The Wine Press and the Cellar: A Manual for the Wine-Maker and the Cellar-Man

by Emmet H. Rixford

Z Funnel.

As some wine is liable to be lost in ulling a cask whose bung is out of sight, to avoid this, an instrument in the form of a watering pot, similar to figs. [7] and [8], has been devised, but whose top is entirely covered, the wine being poured into it through a tube which is closed with a cork when in use. The vent is near the tip of the spout on the under side, so that the wine will run as long as the cask is not full, but will stop as soon as the vent is covered by the wine rising in the cask. It is convenient to have a stopcock on the spout.

Many of these implements are provided with a socket to hold a candle.

Summary of the Rules for the Treatment of New Red Wines.

1. Put the casks, well bunged, in a cellar or other well closed place, and keep them constantly full, by frequently and regularly filling them with wine of the same kind.

2. Rack the wine as soon as the insensible fermentation has ceased and the wine has become limpid, i. e., about December; rack again before the vernal equinox; towards the summer solstice; and also near the autumnal equinox. Racking should always be done, if possible, during cool weather. (See [Racking].)

3. To prevent secondary fermentations, draw off the wine whenever by tasting you recognize by the flavor that it is commencing to work.

If the wines are bright, avoid fining, and so preserve their fruity flavor; but if they remain muddy after the second racking, fine them after the third drawing off with the whites of eggs, and leave them the shortest possible time on the finings.

Mr. Boireau says that by such treatment wines will be obtained limpid and free from secondary fermentations, and that grand wines will so preserve their fruity flavor; while if they are allowed to work again after the cessation of the insensible fermentation, they will lose their fruity flavor and mellowness, and become too dry. In order to avoid this dryness produced by secondary fermentations, which will considerably diminish the value of the wines, and especially of grand wines, some wine makers place the casks with the bung on one side after the June racking; this practice should not be followed, for the elevation of the temperature at that season is liable to set them fermenting.