166 AMERICAN GRAPE GROWING 



Port," which has never seen a grape, but is some skillful 

 concoction of logwood, spices, tartaric acid, syrup, alco- 

 hol, and tannin. " Oh, consistency, thou art a jewel !" 



Let us now observe the change which fermentation 

 makes in converting the must into wine. , The nitro- 

 genous compounds — vegetable albumen, gluten — (which 

 are contained in the grape, and which are dissolved in 

 the must as completely as the sugar), under certain cir- 

 cumstances turn into the fermenting principle, and so 

 change the must into wine. This change is brought 

 about by the fermenting substance coming in contact 

 with the air, and receiving oxygen from it, in conse- 

 quence of which it coagulates, and shows itself in the 

 turbid state of must, or young wine. The coagulation 

 of the lees takes place but gradually, and just in the de- 

 gree that the exhausted lees settle. Th^ sugar generally 

 turns into alcohol. The acids remain partly as tartaric 

 acid, are partly turned into ether, or settle with 

 the lees, crystallize, and adhere to the bottom of the 

 cask. The etheric oil or aroma remains, and develops 

 into bouquet, as does the tannin, to a certain degree. The 

 albumen and gluten principally settle, although a small 

 portion of them remains in the wine. The coloring 

 matter and extractive principle remain, but change some- 

 what by fermentation. 



Thus it is, that must containing a large amount of 

 sugar, needs a longer time to become clear, while that 

 containing but a small portion soon becomes clear. Many 

 southern wines retain a certain amount of sugar undecom- 

 posed ; such are called sweet, or liqueur wines, whereas 

 wines in which the whole of the sugar has been decom- 

 posed in the fermentation, are called sour or dry wines. 



I have thought it necessary to be thus explicit to give 

 my readers an insight into the general principles which 

 should govern us in wine making. I have quoted freely 

 from the excellent work of Dr. Gall, We will now see 



