A few Hints on Wine Making. 



261 



Louisiana, Maxatawney, Martha, 

 Goethe, Massasoit, Wildei*, Lindley, 

 Agawam, Merrimack, Salem, Eogers' 

 No8. 8 and 12, Eulander, Taylor, and 

 Telegraph. 



This may appear rather startling to 

 some of our readers, and for a long 

 time we believed that it was necessary 

 to ripen all grapes thoroughly to 

 make the best wine from them. But 

 ^'experience is the mother of wisdom." 

 We never made better Concord, Ca- 

 tawba, and Herbemont, than in the 

 season of 1865, when the summer was 

 somewhat similar to the present one, 

 when no grape ripened thoroughly, 

 and our Concord must did not average 

 more than 65°, Catawba not over 60°, 

 and Herbemont not over 75°. B}" add- 

 ing a gallon of water to the gallon of 

 must, and sugar enough to bring the 

 whole mixture to 80°, we made a wine 

 which w^e have not been able to sur- 

 pass since^ nor come up to it. The 

 Herbemont was pronounced by the 

 best judges in the country the finest 

 American white wine they had yet 

 tasted. Our Norton's Yirginia, how- 

 ever, made that season, though a fair 

 article, was much inferior to the vin- 

 tages of 1866 and '67. Delaware made 

 that season, fi^om half ripe grapes, 

 was valued at 16.00 per gallon within 

 six weeks from the time it was made. 

 It was a perfect wine then, clear and 

 fine, and with an exquisite bouquet. 

 The Concord was without the offensive 

 foxiness, and contained acid enough 

 to be a very palatable wine, the best 

 we have been able to make of that 

 grape since. 



In wine making we must always 

 remember, that we have no perfect 

 grape as yet ; that grapes will, in dif- 



ferent seasons, yield entirely different 

 products, and that only thinking, prac- 

 tice, and experiments will teach us how 

 we can best improve it. 



In making the wine we think it best 

 now, after our experience of last sea- 

 son, to ferment each variety on the 

 husks until the wine becomes perfectly 

 clear and finished. Fermentation will 

 draw out all wine making ingredients, 

 as acid, sugar, tannin, flavor, etc., and 

 the husks be perfectly tasteless. We 

 shall therefore leave it in the ferment- 

 ing vats until the beginning of De- 

 cember, then draw it oft' and jjress the 

 husks. We can not give the propor- 

 tions, as they will vary Avith the 

 variety of grape we have to deal with, 

 and its inherent qualities. 



Fermentation should be rapid and 

 thorough, and the fermenting room 

 be kept at an even temperature of 65° 

 to 70°. Should it not be warm enough, 

 the room should be heated by a stove. 

 Beware of cold cellars for young wine, 

 they will retard fermentation, and 

 you will have continued trouble. Your 

 wine should be clear, and all the sugar 

 changed to alcohol, in three months 

 from the making. 



We hope we need not tell our read- 

 ers that all their utensils, pails, vats, 

 casks, etc., should be perfectly clean 

 and sweet. A sloven has no business 

 to be a grape grower, much less a wine 

 maker, and does not deserve success. 



We can, of course, give only general 

 rules, but we hope that they will be 

 suflicient to enable all of our readers 

 to make their wine. They need not 

 expect that they will reach the climax 

 at once ; it will take long years of 

 patient study and exjJeriment to pro- 

 duce the best wine a grape is capable 



