Fig. 31.
For racking the wine, we should have: 1st a large brass 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 assistant 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, Cassady, 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 principally 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 class 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 space 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 quantity, 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 noble wines to class with them the Oporto, which may make a very dark colored liquid, but no wine worth the name, unless an immense quantity of sugar is added, and enough of water to dilute the peculiar vile aroma of that grape.
AFTER TREATMENT OF THE WINE.