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

by Emmet H. Rixford

The casks, when stored, should be regularly ulled once a week with limpid wine, and re-bunged, and after two weeks’ repose, the first drawing off takes place, and should be renewed once or twice every month. All the clear wine will be drawn off at each racking, by following the precautions indicated further on. By drawing off thus frequently, fermentation, to which such wine is subject, will be avoided, even in summer. Thus, also, will be avoided the disagreeable taste of the lees, of acrity and bitterness, which wine contracts when left long on the deposit, and moreover, much more clear wine will be withdrawn. Lees from diseased wine should not be mixed with the rest, but should be put aside and treated according to the malady by which the wine was affected.

Extraction of Wine from the Lees.—Lees preserved under the conditions indicated naturally free themselves from a great part of the foreign substances which they contain, by rest, for they are insoluble, and specifically heavier than wine, and settle of their own accord. The wine should not be fined till drawn from the heavy lees.

The racking off of the clear wine may be performed in two ways, either by the use of a glass siphon or of a faucet. For the first rackings the glass siphon is most appropriate, and by its use the boring of holes high up in the end of the cask is avoided. It is introduced about eight inches into the full cask, a proper vessel to catch the wine is placed under the end, with another vessel close at hand, and the wine is started by the breath; but the siphon must be held with the hand, or otherwise sustained so that it will not go too deep into the cask. By holding a candle below, it can be seen if the wine is any way clear; and as long as it runs sufficiently limpid, the siphon is lowered into the cask, little by little, till the level of the turbid wine is nearly reached. When one bucket is filled, the other is slipped under the stream without stopping it. Two men are usually required, one to attend the siphon, and the other to empty the buckets. As soon as the wine runs muddy, it is stopped. If the cask of lees is sufficiently elevated, the stem of the siphon may run into a funnel placed in the empty cask.

When the casks have all been drawn from, the remaining heavy lees are filled into those containing the greater quantity, so as to transfer the least quantity. Before filling, however, the casks should have a double square of sulphur match burned in each, to prevent subsequent fermentations.

The use of the faucet is preferred, when the lees are thick, and the casks which contain them are near the ground, and are only used for storing lees. In the latter case, the injury to the cask by boring holes in the head at several heights, is of little consequence. A greater quantity of wine may be drawn off by the use of the faucet than with the glass siphon, but it is generally less clear than if carefully done with the latter; and one man can do the work.

First, it is necessary to ascertain how far down the clear wine reaches, by means of gimlet holes, and the faucet-hole should then be bored just above the level of the heavy lees. If the faucet has been placed too low, the sediment which runs through it at first may be put aside.

After the drawing of the clear wine has been repeated several times, and the thick lees united as above mentioned, the casks should not be filled until heavily sulphured, and they must not be disturbed, for the least agitation may stir up the sediment already formed, and cause bad flavor in the wine, and even produce putrid fermentation, especially in those from fined wines which contain large quantities of animal matter introduced in the finings. Casks emptied of heavy lees should be washed with a chain, to remove the sediment clinging to the inside, which must not be allowed to dry on.

Fining Wines Extracted from the Lees.—These wines often are not sufficiently clear; and they are generally more difficult to clarify completely by the usual methods than the wines which produced the lees.

It is noticeable that these wines have less color and less alcohol than other wines produced in the ordinary way.

The difficulty in obtaining their complete clarification arises from the great quantity of insoluble matter which they still hold in suspension, and their relative feebleness in alcohol and tannin.