Improved Method of Preserving Wines, &c. 63 



by the manager of my vineyard at Sunbury, and by other 

 practical vignerons, that a great drawback to the proper 

 manufacture of wine was the difficulty of excluding the air 

 from the casks when the bulk or volume became reduced by 

 absorption, evaporation, condensation, or any other cause, I 

 directed nry attention to a simple and inexpensive, though 

 effectual mode of accomplishing this desirable object. 



Dr. Guyot,* an eminent authority on the culture of the 

 vine and winemaking, in speaking of the manufacture and 

 the keeping of wine, makes the following remarks : — 



" Filling up the casks during the latent fermentation 

 (secondary fermentation). 



" If the filling up is indifferent or useless during the 

 initial or primary fermentation, it becomes necessary when 

 that fermentation is accomplished or suspended, and that 

 the latent fermentation replaces it to exist alone hencefor- 

 ward. The filling-rip must be done at least twice a week 

 til] the next racking off, and with wine of the same age and 

 quality as in the cask. Afterwards, filling-up is done once a 

 month till the next racking-off, and then once every three 

 months till the sale or the bottling off. 



Again, speaking of the " Summary of the precepts appli- 

 cable to the keeping of wines," Dr. Guyot says : — 



" It was necessary for me to show the principal influences 

 of the general modifying agents on wines before giving the 

 last observations as concerning the care to be taken after the 

 first fermentation ; a few words will now be sufficient. It 

 will be necessary to observe the following rules, namely : — 

 To fill up completely aH the vessels containing wine, firstly, 

 every two or three days, then every week, and every month, 

 and lastly four times a year, and always with the same sort 

 of wine, or wine of the same nature. 



" If there is one cask of old wine for which no similar 

 kind can be obtained to fill up, the ingenious process recom- 

 mended by M. de Mouny in his book of the vigneron is 

 practised. Stones which do not effervesce when put in 

 vinegar or acids are put in the cask, but those stones must 

 be first well boiled in water, and washed afterwards in 

 cold water." 



The method here alluded to, of putting stones in a cask to 



* Culture of the Vine and Wine Making, by Dr. Jules Guyot. Translated 

 by L. Marie. Melbourne : Walker, May, and Co., 1865. pp. 72, 87. 



