Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1856-07-09
CIRCULAR ON AMERICAN WINE,
: CINcINNArI, June l2th, I 1855

! 8 lew statistics respecting our5f'iue ous"ese
1t is about thirty.fv years since Mr.
/ Lonsworth began his experiments in grape
! culture and wins making, which he has fol.
lowed up ever since. Every day of spring
summer and autumn, he labors five or six
hours with his own hands, in setting, plant
ing, pruning, training, gathering aud press
ing, with view to develope valuable va'ie'
ties. His money outlay in the same time
has been so large, that many years OF prof.
table business, lnow it has become success
will be needed to make him whole in that
respect.
The only grapes as yet successfully cult
vated here for wine, are the, Catawba and
Isabella. The Harbemont is, however, rap
idly coming forward as their rival, and one
or two others give encouraging hopes to the
experimental vine dresser. The Catawba is
the staple wine as yet, however. In the
Ohio valley, its annual product averages a
half million gallons of wine, worth, when
new, about ninety cents per gallon. 1t is
so remunerative, that its culture is very
RAPIDLY extending. To make vineyard
costs from two hundred to FIVE hundred dol
lars per acre. One man can attend to five
acres, besides raising food for his family.
An average crop is worth 5000 per acre.
Women and children are valuable aids in a
vineyard, and with strong wife and indus.
trous progeny, several more acres may be
added.
OF the S5OO000 gallons of wine made in
the neighborhood of Cincinnati, about forty
thousand gallons will this year be made into
Sparkline Wine, and the rest drank mostly
by the people of the city and a few surroun.
ding places, in its simple pure state. That
so large quantity finds so ready sale on
the very spot of its production, is sufficient
proof that the American people can be re-
lied on for taking to wine, as readily and
kindly as young ducks take to water; and
that the cheapness OF whisky will not pre-
serve its supremacy, when its competing
drink is sufficiently abundant.
The Catawba, as drank here, is not very
attractive to the palate accustomed to bran.
died and sweetened wines from Europe, such
as are most in vogue but the taste for it
once acquired, holds on for life. Besides
being all antidote for intemperance it is the
mortal foe to gout, rheumatism, stone and
gravel, as both theory and experience have
shown; and it is also found TO he inconsis.
tent with good many other ailments.
When Mr.. Lougworth discovered, by ac.
cident, that the Catawba would make a
good sparkling wine, (Iike Champagne,
Sparkling Hook and other kinds,) he com.
menced preparing it in the n ode followed 10
produce those wines, and has since pushed
the business as fast as possible. Sparkling
Catawba having brilliant merits, has easily
made its way 10 the consumers in all parts
Of the country, and by its Immediately ly attrac.
tive sweetness and favor, by its noisy and
frothy manifestations, has greatly helped to
introduce its more-sterlng and staple though
at first tateless lovely brother, the Still Ca
tawba. Years hence, the sparkling wine
for the tables of the rich, and the occasional
| regalement Of all, will doubtless be produced
largely, and its annual production counted
by millions Of bottles, but the still wine will
be counted by its hundred ofmilions Of gal.
Ions, as in France is now the case with
Claret, Burgundy, Sauterne, etc.
The Wine Houses Of Mr.. Longworth,
three in number, are, and for the last seven
years have been, under the charge of his
Director, Mr.. Fournier, an accomplished
| wine chemist, of Rheims, in Champagne,
France, who receives large salary. The
method of preparation is thus: 10 the Spring
following the pressing of the grapes, the
wine, which has meanwhile undergone the
various fermentation, by which ten or eleven
per cent. of alcohol is developed, is mixed
with small quantity OF sugar and put into
strong bottles, with the corks we'll fastened
by twine and wire. The sugar accelerates
second fermentation, which always takes
place about this lime, and thus strong
movement is produced inside The glass,
which generates gas enough to- burst the
vessels briskly, adding thereby considerably
to the cost. This is called the gaseous fer
mentation, and it renders the drink more
exbiIara,ing, more prickling on the tongue,
and more fruity. This last effect results
from this, that the flavor OF the fruit mostly
passes off with the carbonic acid gas which
is largely generated in the first or vinous
fermentation, aud in less degree in this
second or gaseous fermentation. The loss
of flavor from the first fermentation cannot
he avoided; but by means of strong bottles
and well.tied corks, it can be saved in the
second.
At The end Of about year, the liquid has
become clear and sediment has been de.
posted. ro get rid of this sediment, the
bottles are placed in racks made 10 fit their
necks and shoulders, inclined, with corks
downward, and we'll shaken daily for sever.
al weeks, which process works the sediment
down against The cork. The wires and
twine are then cut, and the gas, exploding,
blows it off, Then more sugar, for sweet
ness, is added, new cork is driven in and
fastened, and IN few weeks the article is
ready for consumption.
The quantity bottled by Mr.. Longworth
this season, is one hrndred and fifty thousand
bottles, aud with that added to his previous
stock, he has now in cellar full three hun.
dred thousand bottles, mostly quarts, OF
which twenty thousand are of isabella.
The demand rapidly increases.
Yours, very respectfully.
WM. J. FLAGG.
VEGETABLES SHOULD BE COOKED IN SALT
w .r,,, L. ,,.ll Lno,p, th,f flor Dotu