The Virginia Gazette

HINTS for making WINE in AMERICA.

THE Society for encouraging Arts, &c. having offered Premiums on the Importation of Wine, the Produce of the British Colonies, the following Observations tend to shew the Practicability of answering the Expectations of that truly laudable Society, and may be the Means of putting Gentlemen in the Colonies on a right Method of managing their Vines, Since it is can only be ascribed to their Ignorance of the most proper and best Manner of managing their Grapes that they have not as yet made as good Wine as most that is made in Europe.

The Author from whom I borrow my Remarks had the Island of Bermuda particularly in his Eye, when he wrote them; however, most of them may be of equal Use to the Planter in Virginia, Georgia and South-Carolina.

I shall only give some few of the most important of his Observations, I must refer those who would be glad of further Satisfaction, and of seeing the Objections that have been made to this Scheme solidly answered, to the Book itself, which I think will be sufficient to convince the most incredulous; the Book I mean is the second Volume of the Works of the late Aaron Hill, Esq; wherein are Several excellent Letters on this Subject to Mr. Popple. Mr. Hill observes that the Board of Trade, in a State of the Plantations, laid before the House of Lords, affirm that they had Reason for concluding it practicable to produce at Bermudas the Wine made in Madeira; and that the Plantations of Virginia and Carolina could produce excellent Wine is evident, says Mr. Hill, from their being encumbered with wild Vines; and likewise from another Circumstance, that Slips or Cuttings of Vines, brought from Europe, being planted in Virginia in the Spring, produce Grapes of the Autumn of that very same Year they are planted.

Since Grapes are of so easy a Growth in those Countries, why is not Vine a staple Commodity among them? The Truth is, says Mr. Hill, they want Skill and Philosophy; their Glebe, having never been weakened by Culture, remains too rich and too oily a Rancour: Hence the Flesh of their Grapes is too clammy, and instead of a free fluid Liquor omits in the Pressing a Juice of a ropy Consistence like Jelly, mixed with a fibrous and pulpy coarse Substance, that floats up and down in the Liquor, and the natural Heat of those Latitudes excites a rapid and strong Fermentation; this Excess in the Ferment is increased by the Foulness of too turbid a Must, that before it can clarify it works itself acid.

As they do not know the Cause of this Fault, they are sure to fall short of its Remedy. They ought to dig Vaults, and therein let down close covered fermenting Casks, deep into the Ground, where the Air would be cooled, and kept temperate. In these Casks their bruised Grapes, after treading or breaking, Should lie five or six Days more after pressing, during which Time the Skins fermenting and soaking together with the Must would, by Means of their tartareous Salt mixing with and rarifying the oily Tenacity of the Juice, separate the winy Part from the fleshy, and give Thinness and Fluidity to the Liquor; so that being afterwards pressed out in Hair Bags, and put fine into the same Casks to work, the Fermentation would stop at its due Point of Time, and the Wine be rich, lively, and durable.

The Portuguese, as a Check to the Aptness in their Madeira Wines to grow eager, instead of the Method I have described above, put in considerable Proportion of Lime: Hereby, indeed, they break the Coherence of too ropy a Must, and introduce an alcaline Balance, that they may resist any acid Tendency in the Course of the Ferment; but then, on the other Side, Time, as we see in the leaching of Sugars, absorbs and destroys volatile Oils, which give Wines all their Odour and Flavour, leaving a hot and burnt Taste in their Room, that requires very long keeping, extraordinary Agitation in the Cask, and sometimes a too warm and improper Exposure, before it can throw off a Twang that is disagreeable at first to all Palates. The wearing out of this Taste, in some Measure, by incessant Commotions at Sea, is the true Cause of that Difference so often observed in Favour of Madeira Wines carried first to our Colonies, and then brought back to England, compared with those which come over directly from Madeira to London.

Mr. Hill observes further that the People in Bermudas and Virginia have, for these many Years past, been in a great Errour, in looking on Frenchmen as the only People proper to instruct them with Regard to their Vineyards; For, if they have to have Help from a Foreigner, a Spaniard would make the best Vigneron, for a Latitude so nearly approaching his own; whereas the Wine Countries of France, lying at a Medium about 48 North, such Difference as 16 in the Latitude produces a proportionable Disagreement of Quality in the Wines, and therefore each must require to be managed in a Method the Reverse of the other: and no Doubt the wise Frenchmen they sent for took no small Pains to miscarry, by pressing (as they were used to do at home) no Bunches but the full ripe, and picked Ones and this Care it was that confounded their Purpose, for in such delicious Grapes as grow in Bermudas and Virginia the Oil is the predominant Quality, and the green Grapes, which Nature has mixed on the same Branches with ripe Ones, prepare a Tartar to separate the luscious Excess of the Oil.

Mr. Hill, having thus pointed out the Reason of former Attempts miscarrying, proceeds to mention the Method by which Thousands of Vine Cuttings may be brought from Madeira at very small Expence, how they are to be planted and managed when they get to the Plantations, the Method of gathering and pressing the Grapes, as also of the making, keeping, and Sale of the Wine; and lastly the calculated Charges and Profit.

But for these Particulars I must refer those who desire further Information to the Book itself, as I have said enough to shew that former Attempts not proving successful, owing to wrong Management, ought not to discourage the Planters from further Trials; since Mr. Hill, who was well acquainted with the Method used in all the Wine Countries of Europe, declares that the Plantations, by following the Directions laid down by him, would produce excellent Wine.