To proceed with the steps towards the conversion of the must into wine. " Before beginning the vintage it is nreessary to be assured that the fruit which is to be gathered has attained the proper and necessary maturity, for on this almost always depends, iu a great measure, the quality of the wine. The cultivator Is liable to fall into one of two errors, which, though very different and opposite to each other, are not less hurtful to the wine, especially to the red. which is more delicate and susceptible of injury in making than the white. If gathered too soon, and before the grape has attained to the fit degree of maturity, the wine is likely to be raw (ivrt). which is the greatest fault it can have, and the most difficult to correct ; the wines having this defect becoming generallt hard when old. The other error, of less consequence, is leaving the grapes till they are too ripe, which may then rot before gathered." (In the north of Franco this is more liable to occur; in the south, less so : nt Langoo. between Bor deaux and Toulouse, a white sweet wine is prepared from spoiled grapes.) "The wine made from grapes too ripe acquires a sweetish taste, which causes it to work a long while in the barrels, and renders it sour and difficult to keep. The wine attacked by this vice requires greater care than any other ; for if neglected ever so little, either in racking or filling, it easily becomes sour. However, it is better to gather late than too soon. (Paguierre, p. 47.) At Tokay, where the grapes are allowed to hang on the vines till some of them lose their globular shape and transparency it ruckenheeren), the gatherers put these into a separate basket ; and the juice which exudes from them simply by the pressure of one above the other is carefully collected, and known under the name of Tokoyer-emenz This thick syrupy liquid does not ferment, and always remains thick and muddy. It is not an article of commerce, as the cultivators keep it to add to the finest wine (called .Ausbrach) either at the beginning of the fermentation or at the termi nation. The former is the preferable mode.
We may take Clarets as an illustration of the process of manufae turing: that being one of the most carefully prepared kinds of wine, it will serve as an example of all. In the words of Paguierre (' Wines of Bordeaux ), " the proprietors of the vineyards, and especially of the first growths, after having prepared the wine-vessels, gather the grapes together and pick them, that is, set aside all the bunches which are rotten, those which do not seem quite ripe, or which are withered, and, finally, all which might hurt the quality of the wine. Their first care then is to make a principal vat of the best fruit, which is called the mother-cask (eure-n.ere), into which, after picking, they put the first and best grapes which arrive, without their stalks, and without treading them, till they are from fifteen to twenty inches deep ; after which they throw about two gallons of old Cognac or Armagnac upon them, and then another bed of picked grapes, followed by two gallons more of brandy, and so on till the vat is full. When full they add spirit of wine, taking for proportion about four gallons of spirits of wine for a wine-vat of from thirty to thirty-six tuns. It must he observed that the quantity of brandy or spirits of wino depends on the quality of the vintage ; for if bad, more must be put in order to excite fermentation, and replace what it wants by detect of maturity. (Of
late it has become customary to add starch-sugar when the grapes are deficient in saccharine principles.) Raisins are often used for the inferior German wines. (Mulder, p. 51, English Translation.) The cure mere being filled, it is shut hermetically, and is well covered with blankets, in order that the air may not penetrate. This vat is left in this state for three weeks or a month without being touched. A small brass cock is put into the side of the vat, nt about the height of the third of its depth from the bottom, in order to be able to judge at will of the progress of the fermentation, and to know the moment when, the ebullition having subsided, it may be racked off and put into casks, prepared beforehand by scalding and rinsing with a little spirits of wine. It is known that the liquor is fit to be drawn off when it has become cool and is sufficiently clear. While the cure mere is at work, the vintage is continued in the usual manner ; that is, as the grapes are brought in and picked, they are trodden in the press, and put with their stalks into the vats, where the fermentation takes place naturally. These vessels are not entirely filled ; about one foot or fifteen inches are left for the fermentation, which sometimes overflows, especially when the vintage has attained perfect maturity. They call chapeau the stalks, seeds, and skins, fie., which float on the surface of the wine. The vintage being finished. and the vats lightly covered, they are left to ferment, teeing earn to visit them twice a day. To rack them it is necessary to wait till they are quite cold, which is from eight to twelve days. From the moment that the cask has become sufficiently cool, it is necessary to draw it off; for if you leave the wine upon the lees (saurre). or with its crust (, ha/Kau), it would take the taste of the stalks, which is very disagreeable and difficult to get rid of, and is a great defect. If the cask be racked off too soon, the fermentation would not be cemplete, and the wine would run the risk of working too much ill the barrel, and of not keeping. When the vats are found to be in a proper state for racking, the wine is drawn off into barrels prepared for the purpose, which are tilled about two-thirds or three-fourths; after which the cure-mere is emptied, and the wino is poured in equal portions into these casks so as to fill them ; and the remainder is employed to till up, every six or eight days, what is consumed by evaporation, or what the casks have ullagecl. All pro prietora have not the means or localities to make a cure...ere by means; of old brandy or spirits of wine, either because their vintage is not sufficiently extensive, or because they do not poasess the things neces eary for its execution. But the fermentation succeeds much better in large vessels, especially when prepared as above, than in the lesser ones used by small proprietors. The casks, being full, are left about eight days without being bunged ; care, however, is taken for the time to cover the bung-bole with a stone, brick, or piece of wood. They are filled up every two days, and when bunged, every eight days at least, till the wine is in a state to allow the cask to be kept with the bung-hole at the side, which is not till after eighteen months.