2o4 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
carried gently to the vat, besides, this juice, which runs out ! 
of itself, quickly ferments, and undergoes an alteration in ! 
the air, which should take place only in the vat. i 
The manner of preparing the grapes for fermentation I 
varies in different countries, and it is necessary that the j 
reason of these variations should be known. j 
PULLING THE GRAPES FROJI THE BUNCH, (c) 
Al’e the grapes to be pulled from the bunch or not'? 
Upon this question opinions are divided ; it is. however, 
easily solved, . I 
The grapes should be separated, not separated, or part- 
ly separated, from the bunch, according to the season, or 
the quality of wine you wish to obtain. 
CIRCUMSTANCES OPPOSED TO PULLING THE GRAPES FR03I THE 
BUNCH. j 
The stem of the bunch is different from the grapes. It j 
has a harsh and sour taste, which it communnicates more j 
more or less. 
But experience has proved that in damp places where 
vines are almost insipid, this natural insipidity is corrected 
by the slight harsh tastes of the stern. Sometimes wine 
made with grapes separated from the bunch, becomes 
slimy. At Orleans, where the experiment has been tried, 
it has on that account been abandoned. 
This separation yields a wine often flat and a generally 
more difficult to keep. 
Fermentation is more active and regular when this 
separation has not taken place ; the stem thin becomes an 
useful leaven. 
The white grapes are never separated from the bunch. 
The stem rendering the wine more spirituous, the grapes 
are never separated from it, w'hen the wine is intended for 
distillation. 
CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH REQUIRE THE GRAPES TO BE PULLED 
FROM THE BUNCH. 
The perfume and flavor of wine are preserved by pul- 
ling the grapes from the bunch. 
Grapes, then, are pulled from the bunch, to obtain deli- 
cate wine — when the grapes have not reached perfect ma- 
turity — when the vine has been frozen, which, of course, 
hastens the moment of gathering, and when wines are 
naturally generous. 
It is essential to separate the grapes for those wines 
which have strength and body enough without the stem. 
MANNER OF SitPARATIt'TG GRAPES FROM THE BUNCH. 
Grapes are separated from the bunch by means of a 
threepronged fork, moved circularly in the vat, by Avhich. 
they are detached, and the stem is brought to the surface 
and taken out with the hand. 
PRE.SSING OF THE GRAPES, (d) 
Whether the grapes be pulled from the bunch or not, it 
is absolutely necessary to press them — they should be 
pressed as they come from the vineyard; care must be 
taken to press them ail equally. 
This process is nearig tne same every where — a wmoden 
box is used, the .sides of whicli are made of laths near 
enough to prevent tlie grapes from running through. The j 
box is placed over the vat, and supported by two beams | 
placed on the edgi’s ; the grapes are poured in, and a 
laborer with w’ooden shoes presses them. The juice runs 
through, and the grapes when completely pressed are 
emptied into the vat by raising a board forming one of the 
sides of tlie box. 
Some farmers press the grapes in buckets, and this 
method is perhaps the best, but more tedious, ajtd only ! 
adapted to small vfineyards. 
To press the grapes in the vat: to take off the must 
which floats on the top : to put it in hogsheads to ferment, 
and press the residue or dregs immediately, is a tolerably 
good process. The juice of the whole grape is expressed 
by this means ; the stem without remaining with the 
mitst communicates to it part of its sharpness. 
The operation must be complete: for, if the next day 
fresh grapes be added to those already pressed, and begin- 
ning to ferment, a new fermentation occurs, which will 
produce a difference in the product, 
PREPARATION OF VATS. 
The vats are made either of stone or wood : they must 
be washed with warm water before thej/ receive the vint- 
age ; they are v/hite-washed two or three times inside and 
out. 
The proportions of the white-wash are one pound of 
quick lime to eight or ten quarts of water, (c) 
FEEMENTATIOX. 
It may be useful to give an idea of fermentation. 
Vegetable substances are susceptible of fermentation. 
It is a motion excited by the assistance of water and heat ; 
a substance subjected to its operation is decomposed and 
soon changes its smell, taste and other qualities, so as to 
be no longer the same substance. 
The principles which constituted the original substance 
have disunited and combined again, to form another after- 
fermentation. These principles, which produce such dit- 
fernt results, may be compared to cyphers, whose effect in 
calculation is so much modified by a simple change of 
position. 
SPIRITUOUS FERMENTATION. 
Some vegetable matters are susceptible of spirituous fer- 
mentation, producing a vinous liquor, from which Brandy 
may be obtained by distillation. 
The juice of grapes, apples, pears and every other fruit 
sweet to the taste, yields by fermentation a vinous liquor, 
from which brandy may be extracted. 
The name of wine is particularly given to the vinous 
liquor obtained from the juice of the grape. 
The small number of vegetable substances susceptible of 
spirituous fermentation would, without the assistance of 
art, like all others, become sour, rot, and pass rapidly into 
a total decomposition. 
OF THE CONSTITUENT PRINCIPLES OF THE MUST. 
The juice pressed from the grape is called must* Its 
most essential jDi’inciples are ; 
Water ; Tartar ; The Mucoso-saccharine matterif 
[or saccimrine mucilage,] Sugar. 
Is is necessary to know these three last principles, or be 
condemned to make wine mechanically. 
A fanner, wlio cannot read, may understand those civil 
and criminal laws which concern him; why should he 
not-, in like manner, know* some of the laws of nature 
which affect his interest'? Without this knowledge he is 
the worst instrument, of his farm — the vat performs its duty, 
but he does not perform his, which is to conduct the fer- 
mematiou to the best result. 
OF WATER. 
Every substance submitted to spirituous fermentation 
requires a certain proportion of water. 
If this proportion be too great in the must, the excess is 
to be evaporated; must containing too much water fer- 
ments very slowly, and produces a wine weak and liable 
to decomposition. 
If the proportion of v/ater be too small, more must be 
added ; thus the wine known by the name of Hydromel is 
made by mixing honey with water. 
Grapes that are dry cannot undergo a spirituous fer- 
mentation ; but if the water which they have lost by desic- 
cation he restored, they will make wine. 
The juice of grapes when perfectly ripe contains the ex- 
act proportion required for fermentation ± 
Vfater, then, is one of the constituent principles of ter- 
■-■The French word is ‘•mout.'’ 
tAfocoso-sucre. 
fNot in all cases. 
