WINE-MAKING IN CALIFORNIA. 303 



This is better than all the remedies suggested by wine doc- 

 tors: brewers' yeast, flour, tartaric acid, plaster and tannin; 

 and will give a better and more natural wine than any of them. 



But you need not fear if you observe the above rules, 

 that such will be the case, unless you are entirely unable to 

 regulate the temperature of your winery. If this is the case, 

 remedy the defect in some way or other before the next 

 vintage is upon you. In six successive seasons, in which I 

 have made wine in this State, I have not had a single case of 

 imperfect fermentation yet, nor need my readers have it, if 

 they will work rationally and carefully. 



Since writing the above, over two months ago, another 

 season of difficult fermentation has passed, and millions of 

 gallons of wine have obstinately remained sweet. While I 

 have nothing further to add to the advice already given, the 

 account of experiments by Prof. Hilgard, given below, will 

 fully confirm the views given, and serve to throw much addi- 

 tional light on this important subject. 



Complaints of difficult fermentations have .been very gen- 

 eral during the vintage just passed, and a great deal of red 

 wine especially has refused to "go dry" within the usual or 

 any reasonable limit of time. It has long been my convic- 

 tion that in the vast majority of cases the difficulties com- 

 plained of arise from excessive heat during and particularly at 

 the beginning of fermentation. At the end of last year's 

 vintage, a number of comparative fermentations were made 

 at the University Viticultural Laboratory, partly with a view 

 to testing this question; but it being late in the season, the 

 only grapes available for the purpose, viz: second-crop Zin- 

 fandel, were not of a character to test the point, having high 

 acid (.65) and low sugar (21.6); and the high temperature 

 attained seemed to accelerate, rather than retard, the ferment- 

 ing process. This season, sixteen fermentation experiments, 

 parallel with those of last year, have been made, and the re- 



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