Fine clear weather is best for bottling all sorts of wines, and much
cleanliness is required. The first consideration, in bottling wines,
is to examine and see if the wines are in a proper state. _The wines
should be fine and brilliant_, or they will never brighten after.
The bottles must be all sound, clean, and dry, with plenty of good
sound corks.
The cork is to be put in with the hand, and then driven well in with
a flat wooden mallet, the weight of which ought to be a _pound and
a quarter_, but however, not to exceed a pound and a half, for if
the mallet be too light or too heavy it will not drive the cork in
_properly_, and may _break the bottle_. The corks must so completely
fill up the neck of each bottle as to render them _air tight_, but
leave a space of an inch between the wine and the cork.
When all the wine is bottled, it is to be stored in a cool cellar,
and on _no account on the bottles’ bottoms_, but on their sides and
in saw-dust.