The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-12-01
THE VINTAGE OF THE MEpoc.
HOW the Grapes Are Grown. and the
lt Making Of the Wine.

euo 0rapoS Are UrOWus ana the
Making OF the Wine.
The best clsrets are grown in the dis
trlct called the Medoc, which is divided
INTO the Haut Medoc and the Bas
Medoc, and again subdivided into To-
calities such as Pauillac, Margaux st.
julien and st. Estephe These names
are applied to the growths of the re-
spective localities-and to a good deal
besides.
The Medoc is long tongue of land
which stretches north from Bordeaux
between the sea and the rivers Garonne
and Gironde 1t is not what can be
called fertile soil, being of light,
pebbly character, aud it is noticeable
that the hes. wine is produced where the
earth appears the most sterile, and, in
TACT little better than stone heaps
The vine flourishes 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 fructitica-
tion proceeds almost as steadily by
night as by dav. 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 filed with the rich,
ripe fruit reach the cellars--long stone
buildings without fioors-they are emp
tied onto u horizontal latticework table.
f,pn this the grapes are rubb,d by a
I sxilled workman in such a manner that
the fruit drops through into a trough
beneath, while the stalks remain to be
thrown away. Treatment differs, but
following the most general process the
grapes which fall through the lattice
work are received in trough which is
on a slightly inclined plane, with a
groove to permit the juice to run freely
off into receiver Upon the bottom of
this trough the fruit is spread evenly,
and then three or four men with bare
legs and feet begin to tread down the
grapes, dancing to the sound OF a fiddle
as long as the grapes continue to be-
thrown in.
This is wine treading, and although
supersede it, and are, in fact, used in
some vineyards, the belief remains that
q virtue exists in the hu man 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
not to crush the seeds, which contain
an oil injurious to the wine.
1t is held by some growers that crush
ing produces a more rapid and equable
fermentation OF the juice, although a
lighter colored wine. Others maintain
that it produces too much sediment and
that 1t is better to throw the unbroken
grapes into the vat and to allow them
to exude their juice in natural process
OF fermentation. The process takes
about a fortnight, by which time the
skins and seeds will have settled at the
bottom OF the vat When the grapes
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 q 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 a row
in the sheds-thcse are Theoretically
sealed, with, perhaps, a 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 barreling and bottlny.
The barrels must be of the best oak
and the best make, for a 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
fumigated by means of a bit of lighted
sulphur at the end of a rod run through
the bunghole When thoroughly puri-
fled they are put in a row upon the
thick beams to protect tn IN from the
uduhp iloOf. hiIcT OclHR nileu Win the
new wine they have to be constantly
watched by the cellarman, who gauges
regularly tie evaporation and replaces
the exact quantity evaporated. This re-
filing is very frequent at first, but
after a few months once a fortnight
suffices The bungs also have to be
carefully watched and the linen round
them constantly changed, since any
acid which the cloth absorbs may be
impaired to the wine.
BY the month Of March the first
tracking" or drawing off of the new
wine is done. That is to say, the wine
is led off by siphon from the first cask
TO new one, which has been as care
fully cleaned and purified as the first
The siphon is used so that the wine
may not 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 it should from any sense some makers
throw the whites of half dozen eggs
into the cask, others used Qelatine or
some clarifipr Init moth IL, 20 xu b;oh o.c l..