260 



^he Ch'ape GuUtirist. 



A FEW HINTS ON WINE MAKING. 



BY THE SENIOR EDITOR. 



It has been our fortune, during a 

 practice of neai'ly twenty years, to 

 serve an apprenticeship in American 

 wine making, which commenced at 

 the rudiments of the art ; and we well 

 remember how careful we would be to 

 pick our grapes, to get them thorough- 

 ly ripe, to keep out all dew or rain, 

 and the doleful looks we would cast 

 upon our imperfectly ripened grapes, 

 as we did not think it j^ossible to make 

 good^ drinkable wine from them. But 

 fortunately those daj's are past, and 

 we often think of them with mingled 

 pity and amusement. Thanks to the 

 teachings of Gall, Chaptal, and Petiot, 

 we can now make good drinkable wine 

 everj' 3'ear. 



But, dui'ing this practice, we found 

 that different grapes require different 

 treatment, almost as varied as the 

 grapes themselves. To elucidate this 

 we would once more briefly allude to 

 the definition of bouquet and aroma, 

 as already explained in the "Chemistrj' 

 of Wine," by our co-editor, Mr. 

 Frings. 



Aroma, is the flavor peculiar to the 

 variety of grape, for instance the foxy 

 flavor so very perceptible as to be 

 disagreeable in some of our grapes, 

 especially the Northern Muscadine, 

 Perkins, Hartford Prolific, and even 

 in the Concord and Catawba. 



Bouquet is developed during fer- 

 mentation by the action of the alcohol 

 upon the acids. If the grape contains 

 but little acid it can not develope 

 much l)()uquet, nor can it be developed 

 if the must does not contain sufiieient 



sugar to be changed into alcohol dur- 

 ing fermentation. These simple facts 

 we must keep before our eyes, as they 

 are the most important guides in wine 

 making. 



We have some varieties of grape 

 which will make so-called aromatic 

 wines, that is, the aroma of them is 

 most pleasant when fully developed, 

 which it can only be by thorough 

 ripening of the fruit. In this class we 

 can include the Creveling, Cynthiana, 

 Arkansas, Hermann, Norton's Vir- 

 ginia, and perhaps Clinton and Ives. 

 We should therefore let these ripen 

 thoroughly, if we intend to make the 

 best wine they can -produce; and for 

 this reason^ we think, those living in 

 northern latitudes, with shorter sum- 

 mers, will never be able to make as 

 good wine from them as those living 

 in latitudes where they can thoroughly 

 ripen and shrivel on the vines. 



Other varieties we have which con- 

 tain aroma in excess, and where it is 

 desirable to have it in as slight a de- 

 gree as possible, and to develope 

 bouquet instead. We can best attain 

 this b}' gathering the fruit when not 

 so ripe, as the aroma is not so fully 

 developed. Shoiild the must not con- 

 tain sugar enough, it must be added ; 

 and should the grape contain a surplus 

 of acid, wc can ameliorate it b}' adding 

 water. 



Among the varieties which will 

 make the l)est Avine, if treated thus, 

 we will name the Concord, Cassady, 

 Catawl»a, (!unning]iam, Delaware, Di- 

 ana, Hartford Prolific, Herbemont, 



