Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-02-22
A FRENCH VINEYARD.
MODERN AND PRIMITIVE METHODS
OF MAKING WINE.

A Day with the winemaLers of Arsen
teuil-Picturesque Scenes That Artist
Delight to Dwell Upon-The Crocon
and Their Merrymakings.
The commerce of wine being so large al
item in the financial prosperity of France. il
question worthy of study, and for that pur
pose started for the little village of Argen
teuil, the spot nearest Paris where the vint
age may be seen in all its charms. There
are, indeed, many charming qualities to tn,
gathering and transportation, the sorting
|. and pressing of the grapes. the manipulation
of the wine and the festivities connected with
successful vintage.
See this line of peasants widening down
among the low growing vines. They come
from a long distance back in the country
and will stand at the corner of the high road
as we read of their standing 800 years ago
waiting ''for some man to hire them" Old
men and women, young men and children, in
charming faded blouses and handkerchiefs
III great wooden sabots, or with no shoes at
all. Glad enough they are to earn the forty,
or thirty, or even twenty cents a day which
is paid for their labor
Before daylight they began to assemble
and at a. N. the patron appears He en-
cages them III order, losses them a pruning
knife and hottie (high wooden basket, carried
on the back, telling them, none too kindly, to
60. server and they are off to the days
labor
1t is indeed subject worthy Of the en-
thusiasm given it by the French artists In
the salon one may see half dozen vintage
pictures in the same room, and do not won
Ter at it now, having seen the ever changing
compositions at Argenteuil. The rough
white walls the tender green of the vines.
with the dark tones of the grapes, the
faded garments Of the laborers-those fine
peasant types-with the sunlight over all,
and the musical 'chantonnern of the work
ers keeping time with the cutting of the
vines, lend charm indescribably fascinating.
Later they begin the passage from the fields
into the town. There is no restriction as to
to the means of transportation. although the
large vineyard owners provide their own
carts, drawn by the great Normandy horses.
festooned with trailing vines artistically ar
ranged about the harness, for in France the
meanest peasant has an eve for the beautiful
Besides these carts one sees the grape laden
hotties" arranged in wheelbarrows and
handcarts or donkey laden with sacks up
to his ears and a ''go as please" line of
men: women and children bearing the fruit
In every conceivable manner-in ..'hottes"
IN baskets, in bags. in pals and wooden
bowls, in boxes and buckets of tin. on their
heads, their backs, their shoulders, between
them in twos and threes and dragged along
in boxes on the ground As they enter town
they disperse in the direction of the different
cellars and presses.
There are any number of processes of wine
making. ana as many methods of pressing
the fruit as there are owners of VINEYARDS,
but almost every peasant has his little vine
yard. and much of the wine is made in their
own cellars Here they return to first prin-
clpies, the men treading the wine press and
stained from head to foot with the red liquid
There they use the latest inventions for wine
making. The great watts, holding 200 quarts,
whlri rapidly by steam beneath the counter
Of a ponderous disk Of stone; the
noise of the gushing grape juice is like that
Of small torrent. Spouting from tube on
the right, and the dry masses of pulp elected
into trough for the purpose on the left
moving in regular order-noisy,
takes the poetry out of old time customs, and
turn away disguised to seek less modern
a more congenial example of the
good old fashioned wine press
One may trace to its source the purple red
stream that trickled down between the great
stones Of the village street. 1t will lead per
lapS 10 more interesting fields. and in this
quaint old village one may wander al will
into every nook and corner.
there is a strong door Of crushed grapes as.
GLOWING the colored stream, | turn into a
Inc covered court. At one end stands a
hatched shed full of the largest casks ever
aw- Here. sitting on an overturned hottie. a
Measure OF new wine beside him, SITS the
proprietor of the establishment, smoking a
ong china pipe.
Has monsieur ever heard the chansau Of |
he croconsf' asks the proprietor. offering |
mug OF wine. rs monsieur acqrainted.with |
ne vintage: Will he attend the merry rrsk-
ne this evening" l accept with alacrity. |
~ monsieur has inf4roSt IN tho WI -e r-.~s ". l