THE WINES OP ITALY. 285 



The varieties of vines are almost innumerable. There are some 

 adapted to certain localities, and of limited cultivation, and others which 

 are almost invariably grown in every district. The greater part are 

 indigenous, and of very ancient origin ; others, having been originally 

 transplanted from Italy, have been reintroduced with new properties 

 from Hungary, the banks of the Rhine, the South. of France and Spain, 

 from the Cape of Good Hope, and the Canary Islands. There are some 

 varieties from America of the Labruscan or Isabella (Vitis Lahrusca), re- 

 maining in the gardens up to a recent period objects of curiosity, but 

 their cultivation is rapidly increasing, because it has been observed that 

 their grapes have not been affected by Oidium. 



The methods followed in dressing and planting the vine are equally 

 various. In the southern countries, and in the plains, the vine is trained 

 up high trees, such as elms, poplars, and walnut trees, and the branches 

 which reach to the tops are interwoven among themselves, forming gar- 

 lands and festoons. In other places props are used, arranged in such a 

 manner as to support the shoots of the vine, which are lengthened or 

 shortened in various ways. The vine is also cultivated on trellis work, 

 in espalier, also separate and without props. This last system, which is 

 rather unusual, is chiefly employed on the heights, and is the best method 

 in the dry soils of the small islands. 



In every part, unfortunately, but little attention is paid to the choice 

 of the vines best fitted for cultivation. Various qualities of grapes are all 

 promiscuously gathered in the same vintage — white, black, sweet and 

 sour — after a more or less perfect maturity, without much care being 

 paid to the proportions to be observed amongst them during the process 

 they undergo in the making. Sometimes, the most intelligent vine- 

 growers separate the grapes, according to their qualities and their differ- 

 ent degrees of ripeness, and thus obtain wines more esteemed, more equal 

 in character, and capable of keeping longer. A small number plant 

 separately the various qualities of vines, afterwards mixing the grapes 

 and the must in the proj^ortions which experience has indicated to them 

 as being the best. This last method is much extending in Piedmont. 



The process generally used in making wine consists in treading the 

 grapes in tubs (tini), which are left open in the wine cellars ; and the 

 liquor being drained off, as soon as the active fermentation has ceased, it 

 is transferred to the tuns, where the action of the second fermentation 

 takes place, in which the wine is clarified and completely made. 



Nevertheless, the grapes are sometimes left in the open air during 

 some time ; they are then pressed, and the must is carried away and 

 placed in barrels to ferment. This is the process followed, especially in the 

 making of full-bodied wines, like the Vin santo. 



The black wines are obtained by crushing the grapes, and leaving the 

 husks and stems in contact with the must ; there are white wines, less 

 valued by drinkers, made either from white grapes, put into tubs sepa- 

 rately from the black wines, or from the liquor, which ferments separate 

 from the husks. 



