Manufacture of Wines in the South, Part II [pp. 251-279]

MANUFACT'URE OF WINES IN THE SOUTH.
Thomson, Charleston, 1857, 3.21. That some of these wines were
imp)roved by the addition of sugar and brandy I confess, but,
nevertheless, an improvement is not necessarily an adulteration.
The most recent and interesting examination of wine, made
in the vicinity of Aiken, I was enabled to accomplish by the
assistance of the President of the late Convention, the Hon.
J. H. Hammond. He asserted his belief that a good wine
could be made in Aiken, and that he had done it at Redcliffe.
I expressed a doubt, and the examples were sent to determine
the truth. He discovered, some years since, that a frame
house had not the virtues of a wine-cellar; he, therefore,
transferred his wine manufactory to a twenty feet cellar, and
inii this cellar the wine was made which he maintained was
sound and good. The result of the examination proved satisfactory to us both, and almost amounts to a demonstration
that cellars will make sound wine when frame buildirngs will
not. An example of this kind was what I had desired. I,
therefore, entered on the examination with considerable anrxiety as well as pleasure. The Catawba wine of 1859 was
opened and tasted. It was not as sour as Steinwein, and had
no sweetness. On submitting it to the examination for all the
acids I found but 2.02 grains. On submitting another equal
portion to distillation nearly to dryness, I tested the distillate
and found nothing. No acetic acid had been formed during,
nor subsequent to fermentation, indicating that no accident had
happenied, nor fault committed during that delicate process.
The wine was perfect so far as the chemical process was concerned. The 2.02 grains of acid must be referred to the original acid that was in the juice of which the wine was made, and
enables us to decide upon the maturity of the grape at the
time of the vintage. The acid then was 2.02. By reference to
the examination of the Catawba grape throughout the summer
of 1860, in the vicinity of Aiken, Augusta and Columbia, I find
the diminution of the acids to be as follows: August 1st, 3.66;
Aug. 18thi, 1.26; Aug. 24th, 0.82; Aug. 30th, 0.84. Later examples were richer in sugar, but the acid was 1.07-1.15-1.18.
From these examples, we may infer that 1.00 may be the minimum of' acidity that the Catawba grape will acquire, and that
the vintage presenting an average of 2.02 was premature-not
only in the excess of acid, but in the deficiency of sugar; but
of this I desire only to make a note for the future. I may
here remark, that differences of locations about Aiken begin
already to make differences of maturity in the same grape.
Mr. Ravenel's Catawbas were more ripe on the 24th August
than Dr. Cook's were on the 30th, by 0.02 of acidity-the sugar
of both being equal. The Catawbas of Mr. Crowell were
richer in sugar than either of the above, btlt the acid was
greatly in excess, being 2.34 and 1.57, taken from two bunches
from the same basket on the 26th August. Potash may be
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