_On the Grape Vine, with its wines, brandies, salt, and dried fruits._
No. II.
The object of these papers is to excite to objects of agriculture,
manufacture, commerce, and consumption of the utmost importance to
the prosperity of our country. The forms and niceties of literary
composition will yield their claim to attention to the more solid
substance of the pertinent information and suggestions.
In the course of the consideration of this subject, several letters
from living friends to our prosperity have been brought together. The
remainder of this paper will be appropriated to the publication of one
of those letters, of very recent date, from a native of the United
States, of the best opportunities, in _Bordeaux_, the emporium of that
part of the kingdom of France which gives to us the largest quantities
of the most esteemed wines and brandies which enter into our regular
consumption. It here follows, in its own clear and instructive terms.
"I have been favoured by your letter of the 24th. _Chaptal_, sur la
Culture de Vine, _l'Abbe Rozier's_ memoire sur le mellieure maniere
de faire et gouverner les Vins, and _Jullien's_ Topographie de tout
les Vignobles, are the authors the most in repute in France on the
vine and on wine. The first and last can be had in Philadelphia; and
if _Rozier's_ memoir is not to be found, as it is an old book, you
can doubtless find at your French book stores, his Dictionary of
Agriculture, 5 vols. in 4to. which, under the head of _Vine_, will give
you all the information you desire.
"The district which produces the best wine, about Bordeaux, is _Medoc_.
That county is divided into upper and lower _Medoc_, lying between the
Gironde and Garonne and the Bay of Biscay. It is much such a country,
as to hill and dale, or general surface, as that between Philadelphia
and Trenton, of a sandy, sandy-loam, and gravelly soil, with some
few exceptions of small patches. About seven leagues from north to
south, and three from east to west, of this district, is occupied with
vineyards, which produce the best wine, whose expositions are from
east to south.
"In this district, Lafitte, Chateau Margaux, Latour, Leoville, La Rose,
Braune Mouton, and St. Julien, with various other qualities of Claret,
are produced, which bring from $60 dollars the ton, of 4 hogsheads, (or
252 gallons,) to $600, according to the estimation they are held in.
The vines in this district are not suffered to grow above three feet
from the ground.
"_Hautbriant_ is produced on a single estate of that name, lying in
La Grave, about a league south of Bordeaux. The soil is sandy and
gravelly; so much so that you would hardly suppose it capable of
vegetation.
"The districts which produce _Sauterne_, _Barsac_, and _Grave_ wines,
lie from the skirts of the city south about four leagues, presenting
much the same swell of surface as that part of New Jersey through which
the mail runs between Trenton and Brunswick. The name of this district,
(or, more properly speaking, the northern part of it,) _Grave_, denotes
its soil _Gravier_--_Gravel_. I have seen hundreds of acres of vines in
_Grave_, growing in pebbles, from the size of a bean and nutmeg to that
of an egg, without the least vestige of earth, cracking under foot,
and filling one's shoes. Of the white wines of Bordeaux, _Sauterne_,
_Barsac_, and _Corbonnieux_ are of the first quality; but there are
many other growths which vie with them, and the ordinary qualities of
these white wines are various. I have purchased good pleasant white
wine at six dollars the cask of sixty-three gallons. The quantities
sent to this country cost from $12 the cask to $40. Of the other wines
you mention, I have no knowledge.
"It has been stated that two millions of acres are taken up in the
cultivation of the vine, in France, producing, one year with another,
five hogsheads of sixty-three gallons to the acre; which, at the
moderate price of fifty francs, or ten dollars, the hogshead, gives
one hundred millions of dollars. This produce is immense; and, what
renders it still more valuable is, that it does not lessen the quantity
of other necessary productions, such as wheat, &c.; for where the
vine generally grows _in France_, nothing else will grow: such is the
poverty of the soil generally employed for vines.
"They have the wild vine in France. I have seen large quantities of it
near _Bayonne_, and round the foot of the Pyrenees, up to _Pau_: the
inhabitants make beautiful hedges of it, and I have been assured by
a distinguished naturalist, Mr. Pennieres, who is now in the Alabama
territory, that some of the excellent grapes of France have been
produced from the wild vine, after some years of careful cultivation.
He is now engaged in inoculating our wild vines with those of France,
from which he expects the most favourable results.
"I shall conclude these hasty observations by an extract from _Rozier_:
"'The vine is a plant whose transpiration and _suction_ is _abundant_
and _vehement, which sufficiently indicates the soil and exposition
natural to it_. For this reason, grounds, _composed of sand, gravel
stones, and rotten rocks_, are excellent for its cultivation.
"'A _sandy_ soil produces _a fine pure_ wine. The _gravelly_ and
_stony_ a delicate wine. Rotten and broken rocks a fumy generous wine,
of a superior quality.
"'A rich, strong, compact, cold or humid soil, which is pressed down
by the rains, and which the sun hardens or bakes, is essentially
prejudicial to the quality of the wine.
"'The most advantageous exposition for the vine is that of a gentle
slope, or side of a hill, facing east and south, on which the rays of
the sun continue the longest time.
"'Hills, in the neighbourhood of the ocean and rivers, ought to be
preferred to all others.' The lower parts of these hills are not so
favourable to the vine as the upper, and neither are equal to the
middle region, the soil being the same.
"'_All trees are unfriendly to the vine_, as much from their roots as
their shade. All who cultivate the vine, should remember this precept
of Virgil: _Apertos Bacchus amat colles._--The vine flourishes in the
open unshaded hills.
"'In a word, the vine ought never to be planted in soils that can
produce grain, &c. because it wants nothing but heat, and thrives best
in the poorest ground. This will appear ridiculous to those who look
for _quantity_: but as to the quality of the wine, it is in strict
conformity with the laws of vegetation and with experience. I must
be understood to speak here of countries only whose temperatures are
favourable to the success of vineyards. We must except those in more
northern latitudes. These general precepts admit of no exceptions: They
will be acknowledged by all those who, with good faith, and free of
prejudices, have studied the cultivation of the vine. If other modes
and precepts are followed, we cannot answer for the age of the vine, or
the quality of the wine.'"
These views of the locality, soils, and exposures of the fine
_Bordeaux_ wines, such as the white, or _Sauterne_, and _vin de Grave_,
and the red or clarets, such as _La Fitte_, _Chateau Margaux_, &c. will
be left, for the present, on the public mind, with a firm confidence in
their due impression, accompanied by the remarks that the difference
between our temperatures, in our present wooded condition, and that
of the south west of France, may be safely taken at eleven or twelve
degrees; and that the progress of clearing lands and draining swamps
will reduce that difference, in a few years, below ten degrees. Thus,
St. Mary's, in Georgia, will ultimately prove about as warm, for
vegetation, as Oporto in Portugal, and the productions of Europe,
in any given latitude, may be found in, or, as we drain and clear,
introduced into the United States, in latitudes nine or ten degrees
farther south. The pride of all Europe is certainly the wines of the
following places:
Champagne, | 49° N. |in Europe equal to
in latitude | |39° to 40° in U. S.