WINE. 



WINE. 



the bottom of the vessel, the liquor becomes 

 transparent, and it is now wine. The constitu- 

 tion of the must is liable to be greaily influ- 

 enced by the quality, the variety, the climate, 

 and the culture of the grapes, as well as the 

 nature of the seasons. la a cold year, owing 

 to the deficiency of the saccharine matter, the 

 wine is weak, harsh, and acescent; in wet sea- 

 sons it is devoid of a competent quantity of 

 spirit: high winds and fogs are also injurious. 



In England, the mode of training the vine 

 high upon walls is a disadvantage for making 

 the fruit into wine. In the best wine countries, 

 it is never allowed to grow more than 3 or 4 

 feet high; and it is found that the bunches 

 nearest to the soil, if they do not touch it, are 

 always the richest. It is a mistake to suppose 

 that sweet wines are the most susceptible of 

 decomposition; on the contrary, they can be 

 kept for almost an indefinite length of time 

 without undergoing any deleterious change. 

 All wines continue to suffer a certain degree 

 of fermentation after they are racked off and 

 put into casks ; and as long as the saccharine 

 matter is supplied to maintain this slow fer- 

 mentation, the wine remains good ; but, when 

 that is exhausted, the acetous fermentation 

 begins, and the wine is converted into vinegar. 



Admitting, however, the goodness of the fruit, 

 and the wine to be made consequently expected 

 to be excellent, many circumstances may de- 

 stroy that hope, for the process does not pro- 

 ceed in the regular manner above described, 

 unless certain joules be strictly observed: these 

 are the following : 1. The grapes should be 

 well and equally bruised or trodden ; for the 

 juice that first flows contains little mucoso- 

 saccharine matter, and consequently does not 

 ferment freely. That substance is contained 

 chiefly in the insoluble organized parts and the 

 skin, which also contains the greatest part of 

 the acid, the resinous extractive, and the colour- 

 ing principle. 2. The fermentation should be 

 conducted at a temperature of 60 to 65 Fahr., 

 below which it languishes, and above which it 

 proceeds too violently. When it progresses 

 too slowly, that evil may be remedied by the 

 addition of a little boiling must. 3. The con- 

 tact of ai'r is essential in the commencement; 

 and this affords another reason for the good 

 bruising of the fruit, as much air is absorbed 

 in that stage of the process. But after the fer- 

 mentation is established, the air should be ex- 

 cluded, for the sake of preserving the aroma; 

 and to secure this, the French chemist, Chap- 

 tal, who paid much attention to the manufac- 

 ture of wines, recommends the vats to be co- 

 vered with boards and linen cloths. 4. The 

 greater the bulk of material, the more perfect 

 the wine. 5. When the wine is perfected and 

 racked off, it should be sulphured by burning 

 sulphur-matches within the casks intended to 

 contain it, in order to restrain, within a cer- 

 tain degree, the further fermentation. 



When good wine is actually produced, much 

 of the advantage expected from the possession 

 of it depends on the future management and 

 preservation of it; for every wine contains 

 within itself the sources of both improvement 

 and decline. The chief points to be attended 

 to are guarding against vicissitudes of tempera- 

 1146 



ture and the contact of air. Wines in the cask 

 or wood, as the term is, are liable to become 

 sour, either by a sudden transition from cold 

 to heat, or the reverse; and the same suscepti- 

 bility to acescency is favoured by defect of 

 proper fining; but this process should not be 

 frequently repeated, as it impairs the flavour 

 and the body of the liquor. Wines are mel- 

 lowed by the slow precipitation of the tartar, 

 which carries down with it the colouring mat- 

 ter and the salts of lime; and this occurs in 

 the ratio of the evolution of the alcohol, during 

 the continued gradual fermentation which goes 

 on even after the wine is bottled. This would 

 strengthen wine in the cask, were it not 

 balanced by the evaporation of the alcohol 

 through the sides of the cask. Old Rhenish 

 wines kept in .the barrel lose nearly one-half of 

 their original alcohol; yet it is an undoubted 

 fact, that wine in bottles, not corked, but tied 

 over with a bladder, becomes stronger: that 

 membrane permitting water to pass through it, 

 but not spirit. Another curious fact, however, 

 must not be forgotten, namely, that whilst the 

 wine becomes weaker when kept in cask, it 

 becomes much improved in its other qualities; 

 a fact which is illustrated by the transporta- 

 tion of Madeira to India, or keeping it in a 

 warm place. 



The adulteration of wine is too comprehen- 

 sive a subject to be here fully treated of; but, 

 independent of this evil, every foreign wine 

 sent to Great Britain, except the best of the 

 Rhenish wines, contains much uncombined 

 brandy, which tends not only to render them 

 unwholesome, but impairs their original fla- 

 vour, and risks their partial decomposition. 

 Were home-made wines free from this evil, it 

 would tend greatly to encourage a new branch 

 of trade which has lately sprung up in Scot- 

 land, chiefly at Edinburgh, Leith, and Glasgow. 

 From a parliamentary return, we find that 

 24,848 gallons, equal to nearly 150,000 bottles, 

 were sent to England in 1839, and 23,089 gal- 

 lons in 1840. Of the 24,848 in 1839, about 

 13,000 gallons were shipped from Leith, and 

 11,000 from Glasgow; and of the quantity in 

 1840, about 14,700 gallons went from Leith, 

 and 7,000 from Glasgow. 



In the present day, when temperance has 

 made so favourable an impression on the 

 habits of all classes of society, some remarks 

 on the dietetic properties of wine become 

 essential in an article devoted to its other 

 qualities. Were -technical phraseology allow- 

 able, we should say that wine is stimulant and 

 salutary in small, narcotic and poisonous in 

 large quantities. This opinion, however, nei- 

 ther implies that it is necessary as an ordinary 

 article of diet, nor that it is deleterious even in 

 the largest doses, as a medicinal agent. Wine, 

 moderately used, in the artificial state of mo- 

 dern civilized society, is not at all essential for 

 the healthy, however occupied, except under 

 exposure to unusual fatigue. But were this 

 principle of necessity to guide the regulation 

 of diet and beverage, the art of cookery would 

 be annihilated; and the growth of wine, as well 

 as the manufacture of every spirituous liquor, 

 under whatever name it is known, ardent spi- 

 rits, cider, or malt liquor, would cease to exist. 



