11 



All my attempts to grow the flowers of wine on the young Sherries have 

 thus far failed. I think they will succeed with White French, as it gives a 

 wine low in both alcohol and .total acid. Meanwhile, pure cultures of Myco- 

 derma vini (or Flowers of Wine) are being prepared from different young wines, 

 that naturally tend to become good Sherries. The question as to whether 

 plastering is necessary in the making of Sherry has not yet been decided. 

 Experiments are still being conducted. Meanwhile it must be pointed out 

 that about 1J lb. plaster of paris per ton of grapes is the most that can be 

 used, without exceeding the total sulphate limit of 2 grs. potassium sulphate 

 per litre in the wine when ready to be sold. 



/2-My four and five years' old Sherries have developed a strong Sherry 

 character, which is very encouraging. Most white Cape wines tend to develop 

 into Sherries if sufficiently matured in wood, but the production of a very 

 high-class Sherry, approximating closely to the Spanish article, will probably 

 require a number of years and many more experiments in this direction. 



1 6 (d) Port Type. Whereas Pontac and Muscadcl in the past constituted 

 the basis of Cape Ports, we now have over a dozen varieties of the 

 many varieties grown in the Douro Valley in Portugal for making Port 

 wine. One can distinguish between early and mid-season varieties. The 

 early varieties are : Red Muscadel, Frontignac. Codega (white), Bastardo do 

 Menudo, and Bastardo do Castello. They give very sweet must and good 

 quality. The others come one to two weeks later, and include Tinto Cao, 

 Mourisco de Semente, Mourisco tinto, Malvasia Rey, Malvasia preta, Grenache 

 noir, Touriga, Tinta Francisca, and Tinta Roriz. At the Experimental Station 

 in Paarl it has been found necessary to press the early varieties first, and then 

 the others. The young wines are subsequently blended. The grapes are 

 -allowed to get dead ripe before they are harvested.* The early varieties gave 

 a must with 26 -5 Balling, whilst the later group showed only 22 Balling 

 in the must. 



The grapes are crushed in a fouloir-egrappoir, which crushes the grapes 

 and removes the stalks at the same time. The husks and must are immediately 

 inoculated with pure yeast and allowed to ferment in a cement tank. The 

 cake of husks is pressed under repeatedly, as described under the " Claret 

 type " above. When the Balling saccharometer shows about 8-10 degrees, 

 the must is drawn off and the husks are pressed out. The united musts are 

 then pumped into a stukvat containing the requisite amount of brandy, which 

 is so calculated that there will be left about 12 in. free below the bunghole, when 

 the necessary amount of must will have been pumped into the cask. By 

 pumping the must on top of the brandy, the two mix well. In one to two 

 days' time the fermentation will usually stop. After about eight days the 

 wine is racked over into another cask, which can then be filled. 



The amount of brandy required is calculated according to the following 

 formula : 



Y 127 (17 x 17 +106 -- IQa). 



17 (s -T7)~^- 106 



Where X = number of gallons brandy necessary for every leaguer must. 

 a = number of degrees Balling of the must. 

 b = the percentage sugar that the finished wine should have. 

 s = the strength of brandy in vol. per cent, alcohol. 



/ This formula works very well in practice, but has been deduced by myself 

 irom theoretical considerations. It is based on the assumption that the 

 finished wine will have 17 vol. per cent, alcohol. This is sufficient to stop 

 the fermentation, and keep the wine whilst maturing in the cellar. The 



