Huntsville gazette., 1884-04-26
Italian Wine.

Ii virgil found 1t Impossible to emu.
merate the different kinds of grapes and
their names, how much more so is it the
case to-day? But his praises of the
Falern;an Vine are well deserved.
White Falern an is excellent, and has
an aroma and bouquet OF its own withal
strong and generous. Tuscany is de-
servedIy proud of her ''Chianti." and
"Vin SantO" from any respectable fat
torian is not to lie 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 tine Of Virgil. The
white oxen bring the grapes from tie
fields in vat placed on an unwieldy,
heavy ox-cart painted scarlet, to the
''tinaia' or place where the ''tini'
or vat; are The grapes are emptied
out into "bigoneie." tall wooden pals
without 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 bare-legged peas
ants to prevent the upper stra um of
grapes becoming acid by too long
contact with the air. When the fer
mental on has ceased the clear murk is
run off man gets into the vat and
pitchforks the murk into '.bigoncie"
again, which are emptied into the wine
press. As a pict )rial sub. ect this press
is delightful, but 1t is incOnven;ent and
extremely wasteful. Two huge posts
of wood support an immense b am
through which works a wooded screw,
finishing at the bottom in a square
block of wood with two square holes
straight through it. Under this stands
what is called the "gabia" (cage),
round, vat-shaped. iron-clamped re-
ceptacle. mad 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 top OF
the murk. Then a long pole is stuck
into one of the square holes in the bet
tom Of the s. rev, and to the other end
is hooked rope, which is secured
round 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 des ends on the round slab, and
the rope curls round the pillar, while
from between e bars of tie press
sushes out dark, turbid, dirty-loOking
liquid, which one can h ,rdy belle e
will ever turn into ruby wine. This
operation is repeated by unlocking the
rope, lifting tte beam out of is hole
and carrying it ON mans shoulder to
the hole behind, until the murk by
sheer physical force is pressed into
compact mass and contains no more
liqu d.
Virgils excellent advice about thor.
oughly seasoning and breaking up the
land before planting vines is carried
ont to the letter in 1uscany, where the
ditcher makes 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 in rough and ready manner
by pitching all available stones into the
bottom of the trench The vine-cut-
tings, 'magliuoli,' or, better still, two
year-o,d rooted plants, '.barbatelle, I"
are planted two on each side of young
maple tree destined for their support.
If vineyard is to be made, tie quin-
cunx system. recommended by Virgil,
is always followed, and you will still
hear the head Of gang of worknren
saying, "they must be like soldiers,
properly in line. .''-Longman' Maga.
zine.