JOHANN CARL LEUCIIS ON WINES. 165 



tinction, as they possess, more than any of the others, those pecul- 

 iar qualities which distinguish the Kliine wines. After a few 

 hours' travel from Mayenec on the right bank of the River Rhine, 

 you begin to enter upon the more favorable regions for the culture 

 of the vine — the so-called " Rheingau." Here the most celebrated 

 wine districts arc the following: Asmannhausen, Riidcsheim, Geis- 

 enheim, Johannisberg, Markobrunn, Steinberg, and Ilochheim, 

 which lies toward the east. 



Next in quality to the wines produced in these districts you 

 may class with perfect certainty those made on the left bank of 

 the river : e. g., those of Scharlachler, Ingelheim, Laubenheim, 

 Bodenheim, and Nierstcin, all of which places are in the vicinity 

 of Mayence, and whose wines are not unfrequently found to give 

 satisfixction even to the ablest connoisseurs ; for, even if the 

 stringency and spiciness of the first-named class of wines can not 

 be attained by these other kinds, yet these districts have afforded 

 wines which, by their sweetness, bouquet, and strength, have ob- 

 tained for them a considerable degree of public estimation. 



The vineyards also toward the south and southwest afford un- 

 exceptionable wines. Nature, however, has not provided in ev- 

 ery part of this wine-country a soil so congenial to the culture of 

 the grape as she has in the Rheingau. There the soil attains its 

 highest perfection for the production of choice wines ; there 

 flourish the richest vineyards, which produce the most generous 

 wine, the vines themselves growing generally in stony ground or 

 in the clefts of rocks. On the southerly side of these tracts the 

 sun shines the whole day long; its ra3^s warm the stones to the 

 greatest intensity, and, by the radiation of heat therefrom, the 

 grape is ripened by the solar influence to an equal perfection with 

 those which are fully exposed to the direct blaze of the sunbeams. 

 A high degree of vinous essence is consequently developed in 

 these grapes — an element which would be sought for in vain in 

 any other part of the Rhine. The fact is announced to you from 

 a distance by the smell of the air, which is impregnated with the 

 sweetness and spicy odors arising from the vineyards. Besides 

 the districts above enumerated, whose vintages take the pre-emi- 

 nence of all others in the Rheingau, there are many other places 

 which, in a greater or less degree, are suited to the growing of 

 vines of various varieties. 



All the wine districts on the Rheingau, with the exception of 

 the Burgundy vines, from Asmannhausen, produce only white 

 wines. Opposite the Rheingau, on the left bank of the river, 

 red wines are produced also, as at Ingelheim and Lorch, near 

 Mayence, and several other places. The latter place, like the 

 Asmannhausen, in the Rheingau, affords Burgundies of superior 

 strength and piquancy, but never excels in sweetness or purity. 

 The finest Rhine wine comes indubitably from the mountainous 

 regions of Riidesheim and Hinterhaus, The variety of grape 



