132 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



when Chaptal and Cavoleau* cite the wine of Hermitage 

 as an instance of the excellence of wines produced upon 

 the debris of granite ; while the fact is, that the wine of 

 the hill of Hermitage owes its superiority over the wines 

 of the other hills in its neighbourhood only to the cir- 

 cumstance of the granitic soil of a part of that hill being 

 mixed with calcareous matter ; and but for this circum- 

 stance, I am satisfied that the wine of Hermitage would 

 never have been heard of beyond the neighbourhood 

 where it grows. I am therefore of opinion, that the 

 finest dry wines owe their superiority chiefly to the quality 

 of the soil ; and I am much mistaken if it be not found 

 that the soils of all vineyards producing dry wines of 

 superior excellence are strongly calcareous. All my 

 observations have led me to this conclusion, and I know 

 of no instance to the contrary. It will be observed, that 

 I here only speak of dry wines, for sweet wines of great 

 excellence are produced in a variety of soils, and, in fact, 

 owe their qualities more to the variety of the grape, and 

 the manner in which it is treated, than to the soil. The 

 sweet Muscat and Old Mountain wines of Malaga are 

 celebrated all over the world ; but though they have the 

 same varieties of vines at Malaga as at Xeres de la 

 Frontera, and pursue a similar practice in making the 

 wine, the best of their dry wines, produced on a soil 

 consisting of decomposed slaty schist, are insipid and 

 flavourless when compared with the Sherries which are 

 produced on the chalky hills of Xeres. The sweet wine 

 of Rivesaltes, the most celebrated in France, is produced 

 on a granitic soil covered with pebbles ; and the sweet 



* ffinologie Franfaise, on Statisque de Tons les Vignobles de France 



Paris, 1827. 



