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THE i\IIXI COLOGI ST .
97
derful natu ral advantages-- and wh y ? because she
has taken advantage of her fitness of soil to the
vine; her meteorological conditions; he r geograph–
ical positions as regards the European ma rkets, and
incidenta lly those of the world, and partly to the
aptitude of its inhabitants, tha t France developed
the position which it n ow h olds.
Spain is second only in reputation t o France
among wine - growing countries; its white \Yine,
known as sh erry, first brought it into prominence.
Sherry, so called from the town of
]
er ez (Xeras) de
la Frontera, the h eadquarters of this industry.
There are seyeral different varieties of sherry,
which may be divided into the Amontillado and
Manzanilla classes. The Amontillado class may
again be divided into
Jina
and
olloroso,
the former
b eing the more delicate. The generous, full flavored
wines known as Port, a re the produce of the district
of Alto Douro, in the northeast of Portugal, and
theuce sbipped to and from Oporto.
Home Industry.
In our own country the cultivation of the vine
has made rapid progress of late years, and Amer ican
wines are steedily t aking the place of the foreign
product. The soil a nd clima te of the Pacific Coast
seem best adapted to the growth of the v inet and
wine-making is very likely to become one of the
leading industries of California . The Mission grape
(being the first) is supposed to have been imported