1138 WINE 



insect, measuring not more than l-33rd of an inch in length. From April to October 

 it continues active, but during the rest of the year it hybernates. When the Phylloxera 

 attacks a vine, the rootlets exhibit peculiar swellings, and the insects nmltiply so 

 rapidly as soon to overrun all the roots, and by absorbing nourishment from the plant, 

 reduce it to a totally exhausted state. Soon after the disease appeared, the French 

 Academy of Sciences appointed a commission to investigate the subject. Although a 

 large number of remedies have been suggested and tried, it can hardly be said that 

 any of them have as yet (1874) been successful in coping with the difficulty. Perhaps 

 the best means of eradicating the parasite is to place the vineyard under water as soon 

 as the disease appears ; but such means evidently admit of only local application. 



Vintage. The vintage, in the temperate provinces, generally takes place about the 

 end of September, and it is deteriorated whenever the fruit is not ripe enough before 

 the 15th or 20th of October ; for, in this case, not only is the must more acid' and less 

 saccharine, but the atmospheric temperature is apt to fall so low during the nights, 

 as to obstruct more or less its fermentation into wine. The grapes should be plucked 

 in dry weather, at the interval of a few days after they are ripe ; being usually 

 gathered in baskets, and transported to the vats in dorsels, sufficiently tight to prevent 

 the juice from running out. Whenever a layer about 14 or 15 inches thick has been 

 spread on the bottom of the vat, the treading operation begins, which is usually 

 repeated after macerating the grapes for some time, when an incipient fermentation 

 has softened the texture of the skin and the interior cells. When the whole bruised 

 grapes are collected in the vat, the juice, by means of a slight fermentation, reacts, 

 upon the colouring-matter of the husks, and also upon the tannin contained in the 

 stones and the fruit-stalks. The process of fermentation is suffered to proceed without 

 any other precaution, except forcing down from time to time the pellicles and pedicles 

 floated up by the carbonic acid to the top. 



With whatever kind of apparatus the fermentation may have been regulated, as 

 soon as it ceases to be tumultuous, and the wine is not sensibly saccharine or muddy, 

 it must be racked off from the lees, by means of a spigot, and run into the ripening 

 tuns. The marc being then gently squeezed in a press, affords a tolerably clear wine, 

 which is distributed among the tuns in equal proportions ; but the liquor obtained by 

 stronger pressure is reserved for the casks of inferior wine. 



In the south of France the fermentation sometimes proceeds too slowly, on account 

 of the must being too saccharine : an accident which is best counteracted by main- 

 taining a temperature of about 65 or 68 Fahr. in the tun-room. When the must, 

 on the other hand, is too thin, and deficient in sugar, it must be partially concentrated 

 by rapid boiling before the whole can be made to ferment into a good wine. By 

 boiling up a part of the must for this purpose, the excess of ferment is at the same 

 time destroyed. Should this concentration be inconvenient, a certain proportion of 

 sugar must be introduced, and immediately after racking it off. 



The specific gravity of must varies with the richness and ripeness of the grapes 

 which afford it ; being in some cases so low as T0627, and in others so high as 1-283. 

 This happens particularly in the south of France. In the district of the Necker in 

 Germany, the spec. grav. varies from 1'050 to T090; in Heidelberg, from 1-039 to 

 1'091, but it varies much in different years. 



After the fermentation is complete, the vinous part consists of water, alcohol, a 

 colouring-matter, a peculiar aromatic principle, a little undecomposed sugar, bitartrate 

 and malate of potash, tartrate of lime, chloride of sodium, and tannin ; the latter sub- 

 stances being in small proportion. 



It is known that a few green grapes are capable of spoiling a whole cask of wine, 

 and therefore they are always allowed to become completely ripe, and even sometimes 

 to undergo a species of slight fermentation before being plucked, which completes the 

 development of the saccharine principle. At other times the grapes are gathered 

 when they are ripe, but are left for a few days on wicker-floors, to sweeten, before 

 being pressed. 



In general the whole vintage of the day is pressed in the evening, and the resulting 

 must is received in separate vats. At the end usually of six or eight hours, if the 

 temperature be above 50 Fahr., and if the grapes have not been too cold when 

 plucked, a froth or scum is formed at the surface, which rapidly increases in thickness. 

 After it acquires such a consistency as to crack in several places, it is taken off with 

 a skimmer, and drained ; and the thin liquor is returned to the vat. A few hours 

 afterwards another coat of froth is formed, which is removed in like manner, and 

 sometimes a third may bo produced. The regular vinous fermentation now begins ; 

 characterised by air-bubbles rising up the sides of the staves, with a peculiar whizzing 

 as they break at the surface. At this period all the remaining froth should be quickly 

 skimmed off, and the clear subjacent must be transferred into barrels, where it is left 

 to ripen by a regular fermentation. 



