CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 213 



obtained, under such conditions, at from 6d. to Is. 6d. per gallon, or 

 from Id. to 3d. per bottle; while in the valley of the Rhone it may be 

 had from 4s. 6d. to 12s. per gallon, or from 9d. to 2s. per bottle. Or- 

 dinary Medoc costs from 5d. to 6d. per bottle. It must be understood 

 that these are the prices on the spot, and even without the casks or 

 vessels containing the wine, and that what is consumed in the locality 

 of growth is exempt from taxation. These prices are not charged 

 with carriage or freight, or the profits on the transfer of the article 

 from the proprietor of the vineyard to the retailer or wine merchant. 



The natural strength of wine, or the quantity of spirit eliminated 

 by natural causes, is the effect of the decomposition of the sugar con- 

 tained in the grape, while the formation of sugar in the grape is that 

 chemical process which is called " ripening." As the saccharine qual- 

 ities of the grape mature the watery particles of the juice evaporate. 

 This mutation mainly depends on climate and soil. In northern and 

 western France the wines, as a rule, are light and inferior, and their 

 natural strength varies from 12 to 16 percent, of proof spirit ; nor do 

 the finest of the Bordeaux wines exceed that. Of course there are va- 

 riations from year to year. Thus, in 1858, the percentage of proof 

 spirit in Chateau-Laffitte, the finest of Bordeaux qualities, was 16.5 ; 

 in 1859, 17.7, and in 1860, 14.8. It thus appears that wines commer- 

 cially the finest and most valuable, as Laffitte, Langoa, and Palmer, 

 are not always the most alcoholic. It is from Dijon to the Pyrenees, 

 and on the sides of the mountain ranges at the feet of which flow the 

 Saone, Rhone, and the Mediterranean, that the wine grows most 

 abundantly and luxuriantly, and possesses the greatest strength, for 

 there the summer heat is nearly tropical, especially in the southern ex- 

 tremity of the eastern Pyrenees. There Roussillon is produced, the 

 strongest of all the French wines. It averages 27.9. Chambertin and 

 Clos-Vougeot belong to the Cotes d'Or, in the eastern centre of France. 

 Their strength is 20.8. The wines of the Cotes du Rhone, chiefly 

 known in England as Hermitage, have a strength of 22. To the 

 north-west of the mouths of the Rhone, in the department of the Gard, 

 the wines known as St. Gilles are 27 per cent, proof spirit. 



In Switzerland all the wine is inferior and unsuited to the English 

 market. It is made for home consumption, and, no doubt, is grateful 

 to an accustomed palate. It is mostly made about Neufchatel. In 

 many places around Geneva the grape is grown to be sold as fruit. 

 Between Neufchatel and the Jura the Burgundy wines have been 

 planted, but they yield a wine deficient both in flavor and strength. 



We pass to the vintages of the Rhine provinces, Bavaria, Hungary, 

 and Austria. This report is by Mr. Douglas, assistant surveyor to 

 the London Customs. The British consul, Mr. Roch, having in- 

 formed him that the wines of the Moselle and of the left bank of the 

 Rhine were inferior in strength, he travelled to the right bank, to 

 Rudesheim, the country of the best Rhine wines. There it is the 

 custom to keep the wines in large casks of 120 gallons; samples are 

 given in glasses to be tasted, but not to be removed from the premises ; 

 nor are single casks readily to be obtained, the rule being for the 

 proprietors to sell in large quantities to the merchants, as they object 

 to comparisons between similar wines. The famous ' Johannisberg " 

 is very scarce, and cannot be classed as a wine of commerce, though 



