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THE
SOLIDS THAT ACCUMULATED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE VAT WERE CALLED "LEES".Lees
 | "...The wine is red... and He pours it out;
surely its dregs (or lees) shall all the wicked of the earth drain and drink down"
(Psalm 75:8) |
The lees are very undesirable for consumption, as this verse
indicates through prophecy that the wicked would be judged by having to drink the lees of
the wine.
| "A feast of wine on the lees" (Isaiah
25:6) |
This verse would seem to contradict what was said
above. Be patient until you get to the "aging" page, then it will make
sense!
RACKING WAS THE PROCESS OF TRANSFERRING THE WINE FROM
ONE VESSEL TO ANOTHER, BEING CAREFUL TO LEAVE THE LEES BEHIND, SO THAT OVER TIME, THROUGH
MULTIPLE RACKINGS, THE WINE WOULD BECOME CLEAR.
Racking
| "Moab has been at ease from his youth; he
has settled on his dregs, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel... therefore his
taste remained in him, and his scent has not changed." (Jeremiah 48:11) |
Sometime after the first of the year, vintners would
"stir the lees". Lees are the spent yeast sediment that settles at the
bottom of the vessel during anaerobic fermentation. Stirring was done to activate
any latent yeast to ensure complete fermentation. Ancient Greeks accidentally
discovered that wine aged more rapidly on sea voyages than quietly in a cellar. The
reason was the waves tossing the ship caused the lees to be constantly stirred.
Early on, winemakers discovered that wine left undisturbed
would clarify on its own as the lees settled out. The process of separating the
clarified wine from the lees is known as "racking", accomplished by use of a
siphon. Ancient engravings show siphoning or drinking from wine vessels through
small tubes. This grape wine, clarified on the lees and racked, was highly prized
and expensive. The loss of volume by leaving the lees behind was made up by the
addition of water ("topping up"). Winemakers discovered that oxidation was
reduced by topping up with water to the neck of the vessel (narrower than the body),
minimizing the surface area of wine in contact with air.
Notice the racking process described above as taking wine "settled on lees" and
"emptying from vessel to vessel". Ancient winemakers who went to the
trouble of aging their wine, recognized the importance of racking. The end of this
verse describes the adverse effect of not racking wine - the taste "remained",
that is, the wine took on the bitterness of the lees because it had not been racked.
AFTER WINE WAS SUFFICIENTLY RACKED TO BE CLARIFIED, IT
WAS THEN BOTTLED FOR
STORAGE. |
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