In this Book
- Pioneering American Wine: Writings of Nicholas Herbemont, Master Viticulturist
- Book
- 2009
- Published by: University of Georgia Press
- Series: The Publications of the Southern Texts Society
summary
This volume collects the most important writings on viticulture by Nicholas Herbemont (1771-1839), who is widely considered the finest practicing winemaker of the early United States. Included are his two major treatises on viticulture, thirty-one other published pieces on vine growing and wine making, and essays that outline his agrarian philosophy. Over the course of his career, Herbemont cultivated more than three hundred varieties of grapes in a garden the size of a city block in Columbia, South Carolina, and in a vineyard at his plantation, Palmyra, just outside the city.
Born in France, Herbemont carefully tested the most widely held methods of growing, pruning, processing, and fermentation in use in Europe to see which proved effective in the southern environment. His treatise "Wine Making," first published in the American Farmer in 1833, became for a generation the most widely read and reliable American guide to the art of producing potable vintage.
David S. Shields, in his introductory essay, positions Herbemont not only as important to the history of viticulture in America but also as a notable proponent of agricultural reform in the South. Herbemont advocated such practices as crop rotation and soil replenishment and was an outspoken critic of slave-based cotton culture.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Acknowledgments
- p. ix
- Introduction
- pp. 1-29
- Part One. Maxims
- pp. 31-36
- Part Two. Treatises
- Wine Making (January 23, 1833)
- pp. 86-105
- Part Three. Published Letters on Grape Growing and Wine Making
- Domestic Wine (December 23, 1826)
- pp. 139-140
- American Wine (January 18, 1828)
- pp. 141-143
- Pruning Grape Vines (April 20, 1828)
- pp. 144-148
- Cultivation of the Grape (August 12, 1829)
- pp. 157-160
- Pruning Frost-Nipped Vines (March 22, 1830)
- pp. 172-175
- Letter to an Alabama Planter (July 9, 1830)
- pp. 183-188
- Table Grapes (October 26, 1830)
- pp. 195-200
- Herbemont's Madeira (May 27, 1831)
- pp. 201-202
- Afflictions (September 24, 1831)
- pp. 206-209
- Letter to Edmund Ruffin (November 18, 1833)
- pp. 219-223
- Part Four. Agrarian Essays
- Honesty Is the Best Policy (March 1832)
- pp. 268-274
- Bibliographical Essay
- pp. 281-287
Additional Information
ISBN
9780820336404
Related ISBN(s)
9780820332338
MARC Record
OCLC
647878971
Pages
312
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No