BOOK THIRD. 



THE ART OF MAKING WINE. 



CHAPTER I. 



OF THE VIYTAGE. 



The art of making wine comprises a long series of operations of 

 different degrees of delicacy, but all of equal importance, in consum- 

 mating the article to a degree of excellence and durability fit for the 

 purposes ot commerce. Two faults in the fixing of the time for the 

 vintag e r.ia v be noticed; the one when from a fear of the grapes being 

 robbed, tx>ej are gathered before they are full ripe ; the other when 

 they are left to hang too long, which makes the wine weak, hard to 

 clear, and very apt to be full of phlegm. 



The mark of the proper term of ripeness, is when the pelUcle is 

 thin, transparent, and does not yield short to the teeth } when the co- 

 ]our is at the deepest ; the white becoming grey, the reddish purple 

 deep black ; when the stem of the bunch is dry and woody, and the 

 colour brown like the bark; when the cluster depends, hanging down- 

 wards visibly, for the maturity increases the weight ; when, which 

 is an unfailing sign, the berry comes off with a touch, leaving on the 

 stem a transparent blob of the pulp, of a winy colour. 



This term is generally waited for in all the south of France ; but 

 in the more northerly parts, where the early frosts of September £md 

 October are much to be feared, they gather earlier. Dead ripe black 

 grapes may, m extreme cases, be left to the attacks of slight frosts; 

 but if imripe, a frost does them great injury ; there will be a loss of 

 one fiflh in the quantity of the wine : and it will be weak, pale, and apt 

 to Four and turn ropy 



