Daily Los Angeles herald., 1881-09-14
Wine and Wine Merchants.
III.

In the year 1852 there occurred
the wine disease, the oidiuna. Il
made its appearance In early sum
mer as white, filmy mould Of
fungus on the leaves; later on, Il
shows on the unripe fruit; and, Il
allowed to run its course, it stunt,
the growth of the grape, and In
most cases causes it to dwindIe, to
split spen and to rot. The Medoc
wine farmers suffered greatly but
somewhat less than those Of other
parts of France. In the port wine
districts this year WAS disastrous.
The farmers that grow the vines
that make port grow hardly any
other crop. In Madeira the de-
struction of vines was greater than
elsewhere; and for several years
no wine at all was produced. =
The French were the first ia the
field with a remedy which is found
in sulphur. Blown on to the vine
leaves and grape punches, In the
shape of an impalpable powder
from q pair of bellows, the cure Ia
perfect. The fungus growth is ar
rested, and if the plant be we'll
drsdged ever with sulphur periodi-
cslly from spring-time,i it is seldom
even attacked. =
The true point at issue has al
ways seemed to me to be, not
whether port can be made without
the addition of distilled wine, but
whether wine SO made is worth
making or worth drinking. Such
wine is an unmarketable product,
and I think deservedly SO. 1t is a
strong, rough and comparatively
favorless liquor. If q man was to
add six drops of ink to glass of
very common red Burgundy he
would get something very like un.
fortified port. Every Oporto wine
merchant has tried the experiment
of unfortified port wine. 1t is
pity they cannot sell it, for they
would quickly make their fortunes;
but the plain truth is that it is an
abominable drink. =
The argument was shortly thus:
Wine is fermented grape juice, and
this juice generates in the course of
fermentation, u certain percentage
of spirit, say from eighteen to
twenty.six per cent, more
or less. This is of course
of proof spirit, which is
about one.half pure alcohol
and one-hslf water. Any addition
Of spirit over and above this natu-
rail- developed quantity, is an un.
necessary and altogether abomina-
BILE and reprehensible addition,
aud thing to be discouraged and
even punished. Moreover, it is u
defrauding OF the spirit revenue,
that liquor shouId pay the lower
duty on wine, and be all the time
partly composed of that which is
liable to the higher duty upon
spirits. This was the argum ent,
and the inference and the coroll-
ary. The reasoning is just, but the
premises are quite false. Wine to
be sure, does not very often natu-
rally generate more than thirty
per cent. of spirit, though the Aus.
traliaDs claim to make natural
wine containing forty per cent,
and the Spanish have some times
az IA much or more, but tue addition
Of some extraneous anti-septic sub.
stance, in greater or less quantity,
Is an incident In the preparation OF
every red wine of which it is in
tended to preserve the original
soundness, that ever was mads, or
that ever will be made. The nat.
ural wines of Europe-thoss made
to be consumed on the spot, and
which are probably in the propor-
ton Of something like thousand
to one of the wines prepared for ex-
portation-are intended to be
drank in the Summer after they
are made. Very rarely will they
keep two years. Great care in
vivificatiOn will indeed go some
way, but it cannot perform a mira
Gle. Science has suggested many
variations in wine.making, but it
can do little but complicate what
is very simple matter. In order
to show how simple and easy is
the process of wine.making, pro-
ceed to describe it very shortly.
The ripe grapes are thrOwn into o
vat, and trodden under foot; the
skins, the stones, the juice, aud
some or all of the stalks are aIlo wed
to remain till the liquid ferments,
When the heat OF fermsntion be-
gins to abate, the wiue, for it has
already the chief attributes of
wine, is run into casks, or tonels,
which are casks of a large size,
whereby the active fermentation IL
chec ked, but it is usually not quite
arrested till the cold weather of
early Winter sets in. The wine
then clears, the casks are filled up
to the top, the bungs are driven in
tight, and the wine is fit for con-
sum ption. This is how the peas.
ants and farmers of France, Italy
and Greece, of Spain, of Portugal
and of Hungary, make the wines
that quench their thirst in the heat
and burden Of the Southern
Summers day; and this probably
is how red wine has been
made since the first juice of grapes
was pressed out aud fermented.
The ingenuity of the most in-
genious people in the world has
added almost nothing to these
time-honered processes. In some
of the yiney ards in Burgundy, in
deed, q machine is used to separate
the stalks and the grapes, and the
pressing of the grapes Is done by
machinery, but the great growths
OF the Medoc, the Chateau Mar
gauX and the Chateau Lafitte are
the result of processes nearly as
simple as those employed by the
peasant wine growers of Southern
Europe, whose rough, red wines
are used as our laborers use beer or
cider. The differences are differ
encss in degree only, in the care
with which the grapes are picked