DR. L. GALL ON IMPROVEMENTS IN WINE-MAKING. 239 



yet fully ripe tastes sweet on their surface below the skin, while 

 toward the centre the grape contains a jelly more or less sour, 

 according to the state of maturity. 



Besides what wc have now seen — the partial formation of the 

 sugar from acids — the inner structure of the berry may also teach 

 us the manner to obtain the sweet juice suitable for wine-mak- 

 ing, separated from the sour and bitter stuffs. 



It is a well-known saying that a wine without acids is neither 

 palatable nor durable ; but every thing must be confined in a cer- 

 tain measure, and this measure we find the best in the natural 

 combined state of sweet and sour stuffs within the completely 

 ripened grape. Witness those wines, known as " Selected Grape 

 Wines" of the Palatinate, that brought, even in 1852, which was 

 considered as only a medium year, from 5000 to 8000 guilders 

 per cask — being pressed from " selected herries.^'' Witness the " Jo- 

 hannisberg Cabinet "Wines," that fetch as high as 11 guilders per 

 bottle — made up from ^^ selected berries ^ 



If, therefore, the berries, selected with the greatest care, already 

 contain a sufiicient quantity of acid and sour stuffs to produce the 

 most costly and durable wine, it seems clear that the grapes pick- 

 ed in a mass, of the best year's growth, contain too much acid ; 

 and in order to produce as good a wine as the quality of the grape 

 permits, it appears necessary not to mix the must of the last press- 

 ure with that of the former even during the pressing process. 

 Nature itself shows us this in retaining the impure juice, only apt 

 to spoil the sweet pure one, so tenaciously by the meshes of the 

 cells, and the texture of .the skins and pedicles of the berries. 



We have, indeed, to .acknowledge the want of a definite stand- 

 ard — so long as it was not generally understood that the value of 

 the middle loines chiefly depended on a certain quantity of acids 

 — by which to regulate the mixture of the must of the different 

 pressures. Formerly, also, it was not understood how to dispose 

 of the sour juice of the last pressure in conjunction with the good 

 must ; but now we claim to know these standards. 



No experienced wine-grower ought to be unacquainted with 

 the " Essays" of Dr. Liidersdorf, who gave us, as early as 1841, the 

 important hint, that the '■'■good quality^ state of flavor^ and price of 

 the loines depends infinitely more on their not too large amount of 

 acids, than on a high grade ofalcohoiy 



In even the most favorable years the state of perfect maturity 

 is but seldom attained, and in inferior and middling years the 

 sugar process is never entirely interrupted during the continua- 

 tion of vegetation. Considering, therefore, that the good quality 

 of the grapes — i. e., their aptitude for wine-producing — is more 

 based upon a certain medium quantity of acids than upon a large 

 quantity of sugar, and that this same sugar is partially formed by 

 the acids already contained within the berries, without their be- 

 ing too much reduced thereby; that evidently with each addi- 



