55 



This southern wine is thin, light, and very little alcoholic ; the great bulk 

 of it is consumed before next vintage ; and, indeed, so great was the shortage 

 at the time of my visit that wine practically warm from the fermenting vats 

 was being disposed of to the retailers. In the circumstances one can under- 

 stand that the cellar price of wine must, according to the seasons, vary 

 within very wide margins. So great is the local demand for wine this year 

 that I found growers refusing Is. 8d. a gallon at the cellar door, who a few 

 years back would have been delighted with 6d. As indicating the variations 

 from year to year of new wine, I append below a table due to M. Jules 

 Leenhardt-Pommier, in which are indicated year by year the prices realised 

 by the same owner for 71 years. 



This table does not, of course, pretend to set out what have been the average 

 prices for good south of France wine over the 71 years concerned, since 

 experience has shown that in the course of the same season prices may vary 

 from simple to double, according as sales are effected at the beginning or at 

 the end of a year. The table is interesting, however, as indicating the prices 

 realised for new wine by the same vineyard-owner over a period of 71 years 

 under identical methods of sale. In this connection it should be noted that 

 in the south of France vineyard-owners never retail their own wine. Wine 

 merchants take it off their hands a few months after manufacture ; indeed, 

 in extreme instances, a few days after it has left the fermenting vat ; and 



