RED WINE.
Red wines are made from colored grapes, and the color is extracted from
the skins during fermentation. The coloring matter is blue, but is
changed to red by the action of the acids in the must. (See _Coloring
Matter—Oenocyanine_.) In order to develop this color, the grapes are
fermented, skins and juice together, and the press is only brought into
requisition after the first fermentation is completed.
=Fermenting Tanks or Vats.=—The tanks or vats in which red wine is
fermented, in France are generally made of oak, sometimes of masonry,
but in this State redwood has been almost universally adopted, and I am
not aware of any serious inconveniences from its use. It is advisable
before using them the first time, to steam them for several hours, or
thoroughly soak them to extract the coloring matter of the wood.
The capacity depends upon the quantity of wine to be made in a season,
varying from 1000 gallons to 2500 gallons and more, and a sufficient
number should be provided that when wine making has commenced, it can
be carried on without interruption till the crop is worked up. The
number of workmen must be considered as well as the amount of grapes,
and everything ought to be so arranged that the fermentation will be
finished in the first tank filled, by the time the last one is full, so
that the first can be emptied and filled again, and then the second,
and so on. A hole must be bored in each vat two or three inches from
the bottom by which to draw the wine through a faucet. And some kind of
a strainer must be put over this hole inside to keep back the marc—a
piece of perforated tin, a grating of small sticks, or a bundle of
straw or vine cuttings kept in place by a stone.
=Filling the Tanks.=—In order that the whole mass in one tank may be
equally fermented, it should receive its full complement of grapes in
one day. By putting in part of the grapes one day and part another, not
only will some of them complete their fermentation before the others,
but the addition of fresh grapes to the fermenting mass will interrupt
the fermentation, and prove injurious to the wine. The vats must not
be filled to their full capacity, for during violent fermentation the
marc, consisting of skins and seeds, or those with the stems, rises
to the top, brought up by the bubbles of carbonic acid which are
constantly rising, and a portion of the boiling and foaming mass may
be carried over the top, and much wine thereby be lost. They should
only be filled to within a foot or a foot and a half of the top, and
a little experience will show the proper practice. Guyot says that
they should only be filled to five-sixths of their capacity at most.
Another reason for not filling the tank is that a layer of carbonic
acid gas will occupy the space left vacant by the pomace, and prevent
the contact of the air and the consequent souring of the wine, by the
changing of a portion of the alcohol into acetic acid—vinegar.
Red wine is fermented in open vats, vats loosely covered, or in vats
hermetically sealed, and good wine is made in each way.
=In Open Vats=, other conditions being equally favorable, fermentation
commences more promptly and is sooner ended, owing to the free access
of the air, a certain amount of oxygen, as already shown, being
necessary to fermentation. Although fermentation will continue away
from the air when once started, it will be slow. The objections to
open vats are, that although there is a layer of carbonic acid resting
above the must, yet it is liable to be disturbed and become mixed with
the air, and if the fermentation is long continued, a portion of the
wine may become sour. Those who employ open tanks should also avail
themselves of those conditions under which the wine will complete its
fermentation in a few days, and should draw off promptly.
=Closed Vats.=—By using closed vats fermentation will be longer in
commencing, and will proceed more slowly, but as already intimated,
the wine can with safety be left longer in them than in open tanks.
When it is necessary to develop much color, it would be advisable to
use covered tanks, for the longer the wine is left in contact with the
skins, the darker it becomes. The covering should be close enough to
prevent the immediate contact of the open air, and yet allow the escape
of gas—of close boards, but not luted, unless provided with a safety
valve.
[Illustration: _Fig. 5._]
[Illustration]
=The Best Practice=, however, in all cases, whether the vats are closed
or not, is to have a false head resting directly upon the pomace,
and which will keep the latter submerged during the whole process of
fermentation. In this way good color will be developed, and the marc
will be kept from the air, and the danger of souring will be avoided.
In figure 5, _A_ represents a fermenting vat with the front half
removed, showing the false head in place.
This head is made of several pieces which can be laid one by one upon
the pomace, and maybe perforated with auger holes as represented in
_C_, or may be a wooden grating, _D_. These pieces or sections together
constitute the head _B_, and are kept in place by two cross pieces,
_e e_, which are held down by blocks bolted or pinned to the inside
of the tank. _G_ is a stave with a block, _f_, attached, and _H_ the
same, showing the cross piece, _e_, slipped under it. When the tank is
filled to the required height, the false head is put in, resting on the
pomace, the ends of the cross pieces are slipped under the blocks, and
everything is ready. As soon as the fermentation becomes violent, the
whole will be submerged in the bubbling wine.
=Hermetically Sealed Tanks.=—Closely covered tanks must be provided
with a safety valve or pipe for the discharge of carbonic acid gas,
leading and discharging into a vessel of water, which completely
prevents contact with the air. Under pressure the fermentation is much
slower, and is not so complete. Yet great advantages are claimed for
this method by some writers who maintain that by keeping the cover cool
with wet straw or cloth, or by using a safety tube in the form of a
worm passing through a condenser on the top of the vat, the vapors are
condensed and fall back into the liquid, preventing loss of alcohol,
and increasing the aroma, and that the wine acquires a superior
fineness and velvety smoothness under the pressure of the gas. Boireau
says that this latter quality is caused by the complete dissolution of
the mucilaginous matters; and Pasteur has shown that more glycerine is
produced when the fermentation is slow, which may contribute to the
mellowness and smoothness.
=Practice in the Médoc.=—Mr. Boireau says that the greater part of the
grand red wines of the Médoc, the prime St. Emilion, and the prime
Graves, are fermented in closed vats; though a certain number of the
viniculturists still follow the old custom, and make their wine in open
vats.
=Stirring the Pomace in the Vats.=—In Burgundy, and in some other parts
of France, it is considered necessary to give the mass a thorough
stirring (_foulage_) during the active fermentation, in order that all
parts may be equally exposed to the action of the ferment, and also
that a good color may be developed; and for this purpose men enter
into the vats and thoroughly mix the pomace and stir it about with
their naked bodies and limbs, a practice not only disgusting in the
extreme, but dangerous for the men, who are exposed to the poisonous
effects of carbonic acid. It is by no means a general practice, and is
of doubtful utility, even if it should be done by other agents than the
naked human body.
It is evident that two opposing forces are at work when the must
is stirred during fermentation. By the aeration fermentation would
naturally be increased; but Dr. Guyot shows that stirring actually
diminishes its activity, and he advocates the practice in order
that the fermentation be not too tumultuous. The temperature of the
surrounding atmosphere being lower than that of the fermenting mass,
aeration by stirring must, by lowering the temperature, diminish the
activity of the fermentation. Mr. Haraszthy, in his lecture before
the Convention of Viniculturists in 1882, recommended that the mass
be stirred when the fermentation commences to lag, on the theory that
by thus mixing again the yeast with the liquid, so exposing it again
completely to the action of the ferment, fermentation would start again
with renewed vigor. It can easily be stirred with poles provided with
shoulders or short cross pieces.
It has already been stated that the must is sufficiently aerated by
crushing the grapes with rollers, and where the vats are provided
with a false head to keep the pomace submerged, the wine will have
sufficient color without the stirring; and it would seem that the wine
would clear sooner if the lees were not stirred into it near the end of
fermentation. _Where the vats are not covered, and the grapes are not
stemmed and not kept submerged_, a crust or cap is formed on the top of
the fermenting mass, which sours and rots if long exposed to the air,
and the mixing of this with the liquid has a most deleterious effect
upon the wine.
=When to Draw from the Vats.=—When the first or active fermentation
in the vats is completed, the new wine must be drawn off into pipes,
and thus be separated from the marc, consisting of skins, seeds, and
sometimes stems, and also from the heavy lees which has settled in the
vats, and it is important to know the proper time to do this.
The duration of active fermentation depends upon several causes and
conditions as already indicated, such as heat, the amount of sugar
contained in the must, whether the vats are covered or open, the
immersion of the marc, and whether the grapes are stemmed, etc. It may
be completed in four or five days, or it may continue for fifteen or
twenty days. In case of musts poor in sugar it may rarely terminate in
twenty-four hours. In some parts of France the grapes are allowed to
macerate for weeks and even months (for they cannot ferment actively
for that length of time), and what might be good wine, thus is often
spoiled.
=The Objections to Long Vatting= are that the marc will absorb an undue
amount of alcohol, as is shown when it is submitted to distillation
in brandy making, for marcs which have remained long in the vats with
the wine yield more spirits, and, of course, the wine is deprived of
so much strength. This objection, however, would have but little force
where the grapes are stemmed. Another and more serious objection is,
that by a long exposure to the air which is apt to take place when the
vats are not closely covered, some of the alcohol will be changed to
vinegar, and the wine will rapidly degenerate, and become sour. Long
contact with the seeds, skins and stems also produces a foreign taste
in the wine known to the French as _goût de râpe_, stem flavor; and it
is obvious that if the marc is allowed to remain in the liquid till it
macerates and rots, it will acquire a still more disagreeable aroma and
flavor. It is also said that some varieties of grapes which will not
produce a wine with a bouquet, when allowed to remain long in the tank,
will develop it in a vatting of short duration. The only advantage to
be gained by leaving a wine in the vat after the active fermentation is
finished, is in the way of color. When it is desirable—if it ever is—to
produce a dark-colored wine at the expense of other good qualities, it
may be left in the vat to _soak_. Such wines have their use, and that
is to mix with those which lack color, but it is much better to mix in
a quantity of grapes which naturally produce good color.
=In making Fine Wines=, a dark color is not looked for nor desired, but
rather a bright and lively red; and they should be allowed to remain
in the vat only long enough to convert the greater part of the sugar
into alcohol.
=How to Know when to Draw from the Vat.=—It is said in general terms
that the wine should be drawn from the vat when the active fermentation
is finished. This is known by the taste of the wine by those long
familiar with the vinous flavor which takes the place of the sweet
taste of the sugar; it is also recognized by the cessation of the
production of carbonic acid and the consequent bubbling, the falling
of the temperature, the settling down of the marc, and by the clearing
of the liquid. If the must or new wine shows from 0° to 1° by Baumé’s
hydrometer, or from 0° to 2° by Balling’s saccharometer, nearly all
the sugar will have been converted into alcohol; I say nearly all, for
all the sugar is not converted till long after the wine is drawn from
the vat. Boireau says that the fermentation is yet incomplete when the
hydrometer marks several degrees of density, and the liquid is warm,
sweetish, and muddy. He says, moreover, that care should be taken that
active fermentation has entirely ceased before putting the wine in
pipes, for if it is still sweetish and fermenting, it will remain sweet
a long time, and ferments will often remain in suspension, which will
render the wine difficult to clear, and liable to ferment and become
sour.
=Method of Drawing from Vats and filling Casks.=—If the pipes are on
the same level with the vat, or higher, the new wine is run from the
vat through a faucet into buckets and carried in them to the casks and
poured into these through a funnel, or is run into a large receptacle
or tub placed immediately under the faucet and pumped into the casks
by means of a force pump. But the more expeditious way is to have the
casks ranged on a level lower than the bottom of the fermenting tank,
and then to run the wine directly into them through a hose attached
to the faucet. Of course, careful men must be in attendance to watch
the operation, and close the faucet as soon as the cask is filled, and
immediately transfer the hose to an empty one, so that the wine may not
run over and waste.
Where the wine is drawn from more than one vat, it should be equally
distributed through all the casks, so that the quality may be as nearly
uniform as possible. If the press wine is to be mixed with the vat
wine, the casks should only be filled to three-fourths or four-fifths
of their capacity, in order to leave room for the former.
[Illustration: _Fig. 6._ Wine Presses.]
=Wine Presses.=—Wine presses are constructed in several different
forms, and the force is applied by means of a simple lever, consisting
of a long timber weighted at the end and rigged with a rope and pulley
to raise and lower it, or by means of a large screw. Hydraulic presses
are also used in large establishments. It is not necessary here to give
a detailed description of a press of either kind, for the prospective
wine maker will examine the different ones and see them in action,
and choose according to his means and necessities. Fig. 6 represents
screw presses. A very simple one, however, and which can be made by
any carpenter, consists of a box two or three feet square, and a foot
or more high. This box, however, is made up of sections, each of which
is five or six inches high; and they should be constructed of strong
two-inch timber, well mortised together, and perforated with small
holes through which the wine may ooze out. The height, and consequently
the capacity of the box or receptacle will depend upon the number of
sections used. A broad board constitutes the bottom of the press and
should be larger than the receptacle itself, and be provided with a rim
open in the middle of the lower side, and having a shallow spout for
the wine to run through. This bottom is firmly placed so as to incline
slightly forward, the sections are placed on it, one on the other,
till the box is of the desired height, then the marc from the vat is
filled in and a head or follower fitted to the inside of the box is
placed on the marc, and pressure is applied with a lever. This lever
is a strong piece of timber with its fulcrum end placed in a mortise
in a large tree, or adjusted in any other suitable manner, allowing
free play to the other end to which is attached the rope and pulley to
facilitate its movement.
=Pressing and Press Wine.=—In the manufacture of all but fine wines,
it is the usual practice to mix the press wine with the wine from
the vat. And as the wine remaining in the pomace is about one-fourth
of the whole, it will be equally distributed among all the casks by
filling with it the vacancy left in them. If a light pressure is first
applied, the wine of the first pressing will differ but little from the
vat wine. After this, however, the marc should be spaded and stirred
and pressure applied again, and the process repeated till the wine no
longer flows. During the last pressing it is necessary to apply so
much force that a great amount of coloring matter is pressed from the
skins, and tannin from the seeds, and also from the stems when not
removed, and the advantage of color may be more than counterbalanced by
the excess of tannin. There may be danger of giving the wine too much
astringency by mixing the last pressings.
=Special Practice for Fine Wines.=—Mr. Boireau indicates the practice
in making common wines, as follows, as a warning to those who can make
fine wines. He says that the wine which the marc contains is removed by
pressing it almost to dryness, and that the wine thus obtained is very
muddy, very harsh, and sometimes sour, particularly when the upper part
of the crust has not been removed, where open vats are used and the
marc not submerged. The greater part of the proprietors of the ordinary
growths have the deplorable habit of mixing the press wine, without
clearing it, with the limpid part drawn from the vat. He says that it
should be kept separate, or otherwise the better part of the wine will
be made muddy and difficult to clear.
TREATMENT OF RED WINE.
=Insensible Fermentation.=—After the wine has undergone its active
fermentation, has been drawn from the vat and been filled into casks,
the latter should be at once stored in a suitable place above ground
of even, moderate temperature, or in an underground cellar whose
temperature is not much below 60° F. The new wine still contains some
sugar, and a slow fermentation goes on, bubbles of gas are given off,
and sediment falls to the bottom. This is called the secondary or
insensible fermentation, and when this is finished and no more gas
arises, the wine has become clear. A good deal of the carbonic acid
that rises in bubbles is not produced by the insensible fermentation,
but has become dissolved in the wine during the active fermentation,
and is gradually given off with the new gas produced. While the gas is
produced in the cask, it must not be closely bunged, but the bung-holes
should be loosely covered with a vine leaf, a block, an inverted bung,
or a bag of sand, so that the gas may escape. Various patent bungs have
been devised with the same object.
The wine should be tasted at each filling of the cask during this
period to ascertain whether the insensible fermentation has entirely
ceased, which may be known from the fact that it has lost the peculiar
pungent flavor of the carbonic acid. As soon as this fermentation is
ended, the casks should be tightly bunged with conical bungs, which can
be easily removed during the period when it is necessary to fill up
frequently.
=Ulling or Filling Up.=—Owing to the escape of gas and to evaporation,
vacant spaces are rapidly formed in the casks which must be filled
with the same kind of wine as that contained in them. It is well to
keep a certain amount of the wine of each vintage in smaller vessels,
to be used for this purpose, such as barrels, kegs, demijohns, and
bottles, according to the extent of the vintage. If one vessel is
partly emptied, the remaining wine should be put into a smaller one.
It is absolutely necessary that all of the casks be kept full or the
wine will spoil. (See exceptions under _Sweet Wine_.) For this purpose,
during the first week they should be filled every day or two, then
two or three times the next week, and later, once a week, once in two
weeks, and finally once a month. This is governed a good deal by the
rapidity of the evaporation, which depends upon the cellar or place
of storage. This operation is performed by means of any vessel with
which the wine can easily be poured into the bung-hole; the convenient
utensil, however, is a vessel in the form of a small watering pot with
a long spout, with which the bung can easily be reached. (Figs. 7 and
8.) A good substitute is an ordinary tin funnel with a flexible rubber
tube attached to the small opening. Where the casks are piled up in the
cellar so that the bungs cannot otherwise be reached, a funnel called
the Z funnel (fig. 9) is used, which is provided with a long spout or
tube turning at right angles to the upper part, and whose tip turns
down, and which can easily be passed between the casks to the bung. If,
however, the bung cannot be reached, a small hole is bored in the upper
part of the head of the cask, and the wine put in with a Z funnel whose
tube turns at right angles but does not turn down at the tip (fig. 10.)
The vent is opened in the highest part of the bulge, and wine is poured
into the funnel whose tip is in the end hole till it rises to the vent,
which is then closed, and the funnel is removed and the hole closed.
[Illustration: _Fig. 7._ _Fig. 8._
Ulling Pots.]
[Illustration: _Fig. 9._ Z Funnel.
_Fig. 10._ Z Funnel.]
As some wine is liable to be lost in ulling a cask whose bung is out
of sight, to avoid this, an instrument in the form of a watering pot,
similar to figs. 7 and 8, has been devised, but whose top is entirely
covered, the wine being poured into it through a tube which is closed
with a cork when in use. The vent is near the tip of the spout on the
under side, so that the wine will run as long as the cask is not full,
but will stop as soon as the vent is covered by the wine rising in the
cask. It is convenient to have a stopcock on the spout.
Many of these implements are provided with a socket to hold a candle.
=Summary of the Rules for the Treatment of New Red Wines.=
1. Put the casks, well bunged, in a cellar or other
well closed place, and keep them constantly full, by
frequently and regularly filling them with wine of the
same kind.
2. Rack the wine as soon as the insensible
fermentation has ceased and the wine has become limpid,
_i. e._, about December; rack again before the
vernal equinox; towards the summer solstice; and also
near the autumnal equinox. Racking should always
be done, if possible, during cool weather.
(See _Racking_.)
3. To prevent secondary fermentations, draw off the wine
whenever by tasting you recognize by the flavor that it is
commencing to work.
If the wines are bright, avoid fining, and so preserve their fruity
flavor; but if they remain muddy after the second racking, fine them
after the third drawing off with the whites of eggs, and leave them the
shortest possible time on the finings.
Mr. Boireau says that by such treatment wines will be obtained limpid
and free from secondary fermentations, and that grand wines will so
preserve their fruity flavor; while if they are allowed to work again
after the cessation of the insensible fermentation, they will lose
their fruity flavor and mellowness, and become too dry. In order to
avoid this dryness produced by secondary fermentations, which will
considerably diminish the value of the wines, and especially of grand
wines, some wine makers place the casks with the bung on one side
after the June racking; this practice should not be followed, for the
elevation of the temperature at that season is liable to set them
fermenting.
The idea is in all cases to avoid mixing the lees with the wine, and
if young wines are to be shipped before the arrival of the period of
the first racking, they should nevertheless be carefully drawn off,
if they have already become clear, for to mingle again the lees
with wine, predisposes it to secondary fermentations, and renders it
difficult to clarify.
=Treatment of Old Red Wines.=—Wines after the fourth racking are
treated as old wines. When they have acquired a clean taste, are limpid
and no longer ferment, the casks should be carefully filled and tightly
bunged, and they should be stored in a suitable place, with the bung
turned to one side. The bung being thus constantly wet swells and
exactly fills the hole, the wine keeps better, there is less loss by
evaporation, and constant filling up is avoided.
If it happens that by bad treatment the wines are not clear and behave
badly, they should receive the necessary treatment, and be clarified
before permanently put away with the bung at the side.
In cellars and other well closed places, old red wine, clean-tasting,
bright and quiet, stored in good, well hooped casks, need only two
rackings per year, one in March and the other in September, unless for
some reason it loses its limpidity by entering again into fermentation,
which will be discovered by tasting from time to time. In that case,
it should immediately be drawn off without regard to the date of the
former racking, and then fined.
Care should be taken not to leave ullage in the cask of old wine, by
frequent samplings and tastings. And when it occurs, in order to avoid
its effects, the wine may immediately be drawn into a smaller cask,
and this is necessary more frequently in airy storehouses where the
evaporation is greater than in cellars.
Boireau says that if these rules are carefully observed the wines will
improve, and develop all the qualities which by their nature they are
susceptible of acquiring. The greater or less degree of fineness which
they acquire by aging under proper conditions results principally from
two causes: The first is the deposit of coloring matter and divers
salts which the new wine contains in dissolution, and which become
insoluble by entering into new combinations, and which in their turn
are removed at each racking, with the lees; the second cause is the
transformation of the tannin, which gives the wine a certain degree
of roughness, into gallic acid, and its extraction in the insoluble
combinations which it forms with the different principles contained in
the wine and with the finings which are introduced. It follows that old
wine loses part of its color and soluble salts, and a great part of the
tannin which it originally contained. Its taste is more delicate, its
flavor, which was masked by these different matters, comes out better,
its bouquet commences to develop, and its mellowness is more pronounced.
These remarks are more particularly applicable to grand wines, for in
many of the ordinary ones the fruity flavor which they have when new
is lost before the end of the first year, because the mucilages and
pectine, which give them their mellowness, are either precipitated with
the lees or are destroyed by insensible fermentation. In general these
wines lack firmness, body and tannin, and many of them show a strong
tendency to lose their color.
The time necessary for wines to remain in wood in order to acquire the
highest degree of perfection which they can acquire in casks, depends
upon the quality of the wine; wines of strength and body require more
time than feeble ones.
Our author says that, on the average, the poorest wines of the Médoc
become bright about the end of two years, and if they are kept longer,
they lose their mellowness. But on the other hand, the firm and
full-bodied wines of the same localities require to remain in wood
a year longer to arrive at perfect maturity. Certain wines strongly
charged with tannin, coming from certain localities, and those made
from the _verdot_ grape, are long in developing, but they keep so much
the longer.
When they have attained their entire development and the separation of
the lees is complete, they must be bottled, for they will lose their
qualities if left in casks. In bottles they arrive at perfection; they
acquire bouquet while they preserve their mellowness, but in casks,
they finally lose their fruity flavor and velvety smoothness, and
become dry.
And he gives the following:
=Summary of Rules for the Care of Old Red Wines.=
1. They should be kept in places perfectly closed,
and before turning the bung to one side, we should be
satisfied that they are perfectly bright, quiet, and
well behaved.
2. They should be drawn from the lees twice a year;
the casks should be kept full; and they should be kept
from secondary fermentations by watching and opportune
racking.
3. Keep down the loss by evaporation by all means
possible, and keep them in close cellars, in strong,
well hooped casks, and avoid ullage.
4. Bottle them before they lose their fruity flavor,
and as soon as they cease to deposit.
Thus will they acquire all the qualities of which by their nature they
are susceptible.
But if they are kept in places to which the air has free access, the
evaporation will be great; and if the casks are left with ullage caused
by too frequent sampling, or too infrequent racking, they will work,
become dry, lose their mellowness, and become slightly affected by
acetic acid, produced by contact with the air.