The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1885-03-20
Italian Wine.

=
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-
servedly proud of her "Chianti." and
win Santon from any respectable fiat
toria" is not to ke despised. But the
worst OF Italian wines is that you are
seldom sure Of getting the same class
OF wine two years running. y
The manner of making wine has not
changed since the time OF Virgil. The
white oxen bring the grapes from the
fields in vat placed on An unwieldy,
heavy ox-cayt painted scarlet, to the
s'tinai:a' or place where the stint
or rats are The grapes are emptied
ont 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 arc stamped upon night
and morning By the bare-leggcd peas
ants to- prevent the upper stratum OF
grapes becoming acid by too long q
contact With the air. When the for
mentat;on has ceased the clear murk is
run of man gets into the vat and
pitchforks the murk into -.biconcio"
again, which are emptied into the wine
press. As q pictorial subject this press
is delightful. but 1t is inconvenient and
extremely wasteful. Two huge posts
OF wood support an immense beam
through which works wooded screw,
finishing at the bottom in = square
block of wood with two square holes
straight through it. Under this stands
what is called the .N.gabia" (cage),
round, vat-shaped. iron-clamped re-
ceptacle. made Of strong bars Of wood.
The murk is put into thissand when it
is full .'toppi,' round slabs of wood
like colossal cheeses are piled on top Of
the murk. Then . long pole is stuck
into one of the square holes in the bot
tom Of the screw, and to the other end
ID hooked > rope, which is secured
round . turning pillar of wood about
eight feet Of, with . 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 slabs, and
the rope curls round the pillar. while
from between TIE bars OF tie press
pushes out dark, turbid. dirty-lookinp
liquid. which one can hardly believe
will ever turn into ruby wine. This \
operation 10 repeated by unlocking the
rope, lifting the beam out Of lis hole
and carrying it on a mans shoulder to
he hole behind. until the murk by
,heer physical force is pressed into .
mass and contains NO moro
liquid
Virgil's excellent advice about thor.
oughly seasoning and breaking up the
and before planting vines Is carried
put to the letter in tuscany, where the
litcher makes . trench at least six feet
ieep, and four feet wide, called ..scasso
'eale, " which Is left open to sun, wind
md rain for six months or year before
{ 10 again filed in. after having been
Trained In . rough and ready manner
y pitching al available stones into the
.ottom Of the trench. The vine-cut-
ings. ..magliuoli, or, better still, two |
ear-0ld rooted plants. ..barbatelle, /"
re planted two ON each side Of young !
naple tree destined for their support
{ . vineyard h to be made, the quin-
INK system. recommended by Virgil. /
; always followed, and you will stiIl |
ear the head of . gang of workmen
aytng. they must Be like soldiers,
roperiy in line. "-Longmon's Mage
Ire,