I 



I 



tops Or ends of the young fiiootSj which proceed 

 fiom the bottom or fides ot the ftocks. This on^ht 

 to be done twice, thrice, or four times in a fummcr, 

 according as the Vines put forth, more or kfs in cer- 

 tain years. . ,•".- ... , " ,:-..-, ' 

 In the fpring feafon they pat a prop to every Vine to 

 fupport it ; they ought to be chofen, as much a.s m^y 

 be, of Oak, and to procure them of the quarter or 

 heart thereof, if you are willing to goto the charge 

 of it. Thcfe will laft above twenty years, and when 

 they are once made fharp, they will always keep fo, 

 .for when they begin to rot, they perifh equally 

 throughout, and remain always pointed. The other 

 laft fcarce four or five years, and the mafters muft 

 have an eye over the fervants when they Iharpen them 

 yearly, that they do qct cut them too much, and 

 make them too fliort, and that they do not break a 

 great many that migiit ferve; for oftentimes in cutting 

 off that which is rotted, they cut off two or three 

 inches of that which is found, whicK prejudices it as 

 to duration. They call.thefe props foot-props. 

 When a vineyard has been cuhivated and managed 

 during the fummer after the accuftomed manner, and 

 the vintage time approaches, when they have made 

 choice of, and prepared a new cafk that will contain 

 it, and when the prcfs has been wafhed, cleaned, and 

 rubbed over, you mull be very watchful to find when 

 the Grapes are come to maturity, for if they are too 

 ripe, the wine will not be fufKciently ftrong ; if they 

 arc too green, it will be hard, more difficult, and 

 Ic-iger before it is fit to be drank. -...,. 

 In the provinces of Languedoc and Provence, the 

 Grapes have too large ftones, they have too many 

 ■white ones; they fuffer them to be too ripe, which 

 gives them over much liquor; they let their flocks 

 grow to be too old, and do not -renew them often 

 enough 5 they are planted for the mod part upon too 

 good'bottoEnsy or too moift, and have not an afpeft 



of the fun good enough. \ -' ^ . 

 ■ To make an excellent wine of the firft preffing, hav- 

 ing firft well examined the maturity of the Grapes, 

 you ought to endeavour not to gather them but on 

 days that are very dewy, and in hot years, after a lit- 

 tle rain, when you can be fo happy as to have it. As 

 the Grapes are not ripe till toward the end of Septem- 

 ber, aridTometimes the beginning of Oftober, dew is 

 rarely v/A.nted in^yhitage^^irae.; This dew gives the 

 Grapes a flower or jfarina on the outfide, which they 

 call azur, and inwardly a Ireflmefs, which caufes, that 

 it doth not heat very eafily, and that the wine |s not 



coloured. / ' ■-'-/•-'■. -y -^^ ^f-^\ 



It is very luckv, if there chances to be a milly day in 

 'dry years, which now and then happens, for the 

 wine is not only thence more white and delicate, but 

 the quantity is by much the greater, being augment- 

 ed by near orie fourth part." A private perfon who 

 has but twelve pieces of wine, in gathering his vin- 

 tao-e in a mornipg which has the fun without dew, will 

 ha°e fixceen or feventeen, if the morning be mifty, 

 and fourteen or fifteen if it has no mift, but yet has 

 a crood dew ; the reafon of this is, that the dew, and 

 above all, the mift renders the Graces tender, fothat 

 the whole in a manner turns into wine. 



I'he wine produced from the Grapes that have not 

 been warmed the moment they are cut, will ftill re- 



warm- 



€d the fubftance of the Grape, it will become more 

 red by the motion of the parts, but the quantity will 

 be lelic'ilcd eitlier by reafon of tranfpiration, or be- 

 caufe the rind has been thickened and hardened by 

 the fun, whereby it yields its juice with more difficulty. 

 This, which experience has taught, is of fo much 

 tiie more concern, by hov/ much the more certain it is. 

 They agree in Champaign, that the" wine which they 

 call river wine, is ordinarily paler than that of the 

 mountains, but they do not give the reafon for it. I 

 believe clic vineyards that are near a river enjoy all the 

 night a frcfn air, which the river exhales, whereas 

 the vineyards of mountains do not refpire, during the 

 night, that warmth which proceeds from the exhala- 



I 



tions of tli^ earth, and it is that w^hich makes the td-' 

 lour more or lefs j alfo v/hcn the years are very hot, 

 they cannor, either to thofe of the rivers, or of the 

 mountains, warrant the colour ; and when the years 

 are cold, neither the wines of the mountains nor thofe 

 of the rivers are coloured i the reafon is the fame, bc- 

 caufe the wines of the rivers are more foft, forward, 

 and fooner St for drinking, than the others that are 

 harder, more heady, and later fit. 

 They gather not all the Grapes without diftinftion, 

 neither at all hours in the day, but they chufe the 

 . ripeft and blueft ; thofe are the beft, and make the 

 moft exquifite wine, whofe berries grow not poclofe 

 together, but are a little feparated, whereby they 

 ripen perfectly well, for thofe that are clofe joined 

 .together never ripen thoroughly •, they cut them with ^ 

 a fmall crooked knife, with as much neatnefs and 

 as little of the tail as they can, and they lay them 



very gently on the bafkets, fo as not to bruife one 

 Grape, , . 



With thirty Grape-gatherers they will run over a vine- 

 yard of thirty arpents in three or four hours, to make 

 one firft preffing of ten or twelve pieces. 

 In wet years great care Ihould be taken not to put 

 any Grapes that is fpoiled into the bafkets, and at all 



■ times you mufl be very careful to cut away the rotten 

 Grapes, or thofe that are bruifed, or quite dried up^ 

 but you muft never pull them off the bunches. 

 They begin the gathering of Grapes half an hour af-^ 

 ter fun-rifing, and if the fun is not clouded, and is a 

 little hot about nine or ten o'clock, they leave off ga^ 

 thering, and make their fack, which is one of the firft 

 preffing, becaufe after this hour the Grape being warm, 

 the wine will be of a red colour or teint, and will be 

 a long while very heady. - , - • 

 Upon thefe occafions they get a great number of ga- 

 therers, to be able to make up a fack for preffmg in 



• two dr three hours ; if it be ovcroaft, they may gather 

 the whole day, becaufe the Grape will preferve its 

 frefhnefs upon the flock. 



The gatherers and preffers ought to take great care 

 that the Grapes be neither foul nor heated when they 

 are preffed, and alfo that the Grapes have their flow- 

 er under the prefs. 



When the prefs is near the vineyard, it is eafy to pre-* 

 vent the wine from having a colour, becaufe the 

 Grapes may be carried gently and neatly in a little 

 time; but when they are two or three leagues off, 

 they being obliged .to fend the Grapes in caflcs and in 

 carts, to prefs it as foon as may be, it is hardly to be 

 avoided but that the wine will be coloured, except in 

 fome very moift and cold years. • • . 



This is a certain principle, that when the Grapes are 

 cut, the fooner they are preffed the more pale and 

 delicate is the wine ; for by how much the more wine 

 ftands upon the marc, the redder it is, fo that it is of 

 great importance to haften the gathering of the Grapes 

 and preffing of them. 



The prefies of Champaign are very commodious. 

 The particular perfons that have many vineyards of 

 their own, have them in or near the fame vineyards ; 

 in fmall places the preffes are bannaux, which arc of 

 different fizes and fafhions. An exa£t defcription of 

 thefe feveral preffes will be inferted in the article of 



Wines. ■ ' ' 



The fmall ones are about feven feet and a quarter, 

 the middle ones about ten or twelve, the large ones 

 fifteen or eighteen ; the leaft, which they call eti- 

 quets, coft feven or eight hundred livres; the fecond, 

 which they call a cage or a teiffons, about two thou- 

 fand franks ; the large ones a thoufand crowns, and 

 fometimes more, according as the wood is cheaper or 

 dearer in certain places. In Languedoc and Pro- 

 vence, where the wood is fcarce, thefe forts of preffes 

 coft a very great price, and but few perfons are in cir- 

 cumftances to be at the charge of them. 

 When the Grapes have been put under the prefs, or 

 on the marc, they put three great rods or poles of 

 ten or twelve inches round upon them, one at either 

 end in length, and the third in the middle on the 



14 D fame 



