DR. L. GALL ON IMPROVEMENTS IN WINE-MAKING. 249 



To produce, therefore, a, must of a quality resembling that of 

 ripe grapes, water has to be added to the must of unripe ones, to 

 reduce it and the proportions of those salt parts that would other- 

 wise leave to the wine a disagreeable astringcncy. In order to 

 obtain a wine similar to the Champagne or White Bordeaux, I 

 would advise to mix the juice of half- ripe grapes with equal parts 

 of luater. If they are more advanced, the quantity of grapes has 

 to be increased ; if less, reduced. 



Egberts says : I am in the habit of taking, in a good season, 

 fifteen pounds of grapes to one gallon of water (therefore — one 

 gallon of water weighing about nine pounds, and fifteen pounds 

 of berries giving twelve pounds of juice — three parts of water to 

 four jjarts of juice). I pick the berries from the pedicles and mash 

 them, then mix them well with the water. After this, taking a 

 sample, I filter it through a piece of linen, and test it by the must- 

 scale, and cover up the tub. Next morning the fluid has to be 

 well stirred, and a second sample to be tested and weighed. The 

 must will now be found heavier (denser). These examinations 

 have to be continued every morning and evening until the densi- 

 ty no longer increases. Now the must has to be drawn off from 

 the husks (remains of grapes) ; these are to be pressed, and a little 

 water added, to extract from them every remaining particle of sub- 

 stance useful for the wine-making ; then re-pressed once more, 

 and this juice added to the must. The must has now to be weigh- 

 ed by the must-scale to find out the required amount of sugar. 

 The greater the specific gravity, and therefore of the natural sug- 

 ar of the must, the less sugar need be added. A proportion of 

 two pounds of sugar, for instance, to one gallon of the mixture, 

 will produce but a light wine. Three pounds to one gallon gives, 

 however, a wine equal in strength to the best qualities of Cham- 

 pagne. 



Germans. 



Baron L. Yon Babo {Die Erzeugimg unci BeJiandlung der Trau- 

 hemveines nach neueren Erfahrungen^ Frankfurt, 1848) says : There 

 are three ingredients of the wine, by whose increase or decrease 

 a natural improvement of the wine may be attained in the must 

 itself. 



1. The Sugar. 



2. The Acids. 

 8. The Alcohol. 



A genuine improvement of the wine is not to be called an 

 adulteration of it, so long as it remains confined to those ingredi- 

 ents which are homogeneous to the constituent parts of the grape, 

 and the production of which in them in larger quantity only de- 

 pends on the accidental state of temperature. But as in the wine 

 a certain relation of sugar, alcohol, and its other ingredients must 

 of necessity prevail, so is it the duty of the wine-maker to regu- 



