Farmers' register— wine making. 



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Avhich is not, highly colored, are the b'^st seasoned 

 of any for wine. "Other spirits, such as whiskey, 

 apple or peach brandy and rum, give the caski? a 

 taste which can scarcely ever be got rid of. Alter 

 the casks have been well drained and are dry in- 

 side, the finishing pre|)aration is to burn a sulphur 

 match witlun them, and put, in the bung, when it 

 is fit to receive the liquor. The sul[)hur matches 

 are made by dippmg strips of course linen or cot- 

 ton cloth into melted brimstone. A piece of it 

 about an inch wide, and three or four inches long, is 

 enough ibr a quarter cask. It is lighted and sus- 

 pended by a wire so as to be about the middle of 

 the cask. The bung is used to stop the hole and 

 hold the wire to its place while the match is burn- 

 ing, which takes place in a minute or so. It is 

 projier to observe that ca.sks used for new wane 

 ought to be very strong, and of very thick slaves, 

 or else aller the" sensible fermentation is over, and 

 the bung is driven in close, the insensible fermen- 

 tation vvhich still goes on, will force the wine 

 through many places that would have contained 

 almost any other liquid without the least leakage. 

 There is not much danger of the grapes being 

 too ripe for wine, and the vigneron must be aware 

 that it is only when grapes have acquired the ut- 

 most degree of maturity, that they contain as 

 much sugar as it is their nature to do, and that it 

 is only during the last part of the maturing process 

 that they acquire this most desirable ingredient; for 

 grapes are fit to eat long before they are ripe 

 enough for wine. It is very desirable to select 

 good, dry and pleasant weather for the vintage, 

 and to have gatherers in sutlicient number to ga- 

 ther in one day, or two at tlie most, all the grapes 

 that are to be made into wine at one time. The 

 reason of this is obvious; for fermentation begins 

 as soon as they arc together in quantity, and before 

 they are maslied; so that any that had been ga- 

 thered several days before, if mixed with the last, 

 will be in different stages of fer.mentation, which 

 may disturb the process in some degree. In gath- 

 ering the grapes great attention must be given to 



used only for this purpose, and when the contents 

 are sufRciently bruised, one of the sides, which ia 

 made to slide in and out, is taken out and the 

 mashed grapes are shoved into the vat, when ano^ 

 ther sup|)ly of grapes is put in, and so on till the 

 whole of it is done. A better way still, which I 

 never have seen in use or ever heard of, until 1 had 

 contrived it for my own convenience, but which I 

 have since seen delineated and recommended in 

 Thiebault de Bernaurd's Manual, &c. It is two 

 rollers with each a crank. These rollers are about 

 two feet long, more or less as nmy be needed, and 

 about six or seven inches in diameter. They are 

 so placed on a frame as to b3 easily brought closer 

 ortiirther apart, so as to crush the berries without 

 cracking the seeds; to jjrevent w-liich bad elfect, I 

 selectecfa very soft wood, the tupelo, so that the 

 seeds would ra"ther make an impression on the rol- 

 lers than the latter on them, unless^ indeed, they 

 Avere much too close together. I found the proper 

 distance to be about a "full eighth of an inch. A 

 hopper is so fixed above them as to bring the grapes 

 readily to pass between the rollers. These are 

 turned by two children, and it is so easy a work lor 

 them, that they must be continually checked for 

 turnino- too fast. It is almost incredible what 

 quantity of grapes can be most completely mashed 

 in a short time, by means of this machine. It per- 

 forms its operation certainly better and more tho- 

 roughly than can be done, I think, by any other 

 means. It is most surprising that so obvious, 

 simple and convenient a contrivance, should not 

 have been in use generally in Europe for centuries 

 past! At this stage of the process, the quantity 

 of saccharine matter contained in the juice is to be 

 ascertained; for it would be a very useless and un- 

 certain operation, if the fermentation had gone on 

 for some time. This may be done by trying whe- 

 ther an egg wriil float in it, so as to have a small 

 portion of^ it out of the liquid. Or by an areometer, 

 which is the instrument I use. That of Betmrne for 

 syrup, or that for salts, is the suitable one. The 

 juice of my Madeira grape raises the instrument 



tiie gatherers, that they pick out all such berries as i usually about 10° and it requires about half a 

 may' be rotten and all the green ones, and that j pound of good sugar per gallon, supposed t) be m 

 they do not unnecessarily bruise tliem. Common the vat, to raise it to 13° or 14°,_which is fully 

 scissors w'ithboth points sharp, are the most con- 

 venient implement to gather the grapes with, and 

 take out the bad ones. The stems should be cut 

 short and each bunch careflilly deposited in 

 baskets or other suitable and convenient vessels. 

 These are occasionally emptied by the carriers 

 into large tubs and, carried immediately into the 

 vat, if near enough, if not, into hogsheads, with 

 one head out and set up in a wagon to receive the 

 grapes, and thence, when full, carried to the vat. 

 This is a large vessel made of oak, very strong, and 

 of a size proportioned to the quantity of grapes to 

 be made into wine at one time, and the larger it is 

 the better; for it is believed that the fermenting 

 process goes on the better, the greater the quantity 

 of matter in fermentation. The grapes are then to 

 be mashed. There are various methods of doing 

 this. The most common one is for men to get 

 into the vat wnth their naked fi^et and legs, and 

 trample them down until they suppose every berry 

 is bruised. A better and neater way is to put a 

 small quantity of the grapes at a time into a box 

 placed on pieces of timber over the vat, the bottom 

 and sides of the box being perforated with holes. 

 A man then get^ in \\nth a pair of wooden shoes 



enouo-h to m.ake a good and durable wine. Some 

 grapes, the Lenoir, for instance, are richer, and the 

 latter sometimes raises the instrument to 13° full; 

 so that it is sufficiently rich to make a good wine 

 without the addition of any sugar. After the 

 whole has been well stirred in the vat, so as to 

 have completely niixed the sugar with the mashed 

 grapes, some of the must is again taken out and 

 tried with the effg or the areometer, w^hen sugar ia 

 again added, if insufficient. If otherwise, the vat 

 is^covered with boards and a cloth, and the whole 

 suffered to ferment tor one, two, three or more 

 days, according to the temperature and the object 

 in view, and the activity of the fermentation. As 

 the weather is usually hot here at the season of 

 vintage, I find usually twenty-four to thirty-six 

 hours'sufficient, particiilariy as the object is not to 

 obtain a highly colored wine, and also for fear a 

 longer fermentation with the marc would extract 

 from it, that is, from the skins, seeds and stems, too 

 much tannin, which might make tfie wine too as- 

 tringent, which though very wholesome, is not 

 generally so ])alatable as a less degree of it. Dur- 

 ing the time of fermentation in the vat, its content* 

 should be stirred several time?, and the top,,whick 



