VI T 
It is not the fame, when the {hones are left and put In- 
to the tun with the wine, becaufe then they will eafily 
force; whereas this inconvenience never happens when 
the Grapeshave been ftoned, for this reafon it ought 
always to be done : one is lure to have wine well 
made, and fuch as may be kept many years without 
fpoiling, according to the time that it has been left 
to ferment. 
And if all our red wines were made in this manner, 
we fhould not have occafion to iay, as it hath been 
faid for a long time, that our wines are harih and 
coarfe, for it rauft be agreed, that it is nothing but 
the ftones that gives it this bad quality •, which is how- 
ever accidental, fince I have ottered a method to re- 
medy it, which may eafily be put in pradice. 
Many citizens complain, that the merchants will not 
give a greater price for the wine whofe Grapes have 
been ftoned, than for that which has not, but in the 
mean time it is better ; it does indeed coft fomething 
more in making it after this manner, in that it takes 
up more time in preffing. 
Upon this account many citizens have difcontinued 
the ftoning their Grapes, but I do not approve of 
that ; we ought to fpare nothing to make good wine ; 
and I am perfuaded that there will always be found 
merchants reafonable enough to make a diftindion 
between a wine, the Grapes of which have been ftoned, 
and that which has not, not only by their tafte, but 
in the price too. 
As the Grapes that are fermented without their ftones 
are fubjed to grow ropy, it is good to prevent this 
inconvenience in gathering them before they come to 
their full maturity, and to give them but little fer- 
mentation ; it can then never be too thick, becaufe 
the Grape ftones not being there, it is impoffible 
they fhould force it. 
During the time that the wine is working in the vat, 
one may pierce the calks, and put into each of them 
about a pint of water ; it fhould be boiling hot, or at 
leaft very hot •, this will purify the veffels, and render 
them more tight. 
The hole of the bung being well flopped, as foon as 
the hot water has been put in, it fhould be fhaken 
and turned on all Tides, to be able to fee if it has vent 
in any place. 
Some pretend, that this hot water will take away the 
tafte of the calks, but I very much doubt of this. 
In order to make this experiment, it is requifite, 
that one be firft fure that the cades have any bad tafte. 
When the cafks have been feafoned and drained as dry 
as may be, they muft be placed upon the Hillings, and 
there let firm with ftones, or fome other thing, to hin- 
der them from rolling while they are filling. 
The balket that is hung up by means of a prop to re- 
ceive and hold the Grapes and {kins which fall from 
the middle of the prefs into the wooden pipe, ought 
to be well clofed up to hinder the ftones from going 
into the cafks when they are filling •, becaufe when the 
wine boils, it calls out the fcum, lee, {kins, and 
ftones, in order to purify itfelf ; and fometimes a fmall 
quantity of thefe is fufficient to flop entirely the holes 
of the cafks. 
But to prevent this accident, one may nail, at the 
fmall hole, at which the wine runs down, a fmall 
lattice of brafs wire, the holes of which muft be very 
fine ; then there would but a few of the {kins pafs, 
and no ftones •, and the bafket, which is very trou- 
blefome when one would empty the pipe, would be 
ufelefs. 
One may yet, for the greater fecurity, have another 
grate, and fallen it with nails, above the focket on 
the infide of the funnel •, but this grate muft be raifed 
three or four fingers, to the end that the {kins may 
not hinder the wine from palling. 
Before the marc is begun to be put upon the middle of 
the prefs, I fuppofe the prefs to be in fuch condition, 
that nothing is wanting of all the utenfils that is ne- 
ceffary, for it would be an imprudence to have at this 
very moment, any thing wanting that is necefifary for 
the making a marc. 
The fcrew being the moll brittle and moil nedefiary 
part belonging to a prefs, a mafter ought always to 
have one in referve, ready to put in, in cafe of need. 
In like manner the feet of the beams lhould be exa- 
mined fome time before the vintage, that they be not 
rotten, for that is the place they commonly fail in ;> 
and when this happens, it is not fo eafy to remedy it 
as it is to remedy a broken fcrew. 
In order to make the beams of a prefs laft a long 
time, when they are good of themfelves, it ought to 
be fo contrived, that they may always have the air 
under the middle of the prefs * s efpecially at the end 
of thefe pieces, there ought not to be either any marc 
or earth, and therefore it fhould be hindered from 
falling there. 
Some make a fmall piece of brick work round each, 
of thefe beams, and that is the beft precaution that 
can be taken to make them laft a long time. 
After the prefs has been put in order, and the wine 
has had its degree or time in the vat that it ought to 
have, or they can give it, it muft be put upon the 
middle of the prefs. 
When it is at a great diftance from the vat, they make 
ufe of a fcuttle or bafket, or if it be near, of a pail ; 
which they let drain upon a board, which bears at one 
end upon the vat, where it is faftened with a nail, or 
other thing, and the other upon the middle of the 
prefs ; this board fhould be bordered on both hides 
with ledges, ftrait and well joined, and about an inch 
in height, to hinder what drains out of the bafket 
from running on the ground. 
A piece of wood, with a hollow or channel about an 
inch deep, would be much better than this board 
with ledges, for they cannot be with eafe fo clofely 
joined, but that the wine will find fome chinks to 
run out at, which will not be ill the wood thus hol- 
lowed. 
Some, in order to empty their vats the more eafily, 
put in a pipe, thro 5 which they draw the wine clear 
through a little bucking tub made for this purpofe *, 
out of which they take the wine in a pail or pannier, 
to empty it into the cafks. 
For this purpofe the vat muft be fet high on a Hilling 
or gauntry, and the earth hollowed at the place where 
the pipe is placed. 
Before the wine is drawn off clear, you muft always 
begin to keep off the coyer of the vat, in order to 
prevent the wine from forcing ; and this muft be 
done in fuch a manner, that he who empties has not 
the trouble of lifting it up fo high to put it in the 
fcuttle; 
I own that this manner of emptying a vat is very com- 
modious, and fliall in the following article fpeak of 
the inconveniency that may happen thence. 
The marc being placed on the middle of the prefs, 
they cover it with a board, with bolfters, cufhions, 
and bags or pillows. There muft be two rows of 
thele laft, and fometimes three, when the marc is 
thin, becaufe by how much lefs the fcrew appears, by 
fo much lefs is it in danger of breaking ; and as the 
marc will be thick, according as they have ordered 
ir, there muft be fome rows of the bags retrenched 5 
for it is fufficient, that there is a certain diftance be- 
tween the wheel and the fcrew, which would not be 
fo, if the marc were very thick, or there were many 
facks. 
There is no need to put the ring of the rope into the 
hook, before the wheel has been lowered on the bags 
and that you have examined if all is made even, and 
that none of the bags are removed. 
Before you begin to lower the wheel upon the baos, 
the fcrew ought to be well greafed above the nut of ft' 
and alfo below, when it touches the bags. 
They alfo greafe that part of the fcrew that was with- 
in the nut fcrew, before they have brought it down to 
the point where it ought to be ; for the firft operation 
after the plank of the axle-tree has been let down, and 
before the loofening, the fcrew muft be foaped on the 
places where it has had none. 
14 I 
( 
White 
