Classifyituj and Judging Wines. 



95 



CLASSIFYING AND JUDGING WINES. 



The reports of Committees on 

 Wine, appointed at the meetings of 

 the Horticultural and Winegrowers 

 Associations, have failed in many in- 

 stances to give satisfaction to the ex- 

 hibitors. This will alwaj's be the 

 case to some extent, as long as tastes 

 differ, and as long as we possess the 

 happy weakness to overrate ourselves 

 and our own. Yet something might 

 be done to secure to these reports 

 more justice, and in consequence 

 more favor and more weight, and I 

 Avill make some suggestions in that 

 respect. 



In the first place, in appointing a 

 committee for the purpose of classify- 

 ing and judging wines, care should 

 be taken to select members who use 

 wine, as a drink about as regularly as 

 tea or coffee are used as such. Such 

 persons generally have no taste fordis- 

 tilled liquors, but abstain from them 

 entirely, while vice versa, persons who 

 like a dram of brandy' or of old 

 Bourbon, will never be good judges of 

 wine which they invariably will find 

 sour and weak, destitute of body. 

 Poorl}' qualified to be judges of 

 ■\vine are also persons who like sweet 

 preserves or other sweetmeats, or i 

 who have partaken of such or the I 

 like, or of cordials, only a few hours 

 previous to acting as judges. Like | 

 improper is it to eat rich cheese or 

 other piquant dishes before serving j 

 on the committee, or during the trial 

 of wines ; a piece of stale bread, a 

 cracker or a boiled potato may be i 

 used with advantage to clear the 

 palate and restore a pure taste ; also 



a spongecake, when judging superior 

 qualities of Avine. Whether smoking 

 is admissible or not I am not able to 

 say^ because I do not use tobacco in 

 an}' shape ; but the atmosphere in 

 the room in which the trial is to take 

 place ought to be pure and fresh, not 

 impregnated with tobacco smoke or 

 any other smell, as that would interfere 

 with the bouquet of the wine. 



The wines before they are submitted 

 to the committee are classified accord- 

 ing to color, as: I, red wines; II 

 white wines, and III, wines which 

 according to color cannot be classed 

 with either of the two classes, (Shiller 

 wines) and in each class the wines are 

 arranged according to the vainety of 

 grape from which they are made, and 

 again according to age. This is essen- 

 tial ; old and new Avines ought not to 

 be drunk interchangeably ; the unfer- 

 mented sugar in the latter would in- 

 terfere with the finer qualities of the 

 former and nfake it appear sour, while 

 the oily smoothness of the old wine 

 would make the young wine taste 

 rough and coarse. To each class of 

 wines a separate committee ought to 

 be appointed. 



The adoption of a scale from 1 to 

 100, by which to judge and classify 

 wines, and the latter number as the 

 standard of excellence is very good, 

 but b}' following it the committee 

 gives only the final conclusion at 

 which it arrives and leaves us in the 

 dark as to the premises upon which 

 the conclusion has been formed; it is 

 a judgment without an opinion of the 

 Court, referring to the points of law 



