Journal of Agriculture . [ii April, 1910. 



THE WINE IXDUSTRY IX SOUTHERN FRANCE. 



{Continued from page 78.) 



F. de Castella, Government Viticulturist. 



The Department of Herault. 



Space will not permit the description of the whole of the Midi — the 

 four departments of Herault, Aude, Gard and Pyrenees Orientales — with 

 its million acres under \ines. Besides, the first named of these, in addition 

 to beino' the most important, may well be taken as tvpical of the whole 

 region. It was, also, the one in which my time in southern France was 

 mainly spent, and concerning the viticulture of which I was able to collect 

 most information. 



It is proposed, in the next few articles, to describe the viticulture of 

 this department with its several distinct types of vineyards. With the 

 ■exception of the port-like Rancio wines of Banyuls and Collioure in 

 Pyrenees Orientales, Herault produces all descriptions of wine turned out 

 in the Midi ; not that there is any very great variety though, seeing that 

 the great bulk of the wine grown is the " vin ordinaire" or current con- 

 sumption wine described at considerable length in the February issue of the 

 ] ournal. 



In old days, several special Crus or growths were known, which, though 

 not equalling the celebrated wines of Bordeaux, Burgundy, &c., never- 

 theless enjoyed a certain amount of local fame. Such were St. Georges 

 P'Orgues, a red wine, and Marseillan and Pomerols, full bodied dry 

 whites of the type known as Picardan. Since the vineyards have been 

 reconstituted, the production of these wanes has lost much of its former 

 importance ; the varieties cultivated in olden days, which contributed to the 

 special character of the wanes, were poor, or onlv moderate bearers. In 

 the early days of reconstitution, the large profits to be made by the pro- 

 duction of " vin ordinaire," at that time scarce, and consequently, at a. 

 premium, led to these vineyards being replaced by heavy bearing, " vin 

 ■ordinaire " varieties. The principal sort grown at St. Georges was the 

 Cinsaut, a grape we have long cultivated in Victoria, under other nam'^s, 

 as we shall see when dealing with the ampelography of the region. 



In addition to these dry wines, a certain number of well known sweet 

 wines were formerly made in fairly large quantities, chief amongst which 

 were the Muscats of Frontignan* and Lunel. Though excellent wines 

 of this type are still produced they are not now grown in nearly the same 

 quantity as formerly. The same decrease is to l^e noted in the wines 

 which formed the basis of the Vin d'imitatioti trade, of which the head- 

 quarters was the town of Cette. 



Nowadays it is " vin ordinaire" which the department produces in 

 enormously greater proportion than anything else; "vin ordinaire," which 

 varies in strength from a 6" to 6|" wine (10.5 to 11.5 per cent, proof), 

 yielded at the rate of 2,500 to 3,500 gallons to the acre, in the rich 



* The name Frontignac, commonly used in Victorian wine circles, is a corruption 

 of Frontignan, the name of a village a few miles S.W. of Montpellier, where 

 "the wine of this name is grown. Lunel is a small town 20 miles east of Mont- 

 ^lellier. 



