260 



very suitable for port ; very good for blending with some dark- 

 coloured wine. On rich flats gives an abundant yield of thinner 

 wine ; while on gravelly slopes produces a more full-bodied wine. 



MALBECK (syn. Cot). A choice red variety. Season: early 

 (second period). Merits: first-class, and enters with Cabernet in 

 the making of high-class clarets ; when fortified makes good port. 

 Vine : growth vigorous, half spreading ; shoots sharp pointed, 

 average thickness, brownish-fawn colour with red stripes ; large 

 buds, light-red to whitish violet. Leaves : of a pinkish white when 

 young, medium sized, three-lobed, circular ; upper surface bright 

 green, glossy, and rough ; under surface covered with flaky down ; 

 leaf-stalk, short and thick. Fruit : bunches large, branched, loose, 

 and somewhat pyramidal. Berries: rather large, roundish, with 

 long thick pedicel. Skin : thin and tough, dark-violet, covered with 

 bloom. Stems : red, especially the extremities, to which the berries 

 are attached. Sweet. 



Cultural Notes. Temperate districts are the best for its 

 cultivation, but is also grown in the warmer and drier districts. 

 Requires well- drained soil to set well, preferably rich loam or lime- 

 stone formations, where it generally gives best results. Pruned 

 with long rods. Suffers but slightly from the o'idium, but liable to 

 be attacked by anthracnose. Berries ripen a little before Cabernet, 

 but hang well. Makes a beautiful wine of the claret type, with rich 

 ruby colour ; rather astringent and bitterish when young, but sus- 

 ceptible of correction by blending. Comes into leaf rather early ; 

 and in frosty localities should not be planted in hollows. Unlike 

 most vines, has the peculiarity of bearing fruit on shoots growing off 

 the old wood if the normal fruit-bearing shoots are destroyed. 



MERLOT. Another choice claret grape, and a good bearer ; 

 suitable for cool localities. Vine : a strong grower ; slim, erect wood, 

 short- jointed, streaked, greyish-fawn in colour. Leaves : medium 

 sized ; five-lobed ; wider than long ; sinus open ; teeth sharp and 

 uneven ; smooth above, tomentose below ; dying off red. Bunches : 

 conical, elongated, shouldered. Berries : small to medium, round, 

 bluish-black, covered with bloom, juicy, sweet, and pleasant. 

 Ripens early (second period). Pruned either short or preferably 

 long. When grown in suitable localities, the wine is velvety and 

 ripens quickly ; but does not come up to Cabernet, with which it 

 blends well. Does best in cool and moist localities, where its leaves 

 are not scorched, and where the berries hang longer on the vines. 

 One of the best Australian clarets I have tasted was produced from 

 Merlot grapes grown at Bendigo, in Victoria. The vineyard has 

 since been found infested by the phylloxera, and on that account 

 destroyed. 



MATARO (syn. Espar, Mourvedre, Lambruscat in N.S.W.). 

 Largely cultivated in the south of France and in Spain, Italy, and 

 Algeria. Season: late (third period). Merits : a good blending red 

 wine, but without much character by itself. Vine : growth vigorous, 

 erect grower: short- jointed wood, of a reddish-brown colour when 



