Working ceafe, they let the Wine (land fame days, 
and then rack it. This firing is only ufed in cold 
years, when the Wine falls out green. 
To fet old Wine a fretting, being deadifh, and dull of 
tafte : take of Hum two gallons to a hogfhead, put it 
hot upon the Wine'-, then fet a pan of fire before the 
hogfhead, which will then ferment till all the fweetnefs 
of the ftum is communicated to the Wine, which 
thereby becomes brisk: and pleaiant. 
Some ufe this Humming at any time ; fome in Au- 
gu It only, when the W T ine hath a difpofition to fret of 
itfelf, more or lefs ftum to be added, as the Wine re- 
quires. 
The belt time to rack Wine is in the decreafe of the 
moon, and when the Wine is free from fretting, the 
wind being at north-eaft or north-weft, and not at 
fouth, the fky ferene, free from thunder and lightning. 
Having thus given an account of the different prac- 
tices of the vignerons, vintners, and Wine-coopers, in 
the management of their feveral Wines, I fhall next 
offer a few things which have occurred to me from 
fome obfervations and experiments, relating to the 
making of Wines in England. 
The Grapes, being ripe, fhould be cut when they 
are perfectly dry, and carried into a large dry room, 
where they muft be fpread upon Wheat ftraw, in fuch 
a manner as not to lie upon each other •, in this place 
they may remain a fortnight, three weeks, or a month, 
according as there is conveniency, obferving to let 
them have air every day, that the moifture perfpired 
from the Grapes may be carried off. Then, having 
the prefifes and other things in order, you fhould pro- 
ceed in the following manner : firft, all the Grapes 
fhould be pulled off the bunches, and put into tubs, 
being careful to throw away fuch as are mouldy, rot- 
ten, or not ripe, which, if mixed with the others, 
will fpoil the Wine ; and if the ftalks of the bunches 
are preffed with the Grapes, there will be an auftere 
juice come from them, which will render the Wine 
acid and fharp ; this, I fear, has fpoiled a great quan 
tity of Wine which was made in England, which, if 
otherwife managed, might have proved very good ; 
for w T e find in France, and other Wine countries, 
where perfons are defirous of having good Wine, 
they always pick the Grapes from off the ftalks before 
they are preffed, though indeed the common vigne- 
rons, who have more regard to the quantity than qua- 
lity of their Wines, do not praCtife this. But as in 
England we labour under the inclemency of climate, 
we fhould omit nothing of art which may be neceffary ' 
to help the want of fun. 
The Grapes, being thus carefully picked off, fhould 
be well preffed, and if it is defigned for red Wine, 
the hulks and flones fhould be put into the liquor, 
and if the feeds or flones of the Grapes are broken in 
the prefs, the Wine will have more flrength, which 
muft be put into a large vat, where the whole fhould 
ferment together five or fix days •, after which the 
Wine ihould be drawn off, and put into large calks, 
leaving the bung-hole open to give vent to the air 
which is generated by fermentation. But it muft be 
remarked, that after the Wine is preffed out, and put 
into the vat with the hulks, if it does not ferment in a 
day or two at moft, it will be proper to add a little 
warmth to the room by fires, which will foon put it 
into motion •, and for -want of this it often happens, 
where people prefs their Wine, and leave it to ferment 
in open cold places, that the nights, being cold, check 
the fermentation, and fo caufe the Wine to be foul, 
and almoft ever after upon the fret. This hufbandry 
is much praCtifed upon the Rhine, where they always 
have ftoves placed in the houfes where the Wine is 
fermented, wherein they keep fires every night, if the 
feafon is cold, while the Wines are fermenting. 
If white Wine is defired, then the hufks of the 
Grapes fhould not remain in the liquor above twelve 
hours, which will be long enough to fet it a ferment- 
ing ; and when it is drawn off, and put into other 
veffels, it fhould not remain there above two days be- 
fore it is drawn off again •, and this muft be repeated 
three or four times, which will prevent its taking any 
tincture from the hufks in fermenting. 
O 
When the greateft fermentation is over the Wine 
fhould be drawn off into frefh calks, which muft be 
filled to the top, but the bung-hole fhould be left 
open three weeks, or a month, to give vent to the 
generated air, and that the fcum may run over; and 
as the Wine fubfides in the calks, they fhould be care- 
fully refilled with Wine of the fame fort from a ftore 
calk, which fhould be provided for that purpofe ; but 
this muft be done with much care, left, by haftily re- 
filling the calks, the fcum, which is naturally produced 
upon all new Wines fhould be broken thereby, which 
will mix with the Wine, and foul it, caufing it to 
take an ill tafte •, therefore it would be proper to 
have a funnel, which fhould have a plate at the fmall 
end, bored full of little holes, that the Wine may 
pafs through in fmall drops, which will prevent its 
breaking the fcum. 
After the Wine has remained in this ftate a month or 
fix weeks, it will be neceffary to flop up the bung- 
hole, left, by expoftng it too much to the air, the 
Wine fhould grow flat, and lofe much of its fpirit 
and flrength ; but it muft not be quite flopped up, 
but rather fhould have a pewter or giafs tube, of about 
half an inch bore, and two feet long, placed in the 
middle of the bung-hole. The ufe of this tube is to 
let the air which is generated by the fermentation of 
the Wine pafs off, becaufe this, being of a rancid na- 
ture, would fpoil the Wine, if it were pent up in the 
cafk ; and in this tube there may always remain fome 
Wine, to keep the cafk full as the Wine fubfides ; 
and, as it fhall be neceffary, the Wine in the tube 
may be eafily replenilhed. For want of rightly un- 
derftanding this affair, a great qnantity of the choiceft 
Wines of Italy, and other countries, have been loft. 
A great complaint of this misfortune I received from 
a very curious gentleman in Italy, who fays, “ Such 
“ is the nature of this country Wines in general, (nor 
“ are the choiceft Chianti’s excepted), that at two 
“ feafons of the year, viz. the beginning of June and 
“ September, the firft when the Grapes are in flower, 
“ and in the other when they begin to ripen, fome of 
“ the beft Wines are apt to change, efpecially at the 
u latter feafon ; not that they turn eager, but take a 
“ moft unpleafant tafte, like that of a rotten Vine 
“ leaf, , which renders them not only unfit for drink- 
“ ing, but alfo to make vinegar of, and is called the 
“ fettembrine. And what is moft ftrange is, that 
“ one cafk drawn out of the fame vat, fhould be in- 
“ fecled, and another remain perfectly good, and yet 
“ both have been kept in the fame cellar. 
“ As this change happens not to Wines in fiafks, (tho* 
“ that will turn eager), I am apt to attribute it to 
“ fome fault in refilling the cafk, which muft always 
“ be kept full, which, either by letting alone too 
“ long, till the decreafe be too great, and the fcum 
“ there naturally is on all Wines, thereby being too 
“ much dilated, is fubjeCt to break, or elfe being 
“ broken, by refilling the cafk, gives it that vile 
“ tafte. But againft this there is a very ftrong ob- 
“ jeCtion, i. e. that this defeCt feizes the Wine only 
“ at a particular feafon, viz. September ; over which 
« if it gets, it will keep good many years, fo the 
“ cafe is worthy the enquiry of naturalifts, fince it is 
“ evident, that moft Wines are more or lefs affeCted 
“ with this diftemper, during the firft year after 
“ making.” 
Upon receiving this information from Italy, I con- 
fulted the Rev. Dr. Flales of Teddington, who was 
then making many experiments on fermenting liquors, 
and received from him the following curious folution 
of the caufe of this change in Wine, which I fent 
over to my friend in Italy, who has tried the experi- 
ment, and it has accordingly anfwered his expecta- 
tion, in preferving the Wine which was thus managed, 
perfectly good. He has alfo communicated the ex- 
periment to feveral vignerons in feveral parts of Italy, 
