202 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
crush the berries, but do not bruise the seeds, which, if crushed, 
would give a bitter taste to the wine. If the wine is to be 
white, the pulp is pressed as it comes from the masher; if it 
is to be red, the pulp is left to stand for six or eight days, so 
that the red color of the skins may be communicated to the 
juice. This is the only mode in which wines are colored. 
The juice as it comes from the fresh betry is never red, but 
some varieties of grape make a yellowish juice. 
After the pressing, the red and white wines are treated in 
the same manner. The juice is put into large casks, usually 
those of one hundred and forty gallons each, and about one 
hundred and fifteen gallons are put in each. The casks are 
thus not filled entirely, but a considerable surface of the wine 
is left exposed to the air. This is to favor fermentation, to 
which the atmosphere is necessary. The cask lies upon its 
side, the bunghole is left open, and in three or four days the fer- 
mentation begins; in three or four more its period of greatest 
activity has passed. The temperature is a matter of the ut- 
most importance to fermentation, the proper degree being 
about 65° Fahrenheit; and if the liquid be kept either warmer 
or colder than that figure, it will be in great danger of spoil- 
ing. The fermentation is accompanied by a rising of little air- 
bubbles to the surface, where they burst, making a noise that 
may be heard by applying the ear to the bunghole, and which 
is sometimes so loud as to be heard in the cellar at a distance 
of ten or twenty feet from the barrel. 
After the fermentation has been in progress three or four 
days, the wine-maker pours in six or eight gallons of fresh 
juice every day, until the cask is full; and for several days 
after that he leaves the bunghole still open, and throws out 
all scum that rises to the surface there. When the scum has 
ceased to rise, the barrel is closed, and not disturbed for a pe- 
riod which should not be less than three weeks nor more than 
three months. After this,” comes the “racking off” All the 
liquor, except about four inches at the bottom, containing sedi- 
ment, is drawn off through a siphon, or a cock placed above 
