V I T 
di fiance of a foot more or lefs one from the other, 
according as the vineyard is more or Ids furnifhed 
with Vines. 
Nevertheiefs, the end of the fhoots which are there 
bound horizontally, as one may lay, look all to the 
fame fide. 
This manner of placing the props without order is 
of great confequence, i. e. that one branch may not 
be covered by the fhadow of another but as little 
time as may be, and that if the rot comes to fome 
Grapes, they may not be able to communicate it to 
others. This manner is contrary to that of the Eng- 
lifh, who plant their Vines in rows, and thence it is 
that the one hinders the fun from ftsining upon the 
other, and of confequence, that hinders the ripening 
of the Grapes. 
The rnoft dangerous feafon for the Vine is when there 
has been a north wind, which has caufed a finall white 
froft. If the fun comes to appear in the morning, it 
dries and burns all the young leaves, the buds, and 
the Grapes, after the fame manner as it fire had been 
there. 
It is for this reafon that the friars in Burgundy have 
recourfe to prayers at this time more than at any 
other, and that after calm and cold nights, the fu- 
perftitious peafants run to the churches, and ring the 
bells with all their might. Whether it be that they 
imagine that God has any regard to this work of re- 
ligion, or that the agitation that they make in the air 
may, in fome fort, w r arm the air again, or change 
the wind, but however it be, they do at this time ring 
the bells with fuch violence, that there is no deep- 
ing ; during which times the priefls and monks are 
bufy in reading in the churches the paffion of our Sa- 
viour, according to the gofpel of St. John, and for 
this occupation they make a colleftion among all the 
preffes at the time when they make their wine, and 
every vigneron is obliged to give them a certain quan- 
tity of wine, and that by an order of parliament at 
Dijon. 
When the vineyard has efcaped the danger of the 
froft, they dig it again, and this they call biner, or 
the digging of the vineyard the fecond time ; after 
which the Grapes foon begin to flower, which fpread 
a iweet favour all over the country, and is the time 
when all the wines which are in the tuns in the 
vaults, though never fo deep, if they are upon their 
lee, without having been drawn off or clarified, work, 
ferment, grow thick, and cover their fuperficies with 
imall white flowers like fnow ; a thing difficult to be 
explained by philofophers, in this queftion in phyfics, 
when they demand, Utrum detur aftio in diftans ? 
It mult be obferved that all the Vines of the good 
hills of Burgundy pafs from their flowers to the Grape, 
that is to fay, that the flower of the Grapes changes 
into berries in thefpace of twenty-four hours; and if, 
during that time, there happens a cold fog, or a cold 
rain, their flowers, inftead of turning to Grapes, fall, 
and the fecond peril is no lefs dangerous than the firft, 
when that happens. The term that they make ufe 
of to exprefs it, is to fay the Vines are coulees, i. e. 
drop their Grapes. 
At the end of June, or the beginning of July, is the 
time when the Vine changes from the flower to ber- 
ries, after which the Vine has nothing to fear but the 
hail, or a too great drought. As foon as ever the 
vignerons fee the leaft cloud to rife upon the horizon, 
and the air leems to threaten the leaft ftorm, they 
have recourfe to their priefts, their bells, and their 
pater nofters, which they would not recite, but for 
fear that the people would rife againft them, if hail 
ffiould happen during that time that they were not at 
their prayers. 
The reafon that they are fo much afraid of the hail in 
Burgundy is, becaufe the vintage is all the dependence 
of the inhabitants, and that the Grapes being fmitten 
by this fcourge, give to the wine, in fome meafure, 
the lame tafte, and the fame fcent, which lightning 
lpreads on rhe places where it falls, a fcent which is 
impoffible to take away. 
i 
As to drought it is not only to the bells, or to thi 
priefts that they have recourfe, but to one or two 
ftone bulls in two villages about feven or eight miles 
from the town of Beaune, one of which idols is 
known and worffiipped under the name of St. Reve-r 
reen, and the other under the name of St. Margue- 
rite ; they affemble together, and go in proceffion to 
fearch in triumph for this ftone, which they carry fo~ 
lemnly to a church in the town. Ai the priefts go 
in proceffion, followed by the parif doners of which 
they are curees, and they offer theii incenfe and pray- 
ers, rub their books arid their cha* lets againft thefe 
extraordinary figures, and oftenti nes it happens to 
rain in this conjunfture, which does not a little con- 
tribute to keep up this fuperftition of the people. 
It is in July that they dig the vineyard the third time ; 
this they call thirdling. There are many years in 
which they dig their vineyards the fourth time, and 
this is in the month of Auguft that they give, it this 
fourth digging, but they take great care to dig the 
fourth time when the feafon is not too hot and dry, 
or on the contrary, to defend the Grapes from the 
heat of the fun, they let the Grafs grow in the vine- 
yards ; this ffiades them, and hinders the vapours of 
the earth from burning the Grape. 
A month before the vintage, the magiftrates of 
Beaune, accompanied with many experienced judges, 
and perfons of probity, make three vifits to examine 
the maturity of the Grapes, and at this third vifitand 
examination they decide the day of gathering the vin- 
tage. No private perfon dares to cut in his own 
vineyard one fingle bafket of Grapes, upon pain 
of confifcation, and a confiderable fine ;■ for, if it 
were permitted to each particular perfon to gather his 
vintage according to his own fancy, and his particular 
opinion, and according to his tafte, there would be 
wines too green font abroad into other countries, to 
the diffionour of Burgundy, and to the difcredit of 
the wines. 
And alfo for fear that any vapour ffiould fpread itfelf 
over the vineyards, for fifteen days before the vin- 
tage, they take care not to burn any ftraw or Hemp 
ftalks in the ftreets, left the fmoke ffiould give any 
bad tafte to the Grapes. 
The Grapes being come to maturity, the magiftrates 
give notice a few days before by a trumpet to the 
town, of the time they have appointed and fixed for 
gathering the vintage. Volnet begins firft, a day be- 
fore Pomard, and afterwards all the little hills gather 
their vintage indifferently; for after the town of 
Beaune has gathered their vintage one fingle day, the 
vintage is opened for all the other vineyards on the 
fide of Burgundy. It will be feen by and by why 
Beaune decides the vintage of Volnet and Pomard. 
It will fcarce be believed that all the hills from Cham- 
berry to Chagny ffiould have their vintage gathered in 
the fpace of four or five days, and alfo it is fcarce 
credible, what a vaft number of mountaineers from 
every part come to labour in this work. 
They gather the vintage perhaps (and my conjecture 
is founded upon more than twenty-five vintages which 
1 have feen made) more than two thoufand (queues) 
tuns of wine upon thefe hills, and the queue, which 
is always divided into two puncheons, fometimes in- 
to four fuellettes, and very rarely into eight cabil- 
Ions, contains five hundred bottles of wine, or, to 
fpeak more exactly, four hundred and forty pints Pa- 
ris meafure. 
It will be proper here to obferve, that in this great 
extent the vineyards produce but one kind of Grapes, 
which they call Noirons ; the berries of which are 
black when they are ripe, and quite round. The plain 
and the backfides produce only a fort of Grape, of 
which the berries are bigger and a little longer, which 
they call Garnet. 
Thofe who would make excellent wines, never cut the 
Grapes till after the fun has dried up the dew which 
has fallen in the night time ; for this moiftnefs, al- 
though it be but a rarefied air, cools the Grapes, 
which, being caft into the firft vat, fufpends, and 
1 4 t often- 
