View PDF version of this page

the Cape, although of infinite variety, produce wines with a family taint which is a flavour absorbed from the soil. Any person who knows Constantia, the luscious wine of the Cape of Good Hope, will at once detect the soupçofi of that flavour in every quality of wine produced in the colony. It may therefore be accepted that the flavour of wines depends upon the soil ; thus it would be impossible for a vine-grower to succeed simply by planting wellknown superior varieties of vines, unless he has had practical experience of the locality to be converted into vineyards. This fact is thoroughly exhibited in Cyprus, where the peculiarities of soils are exceedingly remarkable, and cannot fail to attract attention, each of these qualities of earth producing a special wine. If a planter establishes a vineyard he will naturally select a certain variety of vine, and a corresponding situation that will ensure a marketable quantity of wine ; thus in Cyprus a comparatively small area of the island is devoted to the cultivation of the grape, which is comprised chiefly within the district of Limasol. No wine is made in the Carpas district, nor to the north of the Carpasian range of Jurassic limestone ; there are no vineyards of importance in the western district ; or yet in the plain of Messaria, except upon the western border, in the neighbourhood of Dali, towards the Makhaeras mountain. Although there are many varieties of Cyprus wines, there is one prevailing rule : the white commanderia, a luscious high-flavoured wine, is grown upon the reddish chocolate-coloured soil of metamorphous rocks. The dark red, or black astringent wines, are produced upon the white marls and cretaceous limestone. The

View PDF version of this page