143 



THE WESTERN POMOLOGIST. 



iStl 



Prize Essay on TTiue inaklng."making and 

 Preserving. 



By a. C. Cook, Covinoton, Ga. 



Awarded First Premium at tlie Georgia State Fair, 1870. 



Wine making from remote antiquity has ever 

 been regarded as one of the mj-sterious arts, and 

 comparative!}' few experts, until the fifth decade of 

 the nineteenth century, could boast of producing 

 wines of the finest quality. Those that excelled in 

 this, as in all other arts, were extremely careful to 

 keep their process a profound secret. The knowl- 

 edge thus obtained by experiment and experience 

 varied widely in diflfereut countries, lacalities, and 

 with difterent varieties of grapes and qualities of 

 soil. The art of improving wines by mixing differ- 

 ent qualities (and adding honey to the must before 

 fermentation, to strengthen the wine,) of wine was 

 well understood by the ancients. 



The results obtained from long practice and ob- 

 servation, were not derived from any knowledge of 

 the vine or its fruit, but from careful observation of 

 the fermentation of the juice of the grape, under 

 different conditions of temperature, climate and at- 

 mospherical influences. 



The process of extracting the juice from the 

 grape, until the early part of the past century, and 

 even at the present time in many countries, was of 

 the most primitive character. The grapes were 

 placed in a large tub or vat with a perforated bot- 

 tom for tlie must (juice) to flow into a receiving 

 vessel, and trodden out with the naked feet. Fre- 

 quent mention of this process of extracting the 

 juice of the grape is to be found in the sacred wri- 

 tings and in profane history. 



Previous to the art of distillation, nothing strong- 

 er than wine of twelve per cent, alcohol was 

 known. At this point the alcohol kills the yeast 

 fungi, (ferment principle,) those modern sweet 

 wines of Italy, Spain, Greece, and Scicily, which 

 contain from fourteen to twenty -four per cent, of 

 alcohol are produced by the mechanical addition of 

 brandy, generally made from the same grape as the 

 wine. Most of the grapes of these countries and 

 Southern Asia, contain a large excess of sugar, and 

 are generally deficient in albumen, gluten and ni- 

 trogenous compounds. The excess of sugar, also 

 preventing tlic completion of fermentation, and re- 

 sulting in a naturally sweet wine, and known by 

 different applications, as Tears of Christ, the An- 

 cient Maroulan, St. John, Thasos, etc. 



Various celebrated brands of wine were thus ob- 

 tained by the ancients, according to the qualities of 

 of soil, climate, varieties of grapes, and modes of 

 manipulation. 



The list of ancient wines numbers seventy-eight, 

 besides a large li.st of inferior grade. The list of 



modern wines, of standard reputation, comprises 

 three hundred and sixty, besides numerous brands 

 of local character. In the United States we have, 

 as yet, but few brands of superior excellence. Suf- 

 ficient progress in this direction, has already been 

 attained to demonstrate the capacity of our soil and 

 climate to develop the finest qualities of native 

 wiues. From the Norton's Virginia Seedling, Del- 

 aware, Herman, Herbermont, Cynthiana, Scupper- 

 nong, and others, we have produced wine that 

 will compare favorably with the most celebrated 

 wines of Europe. 



Modern agricultural chemistry has thrown a flood 

 of light on the science of wine manufacture, by re- 

 vealing the constituent elements of the must of the 

 grape, thus enabling the vigneron to develop wines 

 of superior excellence, which under the old meth- 

 ods, would result in wine of inferior quality. 



It is not intended in this essay to enter into an 

 elaborate explanation of the ancient modes of wine 

 making, or into the minutia of modern procedure; 

 the object is to give practical illustrations of the 

 best metliod of making and preserving wine. It 

 has been known for the last half century, that 

 wines are matured only by oxidation of the soluble 

 compounds held in solutit)n as albumen of the glu- 

 ten : as long as this remains in solution, the wine is 

 liable to become turbid, to fret, and to deposit sed- 

 iment (lees,) and consequently remains unsaleable. 

 Under the old process, oxidation was slowlj' accom- 

 plished in cool cellars, by the oxygen of the air (the 

 all)Uincnous parts remaining after fermentation,) 

 slowly permeating through the wood walls of the 

 cask and fretiuent rackings. Changes of tempera- 

 ture being the existing cau.se of disturbance, a rise 

 of temperature expelling the carbonized air, and a 

 fall of the mercury causing a shrinkage of the wine 

 and consequent absorption of air through the pores 

 of the wood ; thus every change of atmosphere con- 

 tributes to the .slow oxidation and maturity of the 

 wine. Man}' of the choice brands of European 

 wines require from four to ten years to complete 

 their maturity by the old methods of treatment. 



Large amounts of wine are thus annually lost by 

 evaporation, leakage and the liability to acidifica- 

 tion and various other wine diseases ; add to this 

 interest on capital and cost of labor, renders the 

 wine enterprise one of great uncertainty under the 

 old modes of maniinilation. Under these consider- 

 ations the question naturally arises: How can we 

 overcome this enormous loss of time, capital, evap- 

 oration, leakage, labor, and inferior quality of wine? 

 Modern chemistry has solved tlie principle, (or 

 agent) but failed to point out the mechanical appli- 

 cation. Mr. R. d'Heureuse, of California, conceived 

 the project of improving the fermentation of wines 

 and other fermenting fluids, by forcing pure air 

 through the must or other fluids to be fermented ; 



