NOTES FROM A

DIFFERENT VINE

Support Your Local Carboy

Salesman, OR

One Time You Really Don't Want History To Repeat Itself

Warning; do not read this column if you are planning to eat soon, or have eaten recently! I often wondered as to the evolution of procedure in winemaking. Many books like to tout that winemaking hasn't changed in centuries, leaving me with the impression that cleanliness was always ascribed to when making wine. This misconception was dashed to smithereens while reading Henry K. Street's, "The History Of Winemaking In New Mexico". In it are two, similar descriptions of the production of a native wine called "cerque". This process involved the collection and sewing together of 'green' rawhides, which were then filled with sand or water to stretch the hides into a large sack. Allowed to dry in the sun, these sacks assumed an iron-like hardness. At harvest, the grapes were emptied into these rawhide sacks, which were ich was mounted on forked posts set into the ground. Usually, this was constructed in a barn, but sometimes was built outdoors, as well, with a simple arbor for cover.

The grapes were crushed by the men, in their bare feet, sometimes sinking to their knees. Hot fermentation was allowed to take place for 10 days, after which the juice was skimmed. The fermented juice was then dipped (as in dipper) into another similar sack, "...without disturbing the sediments on the bottom, and cool fermentation was allowed to complete" (pg 7). Thirty days from the second draining, the wines were either placed into small barrels or were deemed ready for sale. At this time, and in this region, bottled wine for export sale or for storage/aging was unknown. Wine was simply transferred to the local consumers' container by dipper. Needless to say, this bit of history gave me the strong urge to go out and hug my carboys! It also turned me into a compulsive cleaner when it comes to my equipment, and served as a timely reminder to make sure that all of my equipment was clean and in good working order. Something YOU may want to do, this off season, too. ~