THE ART OP WINE MAKING. 235 



Champaigne, the half of a cask, drawn in the 

 month of March succeeding the vintage, pass to 

 the state of " graisse" whilst the other half of 

 the same cask, which had been put in .bottle in 

 September,* remained constantly in the prema- 

 ture state. The most simple method to remedy 

 this inconvenience (adds this writer) is to trans- 

 vase the wines thus affected, on the lees of a 

 cask recently emptied of its contents, to roll it 

 afterwards into the wine vault, and when suffi- 

 ciently cleared, to draw it off into another vessel. 

 Time alone is necessary to re-establish such wines. 

 It is uncommon for them to remain in such con- 

 dition more than one year. As soon as it is per- 

 ceived that in pouring; it into a wine glass, it 

 presents an eye or bubble which attaches to the 

 side of the glass, nothing more is necessary than 

 to leave the wines to themselves. In this state 

 of quietude they resume, little by little, a clear 

 transparency, snowing no trace of the alteration 

 which they have undergone. It is much less 

 easy to find a remedy for the acidity. This ma- 

 lady, which like the other is incident to the 

 wines of a less spirituous character, is generally 

 the result of a feeble constitution, or of negligence 

 in the exercise of that care which their peculiar 

 condition requires. 



In fine, wherever the leaven predominates, it 

 decomposes the saccharine matter, acting on the 



* Our author leaves us here to conjecture, whether that por- 

 tion of the cask, which remained unhurt by the malady, had 

 been bottled at the vintage, which in Champaigne is at the latter 

 end of September, or whether a year had elapsed between the 

 vintage and the bottling. TRANS. 



