156 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



WINE. 



BY FREDERICK BOSSERT, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY 



THE MANUFACTURE OF GRAPE, BLACKBERRY, AND OTHER. FRUIT WINES, ON 

 gall's method, with a FEW REMARKS ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE 

 GRAPE VINE IN GERMANY, FRANCE, AND THE UNITED STATES. 



It is a fact generally known at present that the juice of the grape, in orcter 

 to furnish, by fermentation, healthy and well flavored wine, must contain sugar, 

 water, and acids in proper proportion, from which it follows that grape juice 

 deficient in this normal proportion, and consequently the wine to be made by 

 fermentation, can be improved by corresponding additions of sugar and water. 

 On this principle is based the method pursued for many years by French and 

 German manufacturers of, and dealers in, -wine, and subsequently published by 

 Gall, of adding sugar to grape juice deficient in it, and of adding sugar-water 

 to such juice as may contain too large an amount of acid. In France and Ger- 

 many this mode of improving wine is principally applied to wines from unfa- 

 vorable localities, and more generally during unfavorable years. But in tbe 

 middle and northern States of this country, where failures of crops arc more fre- 

 quent in quantity than in quality, and where many grape vines are being 

 planted which contain, when perfectly mature, a sufficient amount of sugar re- 

 quired for a table wine, (with, however, a surplus of acid,) this improvement of 

 wine will always be used with some kinds of grapes, while it will never, or 

 rarely, be needed with others. 



Wine calculated for daily use should not contain more than from 8 to 12 pr. ct. 

 of alcohol, (spirit of wine,) nor from over 5 to 6 pr. ct. of acid, and as one out of 

 two parts of sugar are converted by fermentation to alcohol, 100 parts of the 

 must of the grape should contain from 5 to 6 parts of acid, from 16 to 24 parte 

 of sugar, and from 70 to 79 parts of water. 



In regard to ascertaining the amount of acid and sugar, my method is similar 

 to that of Gall. In order, therefore, to avoid useless repetitions, I refer for this 

 and the mode of conducting the process of fermentation to the detailed extract 

 given in the report of the Commissioner of Patents, (Agriculture,) 1860, pages 

 322 and 358. 



The juice of the Isabella grape used by me, though satisfactory as a table 

 grape, having a pleasant and sweet taste, contained, notwithstanding, when mea- 

 sured, so great a surplus of acid (11 to 12 pr. ct.) that the wine made of it would 

 not have been palatable at all but for the addition of sugar-water. 



In order to make white wine from the Isabella grape, (a method whiclv^an 

 be applied to all kinds of dark grapes with colorless juice,) I mush the grages, 

 either in the bunch or the berries after bei»g separated, remove the juice as 

 quickly as possible from the skins, determine the amount of acid and sugar, 

 make the required addition of sugar-water, put the must in casks of about IGO 

 gallons, and let it ferment in a cellar with a temperature of from 60^ to 70° 

 Fahrenheit. 



In order to make red wine the mashed grapes are put in fermenting vats of 

 about 200 gallons each, covered up and allowed to ferment. The skins thrown 

 to the surface by the process of fermentation are kept under the surface by a 

 perforated cover. When the fermentation ceases the wine is racked into a 

 cask ; then warm Avater Is poured upon the remains in the fermenting vat, and 



