36 THE VINE AND CIVILISATION. 
Latour, without partaking of their excellence. The goodness 
of the season will sometimes give an excellence to second-class 
names, while in bad years those of first-class names sink to 
mediocrity. The extensive vineyards around Bourg produced 
the best clarets 200 years ago, before the cultivation of the 
vine in Medoe had commenced, which does not date further 
than 250 years. 
‘¢The mansion of Chateau Margaux is situated some distance 
inland; it is an Italian villa, the handsomest in Medoc, and 
belongs to the heirs of the Spanish banker, Marquis d’ Aguado, 
though rarely inhabited, owing to the malaria that prevails 
around it. It stands in the midst of the vineyards producing 
the celebrated wine Chateau Margaux. The grape that yields 
it is small and poor to the taste, with a flavour slightly resem- 
bling that of black currants. The Chateau is about half a mile 
from the village of Margaux, and twenty miles distant from 
Bordeaux. 
‘*To the north of Margaux are situated the Commune of St. 
Julien, and some of the most renowned vineyards of Medoc 
producing the best second growths, as the vineyards of Leoville 
and Chateau La Rose, and in the adjoining Commune of St. 
Lambert is the vineyard of Chateau Latour, yielding the well 
known wine, prémiér cru. The estate, which does not exceed 
330 acres, sold some forty years ago for 300 thousand dollars. 
The second growths Pichon Longueville and Mouton come from 
the same quarter. 
‘* The characteristics of the good wines of Bordeaux is their 
aroma or bouquet, which cannot be counterfeited ; spirit, they 
have none, and will distill away into nothing; anything like a 
mixture deteriorates a good wine and destroys the aroma; still 
fine light wines are strengthened by stronger bodied wines, 
and the result is advantageous to the consumer. 
