MANAGEMENT OF VINES AND WINES IN CHAMPAGNE. 357 



nutes, the press is to be turned backward, the stones re- 

 moved, the grapes that have protruded thrust into the heap, 

 the stones replaced, and the press turned again. The juice 

 from three of such pressures, which will not take up an 

 hour, is put by itself for prime wine into a vat, where it is 

 left all night to settle. 



The next morning this juice is poured off from the sedi- Putting into 

 ment, and put into new, matched, and well rinced casks. CiS s " 

 In these it ferments, at first violently, afterward impercep- 

 tibly ; till, about the end of December, having gone through 

 all the stages of depuration, it becomes fine. It is then Racking and 

 racked off, in dry weather, and on some fine frosty day, nmg * 

 and fined with isinglass. About a pound of that of Mar- 

 seilles is sufficient for 40 puncheons, of *200 bottles each. 

 The isinglass being dissolved is well beaten, diluted with 

 wine taken from the cask, then poured into it, and the 

 whole well stirred by an instrument introduced at the bung- 

 hole. The wine thus left to settle ferments slightly again, 

 till it is stopped by the cold weather, or by time. In a Second racking 

 month or six weeks it is racked off again, and has another ftmn g- 

 fining with half the quantity of isinglass. 



In this state it usually remains till March, when it is bot- Bottling. 

 tied. Good glass bottles are taken for this purpose, well 

 rtnced, corked with superfine corks, and these are confined 

 by packthread or wire. The bottles are then piled on their 

 aides, one upon another, in the cellar. 



As the fermentation is not completely terminated at the 

 time of bottling, it revives about the middle of Angust, be- 

 tween which time and the end of September it is not unusual 

 to have five or ten bottles in a hundred burst ; and this con- 

 tinues till the March following, when it becomes more vio- 

 lent, or more moderate, according to the state and quality 

 of the wine. In general, when not more than twenty 

 bottles in a hundred burst during the whole course of the 

 fermentation, the proprietor does not complain. 



Fifteen or eighteen months after the first bottling, when Decanted int« 

 the wine has gone through all the stages of fermentation, fre3h bo "l e3 - 

 and is to be sold or sent abroad, it undergoes a fresh de- 

 cantation, which requires some dexterity. If the wine be 

 not mantling [momsetuc], it is simple enough. The bottle 



