WINE. 



are gathered and dried in the fun. Thus the celebrated 

 Tokay wine is made of dried fruit, as are alfo many of the 

 lufcious wines of Italy. Some of the French wines like- 

 wife are made with fruit that has been fuffered to ripen 

 and wither upon the vines. 



It is defirable in general that the weather (hould be fet- 

 tled, and the foil and fruit dry during the vintage. It is 

 therefore recommended to abftain from gathering till the 

 fun has difperfed the dew. As a general rule, this is proper ; 

 but in Champagne they commence gathering the fruit before 

 the fun is rifen, and ceafe their labours about nine o'clock, 

 unlefs there be a fog, when they continue to gather all day ; 

 by thefe means they improve the whitenefs and brilknefs of 

 their wine, which are the qualities that chiefly render them 

 celebrated. They alfo increafe their quantity. Thus it is 

 found in Champagne, that they gain a tun in every twenty- 

 four where they coUeft the fruit moift. with dew, and a great 

 deal more if there happens to be a fog. 



When the fruit is ripe, a proper number of experienced 

 hands (hould be procured, fo as to be able, in a fingle day, to 

 fill the fermenting tub or vat, in order to enfure an uniform 

 degree of fermentation. Women are comrnonly employed 

 for the purpofe, but the prefence of an intelligent male over- 

 feer is abfolutely necefTary. In fome parts of France the 

 fruit is feparated with fciffors ; in others with the nail ; and 

 in Champagne they ufe a knife. The fciifors is undoubtedly 

 preferable, as it does not (hake the ftock. The ripe fruit 

 only (hould be collefted, if the objeft be to make good 

 wine, and what is unripe or decayed (hould be carefully re- 

 jefted ; indeed they have always two or three feparate vin- 

 tages in thofe countries, where they are careful of the qua- 

 lity of their wines ; and the wine made firft is always confi- 

 dered the beft. In thofe parts, on the contrary, where the 

 wine is chiefly diftilled, as in Languedoc and Provence, 

 they ufually coUeft all the fruit indifcriminately at one time. 

 In fome diftriiSs, where the fineft wines are made, as in 

 Bourdeaux, &c. the fruit is carefully picked, and only the 

 prime of the clufters taken. On the contrary, they care- 

 fully avoid having the fruit too ripe in Champagne, and other 

 diftrifts where fparkling wines are chiefly manufaftured, and 

 prefer the prefence of a certain proportion of unripe fruit. 

 It need fcarcely be remarked, that the greateft care (hould 

 be taken to prevent the fruit from being bruifed or other- 

 wife damaged. 



The next important ftep is the management of the fruit 

 after it has been coUefted. In different countries different 

 preliminary fteps are purfued before the fruit is fubraitted 

 to preffure. Thus in Spain, efpecially in the neighbour- 

 hood of St. Lucar, they leave the fruit expofed for two 

 days to the rays of the fun. In Lorraine, part of Italy, 

 in Calabria, and the ifland of Cyprus, as before obferved, 

 they dry the fruit completely, and this is the cafe in the 

 nianufafture of all the rich white wines. 



A queftion that has been much agitated is, whether it be 

 advantageous to ftrip the grapes from the ftalks and remove 

 the latter, or fuffer them to remain. Both thefe methods have 

 their advocates ; but Chaptal remarks very properly that 

 neither ought to be followed exclufively. It is true, the fame 

 celebrated chemiil obferves, that the ftems have a rough and 

 auftere tafte; but this appears to be of advantage to fome wines, 

 efpecially thofe made in the more northern diftrifts, where the 

 flight aftringency imparted by the ftems correfts their infipidi- 

 ty, and appears to have the property of making them keep 

 better, perhaps by rendering the fermentation more complete. 

 In the neighljourhood of Bourdeaux, indeed, they remove 

 the ftalks from the red grapes in the manufafturing of their 

 beft wines, but they modify that part of the procefs in fome 



degree according to the ripenefs of the fruit : when the 

 fruit is unripe, or has been injured by the froft, they remove 

 nearly the whole of the ftalks, but if the fruit be over-ripe 

 they leave a very large proportion of them. A certain por- 

 tion, however, is always permitted to remain with the view of 

 facilitating the fermentative procefs, and rendering it more 

 perfeft. From the v/hite grapes, the ftalks are never re- 

 moved. In (hort, in the colder diftrifts, where the wines 

 are of an inferior quality, or where the objeft is to render 

 the wines as ftrong as polTible, with the view of diftiUing them, 

 the ftems in general do not require to be removed ; but in 

 warmer countries, where the finer-flavoured and richer wines 

 are manufaftured, every thing liable to afFeft thefe defirable 

 qualities is to be carefully removed, and the ftems among the 

 reft. The ftems are feparated in various ways : fometimes 

 by agitating the grapes in the veffels in which they are de- 

 pofited with three-pronged forks, fometimes by coarfe fieves 

 made of oziers, &c. 



The next important ftep is bruifing the fruit, which is 

 generally performed by treading them with the feet in per- 

 forated tubs or bafl'Cets placed over the -vat or tub deftined 

 to receive the muft. This mode of bruifing grapes, though 

 as ancient perhaps as wine-making itfelf, is very imperfeft, 

 as a great deal of the fruit remains unbroken. In England 

 we (hould adopt the ufe of machinery. 



Of Fermentation, the Circumflances affe8\ng it, Phenomena, 

 ProduHs, &c. — The juice, or mujl, as it is termed, is no fooner 

 in the -vat than it ufually begins to ferment. The vat is a 

 capacious veffel made of wood or fometimes of mafonry, and 

 its fize correfponds, or ought to correfpond, with the quan- 

 tity of wine to be made. Before it is ufed, it requires to 

 be tkoroughly walhed, and its fides in France are ufually 

 covered with lime, which has the effeft of faturating a por- 

 tion of the malic and other acids which exift in abundance 

 in the muJl. 



The fermentative procefs has been already defcribed (fee 

 Fermentation ); we (hall therefore be very brief upon the 

 fubjeft here, and confine our attention principally to a con- 

 cife recapitulation of the particulars, in order to prefent 

 our readers with a general and connefted view of the art of 

 wine-making. 



The vinous fermentation is influenced by feveral circum- 

 ftances, fuch as temperature, prefence of the air, the volume 

 of the muft, &c. The muft of the grape requires a tem- 

 perature of at leaft 55°, to enable it to commence the fer- 

 mentative procefs. Some have denied that the prefence 

 of the air is necefTary to fermentation. The recent ex- 

 periments of Gay LufTac, however, feem to prove the 

 reverfe. This celebrated chemift found that the muft 

 would not begin to ferment in clofe veflfels, but that 

 the introduftion of a little oxygen inftantly fet it going ; 

 the oxygen being firft rapidly abforbed. Perhaps we may 

 explain the oppofite conclufions of different experimentalifts 

 upon this fubjeft, by fuppofing that the prefence of oxygen, 

 though necefl'ary to enable the muft to commence ferment- 

 ation, is not neceffary to fupport it afterwards. The fer- 

 mentative procefs is much influenced by the bulk or quantity 

 of the muft. It is a well-eftabh(hed faft, that the greater 

 the quantity the more violent is the fermentation. An ex- 

 perienced manufafturer of wine, therefore, will take care to 

 proportion the quantity of muft to the qualities of his fruit, 

 or rather perhaps to thofe of the wine which it is his objeft 

 to procure : the fweeter and more lufcious the muft, the 

 greater the quantity in general, which it will be proper to 

 lubmit to the fermentative procefs in one mafs. 



Other important circumftances which influence the fer- 

 Bientative procefs arc the requifite quantities and due relative 



proportions 



