FARMERS' REGISTER— WINES AND VINEYARDS. 



405 



transhipped for England under the name of sheny, 

 perhapn after having been landed and mixed with 

 other wines to give tliem llie qualities in which 

 they are deficient. All these low-priced wines are 

 largel}' mixed with brandy, being intended for the 

 consumption of a class of people who are unable 

 to judge of any quality in wine but its strength. 

 But brandy is added in very small proportions to 

 the good wines — never in greater quantities than 

 four or five per cent, while they remain in the cel- 

 lar, and frequently not at all,- unless the wine should 

 become sciiddy ovniuihcry; and thus the finest wines 

 are irequently entirely tree ti-om it; but on their 

 shipment, a small dose ot" brandy is considered ab- 

 solutely necessary even to fine wines, to make them 

 bear the voyage, as it is said; but in realitj', because 

 strength is one of the first (pialitics looked for by 

 the consumers." 



"On entering his cellar, or rather pressing-room, 

 we t()und the laborers at their dinner. Rread seem- 

 ed here, as elsewhere, the chief article of their 

 diet. Tliere was also abundance of prickly pears 

 and grapes. We passed to the cellar where the 

 new-made wine w^as stored, and tasted in its va- 

 rious slates. The wine of a fortnight old was still 

 very sweet,' although the fermentation was now 

 barely sensible. We also tasted the sweet wine of 

 tJie same age, made from the Pedro Ximenes 

 grape, and we conceived it to be barely possible 

 for any thing to be more luscious, although we 

 were inlbrmed that in a dry season it is much 

 richer. He said he had about 200 butts^ of the 

 sweet wine, and wished it were all of that quality, it 

 was so useful in mixing with his purchased wine 

 lor exportation." 



*'0n returningli-om the cellarto the pressing-room 

 we found the presses at work. There were eight 

 troughs, similar in shape and dimensions to those 

 formerly described, each with its wooden screw in 

 the centre. A large quantity of grapes being 

 heaped up in one part of the trough, they com- 

 mence by strewing upon them as much powdered 

 gypsum, or sulphate of lime, as a man can take up 

 with both hands. A portion of the grapes are 

 then spread over the bottom of the remainder of 

 the trough, upon which the men jump with great 

 violence, having Avooden shoes, with nails to pre- 

 vent their slipping. After the greater part of the 

 grapes are pretty well broken, they are piled up 

 round the screw, and a flat band, made of a kind 

 of grass, is wound round the pile, commencing at 

 the bottom, the broken grapes being heaped and 

 pressed in as the band i.s wrapped higher and 

 higher, till they are all compressed into it. They 

 then commence working the screw, and the must 

 flows w4th great rapidity^" 



* * * # *: # # 



"Some of them, he says, are twenty years old 

 and upwards. Some of his wines of seven or eight 

 years old resembled a good sherry, and he agreed 

 with me in thinking that his sweet wine of that 

 age was equal to those three times as old. He 

 further agreed with me, that the great age ol' 

 those wines did by no means add proportionably 

 to their quality; and he evidently understands the 

 art of giving the qualities generally attributed to 

 ag^! by mixing, and other management. He him- 

 self hinted at the success with which he had con- 



ducted this branch of trade, and he has the repu- 

 tation of havujg acquired great wealth." 



# * « # # # # 



[At Perpignan] after taking chocolate we pro- 

 ceded to vineyards. Mr. Durand only cultivates 

 three varieties of vines, the Grenache, which gives 

 sweetness, the Carignun, which gives color, and 

 the Mataro, \vhich gives (juantity. His vines are 

 in general ])lanted either on the plain or on a 

 gently inclined slope; but when there is a slope 

 the exposure is always to the south. The soil is 

 loose and stony,the stones g»or<z, of various colors 

 and shades." [This wine is known by the name of 

 Rousillon.] 



****** » 



The finest Clarets of Bordeaux are mixetl with 

 a portion of the finest red wine of Hermitage, 

 and four-fifths of the quantity of the latter which 

 is produced are thus employed. The wines are 

 racked off the lees in spring, and suljdiured. A 

 very small piece of sulphured match is burnt in 

 the casks intended for the white wine; tlic red wine 

 requires a greater portion. These matches are 

 purchased from persons who make a business in 

 preparing Ihem. They are slij;s of paper, about 

 one inch and a half broad, and when coated on 

 both sides with sulphur, are about the thickness of 

 a sixpence. A piece of one inch and a half square 

 is sufficient for a cask of white wine containino- 50 

 gallons." 



* * # » * # # 

 "The hill of Hermitage is so called from an an- 

 cient hermitage, the ruins of which are still 

 in existence near its top. It was inhabited by 

 hermits till within the last 100 years. The hill, 

 though of considerable height, is not of great ex- 

 tent; the whole front which looks to the south 

 may contain 300 acres, but of this, though the 

 whole is under vines, the lower part is too rich t» 

 yield those of the best qualit}', and a part near 

 the top is too cold to bring its product to maturity. 

 Even of the middle region the whole extent does 

 not produce the finest wines. M. Machon, the 

 gentleman whose property we were traversin^^ 

 pointed out to me the direction in whicli a belt of 

 calcareous soil crossed the ordinary granitic soil of 

 the mountain, and he said it recjuires the grapes 

 of these difierent soils to be mixed, in order to 

 produce the finest quality of Hermitage. I took 

 home a portion of the soil whicli he pointed out as 

 calcareous, and the degree of eflervescence which 

 took place on my pouring vinegar upon it, indica- 

 ted the presence of a considerable portion of lime. 

 It is probably to this peculiarity that the wine of 

 Hermitage owes its superiority, lor to all appear- 

 ance many of the neighboring hills on both sides 

 of the Rhone present situations equally favorable, 

 although the wine produced even upon the best 

 of them never rises to above half the value of the 

 former, and in general not to the fourth of their val- 

 ue. A good deal may also be attributable to the 

 selection of plants. The best red wines of Her- 

 mitage are made exclusively from one variety, 

 and the white wines from two varieties; but in the 

 district generally a much greater number of vari- 

 eties are cultivated. The Red Grape is named the 

 Ciras. The white varieties are the Ronssete Mar- 

 san. The ibrmer yields by itself a dry and spir- 

 ituous wine, which easily affects the 'head— the 

 plant produces indiflerently— the latter yields a 



