4 
Memoir on the Vineyards and Wines 
Series of questions put by M. Chaptal, with their answers, . 
I* Which is the most advantageous exposure for the 
Vine P 
The most advantageous exposure for the vine is, with- 
out contradiction, the south and the east ; but it has been 
ascertained that certain advantages of soil and the na- 
ture of the plant must also concur : otherwise various 
districts, such as Damery, Yanteuil, lieuil, &c. with the 
same exposure and climate, and also watered by the 
Marne, would enjoy the same celebrity as Cmnieres, 
Hautvillers, and Ay. It must be confessed that the for- 
mer districts produce inferior kinds of wine ; but it re- 
mains to be decided whether we ought to ascribe this 
difference to the culture, the plants, or the soil. 
II, Jire the high Exposures , the middle Elevations , or 
the lower Grounds , best adapted for Vineyards P 
Of all situations, the middle grounds are most esteem- 
ed : the heat being more concentrated in them, they are 
exempt from the variations of the atmosphere which pre- 
vail on eminences, and from the humidity and exhala- 
tions which issue from the lower regions : the elabora- 
tion of the sap or juice is therefore more complete in 
the middle grounds. 
III. Does an East or West differ much from a South 
Exposure , in occasioning a sensible difference in the 
Quality of the Wines P 
A western exposure is unfavourable to vegetation : it 
burns and parches without any advantage, nor does it 
give time for the juice to be elaborated, and spread 
through all the channels of vegetation, when mists, hu- 
midity, or dew, succeed : it is a certain fact, that there 
