The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-08-16
HOME, FARM AND RANCH.
GRAPE WINE.

mustang grape wine, anu geueTdl
recipe for wine-making, taken from
the Louisville Home and Farm is the
best yet met with:
wine is the fermented juice of the
mature grape" plain and simple,
nothing more and nothing less; and
any addition of water or sugar, one
or both, makes compound which is
not wine, though it may be cordial,
and very good one, too. We hear
talked about "currant wine," "cherry
wine," strawberry wine" and wine
made from fruits of almost every
kind, but they are in no sense wine,
for wine is the fermented juice of the
grape, as cider is the fermented juice
of the apple.
The main points in making wines
wines which will keeps that the
grapes shall be matured, so they will
be so rich in sugar as to furnish spi-
rits enough to preserve them; and
comparatively free of acids, so they
will not be injurious to the stomach,
and strong in nitrogen matter with a
sufficient amount of tannin, 30 they
will be bracing and strengthening as
well as exhilerating. Therefore, be-
fore being gathered to be pressed,
grapes should not only be fully ripe,
but something more, all or nearly all
the acid having been converted into
sugar, so the juice or mast pressed
out will be sweet, thick and syrupy,
with tritle only of acid.
When to the juice of grapes,
| whether mature or immature, we add
sugar to enrich, or water to weaken
it. we interfere with the chemistry of
I nature and change a comparatively
innocent product into liquor which
is always harmful and sometimes
poisonous. And this is the secret of
much of the injury which follows
modern wine consumption, the Ordi-
nary wine of commerce often being
purely chemical compound, and nine
tenths of the total quantity made and
manufactured at the best vineyards
being more or less weakened or
strengthened or fortified by the adj
dition, as the case may call for, of
water, sugar or alcohol.
Wine, the product of the pure juice
| of the natural grape, in addition to
spirits and tannin enough to preserve
| it from aciduatiOn at moderate tenn
terature, contains also a healthy
amount of acid and sugar and GER
tain quantity of nitrogen Ga substance
rarely to be found in the adul-
terated article) and to the presence of
all these, in right proportion, wines
owe their strengthening, stimulating
and healing properties, for which
pure wine has been celebrated since
the dawn of civilization.
If, however, the readers of Home
and Farm have unripe grapes, or
wish to make blackberry or currant
or other fruit wines, they will I'M
dohbtedly suit themselves and do so.
and the best we can do is to give them
the benefit of the common rule in
such cases. and that is, to every gallon
of pure fruit Juice add a like measure
of water and four pounds of raw
sugar to each gallon. Such liquors
will, in course of fermentation, de-
velop spirits enough to preserve them,
and if kept some months or a
year or two, deposit portion of
the acid contained in them.
Meantime certain chemical changes
will take place, which will produce
flavor. if not bouquet, and so far as
mere taste is concerned, they will not
be bad to take; but if drank even in
little more than moderate quantity,
| w III IuC OUOlACtCll anu pIO-
duce headache. Thus the best sherry
wines sold i'll New York are said to
be made from tomatoes and the juice
of the common pieplant (Rheum Va
ponticum), with the proper addition of
sugar, is manufactured into a second
class Madeira.
In regard to making wine, there is
no culinary process more simple, sue
| aAcCfIIl hra1I hnttnr mr. ,.hAASa n Ii ~
requiring greater or as much skill and
experience The best and the cheap
est processes are as old as civilization,
anG consists in putting the grapes,
previously crushed, into Il vessel, its
size depending on the amount of fruit
to be handled. Then cover the vess el
with cloth or close cover and let
fermentation begin, as it will at once
should the weather be warm. Let it
go on for twenty-fOur or thirty-siX
hours. This fermentation will bring
the pomace to the top and the must or
liquor may be drawn off by faucet
inserted at the bottem Of the vessel
for the purpose.
The must should then be put into a
cask of such size as it will be full to
the bung, from which point the i'm
purities will work off. Care should be
taken to reserve enough of the origi-
nal liquor to keep the vessel full as
fermentation diminishes the contents.
The filing up should be attended to
twice day. When the impurities
have ceased to work off, and while
there is still considerable carbonic
acid being generated and escaping. the
cask may be bunged up tightly and
removed to a cool, airy cellar, till
wanted for consumption.
| In wine-making in hot weather the
danger to be avoided is too much heat
and violent fermentation; in cool or
cold weather, not enough heat and i'm
perfect fermentation, the best range
of temperature being from sixty-fve
degrees at night to eighty degrees at
noon. Where it is necessary to make
the vintage in July or August, a cool
and shady situation should be sought
for; in September and the first part OF
October an open and airy one; as for
the rest of the season, a warm anG
sheltered place must be provided.