1857 The Bordeaux wine and liquor dealers' guide

•

24

A TR!i:ATISE ON

cate wine is intended to be made. Each laborer places his gathering in an osier basket, or a sort ot wooden dossier, carried with the least possible mo– tion. In France, in the department of :Mame, the grapes are carried on horseback, covered with cloths. The grapes, in some countries, are plucked· from the bunches ; in others they are placed entire in the press, stems and all. The best grapes only are used for making the better kinds of wines. The ~tringent principle lodged in the stems is thought to be beneficial, and to impart to the wine a capa– city for endurance, or long keeping. When picked, it is only for red wine, and is generally done by the hand. White wine grapes are rarely picked from the clusters. " Grapes were anciently trodden out, after being exposed on a level :floor, to the action of the solar rays, for ten days; they were then placed in the shade for :five days more, in order to mature the saccharine matter. This practice is still followed in some of the islands of the Grecian Archipelago ; at St. Lucar, in Spain; in Italy, at least in Calabria, and in some of the north-eastern departments of France. The fermentation is facilitated greatly by this process. In some parts of France a laborer with sabots treads the grapes out as they come from the vineyard, in a square box, having holes in the bot-

Google

Digitized by