THE ART OP WINE MAKING. 211 



gree, the acidity of the bonnet* (chapeau], and 

 render the evaporation almost null. By means 

 of this apparatus, the odour which is usually so 

 strong in the wine house, containing a number of 

 bottles in a state of fermentation, is sometimes 

 scarcely perceptible. The gas thrown off de- 

 posits on the lower surface of the awning the 

 fragrant principle with which it is surcharged, 

 escaping at the sides, completely deprived of all 

 the aromatic essence which it contained. The 

 must is composed of the different principles of 

 sugar, tartar, leaven, and water, which together 

 constitute the formation of the mass, and on 

 which the action is mutual, and less or more 

 energetic or durable, according as the proportion 

 of either may predominate. It is the first which 

 alone contains the principle of fermentation, and 

 to the changes effected through the agency of it, 

 it is mainly to be ascribed the production of al- 

 cohol. We should not, however, confound this 

 principle with that of the sweetness, which is the 

 characteristic of most of the fruits of our coun- 

 try; though both affect the palate in a similar 

 manner, they are far from being of the same na- 

 ture, but decompose when brought in contact, 

 without a production of the alcohol, which is pe- 

 culiar to the fruit of the vine. When the sugar 

 is present in excess, the wine to which the fer- 

 mentation gives birth, is sweet and cloying. On 

 the contrary, it is sharp and acid, where the sac- 



* This is the technical term to denote the scum, or thick 

 coating by which the mash is covered, during the fermenta- 

 tion. TRANS, 



