JOHANN CARL LEUCHS ON WINE-MAKING. 207 



long as possible on the bushes until the stalks become dry. They 

 gather them on a warm, clear day, and lay them on straw (there- 

 fore the wine is called slmw wine)\ or hang them up on rafters 

 or poles provided for the purpose, taking care, however, that the 

 stalks where they are cut look downward, in order to give the 

 berries more room to stand off from one another, since if they 

 were close pressed they would be apt to rot. The room in whica 

 the drying is done must be airy, not too warm, and closed against 

 strong cold. For the first days the windows are left open ; after- 

 ward opened at least once in every few days. The more the 

 grapes dry, the more delicate against cold they get. In this room 

 they leave them until March or April, frequently picking out the 

 rotten berries. Then they take them down, and pick the berries 

 off singly, and crush and press them. The juice is then at once 

 put into a tub, not quite filling it. The fermentation proceeds 

 very slowl}^, frequently lasting five to six weeks. If the tem- 

 perature be somewhat cold, it is advisable to place the tub in a 

 room of about 12° to 14° R. After the fermentation is over, the 

 tub is filled up by a quantity left for the purpose. This wine re- 

 mains very sweet indeed for a long time, and grows finer by age, 

 choicer, and more delicious. Its cloudiness always clears off again 

 by its own action. It will never turn sour as long as it may be 

 kept. 



The husks of these grapes serve very well to improve ordinary 

 wines if thrown into the casks of the latter, stirred up from time 

 to time, left in them a few days, and then the wine is drawn off 

 and mixed with other. A new fermentation commonly sets in, 

 producing a highly improved wine. 



3faking Frozen Wine. 



The wine freed of part of its water by the process of freezing 

 not only gains by it in strength, but gets, also, the appearance of 

 an old wine and a peculiarly agreeable taste. For these reasons, 

 it has been for a long time a custom in Franconia, on the Rhine, 

 and in Moldavia, to improve young wines in this manner : 



The wine is put into small barrels, not quite full, or into tubs, 

 and exposed to the winter cold. The ice-crust formed is in the 

 beginning broken until sufficient water is frozen out, and the re- 

 maining wine filled into a freshly -sulphurized cask. If the crust 

 gets into compact masses, these must be broken up by a red-hot 

 iron. After the dropping off, the ice contains nothing but some 

 cream of tartar and impure matters. This procedure is, however, 

 not recommendable with red wines, neither for efiervescent ones. 



Making Young Wines appear " Old." 



1. Take a new cask with stout hoops, wash it well out with 

 yeast liquor, and fill it three fourths with must. This will soon 

 get into fermentation, and must, after this is past, be drawn off 



