1857 The Bordeaux wine and liquor dealers' guide

40

A TREATISE ON

brilliam, and if it is not so, it must undergo the pro– cess of '.fonilng' before being bottled. In fact, it is a common practice with some persons to perform this operation wh~ther the wine requires it or not, as, if it has been mixed and doctored, it amalgamates and ameliorates the various flavors. The bottles, corks, and wine being ready, a :fine clear day should be preferably chosen for bottling, and the utmost cleanliness and care should be exercised during the process. Great caution should also be taken not to shake the casks, so as to disturb the bottoms. The remaining portion that cannot be drawn off, should 1 )e passed through the 'wine-bag,' ana "when bot– tled should be set apart as inferior to the rest. The bottlers, to prevent breakfog and loss, should place each bottle, before corking it, in a small bucket, having a bottom made of soft cork. If care is taken thus, there need be no breakage, though the corks should be ' flogged' in very hard. When the wine is all bottled, it is stored in a cool cellar, but on no account on the bottk's bot-tom or in damp straw, but ·on their Bides, in sweet, dry saw-dust or sand." Oellaring.-A wine cellar should be dry at bottom, and either covered with good hard gravel or be paved with flags. Its gratings or windows should open toward the north, and it should be sunk_ suffi– ciently below the surface to insure an equable tern-

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