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

by Emmet H. Rixford

Gum Arabic, about 10 ounces to 100 gallons, is also used, but it is not readily precipitated, and is apt to remain in dissolution in the wine.

Salt is often added to the different finings, by first dissolving a small handful in water. It renders them heavier, and as it is insoluble in alcohol, it becomes precipitated, and thus acts in two ways. Many authors recommend its use, but Boireau says it should only be employed in clarifying common or very turbid wines.

Alcohol is added with great advantage if the wines are so weak in spirit that the finings do not act.

Tannin, however, more frequently requires to be added, for upon it and the alcohol depends the action of the substances employed. If the wine is not lacking in alcohol, and the finings do not act, sufficient tannin must be added to produce the desired effect. If the ordinary tannic acid of commerce is employed, one-half to one ounce for 100 gallons may be used. Dissolve ½ lb. in a quart of the strongest alcohol, 95°, by thoroughly shaking in a bottle of double the size. After standing twenty-four hours it is filtered, and one gill of the solution contains one ounce of tannic acid. This preparation of tannin, which is prepared from nutgalls, is used for tannifying sparkling wines, because it does not adhere to the inside of the bottle. It is preferable, however, in general to employ the tannin derived from the vine itself. For this purpose a strong decoction is made by steeping grape seeds, which have not undergone fermentation, in water. They should be coarsely broken, or bruised, and boiled for several hours. By adding from one-fourth to one-fifth of its volume of strong alcohol of 85 per cent., it can be kept for future use. The liquor may be filtered before adding the alcohol. Instead of the seeds, sometimes a handful of stems are steeped, and the liquid is used. Tannified wine may be prepared by soaking 50 or 60 lbs. of the bruised seeds in 100 gallons of white wine, for one or two months. It is cared for as white wine. If only one cask is to be treated, say 100 gallons, one-half pound of grape seed may be reduced to powder and put in.

It is difficult to lay down a definite rule as to the amount of either preparation to use, for the reason that the amount of tannin contained in the wine itself varies. Three or four gallons of the tannified wine are recommended for 100 gallons, and a much smaller quantity of the first mentioned decoction would be equivalent in its effects, on account of its additional strength. If, however, it is found that sufficient has not been used, the wine must be clarified anew, and tannin added again. By experimenting on a small quantity of the wine, the proper quantity may be ascertained.

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