987 



WINE MANUFACTURE 



WINE MANUFACTURE. 



953 



average to ten per cent. The Italian wines often have only olive-oil 

 poured iiito the neck of the bottle, without using a cork, 



\\iues are classified according to the predominance of certain 

 ingredients. When much alcohul is present, they are termed strung or 

 genervv*; when otherwise, Ivjht or weak ; when much sugar undecoru- 

 poaed, meet or luniouii (vius de liqueur) ; when little, dry ; if a free acid 

 in considerable proportion be present, they are called acid or acescent ; 

 when much carbonic acid is present, then sparkling or efferveicing 

 (tnou&euj: of the French, tchuumictin, German). Water is more 

 abundant in wines made in wet seasons, and in the wine from new 

 vineyards or young vines. These are also most prone to become sour. 

 M itli the ancients it was a great object to get rid of the watery por- 

 tion, for which purpose they employed various expedients, and often 

 rendered them as thick as tar. The plan now adopted is best, to add 

 starch-sugar to the must. The alcohol present in wines exists from an 

 early stage of the fermentation, and is not a product of distillation. 

 The quantity, according to Christison, varies from 16 per cent, in inferior 

 Rudesheimer, to 37 per cent, in the strongest Port and Madeira ; this 

 being the per centage of proof-spirit estimated by volume. The con- 

 dition in which alcohol exists as the natural product of the primary 

 and secondary fermentation of the grape is very ditiereut from that iu 

 which it is found when obtained by distillation, even of wine, as iu 

 the case of the finest French brandy. The addition of any distilled 

 spirit to wine is always to be reprobated, as it destroys the finer 

 qualities of the wine, making it Sat and mawkish. " The first and most 

 conspicuous effect is the loss of that undefinable lively or brisk flavour 

 which all those who possess accuiacy of taste can discover in French 

 wines or in natural wines ; and a flatness, which must be sensible, by 

 the principle of contrast, to the dullest palate which shall compare the 

 taste of CUret with that of Port, or that of Hock or Grave with Lisbon or 

 Bucullas" (Dr. M'Culloch). It tends equally, although in a greater length 

 of time, to destroy the union of the colouring principle, which is well 

 known to be deposited in Port wines, and apparently in a great measure 

 from the action of this foreign substance. This fact explains why dis- 

 honest wine-merchants add brandy to their 1'ort wines, to give them 

 earlier the appearance of age, by producing the cruit, a criterion by v, hich 

 no experienced or intelligent wine-drinker allows himself to be misled. 

 -T no '(ii mity of brandy can hinder the process of acetitication, 

 if tliu circumstances favourable to it are present. The pure light wines 

 of France and Germany produce an agreeable exhilaration of niind, 

 very unlike the mere physical excitement which results from the 

 largely braudied wines, which are too much in vogue iu England. 

 The diseases also which attend spirit-drinkers, chiefly disorders of the 

 liver, are commonly met with among the consumers of wines to which 

 brandy or whiskey has been adventitiously added, though such disorders 

 rarely if ever follow even the intemperate use of pure wine. Intoxica- 

 tion is a very rare occurrence among the inhabitants of the wine-pro- 

 ducing countries. Acid is another component in wine. A free acid is 

 necessary for the development of the fungus with whiah the progress 

 mentation seems closely connected, for the evolution of the 

 bouquet, for the agreeableness of the wine, and probably for its whole- 

 Homeiiees. In the best Rhine wines it is about \ per cent. It is, 

 therefore a popular error to denounce the acidity of wine. The kind 

 <>t acid present is however a very important point. Tartaric acid is 

 the best. Whether malic acid be ever present in good pure wine is 

 doubtful, except in red Bordeaux, in which no lactic acid is found. 

 (Mulder ) liacemic, silicic, and, perhaps, formic and glucic acid, may 

 be found in sume wines. (Mulder.) It is said to prevail iu wines 

 made in wet seasons. Citric acid is perhaps found in wine made from 

 unripe grapes. It is not certain that oxalic acid is ever found iu 

 wine. It may be formed in some rare instances. It is very likely, 

 however, to exist in considerable quantity in the spurious wine now 

 largely made from the garden rhubarb. On many persons it must 

 have a very hurtful effect. Acetic acid, or vinegar, is 'that which 

 mostly abounds in low poor wines, especially of northern countries, and 

 in good wines which have been mismanaged and allowed to spoil. The 

 Hat taste of the tiuid and a smell of vinegar declare its presence. 

 When wine is drunk on draught or from tap, it is most apt to form 

 acid, unless the consumption be rapid. It is to disguise its presence 

 that one of the most dangerous practices is adopted by vintners, 

 namely adding sugar of lead to the tainted liquid. When this is sus- 

 pected to have been used, sulphuretted hydrogen will reveal its pre- 

 sence. Sometimes it is present in bottled wine from a leaden shot 

 lieing left in the bottle. A small iron chain is safest and best for 

 cleaning bottles. Carbonic acid not only renders the wine sparkling, 

 but increases its exhilarating action, as felt in Champagne. Tauuic 

 acid is present in Port and 1 ent, to the former of which it imparts 

 both roughness and astringency. Port, both red and white, has less 

 free acid than some of the finest Sherries. In the German wines 

 Berzelius states that there exists tartrate of alumina and potass. Bi- 

 tartrate of potass is more common. It is precipitated along with the 

 colouring matter, and termed argol, found in wine-casks. 



Respecting the relative amount of acidity in ditlerent wines much 

 error prevails, not only in the popular mind, but among medical men. 

 ) )r. Trout (' On Stomach and Renal Diseases,' 4th edit., p. 8) ath'rms 

 that sound Sherry contains less acid and sugar than any other wine 

 But several very careful experiments on different wines by no means 

 confirm this statement. If applied to ManzaniUa, which is the favourite 



wine of the Spaniards, it is true ; but that wine is scarcely known iu 

 this country, however well it deserves to be so, as its freedom from 

 adventitious brandy and from much acidity, with its slight degree of 

 bitterness, a quality always to be prized in wine, strongly recommend 

 it as a summer wine. It will be found that Port wine, both red and 

 white, has less free acid than even some of the finest Sherries, though 

 this is not confirmed by Dr. Jones' Appendix to Mulder. Madeira has 

 long laboured under a most unjust opprobrium in this respect. That 

 bad Madeira, and the wine which, though produced elsewhere, was 

 sold for it, contain much acid, and readily disagreed with the stomach, 

 may be perfectly true ; but genuine first-rate Madeira has certainly 

 very little, especially after a voyage to the East Indies. ' The Madeira 

 wines had fallen off in quality from over-shipment, and thereby gave 

 further effect to this taste for Sherry. In this a useful lesson was 

 given to all wine-growing countries." The observations of Dr Paris 

 are too just to be omitted : " What, for instance, is the acid con- 

 tained in Madeira, and against which so many mighty objections have 

 been urged ? An atom merely of tartar ! And yet the person who 

 fancies that his digestion can be deranged by its action, will swallow 

 twenty times the quantity of the same ingredient in some other'shape, 

 with perfect indifference and impunity." " Before wo quit," says the 

 same author, " the subject of vinous acidity, I shall be.; to say a few 

 words upon its supposed influence in exciting paroxysms of gout. 

 That such attacks have followed particular potations, I do not mean to 

 deny ; but a slight excess of any kind, whether in diet or extreme, will 

 excite the disease in those predisposed to it. Where the train is laid, 

 an additional glass of Claret may have acted as the match ; but iu all 

 such cases the explosion would have equally taken place had, instead of 

 Claret, some other exciting cause fired it " (' On Diet,' p. IDS). Liebig 

 unhesitatingly affirms that, while to the free acid the exquisite bvuyuet 

 of the Rhine wines is owing, to the tartar present in them some of 

 their most salutary properties belong. To this he attributes the im- 

 munity enjoyed by those on the Rhine and Moselle, indeed of all who 

 use the German wines, from the uric acid diathesis. This statement 

 of the utility of these wines might be suspected to originate in national 

 partiality ; but it is abundantly confirmed by Dr. Prout and many 

 others who have attended to the subject, and who have investigated it 

 free from prejudice or favour. An occasional use of them is objec- 

 tionable, but the habitual use is most salutary. (See Prout, 4th edit., 

 p. 210.) Being light, they can be drunk without dilution, which is 

 preferable to reducing a strong wine by adding water, which is much 

 more prone to produce acidity in the stomach. (Prout, p. 9.) The 

 water furnishing the oxygen and hydrogen necessary tg convert the 

 alcohol into acetic acid, probably favours the production of the acid. 

 Moreover, wine diluted with water more readily produces intoxication 

 than the pure wine would do; perhaps, as Dr. Paris has suggested, by 

 applying the stimulus to a larger surface of the stomach (' On Diet,' 

 p. 11). 



The classification of wines has engaged the attention of almost all 

 writers who have treated of them ; but no satisfactory one can be 

 presented. JuUien, in his very valuable ' Topographic de tons les 

 \ ignobles connus,' has given a geographical one, followed by an 

 arrangement of the wines of each country into five or fewer classes, 

 distinguishing the wines, simply so called, from the vius de liqueurs, 

 and subdividing each into the red and white. This for all commercial 

 purposes is sufficient ; but for dietetical, or as a guide to individuals 

 desirous of procuring wine for their own consumption, is futile. The 

 greater number of the different kinds mentioned are never heard of 

 beyond the district where they are produced, either from being entirely 

 consumed by the inhabitants, or from the dimculty or expense of 

 transport, or from deficiency in those qualities which ensure their 

 preservation or recommend them to distant lauds. This is especially 

 the case with what are termed the fourth or fifth growths, which are 

 seldom, even in good years, worth the expense of transport, if sold 

 under their real names and at their just value. The firs., second, 

 and even third growths in good years bring a price on the spot which 

 puts it out of the power of persons not possessed of large capitals to 

 obtain even a small stock of them. The principal English shipping- 

 houses at Bordeaux and the first-rate houses in this country make their 

 purchases only in the good vintages ; and it is their competition which 

 then raises the price, and the absence of their demand which makt s it 

 sink again in the unfavourable seasons First-rate wine must always 

 be high priced, if it be borne in mind tliat the market-value of a 

 renowned vineyard is very great ; that the territorial extent of such is 

 in general very limited ; that the expense of cultivation is very high ; 

 that these expenses are as great in the bad years, when they bring 

 uo return, as iu the good years ; that the recurrence of favourable 

 vintages are rare and distant ; and that constant superintendence and 

 expense are necessary till the wine reaches perfection not to mention 

 the loss from evaporation, ullage, breakage, and other accidents, and to 

 say nothing of the accumulating interest of the original purchase- 

 money for twenty or thirty years. Besides all these, the duty, though 

 paid in the first instance by the merchant, is recovered by a charge on 

 the consumer. 



Attention is now being paid to the culture of the grape and the 

 making of wine in the United States, South Africa, and Australia ; 

 with a view of determining whether temperate climates, and English 

 or Anglo- American industry, can introduce this as a profitable culture, 



