The Wines of the World

Front matter

THE

Wines of the World

Characterized & Classed:

Introductory

The Wines of the World

Characterized and Classed.

Introductory.

The first public assemblage of the Wines of the world—Onerous nature of the duties of the Vienna Wine jury—Vastness of the area comprised by the Wine-producing districts—Rules which guided the jury in their awards.

The credit of the first attempt made to assemble together the Wines of the World for the purposes of comparing and judging them is undoubtedly due to the French King, Philip Augustus, noted for his patronage of learning and his persecution of the Jews, a friend and enemy by turns of our own Cœur de Lion, and above all the grand consolidator of the regal authority in France, who sent forth his heralds, as the old chroniclers tell us, to summon, with due flourishings of trumpets, all the wines of the world to his royal and convivial table, that honour might be rendered them according to their deserts. If instead of a mere score or two of samples there had arrived in answer to this comprehensive appeal the twenty thousand specimens of fermented drinks which came in response to the Emperor Franz Josef’s invitation to the Vienna “Weltausstellung” of 1873, Philip Augustus and his bibacious chaplain, who sat in judgment on the wines in question, would have found their task equally wearisome and embarrassing. For the tasting, comparing, and judging the Vienna samples taxed incessantly the palates, heads, and stomachs of some thirty jurors and experts, divided into four or more separate groups, for a period of nearly two months; whereas the French King and his gustatory adviser, hobnobbing at their ease over the Cyprus and the Malaga, experienced no kind of difficulty in conferring 'the fanciful dignities of pope, cardinal, king, count, and peer on the few wines they found most to their liking.

At no former Universal Exhibition were the same number of samples of wine exposed as were brought together at Vienna. Generally speaking, all the wine-producing districts of the world were represented, and some idea may be formed of the vastness of their area when we explain that the northern limit of the zone, within which the vine is cultivated for the purpose of producing wine, commences at the Azores, passes south of England, and proceeding from Vannes in Brittany, beyond Mazières to Alençon in Normandy, mounts thence to Beauvais in the Isle of France, and subsequently striking still more northwards, through Rhenish Prussia, and above Dresden, ascends as high up as Kônigsberg, which forms as it were the apex. It then inclines southwards across the Carpathian mountains, traversing both Little and Eastern Russia to the upper shores of the Caspian, whence it stretches to the river Amoor and the Pacific, intersecting North America just above San Francisco and Colorado and skirting Lakes Michigan, Erie, and Ontario. The southern limits of the vine, which grows only at certain elevations and in particular localities within the tropics, after including Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, terminate in South America at Valdivia, in Chili, and Bahia Blanca, in the Argentine Republic. Although samples of wine came to Vienna from fully half the habitable globe, several of the grand crús nevertheless made of the Gironde, together with all the more noted brands of Champagne, of which last-named wine the finest samples were exhibited by an English firm, James Anderson and Co., of London and Epernay.

Carefully considered and sufficiently judicious preliminary regulations were laid down by the jury to facilitate their proceedings, but from a variety of circumstances these had to be continually departed from. One broad rule, however, was invariably kept in view: not only were the individual intrinsic qualities of the different wines to be taken into account, but considerations of country and even of district were to have due weight. To have instituted anything approaching a comparison between the wines of different countries, and have decided on the relative merits, would have been impossible, and was, of course, not attempted.

The Wines of France and Algeria: Bordeaux Wines

The Wines of France and Algeria.

I.—Bordeaux Wines.

Character of the Grand Gironde Wines, Châteaux Lafite, Haut Brion, Margaux, and Latour—Tendency towards over-production—The St. Julien, St. Estèphe, Catenac, Margaux, and Pauillac crûs—Pressing the grapes to the sound of fifes and fiddles—Situation of the Haut Médoc—Wines of St. Emilion—Château Lafite of 1811—The White Wines of the Gironde—Châteaux Yquem and Latour Blanche—Vintaging of Château Yquem—Sauternes and Barsac—Vines and Vineyards in the Gironde—Vineyard area and production—List of Grand Vintages—Prices and Exports.

At Vienna the wine jury commenced its labours with the wines of France, which has been termed not inappropriately the vineyard of the earth, its grand red wines for finesse and bouquet being unrivalled throughout the world, and its white wines, led off by Château d'Yquem, rivalling those of any other country, not omitting even the renowned Johannisberg, and the still more renowned Tokay, while as regards its sparkling wines France is universally acknowledged to be without a peer. Unfortunately the arrangements of the French Commission were very imperfect, the wines being tasted in the open air with the thermometer at 85° in the shade, added to which, instead of having been previously stored in cool cellars like the majority of the samples intended for tasting, they had remained in many instances exposed to a tropical temperature, which, as may be imagined, had a serious effect on the condition of certain specimens, necessitating their absolute withdrawal from competition.

Seated around three or four small tables placed on the perron of the pavilion of the French Commission, and in the little garden square surrounding the latter, with a fierce sun shining overhead, the jury entered upon its labours. It was a matter of regret that the grand red wines of the Gironde were represented merely by two of the four premiers crûs, four out of the sixteen crûs officially classed as second, and two of the thirteen crûs classed as third, the fourth and fifth crûs being altogether ignored. Not a single sample of Château Lafite, renowned alike for its magnificent colour, exquisite softness, delicate flavour, and fragrant bouquet, recalling the perfume of the almond and the violet, with a marked predominance of the latter, was exhibited. If one may believe the gossip in the neighbourhood of the Château, this splendid wine has of late years depreciated in quality, through some former proprietor having "run out" the land. By dint of heavily manuring the largest possible yield is said to have been obtained, at the sacrifice of those special mineral properties pertaining to the soil on which the excellence of the wine mainly depended. Considering, however, that the first quality of the 1874 wine was instantly bought up at 5,500 francs the tonneau (containing nearly 1,200 bottles) it would appear that not much reliance is placed on the rumour. The second important absentee from Vienna was Château Haut Brion, the one superb red vin de Graves, which, if scarcely so delicate and fragrant as its rivals of the Haut Médoc, is on a par with them as regards its splendid colour, besides possessing rather more body. Talleyrand was at one time the owner of this famous vineyard, the wines of which take equal rank with the three premiers grands crûs of the Médoc. Of Château Margaux, a wine which in good years has certainly no superior and scarcely an equal, the Vicomte Aguado exhibited a collection of fine samples; generous without potency, it refreshes the stomach while respecting the head, and boasts of a bouquet that clings to the lips and perfumes the breath. Of recent years the ancient reputation of this grand wine has been again and again challenged in print, arising from a rumour of the Vicomte having signed a treaty with several large firms who engaged themselves to take for a specific number of years, and at a fixed price of 4,000 and 3,000 francs the tonneau respectively, the whole of the wine produced on the Château Margaux estate, a contract which, if it exists, undoubtedly points to an increase of quantity to the possible disregard of quality.

The other grand Médoc wine, of which samples were sent to Vienna by its proprietor the Marquis de Piers, was Château Latour, deriving its name from an existing ancient massive round tower which the English assailed and defended by turns during the wars in Guienne—a wine distinguished from Châteaux Margaux and Lafite by greater alcoholicity, a more pronounced flavour, and a more powerful bouquet which has been compared to the odour of almonds and noyau combined. The seductive bouquet common to all the grand wines of the Gironde is understood to be due to an extremely fugitive volatile oil the elements of which are contained in the skins of the grapes, and requires time for its development. Particular conditions, met with only in certain soils, temperatures, and aspects, are requisite to the formation of this perfume, which rarely exists in wines of a generous character, either because the odour of the alcohol conceals it, or because the long fermentation necessary to decompose all the various principles causes it to completely disappear.

To such distinguished wines as Château Margaux and Château Latour, medals for progress—which the jury had formally determined should rank immediately after the diplomas of honour, and be but sparingly conferred—were naturally awarded. The same medal was also given to Baron Sarget de Lafontaine for his samples of Gruaud-Larose-Sarget, a wine, like all the higher class St. Julien growths, of deeper colour and greater body and vinosity than the more delicate products of Latour and Lafite, and the bouquet of which closely resembles the raspberry. This wine ranks as one of the first of the St. Julien crûs, and requires, as these wines generally do, to be kept for several years in the wood to develop all the qualities of a grand wine. MM. Erazzu and Dollfus likewise obtained medals for progress for samples of two famous St. Estèphe crûs; the one, Cos d’Estournel, where the grapes are invariably foulé à pied to the accompaniment of fifes and fiddles; the other Château Montrose, and both combining that agreeable flavour and slight alcoholicity which distinguish the wines of this district, with a delicacy of perfume in a faint degree suggestive of noyau, and rivalling the bouquets of Margaux and Lafite. The finer St. Estèphe growths on attaining a certain age become highly tonical and suitable to elderly people and weak digestions. Other medals for progress were awarded to MM. G. Roy and A. Lalande for their Château d’Issan and Boyd-Cantenac, the former of a deep ruby tint, derived from the Tarney-Coulant species of grape, and both of them wines of considerable repute, grown in the commune of Cantenac and classed in the third category of Gironde crûs; also to M. Beaucourt for a wine of fine flavour and delicate perfume from the vineyard of Château La Bégorce, which ranks simply as a bourgeois crû in the highly-favoured commune of Margaux, whose vineyards were in grand repute so long as five centuries ago.

In addition to the two premiers grands vins of the Gironde, of which, as already mentioned, no samples were sent to Vienna, there were absent from the Exhibition wines of such celebrity as Branne-Mouton, next-door neighbour to Château Lafite, and noted for its nutty aroma, and which, although classed in the second category, is deserving, in the estimation of many connoisseurs, of being ranked among the premiers crûs; also a couple of other grand Pauillac wines, Pichon-Longueville and Pichon-Longueville-Laland, with four wines of equal mark belonging to the commune of Margaux, and but slightly inferior to the famed Château Margaux itself. There were moreover five high-class St. Juben wines absent, three of them being growths of the ancient vineyard of Leoville and distinguished for their bouquets resembling the odour of violets, while a fourth was the original Gruaud-Larose of which the crû of Gruaud-Larose-Sarget already spoken of forms an offshoot. During the last century when the M. Gruaud who has given his name to the vineyard owned the property, it was his practice at the conclusion of each vintage to hoist above his château the flag of the particular nation which he thought his wine most likely to suit. Thus whenever it was thin and poor, and consequently cheap, he ran up the German colours; if full of flavour and body, and correspondingly dear, the British standard was unfurled; and on those occasions when it proved to be of an intermediate character the Dutch flag floated over the square tower of the Château Gruaud.

With a single exception all the grand red wines of the Gironde are produced in the celebrated Médoc district, within the space of some 20 miles, and along a mere strip of undulating ground, narrow in size, but boundless in renown, bordering one of the principal rivers in France—namely, the Garonne—and forming, so to speak, one vast vineyard cultivated as carefully as a garden. Above 45 degrees of north latitude, which includes the district in question, the culture of the vine becomes extremely difficult and uncertain, and there are particular provinces where in special seasons the vintage entirely fails. Indeed, it is only by dint of incessant labour and care in the cultivation of the vine and in making the wine that successful results are to be secured. Strange to say, the marked superiority of the Haut Médoc wines, which has rendered them famous throughout the civilised world, is due more to the loose gravelly and flinty soil and its ferruginous ingredients—the presence of 9 per cent. of iron having been ascertained by analyses—combined with the particular aspect of the slope (ordinarily N.E.), than to the species of grape, which is principally the Cabernet, the exceptional care bestowed upon its culture, or to any special climatic influences to which it is exposed. And it has been remarked that wherever wine of a superior quality is produced, the soil, no matter what its particular composition may be, is invariably found to be mixed with fragments of rock in a greater or less degree and of varied shapes and sizes. The rounded, polished, and light-coloured pebbles with which the soil of the Médoc is strewn act, it seems, as so many reflecting agents, which, directing the solar rays upwards, concentrate the full power of the sun upon the grapes and bathe them, as it were, in a continual flood of light and heat. These pebbles, too, by reason of their peculiar composition, have the quality of retaining the heat imparted to them long after the sun has sunk to rest, thereby rendering the evening coolness less sudden, and extending the time during which a favourable temperature prevails. Moreover, in summer, when rain is rare and the heat of the sun intense, the stones and pebbles on the surface of the ground assure to the soil a moisture and a coolness which are highly beneficial to the roots of the vines.

Of the dozen or so wines of the Gironde which obtained medals for merit at Vienna only a few need be particularised. The well-known red vin de Graves of the vineyard of La Mission in the neighbourhood of Château Haut Brion, and which is chiefly remarkable for containing a larger proportion of natural alcohol than any other red wine of the district, had this medal awarded it, as had also M. Dussaut of St. Emilion, M. Pailhas of Libourne, and M. Bouffard of Bordeaux, for their collections of the wines of St. Emilion, the generous character of which has secured for these growths the appellation of the Burgundies of the Gironde. In the eyes of many their deep ruby tint, body, and vinosity compensate for any deficiency in finesse and delicacy of bouquet perceptible in them. Like all wines containing plenty of tannin and natural alcohol, the St. Emilion growths require time to arrive at perfection, and are scarcely at their best until they are 10 or 12 years old. Under very special conditions they may be kept for as many as 40 years, which no other vin rouge of the Gironde would bear without becoming sensibly deteriorated. Those who have tasted the famous Château Lafite of the great comet vintage of 1811, by far the grandest vintage within living memory, and which on the occasion of the sale at the Château in 1868 commanded the high price of 5l. the bottle, are forced to confess that they found the wine utterly worn out, and simply interesting as a curiosity. The same result was apparent in the remarkable wines of ancient vintages exhibited at Vienna by the Grand Duke of Nassau, as I presently shall have occasion to point out.

Merman and Co., of Bordeaux, secured a medal for merit for some St. Estèphe of remarkable finesse, unusual body, and delicate bouquet from the vineyard of Le Crock, one of the superior bourgeois crûs of the Haut Médoc. A like medal was also awarded to M. Deynaud for his samples of the unclassed wine of Château de Laforest near Pellegrue. Some few red Bordeaux wines met with honourable mention, including one or two vins de cotes—wines of the slopes—devoid of the earthy flavour common to these growths, and several vins de palus—wines of the marshes—notably those of Queyries, which have the merit of developing a powerful perfume of violets as they grow old. Of those wines which secured no kind of recognition one may particularise a light Médoc wine, of splendid colour, and with a perceptible bouquet, but a trifle harsh to the taste, from the Château Malecasse, and a wine of considerable body with fine colour and a certain brisk flavour from the Salesse and Frechina vineyard near Blanquefort, both of them well-known bourgeois crûs in the Haut Médoc.

Among the white wines of the Gironde which obtained the higher class reward two require to be especially mentioned. One, the renowned Château d’Yquem of the Marquis de Lur Saluces, the most luscious and delicately aromatic of wines, which for its resplendent colour resembling liquid gold, its exquisite bouquet and rich delicious flavour, due, according to the chemists, to the presence of mannite, is regarded in France as unique, and which at Vienna naturally met with the recognition of a medal for progress. Mannite, the distinguished French chemist Berthelot informs us, has the peculiar quality of not becoming transformed into alcohol and carbonic acid during the process of fermentation. For a tonneau of this splendid wine 12 years old, bought direct from the Chateau, the Grand Duke Constantine paid some few years since 20,000 francs, or 800l. The other wine calling for notice was La Tour Blanche, one of those magnificent liqueur-like Sauternes ranking immediately after Chateau d’Yquem, and to some fine samples of which, of the vintages of 1864 and 1865, a medal for merit was awarded.

The characteristic qualities of Château d’Yquem, which certain soi-disant connoisseurs pretend to pooh-pooh as a mere ordinary vin de liqueur, are due in no degree to simple accident. On the contrary, the vintaging of this wine is an extremely complicated and delicate affair. In order to insure the excessive softness and rich liqueur character which are its distinguishing qualities, the grapes, naturally excessively sweet and juicy, are allowed to dry on their stalks, preserved, as it were, by the rays of the sun, until they become covered with a kind of down, which gives to them an almost mouldy appearance. During this period the fruit, under the influence of the sun, ferments within its skin, thereby attaining the requisite degree of ripeness akin to rottenness. On the occasion of the vintage, as it is absolutely essential that the grapes should be gathered, not only when perfectly dry, but also warm, the cutters never commence work until the sun has attained a certain height, and invariably suspend their labours when rain threatens or mists begin to rise. At the first gathering they detach simply the graines rôties, or such grapes as have dried after arriving at proper maturity, rejecting those which have shrivelled without thoroughly ripening, and from the former a wine of extreme softness and density termed crême de tête is produced. By the time the first gathering has terminated other grapes will have sufficiently ripened and rotted, or dried, and both sorts are now detached, yielding the wine called vin de tête, distinguished by equal softness with the crême de tête, but combined with a larger amount of alcohol, and greater delicacy of flavour. At this point a delay generally ensues, which is long or short, according to the state of the weather, it being requisite towards the end of October to wait while the rays of the sun, combined with the night dews, bring the remaining grapes to maturity, when the third gathering takes place, from which the wine termed centre, frequently very fine and spirituous, is produced. Another delay now ensues, and then commences the final gathering, when all the grapes remaining on the stalks are picked, which when the vintage has been properly conducted is usually only a very small quantity, yielding what is termed the vin de queue.

The grapes being dried and shrivelled considerable pressure is requisite to extract the juice from them, and at the Château d’Yquem this is accomplished by means of the ordinary winepress. The “must” is at once put into casks, where it is left to ferment for three weeks or a month, and even longer, according to the state of the temperature and the quality of the wine, during which period it throws off whatever impurities it contains; but only becomes perfectly limpid after being racked in from one to three months’ time.

Altogether there were a considerable number of Sauternes exhibited at Vienna, including some of superior character, subtle, sapid, and delicate, generally sub-luscious, frequently over-sweet, and occasionally dry and pleasantly acidulous, while scarcely any were undistinguished by a perceptible and fragrant bouquet. From the circumstance, however, of these wines being exhibited by negociants and not by the growers, they met with no distinct recognition at the hands of the jury. The samples of Barsac were less numerous, still many of them exhibited equal finesse with the higher class Sauternes, combined with greater body, perfect dryness, a more powerful perfume, and that generous warmth in which the last-named wine is altogether deficient. The majority had that flinty flavour, the well-known pierre à fusil taste, so characteristic of the Barsac growths, and ascribed by the chemists to an excess of salts of iron, and by the vignerons of the district to the calcareous nature of the subsoil in which the vines are planted. It was evident that many of the French sweet white wines had been sulphured, so as to arrest their fermentation, and prevent the whole of their sugar from becoming converted into alcohol. Several jurors regarded the use of a considerable quantity of sulphuric acid as no disadvantage in itself, which very likely may be the case, provided, however, the fermentation has been completely sup- pressed by its application, and that the whole of the sulphuric acid has been subsequently removed by proper tapping.

A visit to the vineyards of the Gironde suffices to dissipate any fanciful notion one may have previously entertained respecting the so-called luxuriance of the vine growing at its own sweet will, and bending beneath its load of luscious fruit. On the contrary, the vines, trained for the most part to low espaliers, rarely exceed four feet in height, and are kept as low as even a couple of feet in the Médoc to admit of the yoke of the oxen employed in ploughing up the ground between the rows passing clean over them. The grapes, moreover, growing invariably in masses, and never in detached clusters, hang quite close to the ground, where the stem of the vine, as thick, perhaps, as one’s wrist, is capable of supporting half a hundredweight or more without yielding. The species of vines principally cultivated in the Médoc, and from which the finest red wines in the world are produced, are the gros and petit Cabernet, the fruit of which is highly perfumed, and yields a soft, delicate, fragrant, and brilliant, though light-coloured wine. A variety of the same species, termed indifferently the Cabernelle or Carmenère, much less fertile, but producing wine of considerable body and fine colour, is likewise cultivated in this district, together with the Cruchinet rouge, distinguished for the fine bouquet which it imparts to the wines. The two first-named are also the dominant vines in the Graves of Bordeaux, so called from the pebbly character of the soil, where they are known as the grosse and petite Verdure. In the vineyards of the Côtes the prevailing species is the Malbec, which produces a wine deeper in colour and almost equally soft and delicate, but difficult to keep; while in the vineyards of the Palus it is the Verdot variety to which preference is given. This grape yields a sound, pleasant, rich-coloured wine with a bouquet resembling the violet, a wine which requires age to develop all its better qualities, and repays any care bestowed on it by keeping for many years.

Commonly five other varieties of grape enter more or less into the composition of the wines of the Médoc, one the Merlet, the distinguishing characteristics of which are lightness, delicacy, and softness; another the Mancin, an abundant bearer; next the Tarney-Coulant and the Teinturier, both of which, and more particularly the latter, impart depth of colour; and, lastly, the Sirrha, the grape of the Hermitage vineyards, from which the wine derives both body and firmness.

The fine white wines of the Gironde are produced from the Sauvignon and Semillon grapes, the former of which yields a limpid, perfumed, delicate-flavoured, amber-coloured, heady wine, while the latter gives a sweet, agreeable-flavoured wine, partaking largely of the character of a liqueur, and deepening considerably in colour with age. They are more or less mixed with other varieties, notably the Rochalin, believed to be of the Sauvignon species; the Muscadelle, having a certain affinity, as its name implies, with the well-known Muscat grape; the Blanc doux, the berries of which are sweet and highly transparent ; the Pruéras, almost equally sweet in character; the Blanc Auba ; and the Blanquette, a variety of the famous table grape, the Chasselas, which, in Europe at any rate, rarely produces good wine. The favourite grape cultivated in the upper plains of the Gironde is the Enrageat, belonging to the same species as the Folle Blanche, or crazy vine, which prevails so extensively in the Deux-Charentes, and from whose fruit fine champagne cognac is distilled.

In the department of the Gironde 145,121 hectaires, equivalent to 358,614 English acres, being one-eighth of the entire cultivated surface, are planted with vines. In 1870, the vintage of which year gave more than the average yield, these produced 74,811,610 gallons of wine, whereas in 1873, when the vintage was a most indifferent one, they produced merely a little more than a third of this quantity, or 27,322,559 gallons, valued in official documents at £3,540,460. A very rigid classification, influencing the prices which the wines command, exists of the superior vineyards, the red wines being divided into five separate categories, while the white, forming merely 9 per cent. of the wine production of the Gironde, are classed into three, of which Château d’Yquem ranks as the unique premier crû. The classed wines form only 2 per cent. of the total production, the superior table wines 12 per cent., the medium 20 per cent., and the vins ordinaires the remaining 66 per cent.

Since the year 1840 the vintages of the grand red wines of the Gironde have been of the following character:—Very good: 1841, ’44, ’46, ’47, ’48, ’51, ’58, ’64, ’65, ’68, ’70. Good: 1857, ’62, ’63. Bad and indifferent: 1840, ’42, ’43, ’45, ’49, ’50, ’52, ’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’59, ’60, ’61, ’66. The white wines may be thus classed:—Good: 1840, ’41, ’46, ’47, ’51, ’52, ’54, ’58, ’59, ’61, ’64, ’69. Bad: 1842, ’43, ’45, ’50, ’53, ’56, ’60. The alcoholic strength of the wines of the premiers grands crûs ranges from 13½° to 17° of proof spirit, Château Lafite being the least spirituous of all, Château Margaux coming next, Château Haut Brion ranking third, the most alcoholic being Château Latour, which is about two degrees stronger than Lafite, and on this account is known locally as the vin d’Hercule. Wines lower in the scale are more spirituous than those occupying the highest rank, the St. Emilion growths showing at times even as much as 20° of proof spirit. The difference between the white wines is very great, the more alcoholic occasionally indicating as many as 26°, and the least spirituous as few as 12°.

Recent Bordeaux quotations of Gironde wines give the following as the prices: The premiers crûs of 1869 vintage 6,300 francs, of 1870, 8,000 francs the tonneau (containing nearly 1,200 bottles). The second crûs, among which the wine of Branne-Mouton commands an exceptionally high price, range from 4,000 to 5,000 francs, the third, fourth, and fifth descending gradually in price until the last-named reach 2,400 francs per tonneau for 1869 wine, and 1,300 francs for 1872 wine. Just in the same gradual way do the prices of the bourgeois and paysans crûs decrease until we come to the wines of the paysans des paroisses ordinaires, which are quoted as low as 700 francs. The foregoing applies exclusively to the Haut Médoc. Of the Graves the one premier crû corresponds with the prices already given, the second crûs, together with the first St. Emilion crûs, ranging from 1,000 to 2,800 francs, and the lowest-priced wines of all being the artisans and paysans growths of the Palus, quoted at from 500 to 650 francs. The quotations of wines in bottle give the grand wines, such as Châteaux Lafite and Margaux, at 6 and 7 francs the bottle for vintage 1862; 12 to 15 francs, 1864; and 9 and 10 francs, 1868; the second crûs, such as Leoville, Gruaud-Larose, Cos d’Estournel, Montrose, &c., ranging from 15 to 50 per cent. below these figures. The quality of the vintage, it should be understood, has far more to do with the price than mere age, and there have even been instances when the grand wines, which ordinarily command 6,000 francs and upwards, have been sold off, as was the case in the year 1860, at merely 1,000 francs the tonneau.