, 1876-11-10
,,suonOe of the Stock on Wine.

4 writer in the Adelalue DDSeFrST en-
Las;yos the truth that to- succeed in
~ I;aa making there must be good grapes
The following words:
T" III nature of the vine stock certainly
,ars tine chief and most important part
. :ba production of wines. 1t 1t unde.
4 II III liz 10 the quality of the fruit that all
IiaJ ra best wines in the world owe their
..nnTneriority. .nT If you were to take away
SS.rbenet from Medoc, Pinot from Bur
I'll Pedro Ximense from Here's, and
enisce them by Black Portugal, Gre
Ppbe Nataro, Gouasis or Sweetwater,
non would only get quite second-rate
"a common wine. In nearly all the
-.sat 1-o vitical centers two totally different
eSissses of wine are produced-fne and
."norior wines, and common wines.
These two fine species of wine are never
n-oduced by the same kind of grape,
Starting with this principle, we may ar
.onge the different varieties of vines in
tu-ocatepories- and common stocks.
n ;s easy to take note of the difference
bstveen the fruits produced by the diff
torent vines, for their composition is
rorv varving. The elementary princi-
Nos are the same, but their proportions
f;Fer. lastly, even in colored grapes,
tbe coloring matter shows great varie-
lies. These considerations lead us to
recognize that the mixture and choice
NJ stocks are very eficacious in amelior-
oi;np the quality of vines in vineyard.
This means is certainly the most natural
and rational, but it is also one which
demands the greatest judgment on the
mart of the viniculturist. If a vineyard
nroduces vines whose color is poor OF
whose constitution is too weak, the color
can be increased by introducing a vine
whose grapes are very rich in coloring
matter, and more body will be given
with vine which gives at the same time
more sugar and tannin.
Bycombining vines which produce too
sweet a wine with others which contain
n less sugary matter we will get dry wines.
Y This varying proportion of sugar. in the
z different wines must be seriously taken
into calculation in the plantation OF
vineyards. Not only does the admix-
ture of vines allow the vine grower to
get wines which possess certain known
qualities, but by this means we can pre-
vent the diseases to which the vines may
be exposed, for often this spontaneous
deterioration is due to the predomin.
ance orinsuffieiency of certain elements,
and the establishment of the eQuili.
brium will be sufficient to make these
inconvsniences vanish. The vines whose
fruit contain much tannin are in these
cases exceedingly useful.
The aim of the producer of fine wines
should tend towards the obtaining of the
maximum Of produce both in quantity
and quality. He will often, by inter
mingling the stocks with Judgment, be
able to increase the produce without in
iuring the quality. This is the system
practiced in the neighborhood Of Bor-
deaux. The vines which produce wines
Ofa superior quality are as a rule not
very productive, and the result is that
il we do not require avery high quality
We can increase the quantity by inter
mixing the best vines with others whose
produce is greater, according 70 the
more or less high quality you wish to
obtain. One consideration which must
not be neglected in the employment OF
stocks is that the time at which they
reach ripeness is not in all cases the
same. In planting them this important
difference must be taken into account,
and in small vineyards only vines whose
grapes ripen at the samo time should
oecultivated; in large vineyards, on the
contrary, it will always be useful to
plant with each other varieties, which
do NOT ripen at the same time, so as to
get space of time long enough to make
the vintage under good conditions.