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Inside the boiling-house, dimly discernible through the clouds of stifling steam, the boilermen are seen with long rods, stirring slowly the boiling mass of bubbling blue. The clank of the levers resounds through the pressing-house, or the hoarse guttural 'hah, hah! as the huge lever is strained and pulled at by the press-house coolies.
Thus the river was in full view from both the front and the back verandahs. In front, and close on the bank of the river, stood the kitchen, fowl-house, and offices. To the right of the compound were the stables, while behind the bungalow, and some distance down the stream, the wheel-house, vats, press-house, boiling-house, cake-house, and workshops were grouped together.
"I found him at last," continued Marcus, "in the press-house, and when I came away I shut him up." "What, to starve?" "No, no; I thought he would howl till someone came and let him out; but I didn't want him to follow me. Someone must have let him out in the morning." "Oh, I don't know," said Serge, who began replacing his armour. "He'd have got out somehow, through the window or roof."
To make white, or light-colored wine, the grapes which were gathered and mashed during the day, can be pressed and put into the cask the following night. To mash them, we place the mill above one of the fermenting vats, mashing them as quick as they are carried or hauled to the press-house. The vat is simply covered with a cloth during the day.
"We've got to do it, Serge," cried Marcus. "Why, the idea is splendid; but I say Lupe?" "What about him?" "What are we to do with him?" "Nothing," said Serge, promptly; "he'll do for himself. Why, if you made up your mind to leave him behind he'd come." "I suppose so, Serge. There's no press-house here in which to shut him up."
Everything should be perfectly sweet and clean, and a strict supervision kept up, that the laborers do not drop any crumbs of bread, &c., among the grapes, as this will immediately cause acetous fermentation. The weather should be dry and fair, and the grapes dry when gathered. As the wine-cellar and press-house are generally built together, I will also describe them together.
If the vineyard is close to the cellar or press-house, the grapes can be carried to it directly; if too far, we must provide a long tub or vat, to place on the wagon, into which the grapes are emptied. I will here again repeat that the utmost cleanliness should be observed in all the apparatus; and no tub or vat should be used that is in the least degree mouldy.
The press-house will be built above the cellar, over its entire length, and will also be divided into two rooms. The part farthest from the entrance of the cellar, to be 60 feet by 18, will be the press-house proper, with folding doors on both sides, about the middle of the building, and even with the surface ground, so that a wagon can pass in on one side and out on the other.
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