Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/423

FRANCE (WINES OF) 411 wine of great richness and delicacy belonging to the neighboring district of Graves. Among the second and other growths, well known and excellent wines are the Mouton, L6oville, Gruau-Larose, Pichon-Longueville, Cos-Des- tournel, Pontet-Canet, Chateau de Beyche- ville, &c. To all red wines exported from M6doc, and in fact from the whole Bordelais, to Great Britain and the United States, it has long been customary to apply the general name of claret, derived from the French clai- ret) which simply means a clarified wine. The product called claret is, however, properly a mixture of several kinds of wine, the strong- bodied varieties of Spain and southern and southeastern France being mingled with the ordinary growths of Gironde, to suit the Eng- lish and American palate. The term is un- known in France. A comparatively small amount of genuine Medoc wine reaches this country, as the popular taste here inclines to a factitious, reenforced wine, having body and spirituous strength, rather than to the natural product of the vineyards. The same may be said of Great Britain, notwithstanding she is the principal consumer of the first-class wines of Medoc. The amount of mixing carried on at Bordeaux is prodigious. Her exports of wine are twelve times greater than the production of the entire Me" doc, and half of these exports sell as Bordeaux wine ; so that it is fair to as- sume that the growths of Gironde are several times multiplied by the addition or substitution of other wines. There are 42 communes in Mdoc in which wine is made, from each of which the wine takes its name, although the grand wines are named after the estates on which they are made. A Margaux wine means a wine from the commune so called, and must not be confounded with Chateau Margaux, which is wine from a particular estate in that commune. Other familiar names are Pauillac, in which Chateau Lamtte is situated, St. Ju- lien de Reignac, and St. Este"phe. South of Me" doc lies the district of Graves, which pro- duces wines, both red and white, of greater body and more spirituous than those just de- scribed, and bearing some resemblance to the growths of Burgundy. The best of the red wines is the Haut-Brion, heretofore mentioned. The district of Sauternes, a prolongation of that of Graves, extending along the left bank of the Garonne, produces exclusively white wines, the best of which, though of delicate flavor and pure aroma, are excessively sweet in comparison with the wines of M6doc. The latter quality has been given to them of late years by the makers in consequence of the growing demand for sweet Sauternes wines in Russia. The poorer grades of Sauternes are thin and acidulous. The principal growths of the district are the Barsacs, Bommes, and Sau- ternes, the first of which produces the Cha- teau Coutet, the second the Chateau La Tour Blanche, and the third the world-renowned Chateau Yquem, which sells for from 12,000 to 15,000 francs the tonneau of 200 gallons at the vineyard, and is esteemed almost too costly for use. The wine of Chateau Suduiraut, of the Preignac growth, also very celebrated, is worth not above 4,000 to 5,000 francs the ton- neau. The remaining districts of Gironde pro- duce wines of a quality considerably inferior to those above described. The best are grown in the vineyards of St. Emilion, in the valley of the Dordogne, and differ considerably from the M6doc wines, recalling many of the quali- ties of fine port wine. Adjoining St. Emilion is the district called Libournais, and N. "W. of that, on the right bank of the Gironde, are Fronsadais and Blayais, yielding considerable quantities of red and white wines of good quality, much of which is exported under va- rious names to America. Roussillon, formerly a province in the extreme southern part of France, but now merged in the department of Pyrene"es-Orientales, contains about 130,000 acres of vineyards, which produce liqueur wines, dry wines, and a number of sound, full- bodied varieties, employed, with the addition of spirits, in the manufacture of imitation port and similar wines. The most esteemed growths of the first class are the muscat, the Malvoisie, and the Maccabe"o, which are for the most part sweet, rich in aroma, and fiery. There is but a limited demand for them in France, and the greater part go to Russia and America. North of Roussillon lie the departments of Aude, He" - rault, and Gard, forming part of the old prov- ince of Languedoc, in which more than 650,- 000 acres are devoted to vineyards. The wines are rich in color, spirituous, and full of body, but coarser and less finely flavored than those of Gironde, and are exported to all parts of France to be mixed with the Burgundies, Bor- deaux, and other famous growths. They are generally called vins du midi, wines of the south, and are classified as wines for distillery and wines of commerce, the latter being again subdivided into fine and ordinary red, and white dry and white liqueur and muscat wines. The choicest growths are found in the depart- ments of Herault and Gard, the former of which is said to yield more wine than the whole kingdom of Portugal. The St. Gilles wines, made in Gard, are of a brilliant pur- ple color and possess unusual strength and body, which qualities they impart to weaker wines, whence they are called vins fermes and vins de remade. Not a little of the so-called sherry and port wine of commerce is manu- factured from the St. Gilles. The luscious and fragrant Frontignans and Lunels, which are made from muscat grapes, belong to He"rault, and were once in great favor as liqueur wines. Large quantities of alcohol are also distilled in this department, most of which is sold in France. The department of Basses-Pyre"ne"es produces about 10,000,000 gallons of wine, of which the growths of Jurancon and Gan, red and white, are most esteemed. In addi- tion to the districts above mentioned, every de-