WINE. 



WINE. 



Moselle and St. John, probably an Italian sweet 

 wine, were added to the imports. But for a 

 ;onsiderab 1 e period the foreign wines were 

 not drunk in their genuine form, but were 

 mixed \vith honey, sugar, orange juice, and 

 even opium. Chaucer, in the Knight's Tale, 

 speaks of 



'A clarrie (claret) made of certain wine, 

 With narcotise and opie of Thebes fine." 



These mixed wines received different names, 

 according to the nature of the wine employed. 

 When made with Burgundy or Bordeaux, the 

 mixture was called Bishop; when with old 

 Rhenish, its name was (\ir<lin<il ; and when 

 with Tokay, it was dignified with the title of 

 Pope. In the reign of Edward II. the taste for 

 sweet wines prevailed; and consequently we 

 find the wines which Alsace then furnished, 

 which were chiefly sweet, were much used. In 

 the time of Elizabeth, the profusion and diver- 

 sity of wines displayed on the tables even of 

 the citizens of the metropolis, and the inhabit- 

 ants of the southern provinces, almost exceed 

 belief. Harrison, in his account of the mode 

 of living in England in that reign, states, that 

 there were upwards of eighty-six different 

 wines in use; "whereof," he adds, "Vernage, 

 Cate-piment, Raspis, Muscadell, Romnie, Bas- 

 tard, Tire, Oseie, Caprike, Clareie, and Mal- 

 meseie are not least of all accompted of, be- 

 cause of their strength and valure." (IIllins- 

 >n. p. 167.) Sack, with which all are 

 familiar who have read the works of our im- 

 mortal dramatist, was a dry Spanish wine; but 

 sugar was often added to it, with the view, as 

 Venner informs us, to lessen the hot and pene- 

 trative quality of the wine. In truth, the best 

 sack (for there were several kinds in use) was 

 of the growth of Xerez, or in other words 

 sherry. In P/i^ui/'x Palmndiu, published in 

 1619, this is stated in the following lines: 



" give me sacke, old sacke, boys, 



To make the muses merry; 

 The lit',- of mirth, and the joy of earth, 

 Is a cup of good old sherry." 



The Spanish wines still retained the first 

 place on English tables, at the commencement 

 of the seventeenth century. After this time, the 

 preference was given to the Canary wines, 

 more of which, Howell (Familiar Letters, part 

 ii. 60) informs us, " was brought into England 

 than to all the world besides." Champagne ap- 

 pears to have been unknown in Britain until a 

 present from Louis XIV. of two hundred hogs- 

 heads of wine, consisting of Champagne, Bur- 

 gundy, and Hermitage, was sent to the king of 

 England; but it was long after this time un- 

 known to those not connected with the court, 

 and, therefore, it was regarded, as Venner 

 terms it, " a regal wine." Even at this period, 

 however, although much wine was drunk, yet 

 few persons kept a stock of it in private cel- 

 lars ; the chief consumption was in taverns. 



The war with France in 1689 introduced the 

 use of the wines of Portugal, particularly the 

 red wine, or port, as a substitute for the growths 

 of Bordeaux; and the celebrated Methuen 

 treaty, which obliged us to receive the wines 

 of Portugal in exchange for our woollen manu- 

 factures, and at one-third less rate of the duty 



levied on French wines, confirmed the taste of 

 Englishmen for this strong and intoxicating 

 beverage, a taste which is again happily, as 

 respects health and longevity, on the decline. 



From the foregoing sketch it is evident that 

 the English taste in wine has varied considera- 

 bly at different periods. For five or six cen- 

 turies, the light wines of France and the banks 

 of the Rhine, and the rich sweet wines of the 

 Mediterranean and the Archipelago, were in 

 high estimation. Then came the dry Spanish 

 wines ; and at the close of the seventeenth 

 century the red growths of the Bordelais were 

 in most frequent demand ; which, however, 

 owing to the wars with France, were given up, 

 and the rough wines of Portugal substituted 

 for them. But, as we have already said, the 

 use of these is now on the decline, and our 

 growing intercourse with the continent has 

 revived the taste for light wines. (Henderson's 

 History of Wine.') 



As far as concerns what is denominated 

 home-made wines, there is in England scarcely 

 any, if we except the gooseberry (intended to 

 imitate Champagne) and raisin wine, that 

 merit any notice. Indeed, it is an incontro- 

 vertible fact, that grapes ripened on walls and 

 trellises are in general unfit for the manufac- 

 ture of wine ; and, in England, those cultivated 

 under glass are too valuable for the dessert and 

 other purposes, in their recent state, to be em- 

 ployed for making wine. Still, however, to 

 make home-made wine forms one of the occu- 

 pations of the wife of a farmer, and tolerable 

 wine may be made with a mixture of raisins 

 and grapes cultivated in the open air, in favour- 

 able seasons. The principles of wine-making 

 are the same, whatever kind of fruit is em- 

 ployed: in knowing, therefore, the maraf:,.;;ture 

 of grape-wine, it is easy to modify the process, 

 so as to render it applicable to every other 

 description of wine. 



The juice of the grape, when chemically 

 analyzed, is found to consist of a considerable 

 portion of sugar and water, mucilage, tannic 

 acid, bitartrate of potassa, tartrate of lime, 

 phosphate of magnesia, chloride of sodium, 

 sulphate of potassa, and a mucososaccharine 

 principle, on which the fermentative process 

 productive of the wine depends. Thenard, a 

 distinguished French chemist, assures us that 

 this substance excites the vinous fermentation 

 by abstracting a portion of oxygen from the 

 sua^ar, by means of its carbon, forming carbonic 

 acid gas, whilst its hydrogen and the remaining 

 oxygen and carbon of the sugar are converted 

 into alcohol, the basis and exciting principle 

 of all wines. When the must, or expressed 

 juice of the grape, is exposed to a temperature 

 of 65 Fahr., this chemical change or fermenta- 

 tion commences; an intestine motion takes 

 place in the liquor; bubbles are evolved, which 

 buoy up the grosser matter, increasing the bulk 

 of the mass, and forming a scum upon the 

 surface. An augmentation of temperature now 

 takes place ; the must loses its saccharine 

 taste ; it acquires a deeper colour than before, 

 and a vinous flavour, which increases with the 

 advancement of the process. After a few day: . 

 the fermentation gradually subsides, the mass 

 returns to its original bulk, the scum s-'ntfs t 

 5E2 1157 



