Wine-making. 



GRAPE MANUAL. 



Wine-making. 73 



The best mode of preserving the delicious juice 

 of the grape, with its delightfully nutritious con- 

 stituents, in a concentrated and almost imperish- 

 able form, is by 



WINE-MAKING. 



The main purpose for which grapes are grown 

 is for wine, the fermented juice of the grape, 

 that universal, oldest remedy against human 

 afflictions, that elixir which enhances our pleas- 

 ures, dispels our sorrows and invigorates man 

 as no other stimulant cau. Even Noah and 

 Bacchus already made wine of the grape, and 

 its use as a beverage is almost as old as the grape 

 itself. In Greece the time of grape gathering 

 was the occasion of great festivities, consisting of 

 public dinners, theatrical representations, music, 

 sacrifices for the prosperity of the state and for 

 the souls of the dead. True, a licentious Roman 

 people converted those festivities into " Bac- 

 chanalia," but the wisest men of that time said: 

 '• Let us not ascribe these orgies to the God of 

 Wine; let the excesses be punished and sup- 

 pressed, but prize and use properly the Divine 

 gift and it will embellish our life with flowers and 

 fruits, it will foster poetry, tine arts and all 

 social pleasures." 



"Judjied Ijy no o'erzealous rigor 

 Miicli the gleam of wine expresses: 

 Biiccbus was the type of vigor, 

 And Silenus of excesses." 



In the bright glow of modern history, the glint 

 of wine brightens many a state ceremony or re- 

 ligious rite. Kings, emperors, even bishops, fos- 

 tered and promoted the culture of the grape. 

 Carolus the Great sent vines from Orleans to be 

 transplanted to the '-Heights of Ingolsheim," 

 and, according to popular legend, preserved in 

 song, every year, when the grape-vines are in 

 bloom, the great emperor arises from his grave to 

 bless the vines along the river Rhine. Here, in 

 our own country, William Penn, the founder of 

 Pennsylvania, two hundred years ago, gave to 

 that place (now a part of Philadelphia, then just 

 settled by Germans from the Rhine and called 

 Germantown) a town-seal with the inscription: 

 ^'Vimtm, Linum et Textrinum," to indicate ap- 

 proval of their leading industiies : viticulture, 

 flax-culture and weaving. 



The uses of wine have existed and spread and 

 grown all over the world, and nowhere has its 

 manufacture been entirely suppressed except in 

 China. Has it made the Chinese better, more 

 virtuous or civilized? The use of enervating 

 opiates has taken the place of invigorating wine. 

 .•\.nd this will be the consequence wherever wine 

 is prohibited. In all civilized countries there is 

 scarcely a festive board without wine. The 

 church uses it in its sacred service as the symbol 

 of God's noblest gifts; the physician prescribes it 

 as a health-restoring tonic to the sick and con- 

 valescing. 



Wine production has reached hundreds of mil- 

 lions of gallons, the wealth and pride of many 

 nations, and its failure in one year is considered a 

 great calamity where and whenever it occurs. A 

 very small proportion of the grape production is 

 utilized for the table compafed to what is used 

 for wine-making. 



We grape-growers of America, east of the 

 Rocky Mountains, can not produce as showy 

 table grapes as California, nor do we claim that 

 ours are the best wine -grapes the world produces. 



We may excuse the poetic effusion of a Long- 

 fellow, who sang ; 



There grows no vine 



By the haunted Rhine, 



By Danube or Guadalf)uivir, 



Mor on ishmd or cape 



That bears such a grape 



As grows by tlie beautiful river [the Oliio]. 



Or that: 



Catawba wine 



Has a taste more divine, etc. 



We do not indorse such presumptuous asser- 

 tions as you may find in some books and papers 

 of American wine and grape growers, that '-we 

 can make wine which will rival and surpass the 

 BEST wines of France, Germanj' and Spain." We 

 may claim, however, that we are producing from 

 our wine grapes some very fair, refreshing and 

 wholesome, pure wines, and by the production of 

 new superior varieties, by progressing in the art 

 of wine-making, we may fully equal the average 

 productions of the wine countries of Europe and 

 make grape-growing one of the leading branches 

 of horticulture. 



We have been urged to embody in this manual 

 a chapter upon this subject, and, notwithstanding 

 the assurance that we think it impossible to fur- 

 nish, within the limited scope of this catalogue, 

 a complete guide to the inexperienced wine- 

 maker, we have been called upon, again and 

 again, for some concise information which might 

 aid the intelligent farmer and the amateur grape- 

 grower to transform their surplus fruit into that 

 health-giving beverage, 'Svine." The books on 

 wine-making to which they have been referred 

 were either not accessible, or too costly, and con- 

 tained so much that was unnecessary, to say the 

 least, that we finally concluded to write this brief 

 treatise, which, however, should be regarded as 

 a collection of mere hints, being only intended to 

 give the inexperienced a correct idea of the gen- 

 eral principles of wine-making, and to contain 

 some plain directions that may guard against 

 false theories and wrong practice. 



Those who intend to make wine, as a business, 

 on a large scale, and who desire full information 

 on all its branches, cannot expect to find it in 

 this brief manual. Moreover, wine-making is an 

 art which, however simple, cannot be acquired 

 from books only, but must be learned fkacti- 

 CAi.LY; and we can only repeat our advice, given 

 in the former editions of this catalogue, viz., to 

 engage some experienced "Wine-cooper" who 

 knows how to make and treat wines, who has 

 learned and has been accustomed to attend to 

 wines from his youth, and who will watch over 

 and nurse them with the care and cheerfulness of 

 a mother to her infant, until you or your son may 

 have practically learned from him. Such a man 

 you may have to pay well, and j'ou may think 

 you cannot afford it; but to learn from sad expe- 

 rience, unless on a very small .«cale, would prove 

 by far more costly and unprofitable. 



Thus, Avithout presuming to present anything 

 new in this chapter, we hope that the grape- 

 growers of this country may find therein as much 

 infoimation of practical value on so vast a subject 

 as could be condensed in so limited a space.* 



* There are Imt few books on wine-making written in 

 the English language. Ihudichuui's "Treatise on 

 Wine,"' London, 1894, is a mere reprint of a very old 

 book. Harasztliy's "Grape Culture and Wine-making" 

 was pul)lished (by Harper & Bros., New York, 1862) more 

 than thirty years ago. Husman's "Giape Culture and 

 Wine-makuig," San Francisco, 1S86, treat only of Call- 



