Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1857-10-03
THE PRODUCTION OF WINES DURING the
PAST CENTURY.

~~ We condense from an interesting article
which we find In late number of the Courier
des: :Etats Uns the following ( tisiics relotive
to the production Of wines from 1862 to 1857
furnished to that journal by IN amateur vine
grower of the district of Beaujolas.
In 1862, intense heat, very little rain, the
crop excellent and quality OF wines superior
In certain localities Of France wines which
when first brought in market sold for &c
livres (abodt Is cents each) per measure
were worth $50 livres the following year. In
l76I-64-' -'65.66 the quality was very ordinary
in i16I-'68 very good, but not equal to that
of 1862 in 1869 very bad; ITO fair; l77l
good; l772-'73-'74 bad, in I775 excellent
l176 and l777 tolerable 1878 good, and ITS
detestable in 1880 and 'Sl fair 1882 good
1888 and '84 fair; 1855 was year so abun
dant that in Beaujolais wines fell TO 20 lvres
for the first quality. From this period ".
must pass on to 1891 to 6nd good wine, OF
q Few phase Of mediocrty until we come
down TO 1895, which was year remarkable
for its quality.
No change worthy OF note until we reach
1902. All the grapes were destroyed on the
18th, 18th and 10Th Of May. Prices were
enormously high. but disastrous to the mono
plists. Soon the warm weather set in the
heat became as intense as in 1862. and con
tinued so long. The vines produced o sec
and crop.of grapes, which yielded vines called
conscripts, of u very fair quality. 1903 was 9
| year OF great abundance but Indifferent qnal-
iiy 1904 was an extraordinary year both as to
| quality and quantity. During this year the
new casks were worth "a or 25 francs each
and in those districs where the production
was not greater than usual the wines wer.
not worth more than the cost of the casks
The result was, that the winters who had pur
chased their casks on credit and could no,
sell their wines, offered to return them to the
coopers full Of wine, to be released from theil
obligations. but were refused, as the latter
also had engagements 10 meet.
The year 1903 gave the highest hopes o
excellent yield but in the early part Of Octo
ber, week before the vintage commenced il
showed aud hailed. The crop was made, but
the wine decomposed in the cssk and in th,
winter that which was not spoiled turned Il
yellowish white. IN 1906 and 1907 tn,
quality was superior aud kept for long time
1908, great abundance; 1909 1910 poor years
1911, the year Of the comet. The wines O
thls year have been greatly extolled but the,
did not come up to those of l76l. At frs
they sold at prices sufficiently low, because ",
bad no markets; but in 1918 they attained I,
fabulous prices and the short crops Of succeed
Ing years only tended to augment their price
The first remarkable year after 1911 wa
1922. There was no winter. The vine bud
ded in March, blossomed iu May, and il
August new wine was drank. The wine wa,
very good but tender it possessed no endur
ance. From 1922 to 1872 there was good
series ofyears the most notable Of which wer,
1882 1888, and 1912. l843 was Of no account
the following years alternated but from 1874!
to 1856, inclusive, the crops were failures from
causes already known.
The Courier's correspondent thinks that
every quarter Of a century, failures and com
pensation being properly set III against eacl
other, the sums OF good and bad crops woul,
be about equally balanced. There is no ques
tion but We have paid since l649 the full in
terest OF the good years which elapsed between
1922 and 1912. We must only hope tha
we are now entering upon better epoch