Page:A Treatise on the Culture of the Vine and, and the Art of Making Wine.pdf/179

 pressed by the finger, they offered only their seeds, and fibrous filament.

After what has been already said, on the advantage of a uniform fermentation, it is unnecessary to urge the necessity of providing a sufficient number of vintagers, to fill a vat within 24 hours. It is, in fact, by an attention to these little circumstances, that the wines of one district, or country, excel those of another. In Italy, where the climate and soil are so favourable for the vine, that they could scarcely avoid making excellent wine, if the process were conducted with any regard to principles, the generality of the wines are of a very inferior description; and the method of conducting the vintage, is sufficient to account for it. The same vat is destined to receive the vintage of many days, each added to the mass collected before, till it is full. This is not unfrequently till fifteen days have elapsed. The produce of such a vat is, in fact, a medley of different wines, mere or less fermented.

Although the vintage is usually conducted in the manner above described, the process of treating the grapes, and causing them to ferment in the vat, is by no means universal. The management of the brisk wines of Champagne, for example, is very different and with a description of it, this chapter will be terminated.