254 MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING 



wines is made. This blend is called the "cuvee." The cuvee 

 is bottled and a second fermentation starts. The bottles are 

 now put in cool cellars, corded in horizontal layers with thin 

 strips of wood between each layer of bottles. The champagne 

 in this stage is said to be in "tirage." The carbonic acid gas 

 generated at this second fermentation is confined in the bottles 

 and absorbed by the wine. When the bottle is uncorked, the 

 gas, seeking to escape, produces the sparkling effect desirable in 

 sparkling wines. After the wine has been in tirage for one 

 or two years, the bottles are placed in A-shaped racks, the neck 

 of the bottle pointing downward so that the sediment formed 

 (luring fermentation drops to the cork. To further the settling 

 of the sediment, workmen turn or shake each bottle daily for a 

 period of one to three months. The bottles are then taken to 

 the finishing room, cork down and the wine is "disgorged." 

 Disgorging is accomplished by freezing a small quantity of 

 wine in the neck of the bottle containing the sediment, after 

 which the cork is removed and with it the frozen sediment. The 

 bottle is refilled, recorked, wired, capped, and the champagne 

 is ready for shipment. 



The vintage. 



The wine-making season the world over is known as the 

 "vintage." The time at which the vintage begins depends, of 

 course, on the region, the variety of grapes, the growing season 

 and the location of the vineyard. Its duration, also, depends 

 on these same factors. The season is usually lengthened by the 

 fact that wine-makers require for their purposes a number of 

 varieties of grapes which ripen at different times. Before or 

 during the vintage, representatives of wine cellars usually make 

 contracts for the number of tons of grapes required at a certain 

 price a ton. 



The notion prevails that grapes for wine and grape-juice 

 need not be first-class. This is far from the truth. To make 



