Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1862-10-16
Wine Farming.

MI. IL. Buchanan, well-knOwn sue.
cesslnl wine producer of Ohio. give in the
Ohio Valley Farmer the following state.
ment Of the raising and fermentation of
wine
Wine farming will, in few years be.
come simplifed. and almost as easily un.
derstood as corn Planting. Thero is no
mystery in it. Experience alone must
teach the proper position, as well as the
soil; the right distance aport for the vines
the most judicious method for spring aud
summer pruning; and as for cultivation
Keep the ground clean with the plow OF
Gu tivater, like corn.
Making the wine is as simple as max
ing cider. The grape punches are cut
from the vines, and all unsound or unripC
berries picked off the bunch and thrown
IN TO basket, to makc--with the addi
ton of sugar--vinegar, or an inferior
wine. This imperfect grapes Of eacl
days cutting are taken to the wine house
and IN the evening, after being mashed in
a barrel with a bectle-stem and berries
--or passed through wooden rollers in
small mill, are put on the press and the
juice extracted. About one.third runs of
without any pressure. The outside edges
Of the Pomacc are cut off for eight or
ten inches, after the first pressing, separ-
ated with the hands, and thrown on top,
when the power of the screw is applied,
ard another pressing made. This is re-
peated two OF three times. The Juice
fran the last pressing, being very dark
and astringent, is put with the inferior
wine, The other is put in large casks,
filed about five sixths full, to ferment
and make the good wine. No sugar or
brandy should be added to the best Cat
awba luice--or must--as it makes bet
ter wine without, and is strong enough to
keep well. One end Of a ciphon is placed
in bunghole OF the cask-the other be.
ing crooked over, rests in a bucket Of wa
ter.
The fermentation commenced in day
or two, and the carbonic acid escapes
through the water In ten or fourteen
days, the ciphon may be removed, the
casks filed up, aud the bung driven in
lightly-in a month, tightly. In mid
winter the wine is drawn off into another
cask, and the lees of the wine, with the
pomaee OF the grapes, is used to make
| brandy.
The wine will be clear and pleasant tc
| drink in month or two after the fermen.
tation ceases The second fermentation
occurs in the spring--about the time o
the blossoming grapes-this is but sligh
and it vii be merely necessary to looser
the bungs; when it is over, the wine will b.
clear in two or three months, and safe t.
bottle, but thaat operation had better b
deferred until November. Aud this is th
whole process of making still wine-th
wine for general use; and, being a natula
product of the pure juice of the grape it i
more wholesome than any mixed or arti
fcial wine, however SNOWY and high
priced it may be.
Let the grapes be well ripened; tn,
press. casks and all vessels peIfectl,
clean, and then keep the air from the new
wine, by having the casks constantly bunl
! full. and there is no danger of its spelling
This is the whole secret.
1t is presumed that no one will go in
to wine farming largely at first, but TAX
the precaution to test, by the cultivatio
OF lew acres. the capabilities Of the sol
position and climate. and the kind {
| grape best suited to it,