WINE-MAKING IN CALIFORNIA. 273 



and pour it on top. This will equalize and aerate the whole, 

 and within five days we generally find that all the sweetness 

 has disappeared. The test should be taken from the bottom 

 of the vat, and if that does not show any sweetness we can 

 depend upon the whole being ready for the press. It is a 

 mistaken idea to think that the must will gain any color or 

 tannin after it has become cool and quiet, for the color will 

 remain fixed better after the cooking process (and fermenta- 

 tion is nothing else) has subsided. If the wine (and it has 

 gone into the vinous state as soon as fermentation has done 

 its work) remains any longer on the skins, it simply loses 

 all the freshness, and fruity flavor which are so necessary; in 

 fact constitute its chief value to the buyer. 



To comprehend this, we only need to look a little closer 

 at the nature of fermentation, and what it will accomplish. 

 During the process, carbonic acid gas escapes all the time, 

 rising in bubbles to the surface, and if the mass is stirred and 

 kept submerged, no acetification can take place. But as 

 soon as it has become quiet this ceases; the surface is still, 

 no carbonic gas escapes, and the exposure to the air is bound 

 to affect the young wine to its positive injury. To test this, 

 only leave it quiet for one or two days, and you will see 

 mould appear on its surface, that sure sign of putrefaction 

 and decomposition. It robs the young wine of all that liveli- 

 ness and fine aromatic properties it ought to possess, and 

 which we find developed in our white wines to a much 

 higher degree than in the red, just because it is not exposed 

 to this putrefaction process. Yet we find old wine makers 

 advocating the practice of leaving the wine on the skins long 

 after fermentation has ceased, to gain color and tannin, as 

 they suppose; while it accomplishes just the contrary; for the 

 exposure to the air after fermentation has the tendency to de- 

 crease the. color. And even if this were not the case, I 

 would rather have a wine with a trifle less color, and more 



