Review of LoudorCs Gardener^ s Magazine. 233 



granitic, schistose, argillaceous, flinty, sandj-, and calcareous soils as equally 

 well qualified to produce, and as actually |)roducirii:, in difftireiit parts of 

 France, wines of the finest quality. It appears evident to nie, however, that 

 these writei-s have, in many instances, been misled by the representations 

 which have been transmitted to them : as, for instance, when Chaptal and 

 Cavoleau cite the wine of Hermitage as an instance of tlie excellence of 

 wines produced upon the debris of granite ; while the fact is, that the wine 

 of the hill of Hermitage owes its superiority over the wines of the other 

 hills in its neighborhood only to the circumstance of the granitic soil of a 

 part of that hill l)eing mixed with calcareous matter; and, but lor this cir- 

 cumstance, I am satisfied that the wine of Hermitage would never have beea 

 heard of beyond the neighborhood where it grows, I am therefore of oj)in- 

 ion, that the finest dry wines owe their sn[)enority chiefly to the quality of 

 the soil ; and I am much mistaken if it be not flmnd that the soils of all 

 vineyards producing dry wines of superior excellence are strongly calcare- 

 ous. All my observations have led me to this conclusion, and I know of no 

 instance to the contrary. It will be observed, tliat [ h(;re oidy speak of dry 

 wines, for sweet wiries of great excellence are produced in a variety of soils, 

 and, in fact, owe their qualities more to the variety of the grape, and the 

 manner in which it is treated, than to the soil. The sweet Muscat and Old 

 Mountain wines of Malaga are celebrated all over the world ; but tliough 

 they have the same varieties of vines at Malaga as at Xeres de la Frontera, 

 and pursue a similar practice in making the wine, the best of their dry 

 wines, produced on a soil consisting of decomposed slaty schist, are insif)id 

 and flavorless when compared with the Sherries which are protluced on the 

 chalky hills of Xeres. The sweet wine of Rivesaltes, the most celebrated 

 in France, is produced on a granitic soil covered with pebbles ; and the 

 sweet wines of Cosperon and Collioure, in the same department, are pro- 

 duced on hills of schist, as nearly as fiossible resembling those of Malaga. 

 But though the dry wines of both these soils are well known, they are not 

 distinguished for their fineness or flavor. Their excellencies are their 

 strength and rich color, which make them valuable for mixing with the 

 weak and light-colored wines of the ordinary growths of Burgundy and 

 Macon which supply the chief consumption of Paris. 



" The limited extent of the first-rate vineyards is proverbial, and writers 

 upon the subject have almost universally concluded that it is in vain to 

 attempt accounting for the amazing diflferences which are frequently ob- 

 served in the produce of vineyards similar in soil and in every otiier respect, 

 and separated from each other only by a fence or a footpath. JMy own ob- 

 servations have led me to believe that there is more of quackery than of 

 truth in this. In all those districts which produce wines of high rejjutation, 

 some ?iiw individuals have seen the advantage of selecting a particular vari- 

 ety of grape, and of managing its culture so as to bring it to the highest state 

 of perfection of which it is capable. The same care has been extended to 

 the making and subsequent management of their wine, by seizing the niost 

 favorable moment for the vintage — by the rapidity with which the grapes 

 are gathered and pressed, so that the whole contents of each vat may be 

 exactly in the same state, and a simultaneous and equal fermentation be se- 

 cured throughout — by exercising equal discrimination and care in the time 

 and manner of drawing off the wine, and in its subsequent treatment in the 

 vats or casks where it is kept — and, lastly, by not selling the wine till it 

 should have acquired all the perfection which it could ac(]uire fiom age, and 

 by selling, as the produce of their own vineyards, only such vintages as were 

 calculated to acquire or maintain its celebrity. By these means have the 

 vineyards of a few individuals acquired a reputation which has enabled the 

 proprietors to conunand almost their own prices for their wines ; and it was 

 evidently the interest of such persons that the excellence of their wines 

 should be imputed to a peculiarity in the soil, rather than to a system of 



VOL I. NO. VI. F F 



