Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-10-20
WINE.

ID ..ssra3 -sou - = .'= Z "1 5.B III.
The French. and Italian Vintages.
The editor of LIE Moniteur VinicoLe
thus sums up the prospect of the French
yintage: sv f1 l-graF Etilaa
The wines of ts6s will be of good
quality, and the quantity will be that of
a good average crop, from 50,000,000 to
$4,000, 900 of hectohtres. He thinks it
doubtful, however,, whether wine will be
cheap. The stock on hand from pre-
yious years is not large, and there is al
ready demand for the produce of the
pres . 1t vintage, many orders having
come from abroad, and even been exc
cuted. French spectators are also in
the market. This years yield would
have been large but for some frosts, two
especially, in the nights of the 11th and
18th of April, which did much damage in
the South. An obstinate drought, which
lasted more than year in Provence
and in a good part of the Lower Lam
guedoc, made it impossible to repair the
damages occasioned by that frost, and
as these districts produce great abun-
dance of the inferior sorts of wine, the
loss they have experienced will deprive
distant markets of stock that cannot
be estimated at less than five or six mil
lions of hectolitres. aHsI 5aa str7@ q
This must have considerable effect on
the prices. In some regions of France
terrible storms have ravished the vine-
yards, and unfortunately, some valuable
wines have in this way suffered. The
delicate Sauterne, the cordial and
piquant Chablis, have been terribly i'll
treated, and the misfortune is the greater
because the rudeness with which the
hail has beaten upon those vines is like.
ly to impair their productiveness for two
or three years. In the Southwest and
and southcentre the wine harvest is ex-
pected to range from good middling
yield down to something considerably
worse. The Gironde will have good
wine, and in a satisfactory quantity.
The higher qualities of Medoc are said
to have succeeded particularly well but
the departments of Gers, Landes and
Basses Pyrenees have been very little
favored. Burgundy has had various for
tunes. The department of the Yonne,
much tried by hail, has had its crops re-
duced by at least an eighth. Beaujolais
will be better in quality than in quanti-
ty, and the same may be said of Ma
con.
The northeast district of Saone of
Loire contiguous to the Cote dor, will
make great deal of wine. The Cote
dor itself gives the greatest promise
Its fine, well kept vineyards, producir G
some of the best wines in France, ha, .
the most opulent aspect. There are
glad tidings from Clos Vougeot. This
celebrated vineyard, of which register
has been kept since 1775, has had ex-
traordinary fluctuations in its annual
yield. The lowest was in 1897, or one
cask and so gallons; in 1885 it pro-
duced 695 casks, the largest quantity
ever known Thrice has its product
been over 600 casks, and thrice it has
been of five casks or less. The
present year seems to resemble 1858,
which gave $50 casks; 1858 was a year
noted for the good quality of the wine,
but in that respect 1868 is expected to
tricts of France seem to have had the
most complete success. In Alsace and
Lorraine the vines are weighed down by
grapes, all ripening evenly, which is a
great point. Last year was wretched
one in those districts, and hardly any
wine was made. The departments of
Marine and Aube, which supply excel
lent wines, have suffered from hail. For
champagne (sparkling) the year is ex-
pected to prove quite first-rate.
The Florence correspondence of the
Neu York Times has the following:
The vintage has begun, and Bacchus
is in high glee. The dying glory of
these Autumn days gilds with fine gold
the vine leaves, and gives new beauty
to the purple and amber colored clus-
ters. Plain and hill side wear sombre
tints, touched with the first sereneness of
the harvest season. The summer sun
has done his work, and everywhere is
seen bustling maturity. The smile of
the landscape is reflected in the peas
ants face, and he sings more gaily as
he goes about his harvest work. Down
in the valley the handsome rustic bares
his manly chest without shame as he
works side by side with the girls with
whom his childhood has been passed. 1t
is simple life, and full of rude beauty.
The corruptions of cities have not
reached those peaceful retreats, and
there, at least, the wife is constant.