464 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



broufrht a letter froni JMarseilles, but found they 

 were both Irom home ; neither wns tliere any per- 

 son belonjfinjT to iheir establishment who could 

 in any way Ibrward my views. I applied to the 

 innkeeper; and alier telling him the object of my 

 journey, inquired if he were acquainted with any 

 of the proprietors of the be&t vineyards. He said 

 yes ; that he could give me the address of a pro- 

 prietor at Gevray, and also of the proprietor of the 

 Clos Vougeot. The day was, however, too lar 

 spent to proceed to either of these places. I there- 

 Jbre walked through the mud to the nearest vine- 

 yards, and entered into conversation with some 

 of the people Vt^hom I found employed in them. 

 The place I visited was a gentle slope, with a 

 southeast exposure. The soil seen)ed good, and 

 at the same time perfectly loose and lull of gravel. 

 Jl belonged to the mayor of the town, and pro- 

 duced, the .man said, a fine wine; by which term 

 the French characterize, ixenerally, those wines 

 Avhich are drunk pure and in wine glasses, in con- 

 tradistinction to those which are drunk in tumblers 

 mixed rviih water at their ordinary mc;ils. If, 

 liowever, I had sought a reason for the wine not 

 having a high name, 1 might perhaps have Ibund 

 it in the quantity of strong dung he was adding to 

 the soil, and to the mixture of different kinds of 

 vines, the infamous game, as it is sometimes 

 calleJ, liolding a considerable place. He was 

 busily employed in the provignage, which seem 

 almost the only work going on at present. He had 

 commenced the same morning, and had dug about 

 twenty trenches, three or four (eet long by about 

 twc Itjet wide. In each of these were halfa dozen 

 provins ; that is, the ends of the shoots which 

 belcnged to the stock that had been buried in the 

 trench. These trendies are never more than half 

 filled, as the shoots are never sufficienily long to 

 come up to the level of the surliice. From this 

 circumstance the whole of the vineyards of Biir- 

 guntiy are full of these holes at irregular distances, 

 and .lave a rugged and unworkmanlike apjiear- 

 ance. 1 remained while he coaipleted two of 

 these trenches, and he endeavored to explain to 

 nie tne process; but all that I could comprehend 

 was. that the shoots were so disposed as to pre- 

 serve the alignment, although it would have been 

 very difTicult to pomt out which way the alignment 

 lay. For this purpose the stocks and roots were 

 twisted, and the different plants laid across each 

 other in every possible direction. At a little fur- 

 ther distance, another man was employed in root- 

 ing out a vineyard, which he said had been ne- 

 glected some years before, and which it iiad been 

 jbund impossible to reduce to order. The plants 

 were literally crowded to such a degree, that it was 

 almost impossible to set down the foot without 

 treading upon some of them. Before it should 

 ibe again planted with vines, if would, he said, be 

 llaid down lor three or Ibur years with s;iin(bin. 

 This is a common preparation of the soil for vines 

 in this district, and seems to be almost considered 

 equivalent to a trenching. He said that, for a 

 poor man, the game, or as it was generally called, 

 the large plant, was undoubtedly the best kind of' 

 vine, the quantity it yielded was so much great- 

 er than the other ; and, to a poor man, the quali- 

 ty was not so much an object, lor the large pro- 

 prietors and merchants would never acknow- 

 iedae his wine to be a fine one, and it was very 

 diflicult to sell it lor a high price, liowever good. 



He said that, in that soil, the large plant would 

 yield eiirht pieces of wine on a [)lot of ground 78 

 paces by 24, (the extent of that he was working.) 

 This is little more than the third of an acre, and is 

 more than 1000 gallons per English acre. It 

 would require, he said, to be occasionally ma- 

 nured. The manure gave a slight flavor to the wine 

 for the first season only ; but as only a part of the 

 ground was manured each season, the bad flavor 

 of the part was not observed in the whole. The 

 soil of this vineyard effervesced very strongly with 

 an acid. 



Friday, \Qth December. — Having engaged a 

 cabriolet from the maiire (ThoteU I proceeded at 

 an early hour this morning for Gevray and Cloa 

 VouLi^eot. It was a retracing of pan of the road 

 by which I had arrived Irom Beaune. T\\& appear- 

 ance of the range of hills is almost in every respect 

 similar to what it was fr-om Cagny to Beaune, but 

 towards the top it was more generally covered 

 with wood. On both sides of the road the soil al- 

 so appears similar, but on the north s;de it is in 

 most places evidently too moist lor the vine, and 

 is under cultivation with corn. The young wheat 

 looks healthy and vigorous, but is not nearly so 

 lar advanced as in the south. The country is 

 thickly peo()led along the whole range of the Cote 

 d'Or. There are said to be filiy villages between 

 Dijon and Beaune, a distance of twenty-six miles. 

 Some of the villages are of very considerable ex- 

 tent, and the houses are in general large, and all 

 whitewashed and in good order. 



The village of Gevray is about five miles from 

 Dijon. In'its immediate neighborhood is the small 

 vineyard of Chambertin, as well as several others 

 which yield wines scarcely inferior, though less 

 known to fame. 



The person to whom my guide was desired to 

 take me, was a merchant as well as a proprietor. 

 He said he would, with the greatest pleasure, 

 give me all the information in his power, and he 

 made some general remarks upon the requisites 

 which must concur to afford a <:ood wine. But he 

 said that the postilion had informed him that he 

 was also directed to take me to the Clos Vougeot, 

 where I would find the confidential manager of 

 M. Oiivrard, the proprietor, who could explain 

 much belter not only the management ol'the vine- 

 yard, but the making of the wine, lor it was the 

 largest and best managed vineyard in Burgundy. 

 In the mean time, as I had expressed a desire to 

 see Chambertin, he procured a vigneron, who, he 

 said, was a very intelligent man, and would con- 

 duct me to it. Chambertin lay in the direction of 

 Vouofeot, but by a very bad road. The land under 

 vines is in general very much subdivided through- 

 out France, but here the properties are of less ex- 

 tent than any where I have been. Five or six 

 proprietors often divide among them a piece of 

 ground not exceeding an acre in extent, and the 

 usual extent of most of the separate properties is 

 not more than half an acre. The vigneron said 

 that the wine produced to the left of the by-road 

 we were travelling was inlerior to thai on the 

 riofhf, which was hiaher and drier. We turned 

 off into the vineyard of Chambertin, which in ex- 

 tent cannot exceed 15 or 20 acres ; but this, like 

 most other parts of the district, is subdivided 

 among a numberof proprietors. The vignerons 

 were at work on most of the divisions, which are 

 only made by a Ibotpath. or an irregularity in the 



