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W I 
‘ Ye shall have rumney, and malmesyne, 
Both ypocrasse and vernage wine, 
Mount Rose and wine of Greke, 
Both algrade and respice eke ; 
Antioche and bastarde, 
Pyment also, and garnarde; 
Wine of Greke, and muscadell. 
Both clare, pyment, and Rochell, 
The reed your stomake to def'ye. 
And pottes of osey set you bye.’ 
Of these wines, Rumney was probably an Andalusian 
growth ; Malmesyne, a Greek wine, named from Malvagia, 
in the Morea, from whence the malmsey grape originally 
came; Vernage, a Tuscan wine of bright golden colour; 
Monte Rose, Greek Muscadel, Antioch, as also pyment, 
ypocrasse, and clare, speak for themselves; Algrade was of 
the Algarves, and Garnarde of Granada; Rochelle was the 
port from which the wines of Guienne and Poitou were 
brought to England ; Osey, or Osoye (a corruption of Aux- 
ois), was of Alsace,—Alsatian wine; Respice (vin rape) was 
wine made of unbruised grapes; and Bastard was a Spanish 
wine. 
In the beginning of the last century a ridiculous contro¬ 
versy arose in the French schools of medicine, on the com¬ 
parative merits of the wines of Champagne and Burgundy. 
The angry discussion continued at intervals until the year 
1778, when a solemn decree in favour of Champagne was 
pronounced by the Faculty of Medicine at Paris. With the 
professional justice of the verdict we pretend not to interfere; 
we abandon * the dietetic qualities’ of Burgundy to their 
fate. But, for richness and delicacy of flavour and perfume, 
we will still hold by the Cote d’Or, in spite of all the fathers 
of physic, and all the canons of science. Yet he who 
would regale his senses with Burgundy must not confine him¬ 
self to this side of the channel. The fact is, that the best 
red growths of the district—the Romanee Conti, Chambertin, 
Clos Vougeot, Richebourg, and St. George—are all of such 
exquisite delicacy, that they will not endure exportation. 
Indeed none of the finer Burgundy wines will bear removal, 
except in bottle; and even then they are apt to contract a 
bitter taste, or to turn sour, except treated with the most 
assiduous care. But even were the choicer growths of har¬ 
dier constitution, they are produced in too small quantity, 
and are too urgently in request in France, to answer much 
more than the home demand. Hence what we call Bur¬ 
gundy in England, is only the costly refuse of the red wines 
of the province. The white wines are much less excellent 
than the red, but still deserve to be mentioned with respect: 
particularly those of Montrachet, for their high perfume and 
agreeable flavour; and the Goutte d’Or (though inferior) for 
its splendid amber tint. 
In passing from Burgundy to Dauphiny and the Lyonnais, 
we shall have the same remark to repeat of the finer wines of 
these provinces—that they are seldom drunk in England. 
The first of them, and among the first in the whole world, 
are those of the vineyards which, covering the southern as¬ 
pect of a gravelly hill, overhang the banks of the Rhone, 
about twelve miles from Valence. It is from the Hermi¬ 
tage, which still crowns the granite summits with its ruins, 
that the vineyards have derived their celebrated name. The 
red Hermitage is known for its full body, dark purple colour, 
and exquisite perfume and flavour, resembling, but excelling 
in poignancy, that of the raspberry. Its white growths are, 
perhaps, less precious: as, indeed, white growths almost 
always are than red, where both are the produce of the same 
district. The colouring matter, which is contained in the 
rind of the grape, carries with it to the wine both aroma and 
flavour, which are lost in the manufacture of the paler 
liquors. Cote Rotie, brune and blonde, may perhaps claim 
to rival, since they resemble respectively, the growths of the 
Hermitage : they are, however, inferior. But we are insen¬ 
sibly extending our remarks beyond compass, and must pass 
with a more rapid glance over the remaining vineyards of 
N E. 
France. Of the produce of Languedoc, Roussillon, and 
Provence, we shall say little, except to remark that it is fax 
from being what it might be rendered ; and that, by injudi¬ 
cious culture and treatment, most of these red wines are made 
to resemble those of Spain in deep and thick colour, fiery 
strength, and coarseness. We have, however, tasted in its 
purity some of the growth of St. George d’Orques, near Mont¬ 
pellier, which, for fulness of body, delicacy of flavour, and its 
velvet repose on the palate, might almost challenge competi¬ 
tion with Hermitage. The red strongRoussillons are generally 
employed for strengthening the lighter growths of the Bor¬ 
delais, and are good, if not for that, for little else. But the 
white Muscadines of Languedoc and Roussillon, on the 
shores of the Mediterranean, are deservedly famous; and we 
need only mention the well known names of Frontignan, 
Lunel, and Rivesaltes, which are among the very finest lus¬ 
cious wines in the world. 
We must be brief in our notice of the Bordelais, though 
its wines deserve much praise. The principal vine tracts of 
this district are divided into those of Medoc, the Graves, 
Palus, and the Vignes Blanches. The Medoc vineyards, 
which extend from Bourdeaux northwards over a sandy 
and calcareous loam, produce the wines which have given 
immortality to the names of Chateau-Margaux, Lafitte, and 
Latour. The Graves are the gravelly soils southward of 
the same city; giving their name to the white wine which 
they yield; but the Haut Brion, the best, perhaps, of the 
Bordelais red wines, is also the produce of the same region. 
The Palus, a bed of rich alluvial deposits between the Ga- 
rogne and Dordogne, affords stronger and more deeply co- 
loured growths than those of Medoc, with which they are 
sometimes mingled. But being hard and rough when new, and 
well adapted for sea-carriage, these are the wines which, under 
the name of Vins de Cargaison, are sent to the East Indies, to 
answer the demand for clarets in that country. The Vignes 
Blanches, or dry white wine district, is known for its Sau- 
terne, Barsac, &c. 
The finer red wines of the Bordelais are the most perfect 
which France produces: though containing little alcohol, 
they keep well, and even improve by removal; and as the 
original fermentation is complete, if the subsequent manage¬ 
ment be judicious, they are much less subject to disorders 
and acidity than those of Burgundy. But here again let 
no man in England, while he sips his claret, dream that 
he is drinking Chateau-Margaux or Haut Brion. The real 
quantity of the finer growths is so inconsiderable that they 
could not by any possibility supply a tenth part of that 
which usurps their name ; little can be exported, and perhaps 
none is, in its purity. A bottle of the best wine is a rarity, 
for which, even at Bourdeaux, the bon vivant is content to 
pay six or seven francs. But for the English market, the 
secondary growths and ‘ vins ordinaires’ of Medoc are bought 
up and mingled with the rougher growth of the Palus. And 
even this compound will not reach the proof for our fire- 
diinkers ; and because our mouths have been seared with 
brandied ports, there must be in Bourdeaux a particular ma¬ 
nufacture called travail d’Angleterre: three or four gallons 
of the inflammable ink of Alicant or Benicarlo, with half a 
gallon of stum wine and a dash of Hermitage, to every hogs¬ 
head of Medoc. That the mixture has been suffered to re¬ 
main guiltless of brandy is a miracle ; for the cry among us 
is still as of yore, iu less temperate times, ‘ claret for boys, 
port for men, but, if ye would be gods, brandy!’ Yet how 
few even of the best kinds of the mixture imported under the 
name of claret the wine-dealers will permit us to drink with¬ 
out subsequent adulteration. We only mention a fact of 
notoriety, that, before the late reduction of duties, the whole¬ 
sale importation prices of claret in the London markets varied 
from six to forty-five pounds the hogshead. The permuta¬ 
tions by which these are mingled for the retail purchaser are 
as various as the hundred qualities of the liquor. 
We shall have no temptation to linger among the vineyards 
of Spain, and little more to say of their produce than to express 
our 
