NOMENCLATURE OF GRAPES. 147 



variety yields wine fit only for dyers and for colouring other 

 wines. Still it is possible that some of the miserable harsh 

 wine which is sent to this country under the name of claret, 

 may be the produce of this grape. The fruit ripened with me 

 the past season about the 15th of September. 



BLACK SPANISH. PR. CAT. No. 29. 

 Negrier, Duh. .Hamonal. 



Alicant or Alicante. Raisin de Lombardie. 



Raisin d'Ati-ante. Port-wine grape. 



Gros noir d'Espagne. Large black cluster. 



Claret grape. 



Vitis UK a perampldj acinis, nigricantibus, niajoribus. 



This grape resembles the Teinturier, because its juice is 

 equally red, but it is far superior in qualitj^, and it is this grape 

 from which Oporto or Port wine is made : besides the bunches 

 and the berries are larger, and the leaves have a greater ex- 

 pansion. It is known in the various districts and countries 

 where it is cultivated by a great variety of titles, as the list of 

 synonymes indicates. In English authors it is generally de- 

 scribed under the first and third, and the three last names stated 

 above. It ripens here towards the end of September, and 

 there is no doubt it is one of those to which our attention 

 should be particularly devoted in the formation of vineyards, 

 as port wine which is produced from it, is in such general use 

 in our country, that the wine made from it here would be sure 

 of a ready market. The American wine would also be far pre- 

 ferable to the imported, as it would be unnecessary to adulterate 

 it by such an addition of alcohol as is added by the Portuguese 

 to ensure a safe transmission across the ocean. The por- 

 wine we import contains a greater portion of alcohol than any 

 other wine brought into our country, with the exception of 

 sherry and madeira, which do not greatly differ in that respect. 



There is another grape, called in France Gros-noir of Cha- 

 rente, which may possibly prove synonymous with the Black 

 hamburgh or Frankenthaler, although enumerated in some 

 French lists. I have not yet tested it sufficiently to decide the 



