It is Tufficient to put a third part, or at moft a half, 
of the grains into the puncheons, and after that they 
fill the wine up to the bung. They make ufe of 
thefe rapes to put off the grounds or bottoms of 
wine, and the weak ones, which they alfo mix fome- 
times with them. The third kind of Samoireau, of 
which I fhall fpeak, renders them the better for 
keeping. 
The Samoireau Fourchu is the beffc of the three kind ; 
this is proper to give the colour to the others, and to 
fuftain thole that are weak, and to reftore thofe that 
have any defied:. 
In order to know the colour, they call fome of it 
againft a wall, and according to the impreffion it 
makes, they judge of the effect it will produce. 
One Angle puncheon of that will colour fix of white, 
■and fometimes more, according as the feafons are hot, 
and the quantity of the wine that the vineyard has 
yielded *, this wine is not only good to drink, when it 
Is taken in time, but it ferves for a remedy againft 
the dyfentery and other maladies ; its marc is good 
againft rheumatifms. 
This fort has a virtue that is not found in any others, 
becaufe the longer it is kept the better it is ; for it 
is better for drinking at the end of twelve or four- 
teen years, than one or two years after it has been 
made. 
Some put it in bottles, but it keeps equally as well in 
calks, provided care be taken to keep them always 
full, and to obferve that the calks do not want hoops, 
and it will be proper to put on feveral iron hoops at 
each end. 
The wine, the marc, and the wood, or rather the 
allies of this plant, have alfo a great many other pro- 
perties which I fhall not relate. 
The time of gathering thefe two fpecies of Samoireau 
comes much later than thofe of the firft, which ripens 
at the fame time with the Auvernat. 
The territory of Mardic is the moft proper for thefe 
plants, and that which produces the moft of it, (I 
mean of the hard and Fourchu Samoireau ;) there is 
of it at Bou and Checi, and but a very little in any 
other places of this vineyard plot. 
As the Fourchu never produces more wine than when 
the plants are a little old, many eager to enjoy the fruit 
of their labours, and their expences, have not patience 
to wait fo long, and therefore they pull up thofe of 
them they had, and cannot refolve to plant them 
when they have them not. 
Neverthelefs this is a precious plant, and one may 
judge of it by the effeds that it produces, and by the 
price which it bears, for it is commonly fold for dou- 
ble the price of the beft wines of this country ; and I 
do not know, but that thofe who deftroy them, and 
thofe that do not raife them, will repent it one time 
or other. 
As there is not much to be faid of the manner of 
making white wine, and having taken notice of it at 
the beginning of this article, I (hall fay but little of 
it particularly. 
Although there are many kinds of white Grapes, 
yet they make, as one may fay, but two forts of wine 
of them, the one the moift, and the other the dry 
wines. 
The firft, fuch as the Mufcat or the Gendin of St. 
Mefmin, thofe of Mariguy, of Rebrechein, and other 
neighbouring places, may be looked upon as the moft 
precious, in that they bring the money into the king- 
dom, rather than the dry wines, for they fend them 
into Holland, Flanders, England, &c. To render 
this wine the better, they do not content themfelves 
to fee that the Grapes have their perfedt maturity, 
and be half rotten •, they wait oftentimes till the froft 
has taken them, to have the wine which they call 
Bourou ; and in fome years they defer the vintage un- 
til the fifteenth or twentieth of November, and it is 
then fometimes fo cold, that the icicles hang upon 
thofe Grapes that are perifhed,fo that they are obliged 
to carry fires into the vineyards in great pans, to warm 
the gatherers. 
It is trite, that thofe. who tarry fo long before they 
gather, have a great deal lefs wine than the others, 
but then at the fame time it is much better, and fells 
a great deal dearer, fo that I believe it comes much 
to the fame, or very near the matter. 
The wines of which I am fpeaking, although fweetof 
themfelves, have, neverthelefs, not always the fame 
degree of liquor •, this depends upon the condition of 
the feafon, that is to lay, by how much the fummer 
and autumn are the hotter, the wine has the more li- 
quor, and it has a great deal lefs when the feafon is 
the contrary. * 
What I fay is fo true, that the feafon having been very 
hot in the year 1719, the fweet wines themfelves had 
abundance more liquor than ordinary, and kept good 
more than a year ; alfo the dry wines of many places 
were fweet and clear. 
Some red wines were alfo very foft (which is very 
rare,) and held good till the month of February in the 
year 1721. It is true they were thick, and that they 
did not become clear till the time that they loft their 
fweetnefs, which altered their ftrength. 
The foftnefs of the white wines being over, they 
were neverthelefs good, but as there remains a cer- 
tain flavour, which pleafes the palate of moft perfons, 
it is beft to fell them, or fpend them as foon as 
may be. 
One may know by experience that good Grapes almoft 
always make good wine. Among the white Grapes, 
without contradiction, the beft are Melier, and the 
white Auvernat of the Low Countries. As the white 
Formentes or Bourgignons, the Maledeueaux, the 
Tramboifes, the white Gois, &c. make a wine which 
is better to throw away than to drink, yet vineyards 
of the vignerons are fluffed with thefe wretched Vines, 
becaufe they yield more wine, and for the moft part, 
better refill; thofe accidents that happen to a vineyard ; 
for thefe people have no regard to any thing but the 
quantity, which is the reaion that they do not ordi- 
narily fell their wines to that advantages as the citi- 
zens do. 
The white Grapes cannot be gathered too ripe, be- 
caufe the riper they are, the more wine they produce, 
and their rottennefs does not give it any bad tafte ; 
but when it is begun before they come to their full 
ripenefs, they are fubject to grow yellow, yet regard 
is to be had to thofe lands of which the wine is fubjedt 
to grow ropy. 
For this reafon, when they are gathered, it is good 
that the Grape has a little greennels, to the end that 
the wine that comes from them may be able to keep 
dry, to which the white Auvernat of the Low Coun- 
tries, and the green Melier, contribute very much *, 
the laft hinders the wine from being ropy, and the firft 
makes it clear, and for this reafon it is good to plant 
of it with the Melier, becaufe at the time of gather- 
ing, they may be both mingled together, and make 
a wine without any fault. 
Oneoughtto endeavour not togather the whiteGrapes 
but when the weather is fair; a rainy feafon is not fo fa- 
vourable, for one ought never to mingle water with 
the wine that one makes, tho’ fome are not over feru- 
pulous as to this point. It is true, the inconvenience 
is not fo great in refped to the Auvernats, but that 
Ihould not hinder one from always endeavouring to 
make good wine, and for this reafon it is beft to ga- 
ther the vintage in a dry hot time. 
As the white wine is not tunned, when they bring the 
Grapes in panniers from the vineyards, they empty 
them diredtly on the middle of the prefs, where they 
trample them with their wooden Ihoes ; the broadeft 
and fmootheft are the moft proper for this work. 
The Grapes ought to be trod immediately, that is to 
fay, every pannier as they bring them from the vine- 
yard, otherwife the wine would be yellow •, and this 
colour is difagreeable to the fight, and ft ill more to 
the palate, and confequently gives the wine a bad 
quality. 
According as the Grapes are •preffed on the middle, 
and that the pipe fills, they empty it to fill the pun- 
cheons, 
