- ^ V ^ -nx 



I 



A. 



CULTIVATION of the VINE. 



250 



man recovers the fhock, and gets the better of the mighty 

 ftraggle, yet how weak, how low and faint does he ap- 

 pear! Thus it fares with wines, the ftrong bodied wines 

 that are replete with fpirits, often get the better of thefe 

 ftruggles, but I believe not without confiderable lofs and 

 damage; but the weaker wines generally fmk under them. 

 It is from this idea of the thing, that I have all along fo ft rongly 

 infiftedupon the removal of the lees in the beginning, upon 

 •the firft as well as the feeond fermentation. I Ihould be 

 greatly pleafed if the ingenious and Reverend Dr. Hales, 

 of Teddington in Great-Britain, would, by experiments, 

 bring this matter into a clearer light; the world would be 

 obliged by him, as they have already been, by a difcovery 



which he was fo good as to make not long fmce in a cafe 

 that bears fome relation to the prefent one; I fhall tranf- 

 cribe it as it is related by the ingenious Mr. PrjiUp Millerr 

 in his Gardener's Didionary : viz. " A great complaint 1 

 received from a curious gentleman in Italy, of the fpoiling 

 of their bcft and fineft wines there; who fays, fuch is the 

 nature of this country wines in general, (nor are the 

 choiceft Chianti's excepted) that at two feafons of the year, 

 viz. the beginning of June and September, the firft, when 

 the grapes are in bloflbm, and the other when they begin 

 to ripen, fome of the beft wines are apt to change, efpe- 

 cially at the latter feafon; not that they turn eager, but take 

 a raoft unpleafant tafte, like that of a rotten vine leaf, 



which renders them not only not fit for drinking, butalfo 

 unfit for vinegar, this is called the feptembrine, and what 

 is moft ftrange, one cafk drawn out of the fame vat, fliall 

 be infeded, and another remain perfedly good, and yet 

 both have been kept in the fame cellar. As this chano-e 

 happens not to wine in bottles, though that will turn eaoer, 

 I am apt to attribute it to fome fault in filling the casks 

 w4uch muft always be kept full; which cither by Icttin^ 



g 



alone too long, till the decreafe be too great, and the fcum 

 thereby being too much dilated, is fiibjed to break, orelfe 

 heing broken by filling up the cask, and being mixed 



with 



