Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-04-06
ITALIAN WINE.
The Manner of Making 1t not Changed
Since the Time of Virgil

The Manner of Making IL not Changed
Since the Time of Virgil.
If Virgil found it impossible to enumer-
ate the different kinds of grapes and their
names, says Longmdn'S Magazine, how
much more so is it the case to-day? But
his praises of the Falernian wine are well
deserved. White Falernian is excellent,
and has an aroma and bouquet of its own
withal strong and generous. Tuscany is
deservedly proud of her ''Chianti," and
"Vin SantO" from any respectable ''fat-
tOria" is not to be despised. But the
worst OF Italian wines is that you are
seldom sure of getting the same class of
wine two years running.
The manner of making wine has not
changed since the time of Virgil. The
white oxen bring the grapes from the
fields in a vat placed on an unwIeldy,
heavy OK cart painted scarlet to the
''tinaja," or place where the stint" or
watts, are. The grapes are emptied out
into s'bigoncie,' tall wooden pals with
out handles, which the men carry on their
shoulders. The grapes are poured into
the immense open watts, where they are
stamped upon night and morning by the
barelegged peasants tn prevent the upper
stratum of grapes becoming acid by too
lux a COhbaNb WIN bnC W ANh bnN
fermentation has ceased the clear must
is run on; a man gets into the vat and
pitchforks the murk INTO ''bigoncie" again,
which are emptied into the wine press.
As a pictorial subject this press is delight
full, but it is ineonvenient and extremely
wasteful. Two huge posts of wood sup
port an immense beam, through which
works a wooden screw, finishing at
the bottom in a square block of wood
hotn forlat
it. Under this stands what is called
the ''gabbia" (cage J, a round, vat-shaped,
iron-clamped receptacle, made of strong
bars of wood. The murk is put into this,
and when it is full ''tOppi," round slabs of
wood, like colossal cheeses, are piled on
the top of the murk. Then a long pole is
stuck into one of the square holes at the
bottom of the screw and to the other end
is hooked rope, which is secured round
a turning pillar of wood about eight
feet off, with a handle, against which
three or four men throw their whole
weight. Slowly, with many creaks and
groans, the huge block of wood descends
on the round slabs and the rope curls
round the pillar, while from between the
bars of the press gushes out dark, tur-
bid, dirty-lOoking liquid, which one can
| hardly believe will ever turn into ruby
wine. This operation is repeated by I'M
| hooking the rope, lifting the beam out OF
it's hole and carrying it ON a mans Shout
der to the hole behind, until the murk, by
sheer physical force, is pressed into a
! compact mass and contains no more
liquid.
Virgins excellent advice about thor
oughly seasoning and breaking up the
land before planting vines is carried out
to the letter in Tuscany, where the
ditcher makes a trench at least six feet
! deep and four feet wide, called ''scasso
| reale," which is left open to sun, wind
and rain for six months or year before
! it is again filled in, after having been
| drained i'll a rough and ready manner by
pitching all available stones into the bot
tom of the trench. The vine-cuttings,
''maglinOli," or, better still, two-year-old
rooted plants, ''barbatelle," are planted
two on each side OF a young maple tree
destined for their support. If vineyard
is to be made, the quincunX system,
recommended by Virgil, is always fol-
lowed, and you will still hear the head OF
a gang of wOrkmen saying, "they must
be like soldiers, properly in line.''