The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1866-09-25
The Wine Region of Virginia.

The Wine Region OF Virginia.
Mr. jefferson, was DESTROYS of introducing
the light wines from Germany and France
among the people ofthis country, to take the
place of the vile compounds, under the name
of wines, and the viler alcoholic liquors, such !
as bad whiskey and brandy, which lie regar |
ded as very injurious TO health and morals.
This accords with the views ofan article in
the Mercantile Journal, upon the subject of
wine raising in Virginia, the substance of
which will be interesting to some of our read
ers 1t is stated that it is the observation of
all candid travellers that in the wine growing
countries of the world, intemperance is uni
versally less frequent, than in those regions
where the stimulating beverages are chiefly
alcoholic liquors, and where even the wines
having to be imported are more or less adul-
terated spirituous compounds, whether to keep
them from spelling on the sea voyage, or to
deceive the palate and raise the price by their
skillful admixture We have heretofore al
luded to the Scuppernong grape and the re-
gion of North Carolina where it is sponta-
neous growth and where it is cultivated and
made into excellent wine there to a far more
limited extent than its abundance renders it
capable of being thus manufactured The
writer who is referred to by the Journal,
states that the grape in order to yield an
agreeable wine requires a hot summer. 1t
grows well at 600, blooms at G50 to 100, and
ripens at from 500 to 900 of MONDAY heat.
In the United States the grape is found
growing from Maine to Texas, and from tie
shores of the Atlantic to the shores of the Pa
cifc, alike, on dry and rocky eminences,
and in the mud of swamps and morasses. The
excellence of the grape varieties that are in
dgenous to the Blue Ridge region in Virginia,
as we'll as the luxuriance of their growth,
make that and similar portions of the old
State, especially preferable to the experien-
ced cultivator. Professor Schoch of Wurz-
burg has made some very interesting investl-
cations and discovered that the excellence of
the vines in 1911, 1918, 1922, 1927, 1881,
1882 and 1888, was in accordance with the
average warmth of the summer months III
each, reckoning from May to September in
clusively; the mean of 1871 being higher
than at any succeeding year, the wine of that
date far surpassed all the rest. Learned in
yestigations have disclosed the fact that since
Germany, France, England, and some parts
of Italy, have been stripped of their forests,
t ths W;ms% Ae eFA haHh is Srlans wnv IL
that in SO many parts of these countries, the
flourishing vineyards that once existed have
died out or now produce no good wineyield-
ing grapes. Similar changes are going on in
this country. Since large portion of it has
been cleared at the north, the winters are
milder and the summers are cooler. The
temperature of Charlottesville and the Ped-
mont valley lying 80 south of New York is of
longer duration than at the latter point The
entire region is essentially warmer owing to
the protection against the north winds affor
ded by the adjacent mountains and the re-
moter ranges of the Blue Ridge and the Allie
ghanies, These advantages afford to the wine
growers the sure protection ofmany delicate
varieties of grape that will not ripen north,
while the mountains shield them from the
damp blasts which cause mist and mldews
from which the vineyards of Erie suffered last
year, while those that existed in the Blue
Ridge region entirely escaped, as they had
done in previous years. In this region from
six to eight hundred gallons We're yielded
from an acre from we'll known wine grow
er's property-and the average Of his ten
acres was four hundred gallons per acre The
region is one of the finest and healthiest high
lands in the United States The conlorma-
ton and exposure of the ground are equally
advantageous in the Virginia region. The
earlier grapes ripen about four weeks in adj
vance Of the New York variety, and in facili-
ty, certainty, timeliness, abundance and
quality, the Virginia yields are marvelously
fine. The Journal concludes its articles by
saying that it cannot be doubted that a pros
porous. future is opening in thus branch
of culture, for the Piedmont Valley and the
State of Virginia. Already eager and curious
visitors are appearing from the North, and
further inquiry will cause the writer to revert
to subject which SO distinctly touches one
grand resource of the recuperatng South.
Southern Mamma ctures