Wine and Scuppernong Grape. 



293 



It is impossible to make a good wine 

 out of any grape ripening here in June, 

 July or early part of August. The 

 heat is so great, and continues so long, 

 that it will sour, however much atten- 

 tion we may bestow on our cellars. In 

 the North, where the season is short, 

 the great object is to get a grape which 

 will mature before frost. It is the re- 

 verse here. AVe want a grape which 

 will mature in autumn, which is always 

 sufficiently warm for fermentation, but 

 not so great as to sour. The Flower 

 grape, another species of Muscadine, 

 ripens in October, for which it is in bet- 

 ter time for fermenting than the Scup- 

 pernong. It is valuable in another re- 

 spect, as it makes a red wine — the 

 Scuppernong being white. But it is 

 not so aromatic. 



Mr. Longworth said '^ it (the Scup- 

 pernong) would do to make cordials," 

 &c. , which may be true of it North, 

 but under our burning sun and long 

 seasons, it makes a very different arti- 

 cle. It is a native of the " Sunny 

 South," and will do well nowhere but 

 in warm climates. A gentleman (H.) 

 has cultivated and made wine from it 

 some seventeen j-ears in this county, and 

 makes very fine wine, which he readil^^ 

 disposes of at a very remunerative 

 price. I have been experimenting for 

 some few years and have made some 

 which connoisseurs pronounced " not 

 only good, but very good." 



The Massachusetts Floughman^ May 

 15, 1869, says of some Scuppernong 

 wine sent him from North Carolina : 

 " It is too new to show its good quali- 

 ties, but it is a pure wine, the fermented 

 juice of well-ripened grapes." The 

 editor continues : " Some Scuppernong 

 wine brought b}^ Hon. Marshall P. 



Wilder, on his return from North Caro- 

 lina, was recently' submitted to the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Club, com- 

 posed of radical temperance men, and 

 so all the more competent to judge im- 

 partially, and the members were unani- 

 mously of the opinion that it was equal 

 to the best American native wine, and 

 (the grape) worthy of carefid culture 

 and development.*' 



For sweetness and delightful aroma 

 the Scuppernong is without a rival. 

 The Federal officers and soldiers, while 

 South during the late civil war, were 

 enraptured with it. So great is its aro- 

 matic perfume, that the atmosphere for 

 half a mile around a vineyard with ripe 

 fruit is so laden with it, especially after 

 sundown or nightfall, that one who 

 smells it can imagine himself in the 

 spicy groves of Felix Arabia. 



The fiuit is so health}^ that it has 

 never been known to make any one 

 sick, unless he swallowed the hulls, 

 which are ver^'- indigestible. 



When we can fix the rich aroma of 

 this grape on the wine, and science and 

 experience will certainly do it, our 

 wines from it will equal, if not surpass, 

 any wine in the world. 



It is said by many, especially of the 

 North, "that it takes loo much sugar." 

 The charge is correct as to our practice 

 up to this time, as we gather our grapes 

 too green, but it is true as to our prac- 

 tice onl3^ The small quantity of our 

 fruit heretofore, and the great struggle 

 of birds and men to get it, have caused 

 us to gather too soon. As our vine- 

 yards extend we can afford to let the 

 birds and passers-bj' have some, and 

 the balance remain until fully ripe. 

 Then ver}^ little if any sugar will be 

 required. I have conversed with many 



