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ABSTRACT OF A PAPER 



BEAD BY 



JOHN STANDRING, Esq., 



ON 



"WINE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT." 



23rd march, 1881. 



Premising that the very wide range of the subject would 

 require a course of Lectures to do it justice, he said he should 

 confine his remarks to the results of his own observation, and 

 experience during more than forty years devoted to the study of 

 Wines, 



Wine is the fermented juice of the grape, but many other 

 vegetable juices are made into so called "Wine." " TJnfermented 

 Wine " so called, is really not Wine at all, as it is only by fermenta- 

 tion (of which more or less alcohol is a product) that grape juice 

 becomes Wine. Mr. Standi-ing read an amusing paragraph from 

 the papers, of the result of an analysis of " Teetotal Wines." 



The process of Wine-making was briefly described, in which 

 the progress of the fermentation has to be carefully watched, that 

 the Wine may be racked into other casks at the right moment. 



By repeated rackings the Wine becomes bright and fit for 

 use. All fermentation should have ceased before the Wine is 

 exported in casks. Sparkhng Wines in bottle are really imperfect 

 Wines, in which some fermentation is allowed to occur after 

 bottling, by which carbonic acid gas is generated, which escapes 

 immediately on the removal of the cork. 



The varieties of Wine are practically infinite. Of " Sherry " 

 alone, it is probably no exaggeration to say there are 100,000 

 varieties, or shades of difference, in England at the present time ; 

 no two of them exactly alike ; some presenting the most opposite 

 characters, but all ranked under the generic term " Sherry." All 

 Shen-y is pale when first made, but increases in colour by age. 

 Dark gold or brown Sherry is produced by the addition of more or 

 less "Vino de color," which is Wine from which the watery 

 particles have been di-iven ofi" by boiling, the product being of a 

 very dark brown colour. The addition of " Vino de color " not 

 only improves the flavour in the estimation of some connoisseurs, 

 but adds to the stability or keeping power of the Wine. Many of 



