") Red wines, which will
) not keep.
j Ditto, like Burgundy.
C Good wines, equal to
(. Hungarian.
Ordinary wine.
( Wines of little note,
< generally of a green hue,
Cand drank young.
(" A wine that will keep,
-< though of no extraordi-
(.nary quality.
Good wine.
Good wines, red and white.
5" Of the next rank to the
( foregoing.
Good wines of the country.
C" Resembling good Italian
(. wines.
Ditto.
C Red and white, spark-
l ling and well flavoured.
") Red wine, deep coloured,
) and sweet.
> Good vins de liqueur.
( A good wine, consumed
tat Venice.
| A superior red wine.
Jobbagy, Etsey, Soetvesch $
Weisskirchen (
Zips, Arva, Liplow ..
Buokwetz .
Vinitza, Toeplitz
Birthalman
Marachina .... )
Cotnar
Piatra
Gravosa
Semlin ... .
Syrmia and Posega . . .
Podskalchi <
Melnick <
Poleschowitz
Mount Calenberg
Hoeflein, Kloster Newbourg,-)
Unter Kutzendorf, Kaplen- (
burg, Misdorf, Salneridorf, and f
Lichtenstein )
Giberwein . . \
Spitz
Luttenberg
Radkersbourg, Arnfels, Win- j
disch, Gonowitz, Kerchenberg $
Sansal, Leitschach, PickerneA
Stadlberg, Pulsgau, Sauritsch, I
Raen, Rast, Peittersberg, Wie- (
sel )
Moettling, Weinitz
Freyenthurn, Wipach, TscherO
enable, Marzamin )
Prosecco Antignana, St. Serf")
Trieste $
Berchetz j
St. Patronio, Petit Tokai, St.C
Corregliano
Izeszgard s
APPEXDTX.
413
No. XVI.
Wines of the Cape of Good Hope, imported from 1801 to 1849,
inclusive.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Imperial Gallons.
1S01
45 2 57
1818
3,648 15^
1333
514,262
1802
15 3 58
1819
1,648 3 19*
1834
525,081
Is03
13 1 31
1820
1,925 60|
1835
522,941
1804
838
1821
2,1J3 2 12 10-20| 1836
541,511
1805
2 14
1822
2,244 2 17-20
1837
500,727
1806
9 57
1838
638,528
1807
20 3 42
Imp. Gall.
1839
534, 182
1803
178 1 30
1823
843,172
1840
456,773
1809
16 36
1824
591,078
1841
441,238
1810
19 3 41
1825
746,925
1842
370,800
1811
8 2 19
1826
356,070
1843
332,369
1SI2
40 2 56
1827
679,447
1844
349,257
1813
No returns.
1828
699,805
1845
357,793
1814
349 3 55
1829
653,742
1846
365,867
1815
1512 1 4
1830
580,408
1847
293,016
1816
1631 2 21
1831
537,188
1848
267,922
1817
4218 29
1832
540,357
1849
241,845
No. XVII.
Total French, Spanish, Rhenish, and Portuguese Wines imported into
Great Britain from 1700 to 1785.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
Tuns. Hds. Gall.
700
23,502 10
1729
25,672 3 50
1758
15,896 1 54
701
21,443 2 23
1730
19,823 3 31
1759
15,405 2 19
702
15,725 1 62
1731
24,239 1 58
1760
15,427 3 47
703
11,092 2 42
1732
21,384 11
1761
14,602 3 46
704
13,811 1 57
1733
21,420 1 57
1762
16,097 1
1705
12,070 1 17
1734
21,264 1 47
1763
17,082 3 21
1706
10,973 2 31
1735
24,416 1 28
1764
17,390 1 42
1707
12,962 16
1736
20,763 10
1765
18,132 1 4
1708
14,380 50
1737
26,605 1 38
1766
18,472 14
1709
13,338 1 48
1738
22,171 2 I
1767
17,087 3 5
1710
15.8C9 56
1739
18,594 3 28
1768
18,580 58
1711
15,481 2 14
1740
15,198 3 60
1769
18,371 2 30
1712
12,677 1 27
1741
17,178 1 3
1770
ltf,724 40
1713
15,937 1 8
1742
lti,715 3 58
1771
16,874 2 12
1714
18,747 1 57
1743
17,655 34
1772
15,597 2 42
1715
21,751 9
1744
10,276 2 60
1773
16,431 3 20
1716
18,834 3 7
1745
16,034 1 34
1774
17,992 1 20
1717
22,260 3 58
1746
12,205 1 11
1775
17,736 13
1718
23,875 1 48
1747
14,560 2 32
1776
16,734 36
1719
25,510 2 13
1748
25,135 1 16
1777
18,217 2 60
1720
19,141 44
1749
21,555 35
1778
16,343 51
1721
25,263 45
1750
15,456 2 11
1779
12,760 2 10
1722
25,470 42
1751
14,788 2
1780
20,514 2 39
1723
22,415 1 1
1752
13,708 2 25
1781
13,311 3 20
1724
23,075 3 8
1753
18,857 20
1782
9,791 39
1725
24,722 3 35
1754
14,982 3 50
1783
13,624 1 51
1726
19,334 24
1755
16,544 2 22
1784
14,499 56
1727
21,064 3 61
1756
12,264 2 18
1785
14,807 1 27
1728
30,045 2 32
1757
14,050 2 30
414
APPENDIX.
No. XVIII.
Wine of all kinds imported into Great Britain, for Home Consumption
and Exportation, and Receipts of Revenue thereon, from 1785 to
1849.
Year.
Imperial
Gallons.
s. d.
Year.
Imperial
Gallons.
s. d.
1785
3,420,318 5-6
)
1817
5,614,622
2,023,720 8 2
1786
*3,409,355
! Import and
1818
6,139,490
2,241,380 2 7
1787
4,898,225
f Export.
1819
4,978,600
1,802,097 1 11
1788
5,368,3005-6
J
1820
5,019,960
1,818,396 2 5
For Home Con-
1821
5,016,569
1,797,491 7 10
sumption only.
1822
4,975,159
1,794,013 11 2
1789
5,814,665
721,518 19 3
1823
5,291,410 1,907,466 13 3
1790
6,492,317
820,562 7 4
1824
5,479,732 1 1,967,953 13 10
1791
7,658,276
916,769 5
1825
t8,055,993
794,009 4 6
1792
8,082,249
1,019,645 3
1826
6,450,814
1,270,118 1 6
1793
6,890,910
600,686 5 2
1827
7,262,110 1,426,550 11 9
1794
6,799,220
795,023 19
1828
7,580,625 ! 1,506,122 15 4
1795
6,927,121
1,430,722 15 1
1829
7,446,159 i 1,321,433 19 2
1796
5,732,383
1,159,523 19 7
1830
5,461,635 i 1,389,068 17 4
1797
3,970,901
1,383,665 12 8
1831
$6,368,229
1,524,177 6 9
1798
4,760,657
1,372,661 6 7
1832
6,386,687
1,519,643
1799
4,777,631
1,692,826 12
1833
5,965,542
1,629,219
1800
7,728,871
1,697,213 8 5
1834
6,480,544
1,705,520
1801
7,006,310
1,922,987 9 11
1835
6,420,342
1,691,522
1802
6,355,749
J,931,872 19 9
1836
6,809,212
1,793,963
1803
8,181,466
2,141,356 12 9
1837
6,391,560
1,687,097
1804
4,840,719
1,814,323 5 5
1838
6,990,271
1,846,056
1805
4,565,551
2,003,866 8 4
1839
7,000,486
1,849,699
1806
5,936,235
2,320,428 11 8
1840
6,553,992
1,872,799
1807
5,922,337
2,334,197 18 9
1841
6,184,962
1,800,127
1808
6,408,534
2,353,736 12 1
1842
4,815,222
1,409,205
1809
5,808,087
2,361,113 18 3
1843
6,068,987
1,704,434
1810
6,805,276
2,513,615 16 3
1844
6,838,684
1,960,738
1811
5,860,874
2,169,871 6 3
1845
6,736,131
1,787,560
1812
5,136,490
1,911,352 19 11
1846
6,740,316
1,887,516
1813
4,718,568
Records burn ed.
1847
6,053,847
1,700,153
1814
4,941,663
2,032,840 19 4
1848
6,136,547
1,727,409
1815
5,968,435
2,095,299 18
1849
6,251,862
1.7^7,516
1816
4,420,807
1,610,299 5 8
1850
6,448,317
f,824,457
* Duty reduced in 1786 from 99?. 8s. 9 12-20d. per tun in British ships to
50?. 16s. 6d. on French wines, and from 49?. 14s. 4 16-20d. to 32?. 16s. 6d. on Por-
tuguese and Spanish.
In 1803 an additional duty was imposed, when, exclusive of French wines,
1,230,724?. was paid upon 49,230 tuns. In 1804 the consumption had fallen to
34,657 tuns, and the duties to 1,026,488?., exclusive of French wines.
t In 1826 the duty was reduced on French wines to 6s. old wine measure, or
7s. 3|d. the imperial gallon. This was followed by a consumption the following
three years, that increased the revenue 9000?. a year more than it had been at
the high duty. "Wine, too, was allowed to be imported in packages of any size.
The reduction of revenue this year was owing to the allowance for stock on
hand.
J The duty on French wine further reduced, and as well on all wines, except
Cape wine, fixed at 5s. 6d. the imperial gallon, to which 5 per cent, was afterwards
added. The alteration of duty on Cape did not take place until 1834, but it was
raised 4d. per gallon.
APPENDIX.
415
No. XIX.
Wine of all kinds imported into Ireland for Home Consumption, and
Keceipts of Revenue thereon, from 1789 to 1828.
fear. \
Gallons.
s.
d.
Year.
Gallons.
s.
d.
1789 ]
1,336,253
130,187
8
4
1809
1,264,926
324,889
10
5
1790 i
1,428,929
138,589
12
7
1810
1,020,275
272,971
12
1
1791 !
1,430,272
138,010
7
9
1811
894,792
263,136
8
5
1792 !
1,339,800
129,110
5
6
1812
892,946
278,065
7
4
1793 ;
1,041,932
94,506
18
8
1813
760,004
253,765
1
1
1794
1,374,429
117,839
2
3 1814
636,137
234,736
7
3
1795
2,959,004
264,165
5
6 | 1815
730,351
293,091
11
3
1796 .
1,199,129
128,728
9
6 1 1816
439,602
167,158
2
1797
312,212
41,808
3
1
1817
571,596
200,891
11
11
179S
1,558,265
184,489
12
6
1818
642,206
225,935
10
10^
1799
2,588,166
343,194
13
1 1819
589,854
203,261
19
7
1800
1,024,832
157,594
13
1 1820
508,501
169,421
5
5^
1801
1,245,742
192,663
18
4
1821
642,701
209,006
11
1802
2,130,350
348,199
14
9
1822
569,038
188,868
61
1803
1,690,291
282,572
2
1823
547,218
180,764
16
Hi
1804
1,708,510
327,132
13
10
1824
564,529
185,158
11
4
1805
981,690
251,927
19
3
1825
953,810
140,655
7
H
1806
1,053,979
254,102
7
8
1826
822,586
155,161
12
6|
1807
1,603,278
395,689
2
4
1827
929,619
174,036
16
74
1808
1,189,716
294,738
14
9 1828
1,003,224 193,928
10
9
Notwithstanding the increase of population nearly to double, 333,029 gallons of
wine less were drunk in Ireland in 1828 than in 1789. Between 1791 and 1814 the
duty was raised on French wines from 33Z. 7s. per tun to 144?. 7s. 6d. and Portu-
guese and other wines from 221. 4s. 8d. to 95?. 11s. The consequence was that in
1824 the consumption had fallen to 564,529 gallons, and the revenue had only
increased to 185,000?. with a quadrupled duty.
No. XX.
DUTIES ON WINES. (Page 235.)
In 1272 the duties on wine were two shillings per tun, and the best
came to the monasteries. This duty was called butterage. In 1618
wine was thirteenpence the full quart. A pint of Muscatel, sixpence.
Two eight gallon rundlets of Claret, sixteen shillings. A pottle of
Canary of nine pints, two and sixpence. Three quarts of Sherry were
sold for two shillings. Three quarts of white wine three shillings,
being the vintner's prices.
Parliamentary papers of some standing, show, that down to the
time of the revolution in 1688, or even a year or two subsequently,
great quantities of French wine were imported, to the extent in some
years of 20,000 tuns. The jealousy towards everything French after
that time, induced the laying on of enormous duties by legislators,
who were not wise enough to reflect that those wines must have been
exchanged for British commodities of one class or another. In 1693
the duties on French wines were increased 8/. per tun. In 1697, this
duty was made 251. more than on Portugal wines. Instead of two-
fifths of all wine imported being French, as in 1669, the high duty had
416
APPENDIX.
so driven it out of the market, that in 1784 only a thirty -fifth part was
French. In 1697, the duty was 4s. Ojd. on French, and Is. 8d. on
Portuguese wine. From 1778 to 1806, French wine was raised from
6s. 3^d- the gallon to 11s. 5jd. duty, and Portuguese from 2s. llfd. to
7s. 7d. From 1770 to 1782, from 60/. to 96?. per tun were levied, while
other wines only paid from SO/, to 50/. Those duties were reduced in
1786, but during the late war they were raised to 144/. 7s. 6d. on
French, and 95/. 10s. on Portuguese, while German and Hungarian
wines paid 118/. 13s. in British bottoms. In 1825 these absurd duties,
which had acted most prejudicially to the revenue, and were unjust to
the consumer as well as to trade, were reduced, and in 1831 finally
settled at a duty of 5s. 6d. a gallon upon all wines except Cape.
Threepence was subsequently added, making the whole duty 5s. 9d.
The variation in these heavy duties was a proof how little reason and
sound sense had to do with the enactment of them, seeing that whether
French, Spanish, Portuguese, or any other wines were imported, they
must be paid for in British manufactures, and what claim had the
manufacturer of woollen over the maker of cotton goods, bar iron, silk,
or steel ware ?
The duty of 1713 was levied from 1726 to 1736, an average of ten
years, on 23,109 tuns per annum, French, Spanish, German, and
Portuguese wines alone, the population being about 5,000,000; in-
cluding other wines imported, 24,000 tuns may be reckoned as the
importation, which would give a revenue of 576,000/. Now that of
1786, with duties from 32/. to 50/., and 7,000,000 of population, only
yielded 721,518/. 19s. 3d. Tripling the population of 5,000,000, the
aggregate is 15,000,000, and tripling the duty at 24/., we have
1,728,000/., being nearly the revenue from wine in 1849, supposing the
consumption had increased only in the same ratio, and the duties re-
mained as in 1726. But the duty of 24/. was on French wines; Por-
tuguese paid' but 7 1 5s. 3d. per tun.
Madeira, until March 3, 1825, paid 9s. 2jd. the imperial gallon; after
that time, to 1831, 4s. lOd. Cape paid 3s. Ojd., French wines 13s. 9d.
Cape was then reduced to 2s. 3d., and French to 7s. 3jd. Rhenish
wines paid lls. 3|d. until 1825.
TABLE.
SHOWING THE FLUCTUATIONS OF WINE DUTIES AT ONE VIEW, BOTH OF
THE CUSTOMS AND EXCISE, FROM 1786.
Tears.
French.
Cape.
Madeira.
Portugal.
Spanish.
Rhenish.
Other
Sorts;
Highest
Keceipts
Revenue.
s. a.
s. d.
s. d.
s. d.
s. d.
s. d.
s. d.
178G
8 8f
4 2
4 2
4 2
4 3
4 3
8 8f
1787
6 2
3 6|
3 6J
3 6f
3 6|
4 lOf
4 6
848,909
1788
4 G
3 6^
3
3
3
4 lOf
4 6
1,148,755
1795
7 4i
5 5|
4 lOf
4 10|
4 lOf
6 9f
6 4f
1,694,888
1796
10 2|
7 4!
6 9|
6 9f
6 9|
8 8|
8 3f
1,288,252
1798
10 6*
7 6
7 l|
6 11
6 11|
9 I
8 5|
2,124,808
1801
10 2|
7 4|
6 9|
6 9|
6 9|
8 8|
8 3f
2,185,661
1802
10 7i
7 7
7 U
7
7
9 2
8 6
2,280,072
(continued)
APPENDIX.
417
Years.
t French.
Cape.
Madeira.
Portugal.
Spanish.
Rheniah.
Other
Sorts.
Highest
Receipts
Revenue.
s. d.
S. d-
s. d.
s. d.
s. d.
s. d.
s. d.
1803
12 54
8 3
8 4
8 3
8 3
10 4
8 3
2,423,929
1804
13 6|
9
9 H
9
9
11 li
9
2,141,456
1805
13 8
9 I*
9 2
9 li
9 li
11 3
9 li
2,255,794
1809
19 8J
9 li
9 2g
9 li
("W. 9 li >
IR. 10 3 )
11 3
9 li
2,686,003
1813
19 8
3 Og
9 2i
9 U
All 9 li
11 3
9 li
No record
1814
13 8}
3 0|
9 2*
9 li
9 H
11 3
9 li
2,267,578
1819
13 9
3 oj
9 ?
9 1?
9 li
11 3|
9 li
2,005,359
1825
7 2*
2 5
4 9|
4 93
4 9f
4 9|
4 9f
934,665
1826
7 3
2 5
4 10
4 10
4 10
4 10
4 10*
1,424,326
1831
5 6
2 9
5 6
5 6
5 6
5 6
5 6
1,535,484
1832
1,715,812
1850
...
1,824,457
5 per cent, added since to the last-named duty above.
The proportion per cent, which each description of wine bore to the
total consumption of all sorts in the years 1847 and 1848 was, French,
6*56 and 5-80 respectively; Portuguese, 39-00 and 39-87; Spanish,
39-18 and 39*69; Madeira, 1*34 and 1-25; Rhenish, 0'92 and 0-73; Ca-
nary, 0-38 and 0*33; Sicilian and other kinds, 778 and 7*96; the wine
of the Cape of Good Hope, 4-84 and 4-37.
The stock of wine in the different ports of the United Kingdom fluc-
tuates from seven or eight millions of imperial gallons to ten millions.
The port of London alone has sometimes in bond not less than 50,000
pipes or butts of wine and 40,000 puncheons of foreign spirits.
Nothing can more faithfully show the incapacity of the various
judgments of the government than the above fluctuations. At a duty
of 5s. 9d. there is a return to the revenue of 1,824,457/., which a duty
of 10s. 2d. did not yield, nor of 13s. 9d. much exceed. From 1798 to
1814 were years of war, and the army and navy were largely supplied,
and drawbacks allowed which do not figure above. It may be doubted
whether 2,267,578/. was not the maximum of revenue for home con-
sumption, at the highest duty, the records of that year, 1813, being
destroyed, and before Peel's Currency Bill had struck down the value of
all property twenty-five per cent. A revenue of 1,824,457 in 1850 is
equal, from this last cause alone, to one of 2,267,578 in 1814.
The enormity of the duty is the cause of the diminished consumption
of wine. A gallon of foreign brandy will be diluted in drinking with
three gallons of water, in all four gallons, paying 15s. duty, worth, with
the cost of the article, about 20s. Four gallons of wine pay 23s. 6d.
duty, worth, at prime cost, from 3s. 6d. to 20s. the gallon, as the, case
may be. Now the wine of the highest price will not contain more
than ten or twelve per cent, of brandy, nor of any wine more than
sixteen or seventeen. The stimulant powers of the spirit and water are,,
therefore, much greater, at a rate vastly cheaper, even with the enor-
mous duty on foreign brandy. How much more is this the case with
2E
4X8 APPENDIX.
whisky and home-made spirit, at half the duty of the foreign! An ad
valorem duty on wine is not possible in practice, therefore the duty
should be reduced one-half at least. We profess a high regard for
public morals, we talk about improving the circumstances of the
people, yet in typhus, which ravages England so fearfully, wine, the
main remedy, is shut out from the poor, while its liberal administra-
tion is necessary. So with the fevers of our marshy districts : wine
and bark are the sole dependence, yet the last is forbidden by the price,
which is a positive cruelty. The people are encouraged to drink ardent
spirit in consequence but then, the revenue profits !
The consumption of wine in England for the undermentioned years
was in proportion to the population:
Year. Population. Gallons.
1700 5,475,000 5,922,504 French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German only.
1750 6,467,000 3,894,912 Ditto. Duties being raised.
1801 8,872,980 7,006,310 Of all kinds. Imperial Gallons.
1811 1,063,676 5,860,874 Ditto. Ditto.
1821 11,978,875 5,016,569 Ditto. Ditto.
1832 13,889,675 6,386,687 Ditto. Ditto
1841 15,911,725 6,184,960 Ditto. Ditto.
1851 17,922,768 6,448,517 Ditto. Ditto.
Scotland for three periods :
Tear. Population. Gallons.
1801 1,599,068 317,833
1811 1,805,688 340,247
1821 2,093,456 390,000
The duty in 1801 was 1,922,987/., and in 1821, 1,797,491?., with an
increase of population in the latter year of 2,290,696. In 1841 the
duty was only 1,800,127/. It is clear the people of England drank
in 1700 three times as much wine in proportion as they do now. The
natural consequence has been the increased consumption of spirits.
From 1730 to 1830, the consumption of British made spirits increased
from 873,840 gallons to 7,732,101, keeping pace with the increase of
crime; as if not only the temperature of the atmosphere, but the
amount of misery, poverty, and crime, were to be guaged by alcohol.
Ireland, in 1821, paid duty only on 2,649,170 imperial gallons of home-
made spirits, but in 1828 on no less than 9,004,539 imperial gallons.
In 1849 the amount was reduced to 6,973,333 imperial gallons. Scot-
land, in 1784, distilled but 268,503 common gallons of spirit; in 1833,
5,988,556. Thus there were made in England, in the year ending
January 5, 1850, 9,053,676 imperial gallons; Scotland, 6,935,003; Ire-
land, 6,973,333. The total being 22,962,012 gallons. It is, therefore, a
fact, however much of an anomaly it may appear, that inebriety in
this country has increased with the diminution of the wine consump-
tion, and morals as well as health have suffered by the same decrease,
and the augmented use of ardent spirit.
The number of bottles of wine consumed daily in England, Wales,
and Scotland, in 1821, being the average of three years, calculating
four bottles to the old gallon, was :
APPENDIX. 419
England and Wales. Scotland. Total.
French 1,848 196 2,044
Cape 5,548 148 5,688
All other kinds 43,592 3236 46,828
50,980 3580 54,560
The proportion from 1785 to 1794 was 3j bottles per head. From
1794 to 1814 it fell to three bottles, and from 1814 to 1820 to two bottles.
Since that year it has fallen to 1 1-9 bottle per head. Ireland, in 1790,
consumed no less than 1,117,556 gallons of wine; and, in 1824, only
476,000 gallons.
The consumption of spirits of all kinds in England, Scotland, and
Ireland, in the year ending 5th January, 1850, was:
Imp. Galls. Duty.
Home made 22,962,012 5,793,381
Colonial Rum Home consumption 3,039,862
French Brandy Ditto 2,187,358
Geneva Ditto 26,917
Channel Island spirits Ditto 16,050
Other sorts, foreign Ditto 14,788
TOTAL 28,246,987
This would give a consumption of spirit in England not equal to
that of Holland, which is T39 imperial gallons per head ; England, 0*569
gallon per head; Ireland, 0-853 gallon per head; Scotland, 2-647 gal-
lons per head.
The increase in the consumption of foreign spirit was considerable in
the United Kingdom in the last six years. In 1844 the total amount of all
sorts of foreign spirits retained for home consumption was 3,267,878
imperial gallons, of all kinds. In 1849, ending 5th January, 1850, it
was 5,284,975 imperial gallons. Increase in six years, 2,017,097 in
foreign spirits.
The difference in home-made spirits in six years has been from
18,864,332 imperial gallons to 22,962,012. Increase, 4,097,680; or
about as much proportionally as in foreign spirits. The decrease of
the consumption of spirits in Ireland has been very considerable.
Prior to the year ending 5th January, 1841 (or the consumption of
1840), the consumption, on the average of four years, was about
11,500,000 imperial gallons. The year ending 5th January, 1842 (or
the consumption of 1841), numbered but 7,401,051 imperial gallons;
and the year ending 5th January, 1850, gave as consumed only
6,973,333 imperial gallons, a further reduction. Temperance, poverty,
or some other cause have wrought there this remarkable change,
Scotland has been rather on the increase in the last six years, but it
has not been considerable. England has increased about 400,420 gal-
lons, which is inconsiderable, for her amount of population in that
time. Of course it is not known in which of the three kingdoms the
increased consumption of foreign spirits has occurred, but it is most
probably in England.
2E2
420 APPENDIX.
The duty oil spirits is not, like that on wine, equalised. This may
be seen by the following statement:
Fer Gall,
s. d.
Brandy, from March, 1846, Geneva, and all other foreign ... 15
Rum, duty in England from 1848 to 1850 8 2
Ditto, in Scotland 4
Ditto, in Ireland 2 8
Channel Island spirits, from 1845 to 1850 England 9
Ditto, in Scotland 4 10
Ditto,iu Ireland 3 6
A more unjust system of taxation can scarcely be conceived, than
one marked by the above differences. Why should the Englishman
pay more duty than the Scotch or Irish upon a luxury?
The spirit made from grain in Scotland and Ireland is more whole-
some than the English. The Scotch is the strongest, being above both
rum and brandy. The English is not allowed to be sold pure by the
distiller, because, for the convenience of the excise, it must be distilled
only in a certain mode and strength above proof. The distiller is,
therefore, compelled to sell his product to a person called a rectifier,
who reduces and adulterates it at his pleasure. He imitates with the
most convenient ingredients, in the clumsiest way, all sorts of foreign
spirits. Sometimes these imitations are mingled with the genuine
spirit as French brandy, or colonial rum, to increase the quantity, but
oftener they are sold as British brandies, or gin, disguised from the
genuine spirit with extract of logwood, nitre, burnt sugar, and worse
trash, to the detriment of the stomachs of purchasers. Why, like the
Scotch and Irish, the English should not have a pure spirit, especially
as it is the poor who suffer most from these mixtures, it is difficult to
tell. The care of the subject's health, and the interests of morality,
have no weight with the government that, while affecting to regard
both, takes no opinion upon the subject but of the excise, for whose
sole convenience the disgraceful adulterating system continues.
It is worthy, as a matter of record, to state the duties before the last
alteration upon ardent spirits :
Per GalL Per
s. d. Cent.
Foreign brandy 22 10 500
Geneva 22 10 500
Liqueurs 30 4 500
Ireland and Scotland, made spirit, corn 3 8 about 200
Ireland, malt 5 330
Scotland, malt 4 4 300
mno.iMuil'corn 7 10 500
England }. malt 9 2 600
Of,the above, the Scotch and Irish are, at least, wholesome and pure
spirit; but why such differences of duty ? On home-made spirits, per-
haps high duties are not amiss, as the article is decidedly pernicious
to health and morals.
In 1733, Jamaica rum sold, according to the London prices, from
6s. to 7s. per gallon. In 1849, the very best qualities, from 4s. to
4s. 6d., down to 2s. 5d. and 2s. 6d. ; Leeward Islands, 6s. 4d. English
spirits were sold in that year from 2Ql. to 2QL per tun. Wheat was
APPENDIX.
421
then from 22s. to 25s.; barley, from lls. to 13s. 6d.; oats, from 10s. to
12s. No less than 800,000 quarters of corn were exported that year and
the year preceding, between July and July, to Portugal, Spain, France,
and Italy, which it was calculated brought a million sterling into the
country. Gold in bars, at this time, was from 3/. 18s. Id. to 3l 18s. 2d.
In coin, 3/. 18s. 3d. Silver standard, 5s. 4d.
No. XXL
WINE MEASURES TTSED BY DIFFERENT NATIONS.
Gallons.
Litres.
Ahtn
Hanover
41*095
155*552
Ditto
Rotterdam
39*993
151*380
Alma or meter
Constantinople
1*381
5*227
Alnmdfl
Oporto
6-731
25*480
Ditto ..
Faro
4-896
18*532
Ditto
Lisbon
4*370
16*541
Anker ,,
Copenhagen
9-947
37*655
Ditto ..
Pernau
10*233
38*756
Ditto
Revel
11*172
42*276
Ditto
Riga
10*333
39*097
Ditto
9*562
36*199
Antheil .
Hungary .'.
13*350
50*534
Asn6e
Lyons
21*809
82*549
Arroba
4*245
16*073
Ditto, mayores ")
Ditto, menores (12 make >
39 old gallons) . .)
Spain (25 old galls, make 6)
4-245
16*073
Ditto
Valencia
3*112
11*786
Ditto
Malaga
4*186
15*850
Barrique
Limoux
31*695
120*000
Ditto
Rh6ne
31*695
120*000
Ditto
Basses Pyr6n6es
79*239
300*000
f
Rouen
51*688
195*648
Ditto \
Rochelle
46*039
174*279
Nantes
Bourdeaux
63*405
60*748
240*000
229*937
Barile
Corfu
18*000
68*133
Ditto
Ditto
S T aples
Florence
11*013
12*042
41-685
45'584
Ditto
Ditto
Bastia
Genoa
36*986
19*610
140-000
74-225
Ditto
Leghorn
12'042
45"584
Ditto
Ragusa
20*363
77'075
Ditto
Rome
15-413
58*341
Ditto
Zante
17*625
66'707
Bareile
Rh6ne Department
63*390
240-000
BergEimer
Both
Ratisbon
Germany
23-196
126'000
87-812
477*036
Botte
Brenta
Ditto
Ditto
France....
Milan
Verona
Bergamo
112*519
18*865
19*199
19-223
426*000
71*405
72-337
72*761
Cantara
Ditto
Ditto
Alicant
Arragon
Oviedo
3*052
2*724
5-098
11*554
10-313
19-286
Carabus
Persia
7-500
27-877
(continued)
422
APPENDIX.
Carga
Barcelona
Gallons.
Litres.
123-756
73-783
1-016
9-967
55-532
67-689
72-072
73-316
56-892
76-099
37-020
67-984
63-439
64-167
68-690
113-620
56-564
12-249
954-072
3-786
3-804
3-565
1-590
12-063
100-000
2'615
606-080
2-302
2-064
1-479
1-311
1-671
2-300
1-868
1-823
1-642
2-651
55-378
64-330
161-991
50-026
139-019
149-756
46'093
56-564.
249-558
236-458
1-694
8-175
32-695
19-493
0-268
2-633
14-670
17-870
19-040
19-368
15-030
20-102
9-750
17-959
16-761
16-950
18-145
30-014
14-942
3-250
252-000
1-000
1-008
0-942
0-419
3-187
26-419
22-001
0-691
150-000
0-608
0-545
3-786
0-391
0-346
0-441
0-607
0-493
0-481
0-433
0-700
14-630
16-990
42-798
13-215
36-700
39-572
12-176
14-942
65-930
62-487
0-447
2160
Corba
Bologna
Cuba
Abyssinia .
Cusa
Cyprus
Eimer
Breslau
Ditto
Dresden
Ditto
Erfurt
Ditto
Hungary, Higher
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto, Lower
Deipsic
Munich
Ditto Visiermass...")
Ditto Schenkmass. 5
Eimer ,
Nuremberg , , ^
Prague
Ditto
Ditto, Great
Prussia
Ratisbon ...
Eimer
Ditto
Fuder or Stuckfass
Germany
Gallon....
England
Ditto
France
Ditto
Ireland
Garniec
Poland . .
Gerra
Hectolitre
Minorca
T?* Q n 5" common gallon , . .
France I imperial gallon...
Kcinno
Leager
India, Ceylon
Lot
Ditto
Dunkirk
Lisle
Litre
France
Mass
Augsburg
Ditto
Ditto
Shaffhausen
Berne .
Maas
Heidelberg
Ditto
Mayence
M. Land ">
M.City S
Madida
Zurich (
Bra7.il ...
Mastello . :Ferrara
Millerolle Marseilles
Ohm
Basil....
Ditto jSwfiflen
Ditto |
Ditto
Dantzic
Strasburg . .
Orna
Oxhoft
Ditto
Trieste
Oldenburg
Libau
Pint
Scotland
Quartlin
Cassel ,..
APPENDIX.
423
-t
Gallons.
Litres.
Quartant
Marne
23789
90-057
Ditto ....
Burgundy
27-161
102*822
Quart
Lindau
0-606
2*294
Ditto
Quartin
LaNievre
3Jtij orc*"i<
30-375
7*168
ii5-ooa
27 "131
Rubbio
Turin
2'480
9'389
Ditto
Nice
2-076
7*857
Salma
Messina
23-079
87*36Q
Secchio ....
Venice
2-853
10-800
Setier ...
Geneva
11-948
45*224
Soma . .
Aucona
22*698
85-917
Stoff
Konigsburg
0'378
1'433
Stoopen
Stekan...
Antwerp
Amsterdam
0-726
5126
2-748
19*405
Stubgen
Bremen
0'842
3'187
Ditto
Brunswick
0-969
3-669
Ditto ....
Stralsund ....
1-027
3'883
Ditto
Zell
1-025
3-883
Vat ..,
Netherlands
26-419
100-000
Vedro ..
Russia
3-246
12*289
Viertal
Copenhagen
2-041
7-726
Ditto
Lubec
1-913
7-241
Ditto
Osnaburg
1-290
4'883
Ditto .
"vVismar
1-913
7-241
Ditto
Frankfort
1-948
7-373
Ditto
Cologne
1-580
5-980
Velte
France
2' 017
7'609
Ditto
Bourdeaux
1*896
7'177
Ditto
Bayonne
1'952
7-390
Ditto !
Roussillon i
1716
Besides the above, which are generally used for -wine measures alone,
the folio wing are frequently applied to the same purpose:
Cubic Inches.
Number equivalent
to 100 gallons
English.
Azumbre ....
1181
195*14
Used in Spain.
Quartillo .
29
784*40
Ditto.
Quartilla
185
124'86
Ditto.
Libra
2f
780-40
Ditto.
Cantara
775 5-6
29-78
Ditto.
Schoppen
780'40
Used in Strasburg.
Kanne
159-
144*71
,, Sweden.
Matero
1375
16*80
Italy.
Metaro
5771
40*00
Tunis.
Basso
275f
83'77
Verona.
Moggio
6789
3"40
Mantua,
Quartillo
66*09
Minorca.
Stof
78
293*90
Narva.
Aliquer
675|
34-18
Oporto.
Pint
116
199'14
Prague.
Boccale
79f
289*47
Rome.
Kra.skn
931
246'07
,, Russia.
Cassise
675
33'24
Sicily.
Neessal
44|
516-20
Stettin.
The following national wine measures, in a connected form, will not
be misplaced here :
424 APPENDIX.
SPAIK.
At Cadiz the cantaro is 8 azumbres, or 32 quartillos. The large
arroba is 4 gallons, the small 3f .
16 arrobas make 1 mayo
27 ditto 1 pipe
30 ditto 1 botta.
The bota is 127 J English wine gallons: the Sanish pipe 114f.
PORTUGAL.
At Figueras the almude is equal to 63 gallons.
AtViannato 6 ditto.
21 almudes of Oporto make a pipe; at Lisbon 31 almudes. At Lisbon
2 potes are equal to 12 canadas, or 48 quartillos: 18 almudes make a
baril: 52 almudes make 1 tonnelada, or 277 J gallons.
SWEDEN.
2 stoope make 1 kanne 2 oxhoft 1 pipe
16 kannes 1 anker 1 pipe is 124J gallons.
2 ankers 1 eimer 1 ahm is 41 5-12 ditto
2 eimers 1 ahm 100 kannes are 69 J gallons,
li ahms 1 oxhoft.
RUSSIA, PETERSBURG.
11 tsharky make 1 krashka 3 vedros make 1 anker
8 krashka 1 vedro 6 ankers 1 oxhoft
40 vedros 1 sorokovy 2 oxhofts 1 pipe.
13* bottles 1 vedro.
The vedro is not quite equal to 3 gallons.
RUSSIA GENERALLY.
English gallons, Litres.
1 garnetz = 0*72123 3'276875
1 vedro = 2-7048 12'289
1 tschetvrick __ 57698 26'215
1 osmine _. 23'079 104'86
1 tschetvert = 46'159 20972
1 last 738-54 3355'52
GREECE.
Wine is generally sold by the oke, 45 of which make 12 7 Ib. avoirdu-
pois: hence the oke is 2 Ib. 2 oz. 5 drachms of that weight.
ITALY.
At Trieste, 40 boccali are equal to 15 gallons. At Venice the anfora
= 4 bigonzi, or 8 mastelli, or 48 secchii, or 192 bozze, or 768 quartuzzi.
The anfora is 137 English gallons. At Genoa, 100 pinte = 1 barilla;
2 barilla = 1 mezzarolla, or 39 gallons English.
GERMANY.
At Hamburgh, the ahm is 38 gallons, and the fuder 229J. The ahm
is 5 tierces; a fass = 4 oxhofts, or 6 tierces. The oxhoft varies in
quantity.
APPEIsDIX.
425
HOLLAND, AMSTEEDA3I.
stoope = 5| pints.
100 mingles = 82 common or 26 imperial measure.
Dutch ahm = 41 gaUons.
DENMAEK.
4 ankers an ahm = 37| English gallons,
Copenhagen anker = 9'647 ditto.
100 pots = 25| gallons,
oxhoft = 58 ditto,
fuder = 930 pots.
CYPETJS.
1 }ar is 5 Florence bottles.
4 lars a barrel.
4 barrels a load.
Cyprus wines are exported in casks of 70 jars.
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
1 flask is H gallons, or 4'946 imperial.
1 anker 9 ditto, 7 -j^.
1 aum 38 ditto, 31|.
1 legger 152 ditto, 126 -rr-
A pipe is 110 gallons, old measure, or 91 -^j imperial.
It is to be hoped, that, in process of time, a greater uniformity in
weights and measures may prevail among civilised nations. Nothing
but inexcusable negligence prevented one British imperial gallon and
four French litres from being made equal, as the former differs so
slightly from the latter. This, at least, would have made uniform the
liquid measures of the two most civilised European nations.
The wisdom of reckoning liquid quantities by a medium standard,
instead of the old method of tuns, hogsheads, and so forth, need not be
commented upon; it is gratifying to see that the Custom-House returns
must be are made in imperial gallons only.
NO. xxn.
Tuns.
Pipes.
Pun-
cheons.
H gs-
heads.
Tierces.
Imperial
Gallons.
Gallons.
Quarts.
Pints.
French
Litres.
1
2
3
4
6
210
" 252
1008
2016
954-0720
1
U
2
3
105
126
504
1008
477-0360
1
tt
2
70
84
336
672
318-2240
1
1*
52|
63
272
504
238-5180
1
35
42
168
339
159-0120
1
1-20
4'80
9-60
4-5444
1
4
8
3-7860
1
2
9465
1
4732
426
APPENDIX.
STANDARD GUAGE FOR FOREIGN WINES.
Old
Gallons.
Imperial
Measure.
Pipe Carcavellos, Lisbon,
Bucellas
140
116*63540
Pipe of Port
138
114' 96918
j, Madeira ..
110
91*64210
,, Vidonia .. .
120
99'97320
Butt of Sherry
120
99*97320
Mountain
126
104*97186
Hogshead of Claret . .
57
47*48727
Tent ...
63
52*48593
Ahm, Rhenish
36
29*99196
Cape
20
16*66220
The tun is decimally
209*94372, imperial mea-
sure.
The pipe, 104*97186.
The puncheon, 69*98129.
The hogshead, 52*48593.
The tierce, 34'99062.
The gallon, -83311
ENGLISH CUBIC INCHES.
Pint 281
Old gallon 231 or 3 Ib. 5 oz. 64 dwt. avoirdupois.
Runlet 4,158
Barrel 7,276|
Tierce 9,702
Hogshead 14,553
Puncheon 19,279
Butt 29,106
Tun 58,212
The imperial gallon is 277-274 cubic inches, and the French litre
61-0280264 cubic inches English. 378^ litres make 100 old
imperial gallons English, and l %% 3 hectolitres make 100 ditto.
NO. xxin.
OLD WINE GALLONS, WITH THEIR EQUIVALENT IN IMPERIAL
GALLONS, EROH 1 TO 100.
For common purposes, the old gallon multiplied by 5, and divided
by 6, will answer very well : the following table will be available where
the nicest calculation is demanded. The reverse mode will answer for
the new gallon. To reduce a larger number to imperial measure may
be done thus : suppose 63 gallons old measure, or a hogshead to the
new imperial thus, 63 x '83311=52*486, or 63X|=^, or 52 im-
perial gallons, very nearly.
1
.0-83311
12
9-99733
23
19' 16155
34
28-32577
2
1-66622
13
10-83043
24
19-99466
35
29-15888
3
2-49933
14
11-66354
25
20-82777
36
29-99199
4
3-33244
15
12-49665
26
21-66088
37
30-82510
5
4-16555
16
13-32976
27
22-49399
38
31-65821
6
4-99867
17
14-16287
28
23-32711
39
32-49133
7
5-83178
18
14-99608
29
24-16022
40
33-32444
8
6-66489
19
15-82919
30
24-99333
41
34-15755
9
7-49800
20
16-66222
31
25-82644
42
34-99066
10
8-33111
21
17-49533
32
26-65955
43
35-82377
11
9 '16422
22
18-32844
33
27*49266
44
36-65688
(.continued)
APPENDIX.
427
45
37-48999
59
49-15354
73
60-81710
87
72-48065
46
38-32310
60
49-98665
74
61'65021
88
73-31376
47
39-15626
61
50-11976
75
62-48332
89
74' 14687
48
39-98932
62
51-65288
76
63-31643
90
74-97998
49
40-82243
63
52-48599
77
64-14954
91
75-81309
50
41-65555
64
53-31910
78
64-98265
92
76-64620
51
42-48866
65
54-15221
79
65-81576
93
77-47931
52
43-32177
66
54-98532
80
66-64887
94
78-31242
53
44-15488
67
55-81843
81
67-48198
95
79-14554
54
44-98799
68
56-65154
82
68-31509
96
79-97865
55
45-82110
69
57-48465
83
69-14820
97
80-81176
56
46-65421
70
58-31776
84
69-98152
98
81-64487
57
47-48732
71
59-15087
85
70-81443
99
82-47798
58
48-32043
72
5Q-98398
86
71-64754
100
83-31109
ROMAN WINE MEASURES WITH OLD ENGLISH GALLONS.
Ouleus ..
1
20
40
160
960
1,920
3,840
7,680
11,520
46,080
Decimal
old
Gallons.
135-6551
'6-7827
3-3913
0-8478
0-1414
0-0707
0-0353
0-0176
0-0117
0-0029
Ampliora
1
2
3
48
96
192
384
576
2304
Urna*
1
4
24
48
96
192
288
1152
Gonjius
1
6
12
24
48
72
288
Sextarius
1
2
4
8
12
48
Hprrnri3i
1
2
4
6
24
Quartarius
1
2
3
12
1
1-5
6
"i
4
i
Acetabulum
Cyathus
Li&ula
No. XXIV.
INSTRUMENT REFERRED TO, Page 75.
The outline below is very simple. The object is to decant the wine
without the smallest disturbance. The instrument being firmly
screwed to a table, is elevated or depressed by moving forward or
backward a circular bit of wood, the end of which is seen in Fig. 4.
The corkscrew and vice, Fig. 1, explain themselves. The tubes which
are introduced into the bottles are more complicated. Fig. 3 is little
other than a prolonged funnel, the lower end bent as wine funnels are
in general. The top is capped, and only a small opening is left for the
introduction of Fig. 2. This last being inserted in the bottle to be
decanted, as shown in the sketch below; the large end has a forked
and curved tube to be placed in the orifice of Fig. 3, over which is a
little ring to receive a pointed knot on Fig. 2, and keep it in its place;
the cock in the neck of the upper tube is turned, and the air entering
by the second fork of the tube curved upwards, fills the vacant space
as the wine flows out. A second cock closes the tube which enters
the empty bottle, should it be of smaller size than that holding the
wine, and danger of an overflow be apprehended. Both these instru-
ments fit the bottles hermetically, by means of their conical shape,
428
APPENDIX.
near the upper end, almost close to which, in the lower part of the
tube, some small holes are made in the upper side of the tube, to take
off the last of .the wine in the bottle's neck. See Fig. 2.
No. XXV.
EEOTLATIONS OF THE CUSTOMS.
Wine must be imported in vessels of 60 tons or upwards.
Wine must be imported, for home consumption, in British ships, or
those of the country in which the wine is grown, or of the country
from which it is exported.
Wines of France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Canaries, Madeira, and
the Western Islands, imported in foreign ships, to be alien goods, and
pay port and town dues.
No abatement to be made on account of damaged wine.
Wine from the Cape must have a certificate of its production.
By the Act 9th Geo. IV., cap. 76, wine is permitted to be imported
in any sized package, and the duties on bottles are reduced to one-
fourth, and from British possessions to 8d. per dozen.
No. XXVI.
ALCOHOLIC STEENGTH OF WINES AND LIQTJOES, AFTEE
ME. BEANDE, EXCEPT THOSE IN ITALICS.
This is confessed to be an inaccurate statement of the mean alcoholic
strength of wines and liquors. It is obvious that there will be a great
difference produced by the nature of the fruit and the season, as well
as by the fermentation and the alcohol evolved, so that no wine from
APPENDIX.
429
the same vineyard will exactly agree for two successive years. Ana-
lyses for seven years, and then registering the mean, would be desirable.
No doubt many of these wines received additions of brandy, and were
not pure. Genuine wine carefully obtained, and thus analysed, would
afford something of a test to detect the brandy introduced on importa-
tion. Portugal and Sicilian wines are always brandied, some without
discretion. We know that amontillado has not more than 13 or 14
of brandy per cent. Sherry is here set down generally at 19 and
upwards, when some sorts have alcohol in addition, and others little or
none.
Burgundy, average of ")
four samples )
Pure Alcohol
per cent.
Madeira Malmsey, red
Ditto
Pure Alcohol
per cent.
14-57
11-95
16-60
12-61
13-80
12-80
12-32
12-79
12-32
14-22
15*52
17-43
13-94
12-80
13-86
19-00
17-26
17-11
16-32
14-08
12-91
15-10
21-24
18-94
17'26
19-17
19'79
19-25
17-26
13-20
14-37
13-00
8-88
12-22
11-46
19-75
22-96
18-94
19-20
18-10
18-49
16-40
22-30
18*40
24-42
23-93
21-40
19-41
22-27
25-09
19-70
26-47
24-35
15*28
30-00
16-20
19-75
18-92
18-25
22*94
20-51
19-80
15-52
9-88
14-63
26-40
2512
20'o5
11-84
11-26
9-87
54-32
53-90
53-68
53-39
51-60
7'84
7-26
7-32
8-88
6'20
5'56
4-20
6-80
1-23
Ditto, lowest of the four ...
Ditto, highest of ditto
Champagne, four sam- ")
pies; average /
Ditto ...
Sercial
Ditto
Average
Dftto, still
Marsala; average of two j
specimens .... )
Ditto, mousseux
CdteRotie
Lacryma Christi
Frontignan
Lissa ..
Bed Hermitage
Ditto
Sautenie
Lunel
Syracuse
Etna
White Hermitage
Aleatico . .
Vinde Grave
Constantia, white
Ditto, second sample
Barsac
Ditto, red
Cape Muscat
K/oussillon
Ditto Madeira
Ditto, second sample
Average of three sainO
pies j
Claret ...
Ditto
Shiraz, white
Ditto
Ditto, Ted
Ditto
Tokay
Average
Nice
Grenache ...
Raisin wine
Malaga, 1666 .
Average of three spe-")
cimens S
Ditto
Sherry; average of four")
kinds $
Currant wine
Gooseberry .
Teneriffe
Orange ; average of six \
samples . _)
Vidonia
AlbaElora
Elder wine
Tent
SPIEITS.
Scotch Whisky
Hochheimer
Ditto
Ditto, old
Irish ditto
Jiudeslieimer, 1800
Rum
Average of ten kinds by \
Ziz and Prout J
Brandy
Gin
Colarcs Port ....
Cider, 9*87 and 5'21 average
Perry; four samples
Mead
Port; average of seven)
specimens y
Lisbon
Burton Ale
Carcavellos
Edinburgh
Ditto ..
Dorchester
Bucellas
London Porter
Madeira Malmsey
Brown Stout
Ditto, red
London Small Beer
430 APPENDIX.
A tolerably correct guess may be formed on this subject by the re-
turns from the wine districts in France of the quantity of the brandy
of commerce, extracted from the different wines of that country the
southern wines yielding the most. Burgundy and the wines of the
Cote d'Or generally give only one-eighth of brandy in distillation,
which brandy contains only 53-39 of pure alcohol. Hence the return
at the above rate must be erroneous. The wines of the Bordelais give
a fifth of their weight in the brandy of commerce, and the strong
wines of the Drome a third, or 33 1-3 per cent. This last would be
16| pure alcohol. Now the difference in weight between the brandy of
commerce and wine in general is not great. The specific gravity of
Burgundy is -991 ; of Claret, -992 ; of Hock, -999; of Champagne,
962; of Madeira, 1*038; of pure alcohol, -8293; water being reckoned
1000. The brandy of commerce is -8371. It is probable that if the
foregoing statement were read brandy in place of pure alcohol per
cent., it would far exceed the truth. The addition of brandy artificially
is another question. The statement only relates to the natural wines,
with the brandy which is formed in fermentation.
The following is another statement upon what authority is un-
known. It will be seen that it differs from the former:
A bottle of Port, of 26 oz., seven years in glass, gave 2 oz. 7 dchms. of pure
alcohol.
A bottle of Port, 25 oz., one year in bottle, and two in wood, 2 oz. 6 dchms. of
pure alcohol.
Ditto pale Sherry, 25 oz., and three years old, produced, 2 oz. 4 dchms.
Ditto another specimen, 2 oz. 7 dchms.
Ditto Madeira, 25 J oz., two years old, produced 2 oz. 5 dchms.
Ditto Cape, 25 oz., one year old, produced 2 oz.
Ditto old Hock, 21 oz., produced nearly 1 oz.
Ditto Brandy, 24 oz., produced 10 oz.
Ditto Rum, 24| oz- produced 9 oz.
Port wine contains in the residuum an astringent extract, and malic acid, with
much more tartaric acid than Madeira, and Sherry much less than either. The
preference given to Port on account of its astringency, is objectionable by reason
of its malic acid, causing indigestion and irritability of the viscera. Sherry is
better fermented, less obnoxious on that account, and therefore preferable wher-
ever such irritability is observable, or the port- wine drinker feels his stomach out
of order, and cannot discover the cause.
No. XXVII.
The wines of antiquity most commonly met with are as follows. The
list is taken from the Encyc. Metropolitans
Abates. Carenum. Aeoreplos.
> * -\ > Caulmum. *** c^iu.
Acvy\cvKes. Coecuban. 'E^/za.
Albanuni. Chalybon. Falernum.
Chian. Helbon, or
Circumcisiturn. v \ /o<
Chazomenian. XoXifroww.
ySSSL Cnidos. Ismarus.
Corinthian. Labici.
Arsymum. Corcyran. Lesbos.
AvroKparov. Coum. Leucadia.
Bythynian. Crete. Lora.
Byblos. Cyprus. Mamertinun.
Caleuum. Defutum. Mareoticum.
APPENDIX.
431
Maronean.
Massilian.
Moecenatianum.
Mendean.
Meroe,
Narbonensian.
Naxos.
Nomentanum.
9 O\iy6<bopoi.
Omphacites.
Operarium.
Passuin.
Phanean.
Polloeum.
Ho\V(j)OpOL.
Pramman.
Rhodian.
Rhoaticum.
Sabinum.
Sapa.
Saprian.
Sciathos.
Scybellites.
Sebenniticmn.
Setinum.
Signium.
Svpalov.
Sporatuin.
Statanum.
Surretine.
Tseniotic.
Tarragona.
Tauromenian.
Thasian.
Tibenum.
Titucazenum.
Tmolites,
Venefranum.
Vienna.
Zakynthos.
NO. xxvin.
LIST of some of the various LIQUORS in use among MODERN NATIONS
besides WINE.
Xame.
Country.
From what extracted or distilled.
Brandy, eau de vie
Aguardiente
Prance
Spain
Holland
Germany
Brunswick
Zara
Dalmatia
Dantzic
Goa
Batavia
r Grapes, potatoes, corn, cider and perry,
< plums, cherries, residue of the brewhouses,
C&.C.
C Generally from the grape, and of tolerable
( quality,
r From corn, flavoured with juniper in rec-
(. tification.
C Distilled from the murk, fermented with
1 ground rye or barley.
{Fermented wheaten malt, and oatmeal,
with fir-rind ; lops of fir and. beech, and
variety of herbs.
Distilled from the cherry.
Grape murk, and aromatic herbs distilled.
C Distilled from corn and other substances ;
< sometimes called eau de vie de Dantzick,
(.named from having gold leaf floating in it.
Made of the juice of the cocoa- tree.
Made from rice.
Brandy, sugar, cinnamon, and cloves, distilled.
C A brandy, distilled from rye and barley,
1 sold in shops.
f Made of the juice of the birch-tree, boiled
I and fermented.
C Distilled from corn and the black ant ; a
1 powerful spirit.
Ditto, from corn.
Ditto, from oatmeal and hops ; a white liquor.
Honey, beer-lees, and kalatsch, fermented.
C Barley-malt, rye-malt, oatmeal, fermented
(. and made acidulous,
f Differently prepared with the preceding,
c. being rye-meal and water alone.
f A beer resembling Braga, but different in
I colour,
f Prepared from sloes and numerous wild
I berries.
(continued)
Geneva
Troster
Muni . .
Mariskino
Rakia
Goldwasser
Arrack
Arrack
Rosolio
Snaps
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Russia
Birch wine
Brandy . . .
Ditto
Braga
Mead
Kisslyschtxhy
Schara
The Calmucks
Hill Tartars
Arraki
432
APPENDIX.
Name.
Country.
From what extracted or distilled.
Busa
A beer brewed from ground millet.
f Distilled from a sweet grass, called Slat-
(.kaia-trava, with certain berries to flavour*
Made from a red mushroom of the country.
Beer fermented from the grain of the country.
Distilled from grapes.
A species of beer.
f Sugar, lemon-juice, apricots or plums, and
1 flavoured with some sweet flower,
f Beer prepared from barley, previously
(. roasted.
C Prepared, as in other places, from the
(. tree of that name.
C Prepared from honey, barley, and a root
I called taddo.
Prepared from grain on the coast.
Prepared from the palm-tree.
Prepared from Indian wheat.
Fermented from millet, or Guinea corn.
Distilled from figs.
(" Made from the Shamnus Lotus, or tree
(. of the food of the ancient Lotophagi.
Raisins and water prepared,
f Superior to that of Nubia, of similar ma-
(.terials.
C Distilled of very good quality, from the
(. grape at Shiraz ; sold by weight.
Cows' milk made into a orink like koumiss.
C Mares' milk fermented; a strong drink
\ called arika is frequently distilled from it.
/ A superior rice wine. The lees distilled
(.yield a brandy called show-coo, or sam-su.
A beer from barley or wheat,
f Lambs' flesh, mashed with milk, or with
(. rice, and fermented.
Palm wine.
( From jaggory, a kind of molasses from
1 the sugar cane,
r Pahn wine, when distilled, affords arrack ;
1 hence the English word toddy. The wine of
<! the wild date is called Sindag in the Car-
Lnatic Hindu, in the Telling and Zamul
Callu.
( Made of Madhuca flowers (bassia bu-
\tryacea).
Distilled from the cocoa-tree.
Distilled from wheat or rice.
Prepared from the grape, in two modes.
A drink from sheep's milk fermented.
j Generally prepared from rice.
Fermented palm juice.
C Three different strengths of distilled rice,
1 or of arrack,
r Rice boiled, and stewed with razi or
onions, black pepper, and capsicum, made
<^ into cakes, and sold as a ferment. Brom
is a different preparation of the same sub-
Lstances.
Nearly the same as the Java brom.
(continued)
Baka
Kamtschatka
Muchumor . . ..
Zythum....
Syria
Egypt
Araki
Carmi
Sherbet
Turkey
Nubia
Ethiopia
Dahomey
Congo
Bouza
Palm wine
Mead
Pitto .
Milaffo
Guallo
Pombie ... .
The Caffres
Morocco
Tripoli, interior
Barbary
Constantinople
Persia
Tartary
Mahayah
Xiotus wine
TJsuphorUsaph...
Boza
Brandy
Airen
Koumiss
Mandrin
China
Tar-a-sun
Lamb wine . ..
Cha
Rum
India
Ditto
Ceylon
Nepaul
Tari
Mahwah Arrack...
Toddy
Phaur
Sihee ....
Sihee . ...
Afghanistan
Siam and the
Birmans
Nicobar Islands
Java
Ditto Natives
Sumatra
Lau.... ....(
(.
Soura, or Taury...
Ki-ji, Tan-po, \
Si-chew .)
BAdek and Brom
Bruin
APPENDIX.
433
Name.
Country.
From what extracted or distilled.
Kokemar
Persia
Poppy seeds in decoction, drank hot.
Paniz
Corea
f From a grain, supposed to be a coarse
Sacki
Japan
A beer from fermented rice.
Awamuri {
Sagwire
Japanese
Islands
Celebes
f A drink from corn and different fruits
t fermented.
A strong species of palm wine.
Tuba
Manilla Isles
From a species of palm.
KftVft ,
Friendly Isles
C A species of pepper plant chewed by the
-< women, and their saliva collected and di-
Ava
Otaheite
Uuted with water.
< ^ A root which is bruised or baked before
Y-wer'a {
Peach Brandy... {
Brandewyn |
Sandwich
Islands
United States
of America
Cape of Good
Hope
The West
T-nrJiao
C A spirit like whiskey, but less strong;
(. from the tea root.
( The peaches are treated as similar fruits
1 in Europe.
C A bad brandy, distilled from the husks
I and stalks of the grapes and wine lees.
1 Distilled from molasses.
(.
Tafia
Ditto
A poor kind of rum.
Piworree, or")
Ouycon $
Guyana
Prepared from the cassava, resembling
beer. Cakes of cassava made about three-
quarters of an inch thick, are baked until
they are brown throughout. "Women then
moisten their mouths with a little water,
and chew a piece of bread until it is per-
<j fectly saturated with saliva. They then
Pulque
Mexico
saliva into a vessel in the centre. "When a
sufficient quantity of this extract is made,
they add water to the extent of 200 gallons
or more, leave it to ferment until sour, and
.then drink it.
( The juice of the agave fermented; a
< strong spirit is also made from it, called
Ghica
(.Aguardiente de Magney.
Beer made from maize by the Indians.
Masato
( A drink from the roots of the manioc, or
Grape
Brazil
1 yucca.
f Black sugar, water, and the leaves of the
AlDV
(. akaja tree to make it intoxicating.
C Prepared from the aipimakakara, a spe-
Kaviaraku ..
(. cies of manioc.
The preceding, before fermentation.
Kooi
Prepared of the akaje apple.
Vintro da Batatas
Brandy
Portugal
Prepared from the batata root.
C Distilled pure and good ; also often from
< damaged figs and raisins ; some kinds are
Gin, or British")
Brandy .)
Porter, Beer, ")
Ale, &c )
Whiskey
England
Ireland and
Scotland
Cbad in quality.
r A pure spirit, distilled from corn, but too
fierce to be sold alone, and therefore re-
< duced and rectified, or rather adulterated,
with turpentine, juniper berries, nitre, or
Lprunes.
Fermented from malt and hops.
j Distilled from corn, a pure spirit.
INDEX OF WINES.
A.
Astracan, 300
Beru, 129
Abasas, 250
Aubiac, 160
Bessingheini, 227
Abbocati, 275
Abrio, 176
Absac, 159
Aubigny, 114
Augenscheimer, 216
Augusta, 281
Beze, 119
Beziers, 148
Bianillo, 281
Absintham, 22
Ausbruch, 283
Biella, 279
Adenas, 139
Agros, 295
Ahr, 227
Auslaas, 233, 234
Aussac, 146
Australia, 311
Birs, 229
Birthalmen, 287
Bischeim, 225
Ahrweiler, 231
Auxerre, 127
Bischofsheim, 228
Aiguillon, 179
Avallon, 128
Bischillatto, 280
Ajaccio, 192
Avenay, 116, 166
Blaie, 139
Alais, 143
Alba Flora, 210
Avensan, 166, 168
Aveyron, 146
Blaignau, 168
Blanchot, 127
Alban, 8
Avize, 103
Blandans, 186
Albano, 275
Axarquia, 202
Blanquefort, 165
Albi, 144
Aleatico, 275, 278 280
Ay, 101
Azores, 268
Blanquette de Calvisson,
142
Alencnier 250
A 7V 11 dt
Aleyor, 210
Alicant, 148, 198
ja./<J, JLJLtU
B.
tie juimoiix, L'Mo
Blaye, 159, 171
Blere, 186
Allassac, 185
Bacharacli, 215
Blischert, 225
Aloxe, 133
Bacalan, 162
Blood Wine, 229
Altenahr, 225
Baden\veiler, 227
Bagneres, 157
Bodendorf, 231
Bodenheim, 223
Altkirch, 183
Baia, 274
Boivins, 127
Amaro, 265
Baixas, 155
Bologna, 276
Ambes, 162
Ballan, 186
Bommes, 171
Ambonnay, 100
Banal Busa, 210
Borderie, 176
Amontillado, 206
Banyuls, 151
Borja, 198
Ampuls, 140
Bar sur Aube, 115
Bostandschi-Oglu, 299
Andelys, 192
Bar, 180
Boudon, 146
Annay, 128
Antella, 278
Barbe Blanche, 159
Barolles, 138
Bouillac, 160
Bourg, 159
Antignana, 288
Barsac, 171
Boursalt, 102
Antonia Santa, 266
Bas Medoc, 168
Bouscat, 164
Arbois, 187, 188
Bassens, 160, 162
Boussicat, 127
Arcadi, 291
Arcetri, 278
Bassieux, 139
Bastard, 201
Bouzac, 143
Bouzy, 100
Arcins, 166
Bastia, 192
Branne, 159
Argeles, 157
Argentac, 185
Batard Mont Eachet, 122
Baurech, 160
Branne Mouton, 167
Braunebergcr, 227
Argentine, 143, 144
Arjuzanx, 189
Bazas, 171
Beaumont, 116
Brede, 163
Brescia, 276
Arrope, 201, 205
Beaune, 120, 133
Bre"zeme, 134
Arsac, 168,
Seausoleil, 146
Bronte, 281
Arsures, 187
Beautiran, 162, 163
Brouilly, 139
Artiminio, 278
Secberbach, 227
Sruges, 164
Arvisio, 297
Begadin, 168
Brunetiere, 176
Asciati, 2V5
Selfont, 183
Bruxelles, 141
Assinannshauser, 225, 226,
Bellecave, 177
Bucellas,250
234
Beni Carlos, 198
Buda, 285
Asprino, 274
Serchetz, 288
Buly, 181
Asque,162
Jergerac, 175
Bussy, 180
Bub
Bernay, 192
Byblos, 9
INDEX.
435
c.
Chalais, 177
Conditum, 22
Cabinet, 224
Chalons, 98
Condrieu, 139
Cabrides, 147
Chalybon, 6
Conflans, 177
Cadillac, 160
Chambertin, 119, 132
Constantia, 314
Csecuban, 8
Cagnes, 149
Chambery, 279
Chambolie, 119, 133
Coquempin, 229
Corneilla de laEivi6re^.l56
Cahors, 178, 179
Champagne, 95
Cornolas, 142
Caizaguet, 145
Calabria, 274.
Charnpeau, 127
Champgachot, 129
Corregliano, 288
Corfu, 298
Calenian, 8
Champigney, 177
Cornas, 144
Calhota, 266
Champillon, 116
Corte, 192
Calmus, 228
Calvados, 191
Chanos-Curson, 134
Chapelle de Bois, 133
Gorton, 121
Cosne, 177
Carna de Lobos, 265
Chapitre, 119
Cosperon, 155
Cambes, 160
Chapotte, 127
Costiere, 141
Camblanes, 160
Charnay, 130
C6te-a-bras, 100
Campanario, 265
Charneco, 251
C6te Botie, 138
Campo di Carinena, 199
Campsas, 146
Canary, 210
Chassagne, 122
Chassagny, 138
Chateau Neuf, 140
Chdlons 186
des Chanoines, 181
des Celestins, 191
Cotnar 288
L/anctia, -Ji
rniinrm 177
uancianar, ouo
Haut Brion 168
Goulanges, 133
Coutet 171
p -p , i -KQ
Lifittc 167
Coutras 159
Cape Corsica' 192
Latour, 167
Couture, 177
Cape of Good Hope, 313
Capo d'Istria, 288
Cawrea 74
Cramant, 102
Creuze Noire, 130
Crimea 273
JUcllUU ,
BOUT"* 111
Thicrrv llli
p ,j 'IQQ
p -\oY -lofj
Carbonieux, 171
Chavost, 102
Cubsac, 160
Carcassone, 146
Chaudiere, 148
Cuis, 102
Carcavellos, 250
Chinas, 133
Cully, 230
Carigliano, 275
Chen6ve, 119
Cumel, 140
Carinena, 199
Chesnas, 139
Cumieres, 99
Carlowitz, 288
Chevalier Mont Eachet,
Cunac, 145
Carmignano, 278
122
Cusel, 227
Carynthia, 288
Chian, 6, 8, 14
Cussac, 166
Cashmere, 308
Chianti, 279
Cyprus, 290
Castehnoron, 179
Chiavenna, 229
Castelnau, 166, 168
Chigny, 101
D.
Castelnaudary, 146
Chili, 320
Damery, 102, 116
Castel Sarrasin, 146
Chorasan, 305
Dannemoine, 129
Castifflione, 276
Chouilly, 102
Danzenac, 185
CastiUon, 159
Chusclan, 142
Dariste, 165
Castres, 163
Cissac, 167
Davaye, 130
Cattaro, 259
Citta Nova, 288
Deidesheim, 222
Cauderan, 164
Civrac, 168
Desales, 230
Caudrot, 160
Clairac.,179,158
Dezize, 131
Caumont, 141
Clairet, 188
Die, Clairette de, 138
Oaunonao, 280
Clairion, 127
Dissay, 177
Causses, 179
Clamecv, 177
Dizy, 99
Celestins, 191
Claret, 173
Domdechant, 234
Cellneuve, 147
Clazomeroe, 10
Dormans, 102
Cenou, 159
Cephalonia, 298
Clavoyon, 122
Claux Cavalier, 141
Douro, 246
Dulamon, 165
Ceretan, 9
Clos-Bernardon, 119
Durbach, 227
Cerigo, 298
Tavarmes, 122
Du Eoi, 119
Cerons, 171, 172
Pitois, 122
Chablis, 127, 128
de la Perriere, 119
E.
Chabrieres, 191
Closet, 116
Ecueil, 116
Chacholi, 199
Colares, 251
Effragoni, 294
Chainette, 127
Chaintre, 130
Collioure, 151
Commandery, 293, 294
Epernay, 102
Epineuil, 129
436
INDEX.
Epstein, 227
Gaubischeim, 222
Ison,162
Erbach, 217
Gaude, 149
Ispahan, 305
Erdo Benye, 285
Gaye Sicabaig, 156
Istria, 288
Erlach, 229
Geissenheim, 225
Erlon, 282
Genevrieres, 122
J.
Ermitage-paille, 136
Espirande, FAgly, 155
Georgia, 301, 305
Geropiga, 222
Jau, 168
Jaulnay, 177
Essejaux, 120
Gervans Rouge, 137
Jenorodi, 298
Essone, 114
Gevray, 126
Johannisberger, 216, 231
Essoyes, 115
Giberwein, 287
Johannisberger Durbach,
Est, 275
Gierace, 274
227
Etandes, 129
Gilan, 305
Joigny, 129
Etna, 281
Giro, 280
Joue, 186
Etoile, 186
Girolles, 129
Judas, 127
Eure, 178
Givry, Clos de, 128
Jullie"nas, 139
Evreux, 192
Glun, 144
Juran9on, 157
Eysines, 164
Gomera, 211
Gorce, 171
K.
F.
Gorvaens, 250
Kaffa, 299
Fabas, 146
Goutte d'Or, 122
Kesroan, 307
Fagaa-do Pereira, 266
Graach, 227
Kesseling, 225
Falernian, 8
Gradignan, 163
Kissanos, 292
Faro, 281
Farcies, 176
Graefenberg, 222, 233
Graves, 162
Klcbner, 184
Klugelberger, 217
Fargues, 171
Grauve, 102
Koesterick, 222
Faudine, 9
Gravosa, 288
Kokour, 299
Feitorie wines, 247
Gravilliers, 115
Konigsbach, 224
Figeac, 179
Gravieres, 122
Koss, 299
Figueras, 197
Graviscau, 9
Filhot, 171
Grenache,141,151
L.
Finckenwen, 184
Grenet, 160
Labarde, 166
Fixin, 126
Grenonille, 127
Lacombe Global, 151
Fixev, 126
Grimard, 180
Lacryma Christi, 274
Fleckenvine, 231
Grise, 129
Lafitte, 167
Fley, 129
Groswarden, 282, 286
Lagrimas, 201
Fleury, 102,
Grunhauser, 227, 230
Lahore, 307
Fleurie, 139
Guben, 227
Lamarque, 166, 229
Floirac, 160
Guinchay, 130
Lamego, 250
Florence, 278
Guindas, 200
Lampsacus, 297
Florida, 318
Guienne, 24
Landiras, 171
Fondillon,199
Formian, 8
Fran, 146
Guitres, 159
Gyaengysesch, 285
Gyorgy, 257
Langon, 171
Lapian, 168
La Rose, 166, 174
Fronsadais, 159
Latour, 156, 167
Frontignac, 148
Frontenay, 186
H.
Hannibal's Camp, 142
Laubenheim, 222, 225
Latinensian, 9
Frontignat, 180
Haut Medoc, 167
La Torre, 198
Fuencaral, 199
Haut Brion, 163, 168
Laudun, 142
Fuisse", 130
Hautvilliers, 99
Layon, 182
Fumel, 179
Helbon,6,306
Lasseraz, 279
Herault, 148
Leattico, 292
G.
Hermitage, 136
Lecore, 277
Gadagnes, 141
Hinterhaus, 234
Ledenon, 141
Gaillac, 145
Hochheimer, 219, 223, 225
Leisten, 228
Gaillau, 168
Galafura. 250
Holy Spirit, 228
Hospital, 199, 229
Lejas, 155
Leognan, 162
Galiee, 138
Leoville, 166
Gan, 157
I.
Lesbos, 227
Gannat, 190
lies, 127
Lesparre, 158, 168, 171
Garigues d' Avignon, 140
Illats, 171, 172
Lestrac, 166, 168
Sorgues, 141
Imol 276
Leuvrigny, 102
Libos 179
Garnaccia, 280
Isle St' Georges, 162
Libourne, 158,171
Gascony, 24
,Isle Abbey, 171
Lichtenstein, 287
INDEX.
437
Liebfrauen-milch, 222
Limoux, 146
Limnari, 294
Maslas, 285
Massic, 8
Massican, 10
Morgeot, 122
Moscatello, 275, 280
Moscatta, 276
Lisbon, 250
Loche, 130
Massilia, 10
Mataro, 198
Moselle, 180, 225, 230
Moulin a Vent, 130
Longlade, 147
Mauves, 144
Moulins, 190
Lossery, 177
Mazan, 141
Moulis, 166, 168
Louneuil, 177
Mazy, 119
Mountain, 201
Louviers, 192
Mazara, 281
Mount Matra, 285
Ludes, 101
Ludon, 164
Medina del Campo, 199
Medoc, 159, 171
Moussy, 102
Moustille, 185
Lunel, 148
Mees, 191
Mosyvina, 288
Luttenberg, 288
Mecoui, 297
Murviedro, 198
Lussac, 159
Meissen, 227
Muscat, 204
Luxuria, 295
Mendean, 6
Muscatta, 276
Mendoza, 316
Musigny, 119, 133
M.
Me"netru, 186
Mussy, 115
Macau, 162, 165
Menil, 102
Macabeo, 151, 198
Macedonia, 298
Mercurol, 134
Merignac, 162
N.
Nahe, 227
Macon, 130
Mejannes, 143
Napoli di Malvasia, 290
Madiran, 159
Magdeleine,146
Mezes-Male, 285
Menes, 285
Narbomie, 146
Nasco, 280
Mada, 285
Meneser, 286
Navarre, 156
Madeira, 262
Mingrelia, 305
Naumberg, 228
Naxos 296
Tinto,266
Minorca, 210
Minturna, 9
Neac, 159
Majorca, 210
Meursalt, 121
Nebiolo, 280
Malaga, 201
Mexico, 318
Nectar, 297
Mailly, 100
Migraine, 127
Neckar, 227
Malgue, 149
Milo, 297
Nerte, 141
Malijay,191
Mista, 297
NeufcMtel, 229
Malmsey, 211, 266
Moetling, 288
Neuville, 115
Malvagia, 278
Mancy, 102
Moirax/179
Moisac, 146
Nicaria, 297
Nierstein, 222, 225
Malvasia, 25, 151, 290,
Mozamboz, 187
Nieuwillers, 184
291
Molins, 102
Nismes, 141
Mamertine, 9
Molosme,129
Nomentine, 9
Manzanares, 196
Molsheim, 184
Norman wine, 193
Manzanilla, 206
Monaca, 280
Norrois, 99
Maranges, 131
Monoaon, 250
Novella, 274
Marcs d'Or, 119
Mondf errand, 162
Nues, 177
Marcobrunner, 224, 225,
Monfaute, 128
Nuits, 133
233
Montferrat, 280
Maraschina, 288
Montagne, 159
O.
Mardeuil, 102
Montauban, 146
Obryan, 174
Margaux, 166
Mantes, 191
Montbartier, 146
Mont Basillac, 176
(Edenburg, 285
(Euilly, 102
Mareotic, 6
Montbazin, 148
Ofen, 282
Maronea, 6
Monte Eiascone, 275
Oger,102
Marque, 229
Month^che'rin, 128
Ohio, 318
Marsala, 281
Montelcino, 278
Olivette, 129
Marne, 96
Montilla, 208
Omodos, 294
Mareuil,99,101
Montigny, 187
Opimian, 8, 9
MarsaUet, 176
Montmelian, 279
Oporto, 239
Marsannay, 126
MartiUac, 163
Monte Pulciano, 277
Monte Serrato, 280
Oppenheim, 222
Orsan, 142
Marzenius, 288
Mont Rachet, 40, 122
Oraison, 191
Mascoli, 281
Mont de Milieu, 128
Onieto, 275
Mas des Cotes Plaines,
Monthelon, 102
Osey, 24
140
Mont Saugeon, 114
de la Garigue, 151
Morea, 291
P.
Masdeu, 154
Morey, 133
Palignian, 10
438
HS'DEX.
Palma, 211
Palmasian, 9
Palotte, 127
Palunia, 286
Palus, 159, 162
Pampeluna, 199
Panissac, 151
Pardigues, 146
Paron, 129
Particolore, 191
Passum optimum, 17
Pau, 156
Pavia, 276
Paxarete, 204, 208
Pedro Ximenes, 200, 204
Peralta, 199
Perales, 199
Pericard, 179
Perriere, Clos de la, 119
Cote d'Or, 122
Pree, 177
Premaux, 125, 133
Prepatour, 189
Praetutian, 9
Preignac, 168, 171
Privas, 143
Prosecco, 288
Pucine, 9
Puerta de la Reyna, 199
Puisseguin, 159
Pujols, 171
Pupillin, 187
Q.
Queryac, 168
Queryes, 162
Quetard, 127
t^uinsac, 160
Quintigny, 186
R.
Habadavia, 200
Etagusa, 259
llanao wines, 247
Hangen, 183
Hasdorof, 300
iaulis, 176
iaussan, 166
lech, 225
leggio, 274
leole, 158, 171
lethymo, 292
leventin, 140
lhaetian, 9
Iheims, 96
Ihenish, 225
Ihodes, 292
licey, 115
lichebourg, 120, 133
liesling, 184
liez, 191
Rilly, 101
Limaneze, 278
linsport, 227
livesaltes, 149
lioxa, 199
local, 179
-oche, 177
-oche-rouge, 137
lochgude Tinto, 138
loffey, 129
logome", 178
-omaneche, 130
Romance St. Vivant, 120,
133
Roth, 244
Roussillon, 149, 151. 253
Rouvres, 128
Rozan, 174
Rudesheimer, 224, 234
berg, 234
hinterhaus,
Rust, 285
S
Sack, 203, 211
Saillans, 138
Saillant, 185
Salornay, 130
Salses, 155
Sam Zou, 309
Samos, 297
San Lucar, 206
Sangeot, 131
Sansal, 288
Santenot, 121, 133
Santorim, 297
Santo Stefano, 278
Peru, 320
Pessac, 163
Pesth, 282
Petit Tokai, 288
Peyre-blanche, 141
Peyrestortes, 155
Pezilla, 156
Pezo da Regoa, 250
Phanean, 6
Piatra, 288
Picardan, 148
Piecoli, 288
Pied de Rat, 127
Pierre Clos, 130
Pierry, 102
Piesport, 9,25
Piquette, 30, 145
Pirano, 288
Pirga, 227
Pitois, 122
Pitcher, 216
Plaine de Paza, 141
Poches, 129
Podensac, 171
Poleschowitz, 287
Poligny, 187
Pollentia, 210
Pollium, 9
Pomard, 120, 133
Pommerol, 159
Poncino, 278
Pontac, 167, 171
Pont Audemer, 192
Pouillac, 167
Pouilly, 131, 177
Poujols, 147
Portets, 163
Porte St. Marie, 179
Port Vendres, 151
Posega, 288
Potensac, 168
Prgaux, 129 ]
Sarepta, 300
Sartena, 192
Saulayes, 162, 177
saumur, 182
Sauterne, 171
Sauvage, 142
Savangac, 179
saverne, 184
Savigny, 120, 133
icharlachberg, 222
icharsberger, 226
ichaffhausen, 229
'Chamet, 216
charzhofberger, 230
chelestadt, 184
chierstein, 227
chiller, 286
chisacker, 286
cio, 297
chloss-Johannesbersrer,
224
cyssuel, 140
egorbe, 198
ercial, 267
errato, 280
erigny, 129
erignan, 141
erra, 192
erres, 147
etine, 8
etuval, 250
exard, 286
lamkai, 305
lerry, 203
hiraz, 303, 304, 306
gm'an, 9
llery, 97, 99
tges, 197
otki, 285
,omaney, 25
romania, 288
osas, 197
,osatum, 22
-osolio, 298
-osoir, 127
oquemaure, 142
Biota, 208
INDEX.
439
Solome, 177
St. Perai, 140,143
Toscolano, 276
Solutre, 130
St. Pierre de Mons, 171
Toul, 181
Sorgues, 141
St. Remain, 160, 177
Toulene, 171
Soudak, 299
St.Sauveur, 167
Tourne, 160
Soussan, 166
St. Selve, 163
Tournon, 143, 144
Soyons, 144
St. Servo, 288
Transilvania, 287
Spolato, 259
St. Seurin de Cadourne,
Trebio, 278
Spoletine, 9
167
Malmsey, 278
St. Agnan, 160
St. Albero, 279
St. Trelody, 168
St. Thierry, 99, 114
Trebisonde, 306
Trent, 287
St.Ambroix,143
St. Victor de la C6te, 142
Tresne, 160, 162
St. Amour, 130
St. Vivien, 168
Trieste, 288
St. Andre de Cubsac, 160
Statonian, 9
Trois Puits, 101
dc Eoi" 160
Tronchov 129
St. Aubin, 133
Steinberger, 223, 233
Tropfwermuth, 286
St Avertin, 186
Styria, 288
Tsadany, 285
St. Basle, 116
Suabia, 227
Tudela, 199
St. Brice, 171
Suma, 176
Tyrol, 287
St. Christol, 147
Surretine, 8
St. Christoly, 168
Syracuse, 281
TJ.
St. Colombe, 139, 179
Syrmia, 282, 288
Uch, 168
St. Croix du Mont, 171
Szeghi, 285
Uzes, 141, 142
St. Cyprien, 151
St. Cyr sur Loire, 186
T.
V.
St. Denis, 159
Taeneotic, 6
Vadans, 187
St. Drezeri, 147
Tache, 120, 132
Val di Mazara, 1 281
St. Emilion, 159
Taillan, 168
di Marina, 278
St. Estephe, 159, 167
Talence, 163
Mur, 127
St. Etienne, 139
Taganrog, 300
de Penas, 196
St. Foi, 159
Tallya, 285
Valais, 229
St. Poy, 138
St. Gall, 229
Taormina, 281
Tarbes, 157
Valdrach, 227
Valensole, 191
St. Genies, 142
Tardenois, 99
Valentons, 162
St. George's, 120, 133, 162,
Tarento, 274
Valeyrac, 168
177
Tarn, 146
Valloux, 129
St. Gervais, 162
Tarracon, 10
Tarragona. 198
Valteline, 229
Varez, 185
St. Germain, 160, 168
Tavel, 142, 181
Vauciennes, 102
St. Gery, 179
Tcoulet, 176
Vaucluse, 140
St. GiUes, 141, 181
Teheran, 305
Vault, 129
St. Gyorgy, 285
St. Hippolite, 142
Tenedos, 297
Teneriffe, 210
Vaumorillon, 129
Vaux, 177
St. Jaques, 119, 22
Tent, 209
Desir, 127
St. Jean de Musois, 144
Termiuo, 279
Vauzelles, 177
St. Jervais, 160
Terrasse, 176
Velez Malaga, 203
St. John de la Porte, 279
Terrats, 156
Venteuil, 102,
St. Joseph, 144
Thassis, 137
Verdelais, 160
St. Juery, 145
Thasian, 19
Verdese, 192
St. Julien, 139, 166, 167
Theorins, 130
Verdea, 278
St. Lambert, 166
Thesac, 179
Verdona, 210
St. Laurent, 142, 167
du Var 119
Thiegartner, 231
Vergisson, 130
St. Leger, 139
St. Loubes, 162
Thurot, 129
Tintilla, 204, 208
Tinto, 138
Vernaccia, 276
Vernage, 276
Verneuil, 102
St. Lucia, 192
Tinto di Rota, 209
Veroilles, 119
St. Marcellin, 140
Madeira, 267
Vers, 179
St. Martin d'Ablois, 102
Tissey, 129
Verteuil, 167
St. Martin, 129
Tmolus, 6
Vertus, 102, 116
St. Menehould, 98
Tokar, 285
Verzy, 100
St. Mexant, 160
St. Michael, 189
Tokay, 282
Tolesva, 285
Verzeuay, 100
Ve~zeley, Clos de, 128
St. Maura, 298
Tonnerre, 129
Vezinnes, 129
St. Pardon, 171
Torins, 133
ViarosS, 146
St. Patronio, 288
Torren-Milar, 155
Vicenza, 276
440
INDEX.
Vidonia, 210
Vin de Paysans, 169
Vitry, 98
Vienne, 140
de Primeur, 157
Viviers, 115, 129
Vienna, 10
Rogome, 178
Volnay, 120, 183
Vignettes, 145
mousseux, 62
Vosnes, 120, 133
Villarinho des Frieres, 250
deini-mousseux, 80
Vougeot, 120, 133
ViUedieu, 146
non-mousseux, 97
Ville Dommange, 101, 116
ViUenave d'Ornon, 163
grand mousseux, 80
deliquer, 79
W.
Walporzeim, 231
VUlena, 199
rose, 80, 114
Wangen, 228
Villeneuve, 179
clairet, 80
Warwitz, 282, 286
Villers Allerand, 101
crernans, 80
Wehlen, 227
"VVermuth 286
Vinades, 145
lapGo, OOO
de Remade, 141
Wiessel, 288
Vinaroz, 198
de Tocanne,114
Wine of the Law,
Vinay, 104
Vin de la Mare'chale, 101
Vin de Cances, 145
de Taille, 80
de Cosperon, 155
Vinzelles, 130
"Wissemberg, 184
Wolxheim, 184
Wiirzburg, 228
de Cargaison, 147, 162
Vino Brozno, 199
causses, 179
Cotto, 209
X.
de Chypre, 296
des C6tes, 160
Crudo, 276
Grseco, 274
Xarello, 198
Xeres, 195
de Cotillon, 137
Morto, 276
cuit, 78
de Oro, 307
Y.
fou, 190
de Color, 205
Yezd,305
de Garde, 187
Passado, 268
blancs de Garde, 80
de Ration, 198
Z,
gentil, 183
Rancio, 198
Zalaya, 318
petit, de Graves, 163
Seco, 211
Zambor, 285
de Grenier, 79
Santo, 276
Zante, 298
de Grenache,
Vinodal, 288
Zara, 259
gris, 113, 180, 190
de Henry IV., 189
Violettes, 119
Vion, 144
Zeltingen, 227
Zoller, 228
jaune, 80, 188
de Faille, 79, 185
Virac, 142
Virelade, 171
Zopi, 294
Zymlensk, 300
demi Paille, 79
Vitrawno, 285
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