The Wine Press and the Cellar: A Manual for the Wine-Maker and the Cellar-Man

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THE WINE PRESS AND THE CELLAR.

A MANUAL FOR THE WINE-MAKER AND THE CELLAR-MAN.

By E. H. RIXFORD.

SAN FRANCISCO: NEW YORK: PAYOT, UPHAM & CO. D. VAN NOSTRAND. 1883.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by E. H. RIXFORD, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

C. W. GORDON, Steam Book and Job Printer, San Francisco, Cal.

PREFACE.

In 1876 the Mission grape sold in California for from $7.50 to $10 per ton, and foreign varieties for from $14 to $18 per ton, and consequently many vineyardists in districts remote from the market turned their hogs into the vineyard to gather the fruit. At this time farmers concluded that it would not pay to grow grapes, and the vines were rooted out of many vineyards, and the land devoted to the production of more profitable crops. In 1878, however, the prices were better, and the Mission grape brought from $12 to $14 per ton, and the foreign varieties from $22 to $26, and under a growing demand for California wines, the wine makers in the counties of Sonoma and Napa have paid during the past three seasons of 1880, 1881, and 1882, prices ranging from $16 to $22 per ton for Mission, and from $22 to $35 for other foreign varieties, and in some cases even as high as $40 per ton for wine grapes of the best varieties; the extremes in prices depending upon the activity of the competition in the different localities. Although in California we are accustomed to speak of the “Mission grape” and the “foreign varieties” in contradistinction, it may not be amiss to state for the benefit of other than California readers, that the “Mission” is undoubtedly a grape of European origin, and was cultivated by the Spanish priests at the missions existing in the country at the advent of the Americans, and hence the name. And notwithstanding the existence of our grape, Vitis Californica, the names “native” and “California grape” have been applied to the Mission, but the word “foreign” is never used in describing it.

The increase in the price of grapes has followed closely upon the increase in the demand for our wines, and the production has kept pace with the demand.

The annual shipments of wine and brandy from California, commencing with 1875, according to the reports published from time to time, are as follows, in gallons:

Year. Wine. Brandy. 1875 1,031,507 42,318 1876 1,115,045 59,993 1877 1,462,792 138,992 1878 1,812,159 129,119 1879 2,155,944 163,892 1880 2,487,353 189,098 1881 2,845,365 209,677

The figures for 1882, as published, are larger than those for 1881, but the figures furnished by Mr. Stone, the statistician of the Merchants Exchange, give wine 2,721,428, brandy, 218,792; from which I am led to believe that those for 1881 are too large.

The total production of wine for 1878 has been stated to be from 6,000,000 to 7,000,000 gallons, for 1879, 7,790,000, for 1880, 10,000,000 to 12,000,000 gallons. Notwithstanding the increased acreage of our vineyards, the product in 1881 fell off one or two million gallons, and in the second annual report of the State Viticultural Commission, just published, the loss is estimated at one-third of the crop, making the product 9,000,000 gallons, or a little less. That of 1882 is about 10,000,000 gallons.

In 1880 we had about 60,000 acres of vineyards in the State, and according to Mr. Haraszthy’s report as President of the Viticultural Commission, contained in the report of the commission last mentioned, the increase during the first two years after the first organization of the commission in 1880, amounts to 40,000 acres. Since the date of his report, April 19, 1882, the acreage must have been largely increased, and making a liberal allowance for errors, we must have at least 100,000 acres in vineyards in the State at the present time, which ought to produce, at a small estimate, 20,000,000 gallons of wine in five years from now, and in five years more, with the increased product from the greater age of the vines, and from those planted in the meantime, the yield ought to be doubled.

Among those who are now planting vineyards are many who have had no experience in wine making; and in order that such may have the advantage of the experience of those of other countries who have spent their whole lives in perfecting the art, and have had the benefit of the knowledge derived from generations before them, the author has prepared the following work, in which he has attempted to lay before the reader an account of the methods followed in those portions of Europe, especially France, where the finest wines of the world are produced.

What is here given is the result of research on the part of the author chiefly for his own benefit; and in going over the literature of the subject of wine making, he failed to find a work in the English language which is adequate to the needs of the practical wine maker, or one who intends to become such. There are many good books in the French language, and, in fact, the principal works on the subject are to be found in that language. But the authors of many of them have hobbies, and the practice indicated in a certain connection by one often differs from that pointed out by another. It, therefore, became necessary to compare the writings of various authors, and where they differed in points of practice, to try and find out the reason therefor. This was not always an easy task; but the author confidently hopes that the beginner will always find a safe course pointed out to him in the following pages, and that the experienced viniculturist will have brought to his mind many things forgotten in the multitude of affairs, and the experimentalist, to whom we all are looking for further light, will here find many hints which may assist him in finding out what are the best methods under the conditions in which we find ourselves in the infancy of this absorbing industry.

What forcibly strikes one in reading the works of different authors on the subject of vinification is, that, notwithstanding the variations in the methods, there are but few material differences in the practices in different localities in making a given kind of wine. It is true that one method makes a red wine, a different one makes a white wine, that grapes of one degree of ripeness and the corresponding practice in vinification produces a sweet wine, and another a dry wine, but the author is convinced that the method and practice which will produce the best result in a given case in one locality will also produce the best result in any other.

If it is found that in the northern and central portions of France it is insisted that the casks be always kept full, and that in Spain they are left with a vacant space, it will also be found that this practice depends upon the alcoholic strength and robustness of the wine. When the grapes of the more northern regions are artificially matured till their saccharine strength approaches that of grapes of more southern climes, then the wine made from their must may safely be treated according to methods prevailing in the latter regions. If, on the other hand, the grapes of hot countries are gathered as soon as their must indicates a density of 20 to 24 per cent., the wine made from them would be absolutely ruined, if treated as the wine from overripe grapes, and it must be cared for as the weaker wines of the northern climes.

The essentials, then, of good wine making, which include the treatment in the cellar, are everywhere the same, and they only vary with the varieties of wine that are to be produced.

The general climate of California corresponds in many respects with that of the more southern wine-producing regions of Europe; and the percentage of sugar carried in the grapes grown in the southern and interior portions of our State is about the same as that of the musts of those regions. The musts produced in the central coast counties and the bay counties of the State, in average seasons, equal, if they do not exceed, in density the musts of the central and northern portions of France in their very best seasons.

The following tables will afford the figures necessary for a comparison between our wines and those of other countries, as to alcoholic strength and acidity. The first table is useful as illustrating an advance in wine making in this State. The earlier wine makers, guided by the experience derived from residence in the northern viticultural regions of Europe, or by the information from writers of those countries, allowed their grapes to arrive at an advanced state of maturity without considering the different conditions of climate. Musts, therefore, that were fit only for sweet wines, were treated according to dry wine methods, and no wonder they were found heady, used as table wines, with so high a percentage of alcohol.

The second table shows that we have learned to produce lighter wines, which means, not only that we are growing grapes that carry less sugar than the Mission, but chiefly that we do not allow the berries to become overripe, dried up, under the ardent rays of our constant sun.

The first figures are from a paper read by the late Major Snyder before the Napa Wine Growers’ Association, and published in the Rural Press, August 3, 1871, Vol. IV, p. 66.

Vol. per cent. Color. Name of Maker. Year. of Alcohol. White Craig 1867 Foreign grapes 14.4 “ “ 1870 Mission 13.4 “ Dresel & Gundlach 1861 14.4 “ “ 1870 13.3 “ “ 1862 12.5 “ “ 1867 13.6 “ J. R. Snyder 1865 Mission 12.5 “ “ 1860 12.6 “ “ 1867 13.3 “ “ 1868 12.8 “ A. F. Haraszthy 1871 Foreign 11.5 “ “ 1870 “ 12.6 Red Buena Vista Ass’n 1866 16.5 White “ “ 1871 11.5 Red “ “ 1871 12.6 White H. Winkle 1869 Mission 13.2 “ “ 1871 “ 12.5 “ L. Goss 1871 Zinfandel 12.8

The following figures are from the Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture of the United States, for 1880, report of the Chemist. It will be observed that where the name is followed by a †, it is that of the Eastern dealer, and not that of the maker.

DRY RED WINES.

Per cent. Total by vol. of acid as Name. alcohol. Glucose. tartaric. Maker.

Sonoma Mission, ’79 10.03 None .722 Gretsch & Mayer.† “ Zinfandel, ’79 9.78 Trace .693 “ “ Mission 9.29 do .917 B. Dreyfus & Co. Zinfandel 11.35 do .768 “ “ Zinfandel, ’78 10.30 do .825 Dresel & Co. Zinfandel, ’79 11.08 do .798 “ “ Zinfandel 12.31 do .814 Geo. Hamlin & Co.† California Claret 10.56 do .903 Zinfandel 13.24 0.18 .726

DRY WHITE WINES.

White Hock 17.37 0.09 .855 White Hock 12.87 0.09 .767 Muscatel 13.34 0.12 .767 Sonoma Hock 12.05 0.13 .422 Perkins, Stern & Co.† Riesling 11.26 Trace .846 Dresel & Co. Hock 11.35 do .785 “ “ Dry Muscat 11.44 do .619 Dreyfus & Co. Zinfandel 11.26 do .590 “ “ Riesling 12.05 do .696 “ “ Gutedel 11.70 do .756 “ “ Hock 9.70 do .723 “ “ Sonoma Mission, ’78 10.56 do .619 Gretsch & Mayer.† “ Riesling, ’77(?) 13.15 do .695 “ “ “ “ ’79 13.15 do .575 “ “ “ Mission, ’79 10.38 do .619 “ “ “ Gutedel, ’79 11.87 do .589 “ “ Dry Muscat ’74(?) 12.40 do .816 “ “ Zinfandel, ’78 11.96 do .761 “ “ “ ’79 11.00 do .740 “ “