WINE-MAKINCi IN CALIFORNIA. 339 



CHAPTER XIII. 



BRANDY AND VINEGAR. 



That a large quantity of brandy could and already is made 

 here, from the pomace and lees as well as from wine itself, 

 can be drawn from the single fact that 1,500,000 gallons of 

 wine, of the vintage of 1885, were distilled into brandy. Not 

 being very familiar with distilling myself, I shall not go into 

 detailed descriptions of the apparatus and process, which had 

 better be conducted by experts, should it become advisable 

 to do so. The small producer had better not meddle with it, 

 but leave it to his more wealthy neighbors, with whom he can 

 easily make arrangements for distilling, if advisable. 



Brandy can be made from the pomace and lees, but it is 

 generally somewhat harsh and rough, and the prices for 

 brandy have been so low of late years that it has hardly paid 

 to utilize these. But prices for brandy have advanced lately, 

 and it may become profitable in the near future to use them. 

 To use the pomace for this purpose, it is generally saturated 

 with water when freshly pressed, refermented, and the liquid 

 thus obtained, familiarly called piquette, distilled in the 

 usual way. To make brandy from the lees, they are thrown 

 together into casks when racking the wine in winter, diluted 

 with water, and also distilled. Then also, immense quanti- 

 ties of milksour and defective wines are distilled every year, 

 and it is about the best that can be done with wines very rich 

 in sacharine, but which did not " go through "in fermentation; 

 much better than to try to doctor them up, and ruin the mar- 

 ket by their sale as wine. It is self evident that these will 

 make a large amount of brandy, as they contain a great deal 

 of sugar* and the more sugar, the larger the yield of alcohol. 



