THE VINE. ] 



SELECTION OF VINES. 



It is generally known that a wine grape which 

 flourishes and yields a celebrated wine in one district, 

 often fails to give satisfaction anywhere else. It is 

 but too often the case even when the trial is made in 

 districts of the same geological formation and of equal 

 climatic conditions, and perhaps more than other fruits 

 the original character of the vine as a wine producer is 

 frequently an unsurmountable barrier to its successful 

 cultivation away from its original home. No doubt the 

 product obtained may be satisfactory in other respects, 

 or even closely similar, but there is always something 

 lacking in it which* at once marks it out as a counterfeit. 

 To this rule there are a few notable exceptions. The 

 Pinot noir when properly handled yields as good a 

 product in this Island as it does in France, but with 

 a slightly higher degree of astringency. The same may 

 be said of Pinot blanc, hlammolo and Canajolo nero of 

 Tuscany, the White Muscat of Canelli etc. But most 

 Italian growers who have tried to grow the Nebbiolo, 

 that most noble of Italian vines, outside its region of 

 Gattinara and Barolo, have failed signally, and it is not 

 likely that we are going to be more successful with it in 

 these Islands. The Hungarian vine Furmint has been 



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introduced and cultivated in Italy and elsewhere, but its 

 product cannot compare with the celebrated Tokay of 

 Hungary. The Cataratto bianco comune of Marsala, 

 although always a good vine, is here rather a shy bearer, 

 and its product does not develop the peculiar flavour of 

 Marsala. It is doubtful whether the celebrated Spanish 

 vines such as Pedro Ximenes would produce here any- 

 thing like a true sherry, although the cultivation of this 

 vine has now spread over extensive areas in Algeria, and 

 is well spoken of by the French growers. In fact on the 

 whole it is doubtful whether the finer liqueur wines can 

 be reproduced with all their valuable qualities outside 



