avd the Method of making TVincs, 26% 



prcflld that this change is profluced. The method of dif- 

 pofiiig grapes to fcmicntation varies in different countries; 

 but as the diiftrences occafioned in fo eflential an operation 

 refl on certain principles, I have thought it proper to make 

 them known. 



We are informed by Pliny {Dc brio 'vino apud Graces 

 ciari/flmo , that the grapes were e(>lle6led a iitt'e before 

 their raaturitv; that they were dried by being expoied to the 

 ardnnt fun for three davs, turning them three tunes every 

 day, and that on the fourth they wcrei.expre{fed. 



In Spain, particularly in the environs of St. Lucar, the 

 grapes are left cxpofed lor two days to the full ardour of the 

 fun. . 



In Lorraine, part of Italy, Calabria, and the ifland of 

 Cyprus, the grapes rire dried before they are exprelTed. It 

 is in particular when white fvvcet wines are to be made that 

 the grapes are dried, to thicken the juice, and thereby to 

 moderate the fermentation. 



It appears that the antients were acquainted not only with 

 the art of drying the grapes in the fun, but even that tliey 

 were not ignorant of the proeefs employed to boil and con- 

 centrate the mud; on which account they diftinguifhed 

 wines into three kinds, paj/u?n, defrutu?n, Siudjiipa, The 

 firft was made from grapes dried in the fun; the fecond was 

 obtained by reducing the muft one- half by the means of 

 heat; and the third, from muft fo concentrated that there 

 remained no more of it than a third or a fourth. For very 

 interefting details refpedling thcfe operations the reader may 

 confult Pliny and Diofcorides. Thefe methods are ftill ufed 

 at prefent, and we (hall Ihow, when we come to fpcak of 

 fermentation, that it may be directed and managed in an 

 advantajreous manner by infpiflating a portion of m\id, and 

 afterwards mixing it with the remainder of the mafs; we 

 iliall (how alfo that this is an infallible method for giving to 

 all wines a deirree of ftrength to which the greater part of 

 them cannot otherwife attain. 



Agriculturifts were long divided in regard to the queftion, 



whether it is mod advantageous to free the grapes from the 



dalks or not ? Each of thcfe methods has its partifans, and 



4 writers 



