and ihe Method of making Wines. i| 



fire in order to extract the juice : the quantity they furnifhecj 

 was about eight or nine quarts. This juice had a very acid 

 tafte, in which there could fcarcely be diftinguifhed a very 

 (light faccharine favour. I diflblved fome of the commonest 

 catfonade until it appeared to me to be very faccharine. I 

 required a great deal more than for the wine of the preceding 

 experiment, becaufe the acidity of the latter mud was much 

 ftronger. After the fugar was diflblved, the tafte of the 

 liquor, though very faccharine, had nothing agreeable, be- 

 caufe the fwect and the four were perceived pretty ftrongly 

 and fcparately in a difagreeablc manner. 



cc I put this kind of muft into a jar fo as not to be entirely 

 full, and covered it only with a cloth: as the feafon was al- 

 ready very cold, I placed it in an apartment where the heat 

 was always maintained at 12 or 13 degrees (59 to 61 F.) by 

 means of a (love. 



" Four days after the fermentation was not yet very fenfi- 

 ble, the liquor appeared to me to be as faccharine and as 

 acid ; but thefe two taftes beginning to be better combined, 

 the refult was a whole more agreeable to the tafte. 



" On the 14th of November the fermentation was in full 

 force : a lighted taper introduced into the empty part of the 

 jar, was fpeedily extinguifhed. 



" On the 50th the fenfible fermentation had entirely 

 ceafed, and the taper was no longer extinguifhed in the in- 

 terior of the jar. The wine which refulted from it was, how- 

 ever, very turbid and whitifti ; its tafte had fcarcely any thing 

 faccharine ; it was ftrong, pungent, and pretty agreeable, like 

 that of generous warm wine, but a little gafeous and green. 



" I elofed the jar and put it into a cool place, that the 

 wine might bring itfelf to perfection by infenfible fermenta- 

 tion during the whole winter. 



" Having examined this wine on the 17th of March 1778, 

 I found that it was almoft entirely clear, the remains of its 

 faccharine as well as its acid tafte had difappeared. The 

 latter was that of pretty ftrong wine made from pure grapes : 

 it was not unpleafant, but had no perfume or bouquet, becaufe 

 the grapes, which we call verjus, contain no odorous principle 

 or aroma : thefe excepted, this wine, which was quite new, 

 and which (till had to gain by that fermentation which I call 

 infaijible, promifed to become racy and agreeable. " 



Thefe experiments feem to me to prove, beyond all doubt, 

 that the beft method of remedying the want of maturitv in 

 grapes is to follow the procefs indicated by nature; that is 

 to lay, to introduce into the mull that quantity of fa cchari,ne 

 principle neceflarv which it could not give them. This me- 

 thod 



