



WIVE MANUFACTURE. 



WINE MANUFACTI 



abonrbing any trace of oxygen, and preventing it acting on the organic 

 tubttance. Many volatile oil* hare the power of checking the rinous 

 fomentation, but ir is a practical obstacle to their employ- 



ment They probably act by hindering the development of Hie fungu 

 (.*>. i-Anrowjrrc* rii). Alkalies, combiiing with the free n> 

 prasenee of which is so essential to the process of fermentation also 

 binder it but aa they are destructive of the qualities of tin- in.-, they 

 are inadmlsnihle. Itl.ick oxide of manganese, though recomnirndfd by 

 Dr. M Culloch. should never be used for nine where sulphuring Ins 

 been employed, aa it would most readily give oil > \ _ M Hacking 

 can only free the wine from matters which are insoluble, and i-iilu-? 

 deposited among the lees or floating on the surface. In order to 

 get rid of Mine tlier matters held in solution, a different practice is 

 ad'ipted. This constitutes the process of Jiiiiny. Isinghus in solution 

 in wine, or white of eggs, is commonly employed for this purpose. 

 The common and new wines require more isinglass than the fine ami 

 old ones. If Hie wines have been deprived of the tannin extracted 

 from the seeds of the grajw, isinglass has no influence in purifying 

 them. If kept in oak casks, however, as is always the rule in France, 

 they extract tannin from their sides. Numerous powders and com- 

 pound*, an well as of! nts for keeping or improving wines. 

 are detailed in .lullien, ' Manual <lu Soimnelier.' The process of fining 

 is always repeated prevd u< to bottling the wine. 



At Boideaux the white wines are generally ready for the first 

 racking in December, the red not till March ; the secon I racking is to 

 prevent the working which the great heats of July and August might 

 occasion in them ; and the third in October, before the cold comes on. 

 A favourable state of the weather must be chosen for these processes. 

 A fourth racking takes place in eighteen mouths after the vintage, in 

 March ; it is then that the casks may be stowed with the bung at the 

 side. After this it only requires to be racked twice a year, in 

 and October. When it has attained the age of five or six years, it 

 requires racking only once a year, which is always done in March, the 

 moment when the wines are always finer and clearer than at any other 

 sea-on of the year. 



One of the qualities of a good wine is firmness or durability; but in 

 this respect then- is great difference among wines and one possessing 

 every other requisite may be deficient in this essential This may be 

 imparted to it. however, by adding some other stronger wine, or one 

 little disposed to undergo any deleterious change. Hence has arisen 

 the practice of mi.r,,,,/ wines, or, as it may be termed, their medication, 

 vulgarly called ducturihg, which being a judicious and honoural 

 cceding when the only articles employed are the real produce of the 

 grape, is not to be confounded with unwholesome mixtures and dis- 

 honest practices, which deserve to be reprobated. Thus some of Hie 



ifiwllit of the Claret country require to be supported by the 

 addition of Hermitage. It is obvious that no fraud is here contem- 

 plated, since the Hermitage is, perhaps, the more expen 

 the two, and the maker can afford to add it only to the beet elaret. It 

 in no degree impair" the fine characteristics of the choicest claret, nor 

 diminishes the lightness for which first-rate claret is remarkable. 

 Where imrlamj the wines is practised to fit them for the depraved 

 taste of the majority of consumers in England, who ore accu 

 to the stronger wines of Spain and Portugal, the case is very different ; 

 and to the second and third growths the red wines of lioussillon, 

 Bene Carlo from S(>ain, and brandy are added to the detriment of the 

 character of Claret. The latter addition is made under the pretext 

 that it is necessary to enable the wine to bear the voyage. This, 

 except so far as a very small quantity of brandy is concerned, is alto- 

 gether erroneous, not only as relates to ('] net, but also to Port and 

 Sli.-i ry. The wines of Basseins and St. Kulalie d'Ambares, two parishes 

 near Bordeaux, furnish a wine which is generally purchased for the 

 Fi. nch navy, because it keeps well, and improves greatly at sea. The 

 !> neh wine-brokers at Bordeaux, familiar with the qualities of the 

 first growths, and jealous for the reputation of their country, deplore 

 th>- deterioration which much of their wines undergo to fit them for 



nglish market. Still Claret with no other addition than Hermi- 

 tage may be obtained here, provided a proper price is given, by 

 resorting to wine-merchants of high repute. Two Sherries come to 

 Englnnd devoid of brandy. .1 .'///fn/ and Mnu-.aniUa ; and it is now 

 the wish of Port-wine merchants, of the highest character for science 

 and probity to introduce Port-wine with as small an admixture of 

 brandy u powible, thereby consulting the health as well as palate of 

 their customers. Brandy added after the early stages of fermentation 

 u only mingled, not incorporated with, the wine increasing ita 

 Hpiritiin-ity . I nit not ita vinuoity, and producing on the human stomach. 

 liver, and other organs the same effect aa brandy merely diluted with 

 an equivalent quantity of water. The extension therefore of a taste 

 for the pure and unsophisticated wines in this country would be a 

 national benefit. Sometimes Hie object in mixing wines is to pro- 

 duce a compound having a different or more agreeable quality than 



of the wined singly poMenses : hence the mixing of the Khuie- 



iilmont constitutes a science. Of all wines Sherry is the most 

 mixed with the vintages of different years. " The wine merchant* of 



vever exhaust their stock of finest and old. -t nine Ac ding 



to the price at which the wine expedited to the market in inten 



be sold, it contains a larger or smaller proportion of old nine. But it 



is only in wines oi a very high price that even a small portion of their 



finest wines is mixed. What is withdrawn from the oldest and finest 

 casks is made up from the casks which approach them nearest in age 

 and quality, and these are again replenished from the next in age and 



quality to Hi. in. Tim* a cask of wine, said to be fifty years oi 



: .1 portion of the vintages of thirty or forty seasons." (Busby,) 

 A sherry, the unmixed produce of one vintage, may now and th. 

 rare chance be obtained. 



"It generally hapix-ns that when two dintinct nine* are mixed. the 

 procen of fermentation U partially renewed, or the m 

 language, frett. This observation has led to a valunl 

 manipulation, nami clinically so colled li 



ex|H'rienee that mixed wines unite into one durable and homiv. 

 liquor only in consequence of this fermentation. A season 

 stances ore therefore chosen, in which one or both of the wines to ; 

 mixed are either in a state of renewed fermentation or show a t.-ii' leiicv to 

 it." (McCulloch.) When \\ine is thus far made, it ii left in 

 as it is termed, in the troorf, to mature. The length of time re 

 for this differs much in the different wines. It is the mod. 

 to send several winea either on voyages to warm climates or even leave 

 them there for years. This is particularly the case with 

 .Madeira ; the fine qualities of the latter wine are very greatly de 

 by a few years' sojourn at Madras. Me cv.qior.. 1 



.is ullage, occurs during this time ; but it is remarkable 

 the first years that the wine remains in the cask the watery particles 

 chiefly evaporate, so that the wine gains in alcoholic strength, - 

 as flavour. Afterwards the alcohol begins to evaporate ; and it is 

 probable that at the period when the nines begin to lose alcohol they 

 cease to improve in flavour. They are then fit to be bottled. Tin- 

 amount of evaporation varies with the climate, and the kind of 

 which the cask consists. In some cases it is as much as one-twelfth 

 per cent, per annum especially if the cask is of Spanish che 

 which is a most objectionable wood from the taste it imparts. V 

 or Danzig oak is exclusively used for the finer Port wines: An 

 oak is cheaper, but not so good. The presence of two staves < >i < I 

 in each cask has been known to impart a taste, slight at th 

 at lost so marked as to lead to the rejection of the wine. The ul' 

 greatest in new casks ; and hencs old ones, when clean and sound, are 

 preferred. But large casks of glass are now proposed : in these ullage 

 is im|K)ssible. 



During the stay of the wine in the wood, a deposit of tart ir and 

 other substances occurs. The colour undergoes a change 

 of the red wines; which is not similar in all. Thus while Port 

 wines become lighter, those of Medoc become deeper ; hence, to give 

 the appearance of age to Port wines, vhiti' Port is added ; but to 

 Clarets the black wine of (,',-ihors is added. The nine i thought to 

 ripen better in large than small casks: this tod to the construction o{ 

 Hie enormous tuns of Heidelberg. Where any of the wine i- drawn 

 off, it is necessary to fill up the void as speedily as possible with wine 

 nearly of the same quality, otherwise the air causes the remainder to 



M>nr. Where nine is not to be had, the i i of a 



quantity of olive oil protects the wine. A fungus is very apt to M 

 across the surface of the wine, if one or other of tli :ons is 



neglected. While in the vaults or cellars, the casks are likely to 

 become affected with the dry- ot , by which much fine wine maybe 

 lost, especially if the cellars be damp. To guard against this, the 

 casks should be carefully inspected from time to t: 

 vaults should be as remote as possiule from streets and other nays by 

 which waggons pass, the vibration canned by these often disturbing the. 

 more delicate wine-. When wines have been kept in the wood for the 

 period which experience has fixed as that proper for attaining maturity, 

 they are generally put into bottles or flasks. In these some fi 

 change goes on, by which they are still further ameliorated. In 

 red wines a deposit occurs, forming a crust on the lower side 

 bottle. The operation of bottling should take place in tine weather, if 



in March or October. Before this is done the wine must be 

 lined, either with white of eggs, very fresh, or isinglass; after which 

 the cask must be left to repose tenor fifteen days, according to the 

 weather. The bottles must be perfectly clean, and if not nev 

 must be taken that no lead-drops remain in them, as these 

 ihu wine and render it deleterious. The corks should be peiicctly 

 sound, and as elastic as possible, so that when driven home they may 

 expand beyond the contracted part of the neck of the bottl< 

 thoroughly exclude the air. To assist in this object, as well as ' 



'orlic fiom insects, the mouth of the bottle is often dipped in 

 nelted wax. As Champagne is bottled after remaining at ln'ije-t ,,n]y 

 .hree years in the cask, coiuiderabli ies place in the ! 



When recorked this is got rid of by the process of <> The. 



aotHe IK inclined, the mouth downward*, till all the 

 odged in the neck; the cork i.i withdrawn, some of the wine rushes 

 out, carrying before it the lees; the escape of the rest is hindered by 



it adaptation of the fore-linger. To till up the void . 

 i\ the wine which bos escaped, a solution of sugar-candy in any of 

 ;ho common red wines of the count < i : the permanent cork, 



or the caoutchouc stopper, is now introduced : when i 

 simple but convenient piece of ineehuiii-ni is used : it is then 

 clown, and occasionally covered with tin-foil. If preserved in 

 cellar, good Champagne may be kept in perfection from ten to i 

 ,-ears. In the great stores at Kheims the breakage amounts on an 



