SOUTHEKN CULTIVATOR. 
277 
1. The wine ought to ferment so much the less time as 
it contains less saccharine matter— thus the light wines of 
Burgundy require to ferment no longer than from six to 
twelve hours. 
The Must ought to ferment a less time in the vat 
when it is intended to make sparkling wines. In this case, 
the must is seldom left longer in the vat than 24 hours be- 
fore it is put into casks. 
3. The fermentation ought to be of shorter duration, in 
proportion as it is the object to obtain wines more free 
from color. This should be, therefore, particularly attend- 
ed to in the manufacture of those wines, where the ab- 
sence of color is an essential requisite. 
4. The fermentative process is more active in warm i 
■weather and when the mass is large, than under the op- j 
posite circumstances; and, therefore, is sooner completed. 
5. When the object is to preserve to the wine the origi- 
nal perfume or flavor of the grape, the fermentation re- 
quires to be checked sooner than under ordinary circum- 
stances. 
6. On the contrary, the fermentation requires to be con- 
tinued longer, in proportion as the must is more thick and 
the saccharine matter more abundant, when the object is 
to manufacture wines for distillation ; if the fruit has been 
gathered on a very cold day; and lastly, it will be longer 
in proportion as it is the object to make deeper colored 
wine. 
These principles steadily kept in view will enable any 
person of ordinary knowledge to decide upon the impor- 
tant point in question. 
OF THE SURMUST. 
Wine out of the same vat is of different qualities ; that 
portion of the wine resting immediately in the centre is 
called in France .’^urmoui) and constitutes the most delicate 
and palest wine. 
WINE FROM THE PRESS. 
When the liquor is drawn off, the head or cap comes in 
contact with the mare or sediment ; the cap is a thick sub 
stance containing much wine, which is extracted with the 
pressing machine; however, before this substance is ex- 
pressed, the surface of the vintage cap should be carefully 
removed, as this portion, having been exposed to the ac- 
tion of atmospheric air has already gone beyond the 
spirituous fermentation — it is partly converted into vine- 
gar, and is often covered with raouldiness; the wine ex- 
pressed from the surface of the cap will quickly become ex- 
cellent vinegar, and should on no account be mixed with 
the other wine. There are distinctions between the wine 
obtained by pressure, and those of the first, second and 
third cuUivg, a word used to signify the operation of cut- 
ting the sediment at different times, the better to express 
the juice from it. The wine obtained by pressure is gene- 
ally mixed with that drawn from the vat. Wine of the 
first cutting is the stronger and higher colored; this por- 
tion having escaped the agitation in the vat, the stems 
whose presence adds to the fermentation, the skins or 
husks which contains the colorin?' principles, have remain- 
ed with this wine, and communicated strength and color 
to it. VVine of the second cutting partakes of the qualities 
of the first, and of the third, which becomes harsh, sharp, 
acidulous and high colored — the stems, skins and seeds 
are expressed together, and the juice of these different sub- 
stances, though not appertaining by their nature to the 
juice of the grape, are mixed with it; the product of these 
three cuttings when mixed, makes a high colored and 
strong wine, of good keeping; sometimes it is mixed with 
the wine obtained by drawing, to give it body, color and 
duration. When the sediment is intended for the acetous 
fermentation, the first cutting is the only one used. Great 
care is required in the preparation of hogsheads for re- 
ceiving the wine — when they are new, the bitterness and 
astringent taste of the wood will be imparted to the wine, 
:f not prevented. The remedy is to wash them several 
times with warm water holding salt in dissolution ; if the 
hogsheads have been used, the top should be taken out, 
and the whole washed with warm water and rinced with 
wine ; if they have contracted a bad smell and mouldiness 
they should be singed, or rather burnt entirely. When 
the hogsheads are washed one quart or two of boiling 
must, or an infusion of peach leaves should be poured in 
them ; the young shoots of the peach trees might be pick- 
ed and preserved in alcohol for rincing the hogsheads. 
The ancients used to perfume their wine — a trifling quan- 
tity of aromatic substances is sufficient to produce that ef- 
fect. To imitate Nature is not the destroying of those 
rules by which she is generally guided. 
USE OF THE SEDIMENT. 
The sediment after pressure acquires the hardness of 
stone ; it serves for different purposes ; it is cut up, mois- 
tened, packed up in hogsheads, and covered over with a 
layer of earth and straw, for feeding cattle in winter — 
cows should, however, be moderately fed with it, as it oc- 
casions their milk to turn ; in some countries the sediment 
is distilled, but this alcohol is bad tasted. Vinegar can be 
obtained from the sediment by cutting and exposing it to 
action of the air, and then pressing it; but in order to do 
this it should not be cut when taken out of the vat, the 
sediment may, in like manner, be burned — 4000 weight of 
the sediment will yield 500 weight of ashes, and by the 
evaporation of their leys 110 weight of pot-ash, which, as 
a commercial article, is of good sale. 
MANAGEMENT OF WINE IN THE HOGSHEAD. 
Wine, when introduced into hogsheads, has not attain- 
ed its last degree of elaboration ; it has yet to go through 
a fermentative process, which is called insensible fermen- 
tation — at first, however, it is perceptible : the liquor be- 
comes muddy ; the carbonic gas disengages itself with a 
slight hissing ; the wine froths, and runs over the bung 
hole, which requires them to to be covered with a tile, or 
a grape leaf having a light weight — the carbonic gas in- 
creases the volume of the liquid — in proportion, however, 
as the gas is disengaged, the mass of the wine diminishes 
and this should be watched attentively in order to supply 
the vacant space from time to time with new wine, so as 
keep the casks always full. This process is denominated 
in France ouiller, which may be rendered, up ; the 
hogshead is filled up every day during the first month ; 
every four days during the second, and every eight days 
until the racking takes place. The management of wine 
in hogsheads varies much, and ought to be left to the ex- 
perience acquired on that matter in the different wine coun- 
tries. 
“ In Oporto,* the complete fermentation of the must 
takes place in the vat. 
“ In Madeira, the second or insensible fermentation is 
carried on in hogsheads, and the wine is racked at the 
end of three or four months.” 
RACKING OF WINE. 
The rules to be observed for the racking of wine are 
few. The light wines of Burgundy and the delicate vines 
of Champagne, especially the sparkling wines, and the 
strong wines of our Southern departments, require different 
management — this operation in all cases must be govern- 
ed by the principles heretofore laid down in this instruc- 
tion. As soon as the liquid assumes perfect stillness, the 
wine is made : by clarification, it acquires a new quality; 
it is the means of preventing the wine to become sour. 
Clarification is performed of itself by length of time; a 
sediment is deposited by degrees at the bottom and on the 
sides of the hogshead ; the wine throws off every sub- 
stance that is not in a complete state of dissolution ;t this 
^Thi.-? article and the next is taken from Ree’s new Clyclopczdia . 
tin all strong (natural) wines, there is a residuum of undecum- 
posed sugar, which never separate.^ Irom it. 
