Choice of a Situation for a Vineyard. 1 1 



banks of the Rhone, of Burgundy, and of the Rhine. 

 We know likewise that wet years produce more acid, 

 and less sugary, wines. 



Situation. — ^A vineyard may be located in a valley, 

 on an elevated plateau, or on a hill-side : let us exam- 

 ine whether all these positions are equally favorable. 



Narrow vales are little adapted to vine-culture ; the 

 dampness of the atmosphere is too great ; it prevents 

 the ripening of the grapes, and the vines are more ex- 

 posed than elsewhere to the spring frosts. 



Neither are elevated plateaux, nor the crowns of high 

 hills, more favorable : there, the air being too sharp, and 

 always in motion, hardens the skin of the grapes, and 

 they contain but a very small proportion of saccharine 

 matter. Unsheltered plains produce very good wines ; 

 take, for instance, the vineyards of Medoc, those on 

 the plains of Thassis (Drome) or of Roussillon, of 

 Crau, near Aries, of St. Nicholas de Bourgeuil, in 

 Touraine etc., etc. Lastly, the hills of Burgundy, and 

 those of a great number of other localities, celebrated 

 for the quality of their wines, also prove how well adapt- 

 ed are inclined plains, or hill-sides, to the culture of the 

 vine. 



Upon the whole, in the northern portion of the belt 

 which we have described as adapted to the vine, we 

 must choose, first^ large, level, open plains ; then hills, 

 and hillocks, or slight declivities, and, as we approach 

 toward the southern portion of that belt, we must 

 ascend toward the summits of high mountains, in or- 

 der to remove the vine from the too scorching heat of 

 the plains. The slopes of Vesuvius, the high hills of 

 Madeira, the cloud-capped rocks of Teneriffe, and of 



