DR. L. GALL ON IMPROVEMENTS IN WINE-MAKING. 245 



a well-regulated management of the separated half-ripe and un- 

 ripe grapes, a wine of better quality than results in medium years 

 from the total mass of the grapes. 



The chief object should be to produce, 1. Even from the very 

 best vintages, still finer natural wines than before ; 2. Even in the 

 most unfavorable years, good wines, approaching in value these 

 superior ones. 



The very simple means to attain this are the following — pro- 

 vided, of course, the weather, as it is and is like to be, will permit 

 their use : 



1. To leave the grapes as long as possible on the bush. 



2. To abolish the wasteful eating of grajDes on the part of the 

 gatherers by compensation in pay. 



3. To pick frequently, in order not to lose the ripe grapes by 

 rottenness. 



4. To do at least one primary picking. 



5. To select during the main vintage, (a), the most matured 

 grapes ; and, (i), from these those kinds mostly fit to make " bou- 

 quet wines," such as Eiesling, Traminer, Muscat. 



6. To press, and treat all of them separately. 



IV. 



PROGRESS OF WINE-MAKING UP TO THE MIDDLE OF THIS 



CENTURY. 



We began our well-meant hints as to the means of gaining a 

 lasting remunerative produce from our grape culture by show- 

 ing that we may annually realize superior natural wines of the 

 greater market value however little of material, i. e,, 'perfectly ma- 

 tured grapes, Nature condescends to give. This it does annually 

 with more or less bounty ; all the rest of the work belongs to 

 man. But also to produce each year, at least partially, superior 

 wines, we are solely enabled by not deteriorating what Nature 

 has made good, in mixing it up with inferior stuff, i. e., with 

 grapes that are not able to make good wine. As even the most 

 unfavorable seasons produce ripe grapes, so likewise grapes are 

 to be met with in a very unadvanced state of maturity even in the 

 most favorable ones, and this in a larger quantity than may gen- 

 erally be thought. 



To press ripe and unripe grapes mixed up together would, how- 

 ever, turn out a mistaken policy. Grape-growers of a thoughtful 

 mind have therefore, always since an accident taught them the 

 first rudiments of the art of wine-making, exerted themselves to 

 find means to obtain a palatable wine, even if the " must" should 

 have turned out of inferior quality from Nature's workshop. 



