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

by Emmet H. Rixford

WINE LEES.

The Lees should not be neglected, because, for want of proper care, the wine which is extracted from them will contract a very disagreeable taste, which is due to its too long sojourn on the deposit, and which would be prevented by drawing it off in time.

Therefore, in order that the wine extracted from them should not lose all its value, the lees should receive particular attention, and be stored in places free from variations of temperature.

The Quantity of Wine Contained in the Lees varies from 30 to 90 per cent. From those of fined wines an average of 70 per cent. may be extracted without pressing.

The Dry Parts of the Sediment contain a great quantity of insoluble matters, tartar, or argol, several other vegetable and mineral salts, divers compounds, ferments, mucilaginous matters, and the residue of animal and vegetable matters (albumen and gelatine), which have been employed in fining.

An Analysis of Dry Lees by Mr. Braconnot, a distinguished chemist, establishes the presence of the following substances: bitartrate of potash (cream of tartar), tartrate of lime, tartrate of magnesia, nitrogenous animal matter, fatty substances, coloring matter, gum, and tannin.

The Composition of Dry Lees varies with the age, nature, and quality of the wine which produces them; but in all, the bitartrate of potash or cream of tartar predominates. The lees of mellow wines contain mucilages, and we find in the lees deposited by sweet wines great quantities of saccharine matter which may be utilized. The different uses to which dried lees may be put will be mentioned further on.

Treatment of the Lees.—Lees will settle by repose, but the wine which comes from them, if left long upon the heavy lees, contracts a disagreeable flavor, owing to its contact with the insoluble matters forming the sediment, and with the ferments found in the lees with the residue of the substances used in fining. The surface wine is often in a state of fermentation, and remains turbid, contracting at the same time a disagreeable bitterness, unless soon withdrawn from the influence of the ferments.

By proper care and attention, not only can all the liquid be extracted from the lees, but the wine so extracted will have no bad flavor, no vice, in a word, will partake of the same qualities as the wine from which the heavy lees were deposited. The casks into which they are to be put should be washed in the same manner as those destined to contain limpid wine, and double the quantity of a sulphur match employed in the case of racking new red wines, should be burned in each. As fast as the casks are emptied in drawing off, the lees are turned into a pail, and immediately poured into the cask intended for them. In emptying them into the pail, care should be taken not to introduce dirt, mould, etc., and if there is debris around the bung-hole, it should be swept away before removing the bung. As soon as the cask is full of lees, it should be stored, bung up, in a proper place, as mentioned, and should then be ulled and bunged, and the date of storing may be marked on it, with the kind and age of the wine from which it came.

When the casks are not completely filled the same day, and it is necessary to leave them with ullage, they should be bunged tight, after having again burned a square of a match in each, and the sulphuring should be renewed as often as the lees are added, if left so for several days, in order to avoid access of air, and to prevent the action of ferments. In a word, casks containing lees, without being full, should always be well bunged and sulphured, and guarded from variations of temperature.