Sept.] THE VINEYARD. 49 4 
The method of making Red Wines. 
Red wines must always be made from black grapes, for besides 
the main pulp or core which is white in these, as well as the others, 
there sticks to the inside of the skin a considerable body of rich 
pulp of a deep red, more so in some kinds than others; this 
gives the colour to the wine, when extracted by a due process of 
fermentation. The colour of red wine is said to be heightened by 
gathering the grapes in the heat of the day, but this is productive 
of a considerable deficiency in the quantity, though the quality may 
be improved thereby. 
Taking these considerations into view, your grapes are to be 
collected with the same care as before directed in the making of 
white wines. Having a sufficient quantity gathered, put them into 
the vat, by degrees, treading and mashing them effectually as you 
fill it, till quite full and the liquor floating above them; then work 
the pulp and the liquor effectually together, leaving all the parts as 
os e as possible, and so let it remain to ferment. 
You ought to be provided with a cover for the top of the vat, 
perforated with holes and made so as to easily slip down into it and 
sink a little under the superfices of the liquor, to keep the skins 
and pulpy parts from coming into contact with the air during the pro- 
cess of fermentation; for when this is exposed, and it tends to swim 
on the top, it very shortly becomes acid, and communicating this to 
the liquor greatly injures it. As the skins give the colour to the 
wine, nothing is better than the keeping of them down, without pres- 
sing, during this process, for to believe that these and other dregs, 
floating on the top, impede the evaporation of the spirit, is a thing 
improbable, since it requires a good cork to stop it. 
The moment of drawing off the wine is of great importance, but 
generally, however, without rule. It would be impossible to pre- 
scribe a certain number of days for an operation liable to so many 
vicissitudes, as much through the qualities of the grapes, as other cir- 
cumstances. But as the great object of fermentation is the conver- 
sion of the Must or expresed juice into wine, no drawing should take 
place until that is effected. This moment which might appear un- 
certain may be ascertained with tolerable precision by means of a 
tin tube open at one end and perforated all over with holes of a 
small size, that the grains or stones of the fruit may not pass through 
when dipped into the vat; inside of this a small wooden cylinder 
must be placed, upheld at its bottom by a cork plate that can work 
up and down freely in the tube: this instrument is to be plunged 
into the vat and kept there, the liquor getting in through the holes 
of the tube, will raise the cork to its surface, to which cork the 
wooden pin or cylinder is affixed. This latter, must be marked in 
different heights, which will be seen to rise, as the vinous fermenta- 
tion increases. 
With this instrument the precise moment in which the wine 
is to be drawn off may be established with great exactness; this is 
generally done when the cylinder has attained to the highest and be- 
