433 



one skillful in using it. One essential is, that the receiving vessel 

 should be on a lower level than the filled vessel in order to get the 

 syphon to work at all, and this, it is found, is not in every case 

 possible. 



After a blend between two or more wines has been made, it often 

 turns cloudy for a while ere the constituents of each sample incor- 

 porate thoroughly with one another, and it is advisable to proceed 

 soon after to fresh racking. 



Occasionally a sort of mishap occurs to wine after the racking, 

 and this is known as cassage des vins, or in other words the colour 

 is said to " break." Thus, red wines are noticed to turn violet and 

 assume a leaden colour, although the taste is not modified. White 

 wines ar.e affected as well, and assume a bluish or a blackish tinge 

 of colour. This phenomenon is simply due to the oxidation of 

 certain matters, in some wine produced from imperfectly matured 

 grapes, which are affected by the air. After a little while that 

 cloudiness disappears, and the healthy colour of the wine is restored 

 back to it. Sulphur, as has been previously mentioned on page 408, 

 offers an easy means of preventing that accident. In some cases, 

 however, this discolouration persists, unless a small dose of tartaric 

 acid is added. The acid, acting on the colouring matter, keeps it in 

 solution ; the dose used varies generally about one gramme per litre, 

 or about 60 grains per gallon. 



LEES, HOW TO PRESERVE THEM. 



After racking there is left in the bilge a varying quantity of 

 lees and of wine, which constitute a sort of mud, containing as much 

 as 80 per cent, of wine and 20 per cent, of dry sediments. That 

 wine, after fining, filtering, and sulphuring, can be put on the 

 market, instead of being, as is often done, sold for a ridiculously 

 small price or transformed into a harsh and very inferior brandy. 

 As for the solid residuum it can be stored and sold for extracting 

 tartaric acid and cream of tartar. According to analysis, lees 

 obtained from claret wines contain on an average 



Bitartrate of Potash 18 per cent. 



Tartrate of Lime . . ... ... 7 



25 



worth 6d. a Ib. Fifty gallons of wine will deposit at least one 

 gallon of lees, four-fifths of which will be wine at 2s. 6d. a gallon 

 2s.; one-fifth solid sediment at 6d. Is.; or on a yield of 200 gallons 

 to the acre a saving of 4s. per acre might be effected, while on a 

 yield of 600 gallons a surplus of 12s. will be secured. 



The separation of lees is very simple. The muddy wine is 

 either poured into a canvas filter previously steeped for a few days 

 in soda or potash lie, and afterwards into lees with tartaric acid 

 added, and then washed. This will rid it of its peculiar taste. The 

 liquid wine is placed into a well- sulphured cask, or else the thick 



