If your wines be sound, but wanting in body, colour, and flavour, draw
out thirty or forty gallons, and return the same quantity of young and
rich wines, such its are generally brought to this country for that
purpose; to a can of which put a quart of colouring, with a bottle of
wine or brandy, in which half an ounce of powdered cochineal has been
previously mixed. Whisk it well together, and put it in your cask,
stirring it well about with a staff; and if not bright in about a week
or ten days, you may fine it for use; previous to which, put in at
different times a gallon of good brandy. If Port wines are short of
body, put a gallon or two of brandy into each pipe, as you see
necessary. If the wines be in your own stock, put it in by a quart or
two at a time, as it feeds the wine better in this way than putting it
in all at once; but, if your wines are in a bonded cellar, procure a
funnel that will go down to the bottom of the cask, that the brandy may
be completely incorporated with the wine. When your Port is thus made
fine and pleasant, bottle it off, taking care to pack it in a temperate
place with saw-dust or dry sand, after which it will not be proper to
drink for at least two months. When laying your wines down in bottles
you should never use new deal saw-dust, as that causes it to fret too
much, and often communicates a strong turpentine smell through the corks
to the wine.--_Ibid._