Wine-making. 



GRAPE MANUAL. 



Wine-making. 61 



could be wished. Some varieties are found to keep 

 better and longer than others, and in our Descriptive 

 Catalogue the superior keeping qualities of our best 

 kinds are always mentioned. In ice-houses, specially 

 constructed for preserving fruit, grapes will keep in 

 apparent good condition nearly all winter; but the 

 appearance is deceptive they are almost always unfit 

 to be eaten. 



The best mode of preserving the delicious juice of 

 the grape, with its delightfully nutritious constituents, 

 in a concentrated and almost imperishable form, is by 



WINE-MAKING. 



We have been urged to embody in this manual a 

 chapter upon this subject, and, notwithstanding the 

 assurance that, within the limited scope of this Cata- 

 logue, we think it impossible to furnish anything 

 that would be valuable, either as a guide to the inex- 

 perienced or as a vade mecum to the wine-maker, we 

 have been called upon, again and again, by many of 

 our customers 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, " wine." The books on wine- 

 making to which we have referred were either not 

 accessible, or too costly, and contained 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 general principles of wine-making, and to con- 

 tain 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 sim- 

 ple, cannot be acquired from books only, but must be 

 learned PRACTICALLY ; and we can only repeat our ad- 

 vice, 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 you may think you 'cannot afford it ; but to learn 

 from sad experience, unless on a very small scale, 

 would prove, by far, more costly and unprofitable. 



Thus, without presuming to present anything new 

 in this chapter, we hope that the grape-growers of this 

 country may find therein as much information of 

 practical value on so vast a subject as could be con- 

 densed in so limited a space.* 



I. Wine, its nature and substances, its formation and 



classification. 



Wine is the properly fermented juice of the grape ; 

 its unfermented juice is called must. The product of 



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

 the English language. HARASZTHY'S " Grape Culture 

 and Wine-making" was published (by Harper & Bros., 

 New York, 1862) more than twenty years ago. Among 

 the many scientific German works on this subject, the 

 new "Handbuch des Weinbaues und der Kellerwirth- 

 schaft, von Frhr. A. v. Babo, &c., Berlin, 1883," is proba- 

 bly the best and most complete. 



vinous fermentation of other saccharine juices of plants 

 and fruits is also often called wine, but none contain 

 the life-giving, restorative qualities, the exquisite taste, 

 the delicate bouquet, that harmonious combination of 

 substances that we enjoy in the properly fermented 

 juice of the grape. At all events we, as grape-growers, 

 have to deal with the product of grape-juice only, and 

 it is of this alone that we intend to speak. 



However important it is to fully know the nature 

 and chemical substances of wine and the law of fer- 

 mentation, we must restrict ourselves to the absolutely 

 necessary ; it may alsb suffice, for most practical pur- 

 poses, to know that the juice of the grape contains, 

 chemically speaking : 



1. Sugar, which afterwards, by fermentation, is trans- 



formed into alcohol. Most of the cellular sub- 

 stances in the unripe grape have transformed 

 themselves, during the process of ripening, into 

 sugar ; the residue of these are thrown out during 

 fermentation and sink to the bottom. The less 

 ripe the grapes, the more of these substances and 

 the less sugar will be contained in the must. 



2. Acids, tartaric, tannic, and other acids, more or 



less, according to the degree of ripeness and the 

 character of the grapes. 



3. Albumen a nitrogenous substance, plainly visible 



in the white scum of the must. Also : some resin- 

 ous substances, gum, affecting the body and taste 

 of the wine; .coloring matter, adhering to the 

 skin, giving the color especially to red wines ; 

 and so-called extractive matter. All thee sub- 

 stances, and many more, which have been chem- 

 ically analyzed, are combined and dissolved in 

 about three to four times their quantity of WATER 

 in the juice of the grape. 



As long as this juice is inclosed in the skin, which 

 protects it from contact with the oxygen of atmospheric 

 air, so long no fermentation can take place. As soon as 

 the grapes are mashed, the influence of the air begins 

 to act thereon. Spores of ferment are contained every- 

 where in our atmosphere and develop themselves 

 under certain conditions ; they grow and augment in 

 the must (as can be seen by the aid of a microscope), 

 decomposing the sugar, setting the fluid in motion, 

 and forming alcohol ; at the same time the other sub- 

 stances combine, transform, and form new substances. 

 Thus, however clear the unfermented juice may be, it 

 becomes turbid by fermentation ; the albumen com- 

 mences to oxydize ; the alcohol, while forming, sepa- 

 rates the coloring matter from the skin ; carbonic acid 

 gas is formed in the mass, pushing up the firm parts 

 and forming a dense cover over the liquid : the gas is 

 developed in increasing quantities and escapes with a 

 bubbling noise, and the heat of the fermenting mass 

 is augmented. Gradually all these phenomena dis- 

 appear, fermentation becomes less stormy, and the 

 undissolved substances and new-formed matter fall 

 to the bottom. The new wine is formed ; by degrees 

 it becomes almost clear, but fermentation still con- 

 tinues, slowly, almost imperceptibly ; there are still 

 substances of the must, finely distributed, floating 

 in the young wine, and these substances, under an 

 increased temperature, create anew a stronger fer- 

 mentive motion, until the wine is clear and fully de- 

 veloped. 



