HEUMITAGE. 105 



at each side. When the sides of the mass which may 

 have been pressed out so far as to escape from the action 

 of the press have been cut off with an instrument resem- 

 bling a hay knife, and the press has been raised so as to 

 receive this additional quantity, and again put in operation, 

 the process is complete ; not a drop of must remains in 

 the marc, as the mass of skins and stalks is called. The 

 marc is disposed of, and employed to produce a bad 

 brandy. For this purpose it is soaked in water to extract 

 any saccharine matter which may remain, and the fluid 

 which it yields, when again pressed, is fermented and dis- 

 tilled. To my astonishment M. Richard informed me, 

 that by one charge of this press they could obtain 40 

 casks of w4ne, of about 50 gallons each. As the must 

 flows from the press, it is conveyed to the casks, where it 

 is suffered to ferment from five days to a month, accord- 

 ing to the strength of fermentation, the casks being always 

 kept full to permit the scum to escape. When the first 

 fermentation is decidedly finished, the wine is drawn oft* 

 into a clean cask, which has been previously sulphured. 

 This is the whole process of making the white wines of 

 Hermitage. They are more or less sweet, according to 

 the proportions of sweet and dry grapes which have been 

 united in producing them, for they are all made from two 

 varieties, the Marsan yielding a must^ which by itself 

 would give a sweet wine, and the Roussette a must which 

 by itself would yield a dry wine. 



The white wine of Hermitage, even after having under- 

 gone the complete fermentation above described, still 

 retains a disposition to effervesce when put into bottle. It 

 is said to be without question the finest white wine of 

 France, and will keep for 100 years, improving as it gets 



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