WINE. 



15T 



the same allowed to ferment. The fermentation being over, the liquid is again 

 racked off and mixed with the wine. It depends upon the amount of acid 

 present in this mixture whether another addition {and if so, how much) should 

 be made in order to mix it with the wine already drawn off and the product of 

 thrf first addition, and thus to obtain a wine of a normal amount of acid. Sugar- 

 wa^er made of one gallon of water and two pounds of sugar furnishes a pleasant, 

 moderately strong wine, even if the grapes used should be quite destitute of 

 sugar. 



In preparing sugar-water I use only white refined cane sugar. Grape sugar, 

 it is true, has some advantages in regard to fermentation, but the article of com- 

 merce is very impure, containing sometimes as much as 40§ of gum, dextrine, 

 &c., so that the wine frequently receives an unpleasant tang, and the advantages 

 of using grape sugar (aside from its high price) are thus amply outweighed by 

 the disadvantages produced by its impurities. 



In the year 1862 I sent a few samples of wine, made according to this method, 

 to Germany, with the view of having it tested by a reliable gentleman, well 

 known for his experience and knowledge in matters of wine. He pronounced 

 the wine to be Neckar wine of a year's growth. When afterwards informed 

 that the Avine had come from the United States, he produced from his own cel- 

 lar a sample of Neckar wine of striking resemblance. He pronounced the 

 American wine not only very good, but gave the assurance, from his own best 

 judgment, that every wine-grower in the best wine-gi'owing countries of Ger- 

 many would be glad if he could produce, each 3'ear, an article of the same 

 quality. It was, moreover, not only his, but the opinion of others equally as 

 expert, that this wine would keep from ten to fifteen years — on the whole, as 

 long as good Rhine and Neckar Avines would. 



In this country, too, this wine has been gaining fovor on many sides, and tlie 

 unjust prejudice against native wines is gradually giving Avay, as an impartial 

 comparison of these wines with those imported and mixed with alcohol, or alco- 

 hol and water, and of the same price, must unquestionably result in favor of the 

 former. 



My experiments heretofore were merely confined to the Isabella, not having 

 been able to procure sufficiently large quantities of other kinds of grapes. 

 Should I succeed this next fall, I shall at once extend my experiments to other 

 kinds of grapes. 



From the fact that in the Agricultural Report for 1S62, page 494, mention 

 was made of the blackbeny wine, I feel induced to communicate my method 

 of making said wine in 1859. Wild-groAving blackberries Avere mashed and 

 flowed to ferment for three days in a covered vat ; they were then pressed and 

 the juice put in a cask, filling up two-thirds of it. Warm Avater (as m.uch as 

 the juice obtained amounts to) is now poured on the pressed remains. After 

 the lapse of three days the infusion Avas pressed, and the liquid thus expressed 

 added to the Avine in the cask. White sugar, three pounds to the gallon, was 

 then dissolved in this mixture. The cask was finally filled up Avith sugar- 

 water of the same strength, (namely, three pounds of sugar to one gallon of 

 vrajter.) Late in the fall or in spring the wine is drawn off the dregs into^a 

 dSgk, and bottled the next fall. 



Several prominent physicians of Newark, N. J., successfully prescribe thfe 

 \rine for its tonic and gently astringent qualities in cases of chronic diarrhoea, 

 summer complaints, &c. 



In the manixfacture of this, as of all other wines made of fruit, it would be 

 more con-ect, more scientific, and more certain to produce favorable results, 

 first to ascertain the amount of acid and sugar contained in the juice of the 

 fruit, and so determine the needed amount of Avater and sugar, so that the 

 amount of sugar and acid of the fruit-Avine shall be equal to the Avine calculated 

 toJt>e imitated — Malaga, Madeira, &c. 



