294 On the Utility of making Family Wines 



written to him in the style of inquiry, his garden abounding 

 with excellent wall-trained vines. 



" DEAR SIR, Isleworth, Jan. 24, 1804. 



'' I received your letter, some days ago, respecting the 

 wines that may be made from the natural fruits of this coun- 

 try, which I should have sooner answered, could I connnu- 

 nicate any thing of the importance I wished ; but that not 

 being the case, I felt a great reluctance at the thought of 

 troubling you with any thing not satisfactory. 



" 1 can say little else than thai, from our own experience 

 for a short time past, and what I have seen of others, T am 

 perfectly satisfied that wine may be made from our native 

 fruits; — ^Yed and white currants, gooseberries, black currants, 

 raspberries, and other fruits, (with the help of sugar,) as 

 good, and of as rich a flavour in all respects, as any that are 

 imported from abroad. But the, particulars in the process 

 that may vary the qualities of the wine, where the ma- 

 terials are the same, are so numerous, and the time that 

 must elapse before the result of any experiment can be 

 known is so great, that T despair of living to see any cer- 

 tainty established on this head. At present, I sometimes 

 taste as good wiue of that sort as could be desired, and again, 

 as bad as can be thought of, made by the same persons, when 

 they can assign no reason for the difference. From our own 

 limited practice I have been able to ascertain only two points 

 thatl think can be relied upon as tolerably well established : 

 These are, first, that age, I mean not less than three years, 

 is required to elapse before any wine that is to be really good 

 can attain such excellence as to deserve the name of good ; 

 and second, that it never can attain that perfection if spirits 

 of any kind be mixed with it. I apprehend that most of our 

 made wines are greatly hurt by not adverting to these two 

 circumstances. 



*' Another circumstance that is, in mv opinion, very ne-r 

 cessary for the formation of good wine of this sort, is a cer- 

 tain deirree of acidity in the fruit, without which the wine 

 never acquires the zest which constitutes its peculiar excel- 

 lence, but hurries forward loo rapidly into the state of vine- 

 gar. 



