CLIMATE. 35 



and that the vines of Falerno, cultivated at the base of Vesu- 

 vius, have changed their character ; and experience has con- 

 firmed, that the vines of Burgundy, transported to the south of 

 France, do not produce wines equally delicate and agreeable. 



The French writers state, that the qualities which charac- 

 terize certain wines, cannot be re-produced in various places, 

 and that to attain this object, it would require the constant 

 influence of the same causes, and that as it is impossible to re- 

 unite all these, it must be necessarily expected that changes 

 and modifications will ensue. 



Much, however, as I have studied various authors on these 

 points, I do not feel willing to allow, that triflim: variations in 

 climate produce so great changes as are frequently attribut- 

 ed to them, and think that very great allowances are to be 

 made for the wide differences which exist in the mode of cul- 

 ture, and particularly for the, great variations in the process 

 adopted in making the wines. The most eminent writers of 

 the French Institute assert that more depends on a judicious 

 selection of the varieties of grapes, than on the climate. It 

 is however a just conclusion, that warm climates, by favouring 

 the formation of the saccharine principle, produce very spirit- 

 ous wines, inasmuch as heat is essentially necessary to their 

 production. 



But it is requisite that the fermentation should operate in 

 such manner as to decompose all the saccharine matter of the 

 grape, without which we would have only very sweet wines, as 

 is observed in some hot climates, and in those cases where the 

 saccharine juice of the grape is too dense to attain a complete 

 decomposition. 



Cold climates can only produce weak wines, of little body; 

 but these are sometimes agreeably perfumed. The grapes in 

 which there exists but little of the saccharine principle are not 

 adequate to the formation of alcohol, which constitutes the 

 whole strength of wines. But as, on the other hand the heat 

 produced by fermentati m of these grapes is very moderate, the 

 aromatic principle is preserved in all its force, and contributes 

 to render these wines very pleasant, although they are weak. 



