106 



WINES OF 



older ; and when very old, acquiring a similarity to the 

 white wines of Spain. 



For fermenting the red wines, Messrs. Richard have 

 two vats, each capable of containing 16,000 gallons. 

 Every day as the grapes are brought from the vineyard 

 they are trodden in troughs, and then emptied into the 

 vats, and while the vats are filHng, a man gets into them 

 once a day to tread down the surface. The object of this 

 is to prevent the surface from becoming sour by exposure 

 to the air, and to render the fermentation as equal as 

 possible through the whole mass. When it becomes too 

 deep for a man to tread it to the bottom, he suspends 

 himself by the middle from a plank across the vat. The 

 duration of the fermentation is very uncertain, depending 

 upon the state of the weather, and the ripeness of 

 the grapes. Messrs. Richard ferment the finest grapes 

 in one vat, and those of an inferior quality in the other. 

 I tasted the wine of both vats of the last vintage ; the 

 first was made of the best grapes, which were also gathered 

 in dry and warm weather; the second quality was made 

 from the inferior grapes, and from others which had been 

 gathered during rain and cold weather. 



The fermentation of the first was over in five days, and 

 its present value is 300 francs the cask of 210 litres (that 

 is, about as many bottles), the other continued fermenting 

 in the vat for twenty days, and its present value is only 

 80 francs for the same quantity. 



The finest Ciarets of Bourdeaux are mixed with a por- 

 tion of the finest red wine of Hermitage, and four-fifths 

 of the quantity of the latter which is produced, are thus 

 employed. The wines are racked off the lees in spring, 

 and sulphured. A very small piece of sulphured match 



