296 On the Utility of making Family Wines 



tous process, and to give that degree of strength which will 

 entitle it to the name of a cordial liquor, a certain portion of 

 brandy is added to it, after which it may be kept for some 

 time. The effect of this addition is to put a stop to that sa- 

 lutary process of fermentation which was going slowly for- 

 ward, and gradually maturing the native vegetable acid into 

 vinous liquor, which being at last blended with the saccha- 

 rine vinous juice, produces that warm exhilarating fluid 

 which cheers the heart and invigorates the strength of man. 

 In this way, the sharp, insipid, and poor liquor which was 

 first tasted, is, by a slow process, which requires a great 

 length of time to complete it, converted into rich pleasant 

 wine, possessing, in a great degree, that high zest which 

 constitutes its principal excellence. 



*' My experience does not yet enable me to speak with 

 certainty respecting all the circumstances that may afTcct 

 the flavour, or augment or diminish the strength of wine, 

 or accelerate or retard the time of its ripening. But my 

 opinion at present is, that a great part of the flavour of 

 wine depends considerably upon the skin of the fruit, which 

 may be augmented or diminished by the degree of pressure 

 the fruit is subjected to, and other particulars connected with 

 it ; or by the macerating the fruit more or less in the juice 

 before the skins be separated from the pulp; and that the 

 ultimate qualities of the wine are considerably affected by 

 the proportion of the original native acid of the fruit con- 

 joined with the saccharine part of the juice. It seems to 

 me very evident, also, that the saccharine juice can be more 

 quickly brought into the state of wine than the acid portion 

 of it, and that of course those wines that consist entirely of 

 jaccharine matter, flavoured only by some pleasing vegetable 

 perfume, such as cowslip or elder-flower wine, and others 

 of similar sorts, may be sooner brought to be fit for drinking 

 than those in which the juice of fruit form a considerable 

 ingredient, and may be also made of a weaker and lighter 

 quality. And that fruit wines, in proportion to the dimi- 

 nution of the quantity of fruit to that of sugar, or in pro- 

 portion to the quantity of acid in the fruit, may be accele- 

 rated or retarded in the progress of fermentation; but that 

 Strong full-bodied wine, of good flavourj must have a con- 

 siderable 



