V I T 
them 'from the lee, and efpecially if they are put into 
bottles. 
All thefe obfervations which we have made, will be 
of great ufe to thofe perfons who would improve their 
wines, or delire to drink delicious liquor ; but fuch 
perfons mull remember that they ought, above all 
this, to ftudy to have good vaults, and thofe which 
are cooleft in the fummer, andwarmeftin the winter, 
are ever the belt. 
It may feem to many perfons in this country that we 
have been too prolix in the account we have given, but 
thefe obfervations are not deligned for thofe who are 
acquainted with the prabtice already, but for fuch 
perfons as are wholly ignorant of thefe things, and 
who are fo far from taking any pains in the ordering 
their wines, that it is a pain to them to conceive the 
greateft part of thofe things which I have taken no- 
tice of to be neceffary, and who cannot be perfuaded 
' but that they obferved every thing requifite to the pro- 
per management of wines, as exabtly as thofe of 
Champaign do. 
They prabtife nothing in Champaign, which may not 
be perfebtly imitated in other places the drawing off 
the wines, the manner of fining them, and putting 
them in bottles, &c. is all equally pofiible, and alfo 
eafy. Many perfons might enrich themfelves, if they 
would fet themfelves about it, with the help of thefe 
obfervations, and of thofe they might make them- 
felves, to bring their wines to perfection, and inftead 
of felling them for one or two fols per pot, as they 
ordinarily do, they might fell them for upward of 
eight or ten. They would have the fatjsfablion of 
augmenting their income, and fee their wines fought 
after, and they would be able to fell them not only at 
home, but alfo to tranfport them into foreign coun- 
tries, becaufe their fituation is more favourable to 
fend them by fea, than that of the Champagnois, who 
are obliged to tranfport theirs upon waggons, and by 
rivers, into Germany, and the fartheft parts of the 
north. 
Perhaps fome critics will objebt the difference of cli- 
mates, which will not permit the fame culture of the 
fame plants, which, by their different qualities, re- 
quire particular managements. This way of reafon- 
ing might have place, if I had pretended to fpeak to 
a people who ftudied to order the Vines with great at- 
tention, and to give them a finenefs, but I have it 
chiefly in view, as I have had in collecting thefe dif- 
ferent obfervations, to inftrubt thofe people who are 
entirely ignorant of the method ufed in thofe countries 
where they are accuflomed to make excellent wines, 
as well by reafon of the goodnefs of the lands, and the 
warmth of the climate, as by the induftry of thofe 
who inhabit them. 
In Champaign, where their Grapes do not ripen but 
with difficulty, becaufe their country is cold, they 
make pale and white wines, the wines truly gray, 
■which are a little coloured, and the velvet wines : 
Why cannot they make all thefe forts of wines in Ber- 
ry, in Burgundy, in Languedoc, in Provence, &c. ? 
The warmth of the climate will not permit wines 
to be made perfectly white with black Grapes ; they 
will have a little colour, and they will not thence be 
lefs exquifite than thofe they have made thefe fifty 
years in Champaign, and in the main are better in 
tafle, and better for health, than thofe wines that 
are perfectly white, which cannot be ufed but after 
dinner. 
A dififiertation on the fituation of Burgundy, and the wines 
that it produces. By Mr. Arnoux. 
The town of Beaune is the center of Upper Burgun- 
dy ; it is fituate in a territory the moft fertile and fe- 
rene in France ; it is all round encompaffed with ci- 
ties, among which is Autun the ancient capital of the 
Gauls, Dijon the capital of the duchy of Bourgogne, 
Nuis, St. Jean de Laune, Verdun, Seure or Belle- 
garde, Chalons on the Saone, Arnay le Due, Sanlieu, 
V I T ' 
Flavigny, and Semeur. Beaune is placed almoft iff 
the middle of thefe towns, which are not above eight, 
nine, twelve, twenty-one, or twenty-four miles at the 
fartheft, to be as it were, a nurfe to them all, iri 
diftributing plentifully amongft them the liquors 
which it produces. 
All the learned are agreed unanimoufly that it is the 
ancient Bibrabte, of which mention is made in C^far’s 
Commentaries. 
C^far, not having above two days provifion for his 
army, and being not above thirteen miles at the moft 
from Bibrabte, the biggeft, richeft, and moft fertile 
city of the Eduans, thought proper to march thither 
to procure provifion for his troops, and that is the 
reafon he quitted his way to Switzerland, and came 
to Bibrabte. Com. Csef. Lib. de Bel. Gal. 
But to return to the town of Beaune : this town can- 
not pretend to glory in thefe ancient remains of anti- 
quity, which the air confumes, and time reduces to 
dull ; it only glories in its good wines, which every 
year bring to the citizens new riches. However, it 
has been within an age paft a ftrong place, and is ftill 
furrounded with a large ditch, which runs into the 
river Burgoife ; this takes its fource at about half a 
mile from one of its hills ; it is alfo encompaffed with 
a rampart flanked with fome towers, and five great 
baflions. The ditch which encompaffes the town, is 
above a mile and a half in circumference •, the citi- 
zens there enjoy almoft continually a pure air, and a 
clear fky, being equally about a hundred leagues off 
from the Mediterranean and the ocean. The waters 
are, as one may fay, in fufpence, when it is about to 
determine its courfe. There is alfo a great body of 
water in its neighbourhood, which is feen in all the 
charts of France under the name of the Pond of long 
Extent. It is the opinion of fome perfons, that this 
partakes of the waters of both feas. 
This town can count fourteen or fifteen thoufand in- 
habitants, of which the fourth part are employed in 
cultivating the vineyards, and another fourth part in 
carelefly exercifing fome profeffions they are ignorant 
of, and the other half in enjoying the pleafure of a 
foft, idle, and delicious life. The gout and ficknefs 
are baniffied from thefe walls. From thefe hills, 
that produce fuch exquifite wines, iffue out fountains 
of ice, and little rivers as clear as melted cryftal. Thefe 
waters iffue out from the earth in a line oppofite to 
the perpendicular, bubbling up, and puffiing out of the 
earth on high globes of rock cryftal, which keep their 
ipherical figure, till they are at the fuperficies. 
The hills of Upper Burgundy, which produce the 
wine, the only wine which one can or ought to call 
Burgundy wine, do not extend farther than from Di- 
jon to Chalon, upon the Saone, yet we ought not to 
reckon thefe vineyards to be in perfection but from 
Chambertin to Chagni, about twenty-four miles in ex- 
tent, for the Vines at Dijon and Chalons do not en- 
joy thofe climates which produce thofe wines that are 
fit to be tranlported into Great-Britain, the circles of 
the Empire, and the Low Countries, as thofe which 
are confined within the limits, that I (hall mention as 
exaftly as I can, without being apprehenfive of palling 
under any cenfure upon this account. 
The fame row of hills in the fame fituation, and hav- 
ing the fame afpebt of the ' fun, extends itfelf almoft 
as far <is Lyons, and all thofe little mountains are 
wholly covered with Vines, but the lands are lefs fine, 
and lefs light at Chalons, heavier at Tornus, and 
coarfer at Majon. This alters the form of the pro- 
dubtions of thefe little hillocks, which, notwithftand- 
ing they have the fame arrangement, and the fame 
fituation, produce fo different liquors. 
All thofe little valleys are linked one to the other to 
the eaft afpebt of the fun, and form the figure of an 
unbent bow, and have oppofite to them a row of 
mountains of the like figure, but a great deal higher, 
which appear or feem to join them, although they 
may be fifteen, twenty, thirty, and fome fixty leagues 
off, and forming an oval figure, contribute to make 
the 
' Ul 
f 
