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THE QUINTA OF THE CONSUL.

variations of aspect. The vine, to produce a wine of exquisite flavor, should, like the sunflower,

"Turn to its God when he sets,

The same look it turned when he rose."

It should bask in its heat all the time it is above the horizon.

The judicious selection of the plants, seasonable pruning of the vine, proper irrigation and careful maturing of the fruit-such are some of the assiduities necessary to the perfect development of the qualities of the grape. By these the astringent properties, which reside in the unreclaimed vine, and which affect injuriously the stomach, are removed; while the rich saccharine matter, the aroma, and those undefined intrinsic virtues which promote cheerfulness, are brought out and developed. No plant of the earth requires more devoted attention, or more abundantly rewards it.

Some of the island proprietors attach vineyards to their quintas (country seats), mingling the useful and the ornamental. The American Consul, Mr. March, had most of the grounds of his quinta covered with the vine. It is a pleasant little villa on the so-called "New Road," about a mile from Funchal; and faces sun and sea. The grounds are some fifty acres in extent; a greater part the two sides of a ravine, or bed of an exhausted torrent-terraced with the vine from the bottom to the highest ground. The soil is composed of a certain fresh mold, the product of an annual dissolution of the rocky hillocks or mounds above, dislodged and borne down by the tempestuous storms of winter. The fertile slopes of the "Côte d'Or" of Burgundy, which furnish the Romanee and Chambertin, have a soil of the same kind. Non inexpertus loquor. For last summer, accompanied by Monsieur Jules

THE STORED WINES.

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Lausseure, one of the largest wine-growers in the district, I went over those regions, so dear to nature and to the gourmand, and made myself as well acquainted with the properties as the production of the soil. I recollect to have taken to my lodgings a portion of the soil which was pointed out to me as calcareous, and the effervescence which resulted from the application of vinegar, indicated the presence of a considerable quantity of lime.

The owner of this quinta, cognizant of the eminent merits of the soil and situation, has devoted, and is devoting, much time, labor, and expense to its proper management. Great care is bestowed upon the selection of the cuttings, great nicety in planting, and great assiduity in pruning them. The soil is always kept clean, properly irrigated, and cleared of insects and weeds; and if the grape recover from its present blight, he will reap, many times told, the cost of his outlay and labor. The vineyard, so carefully and scientifically cultivated, will doubtless afford an annual vintage of fifty pipes of Sercial and other wines, the choicest and most costly that the island produces.

The capital of these merchant-proprietors are their vineyards and their stored wines. The latter may be denominated their bank, upon which they determine the extent of their transactions. The long established houses have a large capital in their vaults-a specie capital. I counted many hundred pipes of wine in the store-houses of the Consul; wines of different vintages and denominations, ranging in price according to character and age, from $2 50 the gallon, to as high a sum as the most extravagant would wish to pay. Other old houses such as Newton, Gordon & Co., Blackburns, Oliveira & Davies, have also large store-houses filled. All the wines of the island pass, with the stranger,

under the general designation of Maderia wines. In the mean time, there is as great a difference between the different wines of the island as between Madeira and Sherry, or Sherry and Port. Some are dry, some full-bodied, some of a fruity taste. Some are light, and others heavy. Some that would have delighted our grandfathers, men of strong heads, and others better suited to modern capacities. They are various in color, too. There are those of deeper red than Port, while others again are paler than sherries. Indeed, there is hardly a taste which could not be gratified with some of the wines of the island.

The wines of the south side of the island are the best; and, indeed, in aroma, delicacy of flavor, and cheerful properties, are unsurpassed anywhere. The finest are the Sercial, the Malmsey, the Bûal, the Tinta or Burgundy Madeira, and the Tinto.

The Sercial is called a dry wine. Of a verity, if taken in full glasses, the victim would be very dry the morning after. It is potent, and to be treated accordingly. But its bouquet might "create a soul under the ribs of death," if any thing could. It sends an odor through a room sweeter than pastils. A glass after soup confirms the grace before, and predisposes the soul to the fullness of a gratitude--the sense of favors to come.

my

On descent down "the wide and winding Rhine," I stopped at the Château of Johannisberg, the property of the celebrated Metternich. With some trouble I gained admission to the cellars, and tasted their rich contents. The major-domo (whose German designation I know not how to spell) gave me much information regarding the wines-all which to hear I patiently inclined. The best wine he had, he told me with emphasis, came from a vine he had caused to be

JOHANNISBERGER.

transplanted from Madeira, and produced a wine called Sercial.

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which, on that island, On that hint I spoke

"right out in meetin';" I told him I was recently from Madeira-had often drunk the Sercial there, and dared not believe that wine could be improved. "Wait," says he, swallowing the bait like a famishing trout-and, releasing a huge key from the bundle at his girdle, bade me follow; which indeed I did. He came to a "bodega," or storehouse, better built and guarded than the rest. He entered. From a crypt, such as in churches they place the images or relics of the saints in, he drew out a bottle, "beautiful exceedingly," and carefully extracted the cork. I fear a doubt might be thrown upon my reputation for veracity if I should venture to tell the whole truth of the effect of the perfume from that uncorked bottle! The remorseless spider, "pleased with the grateful sense," left his protected covert to draw nearer, and extended his antennæ to catch the aroma. If a spider could be so moved, what must have been my feelings? more easily imagined than described. The major poured out, and I drank. Unconsciously I held out my glass to be replenished-"Not for a crowned head!" was his somewhat amazed reply.

This wine sells on the estate at five dollars the bottle, and is mostly bought up, before vintage, for the royal houses of Europe. Prince Metternich, by this and other experiments, has done much to improve his native grape, which will induce many to palliate, if not wholly to excuse, the part he performed in the "Holy Alliance."

The MALMSEY is too luscious a wine for ordinary use. It should be taken as a liqueur, and, as such, only by women and children. It is one of the rarest and most costly wines of the island, and is produced nowhere

else. Little of it is grown, and that little only with the greatest care. The slightest fog or moisture blights it, and years often pass without a vintage. The old monks cultivated this vine, cherished it, and loved its juice. Its rich flavor gladdened their cloisters and warmed their devotions. In the solitude of their cells, weary of a world that had given them so little, or wholly intent upon another that promised them so much, they were wont to pass their hours in prayer, in vigils, and recuperative potations-potations which gratified mind and soul more than bodily appetite. What wanted they of Paradise save an Eve? whom they may indeed have had. It was the introduction of this, "Heaven's last best gift," that, in a great degree, caused their expulsion from monasteries, "if ancient tales say true, nor wrong these holy men."

The BUAL is a delicate and a mellow wine. Its grape, like an Andalusian maiden, should be gathered at the very moment of maturity. Either wither rapidly after. Unlike Sercial, which should be kept at least one half the time Horace demands for poetry, the Bual is pleasant in its infancy. Yet time, that softens every thing, adds additional mellowness to this. The grape grows scarcer each succeeding year, and the wine of course dearer. The best on the island is produced from the vineyards of Padre Joao, in the district of San Martinho-a priest of the Holy Catholic Church, a worthy man, well skilled in the vine.

The TINTA, also called the Madeira Burgundy, because it has all that sun-set glow of the latter wine, boasts a flavor of peculiar excellence. It gains its rich warm color from the husks of the grape, which are allowed to remain in the cask during fermentation, and which give to the wine some of the astringent properties of port. Its peculiar excellence is ephemeral.