Manual of American grape-growing

by U. P. Hedrick

The third stage is fermentation. The "must" is carried from the press into open tanks or vats which hold from 500 to 5000 gallons or even more. The yeast cells which cause fermentation may be introduced naturally on the skins of the grapes; or in many modern wineries the "must" is sterilized to rid it of undesirable micro-organisms and a "starter" of "wine-yeast" is added to start the fermentation. Yeast organisms attack the sugar and must, breaking it up into alcohol and carbonic acid gas, the latter passing off as it is formed. When active fermentation ceases, the new wine is drawn from the pomace and is put into closed casks or tanks where it undergoes a secondary fermentation, much sediment settling at the bottom of the cask. To rid the new wine of this sediment, it must be drawn off into clean casks, an operation called "racking." The first racking usually takes place within a month or six weeks. A second racking is necessary at the end of the winter and a third is desirable in the summer or fall.

The fourth stage is the aging of the wine. Before aging begins, however, the wine usually must be rendered perfectly clear and bright by "fining." The materials used in fining are isinglass, white of egg or gelatine. These, introduced into the wine, cause undissolved matters to precipitate. The wine is now ready for bottling or consumption. Most wines acquire a more desirable flavor through "aging," a slow oxidation in the bottles.

Champagne.

When champagne wines have gone through their first fermentation, they are racked off into casks to age until their quality can be ascertained, after which a blend of several different wines is made. This blend is called the "cuvée." The cuvée is bottled and a second fermentation starts. The bottles are now put in cool cellars, corded in horizontal layers with thin strips of wood between each layer of bottles. The champagne in this stage is said to be in "tirage." The carbonic acid gas generated at this second fermentation is confined in the bottles and absorbed by the wine. When the bottle is uncorked, the gas, seeking to escape, produces the sparkling effect desirable in sparkling wines. After the wine has been in tirage for one or two years, the bottles are placed in A-shaped racks, the neck of the bottle pointing downward so that the sediment formed during fermentation drops to the cork. To further the settling of the sediment, workmen turn or shake each bottle daily for a period of one to three months. The bottles are then taken to the finishing room, cork down and the wine is "disgorged." Disgorging is accomplished by freezing a small quantity of wine in the neck of the bottle containing the sediment, after which the cork is removed and with it the frozen sediment. The bottle is refilled, recorked, wired, capped, and the champagne is ready for shipment.

The vintage.

The wine-making season the world over is known as the "vintage." The time at which the vintage begins depends, of course, on the region, the variety of grapes, the growing season and the location of the vineyard. Its duration, also, depends on these same factors. The season is usually lengthened by the fact that wine-makers require for their purposes a number of varieties of grapes which ripen at different times. Before or during the vintage, representatives of wine cellars usually make contracts for the number of tons of grapes required at a certain price a ton.

The notion prevails that grapes for wine and grape-juice need not be first-class. This is far from the truth. To make good wine the grapes must be carefully harvested, transported with as little injury as possible and must be protected from dirt, mold and fermentation before reaching the winery. European vintagers maintain that grapes picked at sunrise produce the lightest and most limped wines and yield more juice. They say, also, that the grapes should not be gathered in the heat of the day because fermentation sets in at once. These niceties are not observed in America.

Prices paid for wine grapes.

Supply and demand regulate the price paid for wine grapes. There is always demand for good wine grapes, although a poor product often goes begging for market. In the East, the highest prices are paid for the grapes used in making champagne. The champagne region of the East is confined to a few localities along Lake Erie and to western New York about Keuka Lake, where the industry is most largely developed. The varieties used in champagne-making in the East are Delaware, Catawba, Elvira, Dutchess, Iona, Diamond and a few other sorts. Prices differ with the many conditions affecting the grape and champagne industries, perhaps the average price for Catawba, the grape chiefly used in making champagne in this region, being from $40 to $50 a ton. Choicer grapes, as Delaware, Iona and Dutchess, often sell from $75 to $100 a ton. Concords are sometimes utilized in making dry wines in the eastern states, $30 or $40 a ton being the average price. Ives and Norton are much used for red wines and sell for top prices.

Wine-makers in the East are at a disadvantage in producing wines other than champagne, since the price paid on the Pacific slope for wine grapes is much lower; Grapes for sweet wine in California often sell as low as $6 or $7 a ton, the average price being $10 or $12. Grapes for dry wines, such as Zinfandel and Burger, bring on the Pacific coast from $10 to $12 a ton. Choice varieties of grapes in this region, such as Cabernet, Sauvignon, Petite Sirah and Riesling, bring from $22 to $24. The eastern wine-makers, however, have the advantage of being close to the largest and best markets in the country. Wines made in the East are very different from those made in California and supply a different market.