740 Agricultural Journal of Victoria. 



ferment under the influence of the original yeasts which they con- 

 tained, but all new fermentation from germs introduced from the 

 outside is impossible, as the wines contain such a quantity of 

 sulphurous acid that no development of these germs can take 

 place. This quantity is so high that it has sometimes created 

 difficulties with Sauterne wines through certain rigorous restrictions 

 in foreign countries. While protesting against this unreasonable 

 restriction, it may well be asked if it would not be possible 

 in this special kind of wine making to obtain the same results 

 while using smaller quantities of sulphurous acid. Besides it is 

 certain that many growers abuse, uselessly or ignorantly, the 

 sulphuring of their wines. Various modifications of this old 

 custom have already been proposed, amongst them the doing 

 away with sulphur, and replacing it with carbonic acid gas. This 

 substance is in practice inapplicable, and the general opinion is that 

 sulphurous acid must still be the basis of Sauterne making, for 

 there exists no other antiseptic as efficacious, as easily used or as 

 harmless. We are of the opinion that in making a more reasonable 

 use of this substance the quantity used can be diminished. This 

 question is worthy of the immediate commencement of experiments, 

 because they will necessarily be of long duration, and it is accord- 

 ing to the following programme that we would suggest their being 

 carried out : — First racking will be practised as usual, care being 

 taken to well aerate the wine before it is put into the sulphured 

 casks. Then, immediately after this racking, or, at any rate, soon 

 afterwards, the wine will be filtered by the special process indicated 

 further on, so as to obtain the greatest limpidity possible. The 

 casks receiving the filtered wine will be sterilized by either boiling 

 water or steam, and heavily sulphured when cooled down. These 

 two sulphurings so close together should bring the amount of 

 sulphurous acid to such a proportion that all development of yeasts 

 is impossible, and the small quantity remaining in the wine will soon 

 become sterilized. 



So as to try and keep the wine in this aseptic state as long as 

 possible, that is to say to enable it to mature free from all new 

 fermentation, the introduction of all living germs and yeasts, which 

 may develop some time after the above operations, must be avoided 

 since the initial quantity of sulphurous acid diminishes rapidly under 

 the influence of oxidation, in the changing of sulphurous acid from 

 a free to a combined state. This ulterior yeast production in the 

 wine appears to me to be possibly prevented by means of some 

 simple precautions such as the following : — 



Only boiled bung cloths must be used to put on with the bungs, 

 and the bungs and tap plugs must be cut off as if for export, and the 

 hogsheads stacked bung sideways. The bung itself and the bung- 

 staves for an inch or two round it must be painted with a concen- 

 trated solution of bisulphide of soda on which will be placed some 

 sterilized wadding or cotton waste, which will be held in position by 

 a bung tin. The tap plug will, of course, be treated the same 



