124 On the Culilvation of the Vine ^ 



pure water, give the befl wine ; but thefe hills ought not t© 

 ]ie too clofp to each other i 



.-i ■' ■ ■■ ■■ apertos 



Bacchus amat colles — «—— 



A northern expofure has at all limes been cojifidered as 

 the moft fatal : the cold damp winds do not/avour the ripen- 

 ing of the grapes; they always remain harfh, four, and defti- 

 tute of faccharine principle 5 anc} the wine mull participate in 

 thefe bad qualities. 



^ fouth expofure is alfo not very favourable: the earthy 

 <}ried by the heat in the day-time, prefents, towards evening, 

 to the oblique rays of the fun (become almoft parallel to the 

 '|iorizonJ but an arid foil deftitute of all moifture ; the fun, 

 which by its pofition penetrates then under the vine and 

 darts its rays upon the grapes, which have no longer any 

 Jhelter, dries and heats them^ ripens them prematurely, and 

 checks the vegetation before the period of fullnefs and ma- 

 lurity has arrived. 



Nothing is more proper to enable qs to judge of the effects 

 of expofure than to obferve what takes place in a vineyard, 

 the ground of which is unequal, and interfperfed here an4 

 there with a few trees : there all expofures feem to be united 

 in one fpot; all the efre6ts thence depending prefent them- 

 (elves to the obferver. The ftems of vine iheltered by the 

 trees throw out long flender twigs, which bear little fruit, 

 and lead to flow and imperfeft maturity. The higheft por- 

 tion of the vine is in general the bareft ; vegetation there is 

 l^efs vigorous; but the grapes are of a better quality than in 

 low fituafions. The bed grapes are always found in thofc 

 places moft e^pofed to the fouth *. 



'^ The general jDrinciples, in regnrd to the influence of expofure, admit 

 of many exceptions : the famous vineyards of Epernai and Vcrlenai, in the 

 mountain pf Rhcim§, are fully expofcd to the north, in a latitude fq northeri\ 

 for vines, th^t it i^ in thofc places where the region of the vine fuddenly 

 termin^te^ under th^t meridian. 



The vineyards of Nuus and Beaune, as well as the l>cft of Beaugenci 

 and Bloi$, lie tovvards the eaft ; thofe of Loire and Cher lie indifcrimi- 

 nately towards the north a«d fouth; the excellent hills of Staumur face 

 the north; anH the bcft vines of Angers arc produced, from vines which, 

 grow in all fxporures.— 0/yZT'l'<2//o«i dc Creuze-Latoucbe lues a la Societe. 

 d' /^Fjiculiure de B-arii, 



i v.-j %/:- ■ ^^ Seafcins^ 



