Part 9 (1/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 30.]
When violent fermentation has ceased, say after about ten or twelve days, and the must has become quiet, the cask should be closed with a tight bung, and the wine is left until it is clear. In about two to three months it ought to be perfectly clear and fine--is then racked, _i.e._, drawn from the lees, by means of a faucet, and put into clean, sweet casks. It is very important that the casks are ”wine-seasoned,”
that is, have no other tang than of wine. For must, fresh brandy or whiskey casks may be used, but after the wine has fermented, it will not do to use such, as the wine will acquire the smell and taste of the liquor. When a cask has been emptied, it should be carefully cleaned, as before described, by entering at the door, or with smaller casks, by taking out the head. After it is thoroughly cleansed, it may be fumigated slightly, by burning a small piece of sulphured paper, or a nutmeg in it, and then filled. To keep empty casks in good condition they should, after cleaning, be allowed to become thoroughly dry, when they are sulphured, closed tightly, and laid away in the cellar. The operation of sulphuring should be repeated every six weeks. If wanted for use, they are simply rinsed with cold water.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 31.]
For racking the wine, we should have: 1st a large bra.s.s faucet. 2d.
Pails of a peculiar shape, wider at the top, to prevent wastage. 3d. A wooden funnel, as shown in Fig. 31, to hold about six gallons. In racking--first carefully lift the bung of the cask, as the exclusion of air from above would cause a gurgling motion in the cask, if tapped below, which would stir up the lees in the bottom. Then, after having loosened with a hammer the wooden peg, closing the tap hole, let your a.s.sistant hold the pail opposite the hole, hold the faucet in your right hand, and with the left, withdraw the plug, inserting the faucet quickly. Drive it in firmly with a hammer, and you are ready for the work.
Do not fully open the faucet at first, because the first pailful is generally not quite clear, and should run slowly. You can keep this by itself; and this, and the last from the lees, is generally put into a cask together and allowed to settle again. It will make a good, clear wine after a few weeks. As soon as the wine runs quite clear and limpid, it can be put into the cask destined to receive it, and you can let it run as fast as it can be emptied. When the wine has run off down to the tap hole, the cask may be carefully raised on the other end, one inserting a brick or piece of board under it, while the other lifts gently and slowly. This may be repeated several times, as long as the wine runs clear; and even the somewhat cloudy wine may be put with the first pailful into a separate cask. As soon as it comes thick or muddy, it is time to stop. The lees are emptied out, and will, if distilled, make a fine flavored and very strong brandy.
This treatment can be applied to all white and light-colored wines, when it is not desirable to have a certain astringency in the wine. The Catawba, Concord, Herbemont, Delaware, Rulander, Ca.s.sady, Taylor, Louisiana, Hartford Prolific, and Cunningham should all be treated in a similar manner. The Concord, although it will, under this treatment, make only a light red wine, of which the color can be changed to dark red by fermenting on the husks, is not desirable if treated in the latter manner; as the peculiar foxy aroma of the grape will be imparted to the must to such a degree, as to make the flavor disagreeable, I shall recur to the subject of flavor in wines in another chapter.
To make red wine, the must should be fermented on the husks, as generally the darkest color is desired, and also, a certain astringency, which the wine will acquire princ.i.p.ally from the seeds, skins, and stems of the grapes, which contain the tannin. The grapes are mashed, and put into the fermenting vat, of the kind described before, with false bottoms. After the vat is filled about three-fourths the false bottom is put on, the husks are pressed down by it, until they are covered about six inches by the must, and the cover put on. It is seldom desirable here to ferment longer than three days on the husks, if the weather is warm--in a temperature of 60--two days will often be enough, as the wine will become too rough and astringent by an excessively long fermentation. Only experience will be the proper guide here, and also the individual taste. It will be generally time to press, when the must has changed its sweet taste, and acquired a somewhat rough and bitter one. Where it is desired to make a very dark colored wine, without too much astringency, the grapes should be stemmed, as most of the rough and bitter taste is in the stems; and it can then be fermented on the husks for six or eight days. In this manner the celebrated Burgundy wines are made; also most of the red wines of France and Germany. Many of them are even allowed to go through the whole process of fermentation, and the husks are filled into the cask with the must, through a door, made in the upper side of the cask; and it there remains, until the clear wine is drawn off. This is seldom desirable here, however, as our red wine grapes have sufficient astringency and color without this process. The treatment during fermentation, racking, etc., is precisely the same as with white wine, with only this difference, that the red wine is generally allowed to stay longer on the lees; for our object in making this cla.s.s of wine is different than in making white, or so-called Schiller or light red wine. In white and light colored wines we desire smoothness and delicacy of bouquet and taste; in dark red wines, we desire astringency and body, as they are to be the so-called stomach or medical wines. It is therefore generally racked but once, in the latter part of February or March, and the white and light colored wines are racked in December or January, as soon as they have become clear--and again in March. We also use no sulphur in fumigating the casks, as it takes away the color to a certain extent. We generally do not use anything, but simply clean the casks well, in racking red wine.
I will say a few words in regard to _under_ fermentation. If this method is to be followed, the casks are not filled, but enough s.p.a.ce left to allow the wine to ferment, without throwing out lees and husks at the bung. The bung is then covered, by laying a sack filled with sand over it, and when fermentation is over--as well by this as by the other method--the casks are filled with must or wine, kept in a separate cask for the purpose. The casks should always be kept well filled, and must be looked over and filled every two or three weeks, as the wine will continually lose in quant.i.ty, by evaporation through the wood of the casks. The casks should be varnished or brushed over with linseed oil, as this will prevent evaporation to some extent.
In wine making, and giving the wine its character, we can only be guided by practice and individual taste, as well as the prevailing taste of the consuming public. If the prevailing taste is for light colored, smooth and delicate wines, we can make them so, by pressing immediately, and racking soon, and frequently. If a dark colored, astringent wine is desired, we can ferment on the husks, and leave it on the lees a longer period. There is a medium course, in this as in everything else; and the intelligent vintner will soon find the rules which should guide him, by practice with different varieties.
Among the wines to be treated as dark red, I will name Norton's Virginia, Cynthiana, Arkansas, and Clinton, and, I suppose, Ives'
Seedling. It would be insulting to these n.o.ble wines to cla.s.s with them the Oporto, which may make a very dark colored liquid, but no _wine_ worth the name, unless an immense quant.i.ty of sugar is added, and enough of water to dilute the peculiar vile aroma of that grape.
AFTER TREATMENT OF THE WINE.
Even if the wine was perfectly fine and clear, when drawn off, it will go through a second fermentation as soon as warm weather sets it--say in May or June. If the wine is clear and fine, however, the fermentation will be less violent, than if it is not so clear, as the lees, which the wine has never entirely deposited; act as they ferment.
It is not safe or judicious, therefore, to bottle the wine _before_ this second fermentation is over. As soon as the wine has become perfectly clear and fine again--generally in August or September--it can be bottled. For bottling wine we need: 1st. clean bottles. 2d. good corks, which must first be scalded with hot water, to soften them, and draw out all impurities, and then soaked in cold water. 3d. a small funnel. 4th. a small faucet. 5th. a cork-press, of iron or wood. 6th. a light wooden mallet to drive in the corks.
After the faucet has been inserted in the cask, fill your bottles so that there will be about an inch of room between the cork and the wine.
Let them stand about five minutes before you drive in the cork, which should always be of rather full size, and made to fit by compressing it with the press at one end. Then drive in the cork with the mallet, and lay the bottles, either in sand on the cellar floor, or on a rack made for that purpose. They should be laid so that the wine covers the cork, to exclude all air.
The greater bulk of the wine, however, if yet on hand; can be kept in casks. All the wine to be kept thus, should be racked once in about six months, and the casks kept well filled. Most of our native wines, however, are generally sold after the second racking in March, and a great many even as soon as clear--in January.
DISEASES OF THE WINE AND THEIR REMEDIES.
These will seldom occur, if the wine has been properly treated. Cases may arise, however, when it will become necessary to rack the wine, or fine it by artificial means.
TREATMENT OF FLAT AND TURBID WINE.
The cause of this is generally a want of Tannin. If the wine has a peculiar, flat, soft taste, and looks cloudy, this is generally the case. Draw the wine into another cask, which has been well sulphured, and add some pulverized tannin, which can be had in every drug store.
The tannin may be dissolved in water--about an ounce to every two hundred gallons of wine--and the wine well stirred, by inserting a stick at the bung. Should it not have become clear after about three weeks, it should be fined. This can be done, by adding about an ounce of powdered gum-arabic to each forty gallons, and stirring the wine well when it has been poured in. Or, take some wine out of the casks--add to each forty gallons which it contains the whites of ten eggs, whipped to foam with the wine taken out--pour in the mixture again--stir up well, and bung up tight. After a week the wine will generally be clear, and should then be drawn off.
USE OF THE HUSKS AND LEES.
These should be distilled, and will make a very strong, fine flavored brandy. The husks are put into empty barrels or vats--stamped down close, and a cover of clay made over them, to exclude the air. They will thus undergo a fermentation, and be ready for distillation in about a month. They should be taken fresh from the press, however; for if they come into contact with the air, they will soon become sour and mouldy. The lees can be distilled immediately. Good fresh lees, from rather astringent wines are also an excellent remedy when the wine becomes flat, as before described.
DR. GALL'S AND PETIOL'S METHOD OF WINE MAKING.