DESCRIPTION OF VARIETIES. 195 



compared with Diana, Delaware, or lona, is 

 wanting in purity, refinement, and life. It is 

 not a wine of high flavor in any true sense, 

 although it be strongly marked; it impresses 

 the mouth and lips, but passes the palate 

 with but little pleasurable sensation. Thus 

 we have found it always when purest and 

 best ; and even then it has not richness enough 

 to cover its rather decided acidity. The 

 crops of 1854 and 1859 ripened uncommonly 

 well, and hence the vintages of those years 

 gave the best Catawba wine that has yet 

 been put in the market. It was very good. 

 The truth is, a grape may be vinous in its 

 character; may contain in itself the chief 

 elements of wine; yet, if these are not duly 

 combined, and the fruit does not ripen fully 

 and uniformly in all its parts, it can not make 

 a perfect wine. The imperfections in the grape 

 will appear in the wine, and not only impair 

 its goodness, but hasten the period of decay in 

 proportion as these imperfections may exist in 

 a greater or less degree. 



We have omitted from the wine list the 

 Isabella and Concord, and all grapes of the 

 Isabella class. We always have a reason for 

 what we do ; in this case it consists in the fact 



