364 FOOD AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



SWEET WINES. 



It would seein advisable to call attention to the very variable charac- 

 ter of these wines as shown by the analyses. Considering the extensive 

 use that is made of such wines for medicinal purposes, it is greatly to 

 be desired that some standard should be required for their composition, 

 or that their relative content of alcohol and sugar, at least, should be 

 stated on the label, as is required by the Bavarian authorities. Among 

 Mr. Parsons' samples will be found a u Sweet Muscatel" which contains 

 as high as 31 per cent of sugar, and a " California port " which contains 

 nearly 21 per cent, of alcohol by weight. The analyses of the sweet 

 wines made by myself furnish a still poorer showing, for the low figures 

 obtained for glycerine show that very little pure grape juice enters 

 into their composition. Take the different samples of Angelica and 

 Muscatel wines, for instance; these varieties are almost peculiar to Cal- 

 ifornia ; they are made from a very sweet grape, of strong flavor. Com- 

 paratively few analyses have been made of them, but Baumert had 

 among his samples two Muscatel wines and one Angelica. These con- 

 tained the following percentages of glycerine : Muscat (H), .883; muscat 

 (W), 1.424; Angelica, .G98. 



Compare these numbers with the percentage of glycerine contained 

 in the following: 5003, Muscatel, .102; 5092, Muscatel, .104 ; 4994, An- 

 gelica, .140; 5093, Angelica, .052. 



These results are so disproportionately low as to give strong ground 

 to the suspicion that but very little of the pure juice of these strong 

 flavored grapes entered into the composition of the samples I examined, 

 but that they were chiefly composed of alcohol, sugar, and water. It 

 would be an easy matter to imitate the strongly marked flavor of the 

 grapes by means of artificial essences. 



California wine-growers claim that they have in tlieir very pure grape 

 brandy an excellent and unobjectionable source of alcohol for the forti- 

 fication of sweet wines, but certainly the samples above partake more 

 of the nature cf a liqueur, than of a natural wine. 



The following table gives a classification of the wines analyzed in the 

 Paris Municipal Laboratory during the years 1881 and 1882, showing the 

 proportion which was declared adulterated, and the relative amount 

 of the different varieties of adulteration as shown by the samples an- 

 alyzed. It must be remembered that these analyses were made on 

 suspected samples, and do not by any means represent an average of 

 the quality of the wines sold in Paris. 



