The first quality has been known to command from $5 to $8 a bottle; but the auction wines are much less valuable, and sell for from $250 to $1,000 the piece, according to the qualities they possess for mixing.-Next in reputation to the Johan-nisberger wine, if not its equal, is that produced on the estate of Steinberg, which until 1800 was the property of the dukes of Nassau, but in that year passed into the possession of the crown of Prussia. The Steinberg is a hill 3 m. from the Rhine, the vine-growing portion of which occupies an area not exceeding 00 acres, enclosed by a massive wall of masonry. This, with the mountain barrier in the rear, effectually screens the vineyard from chilling or injurious winds. The estate, which once belonged to the wealthy cloister of Eberbach, includes also a farm of 450 acres, maintained for the sole purpose of producing the manure necessary for the vineyard. The latter has various undulations and hollows, by which it is divided into districts yielding different qualities of wine. The soil is heavier than that of the Schloss Johannisberg, and on this account in warm seasons the ripening of the grape is not as a rule effected before the latter has reached its full maturity. The opposite result is often witnessed in the Johannisberg vineyard.

Thus, during the years 1857, 1858, and 1859, which were exceptionally warm, the Steinberg wines showed a marked superiority over those of the Johannisberg. The discovery that the overripe grapes yield the best wine was made on this estate about 50 years ago, and since then the vintage has always been very late. In ordinary years there are two or three selections of grapes, from the first of which is made the best wine, the rest hanging 10 or.15 days longer. The annual product of the estate varies from 14,000 to 20,000 gallons, valued at $350 to $3,500 the piece, the latter price being paid for the choicest cabinet wines only. The Ans-Icse of certain exceptionally fine years has sometimes sold in the cask as high as $5 a bottle. The ordinary qualities, like those of the Johannisberg wine, are sold annually by auction.-Scarcely inferior to these wines are those produced on the Rudesheim-Berg and Hinterhaus, which have a southerly exposure, and lie so near the Rhine that the reflection of the sun from the surface of the river greatly facilitates the ripening of the grape.

The vineyards, comprising an area of about 300 acres, divided among a number of proprietors, are terraced from the base to the summit of the hills, and yield wines of considerable body and fine bouquet, the best qualities of which are high-priced. A short distance below Rudes-heim is Asmannshausen, which yields the only good red wine of the Rheingau. This is produced from the black Burgundy grape known as the pineau noir, whence the wine is often spoken of as a species of Rhenish burgundy. It has a soft and exceedingly delicate flavor, but like the higher class of burgundies suffers from transportation. The wines produced on the estates of Marcobrunn, Hattenheim (first growth), Grafenberg (first growth), and Geisen-heim-Rothenberg, also rank as of the highest quality, and in favorable seasons command enormous prices. Of the second growth of the Rheingau produce, the most esteemed varieties are the Johannisberg-Claus, Vollraths, and Rau-enthal-Berg. Among the third growths may be mentioned Hattenheimer, Winkel, Hallgarten, Riidesheimer, Geisenheimer, Erbach, Elfeld, and Lorch, which may be regarded as the ordinary wines of commerce.

In good seasons, and when the best grapes only are selected, these latter growths sometimes reach a high degree of excellence, and command a correspondingly high price.-The banks of the Rhine from Asmannshausen to Coblentz are thickly planted with vineyards, but the situations being for the most part unfavorable, little or no wine of first-rate quality is produced on this part of the river. But in the valley of the little river Ahr, which enters the Rhine about 20 m. below Coblentz, is grown a pale red wine, called the Ahr-Bleichart, having certain strengthening and astringent qualities, and an agreeable burgundy flavor.-Rhenish Bavaria or the Palatinate produces an immense quantity of wine, the yield in favorable seasons reaching 10,000,000 gallons, which is noted for its medium good quality, its purity and freshness of taste, and its cheapness. While never approaching the wines of the Rheingau in bouquet, it not unfrequently surpasses them in richness. The vineyards occupy a fertile, undulating plain, somewhat elevated above the valley of the Rhine, and bounded on the west by the Haardt mountains, a northerly continuation of the Vosges range. About 25,000 acres are under cultivation.

The wines of the first growth are Rupertsberger, Deidesheimer, Wachenhei-mer, and Forster; of the second, Ungsteiner, Durkheimer, and Konigsbach.-Rhenish Hesse produces wines partaking of the qualities of those of the Palatinate and of the Rheingau. Well known growths are the Liebfrauenmilch, produced in and around the convent garden of the Liebfrauen-Stift, near Worms, an agreeable middle-class wine of fine bouquet; the Schar-lachberger and Feuerberger of Bingen and its neighborhood; and the wines of Laubenheim, Bodenheim, Oppenheim, Nierstein, and Selzen, several of which have considerable local reputation, and are often substituted for wines of the Rheingau. The district of Oberingelheira produces much red wine, resembling burgundies of the second and third class, from Burgundy grapes. The produce of the Nahe is nearly related to the middling growths of the Palatinate.-The Bavarian wines, grown in Lower Franconia, in the valley of the Main, are distinguished rather for their body and strength than for their bouquet, and are mostly consumed within the country. The only varieties exported are those produced in the neighborhood of Wurzburg, where about 4,500 acres are under cultivation.

The best vineyards are the Leiste and the Stein, the products of which are of fine quality and very expensive. Both are situated on the Main, and the former is principally owned by the king of Bavaria, who stores the wine made from the estate in the cellars which underlie the royal castle of Wurzburg. In these cellars are more than 280 large casks, some having a capacity of 2,500 gallons. Though considered in the last century indispensable to the proper ripening of wine, they are now but little used. The Leiste wine of good quality is mostly carried to Munich and drunk at court, and only a small quantity enters into trade. The Stein wine, which is also very celebrated, is sold in short-necked bottles of a peculiar shape, called Bocksbeutel. Much of the wine passing under this name in England and the United States is the product of the Palatinate, which at Mentz and elsewhere is put into bottles of the shape of the Bocksbeutel and sold as Stein.-In Baden a large quantity of third or fourth class wine is produced, the best growth being the white Markgriifler and the Affentbaler, a light, agreeable red wine.

The great tun in the castle of Heidelberg was formerly filled with a wine grown in a district known as the Bergstrasse, which commences at Zwingenberg, in the province of Starkenburg, and follows a range of hills to Heidelberg.-More than half of the wine grown in Wurtemberg is produced in the valley of the Neckar, and though not of high grade is agreeable to the taste and wholesome. From its changeable color it is termed Schiller.-The general character of the wines grown in the valley of the Moselle is that of thin Rhine wine. They are lighter and less spirituous than those heretofore described, and are noted for an aromatic flavor, which, however, is said to be generally communicated to the wine by mixing with it a tincture of elder flowers, called also the essence of muscatel," because it resembles the concentrated flavor of the muscatel grape. Messrs. Thudicum and Dupre, in their Treatise on the Origin, Nature, and Varieties of Wine" (London, 1872). say:"It must be declared with emphasis that there is not a grape of muscatel grown upon the Moselle fit for wine making; that there is not a single barrel of wine made there which naturally has the muscatel flavor; and that all the wine having the flavor which imitates it is made up with tincture of elder flowers." The better sorts are highly esteemed in Germany for their supposed medicinal properties.

The wines held in highest repute are the Braune-berger and Scharzberger, the latter grown on the Saar, a tributary of the Moselle; and scarcely less noted are the Zeltinger, Graacher, Dun, Piesporter Auslese, Josephshoff, Berncas-tel, Grunhausen, and Scharzhoffberger. The area under cultivation comprises about 23,000 acres, yielding in favorable seasons 160 gallons to the acre.-About 50 years ago sparkling wines were first manufactured in Germany at Esslingen and Heilbronn, from the Neckar grape; and the process has since been so successfully carried on that these wines may be considered in some degree the rivals of champagne. Upward of 2,000,000 bottles of sparkling Moselle and sparkling hock are annually made at Hochheim, Mentz, Coblentz, and other places, much of which, by means of false labels, is sold as champagne, and readily passes for such. The process of manufacture is precisely similar to that employed in making champagne. (See France, Wines of.) The seasons of 1871, 1872, and 1873 were the most disastrous known to German viticulturists.