8 July, 1908.] Effect of Cold on New Dry TTV;/^^. 401 



for cleansing young wines from all that is detrimental to their proper pre- 

 servation, limpidity and stability. Nothing can better prepare them for 

 proper maturing which comes to them healthy and strong and not worn 

 out or affected by disease. 



Now if hogsheads are specially suitable for this purpose it must stand 

 to reason that larger casks are not so. Fermenting vats have sometimes 

 been fitted with heads and used for storage at a time when there was a 

 dearth of hogsheads. Considering the thickness of the wood and the in- 

 creased volume It must be at once admitted that the action of cold will be- 

 slow and incomplete. Therefore the wine will clarify badlv or not at all. 

 When the great heat comes the chances of disease are grea Iv increased 

 and often the wine has to be got rid of at distillation prices. Brick and 

 cement vats and tanks are also sometimes used but have the same disad\an- 

 tages as wooden vats from our point of view. 



These special vats are excellent for fermenting in and e\-en for finishing 

 the ageing of wines once they are clarified. For new wines, however, our 

 preceding remarks will have sufficiently explained the situation. Kept from 

 the cold the new wines never get bright, form but little lees, and keep mosr 

 of the tartar and with it albumenoids and others of which we have described 

 — the inevitable precipitation in a normal winter. For the same reason 

 noxious microl)es, instead of being paralysed bv the cold, remain in suspen- 

 sion in an active state so that at the spring racking none are left behind in 

 the lees, and with the arrival of the hot weather these wines acetifv easilv, 

 become bitter, greasy or oily. Sent in hogsheads to the consumer thev ma\- 

 stand some little time but sooner or later wear awav, perish and become 

 worthless even to keep in bottle. 



The large storage casks used on the Mediterranean coast have the fault 

 of generally allowing the wines put in them to pass the summer badly, and 

 hence perhaps a reason why these wines are always passed upon the market 

 very young. This inabilitv to withstand the heat of the summer is caused 

 not only by local high temperatures and defectively constructed cellars but 

 through the capacity of the large storage casks. This capacity prevents the 

 cold of the winter producing clarification, the more so as the cold is in 

 Itself very slight in this climate. 



It is probable, however, that if these sam.e wines were run into hogs- 

 heads and if thev were exposed to the same natural cold of "he winter tha 

 thev would stand the summer when put back into large casks. We believe, 

 howeyer. that on account of local habits and customs growers would prefer 

 to keep to their large casks and use artificial cold. In conclusion the 

 preservation of new wines in all climates is onlv certain zvJieii during their 

 first six months they have undergone the action of cold sufficient both in 

 ^"tensity and duration. This cold is necessary to remove, at the next rack- 

 ing, the germs of disease and other insoluble matters. Every new wine 

 which has not been subjected to sufficient cold cannot keep well unless 

 pasteurised, but we must no': forget that pasteurisation does not prevent it 

 depositing in bottle. 



