26
A TREATISE ON
and what liquor fiows after is called
wine
of the
se–
cond
01'
third cuttings.
"The great wine-press
is
capable of making no less
than
twen'l!y-.fove pi,eces
of
wine in
fowr
hours•
.
Where
vineyards are extensive, as it is desirable to press
the produce of the gathering in one day, however
large in quantity, this press is useful; but it is the
instrument of making a large quantity of secondary
wine, rather than a little of a choice character, and
is used principally by the larger vine-growers.
There is only one species of wine which
is
made
without beating, treading, or pressing; this is what
they call in Spain
lagrima.
The grapes, melting
with ripeness, are suspended in bunches, and the
wine is the produce of the droppings. This can only
be effected with the
muscatel
grape of the warm
south. In this way the richest :Malaga is made.
In
Cyprus the grapes are beaten with mallets, on an
inclined plane, with the reservoir at the end."
(Wonders of the World.) After the juice is thus
prepared, the next step is the process of
Fermentation,
which, according
to
Liebig, is the
decomposition of a substance containing no nitro–
gen, or a metamorphoeis by the elements of a com- ,
plex molecule group themselves, so as
to
form more
intimate and stable components, whose action de–
pends upon the joint influence of warmth, air, and
Digitized
by