492 TITE VINEYARD. [Sept. 



Tlie method of making Red f Vines. 



Red wines must always be made from black grapes, for besides 

 the main pulp or core, which is white in these as well as the others, 

 there sticks to the inside of the skin a considerable body of rich 

 pulp of a deep red, more so in some kinds than others; this gives 

 the. colour to the wine when extracted by a due process of fermen- 

 tation. The colour of red wine is said to be heightened by gathering 

 the grapes in the heat of the day, but this is productive of a con- 

 siderable deficiency in the quantity, though the quality mav be 

 improved thereby. 



Taking these considerations into view, your grapes are to be 

 collected with the same care as before directed in the making of 

 white wines. Having a sufficient quantity gathered, put them into 

 the vat, by degrees treading and mashing them effectually as you 

 till it, till quite full, and the liquor floating above them; then work 

 the pulp and the liquor effectually together, leaving all the parts as 

 loose as possible, and so let it remain to ferment. 



You ought to be provided with a cover for the top of the vat, 

 perforated with holes, and made so as to easily slip down into it 

 and sink a little under the superfices of the liquor, to keep the 

 skins and pulpy parts from coming into contact with the air during 

 the process of fermentation; for when this is exposed, and it tends 

 to swim on the top, it very shortly becomes acid, and communi- 

 cating this to the liquor greatly injures it. As the skins give the 

 colour to the wine, nothing is better than the keeping of them 

 down, without pressing, during this process, for to believe that 

 these and other dregs floating on the top impede the evaporation 

 of the spirit, is a thing improbable, since it requires a good cork 

 to stop it. 



The moment of drawing off the wine is of great importance, but 

 generally, however, without rule. It would be impossible to pre- 

 scribe a certain number of days for an operation liable to so many 

 viscissitudes, as much through the qualities of the grapes as other 

 circumstances. But as the great object of fermentation is the con- 

 version of the must or expressed juice into wine, no drawing should 

 take place until that it is effected. This moment, which might 

 appear uncertain, may be ascertained with tolerable precision by 

 means of a tin tube open at one end and perforated all over with 

 holes of a small size, that the grains or stones of the fruit may not 

 pass through when dipped into the vat; inside of this a small 

 wooden cylinder must be placed, upheld at its bottom by a cork 

 plate that can work up and down freely in the tube: this instru- 

 ment is to be plunged into the vat and kept there, the liquor get- 

 ting in through the holes of the tube will raise the cork to its 

 surface, to which cork the wooden pin or cylinder is affixed. This 

 latter must be marked in different heights, which will be seen to 

 rise as the vinous fermentation increases. 



With this instrument, the precise moment in which the wine is 

 to be drawn off, may be established with great exactness; this is 

 generally done when the cylinder has attained to the highest and 



