Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-26
WINE WITHOUT GRAPES.

"ThanEs to one of the latest discov-
cries of science, we are now able to make
excellent wines of various kinds without
resorting to the Crane" said an expert of
the department of agriculture to 4
Washington Post reporter.
Take a sip of this" he continued,
''and tell me what you think of it,
IT'S sherry, and good stuff, too muir
INJURED the reporter.
"Arple juice; nothing but apple juice"
replied the professor. 'Now try this"
MADEIRA"
apple juice again. Now this"
"Sauterne, of course
apple juice once nlore.' said the pro-
fossor. "rhese w~ines-all of them capt.
tai. as you viii have noticed-are simply
apple juice, fe%rn1ented with yeasts of diff
ferer. Kinds: but the yeasts are wine
yeasts. fetched from famous grape-grow-
ing districts in Europe.
"Iou see. the flavor n aroma of
sherry. for example, are not due to the
grape juice from which the wine is made.
but to the microscopic fu--S,s germs that
cause its fermentation We import these
germs from the Neres district of Spain,
Introduce them into fresh apple juice,
ard the result is indistinguishable from
an excellent quality of sherry. 1t is the
same way with hook. Madeira, or cham
raare: we simply inoculate the apple
Juice with the requisite fungi, and they
do the rest.
IN the soil of the district of Here's GER
tain species of minute fungi exist, which,
floating about in the air or adhering 20
the skins of the ripened grapes get into
the watts of freshly expressed grape juice
and multiply in the latter in BILE
numbers, feeding upon it and incidental
~ giving 10 it the peculiar sherry flavor.
We merely substitute apple juice, which
serves equally we'll as q basis. and to
it q small quantity of the same species
of germs. procured directly from the
Spanish vineyards. and 10! we have
sherry Wine. possessing the true flavor
and aroma. There are concerns now in
France and other parts of Europe that
make a business of p~ropogating the
yeasts Of various kinds of wines and put
ting them up in Theoretically sealed bot
ties for such uses.
The yeasts are obtained from the
sediments of the vats, and to propagate
them is exceedingly easy, the only diff
Guilty being to separate out and isolate
those which produce the right sort of
fla o and aroma. Tot see, there are an
immense humble of varieties of such
vegetable organisms, and the quality of
the wine depends mainly upon the kind
of fungi which make the fermentation.
Hitherto such matters have been left to
chance, and hence the great differences
in the quality of vintages, a given vine
yard yielding in some years a product of
a much finer quality than in others. The
grape are the same, the processes used
are identical. but the microscopic fungi
that gets into the raw grape juice vary
in kind.
For some time past brewers have
fully understood this idea as it applies
to heer. and in their establishments
nothing is considered quite so important
as the preservation n propagation of
particular species of germs for accom-
plishing the work of fermentation Only
recently have wine makers applied the
principle in their business, but the results
already obtained are wonderful. They
may keep on hand their own yeasts, or
they can buy them ready bottled and
guaranteed as to quality, putting into
vat of fresh grape juice the requi-
site quantity of the germ culture There
can be no doubt that the Introduction of
method in California vineyards will
reVolutionize the wine-producing indus
try of that state"