WINE LEES, MARC, AND PIQUETTE.
=The Residue of Wine Making=, pomace and lees, are often placed
immediately in the still, and their alcohol distilled off directly,
but the result is better if the wine is first extracted, and distilled
without putting the residue into the boiler, for it is liable to burn
and give a disagreeable burnt flavor to the brandy.
I am indebted to Mr. Boireau, so often quoted, for what follows:
WINE LEES.
=The Lees= should not be neglected, because, for want of proper care,
the wine which is extracted from them will contract a very disagreeable
taste, which is due to its too long sojourn on the deposit, and which
would be prevented by drawing it off in time.
Therefore, in order that the wine extracted from them should not lose
all its value, the lees should receive particular attention, and be
stored in places free from variations of temperature.
=The Quantity of Wine Contained in the Lees= varies from 30 to 90 per
cent. From those of fined wines an average of 70 per cent. may be
extracted without pressing.
=The Dry Parts of the Sediment= contain a great quantity of insoluble
matters, tartar, or argol, several other vegetable and mineral salts,
divers compounds, ferments, mucilaginous matters, and the residue of
animal and vegetable matters (albumen and gelatine), which have been
employed in fining.
=An Analysis of Dry Lees= by Mr. Braconnot, a distinguished chemist,
establishes the presence of the following substances: bitartrate of
potash (cream of tartar), tartrate of lime, tartrate of magnesia,
nitrogenous animal matter, fatty substances, coloring matter, gum, and
tannin.
=The Composition of Dry Lees= varies with the age, nature, and quality
of the wine which produces them; but in all, the bitartrate of potash
or cream of tartar predominates. The lees of mellow wines contain
mucilages, and we find in the lees deposited by sweet wines great
quantities of saccharine matter which may be utilized. The different
uses to which dried lees may be put will be mentioned further on.
=Treatment of the Lees.=—Lees will settle by repose, but the wine
which comes from them, if left long upon the heavy lees, contracts a
disagreeable flavor, owing to its contact with the insoluble matters
forming the sediment, and with the ferments found in the lees with the
residue of the substances used in fining. The surface wine is often
in a state of fermentation, and remains turbid, contracting at the
same time a disagreeable bitterness, unless soon withdrawn from the
influence of the ferments.
By proper care and attention, not only can all the liquid be extracted
from the lees, but the wine so extracted will have no bad flavor, no
vice, in a word, will partake of the same qualities as the wine from
which the heavy lees were deposited. The casks into which they are to
be put should be washed in the same manner as those destined to contain
limpid wine, and double the quantity of a sulphur match employed in the
case of racking new red wines, should be burned in each. As fast as
the casks are emptied in drawing off, the lees are turned into a pail,
and immediately poured into the cask intended for them. In emptying
them into the pail, care should be taken not to introduce dirt, mould,
etc., and if there is debris around the bung-hole, it should be swept
away before removing the bung. As soon as the cask is full of lees, it
should be stored, bung up, in a proper place, as mentioned, and should
then be ulled and bunged, and the date of storing may be marked on it,
with the kind and age of the wine from which it came.
When the casks are not completely filled the same day, and it is
necessary to leave them with ullage, they should be bunged tight, after
having again burned a square of a match in each, and the sulphuring
should be renewed as often as the lees are added, if left so for
several days, in order to avoid access of air, and to prevent the
action of ferments. In a word, casks containing lees, without being
full, should always be well bunged and sulphured, and guarded from
variations of temperature.
The casks, when stored, should be regularly ulled once a week with
limpid wine, and re-bunged, and after two weeks’ repose, the first
drawing off takes place, and should be renewed once or twice every
month. All the clear wine will be drawn off at each racking, by
following the precautions indicated further on. By drawing off thus
frequently, fermentation, to which such wine is subject, will be
avoided, even in summer. Thus, also, will be avoided the disagreeable
taste of the lees, of acrity and bitterness, which wine contracts when
left long on the deposit, and moreover, much more clear wine will be
withdrawn. Lees from diseased wine should not be mixed with the rest,
but should be put aside and treated according to the malady by which
the wine was affected.
=Extraction of Wine from the Lees.=—Lees preserved under the conditions
indicated naturally free themselves from a great part of the foreign
substances which they contain, by rest, for they are insoluble, and
specifically heavier than wine, and settle of their own accord. The
wine should not be fined till drawn from the heavy lees.
The racking off of the clear wine may be performed in two ways, either
by the use of a glass siphon or of a faucet. For the first rackings
the glass siphon is most appropriate, and by its use the boring of
holes high up in the end of the cask is avoided. It is introduced about
eight inches into the full cask, a proper vessel to catch the wine is
placed under the end, with another vessel close at hand, and the wine
is started by the breath; but the siphon must be held with the hand, or
otherwise sustained so that it will not go too deep into the cask. By
holding a candle below, it can be seen if the wine is any way clear;
and as long as it runs sufficiently limpid, the siphon is lowered
into the cask, little by little, till the level of the turbid wine is
nearly reached. When one bucket is filled, the other is slipped under
the stream without stopping it. Two men are usually required, one to
attend the siphon, and the other to empty the buckets. As soon as the
wine runs muddy, it is stopped. If the cask of lees is sufficiently
elevated, the stem of the siphon may run into a funnel placed in the
empty cask.
When the casks have all been drawn from, the remaining heavy lees are
filled into those containing the greater quantity, so as to transfer
the least quantity. Before filling, however, the casks should have a
double square of sulphur match burned in each, to prevent subsequent
fermentations.
The use of the faucet is preferred, when the lees are thick, and the
casks which contain them are near the ground, and are only used for
storing lees. In the latter case, the injury to the cask by boring
holes in the head at several heights, is of little consequence. A
greater quantity of wine may be drawn off by the use of the faucet than
with the glass siphon, but it is generally less clear than if carefully
done with the latter; and one man can do the work.
First, it is necessary to ascertain how far down the clear wine
reaches, by means of gimlet holes, and the faucet-hole should then be
bored just above the level of the heavy lees. If the faucet has been
placed too low, the sediment which runs through it at first may be put
aside.
After the drawing of the clear wine has been repeated several times,
and the thick lees united as above mentioned, the casks should not be
filled until heavily sulphured, and they must not be disturbed, for the
least agitation may stir up the sediment already formed, and cause bad
flavor in the wine, and even produce putrid fermentation, especially in
those from fined wines which contain large quantities of animal matter
introduced in the finings. Casks emptied of heavy lees should be washed
with a chain, to remove the sediment clinging to the inside, which must
not be allowed to dry on.
=Fining Wines Extracted from the Lees.=—These wines often are not
sufficiently clear; and they are generally more difficult to clarify
completely by the usual methods than the wines which produced the lees.
It is noticeable that these wines have less color and less alcohol than
other wines produced in the ordinary way.
The difficulty in obtaining their complete clarification arises from
the great quantity of insoluble matter which they still hold in
suspension, and their relative feebleness in alcohol and tannin.
The want of color is due to the mechanical action of the insoluble
matters which the lees contain; these matters in precipitating carry
down a part of the coloring matter remaining in solution in the liquid.
It follows that the older the lees, and the oftener the wine has been
drawn from them, the feebler the color.
=Red Wines= extracted from the lees, to be completely clarified, should
be fined with a heavy dose of albumen (the whites of 16 or 18 eggs to
100 gallons), previously well beaten up in a pint of water in which
half an ounce of sea salt has been dissolved to give it density. If the
alcoholic strength is below nine per cent, they should be fortified by
the addition of two or three quarts of brandy or alcohol to each 100
gallons. Red wines from this source should not be fined with gelatine,
or it will diminish the color too much.
=White Wines= of this kind may be fined with albumen also, if strong
in alcohol; but otherwise, they should be fined with a heavy dose of
gelatine, three tablets. But before fining they must be tannified by
adding 4 or 5 gallons of tannified wine, or an ounce of tannin for each
100 gallons.
Wines from lees should remain on the finings only long enough to
precipitate the matters used, about ten days; after which they must be
carefully racked, and cared for like other wines.
=Pressing the Thick Sediment.=—After the lees have undergone three or
four semi-monthly rackings, the rest of the wine which they contain may
be extracted by pressure, and this amounts on the average to fifty per
cent. More wine might be extracted by further racking, but by allowing
the wine to remain longer in contact with the finings and other
sediment, it will contract the disagreeable flavors already alluded
to, which may be avoided by pressing the lees after the first three or
four rackings; and an excellent result is obtained by using a filter
press after the first racking, and the wine obtained will have no bad
taste.
The pressing is performed in small sacks about eighteen inches long.
They should be made of cotton cloth, as those made from hemp, even
after being used several times, give a disagreeable flavor to the wines
passed through them.
It is not necessary to provide more than sacks enough for one cask of
lees. The cloth of which they are made should be fine, and of close and
regular texture.
To make a cheap press, one head of a cask is removed, and the pieces of
this head are fastened together by nailing on two cross pieces to keep
it in form, and enough of the wood around the edge is removed to allow
it to pass freely into the cask as a follower. The cask is then placed
upright, and a hole is bored in one of the staves close to the lower
head, into which is placed a faucet. This cask, which is to contain
the sacks, may be placed high enough to allow the wine to run from the
faucet directly into the bung of another cask to hold the wine. If the
casks containing the lees are placed on a horse or platform, the latter
may be run from the faucet-hole directly into the sacks, which may be
fastened to the chime with small hooks, and be kept open with the hand
or a small hoop. A dish should be placed under before withdrawing the
spigot. Or, to avoid fouling the outside of the sack with the lees,
they may first be run into a tub, and dipped into the sacks, the tub
being provided with a sack-holder. As soon as a sack is sufficiently
filled, it should be strongly tied with a bow-knot which can be easily
untied, and laid in the cask provided; and a few small sticks should be
placed over the inner end of the faucet so that it may not be stopped
by a sack coming in contact with it. Sacks are placed in the cask till
it is full. The faucet is left open, so that the wine, as fast as
filtered, may run through a hose into a well washed and well sulphured
cask, placed in position to receive it.
When the cask is full of sacks, the cover is placed on them and they
are allowed to drain for several hours, weights being gradually placed
upon the cover or follower. Further pressure is applied by means of a
lever rigged for the purpose, one end made firm, and the other having
weights attached.
It is best that the pressure be gradually applied, leaving the sacks to
drain for several hours, then applying the lever, but loading it with
weights several hours later, or the next day.
When the wine no longer runs, say twenty-four hours after loading the
lever, the sacks are removed.
If the lees are not very thick, but little will be found in the sacks,
and they may be refilled without removing it, and subjected to a second
pressure. Then they must be thoroughly washed with water. Lye should
not be used.
Where large quantities of lees are to be pressed, larger presses may be
used, vats being employed instead of casks.
It is impossible to obtain all the wine by simple filtration without
pressure, owing to the fact that the filters soon become foul, and the
wine ceases to pass through.
If the first wine which runs off is turbid, it may be put by itself,
and the clear wine caught separately. It is apt to run turbid when
additional weight is applied.
=Use of Dry Lees.=—They have a certain value, and after being removed
from the sacks they may be sold to the manufacturers of cream of
tartar, if they are _virgin lees_. Lees from fined wines are of little
value for this purpose. They may be dried on well-aired floors, or in
the sun. They are also used for the production of pearlash by burning
them. The ash produced is of a greenish gray color, and is crude
pearlash. Good lees, perfectly dry, produce about 30 per cent. of this
alkali.
Lees are also valuable as a fertilizer. Those from sweet wine contain
considerable sugar, which may be utilized by fermenting and distilling
the alcohol produced. This, however, will render them less valuable for
making cream of tartar, a portion of which will be dissolved by washing.
MARC, OR POMACE—PIQUETTE.
=Marc, or Pomace=, is the residue remaining in the vat after the
fermentation of red wine, or in the press, in making white wine. After
being pressed, it is used in many parts of France to make a weak wine
called _piquette_, for the use of the laborers. For this purpose are
utilized all the soluble principles remaining in the marc, by the
following treatment:
=1. The Unfermented Pomace of White or of Red Wine not Entirely
Fermented=, is well broken and crumbled up so as to finely divide it,
and introduced into tuns, which are then completely filled with water,
or into a fermenting vat, adding double its weight of water. After
giving it a thorough stirring and mixing, the first piquette is drawn
off. After a maceration of three or four days, renewing the water
several times, the saccharine matter and soluble salts which the marc
contains are completely removed. Piquette is fermented in casks and
cared for like new wine. The weakest is first consumed.
Or the marc may be pressed and put into barrels, keeping it in as solid
a mass as possible; the surface is then covered with sand and the casks
closed air-tight. Piquette may then be made as needed, using the marc
of one cask, washing with water till it is exhausted.
=2. The Fermented Marc of Red Wine= is treated as follows: After
pressing, it is immediately put into a large vat. Double its weight
of water is added, and after a complete stirring, it is allowed to
macerate one or two days at most. The first piquette is then drained
off, and water is put in several times till the soluble matters are
removed.
Pressed marc is also used for forage, mixing it with half the quantity
of hay.
As for making wine from marc by adding sweetened water. (See _Watering
and Sugaring Must_.)
The following method of washing the marc is from an article on the
Distillation of Marc, by J. Pezeyre, printed in _Le Parfait Vigneron,
Almanach du Moniteur Vinicole_, 1881:
Six vats or barrels are set up side by side, each provided with a
faucet, and a movable cover. The faucet is protected inside, as in the
case of the ordinary fermenting vat.
To thoroughly exhaust the marc, it should be washed with six times its
weight of water, or 100 lbs. of pomace require 72 gallons of water.
The vats being arranged, are charged with marc, which is pressed down
till it fills the vat to within about ten inches of the top. The marc
is kept submerged in the usual way, by a false, perforated head.
The first vat is filled with cold water, and left to rest for two
hours. The liquid is then drawn off and filled into vat No. 2. No. 1 is
then refilled with fresh water. When the liquid in No. 2 has remained
for two hours, it is drawn off and put into No. 3. No. 1 is then
emptied into No. 2, and filled with water a third time. The maceration
in No. 3 having continued for two hours, its liquid is drawn off and
poured into No. 4; No. 3 is filled from No. 2, and this from No. 1,
which is filled the fourth time with water. No. 5 is filled from No. 4,
and each vat is filled from the preceding one, until No. 1 has received
in water six times the weight of the marc contained in it.
The liquid from No. 5 is poured into No. 6, and after two hours is
drawn from this last vat into the still.
When the wine has been drawn from the last vat, the marc in No. 1
having been washed six times with its weight of water, is exhausted of
all its alcohol. It is then refilled with marc, and becomes No. 6 of
the series, and is filled with the liquid from No. 5. Each number is
thereby carried around the circle, becoming successively No. 6.
In this way the pomace is, little by little, deprived of its alcohol,
and the liquid coming from No. 6 is rich in spirit, and when delivered
to the still is nearly equal in strength to the original wine.
When there is but little marc to operate upon, the liquid may be drawn
off into buckets, and so filled into the vats; but time and labor may
be saved by using a pump and hose.