120 



COTE D^OR. 



Ouvrard employing often from 400 to 450 vintagers 

 at the same time. For the red wine, the grapes as 

 they are brought in are thrown into the large cases or 

 troughs above described, and these trodden by a number 

 of men, with large wooden shoes, till the grapes are 

 nearly all broken. They are then taken up in baskets, 

 with interstices wide enough to allow the grapes to pass 

 through, when a portion of the stalks, generally about 

 two thirds, are taken out. If the whole of the stalks 

 were taken out, the quality of the wine, as has been re- 

 peatedly proved, would be inferior. The whole is then 

 put into the vat into which the must^ as it ran from the 

 treading, had been previously carried. With the number 

 of people employed, it requires a very short period to fill 

 a vat. A space of about 12 inches is left unfilled at the 

 top, and a sliding lid is then put over, which floats upon 

 the surface. As soon as the fermentation becomes violent, 

 the swelling of the mass lifts the lid to the height of six 

 inches above the mouth of the vat. As, however, the 

 skins and the stalks had previously risen to the surface, 

 none of the liquor escapes. A very small space, formed 

 by the looseness of the lid, is considered sufficient to allow 

 the gas to escape, until the rising of the lid allows a 

 greater space. And it is perhaps owing to the confine- 

 ment of the gas that the lid is raised to such a height. 

 If the weather had been very warm when the grapes were 

 gathered, and still continues warm, while the fermentation 

 is going forward, the wine is soon made. The fermenta- 

 tion is sometimes over in thirty hours, at other times it 

 continues 10, 12, and even 15 days. The best wine is 

 always produced from the most rapid fermentation. 

 When the fermentation slackens, the liquor begins to 

 subside, and when it is entirely over, sinks within the top 



