INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS. 49 



Mr. Curtis considers that the average extract content of wine six 

 months old is 2.90 grams of extract per 100 cc for red wines and 2 

 grams per 100 cc for white wines. The extract, of course, decreases 

 with the age of the wine. When over two or three years of age Mr. 

 Curtis gives as the average extract content 2.65 grams for red wines 

 and 1.75 grams for white wines. He regards with suspicion a red 

 wine which contains less than 2.40 grams or more than 3.25 grams 

 of extract per 100 cc, and a white wine which contains less than 1.50 

 grams or more than 2.40 grams of extract per 100 cc. 



ASH. 



The maximum and minimum for ash content, estimated by the Ger- 

 man Weinstatistik Commission are, respectively, 0.44 gram and 0.11 

 gram per 100 cc. It rarely happens, however, that 0.35 gram is 

 exceeded. A wine is regarded as suspicious whose ash content is less 

 than 0.14 gram. The ash content may be somewhat diminished by 

 the separation of the cream of tartar, and somewhat increased by the 

 neutralization of the excess of acidity and by the addition of sodium 

 chloride. 



The amount of ash which a normal wine may contain depends to a 

 considerable extent on its composition in other respects, especially on 

 the amount of sulphuric acid present. The presence of a high con- 

 tent of sodium chloride or potassium sulphate in a wine, having a 

 minimum ash content, would be regarded as suspicious. 



It seems probable that the same standards for ash content may be 

 .adopted for American wines. Mr. Curtis writes that he considers the 

 average ash content for American wines six months old to be 0.28 

 gram per 100 cc for red wines and 0.21 gram per 100 cc for white wines. 

 He regards as suspicious a red wine containing less than 0.22 gram 

 of ash per cc or more than 0. 34 gram, and a white wine containing 

 less than 0.14 gram or more than 0.26 gram per 100 cc. 



EXTRACT-ALCOHOL RATIO. 



The municipal laboratory of Paris considers a wine to be fortified 

 when, in case of red wines, the alcohol (expressed in grams per 100 cc) 

 exceeds 4.5 times the extract, and, in the case of white wines, the 

 alcohol exceeds 6.5 times the extract. The amount of added alcohol 

 is calculated by the municipal laboratory by subtracting the "natural" 

 alcohol (extract X 4. 5 or extract X 6. 5) from the total alcohol. 



When the sum of the percentage of alcohol by volume and the grams 

 of total acids per liter, expressed as sulphuric acid (H 2 SOJ, is less than 

 12.5 the wine is considered to be diluted with water. The total acids 

 expressed as grams of tartar ic acid per 100 cc may be multiplied by 

 6. 53 for the grams of sulphuric acid per liter. 

 6935 No. 59 4 



