THE BORDEAUX WINE DISTKICT. 109 



five eighths of the plantations of Lafitte, Mouton, Latour, Lcoville, 

 Margaux, Kauzan, etc., belong to the same. The wine made of it 

 is of a splendid color and an exquisite bouquet. A little tart at 

 the beginning, it requires to be kept in wood for four years, and 

 then for two in the bottle, to arrive to its full maturity. It gains 

 in excellence up to its fifteenth year, and preserves all its quali- 

 ties till the twentieth ; beyond this it loses gradually some of its 

 smoothness, and becomes more and more dry. 



The method of cultivation is uniform all through the Medoc 

 district, and does not present any striking difference from the 

 methods pursued in other parts of France. The vines arc gen- 

 erally planted from April to June. The distance observed is one 

 metre and ten centimetres between the vines on one and the same 

 line, and only one metre between the rows. In the second year 

 the vine is pruned to two or three eyes ; in the third it begins to 

 be trained on a trellis by tying two sprigs, each with two or three 

 eyes, to the lath. The pruning commences usually in November 

 and lasts till January. 



In the Medoc district the vine is in blossom in the middle of 

 June, and the grape ripens, in favorable years, about the middle 

 of September. In such years the vintage begins on the 20th of 

 September and lasts to the 1st of October. If it takes place alto- 

 gether in this month, the year is pronounced to be middling or 

 bad. Every body may gather his grapes when he pleases, as there 

 is no time fixed by statute for this purpose in the Department of 

 the Gironde, to which the Medoc district belongs. 



The grapes are carefully picked, and cleaned of green or rotten 

 berries before they are taken to the press-room. Here the wine- 

 presses stand, generally three of them, ranged on one side, and the 

 vats along the opposite wall. The berries are all plucked from 

 their stalks, which is done either with rakes or an instrument 

 called an egraiypoir. After this they are trodden down in tubs, 

 which generally have a hole in the bottom through which the 

 must escapes. This is taken to the vat, which is scrupulously 

 cleaned and sponged with brandy. The vat being once full, must 

 be left perfectly quiet until the wine is formed, which may take 

 some four or five days, or even longer, according to the tempera- 

 ture, weather, ripeness of the grapes, etc. As soon as the must 

 has lost its sugary taste, and has turned fairly into wine, it is drawn 

 carefully into casks, during which operation great care is taken 

 not to let any foreign matter be mixed with the pure juice of the 

 grape. The filling of the casks must be done as quick as possi- 

 ble. During the first month they must be filled up every four or 

 five days ; the. second month, once in eight days ; and subsequent- 

 ly once in fifteen, until the wine is drawn off. This has to be 

 done three times during the first year, viz., in January or Febru- 

 ary, in June, and in September, In the following years it is suf- 

 ficient to draw off only twice. Ordinarily, the Medoc wines are 



