{"product_id":"glady-notice-sur-la-fabrication-des-1875","title":"Notice sur la fabrication des vins","description":"\u003cp\u003e1875 First Edition\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 8vo. Pp. 16\u003cbr\u003e\nBordeaux\u003cbr\u003e\nJ.A. Faure\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOriginal blue-grey printed wrapper, soiled and waterstained, with a small loss to the fore-edge of the upper cover and to the corner; sewing sound. Text-block with light overall toning and scattered foxing. An honest, unsophisticated copy in its original state. Very Good.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of a remarkably concise manifesto for practical wine improvement, joining cellar hygiene and disciplined vinification to the increasingly ampelographic idea that the quality of wine begins with the choice of grape. Writing from Bordeaux in 1875, Eugène Glady attacks growers who remain \"slaves to custom and routine,\" declaring routine \"the negation of all progress.\" Drawing on his experience buying wines in the Agenais and Quercy, he moves from fermentation, racking, topping-up and sulphuring to a geographical survey of superior cépages, linking Pinot to Burgundy, Cabernet Sauvignon to Lafite and Margaux, the principal white varieties to Sauternes and Barsac, and Petite Sirah to Hermitage. Citing the great ampelographer Comte Odart and recording his own experiments with varieties including Saperavi, Glady writes at the moment when empirical improvement and varietal selection were becoming central questions in French viticulture, just as phylloxera was beginning to overturn the vineyards themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe booklet opens straightaway with Glady launching directly into his argument. Drawing upon his recent purchases of wine in the Agenais and Quercy, he denounces what he calls the \"capital vice\" of proprietors who remain \"slaves to custom and routine,\" convinced that nothing can surpass the practices of their forebears. Routine, he concludes, is simply \"the negation of all progress.\"\u003cbr\u003e\nFrom this manifesto the pamphlet turns to practice. The opening section is a concise but remarkably concrete cellar manual, advocating fully ripened grapes, scrupulously clean vats and wine vessels, carefully limited quantities of grapes in each fermenting vat, timely drawing-off after eight to ten days in warm weather (and never beyond fifteen in cold conditions), regular racking twice a year, constant topping-up of barrels, and disciplined sulphuring with a sulphur match. Glady even cites the celebrated Comte Odart of La Dorée, recommending that fermenting vats be covered with vine leaves to protect the chapeau during fermentation.\u003cbr\u003e\nThe second half shifts from cellar practice to the vineyard itself, arguing that the quality of a wine begins with the choice of grape. Rather than merely listing varieties, Glady maps them to the regions where they achieve their greatest expression: Pinot for Burgundy; Cabernet Sauvignon as the dominant vine of Château Lafite and Château Margaux; Merlot and Malbec in the palus; Sémillon, Muscadelle, Sauvignon, and Fie Jaune for the great sweet wines of Sauternes, Yquem, and Barsac; Petite Sirah for Hermitage; and, across the south-west, Cot, Piquepoul de Thézac, Péricard, and the traditional grapes of Cahors and Quercy. Aramon is dismissed outright, while Glady also claims to have introduced the Persian variety Saperavi around 1855, an assertion that remains unverified.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCalling routine \"the negation of all progress\" is a wonderfully bold way to begin a wine manual, and we were hooked immediately. Glady champions cleaner cellars, better grapes, and curious minds over inherited habits, mapping great cépages to the wines and vineyards that made them famous. All this in 1875, just as phylloxera was beginning to change the rules entirely.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"La Fenice Antiquaria","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49376611893483,"sku":"147-1875--450.00-242.00-2026","price":684.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0766\/2000\/5611\/files\/00147_IMG_8983.jpg?v=1788835830","url":"https:\/\/fenicebooks.com\/en-ap\/products\/glady-notice-sur-la-fabrication-des-1875","provider":"La Fenice Antiquaria","version":"1.0","type":"link"}