ON THE ART OF MAKING WINE. 35 



that the wines of France, for example, possess a 

 superiority so decided over all others. 



The limited nature of this little essay, prevents 

 me from entering on the chemical theory of Fer- 

 mentation, a subject still very obscure ; and I 

 shall therefore proceed to consider the manage- 

 ment of wines after fermentation, a subject of 

 more practical interest. 



Many popular practices in the after-treatment, 

 and in the suspension of fermentation, are founded 

 on positive precepts respecting the time which the 

 process has occupied. But time is but one out of 

 the many elements which should enter into this 

 calculation j since it has already been seen, that it 

 is modified by the varying quality of the fluid 

 subjected to that process, by the temperature, by 

 the mass, and by many circumstances which it 

 would be superfluous to repeat. Other rules, which 

 are apparently better founded, since they are de- 

 duced from the appearances after fermentation, 

 may yet deceive us, if they are too implicitly fol- 

 lowed, without a due regard to the ultimate inten- 

 tions of the operator, respecting the quality of his 

 wine. Neither the smell, taste, or colour of the 

 fluid, nor the activity or cessation of the fermen- 

 tation, are positive guides. As the prime object 

 is to convert the sugar into spirit, it is evident 

 that the fermentation must continue longer, if the 



