108 



VIKEYARDS OF 



upon it, indicated the presence of a considerable portion 

 of lime. It is probably to this peculiarity that the wine 

 of Hermitage owes its superiority, for to all appearance 

 many of the neighbouring hills on both sides of the 

 Rhone present situations equally favourable, although the 

 wine produced even upon the best of them never rises to 

 above half the value of the former, and in general not to 

 the fourth of their value. A good deal may also be 

 attributable to the selection of plants. The best red 

 wines of Hermitage are made exclusively from one variety, 

 and the white wines from two varieties ; but in the district 

 generally a much greater number of varieties are culti- 

 vated. The Red Grape is named the Ciras *. The white 

 varieties are the Roussette and the Marsan. The former 

 yields by itself a dry and spirituous wine, which easily 

 affects the head— the plant produces indifferently— the 

 latter yields a sweeter wine — they are mixed together to 

 produce the best white Hermitage. 



The labour bestowed upon these vineyards is immense. 

 According to M. Machon, on their first plantation, and 

 every time the plantation is renewed^ the soil is dug to the 

 depth of 4i or 5 feet. In most places it is also supported 

 by terraces. This was the first place, in the course of my 

 journe}^, in which T observed any supports given to the 

 vinesj but these were simply a stake of about five feet in 

 height to each plant, and the shoots were tied together at 

 its top ; far from the care indicated by the small trelHs of 

 the Medoc vineyards, this part of the labour seemed to be 



* In the (E)iologie Fran^aise, a very minute and correct account of the 

 French vineyards, published in 1826, the name of this grape is spelt Scyras ; 

 and it is stated that, according to the tradition of the neighbourhood, the plant 

 was originally brought from Shiraz in Persia, by one of the hermits of the 

 mountain. 



