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CULTI.VATION of tub VINE. 



foon as the fermentation is over, they will communicate 

 thofe evil qualiticvS to the wine, and it muft be a ftron 

 wine indeed that will ftand fuch a fhock. It the wine be 

 weak it will foon turn four; if the wine be ftrong and has 

 a fufFicient ftock of native fpirits to defend it from thofe 

 bad imprelTions, yet it will contrad an unfavoury harfli- 

 nefs, which will not be removed for fome time, nor will 

 it be fit for drinking till age has fmoothed and made it 

 mellow. For this reafon it is that you are to draw off 

 your wine both times before the fermentation be quite 



over, and as to weak wines, they Ihould by no means 

 work too much, either time, three days are quite fufEci-- 

 ent for each working; ftrong wines (liould work longer 

 for the reafon above afligned; they are better able to ftand 

 it, befides it prevents ropinefs and tliey fine the fooner 

 and better for it. 



I now pafs on to the -making of red wines from the 

 black grapes. Red wines have a diff'erent managment 

 from the white; the whole of one or even two days tread- 

 ing or maftiing, (when the vintage is great) is throw^n in-- 

 to a large vat, the muft, ftalks, fkins and all, and ftands 

 in ibme warm dry place or cellar. The vat is covered 

 clofe with flieets or blankets, or both, and thus it remains, 

 according to cuftom from four to (even or even ten days, 

 according to the coldnefs or heat of the weather. This is 



done to obtain a ftrong fermentation, in order to give a 

 deeper colour to the wine, and this is the only end pro- 

 pofed by it; the manager of this work, vifits the vat twice 

 a day, and in a glafs views the colour of the wine, and 

 taftes it; if the tindure be not deep enough to his mind, 

 he knows by the tafte of the wine, whether it will ftand 

 a longer fermentation: if it will not, he contents himfelf 

 With the colour it has and draws and prefles it off, and fill 

 intocaflcs, leaving about two inches from the bung, for a 

 fecond fermentation. When the fecond fermentation is 

 over, which generally happens in four or five days, he then 

 draws it off into clean well fcented calks, and adds to it fix 



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