3-'o 



J ounial of Agricidtiirc. 



[lo May, X909. 



There was little to be learnt about reconstitution in the Priorato. The 

 Slocks used are Rupestris du Lot and Riparia Gloire. The former seems 

 to give satisfaction in all but the dxiest situations — wherever the rock is 

 sufficiently fissured for it to be able to get its roots down, and there is, at 

 least, a certain amount of soil. The soil being a poor one, no trouble is 

 experienced so far as non-setting of fruit is concerned. The Riparia stock 

 is confined to rich valley soils where it seems to do fairly well. No doubt, 

 some of the newer hybrids would give good results, but strange to say they 

 (io not appear to have been tried. 



Wine-making is a simple process, the peculiar character of the wine 

 depending more on soil and variety than on any special treatment. The 

 grapes are gathered when very ripe, crushed, and vatted in the ordinary 

 way. Fermentation is allowed to proceed for a long time on the skins — 

 sometimes for as much as twenty days — after which the wine is racked off 

 and fortified. The spirit is often added before fermentation. 



In the Priorato, as is usual throughout Cataluiia, the wine is usually 

 made by the grower who sells his young wine to the merchant. Large 

 ivineries which buy the grapes are the exception. 



KKliS. 



Reus. 



In company with Don Jose Gras v 

 Fort. I visited this centre on nth 

 Januar\. It is a small but well- 

 built town, possessing many fine build- 

 ings. The leading church, a photo- 

 graph of which is here reproduced, is 

 characteristic. The town has passed 

 through many vicissitudes, rising or 

 falling with the prosperity of the wine 

 trade on which it so largely depends. 

 It saw bad times some fifty years ago 

 when a crisis occurred in the wine 

 trade. Again, in the eighties, the out- 

 break of phylloxera did it much in- 

 jury. Though reconstitution may Ije 

 i(joked upon as an accomplished fact, 

 the volume of trade is considerably 

 less than it was formerly. 



Thanks to the kindness, of my 

 guide, I was able to visit two of the 

 hirgest wine' merchants' establishments 

 in this, his native town. 



These were the bodegas of the hrm of Mayner y Pla and those of 

 Don Roman Perpiha. They were both line, up-to-date establishments 

 handling very large (juantities of wine. The rule here is for the 

 ccsecherl) or 'farmer to make his own wine, selling it afterwards to the 

 merchant who blends, matures and exports it. Both the above houses 

 ship largely to England. Mayner v Pla are successors of the older firm 



ot 



f Pabto Oliva v Boule whose trade mark P.O.Y.li. in a circle, has 



lono- been well known to the English wine trade. 



I'asteurization is vcrv largelv practised in both bodegas and no secret 

 is made of the fact. 'At Mavner v Pla's there was a very large pas- 



