236 J(/i'ici(lfnrai Gazette of y.^JV. [Jfrtr. 2, 1908. 



■clKMiiical eoni|K)sitii)ti <if 11h' ini'diiiin in wliicli tlicv have to lixc and iniiltiplv, 

 and tli<' tcinpcraf lire imdci' wliidi tlic\' liav.' tn laltoui'. 



Often w inc makers take a |iridi' in tlie lii,i;li in-oport ion of suifai' coiitaiiiecl 

 ill tlieii' n'lajies ; hut it is a fact tiin nuists containinfif over, say, L'S [icr cent, 

 of sii^ar, fetnietit witli nmre dilliculty than one cDiitaiiiinii', sav, 20 per cent. 

 Grapes when too sweet, are, gcneially speakin,t(, rather deiicient in acids from 

 the vvine-niakinLj point of view. A c<'rtain • ]ir{i])niti(m of ,ieids is nut <>nlv 

 necessary, hut iniiispensahle, to make w inc. 



The acids found in the n'rape-juice are maUc acid principailv, Nshicli may 

 be called apple acid, because it is also the main acid in that wholesome fruit; 

 then, in a very small prnpnrtiDn, tartaric acid is found : some musls, in fact, 

 hardly contain any in a free state, hut is all comhineij with potassium, ami 

 forms the hitartrate of potassium commercially known as cream of tartar, 

 which is nothing hut the wine stone recrystallised and bleached. 



This cream of tartar is found in musts ])efore fermentation in the projjor- 

 tion of S to 12 parts ]>er 1,0U() : but as the alcohol forms it becomes 

 insohibk', therefore preci[>itates with t he lees as soon as tlu^ feiinentation is 

 finished, and the liquid is quiet and no longer tossed alxmt by the bubbling 

 of the carbonic acid. Consequently in wine wt» found a mucli smaller quantity 

 of said substance, about 2 in 1,000 pai'ts of the wine; all the other is in 

 more or less minute ciystals, settles down with the sediment, and also lines 

 the inside of the cask, forming that crystalline crust which is collocpiiallv 

 called wine-stone. By the way, popular prejudice looks at that with a kind 

 of horror, and people at the sight of wine-stone conjure up visions of gout, 

 rheumatism, stcjiie in the bladder, in the liver, and w hat not, and they little 

 know that when they eat grapes, or when they drink the sacrament wine 

 which is supposed not to contain alcohol, or when they drink the wine of the 

 abstemious, that is, the unfermented grape-juice, they take from four to six 

 times more wine-stone than there is in wine. Kav, we all eat scones, but 

 how many know that the nice hot scones contain a good deal of that alleycd 

 death-dealing wine-stone, insomuch as baking-]iowdeis are made by mixing 

 soda bicai'bonate and ci'eam of tartar % 



Generally speaking, the higher the proportion of sugar the lower that of 



the acids in the grapes, excep)t in those that have suffered from a long period 



of wet weather for live or six weeks prior to the ripenini; of the grapes : in 



them sugar, acids and all other substances decrease, while the aincamt of 



Juice increases through an excess of water. 



It is a common tliiniT; to hear that one of the faults of Ansti'alian wines is 

 that thev are too acid, which is another fallacv that oriiiinates, like all 

 prejudices, from ignorance of the subject. It will surprise wine makers, 

 therefore, to hear me saying that, on the contrirv, Australian wines are 

 deficient in acids. 1 must explain. 



We must distinguish two kinds of acidity — the acidity that is due to fixed 

 acids, or acid salts, which T have already I'eferred to, and that are found in the 

 grapes. Thev are called fixed acids, because they ai-e not \()latile — that is to 

 say, they do not go off if the w ine is expo.sed to the air. or shaken, or jait in 



