SEPT.] THE VINEYARD. 433 



The method of making Red Wines 



Red wines must always be made from black grapes, for besides 

 the main pulp or core which is white in these, as well as others, 

 there sticks to the inside of the skin a considerable body of rich 

 pulp of a deep red, more so in some kinds than others ; this 

 gives the colour to the wine, when extracted by a due process of 

 fermentation. The colour of red wine is said to be heightened by 

 gathering the grapes in the heat of the day, but this is productive 

 of a considerable deficiency in the quantity, though the quality may 

 be improved thereby. 



Taking these considerations into view, your grapes are to be 

 collected with the same care as before directed in the making of 

 white wines, and having a sufficient quantity gathered. 



Put them into the vat, by degrees, treading and mashing them 

 affectually as you fill it, till quite full and the liquor floating above 

 them ; then work the pulp and the liquor effectually together, leav- 

 ing all the parts as loose as possible, and so let it remain to ferment. 



You ought to be provided with a cover for the top of the vat, 

 perforated with holes and made so as to easily slip down into it and 

 sink a little under the superfices of the liquor, to keep the skins 

 and pulpy parts from coming in contact with the air during the pro- 

 cess of fermentation ; for when this is exposed, and it tends to swim 

 on the top, it very shortly becomes acid) and communicating this^to 

 the liquor greatly injures it. As the skins give the colour to the 

 wine, nothing is better than the keeping of them down, without pres- 

 sing, during this process, for to believe that these and other dregs 

 floating on the top, impede the evaporation of the spirit, is a thing 

 improbable, since it requires a good cork to stop it. 



The moment of drawing off the wine is of great import, but 

 generally, however, without rule. It would be impossible to pre- 

 scribe a certain number of days for an operation liable to so many 

 vicissitudes, as much through the qualities of the grapes, as other cir- 

 cumstances. But as the great object of fermentation is the conver- 

 sion of the Must or expressed juice into wine, no drawing should take 

 place until that is effected. This moment which might appear un- 

 certain may be ascertained with tolerable precision by means of a 

 tin tube open at one end and perforated all over with holes of a 

 small size, that the grains or stones of the fruit may not pass through 

 when dipped into the vat, inside of this a small wooden cylinder 

 must be placed, upheld at its bottom by a cork plate that can work 

 up and down freely in the tube : this instrument is to be plunged 

 into the vat and kept there, the liquor getting in through the holes 

 of the tube, will rise the cork to its surface, to which cork the 

 wooden pin or cylinder is affixed. This latter, must be marked in 

 different heights, which will be seen to rise, as the vinous fermenta- 

 tion increases. 



With this instrument the precise moment in which the wine 

 is to be drawn off may be established with great exactness ; this is 

 generally done when g the cylinder has attained to the highest and be^ 



