AND WINE MAKING. 243 



enough without taking off the first run of the juice. 

 Immediately after the grapes are crushed they are either 

 pressed yery lightly, or the juice is run off without 

 pressing and filled into casks to ferment as white wine. 

 The pomace is then thrown into the fermenting vat and 

 treated as red wine. I do not recommend this practice 

 under any other than the exceptional conditions men- 

 tioned above. The first run of the juice is generally 

 the best in quality, and while the red wine may gain in 

 color and astringency, it will lose in soundness and qual- 

 ity. Location is all-important for the finest wines. A 

 really fine red wine cannot be expected, save from a soil 

 rich in iron and other essential elements. On such 

 soils there will be no deficiency in sugar, color and 

 tannin, nor in fine flavor, if all the juice is fermented 

 together. 



MAKING BED WINE. 



The process of making red wine is quite distinct, and 

 from different material, yet the difference is not as great 

 as many suppose. Formerly the public taste was or 

 was supposed to be in favor of very dark, astringent 

 wines, containing the greatest possible amount of tannin. 

 This, in the opinion of our wine makers, required long 

 fermentation on the skins, and red grapes were often 

 left for two weeks in the fermenting vat, until they had 

 become entirely quiet, and a heavy crust had formed on 

 the top, sometimes moldy and acid. True, these wines 

 were very rough, provided they did not spoil altogether. 

 The result was loss of bouquet and of all the better 

 qualities a fine red wine ought to possess, and nothing 

 was added to the color, which will be acquired by a fer- 

 mentation of four or five days. These flat, rough wines 

 have done more to damage the reputation of California 

 wines than anything else. Fortunately a better and 

 more discriminating taste prevails, and the public re- 



