44: GRAPE CULTURE AND WINE-]\IAKING. 



and is of a red color, thickly strewn witli gravel. The vines are 

 planted two and two and a half feet apart, and not very regularly. 

 The stems are not thicker than from three fourths to one and one 

 and a half inches. The shoots are from three to three and a half 

 feet high, where they are topped. They are tied to oak or locust 

 sticks three and a half feet in height, and from one half to three 

 fourths of an inch in thickness. The vines are tied either with 

 straw or twigs. These vines, which we have imported, bear very 

 small bunches, and also small berries. The clusters are more 

 round than long in their form, and the berries are crowded so 

 closely together that one overlies the other. The Pineau vine- 

 yards will give from eight to twelve barrels of wine to the hec- 

 tare. This is generally a very productive year, but not a good 

 wine season. The Pineau vines have only from one quarter to 

 one and a half pounds of grapes ; indeed, many vines did not have 

 as much as a berry upon them. 



We also examined the celebrated vineyards of Chambertin, the 

 wine of which has a well-deserved and extensive rejDutation. At 

 a short distance from there is a small village called Morey, which 

 contains a fine cellar forty feet below the surface of the ground. 

 It is all arched, is forty feet wide in the centre, and is supported 

 by pillars of solid stone. The barrels are placed in three rows, 

 two barrels high ; but if the vault is much crowded, as many as 

 four tiers are piled u-p. This cellar is furnished with four tanks, 

 each capable of containing ten barrels of wine. These tanks 

 have a door on the side, so as to enable a man to enter and clean 

 the interior. To prevent leakage, the door is screwed tight to the 

 side. Above this cellar there is still another one, arranged in the 

 same way, which contains the young wines. We tasted many, 

 and found them yerj good. Thence we went to the fermenting- 

 room, where we saw the vats, press, tubs, etc., in excellent order. 

 The fermenting-tanks, which hold fVom ten to eighteen barrels, 

 are built of oak, with iron hoops to hold them together. The 

 press, instead of having a screw from the top and pressing the 

 juice out in that way, is made like a large square box, three sides 

 of which are composed of thick wooden bars, about a quarter of 

 an inch apart, so that the wine, but not the seeds and stems, may 

 escape upon the large platform underneath the press, the bottom 

 of which is also a lattice-work of strong bars. This platform is 

 bordered by a scantling an inch and a half thick to prevent the 

 juice from running over. The box above the platform is fur- 



