AMEKICAN VINES. 19 



Tliis ce"page was, and is even now, used as a direct-pro- 

 ducer in some districts of the Var. The wine it yields is 

 rather rough, of a very special taste, which is not agreeable, 

 and is generally flat, but rather strong in alcohol and colour. 

 Its colour, which is rather bluish or violet when the wine is 

 made with very ripe grapes and in contact with the air, 

 becomes of a bright red when it is made with rather early 

 vintage, and when the percentage of acidity is increased by 

 the addition of plaster or tartaric acid to the vat. It would 

 be a very good wine, but is very difficult to make, and its 

 colour is very liable to alter. 



The yield of the Jacquez is not, unfortunately, large 

 enough to compensate these disadvantages. Placed under 

 similar conditions, it is inferior to other c^pages cultivated in 

 the south of France, such as Aramon or Carignan. This 

 accounts for it being generally discarded as a direct-producer 

 in countries where the vine is cultivated intensively. It 

 was tried as stock, but its middling resistance to the attacks 

 of phylloxera, which is more apparent after the grafting, 

 do not tend to generalize its use. However, its resistance to 

 lime is greater than that of Riparia, and it was not com- 

 pletely discarded until the Rupestris du Lot allowed it to 

 be replaced, as this stock is equally adapted to calcareous 

 soils and more resistant to phylloxera. 



To sum up, the Jacquez, which had a certain importance 

 at the beginning of the reconstitution of vineyards in the 

 south of France, has been generally abandoned. 



Some viticulturists assumed that there were two varieties 

 of Jacquez, one more fructiferous than the other. Nothing 

 up to the present seems to have proved this. We have only 

 seen some vines producing less than others, although they 

 were identical in general characteristics. This can be easily 

 explained by the excessive multiplication to which this 

 cepage was subjected, and which induced the use of cuttings 

 taken trom sterile canes, instead of selecting cuttings only 

 from those which had borne fruit. A sound selection of the 

 cuttings would overcome this defect little by little, and the 

 average yield increased. A Jacquez vine was found at 

 the experimental station of Mas de las Sorres, near Mont- 

 pellier, with a branch bearing grapes with larger berries 

 than usual. The grafts and the cuttings taken from this 

 branch have given rise to vines preserving this character. 

 Dauty multiplied them under the name of Jacquez with 

 large berries of Las Sorres. 



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