240 AMERICAN GRAPE GROWING 



Semillion, Chablis or Veltliner, or a high-grade Bur- 

 gundy, they should be allowed to hang longer, until 

 some of the berries are shriveled, and they show from 

 26° to 32° Balling. There is a growing taste and increas- 

 ing demand, among the American public, for full-fla- 

 vored, heavy wines, retaining a slight degree of sweet- 

 ness when fermented. Manifestly it costs more to make 

 such wines, but if the consumer is willing to pay for the 

 extra labor, smaller yield and higher quality, we can 

 make them. It is only recently that there has been 

 much inducement offered by the trade or the public for 

 making them. But for about a thousand gallons of this 

 grade, made in 1893, we had no diflBculty in obtaining 

 double the price of common dry wines, as they proved 

 equal, in quality and bouquet, to the finest Haut Sau- 

 terne. That convinced me that we can fully rival the 

 French in this. 



The vintage begins with us, in Napa county, about 

 the 15th of September, and continues, with slight inter- 

 missions, until some time in November, or even until 

 the first "week in December, if there are no severe frosts, 

 and the second crop of grapes has fair weather in which 

 to ripen. In. young, vigorous vineyards, and with some 

 varieties, this crop is almost as heavy as the first, though 

 not as high in quality. We generally have a few showers 

 of rain in September, which have some influence on the 

 crop. A few light rains are beneficial, as they freshen 

 the fruit and promote a more active fermentation. But 

 if the rains continue, ripe-rot is likely to ensue, which is 

 deleterious, especially on the red grapes, though white 

 grapes are little, if any, injured. It is even held, by the 

 best authorities in Europe, that this so-called "noble 

 rot" {Edelfmule) improves the quality of white wines, 

 and that the choicest vintages are made from such grapes. 

 Of course they must be picked before any acetic acid has 

 developed in the berries. With black grapes, however. 



