342 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
7. That the corrective of sour wines is Calcined Mag- 
nesia, 
OBSERVATIOXS OX MR. DeVAUX’S INSTRUCTION. 
BY THOMAS m’caLL, OF RETREAT. 
(a) Burgundy grapes ripe at Retreat from 20th to 25th 
of July, 1831. The Blue Favorite alias Tinta, Violet Clus- 
ter, and violet Madeira grapes, ripe 29th July and 3d of 
August. Heat in wet weather 65 to 82, and inordinary 
dry weather from 76 to OSdegrtes Fahrenheit — no danger 
of frost. 
(b) When vines are crowded with too much wood, and 
permitted to bear more grapes than the roots can nourish, 
the grapes ripen irregularly, do not color well or acquire 
a good portion of saccharine matter— such require gather- 
ing at three or four times ; if the vines are rightly pruned 
and allowed to bear only half or two thirds of the quan- 
tity of fruit, the colour will be more perfect, the juice rich- 
er, and the grapes may come in at twice gathering: the 
wine will be of better quality. 
(c) See Mandel’s observations. It is only necessary to 
strip a part of the berries from the stems; when the ber- 
ries are thin, to reduce the whole to probable full bunch- 
es ; in any other case it is unnecessary to separate the 
berries from the stems, except the grapes are of an aus- 
tere taste, and in making syrup (eisence) from partially 
dried grapes — essence is said to be much used in manu- 
facturing wine. The term in the vat regulates the quan- 
tity of tannin, bitter principle, to correct the insipidity of 
the must for wine. 
(d) Pressing should read Masking, which is breaking 
the skins of the grape, preparatory for the mashing tub or 
Yat. 
(e) Lime wash should not be used; and if used, it 
should be carefully washed off with hot water till perfectly 
clean and sweet. If the vat, or other vessel, has a musty 
smell, it should be unheaded and scorched by burning 
shavings or straw, as the coopers do, until slightly charred 
— scrape off the coal, and cleanse with hot water: if the 
cask has a sour smell, wash with ley of wood ashes to 
neutralize the acid, and carefully wash with hot water, and 
cold, till no bad smell remains. 
(f) This experiment is erroneous. A Paris pint is a 
fraction larger than an English wine quart ; consequently 
500 quarts French, make 250 gallons English wine mea- 
sures. There would be some loss by fermentation — say 
quantity is 240 gallons. A twelfth part of 240 is 20 gal- 
lons, the quantity yielded by distillation. 10 lbs. of sugar 
and 4 lbs of cream of tartar were added to a similar must, 
and fermented , yielded a fifth part of brandy, which is 
48 gallons, of 20 degrees of proof If Mr. DeVaux had 
furnished us with the specific gravity of his musts, and of 
his brandy, it would have been more explanatory of the 
quantity of dry alcohol contained in the brandy. I will 
suppose it to be of the same strength as that which Mr. 
Brande subjected to the test, which yielded 53.39 
as he calls it, but I understand it to mean 53.39 parts of 
alcohol in 100 of brandy. 
The first fermented must yielded of brandy 20 gals. 
The must with 1 0 lbs. of sugar yielded 48 “ 
Difference, product of 10 lbs. of sugar ^ “ 
I refer to Lavoisier’s Elements of Chemistry, Part 1, 
chapter XIII, on the decomposition of Vegetable Oxyds by 
the Vinous Fermentation, and in Table IV, I find that 10 
lbs. of sugar yielded 5.77 lbs. of dry or pure alcohol of 
the specific gravity 0.8293, temperature 55 degrees of 
Fahrenheit. 
In ascertaining the sp. gr. of solids or liquids, rain, or 
distilled water, temperature 55, is always unitv, and by 
the addition of cyphers is thus expressed, 1 ,0000 
Specific gravity of dry alcohol, 0,8293 
The difference of sp. gr. is the difference of density, bulk 
for bulk. A gallon of rain water weighs 133.68 ounces, 
avoirdupois, and measures 133.68 ounces. 
As water 1 . 0000 : Alcohol 0.8293 : 133. 68: 110.66 oz. 
The weight of a gallon of Alcohol, 5.77 lbs. is 92.32 oz. 
Alcohol 0. 8-293 : water 1.0000: 92.32: 1 1 1 . 32 ounces by 
measure of 92.32 oz by weight of Alcohol. 
-A s 53. 39 parts of Alcohol : lOG parts of brandy : 111.- 
32 : 208.5 ounces by measure, of brandy produced by 10 
lbs. of sugar, of the strengrh of that used by Mr. Brande. 
Divide 208.5 oz. by 133.68 oz. and the ratio, or quotient, 
is 1.56 gallon of brandy yielded by 10 lbs. of sugar instead 
of 28 g.-illons, is stated in Mr. DeVaux’s experiment. It 
would require nearly T80 lbs. of sugar in 250 gallons of 
must for wine, to produce the supposed result fiom add- 
ing 10 lbs. of sugar. 
According to the premises, I believe the. above is rightly 
stated : others may examine for themselves. 
(g) The signs of fermentation in the vat usually observ- 
ed by me, are : 
1st. Air bubbles to rise round the head, at the staves. 
2nd. Bubbles begin to rise through the head or cap, and 
when they begin to rise rather freely, it is time to draw 
the wine from the vat, and subject the must (broken 
grapes) to the action of the press. The time of fermenting 
in the vat varies with the heat of the weather, and rich- 
ness of the juice, or must, from 5 to 18 hours; but not 
longer in any case, in our warm climate. The outline of 
this practice is founded on Louis de St Pierre's book of 
instruction for his vine dressers at New Bordeaux, in South 
Carolina. He says : 
'■’■Red Wines. — Most possessors of Vineyards, who in- 
tend to make red wine, fancy they have no more to do 
but let it have more or less of the vat, according to the dif- 
ferent degree of tinge or deepness they intend it shall have. 
But these men egregiously deceive themselves, experience 
having shown as hiiherto, the necessity of using many 
other precautions to ensui'e success ; that is to give the 
wine the desired depth of color, without diminishing its 
other agreeable qualities.” “Therefoie, to prevent the 
evils of mismanagement in wine making, weare first of all 
to consider the nature of the season, which being hotter 
or colder, requires a particular government in the con- 
duct of wines intended to be of the red sort. In the 
second place, we must consider the nature of the wine, as 
whether it be of a fine or a coase kind : if the former, it is 
consequently more replete with spirit than wine of gre it- 
er body. For such wine, from four to five hours in the 
vat will be sufficient v/hen we intend it to be of a deep red. 
In this way the excellent wine of Cnulanges and its envir- 
ons are managed. It would acquire a husky taste, le 
gold de la grope, were it to be left in the vat for a longer 
space.” 
“Yet, if the season prove wet, it mav be left in the vat 
for a whole night. Wines which are too much fermented 
are always coarse.” 
“When wine happens to be of the coarser sort, that is, 
contains a less quantity of spirit [liveliness of taste and 
flavor, 1 suppose,] and has less of the seve, or principle of 
fermentation, it is usually left to ferment in the vat for a 
whole day; and even after, if we think it has not had 
enough of the vat, we delay putting it under the press for 
some small space longer ; as these wines never arrive at 
their perfeet state, but by the body they acquire in the 
vat ; their other qualities being but very slender.” 
(h) A good must for wine contains two important 
principles not named by DeVaux, viz : Aroma, which 
gives flavor; and tannin, or bitter, which corrects insipid- 
ity. The tannin, is more or less, in the juice and skins, 
but materially in the stems of the grapes. A protracted 
action in the vat before pressing, dissipates the aroma, 
and increases tha tannin to an injurious degree ; and this 
