The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1884-03-06
TRICKS IN WINE-MAKING.
How Champagne and Other French
Vinous Products are Produced.

| yard of the earth. About seven-eighths
of the territory is wine-bearing, and,
next to the ordinary business of agri-
culture, it is the most valuable branch
| of industry. 1t gives employment to
5000, 900 persons. The quantity of
wine annually produced is 2, ZOO, 600. 600
gallons, and this is worth $3.50. 600. 600.
These wines differ widely one from
| another. and each has a fame of its
own. Of them all the products of the
Champagne country are the best
known and most widely distributed.
This has always been considered as
bearing off the palm; it has always
been the favorite wine of the crowned
heads, as we'll as of other historical
personages.
The province of Champagne is divi-
ded into five departments, but it is only
in the Department of Marne that the
champagne of commerce is made And
Marine is subdiyided into five depart
ments, of which Rheims and Epernay
are the true center of the manufac-
ture. So when we see Rheims and
'.Epernay" on the bottles we know
just where they come from; and, for
still clearer picture, it may be stated
that the vineyards of Rheims are situa-
ted around the slopes of a wooded
mountain, while those of EDernay oc-
cupy an undulating plain. The vintage
begins In September. The grapes are
subjected to three pressures, and, the
juice being collected into large vats, it
Is allowed to stand twelve or eighteen
hours. till the sediment is deposited. 1t
is then drawn off into barrels and left
to ferment By December, the Wine
being clear, it is again drawn into vats,
and as the perfect article is made from
the products of several different vine
yards, the operation of mixing berins.
After this is accomplished it is again
drawn into the barrels and allowed to
stand till Spring. 1t is then bottled
and carried into the cellars and laid
on its side, and the secondary fermen-
tation begins. 1t lasts through the
Summer, and during this time there
is often so much bursting among the
bottles that the loss sometimes amounts
to 25 per cent. After the fermentation
and breakage cease, the bottles are
overhauled, and those that are whole
restacked. After resting eighteen
months they are taken out and shaken,
whereupon any little sediment there
may be comes to the top, and, the cork
being taken out, the froth that pushes
up brings the sediment with it, so that
1t can be removed.
One thing more, and the wine is
ready for market. Into each bottle is
introduced a little melted rock candy,
mixed with q tritling quantity of bran
dy. The quantity or sweetness in
troduced depends on the country to
which the wine is to be sent. Russia
requires least, and Engiaud and the
United States most. The bottles are
now recorked, the air excluded by
means OF tin foil or wax, and the cham
pagne, now three or four years old, is
ready for use. Twenty-Five millions of
bottles are annually put up, one-sixth
OF which comes to the United States.
Next in Importance come the wines
of the Gironde. The capital of this
department is Bordeaux; hence the
wines are often called by that name.
The Gironde is divided into five wine
producing districts, of which MedQc is
the most celebrated 1t is a long.
narrow plain containing $4,000, 600
acres of vineyards. Eight million gal
Ions of wine are annually produced.
These wines are all red, and are what
are called clarets. One-fourth OF them
are the exquisite high-class wines, such
as Chateau Margaux, Chateau Lafitte
and Chateau Latour. These command
an enormous price, even in France.
Comparatively little pure Medoc reach
es this country, as the popular taste
in America likes it reinforced with
spirltuous strength. The amount of
mixing that goes on at Bordeaux is
prodigious. Her export is twelve times
as much as the entire growth of Medoc,
and one-half of these are bought as
genuine, without misgiving.
Another of the famous wines exhib-
tied here is the Hermitage The vine
yards which produce this wine lie on
the south slope of hill near the town
of Tain, on the Rhone, in the old
Province of Dauphiny. 1t is called
Hermitage, because of a hermit who
took up his abode there in the thir-
teenth century and planted the vines
for an interesting occupation. The
slope being southerly, the sun shines
on the vines all day long, and brings
the fruit to marvellous perfection. The
vines are in three vineyards, and as
the perfect wine results only from
mixture of the product OF the three,
the proprietors must hold property in
each.
The Burgundy wines are grown on
series of low hills about thirty-six
miles in length. Along their slopes,
and extending a mile or so out on the
plains at their feet lie the vineyards
which produce the yellow Burgundy"
The district of the Sauternes produces
the celebrated Chateau Yquem, which
is esteemed almost too precious to use.
1t looks like bottled sunshine.
The department of Charente is rich
in vineyards. All of the wine is used
for distillation. Immediately after fer
mentation. The town of Cognac is the
center of the manufacture, hence the
name is usually applied to those
brandies, which are the best in the
world.
1t is of some little interest to know
the general average of alcohol in wine.
From 1000 gallons of wine they get,
on distillation. from 100 to $50 gallons
of brandy. President jefferson said
intoxication would never prevail where
wine was cheap; that it was only the
dearness of that, that set men to work
evoking the ''fiery demons" out of
sugar-cane, rye. corn, other grains, etc.
But, having once evoked the demon,
he masters them and they can't shake
him off. 1t is like Sindbad and the
Old Man OF the Sea. So, if the world
demands brandy, of course, the vine
yards will be turned into it.
1t is said that immense quantities of
''Old Rye" travel over to Cognac, and
come back transformed into the best
French brandy. Hartford Times.
At microsconic exhibition in Boston