WINE. 



merely taken out, and the tartar removed ; they are then 

 waflied well with warm water. If the calks have acquired 

 a bad odour, Chaptal recommends to commit them to the 

 flames ; for though it may be poffible to cover in fome de- 

 gree their bad odours, yet they are very likely to re-appear 

 and fpoil the wine. 



The veflels being ready, the wine is introduced into them, 

 for which purpofe it is drawn off from the vat by a cock 

 placed a few inches above the bottom into an open veflel, 

 from whence it is conveyed to the calks. That portion of 

 the wine retting immediately over the muft is termed /ur;non< 

 in Burgundy. This is carefully defecated, as it confti- 

 tutes the moft dehcate and paleft of the wine. The Hquor 

 is drawn off till the head comes in contacl with the marc. 

 The head is then carefully removed, and the mare is fub- 

 jefted to repeated prelFure. The wine thus farther obtained 

 is ufually mixed with the reft. That produced by the firil 

 preffure is ftrongeft ; that obtained by the laft is ufually more 

 harfh and coloured. Sometimes, however, when it is the 

 objeft to make vinegar, the marc is preifed but once. At 

 other times, they keep the wine obtained by all the different 

 prefTures in feparate ca(]<;s. In Champagne they ufually mix 

 together the wines obtained by the different prefTures, though 

 they are known by different names. The wines obtained 

 without any preffure, or a very flight one, they call vinsgris ; 

 thofe obtained by the firft and fecond preffure, ceil de perdrix ; 

 thofe by the third, vin de tallle, which are moft coloured, 

 though fufBciently agreeable. 



The marc is employed in various ways in the different dif- 

 triAs. Some fubmit it to diftillation ; others, efpecially 

 in the vicinity of Montpellier, prepare verdigris from it ; 

 others vinegar. In fome diftrifts, they feed cattle with it ; 

 in others, they burn it for the fake of the potafh it yields, Sec. 

 Of the Management of the IVine in the Cajhs. — The wine 

 receives its laft degree of elaboration in the caflis ; this con- 

 fifts in a fort of fermentative procefs, to which the name of 

 infenfible fermentatitn'hs.i been applied. Almoft immediately 

 after the wine is introduced into the caflcs, a fcum begins to 

 be formed upon its top, and efcapes by the bung-hole, which 

 at firft requires to be covered flightly only with a leaf or 

 tile. In proportion as the fermentation fubfides, the mafs of 

 wine diminifhes in bulk ; and they watch this cautioufly, in 

 order to fupply its place from time to time with new wine, 

 fo as to keep the caflc always full : this procefs is denomi- 

 nated in France ouiller, which may be rendered filling up. 

 In fome diftrifts x\iey fill up every day during the firfl month, 

 every other day during the fecond, and every eight days 

 afterwards, till the time of racking. This is the method 

 they adopt with the wines of Hermitage. In Champagne 

 they permit the vins gris to ferment in cafks for ten or twelve 

 days, and when the ebulHtion has ceafed, they clofe the 

 bung-hole, leaving, however, a fmall fpigot-hole by its fide, 

 which is permitted to remain open for eight or ten days 

 longer ; after which they clofe this veith a plug, in fuch a 

 manner as to be able to open it at pleafure. When 

 the bungs are introduced, they fill up every eighth day 

 by the fpigot, for twenty-five days. After this every fif- 

 teenth day, for one or two months ; and finally, every two 

 months during the whole time the wine remains in the cellar. 

 When the feafon has been wet and unfavourable, and the 

 wines want body, or when it has been dry and hot, and 

 they are too rich, twenty-five days after they have been 

 made, they roll the caflis five or fix times, in order to mix 

 the grounds, and re-excite the fermentative procefs, and this 

 they repeat every eighth day for a month. 



The fermentation of the Champagne wines, which are de- 

 figned to be briflt and fparkling, is very long and tedious. 



It is generally underftood that they will be fparkling, pro- 

 vided they are bottled any time between the vintage and 

 the following May, and that the nearer the vintage the 

 briflver they will be. It is, however, generally taken for 

 granted, that they will be fufficiently fparkUnglf bottled 

 about the middle of March. Wines begin to fparkle in 

 about fix weeks after they have been bottled ; thofe, how- 

 ever, produced on mountains become fparkling fooner 

 than others. Wines bottled in June and July will be 

 very little fparkling, and quite fiill if bottled fo late as 

 Oftober and November. 



In Burgundy, after the fermentation has relaxed in the 

 cafk, they put in a bung pierced with a fmall hole, in which 

 they introduce a plug that can be eafily removed at pleafure, 

 in order to fuffer the gas that may be extricated to efcape. 

 In the diftrift of Bourdeaux, they begin to fill up eight or 

 ten days after the wine has been introduced into the calk. 

 A month after this they introduce the bung, zndfill up 

 every eight days. At firft they bung the caflcs loofely, 

 and then fallen them down by degrees, without run- 

 ning any rifle. The white wines are racked and fulphured 

 in December, and thefe require much more care than the 

 red wines, from their containing more fediment, and their 

 being more liable to become ropy. The red wines are not 

 racked till towards February or March, and as thefe are 

 much more apt to become four than the white wines, they 

 require to be kept in cooler cellars during the fummer. 

 There are fome who, after the fecond racking, turn the 

 caflvs fo as to place the bung on one fide ; and thus 

 the caflcs being hermetically fealed from there being no 

 lofs, there is no need of filling up. They then rack off 

 annually, at any time of the year they find it convenient. 



Methods nearly fimilar are adopted in other wine coun- 

 tries ; hence it will be needlefs to repeat them. We fhall,' 

 however, give a fhort account of the methods followed in 

 the manufaAure of Port, Madeira, and Sherry, the moft 

 popular wines of this country. 



In Oporto, the complete fermentation of the muft takes 

 place in the vat. The wine is then introduced into large tuns, 

 capable of holding twenty -five pipes each ; and at this ftage 

 the brandy is added according to the judgment of the ma- 

 nufafturer. 



In Madeira, the fecond or infenfible fermentation is car- 

 ried on in cafks, and the wine is racked from them at the erhd 

 of three or four months, at which lime a portion of the 

 brandy is added. The remainder is referved to be mixed at 

 the time of exportation. 



In the manufafturc of Sherry, the grapes are firft flightly 

 dried, and fprinkled with quick-lime. They are then wetted 

 with brandy on being introduced into the prefs, and a por- 

 tion of brandy is added to the muft before the fermentation 

 commences. The fnbfequent proceffes confift in repeated 

 rackings at intervals of a month or two, till March, brandy 

 being added at each racking. 



The objeft of racking the wines is to feparate the dregs 

 confifting of tartar, &c. depofited from the wine, ar.d which, 

 if left, are liable to render it four, by re-exciting from time 

 to time the fermentation. The tendency to fermentation is 

 counteraftcd by a procefs termed fulphuriiig, and the fpon- 

 taneous feparation of the dregs is rendered more complete by ■ 

 Clarification, which fee. See alfo Fining and Forcing.' 



The fulphuring of wines confifts in impregnating them 

 with the vapours of burnuig fulphur, or fulphurous acid, and 

 is generally effefted by burning fulphur-matches in the cafks. 

 (See Matching.) Thefe matches are made in different 

 ways, aromatics being fomctimes mixed with the fulphur ; 

 but the fulphur is the only ufeful and neceffary ingredient. 



Sometimes 



