WINE-MAKING IN CALIFORNIA. 265 



CHAPTER IV. 



~ MAKING DRY WINES. 



As I have already given directions for picking the grapes, 

 and the proper time and manner when to do so, we are now 

 ready to make our wine, as soon as our apparatus is all clean 

 and in working order. Dry wines may be divided inta 

 three classes, all requiring different treatment, and I shall 

 consider them in succession. 



(a) WHITE WINES PROPER. 



This comprises all wines made from grapes which contain 

 none or very little coloring matter, in short, all wines re- 

 sembling Hocks or Sauternes, the two best known types of 

 German and French white wines. Let us define these two 

 classes a little closer. 



Hocks we call the wines from the Rhine, the Moselle, the 

 Palatinate, and other German and Austrian provinces, which 

 are characterized by their light yellow or greenish color, 

 sprightliness and agreeable acidity, as well as their agreeable 

 bouquet. The majority of them are light rather than heavy, 

 and it is considered a fair proportion of alcohol if they con- 

 tain eight per cent. They are preeminently the wines to 

 "make glad the heart of man/ 5 the main ingredients of the 

 famed "Maitrank," which have furnished the inspiration for 

 the innumerable songs in their praise for which the "Vater- 

 land" is famous, and which have given the Rhine its fame as 

 the most poetic and romantic stream on earth. 



Sauternes are generally fuller, softer, and smoother than 

 Hocks, and many of them are slightly sweet. The far-famed 

 Chateau Yquem is the representative of that class, the noblest 



