WINE-MAKING IN CALIFORNIA. 329 



CHAPTER X. 



CUTTING AND BLENDING. 



This is an art in which especially the French excel, and 

 which has given them such prominence in the wine market. - 

 It can not be acquired in a few days, or even a few seasons, 

 and yet it is something that every wine maker should under- 

 stand, and on which his success in a great measure depends. 

 It depends on an intimate knowledge of each variety of the 

 grapes he handles, its prominent qualities and its defects, 

 and he cannot do any successful blending, before he has 

 tried each variety separately, and knows, what kind of wine 

 it will make by itself. Nor can French and German exper- 

 ience avail us much here; as the varieties they use with emi- 

 nent success, may give an entirely different product for us. 

 And again, the experience and practice of Northern Califor- 

 nia cannot avail in the South, nor be alike every season, as 

 each section and each season may and will give a different 

 product. 



There are two kinds of blending, before or after fer- 

 mentation. The first is done by fermenting the grapes of 

 two or three varieties together, picking the grapes on the 

 same day, and mixing them in the fermenting vat, or even on 

 the press and at crushing. This no doubt is the most natu- 

 ral and intimate way of making blended wine, for in fermen- 

 tation the union becomes complete, and one variety often 

 materially assists the other. For instance, we will suppose a 

 case of two varieties, Chauche Gris and Burger. The first, 

 when fully ripened, is very rich in sugar, very full bodied, 

 rather deficient in acid and tannin. The Burger is light in 



