Evening star., 1897-10-29

berg tun vas surpassed. London boasted
tanks twice as large, and San Francisco
adds half to that and Is still behind Mer-
ced. whose great tun VIII hold four times
the full of its historic predecessor.
The revolutionizing bcttle-lake. which
will hold 100000 worth Of grape juice for
three months before II must be drawn into
the aging tanks, was . creature OF neces-
sity, and 1t is the product OF ingenuity:
for, though 1t II an excavation, cement
lined and covered, It's interior has been
glazed SO perfectly that the properties
of glass are all there and the wine should
grow old and mellow az comfortably as in
the narrow walls of a man-blown flask.
First an excavation was made in .
rocky hillside In the rear Of the winery.
Next, wan OF concrete.2 feet in thick
ness. was put in the Aoor and the sides
supported by fifteen steel girders. Next.
the entire surface was covered with q hn-
ing Of pure cement, and finally this was
glazed to the impermeability Of glass. The
earth, and soon grass will grow above
the wine lake. The object of all these
precautions fs to maintain the wine at q
uniform temperature.
The cement wine tank is 1O4 feet long,
81 feet wide and "a feet high. From the
exterior, however. 1t appears as a gigan-
tic mound. In the center is a manhole 8
feet in diameter. which will serve to allow
the passage of a workman to clean out
the cistern when empty, while two 4-inch
pipes are the medium through which the
wine Is pumped into the reservoir. 1t has
been 30 placed its bottom being little
above that Of the cellar, that the contents
may be drawn of by gravitation. To this
end tunnel feet in diameter has been
built. through which run 6-ineh pipes. COM
muntcating with the 25,O00-gallon wooden
tanks in which the wine is aged pre-
vious to being placed In barrels and
shipped.
The cost of the wine reservoir was re-
duced one-half from the fact that the sand
and gravel were obtained right on the spot,
the Russian river being only a few hun
dred feet distant, and containing in it's
dry bed all OF the material required. As it
was, the cost was $500. There are sew
eral advantages to be derived from the
construction of the concrete and cement
cistern One Of these, 1t is expected, will
cool temperature. Another is the equal
blending Of 100000 gallons Of wine at one
time A third is the saving in insurance
This is calculated at the rate of s1.5OO per
the cost of construction.
1t was necessity and not choice, how
ever. which led to the experiment, proba-
bly, so fruitful in its consequences The
grapes OF the Italian-Swiss colony were
sufficient to fill entirely it's caoperaEe. and
neighboring vineyardists, desiring to sell
tneir products to a member of the wine
nakers corporation. some means had to be
devised to care for these grapes The
crushing machinery and the fermenta ton
apparatus were sufficient, but the problem
was what should be done with the wine
Ihe idea OF the concrete cistern was
preached and adopted.
Only forty-five days. however, remained
Tor Its execution A large number of Ia
oorers was therefore employed, and they,
to complete the task in exactly the time
allowed Forty-five days after beginning
the tank 1t was done. and only one days
aeIay was caused in the picking and crush
ing OF the grapes. Thursday last the pro-
cess OF filling the gigantic receptacle with
WINE was begun. Pumps were set to work
ON both finch pipes. and by Saturday
nlgnt 1T had been half filed. BY Wednes-
will be In place.