332 GRAPE CULTURE AND 



in such cases, but remember that, when you want to blend 

 two different vintages, each should be a finished wine, fully 

 fermented and clear, as blending is apt to cause an after fer- 

 mentation, if this is not the case. 



The aim in all blending ought to be, to produce a wine as 

 perfect as we can attain; in short, improvement of two really 

 good wines, which, however, may yet lack certain qualities 

 which the other does possess; not to make a poor wine barely 

 sileable by, blending it with a better. If you want to attain 

 a name and fame for your product, never sell a poor wine 

 under your own name. If any one else can use it, dispose of 

 it at a reduced price, or condemn it to the stile. We can al- 

 ways make sound, drinkable, good wine; let us resolve to 

 produce and sell no other. Blending, if followed as indicated 

 above, is an important factor to attain this end. 



CHAPTER XL 



BOTTLING WINE. 



This is rather for the dealer than the, producer ; yet every 

 producer may want to keep some of his wines in bottles, to 

 see how they develop, and sometimes to keep small quantities 

 .when racking. I shall not go into this subject elaborately, but 

 simply give a few brief rules, which will enable any one to 

 keep wine in bottles, without going into the commercial part 

 of it, which belongs to the wholesale dealer. 



The wine you want to bottle should be ripe, that is it 

 should be perfectly fermented, dear and bright, have its bouquet 



