152 Professor Beck's Researches on Wines 



The results in the above table agree generally with those of 

 Mr Brande. In all cases where the difference was marked, as 

 in Nos. 13, 14, 22, 23, and 24, the trials were repeated several 

 times, and the mean of these is given. The ale, No. 27, con- 

 tains more alcohol than any put down in the Table of Mr 

 Brande, as ordinarily published ; but in the Journal of Science 

 and the Arts (vol. v. p. 124), he states, that Lincolnshire ale, 

 brewed by Sir Joseph Banks, contained 10.84 per cent, of al- 

 cohol. Our cider, it would seem, contains less alcohol than the 

 lowest average of the specimens examined by Mr Brande, 

 which is 5.21 per cent. 



Addition ofBraiuhj to Wine. — An opinion has been recently 

 advanced, that the large proportion of alcohol which some wines 

 contain, is due to the addition of brandy to the must; and it 

 has even been maintained, that, without such addition, wines 

 speedily undergo the acetous fermentation, and thus lose their 

 peculiar flavours. These opinions, if correct, must render quite 

 fallacious the results of the analyses of the older wines, and 

 they deserve, therefore, to be carefully examined. 



In regard to this point, I avail myself, in part, of the infor- 

 mation contained in the excellent treatise on Domestic Economy 

 by Mr Donovan. — {Lardner's Cabinet Cychpcedia.) 



Brandy is not added to wines in France or Germany ; the 

 finer Avines, claret, burgundy, and hock, are said to be totally 

 destroyed by it. But the practice is quite common, nay, al- 

 most universal, in the wines of Spain, Portugal, and Sicily, 

 which are intended for foreign markets. The reason of this I 

 apprehend is, not that the wines cannot be kept without such 

 an admixture, but that these sti'ong wines are in great repute, 

 and perhaps, also, that, with the addition of brandy, less care 

 is required in preparing them for exportation. 



That wines may be kept for a great number of years with- 

 out the admixture of bx'andy, is evident, from the age of many 

 ancient wines. Horace speaks of wine that is nearly seventy 

 years old ; and the Opimian wine, which had been made in 

 the time of the Consul Opimius, was two hundred years old. 

 In order to preserve their wines to these ages, the Romans con- 

 centrated the vinst or grape juice of which they were made, 



