218 AMERICAN GRAPE GROWING 



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a must should contain to be still agreeable to the palate, 

 and good : 



" Chemists distinguish the acids contained in the grape 

 as the vinous, malic, grape, citric, tannic, gelatinous, 

 and para-citric acids. Whether all of these are contained 

 in the must, or which of them, is of small moment for 

 us to know. For the practical wine-maker it is sufficient 

 to know, with full certainty, that, as the grape ripens, 

 while the proportion of sugar increases, the quantity of 

 acids continually diminishes, and hence, by leaving the 

 grapes on the vines as long as possible, we have a double 

 means of improving their products, the must or wine. 



" All wines, without exception, to be of good and 

 agreeable taste, must contain from four and a half to seven- 

 thousandths part of free acids, and each must containing 

 more than seven-thousandths part of free acids may be 

 considered as having too little water and sugar in propor- 

 tion to its acids. 



" In all the wine-growing countries of Europe, for a 

 number of years past, experience has proved that a cor- 

 responding addition of sugar and water is the means of 

 converting the sourest must, not only into a good drink- 

 able wine, but also into as good a wine as can be produced 

 in favorable years, except in that peculiar and delicate 

 aroma found only in the must of well-ripened grapes, 

 and which must, and will, always distinguish the wines 

 made in the best seasons from those made in poor 

 seasons. 



" The Saccharometer and Acidimeter, properly used, 

 will give us the exact knowledge of what the must con- 

 tains and what it lacks, and we have the means at hand, 

 by adding water, to reduce the acids to their proper pro- 

 portions, and by adding sugar, to increase the amount of 

 sugar the must should contain ; in other words, we can 

 change the poor must of indifferent seasons into the nor- 

 mal must of the best seasons in everything, except its 



