t 



/ ' 



1 - 



. perfons^ to make a fmall quantity of very choice zvines^ 

 . cut them off and make a wine by itfelf which' fs much 

 inferior to that "jnhich is made of the upper part of the 

 ■■ lunch. Thispra^ice, though attended^ with trouble^ may 

 he recommended for a larger parcel^ infuch' years as the 

 C7'apes are hardly rtpe^ to have fome wine^ at leafi^ in 

 fcrfe^ion. r^^ ' . .-, " '. a .,'.., ' ,-■•- . -. . 



N. B. uhofe perfons who value themfelves on making 

 tJJe hejt wines^ and endeavour to keep up the reputation 

 of their vineyards and cellar SyiH cutting their Grapes^ 

 leave the unripe^ or thofe thaJ are infe5led with a rotten- 



, Ticfs^ together^ till the lafi^ 2nd with them make a vat or 

 more^ by themfelves of vinfcquro^ or refufe wine^ which 



'. ferves for common ufe^ for which alfo they mix water zoith 



the 'bottom of their vats^ and the hufks, ^c, " and make 



a pleafant brijk drink much preferable to water cyder ^ but 



• the weather once co?ning in warm^ turns it eager and un- 



drinkable, ■ . . : •.'..,. 



...*. r-Jili-' 







; 9. AVh^" ^he \vines are found, tp be ready, they pro- 



■ ceed'to draw them off, which are now properly called 

 wines (beforewhich they are termed mofto, i.e. in 



* Engli(h,; wort,) foi;^\vjliich purpofe, within three or 

 four inches, of the bottom of the vac, there is a coek 

 fixed therein. When.in'finall barrels, tliey carry and 



' pur into the large butts, which. in Chianti hold, fome 

 of them, feven or eight tons, but generally two or 

 three tons, made of thick Cheftnur, the Haves being 

 more than an inch and a half thick, and more than 

 twice as high as they are long, which they never 

 w'afh> but having left a gaJLlpn or.two, it maybe 

 three or four, of wine in them^ when they draw it 

 off the fpring or fummer before, when they are about 

 fillins; them again to clear them out, they fend in. a 



. lad at the door, which is made in the head of the 

 cafli, to' i3d It v/ith a fponge, ancj'to'wafli it with 

 •fome new wifjej.and tbjs without>yiging off any of the 

 argol, which they think preferves the wine the better. 

 In which cades, which laft many years, (and have ar- 



' p;ol in them of the thicknefs fometimos qf three or 

 four inches) they lee them remain till they have an 



"opportunity of felling them, taking care to keep' 



, them full quite to the bung with a wooden ftopper. 

 This is what they praftife in Chianti, where the beft 

 wines are diade, and whence, frCm thofe butts they 



' are drawn into flafks, and carried at the expence of 

 about acrownfor a mOle-load, to Florence, m order 

 for e>:p6rtation ; but in" other places they draw fhem 

 off into lefs caflcs, of which wines, except fome Car- 

 niguano's, and thofe of Val d'Arno, few of hone'are 

 exported, but ferve for the confumption of the coun- 

 try. Some of thefe have a pleafant flavour and brifk- 

 nefs, though of no great body, many of which will 

 ' not keep the fummer pverj_expeptjn cool cellars, in 

 the places where made, fuch is the nice nature of tliis 

 country wines in general. ^ Nor are the choicefl: Chi- 

 * an ti's exempt, for at twoje^fon? of the: year, the be- 

 ginning of June and September, the one when the 

 Grapes are in flower, and the other when tlh*y. begin 

 to rip^n, fome even of the beft wines are apt to change, 

 efpecially at this latter feafon ; not that they turn ea- 

 o-er, but take a moft unpleafing tafl:e, which renders 

 them unfit not only fo^ drinking, but, even to make 

 vinegar of, and is called the fettembrine. ; And what 

 ' is moft ftrange, is, that one caflc drawn out of the 

 fame vat fhall be infected, and another not, but be 

 perfectly good, and yet have both been kept in the 

 fame cellar toor 



.'- .-*\t r f-*j 



As this change happens not to wine in flafl^s, though 

 that will turn eager, I am apt to attribute it to fome 

 fault in filling of the caflc, which muft always be kept 

 full, which either by letting alone too long, till the 

 decreafe be too great, and the fcum that there natu- 

 rally is on all wine, thereby being too much dilated, 

 is fubjecr to break, or elfc being broken by hafty fill- 

 ing up, gives it that vile tafte of a rotten Vine leaf. 

 But againft this there is a very ftrong objeiStion, that 

 this defed feizes the wine at a particular feafon^ in 

 September, over which if it gets, it will hold good 



for many years. ■ ■ ' . 



As for the time that the wines are fit to drink, the 



V I 



1 

 > 



poorer fort of people drink that of the plains almoft 

 as foon as drawn off, bur from the i ich of November 



. may be faid to be its proper feafjn. • ' > ^'' ^ - - 

 Thofe of the hills are a very pkafant drink about 

 Chriftmas, and during the fpring, but till June the 

 Chianti's are not efteemed to be fit for drinking, tho* 



. they are fie for exportation in butts in December, and 

 in the flaflcs and chcfts about the beginning of Fe- 

 bruary, but if fooner fliipped oft" in that manner, 

 though apparently fine, there will be a fedimcnt in 



■jthe flaflvs. -^ 1' : i» ■ - '• -' - . '•■■■'■ ■■•::,' 



■ The art of brewing wines (further than the throwing 

 . :ihto each great butt the quantity of two or three hat- 

 ;ifulsof the choiceft Grapes they had preferved, and- 

 laid on mats in the fun for that purpofe, \yhich were 

 .-'picked from the ftalks, and are efteemed proper jfor 

 ;:their wines to feed on, and which" they call' governo) 

 .-was not known in Chianti (though the hofts here 

 . praftifedfomething like it, mixing the fmalt wines of 

 ' fthis country with the ftrong ones of othef parts, and " 



fining their white wines with ifinglafs, whites of eggs, 

 -•:lime, and the like, and were thought to put allum 

 into the red wines to preferve them, and promot<^ a 

 . thirft in their guefts) till on the breaking out of the 

 ..French war, an Englifli nicl-chaht: from Bourdeaux 

 came into thefe parts, with a view to accommociate 

 , ,the' wines which were made in the beft parts of Chi- 

 anti, and were naturally of a true bright ruby, with 

 a pleafant flavour, and a filky foftnefs, to the Englifli 

 palates, then in love with the deep-coloured rough 

 clarets, who inftrufted them firft in the maklno- "of 

 ■black wines with a Labrufco or" wild Grape, which, 

 - .being mbced with the Chiari!i^s,' giving th'em^ a deeper 



- colour and a rougher tafte,' and being liked in Eng- 

 land, gave the firft occafion to^great quantities being ' 

 •fent thither every year in' caflcs, in making oP which 



the faid gentleman was the firft that inftrufted them, 



. for before, their caflcs were, as' above related, very 



unwieldy. This put them alfo (there being a demand 



for their wines) upon increafing and enlarging their 



- cultivations, and making fome of them in fuch places 

 as the expofition was not very proper for, as alfo to 

 cultivate in vineyards the faid Labrufco or wild Grape, 



, and which certainly was the moft proper to mix with 

 ■. their other Grapes in the vat, boiling them together. 



i 



I 



I 



: So all fucceeded pretty well till the year 1607,^ when 

 •the vintage proving very bad, and there being a great 

 ■demand of their wines for England, by mixing the 

 r low wines with the high ones of Chianti, which tlTat 



feafon wer^ not very good, they brought" thefe, wines 

 . intoTuch a difreputation, that they have never been 



able to regain' their Credit, though' they 'havd'lincc. 



had thofe that are good/' 



A** J 



• ■ 



, many -tinies, 



At prefent, therefore, what goes for England is 

 chiefly in chefts, and no Aibre black wines, as ufed 



. to be formerly, and thefe are fent juft as they are 

 made i but ftili in Chianti, as they have cukivations 

 of the Brufco Grape (which howeVer is ffiuch diff'erent 

 from the wild one, and becomes much larger and 

 more generous,) they continue to mix them with other 

 Grapes, which gives the great colouraswell^ rbugh- 

 nefs to their wines, and is agreeable enough to the 



' ' ^ I 



Eno;lifli tafte. • 

 Having thus acquainted you with what I kno\^ and 

 can learn in relation to the making and managing of 

 vineyards, and the wines they produce, it remains 

 for me to add an evil, that befides the'cirdinary ones 

 of hails, ftorms, and frofts, attends the cultivation 

 of Vines in Chianti, and the parts contiguous, for 

 in the plains there is no fuch thing, and that is a very 

 fmall kind of blackifli, or very dark green caterpil- 

 lar, which in the month of May attacks the young 

 llioots of the Vines, when the Grapes are in embryo, 

 and deftroys them > for which however they have a 

 moft certain remedy, which is to make a little ring 

 of birdlime round the foot of each Vine, about eight 

 inches above the ground, which none of thefe noxious 

 infefts (which I prefume proceed from the earth, and 

 aire not brought in the air, as fome of the like'are 

 thought to be, though thefe come generally with an 



cafterly 



