On the different Qualities of Wines. 1 7 1 



3. Of the Vessels proper to keep IVines, 

 After wines have undergone the operations I have above 

 described, it becomes an important consideration in what 

 vessels and in what places they are kept. According to 

 M. Chaptal, a cellar should he dug several feet below the sur- 

 face of the earth; the openings into which should be towards 

 the north ; it should be at a considerable distance from 

 any street, highway, work-shop, sewer, privy, &c. and it 

 should be covered with an arched roof. The ancients pre- 

 served their wine in earthen vessels, varnished, such as the 

 amphora and the cadus. The porosity of these vessels has 

 occasioned their being laid aside, and for them have been 

 substituted those made of the wood of oak or muiberry- 

 tree, or, sometimes, glass vessels. The last have the advan- 

 tage of not containmg any principle soluble in the wine, 

 and of preserving the liquor ccunplclely from the contact 

 of air and moisture, when carefully stopped; but their brit- 

 tleness and dimiiiutive size limits the use of them lo a very 

 small extent, and it becomes necessary to have recourse to 

 vessels made of dry and well seasoned »wood ; for if the 

 wood is green, it imparts an extractive matter to the wine, 

 which injures its flavour, and acts upon it in a similar 

 manner to the lees. 



M. Chaptal justly observes, that very large and well 

 closed vessels are the best for keeping wine, since it is 

 found that wine is always better the larger ihe cask ; the 

 reason of which, no doubt, is that the constituent princi- 

 ples are more intimately mixed, and do not so easily escape 

 into the atmosphere, I'his last circumstance is well known 

 to wine merchants, who find, that twenty muids of wine, 

 contained in one large vessel, do not lose more by volatiliz- 

 ation in a siiven time, than two muids d(j when distributed 

 into four casks. 



4. Of the Deterloratiun or Degeneration of J Fines. 



The greatest care i)csiowed upon wines will not alwavs 

 prevent their sulTcring some alteration ; they will generallv 

 undep'o some change if the principles which compose them 

 are not in suitable proportions. M. Chaptal has shown this 

 in liis investigation o! the deterioration lo which wines are 

 subject ; a deterioration which, for the most part, he ascribes 

 to an excess of ferment in them. 1 shall say a word or two 

 of this kind alteration. 



Of the li'ipincss of {Vines. — This d''gcneration only takes 

 place in very weak wines, and those which have been badly 



fcrtnented j 



