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THE MIXICOLOGIST.
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derful natural advantages—and why? because she
has taken advantage of her fitness of soil to the
vine; her meteorological conditions; her geograph
ical positions as regards the European markets,and
incidentally those of the world, and partly to the
aptitude of its inhabitants, that France developed
the position which it now holds.
Spain is second only in reputation to France
among wine-growing countries; its white wine,
known as sherry, first brought it into prominence.
Sherry,so called from the town of Jerez(Xeras) de
la Frontera, the headquarters of this industry.
There are several different varieties of sherry,
which may be divided into the Amontillado and
Manzanilla classes. The Amontillado class may
again be divided into fi)to and o/oroso, the former
being the more delicate. The generous,full fla\-ored
wines known as Port,are the produce of the district
of Alto Douro, in the northeast of Portugal, and
thence shipped to and from Oporto.
Home Industry.
In our own country the cultivation of the vine
has made rapid progress of late years,and American
wines are steedily taking the place of the foreign
product. The soil and climate of the Pacific Coast
seem best adapted to the growth of the vine, 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