The works of Horace : with English notes, critical and ... - Cristo Raul

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flavor of each sort will be preserved entire in the mnst, and improve in
the wine, until it has reached its utmost perfectiou.i
EXCURSUS III.
MANAGEMENT OF THE VINTAGE, AND MODES OF PREPAKING THE MUST.
In warm and low situations the vintage of the ancients began toward
tde end of September, but in most places it was defeired till the following
month. When the tendrils of the vine were observed to fall loose
upon the stalks ; when, on pulling a grape from the bunch, the void showed
no tendency to fill up ; and when the stones had acquired a brown or
blackish color, the fruit was deemed sufficiently ripe for gathering. As
nothing is more prejudicial to the quality of the wine than the mixture of
tinripe with ripe grapes, it was usual to begin with those parts of the vmeyards
where they had attained their fullest maturity, and with the early
and black kinds in the first instance. It was deemed improper to pull
them when they were parched by the sun or while they were covered
with dew. Those first collected were thought to yield the largest quan-
but the second gathering gave the best wine, the third the
tity of must ;
sweetest. In some countries, as in Blthynia and Narbonne, it was the
custom to twist the stalks of the grapes, and to strip the leaves around
them, leaving them thus exposed to the full force of the sun's rays for »
period of thirty days previous to the vintage ; In other places, in order to
obtain a richer wine, the grapes, after they were gathered, were spread
on crates to dry fi.