290 AMERICAN GRAPE GROWING 



ets. The Burger does not ripen perfectly with us, leing 

 a tremendous bearer, and late, it makes a rather light, 

 acid wine, of a negative character. At the south it 

 ripens fully, and makes a fuller wine, with pronounced 

 "bouquet. Why cannot other varieties be picked and 

 worked there when just ripe enough, and thus make good, 

 dry, sprightly wine from them ? I would not be afraid 

 to try it, with strong hopes of entire success. 



Imperfect fermenting vats and rooms are certainly the 

 cause of a great many poor wines. I would have the fer- 

 menting vats rather wide and low than high and narrow, 

 as they generally are here. Say five feet high and six 

 feet wide, or still wider. They are here generally made 

 of red wood, which makes very good fermenting vats, 

 though I do not think it is fit for casks to keep wine in, 

 as it is too apt to leak. A ggneral practice here is to 

 have false bottoms, or rather tops to the vats, perforated 

 with holes, to hold the skins and pomace tinder the 

 fluid when fermenting, and through which the fluid bub- 

 bles constantly. Experience has taught me to discard 

 these altogether, as the mass, when thrown in, will re- 

 main cooler at the bottom than at the top, where it 

 comes in contact with the air. The consequence is, that 

 fermentation commences, and is more violent at the top, 

 where it often is at nearly blood heat when it is yet 

 cool below. My practice is, to press the pomace down 

 frequently with wooden pestles, and mix it thoroughly 

 with the fluid below, so as to equalize the temperature as 

 much as possible, when I will have a thorough, steady 

 fermentation in the whole mass. I thus avoid that un- 

 pleasant, burnt taste generally called '/tank taste," which 

 is found in so many of our clarets especially, and fer- 

 mentation has never been stopped or interrupted by a 

 slight change in the temperature, as is the case in many 

 other establishments. 



The fermenting room should be so constructed that 



