The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-12-16
THE VINTAGE OF THE mEpoo.
How tho Grapes Arc Grown, aud the
Making or tho Vino.

into the Haut Medoc and the Bas
Mcdoc, and again subdivided into 10.
calities such as Pauillac, Margaux, St
Julien and st. Estephe. These names
are applied to the growths of the re-
spective localities-and to n good deal
besides
The Medoc is long tongue of land
which stretches north from BordeauS
between the sea and the rivers Garonne
and Glronde 1t is not what can be
called fertile soil, being of light,
Peooly character, and it is noticeable
dhat the best wine is produced where the
earth appears the most sterile. and, in
TACT, little better than stone heaps.
Tho vine tiourishes best where the
soil IS too thin even to encourage weeds
and where the bushes are stunted. The
reason is that in such places the earth
retains the sun heat long after sun.
down, so that the work of fructifica.
ton proceeds almost rs steadily by
night as by day. The surface of the
Medoc is composed of sand and pebbles
and supposed to have been washed
down by the mountain torrents from
the Pyrenees and deposited ages ago on
the sea margin.
When the casks filled with the rich.
ripe fruit reach the cellars-.lonr stone
buildings without floors-they are emp.
tied ontoa horizontal atticeworl table.
On this the grapes are rubbed by n
sl1lllcd workman III such a manner that
the fruit drops through into u trough
beneath, while the stalks remain to be
thrown away. Treatment differs, but,
FOLLOWING the most general process. the
Or io1, fol =
work are received in Il trough which is
on slightly inclined plane, with
groove to permit the juice to run freely
or into receiver Upon the bottom OF
this trough the fruit is spread evenly,
ana then three or four men with bare
legs and feet Begin to tread down the
grapes, dancing to the sound Of fiddle
as long as the grapes continue to be
thrown in.
This is wine trcading, and although
machines have often been introduced to
superscdc it, and are, in fact, used in
some vineyards, the belief remains that
q virtue exists in the human feet which
no mere mechanical pressure can pro-
vide. This may seem odd, but it is
readily eXplainable. The weight of the
human body in rhythmic dance is quite
sufficient to crush the grapes, while
the human foot is sufficiently flexible
mot to crush the seeds, which contain
an oil injurious to the wine
IL Is held by some growers that crush.
ing produces more rapid and euuable
fermentation of the juice, although a
Fighter colored wine. Others maintain
that it produces too much sediment. and
that 1T is better to throw the unbrol1en
grapes into the vat and to allow them
to eXude their juice in u natural process
OF fermentation. The process takes
abouta fortnight, by which time the
skins and seeds will have settled at the
bottom of the vat When the cranes
are trodden it is only the juice which
runs into the vat; but after the men are
done dancing upon them the skins and
pulp are put into mechanical press,
where the remaining juice is squeezed
out OF them and made into inferior
wines
whether 1T be the whole grape or the
trodden juice which is put into the watts
huge oaken vessels standing in n row
IN the sheds-these are hermeticallv
sealed, with, perhaps, n siphon to carry
off the carbonic acid gas that may be
generated. Two weeks is the usual
time allowed to the watts, but the period
varies and may extend to four weeks.
We will pass over the chemical pro-
cess of fermentation and come to the
next industrial process in wine making.
This is the barrcling and bottlng.
The barrels must be of the best oal,
and the best make, for bad barrel will
spoil the best wine that was ever made
they have to be very carefully cleaned
out, first with boiling water and then
with brandy, after which they are
1umigated by means of a bit of lighted
sulphur at the end of n rod run through
the bungholc. When thoroughly puri-
fled they are put in Il row upon the
thick beams to protect them from the
damp floor After being filled with the
new vine they have to be constantly
watched by the cellarman, who gauges
regularly the evaporation and replaces
the exact quantity evaporatcd This re-
filling is very frequent at first, but
after few months once a fortnipht
sutiices. The bungs also have to be
carefully watched and the linen round
them constantly changed, since any
acid which the cloth absorbs NAV be
impaired to the wine.
by the month of March the first
"racking' or drawing off of the new
wine is done. That is to say, the wine
is led off by Il siphon from the first casll
to a new one, which has been as care
fully cleaned and purified as the first.
The siphon is used SO that the wine
maynot come into contact with the air.
The process is repeated in June and
again in October and each drawing Off
should be clearer than its predecessor.
When the Clarifying is not proceeding
as itshould from any sense some makers
throw the whites of half a dozen eggs