ON THE ART OF MAKING WINE. 7 



defect more obvious, it must be remarked, that thd 

 essential distinction between cider and wine, con- 

 sists in the quantity of malic acid which enters in- 

 to the composition of the former. From this cause 

 our native wines are more apt to partake of the 

 nature of cider than wine, although these are often 

 rather disguised than changed by the predominance 

 of undecomposed sugar, of brandy, and other fo- 

 reign matters which enter into their composition. 

 It is a question, worthy of consideration, whether 

 some chemical means might not be adopted for de- 

 stroying a portion of this acid, eithet before or 

 after the process of fermentation. In the manu- 

 facture of sherry wine, lime is added to the grapes 

 before this process is commenced. However 

 empirical this practice may be among the manu- 

 facturers, it probably acts by neutralizing this acid^ 

 as well as a portion of the tartarous acid, and to 

 this is probably owing the peculiarly dry quality 

 of that wine. A hint may probably be borrowed 

 from this practice towards the amelioration of our 

 domestic wines ; and I may here venture to point it 

 out as a practice worthy of imitation, worthy at 

 least of a careful trial. It is only from the results 

 of such, and similar experiments, that we can hope 

 ever to place our domestic manufacture on a sound 

 and rational basis. 



Of all the substances which are called into ac- 

 tion, during the process of wine- making, Sugar 

 must be considered the most essential, being that 



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