OK THE ART OF MAKING WINE. 41 



applying them is universally known. Sand, gyp- 

 sum, starch, rice, milk, blood, and the shavings 

 of beechwood, have been found to answer the 

 same purpose. 



In the general practice of making wine from 

 grapes, many expedients are in use, to remedy 

 particular defects of colour, sweetness, flavour, 

 sharpness or dullness. As few of these are ap- 

 plicable to wines of domestic manufacture, I shall 

 pass them over slightly. The causes and remedies 

 of excessive sweetness, must already be obvious 

 from what has been said. The causes of offensive 

 sharpness, are either the excessive fermentation of 

 a weak and watry must, or an undue portion of 

 malic acid. In the former case, the wine is tend- 

 ing to vinegar, and although the evil may be pal- 

 liated, it can scarcely be remedied, nor is it pei> 

 haps, in the case of our domestic wines, worth the 

 remedy. The use of lead, chalk, and other ex- 

 pedients, must be left to manufacturers. The 

 mode of prevention, is more worthy of our atten- 

 tion, and it is obviously that of using a better must, 

 or attending more carefully to the fermentation. 

 That sharpness which arises from excess of malic 

 acid, is well exemplified in hard cider. It is not 

 a fit object of remedy, but may be prevented by a 

 better choice of materials, or by the expedients al- 

 luded to in the beginning of this paper. 



A disagreeable quality opposed to the former, 

 is flatness, or a mawkish flat taste, which, though 



