324 



VINEYARDS AND THE ART OF MAKING WINE. 



cording to the temperature of the weather 

 at the time, and kept filled up morning, 

 noon, and night for four or five days, after 

 which twice a day will do. There must at 

 the time of turning be sufficient spare must 

 in reserve, say six gallons to every barrel af- 

 ter all the casks are full, and this should be 

 kept near the cask, to fill them up from time 

 to time. The filling up must be done with 

 an earthen or china pitcher having a lip, 

 and at no time must any metalic article be 

 suffered to drop into the must, as it is apt 

 to injure the color of the wine, as well as to 

 affect the taste. At the filling up always 

 remove whatever scum may be at the bung- 

 hole, and keep a small tub or dish under 

 each cask, to receive the drippings, as the 

 clear will do for filling up. 



At the end of ten or twelve days the 

 working will have ceased, which you will 

 know by seeing the wine clear at the bung- 

 hole, and the hissing noise stopped in the 

 cask, and all floating beads disappear from 

 the surface. If the wine (for recollect it is 

 no longer must) show these indications, it 

 has ceased working, and maybe stopped in 

 the following manner : Set the cask up- 

 right, and place over the bung-hole a clean 

 piece of paper ; lay the bung on top, and 

 press both into the hole as hard as you can 

 with your hand, without any other instru- 

 ment. This is mainly to exclude the air—- 

 see to it once a day, for three or four days, 

 that it be not disturbed. At the end of that 

 time place your ear close to the bung, and 

 if no hissing sound proceed from the cask, 

 remove the bung, disturbing the wine as 

 little as possible ; fill the cask to within a 

 fraction of the under edge of the hole, and 

 drive the bung down tight ; but should the 

 wine at this last examination not have 

 ceased working, the bung and paper should 

 have been placed as before, and left three 

 or four days longer. 



The wine, thus being stopped down, will 

 require no more attention until bottling 

 time in the following March, and being 

 about the time I think all wines should be 

 bottled or transvased. If you conclude to 

 keep it in cask a second year, it must be 

 transvased, letting no more run from it 

 than is bright and clear, the hullage, 

 or thick, being turned into a smaller cask 

 and fined for use. The cask you intend 



to bottle, do in the following manner ; re- 

 move the bung, or, my plan is to bore a 

 hole through the bung with a large size 

 gimlet, (as starting the bung disturbs the 

 wine,) without disturbing the cask in the 

 least possible. Let this be done, not 

 twenty-four hours before bottling, which 

 is the method most persons take, but about 

 ten minutes, and see that every thing has 

 been got ready before, the cask having 

 been tapped at the time of turning with a 

 tight bottling cock, and four inches from 

 the bottom of the cask, proceed to bottle, 

 taking care only to draw off about two- 

 thirds. I have with me at this time a 

 careful servant, as it is a business for two. 

 I allow only about a dozen bottles to be 

 filled before I commence to cork, giving 

 only about ten minutes for the air to escape 

 from the bottle, for if longer the bouquet 

 is much injured, and wine without or de» 

 ficient in this quality, is like arose without 

 fragrance. Your bottles should be filled 

 to about one-third of the neck above the 

 shoulder, and on no account suffer your 

 corks to be soaked in any thing before 

 being used, as they will shrink after from 

 the wax, and perhaps cause your wine to 

 spoil, whereas, if driven in dry they swell 

 in the bottle, and the wax will adhere 

 more perfectly. With this precaution I 

 never loose a bottle of wine, as I generally 

 attend to the old adage, that any thing 

 worth doing at all is worth doing well. 

 Reject all corks that arehard and porous. 

 When all are corked, with a sharp knife 

 trim off close down to the glass before 

 waxing, after which pack in dry saw-dust, 

 in binns or casks, in a cool cellar, with a 

 uniform temperature, and in six months 

 you may try it, but twelve will be better. 

 Having got through making and bottling, 

 I will before I conclude, say a word about 

 casks, tubs, wax, &c, &c. In regard to 

 the casks, I think it always best to buy 

 new, and have them made of the best ma- 

 terials, and as soon as brought home, filled 

 up with cold water, and soaked thus twen- 

 ty-four hours ; then emptied and half-fill- 

 ed with boiling water, shaken about and 

 turned over three or four times during an 

 hour, and while hot, emptied and placed 

 pole downwards forty-eight hours to dry ; 

 then sulphured in the following manner—' 



