98 GKAPE CULTURE AND "VNTNE-MAKING. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE BORDEAUX WINE DISTRICT. 



Leave Marseilles for Bordeaux. — Agricultural Notes. — Vines, Olives, Almonds, and 

 Mulberries. — Montpellicr. — Frontignan. — Cette. — Manufacture of spurious Wines. 

 — Carcassonne. — New Vineyards. — Wheat and Maize. — Toulouse. — The Canal du 

 Midi. — Montauban. — Prunes. — Agen. — Reach Bordeaux. — Botanic Gardens. — 

 American Ships. — Steel-plated Vessels. — M. de Luze. — His Wine-vaults. — Price 

 of Wines. — Corks and Capsules. — Barrels. — The Fruit Nursery. — A Bird Fan- 

 cier. — Prune Establishment of A. Dufour and Company. — Drying and packing 

 Prunes. — California as a Fruit Country. — Dinner with M. de Luze. — Visit to 

 Chateau Margaux. — The famous Vineyard. — The Store-room. — The Press-room. 

 — Manufacturing the Wine. — Chateau Rauzan. — A bad Ycai-.-^Victor Eendu on 

 the Wines of Bordeaux : The diflerent Sorts. — Wines of the IMcdoc. — The Vines. 

 — Mode of Cultivation. — The Manufacture of Wines. — Quantity produced. — Clas- 

 sification of Mcdoc Wines. — The chief Vineyards. — Prices of Wines. — Prices of 

 Vineyards. — The Champagne District. — The Vineyards. — The Grapes. — Cultiva- 

 tion of the Vines. — The Vintage. — Manufacture of Champagnes. — Classification 

 of Champagnes. — Quantity of Champagnes produced. — Markets. — Dejiarture for 



Spain. 



• 



September 13. — At eiglit o'clock we started on our way to Bor- 

 deaux from Marseilles. From this city to Rognac the country is 

 planted with olive-trees, vines, and almonds. The olive is pre- 

 dominant, and is of a dwarfish kind. The almond-trees are trim- 

 med as dwarfs. Some part of the country is rocky. The vines 

 are planted in two rows, about two feet apart, and these are sep- 

 arated from the next two by a space of about ten feet. From this 

 place to St. Chamas the country was poor and rocky in the ex- 

 treme, but, wherever there was a place to plant, were found al- 

 mond, olive, and mulberry trees. To Miramas the lands are plant- 

 ed with olives, mixed much with mulberries. Silk is here raised 

 in large quantities. To Aries the country is a large jDlain, very 

 rocky, and almost a desert. No trees, no grass can there be seen ; 

 all that meets the wearied eye is, from time to time, a sheep-house, 

 but there are no sheep visible, as the scanty tufts of grass must be 

 sought far and wide. The whole country has the aspect of an an- 

 cient river-bed. It is about twenty-five miles across. We after- 

 ward came to a region which was a little more fertile. It had 



