The Cultivation of The Native Grape, and Manufacture of American Wines Part 10

"The burette consists of two hollow tubes of gla.s.s. In filling it, hold the smaller tube with the right hand into the gla.s.s containing the solution of ammonia, apply the mouth to the larger one, and by drawing in the fluid the tube is filled exactly to the line indicated at 0 of the tube.

"Holding the mixing bottle by the neck between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, place the smaller tube of the burette into the mouth of the mixing bottle, which must be constantly shaken; let enough of the solution of ammonia be brought drop by drop, into the mixture in the bottle, till the red has been changed into the deep reddish blue of the purple onion. This is the sign of the proper saturation of the acids. To distinguish still better, turn the mixing bottle upside down, by closing its mouth with the thumb, and examine the color of the fluid in the tube-shaped neck of the bottle, and afterwards, should it be required, add another drop of the ammonia. Repeat this until the proper tone of color has been reached, neither red nor blue. After thus fixing the precise point of the saturation of the acids, the burette is held upright, and the quant.i.ty of the solution of ammonia consumed is accurately determined,--that is, to what line on the scale the burette has been emptied. The quant.i.ty of the solution so used corresponds with the quant.i.ty of acids contained in the must--the larger division lines opposite the numbers indicating the thousandths part, and the smaller lines or dots the ten thousandths part.

"Until the eye has learned by practice to recognize the points of saturation by the tone of color, it can be proven by means of litmus paper. When the mixture in the bottle begins to turn blue, put in the end of a slip of litmus paper about half an inch deep, and then draw this end through your fingers, moistened with water. So long as the ends of the blue litmus paper become more or less reddened, the acids have not been completely saturated. Only when it remains blue, has the point of saturation been reached.

"In examining _red_ must, the method should be modified as follows:--Instead of first filling the pipette with tincture of litmus, fill it with water to the line A, and transfer it into the bottle.

After the quant.i.ty of must has been added, drop six-thousandths of the solution of ammonia into the mixture, constantly shaking it while dropping, then test it, and so on, until, after every further addition required with litmus paper, it is no longer reddened after having been wiped off."

DR. GALL further gives the following directions, as a guide, to distinguish and determine the proportion of acids which a must should contain, to be still agreeable to the palate, and good:

"Chemists distinguish the acid contained in the grape as the vinous, malic, grape, citric, tannic, gelatinous and para-citric acids. Whether all these are contained in the must, or which of them, is of small moment for us to know. For the practical wine-maker, it is sufficient to know, with full certainty, that, as the grape ripens, while the proportion of sugar increases, the quant.i.ty of acids continually diminishes; and hence, by leaving the grapes on the vines as long as possible, we have a double means of improving their products--the must or wine.

"All wines, without exception, to be of good and of agreeable taste, must contain from 4-1/2 to 7 thousandths parts of free acids, and each must containing more than seven thousandths parts of free acids may be considered as having too little water and sugar in proportion to its quant.i.ty of acids.

"In all wine-growing countries of Germany, for a number of years past, experience has proved that a corresponding addition of sugar and water is the means of converting the sourest must, not only into a good drinkable wine, but also into as good a wine as can be produced in favorable years, _except_ in that peculiar and delicate aroma found only in the must of well-ripened grapes, and which must and will always distinguish the wines made in the best seasons from those made in poor seasons.

"The saccharometer and acidimeter, properly used, will give us the exact knowledge of what the must contains, and what it lacks; and we have the means at hand, by adding water, to reduce the acids to their proper proportion; and by adding sugar, to increase the amount of sugar the must should contain; in other words, we can change the poor must of indifferent seasons into the normal must of the best seasons in _everything_, _except_ its bouquet or aroma, thereby converting an unwholesome and disagreeable drink into an agreeable and healthy one."

THE CHANGE OF THE MUST, BY FERMENTATION, INTO WINE.

Let us glance for a few moments at this wonderful, simple, and yet so complicated process, to give a clearer insight into the functions which man has to perform to a.s.sist Nature, and have her work for him, to attain the desired end. I cannot put the matter in a better light for my readers than to quote again from DR. GALL. He says:--"To form a correct opinion of what may and can be done in the manufacture of wine, we must be thoroughly convinced that Nature, in her operations, has other objects in view than merely to serve man as his careful cook and butler. Had the highest object of the Creator, in the creation of the grape, been simply to combine in the juice of the fruit nothing but what is indispensable to the formation of that delicious beverage for the accommodation of man, it might have been still easier done for him by at once filling the berries with wine already made. But in the production of fruits, the first object of all is to provide for the propagation and preservation of the species. Each fruit contains the germ of a new plant, and a quant.i.ty of nutritious matter surrounding and developing that germ. The general belief is, that this nutritious matter, and even the peculiar combination in which it is found in the fruit, has been made directly for the immediate use of man. This, however, is a mistake. The nutritious matter of the grape, as in the apple, pear, or any similar product, is designed by Nature only to serve as the first nourishment of the future plant, the germ of which lies in it. There are thousands of fruits of no use whatever, and are even noxious to man, and there are thousands more which, before they can be used, must be divested of certain parts, necessary, indeed, to the nutrition of the future plant, but unfit, in its present state, for the use or nourishment of man. For instance, barley contains starch, mucilaginous sugar, gum, adhesive matter, vegetable alb.u.men, phosphate of lime, oil, fibre and water. All these are necessary to the formation of roots, stalks, leaves, flowers and the new grain; but for the manufacture of beer, the brewer needs only the first three substances.

The same rule applies to the grape.

"In this use of the grape, all depends upon the judgment of man to select such of its parts as he wishes, and by his skill he adapts and applies them in the best manner for his purposes. In eating the grapes, he throws away the skins and seeds; for raisins, he evaporates the water, retaining only the solid parts, from which, when he uses them, he rejects their seeds. If he manufactures must, he lets the skins remain. In making wine, he sets free the carbonic acid contained in the must, and removes the lees, gum, tartar, and, in short, everything deposited during, and immediately after fermentation, as well as when it is put into casks and bottles. He not only removes from the wine its sediments, but watches the fermentation, and checks it as soon as its vinous fermentation is over, and the formation of vinegar about to begin. He refines his wine by an addition of foreign substances if necessary; he sulphurizes it; and, by one means or another, remedies its distempers.

"The manufacture of wine is thus a many-sided art; and he who does not understand it, or knows not how to guide and direct the powers of Nature to his own purposes, may as well give up all hopes of success in it."

So far DR. GALL; and to the intelligent and unbiased mind, the truth and force of these remarks will be apparent, without further extending or explaining them. How absurd, then, the blind ravings of those who talk about "natural" wines, and would condemn every addition of sugar and water to the must by man, when Nature has not fully done her part, as adulteration and fraud. Why, there is no such thing as a "natural wine;" for wine--good wine--is the product of art, and a manufacture from beginning to end. Would we not think that parent extremely cruel, as well as foolish, who would have her child without clothing, simply because Nature had allowed it to be born without it? Would not the child suffer and die, because its mother failed to aid Nature in her work, by clothing and feeding it when it is yet unable to feed and clothe itself? And yet, would not that wine-maker act equally foolish who has it within his power to remedy the deficiencies of Nature with such means as she herself supplies in good season, and which ought and would be in the must but for unfavorable circ.u.mstances, over which we have no control? Wine thus improved is just as pure as if the sugar and water had naturally been in the grapes in right proportions; just as beneficial to health; and only the fanatical "know-nothing" can call it adulterated. But the prejudices will disappear before the light of science and truth, however much ignorance may clamor against it.

GALILEO, when forced to abjure publicly his great discovery of the motion of the earth around the sun as a heresy and lie, murmured between his teeth the celebrated words, "And yet it moves." It _did_ move; and the theory is now an acknowledged truth, with which every schoolboy is familiar. Thus will it be with improved wine-making. It will yet be followed, generally and universally, as sure as the public will learn to distinguish between good and poor wine.

Let us now observe for a moment the change which fermentation makes in converting the must into wine. The nitrogeneous compounds--vegetable alb.u.men, gluten--which are contained in the grape, and which are dissolved in the must as completely as the sugar, under certain circ.u.mstances turn into the fermenting principle, and so change the must into wine. This change is brought about by the fermenting substance coming into contact with the air, and receiving oxygen from it, in consequence of which it coagulates, and shows itself in the turbid state of must, or young wine. The coagulation of the lees takes place but gradually, and just in the degree the exhausted lees settle.

The sugar gradually turns into alcohol. The acids partly remain as tartaric acid, are partly turned into ether, or settle with the lees, chrystallize, and adhere to the bottom of the casks. The etheric oil, or aroma, remains, and develops into bouquet; also the tannin, to a certain degree. The alb.u.men and gluten princ.i.p.ally settle, although a small portion of them remains in the wine. The coloring matter and extractive principle remain, but change somewhat by fermentation.

Thus it is the must containing a large amount of sugar needs a longer time to become clear than that containing but a small portion of it; therefore, many southern wines retain a certain amount of sugar undecomposed, and they are called _sweet_, or liqueur wines; whereas, wines in which the whole of the sugar has been decomposed are called _sour_ or _dry_ wines.

I have thought it necessary to be thus explicit to give my readers an insight into the general principles which should govern us in wine-making. I have quoted freely from the excellent work of DR. GALL.

We will now see whether and how we can reduce it to practice. I will try and ill.u.s.trate this by an example.

NORMAL MUST.

"Experiments continued for a number of years have proved that, in favorable seasons, grape juice contains, on the average, in 1,000 lbs.:

Sugar, 240 lbs.

Acids, 6 "

Water, 754 "

----- 1,000 "

This proportion would const.i.tute what I call a normal must. But now we have an inferior season, and the must contains, instead of the above proportions, as follows:

Sugar, 150 lbs.

Acids, 9 "

Water, 841 "

----- 1,000 "

What must we do to bring such must to the condition of a normal must?

This is the question thus arising. To solve it, we calculate thus: If, in six pounds of acids in a normal wine, 240 pounds of sugar appear, how much sugar is wanted for nine pounds of acids? Answer, 360 pounds.

Our next question is: If, in six pounds of acids in a normal must, 754 pounds of water appear, how much water is required for nine pounds of acids? Answer, 1,131 pounds. As, therefore, the must which we intend to improve by neutralizing its acids, should contain 360 pounds of sugar, nine pounds of acids, and 1,131 pounds of water, but contains already 150 pounds of sugar, 9 pounds of acids, and 841 pounds of water, there remain to be added, 210 pounds of sugar, no acids, and 290 pounds of water.

By ameliorating a quant.i.ty of 1,000 pounds must by 210 pounds sugar, and 290 pounds water, we obtain 1,500 pounds of must, consisting of the same properties as the normal must, which makes a first-cla.s.s wine."

This is wine-making, according to GALL'S method, in Europe. Now, let us see what we can do with it on American soil, and with American grapes.

THE MUST OF AMERICAN GRAPES.

If we examine the must of most of our American wine grapes closely, we find that they not only contain an excess of acids in inferior seasons, but also a superabundance of flavor or aroma, and of tannin and coloring matter. Especially of flavor, there is such an abundance that, were the quant.i.ty doubled by addition of sugar and water, there would still be an abundance; and with some varieties, such as the Concord, if fermented on the husks, it is so strong as to be disagreeable. We must, therefore, not only ameliorate the acid, but also the flavor and the astringency, of which the tannin is the princ.i.p.al cause. Therefore it is, that to us the knowledge of how to properly gallize our wines is still more important than to the European vintner, and the results which we can realize are yet more important. By a proper management, we can change must, which would otherwise make a disagreeable wine, into one in which everything is in its proper proportion, and which will delight the consumer, to whose fastidious taste if would otherwise have been repugnant. True, we have here a more congenial climate, and the grapes will generally ripen better, so that we can in most seasons produce a drinkable wine. But if we can increase the quant.i.ty, and at the same time improve the quality, there is certainly an inducement, which the practical business sense of our people will not fail to appreciate and make use of.

There is, however, one difficulty in the way. I do not believe that the acidimeter can yet be obtained in the country, and we must import them direct from the manufacturers, DR. L. C. MARQUART, of Bonn, on the Rhine; or J. DIEHN, Frankfort-on-the-Main.

However, this difficulty will soon be overcome; and, indeed, although it is impossible to practice gallizing without a saccharometer, we may get at the surplus of acids with tolerable certainty by the results shown by the saccharometer. To ill.u.s.trate this, I will give an example:

Last year was one of the most unfavorable seasons for the ripening of grapes we have ever had here, and especially the Catawba lost almost nine-tenths of its crop by mildew and rot; it also lost its leaves, and the result was, that the grapes did not ripen well. When gathering my grapes, upon weighing the must, I found that it ranged from 52 to 70; whereas, in good seasons, Catawba must weighs from 80 to 95. I now calculated thus: if normal must of Catawba should weigh at least 80, and the must I have to deal with this season will weigh on an average only 60, I must add to this must about 1/2 lb. of sugar to bring it up to 80. But now I had the surplus acid to neutralize yet. To do this, I calculated thus: If, even in a normal Catawba must, or a must of the best seasons, there is yet an excess of acid, I can safely count on there being at least one-third too much acid in a must that weighs but 60. I, therefore, added to every 100 gallons of must 40 gallons of soft water, in which I had first dissolved 80 lbs. of crushed sugar, which brought the water, when weighed after dissolving the sugar in it, up to 80. Now, I had yet to add 50 lbs., or half a pound to each gallon of the original must, to bring _this_ up to 80. I thus pressed, instead of 100 gallons, 150 gallons, from the same quant.i.ty of grapes; and the result was a wine, which every one who has tasted it has declared to be excellent Catawba. It has a brilliant pale yellow color, was perfectly clear 1st of January, and sold by me to the first one to whom I offered it, at a price which I have seldom realized for Catawba wine made in the best seasons, without addition of sugar or water.

True, it has not as strong an aroma as the Catawba of our best seasons, nor has it as much astringency; but this latter I consider an advantage, and it still has abundant aroma to give it character.

Another experiment I made with the Concord satisfied me, without question, that the must of this grape will always gain by an addition of water and sugar. I pressed several casks of the pure juice, which, as the Concord had held its leaves and ripened its fruit very well, contained sugar enough to make a fair wine, namely, 75. This I generally pressed the day after gathering, and put into separate casks.

I then took some must of the same weight, but to which I had added, to every 100 gallons, 50 gallons of water, in which I had diluted sugar until the water weighed 75, or not quite two pounds of sugar to the gallon of water, pressed also after the expiration of the same time, and otherwise treated in the same manner. Both were treated exactly alike, racked at the same time; and the result is, that every one who tries the two wines, without knowing how they have been treated, prefers the gallized wine to the other--the pure juice of the grape. It is more delicate in flavor, has less acidity, and a more brilliant color than the first, the ungallized must. They are both excellent, but there is a difference in favor of the gallized wine.

DR. GALL recommends grape sugar as the best to be used for the purpose.

This is made from potato starch; but it is hard to obtain here, and I have found crushed loaf sugar answer every purpose. I think this sugar has the advantage over grape sugar, that it dissolves more readily, and can even be dissolved in cold water, thus simplifying the process very much. It will take about two pounds to the gallon of water to bring this up to 80, which will make a wine of sufficient body. The average price of sugar was about 22 cents per pound, and the cost of thus producing an additional gallon of wine, counting in labor, interest on capital, etc., will be about 60 cents. When the wine can be sold at from $2 to $3 per gallon, the reader will easily perceive of what immense advantage this method is to the grape-grower, if he can thereby not only improve the quality, but also increase the quant.i.ty of the yield.

The efforts made by the Commissioner of Patents, and the contributors to the annual reports from the Patent Office, to diffuse a general knowledge of this process, can therefore not be commended too highly.

It will help much to bring into general use, among all cla.s.ses, good, pure, native wines; and as soon as ever the poorer cla.s.ses can obtain cheap agreeable wines, the use of bad whiskey and brandy will be abandoned more and more, and this nation will become a more temperate people.

But this is only the first step. There is a way to still further increase the quant.i.ty. DR. GALL and others found, by a.n.a.lyzing the husks of the grape after the juice had been extracted by powerful presses, that they not only still contained a considerable amount of juice, but also a great amount of extracts, or wine-making principles, in many instances sufficient for three times the bulk of the juice already expressed. This fact suggested the question: As there are so many of these valuable properties left, and only sugar and water exhausted, why cannot these be subst.i.tuted until the others are completely exhausted? It was found that the husks still contained sufficient of acids, tannin, aroma, coloring matter, and gluten. All that remained to be added was water and sugar. It was found that this could be easily done; and the results showed that wine made in this manner was equal, if not superior, to some of that made from the original juice, and was often, by the best judges, preferred to that made from the original must.

I have also practiced this method extensively the last season; and the result is, that I have fully doubled the amount of wine of the Norton's Virginia and Concord. I have thus made 2,500 gallons of Concord, where I had but 1,030 gallons of original must; and 2,600 gallons of Norton's Virginia, where I had but 1,300 gallons of must. The wines thus made were kept strictly separate from those made from the original juice, and the result is, that many of them are better, and none inferior, to the original must; and although I have kept a careful diary of wine-making, in which I have noted the process how each cask was made, period of fermentation on the husks, quant.i.ty of sugar used, etc., and have not hesitated to show this to every purchaser after he had tasted of the wine, they generally, and with very few exceptions, chose those which had either been gallized in part, or entirely.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 37.

UNION VILLAGE.--_Berries 1/3 diameter._]

My method in making such wines was very simple. I generally took the same quant.i.ty of water, the husks had given original must, or in other words, when I had pressed 100 gallons of juice, I took about 80 gallons of water. To make Concord wine, I added 1-3/4 lbs. of sugar to the gallon, as I calculated upon some sugar remaining in the husks, which were not pressed entirely dry. This increased the quant.i.ty, with the juice yet contained in the husks to 100 gallons, and brought the water to 70; calculating that from 5 to 10 still remained in the husks, it would give us a must of about 80. The grapes, as before remarked, had been gathered during the foregoing day, and were generally pressed in the morning. As soon as possible the husks were turned into the fermenting vat again, all pulled apart and broken, and the water added to them. As the fermentation had been very strong before, it immediately commenced again. I generally allowed them to ferment for twenty-four hours, and then pressed again, but pressed as dry as possible this time. The whole treatment of this must was precisely similar to that of the original.

In making Norton's Virginia, I would take, instead of 1-3/4 lbs., 2 lbs. of sugar to the gallon--as it is naturally a wine of greater body than the Concord--and I aimed to come as near to the natural must as possible. I generally fermented this somewhat longer, as a darker color was desired. The time of fermentation must vary, of course, with the state of the atmosphere; in cooler weather, both pressings should remain longer on the husks. The results, in both varieties were wines of excellent flavor, good body, a brilliant color, with enough of tannin or astringency, and sufficient acid--therefore, in every way satisfactory.

The experiments, however, were not confined to these alone, but extended over a number of varieties, with good results in every case.

Of all varieties tried, however, I found that the Concord would bear the most of gallizing, without losing its own peculiar flavor; and I satisfied myself, that the quant.i.ty in this grape can safely be increased _here_, from 100 gallons of must to 250 gallons of wine, and the quality yet be better, than if the must had been left in its normal condition.