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fame fide ; thefe at the extremities ferve to dcfcribe 

 the lines which they ought to follow with their cut- 

 ting ihoveJs in cutting the marc, the fubilance fqueez- 

 ed on two fides ; atcer the cut is made, they lay up- 

 on thefe poles and on tlie Grapes, planks of the fize 

 of the prels ; and upon thele planks Jialf beams of 

 eight or nine inches Iquare, which they call moyaux, 

 at a foot diftance one from the other -, they put four 

 or five rows of thefe moyaux acrofs, one upon another, 

 which elevate it with the bag about four or five feet, 

 and they let down upon the whole three or four 

 great beams ofanimmienfe weight, which are placed 

 in the middle of the prefs acrofs, and borne up atone 

 end bv two (Irono; fide beams, which are funk fifteen 



\ 



or tv/enty feci in the ground, and v;hich are faftened 

 to the bales which crofs them ^ at the other end there 

 is a cage as they call it, or a wheel with a fcrew, to 

 raife or lower thefe great beams upon the moyaux, 

 and thus to prefs the Grapes ; then they prefently 

 raife, by the means of a fcrew, the end of the trees 

 on the fide of the wheel, or of the cage, which lowers 

 ■ the other end of the cheeks or fide beams ; then they 

 drive with a great mallet two or four wooden quoins 

 between the notch, which is in the fide beams or 

 cheeks-, and thefe beams are alfo lowered to keep 

 them in their pofition, and to prevent them from 

 rifing : and after this they lower the other end by the 

 aid of the fcrew, which ferves alfo to raife it. 

 They ufe in thefe prefixes large fteel fhovcls, about a 

 foot in breadth, and one and a half in depth, very 

 heavy, and fharp at the bottom, to cut the marc of 

 the Grapes eafily at the four fides. 

 The firft time they lower the great beams upon the 

 Grapes, they call the wine that runs out, the v/ine of 

 goute, becaufe it is the finefl and moft exquifite in 

 the Grape. This wine is very thin, and has not body 

 enough : fome call this firft prefllng Tabaifi^ement ; 



toward the fide of the quoins, it will be eafily com- 

 prehended by viewing the defcriptions of the diffe- 

 rent prefies. It is alfo to be obfervcd, that every 

 time they cut the Grapes, or the marc, they raife up 

 the bag, becaufe it has always a certain elevation, in 

 fuch fort, that it is one tiiird lefs at bottom than at 

 the top. 



The fecond cut is more plentiful than the firfl lower- 

 ing, and the firft cut ; becaufe the Grapes begin to 

 be well bruifed, and they do not fiip fo much ?o the 

 fides. 



The wine ftrains from the prefs into a puncheon hav- 

 ing the head ftavcd out, or fome otlier lar^e vefiel 

 prepared for the purpofe, and funk into the crround 

 on the fbrefide to receive it ; it appears at firft draw- 

 ing to be a little upon the red, but it lofes this little 

 of its colour according as it is boiled, and as i: clari- 

 fies itfelf in the tun j and it becomes perfectly white, 

 efpecially when they have prefied the tv/o fiVil cuts 

 with iPiUch difpatch ; but principally v/hen they have 

 gathered the Grapes during the dew, or in a ftiady 

 time. Although thefe v/ines are v/hite, they call 

 them gray, becaufe they are made only of black 

 Grapes. 



If the year be hot, and the wine of the third cut has 

 a colour, it muft be mingled not with that of the 

 foregoing, but with that of the fourth ; and fome- 

 times, tho' very rarely, with that of the fifth. They 

 are not in fo muchhafte for thefe cuts as for the firft- ; 

 they make an interval of a good half hour between 

 the one and the other. The wine that comes thence 

 has more of colour than this, which they call the par- 

 tridge's eye, or the v/ine of the cut; it is a ftrono* 

 wine, pleafant, fine, good for an ordinary, but is 

 better when it is old. 



When the wine of the fourth cut is too deep, they 

 do not mingle it with wine of the firft or fecond cut. 



this muft be don& with a great deal of dexterity and l but they obferve to mingle it with wine of the fifth, 

 brifknefs, that the beams may be raifed immediately, ' ' ' ' ' 



to thruft back to the middle inftantly all the Grapes 

 which are flipped to the fides of the prefs', that they 

 may be brifkly prefied the fecond or third time. They 

 - call thefe two other lowerings of the beams the firft 

 and fecond cutting ; they muft be done in lefs than 

 an hour, if you \yould have the wine very pale, be- 



'"rapes to heat; Hor 



', • •''»'' 



the liquor to rennain upon the marc; 

 They ordinarily mix the wine of the abaiflfement, or 

 firft lowering, with that of the firft and fecond cut ^ 

 and fometimes, but very rarely, according as the years 

 are more or lefs hot ; and thence they call a wine of 

 the firft prefllng fine. 



Some referve one or two carteaux of the firft tafte, 

 which is that of the firft lowering, by itfelf; but it is 

 too fmall or thin, and has not a fuiEcient body for 

 keeping for tranfportation. . - 

 V There are fome ikilful perfons who pretend, that the 

 firft lowerings of the wines ought not to be mixed 

 but with thofe of the firft cut, becaufe that is much 

 more delicate than that of the fecond or third ; and 

 that befides there is time enough to mix them after- 

 wards, if they are found to be too thin and pale 

 enough ; and the rather becaufe there is no remedy, 

 if it be done at the. firft. ■ L- . -; 



At every cut they raife the great beams, and they 

 take away all the moyaux with the planks, and the 

 rods that are immediately on the Grapes, or upon 



■ the marc ; with thefe fteel cutting ftiovels they cut 

 the marc on four fides,' and they caft down with their 

 wooden ftiovels that which is cut, and fpread it even 

 all over the fquare, to the end that it may not difperfe 

 fo eafily, that is to fay, in thofe prefixes which they 

 call etiquets ; they take care, that the wheel which is 

 upon the middle may be made to bear, efpecially up- 



■ on the rammer, over all the breadth, in fuch manner 

 that the bag may be equal, 



Inftead of the preflTes, a cage, or teiflbns, as the 

 beams bear m.ore upon the fide of the wheel, than on 

 the corners, there muft needs be more of the marc 



- when the bag is placed floping toward the wheel than 



fixth, or feventh cut, which they call wine of the 

 prefs, which is of a deep red, pretty hard, but fit for 

 houfliold drinking ; but when they arc not in hafte, 

 they leave an interval of an hour and a half between 

 every one the three laft cuts ; as much to give time 

 to the wine to ftrain infenfibly, as to give the preflers 

 time tb^rteep of reft them.felves, for the fxtigue is 

 very gr'eaf, 'they being obliged to carry it on night 

 and day for about three weeks. The preflers of 

 Champaign prefs the Grapes fo hard, that after thev 

 have done, the marc is as hard as a ftone ; they put 

 this marc into old caflcs with the heads out, and the\ 



fell it to people who draw from it an aqua vits of a 

 very bad tafte, which they call aqua vitas of Aixne ; 

 but it is good for a great many purpofes. 

 Thofe who have many vineyards alfo make two, three, 

 or four firft prefllngs of the fine wine, by chufinc:^ al- 

 ways the moft delicate and ripeft Grapes for their 

 firfts ; thefe are always much fuperior the one to the 

 other for goodnefs and price, fo tkat if the wine of 

 one of the firft prefllngs fells for fix hundred livres a 

 queue, that of the fecond will not fell for above four 

 hundred and fifty, and that of the third two hundred 

 and fifty, although all the Vines are of one and the 

 fame vineyard. 



In every firft prefllng there are ordinarily two thirds 

 of fine wine, one half third of wine of the cut, and 

 one half third of the wine of the prefs ; thus one cu- 

 vee of five or fix pieces of wine, will confift of nine 

 or ten of fine, three or four of the taille, and two or 

 three of the prefs. 



Of the common black Gratoes, v;hich remain after the 

 firft, fecond, or third cuvee, they make one with 

 thofe that are not very ripe, and which they call vcr- 

 derons, they make of the whole a wine pretty high- 

 coloured, which they fell to the country people, or 

 that ferves for their domeftics ; they alio leave thefe 

 Grapes two whole days'in a great tub before they 

 prefs them, to the end that the wine may be the red- 

 der ; and they mix all that comes from the different 



tallies of this vintao-e toj^ether. 



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