SNgar Strength and Acidity of Victorian Mnsts. 95 



Some of these are practically identical with the average of 

 French and German musts, and others while stronger in sugar 

 are also stronger in acid, so that the proportion of the two is the 

 same as in the French and German. The question of securing 

 a reduction in sugar strength and an increase in acidity in 

 Victorian musts is connected with another of even greater 

 importance to the Victorian wine growers, namely that of 

 maintaining an approximately constant standard from year to 

 year. In many of the vineyards no accui^ate scientific methods 

 are used for determining the date of the vintage, the vigneron 

 relying entirely on his own iinpression as to the fitness of the 

 grapes for gathering ; where the experience and judgment are 

 great it is possible that the general impressions of the vigneron 

 may be sufficient to guarantee a practically constant standard of 

 must, but in the general case it would be a great assistance to 

 the vigneron to have measurements taken from day to day of the 

 sugar and acid in the grapes at the approach of the vintage, so 

 that he could start gathering when the quantities were identical 

 with those of some year in which he had obtained his best results. 

 In this way he could secure, at least, the initial conditions for 

 reproducing a wine like his best ; of course much depends on the 

 subsequent treatment of the must, but it is impossible that the 

 same treatment, however careful, can give the same results from 

 difierent musts. The measurements to be made are really 

 simple, many vignerons at present determining the sugar for 

 themselves, and a few both sugar and acids ; it is only necessary 

 that the practice of the latter should become more common to 

 produce a greater uniformity in the main ingredients of the 

 wines. 



Although there is no doubt that recent researches have proved the 

 powerful influence of the yeast (levure) in determining the character 

 and quality of a wine, and also the importance of the tempera- 

 ture of fermentation, it still remains a fact that the fundamental 

 properties of the wine depend upon the yeasts (levures) having the 

 right material to work on, and it follows that the reasonable course 

 for the vigneron to adopt is to get his must uniform as regards the 

 two main constituents — sugar and acid — as he can easily do. It 

 is evident that different standards will be necessary for different 

 varieties of grapes, b*ut the essential point is that of keeping 



