232

THE ALPINE REGIONS.

places among the rocks in the neighbourhood of a glacier ; herethey are left till the following spring; and during the severefrosts all the inferior parts of the wine freeze to the sides of thecasks, the purest parts remaining unfrozen in the middle. Withthe help of an axe the ice is broken, and the choicest wineobtained 1 .” In this neighbourhood the grapes are crushed inpresses, and the process has been described as follows 2 : “ Thewine-press is made entirely of wood, and consists of two strongupright posts, the one I saw being about twelve feet high andten apart, fixed in the ground, supporting a cross beam with ascrew in the middle. Between the posts is a square trough onfour legs, and in this a perforated moveable frame, for thereception of the grapes, is placed, and then boards, whosedimensions allow of their being pressed into the frame, arepiled on the fruit till nearly on a level with the screw, which isworked by two or more men, according to the pressure required.Each lot of grapes is stirred up and pressed three times; thejuice, passing into the trough, runs thence through a hole into alarge tub, which is again emptied into the barrels, where it isallowed to ferment for ten days or a fortnight before it is closed,and in six weeks they consider it fit to drink. The whitegrapes are pressed as they are brought from the vineyards, butthe black, of which comparatively very few are grown in theVaud , are allowed to lie and ferment for several days previousto the pressing, in order to improve the colour of the wine.From the residuum a common sort of brandy is distilled calledeau-de-vie-de-marc, from the name given to the pressed grapes,and if kept some years,—a rare occurrence in this country asregards both wine and brandy,—it has the flavour of goodcognac.”

While on this subject one may mention that severalkinds of liqueur are distilled from the mountain herbs ; four

1 Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers, 1st Series, p. 343.

5 Village Life in Sicitserland, p. 96.