324 GRAPE CULTURE AND ^VINE-]VLAJ^mG. 



driven to a greater distance. By tliis it is apparent tliat the wine 

 must be of such a quality that a correct relation exists between 

 the gas condensed in the chamber and that absorbed in the 

 wine. 



At the opening of the bottle hardly one third of the gas escapes. 

 If the same were kept in the wine by pressure only, it would nat- 

 urally escape entirely on the removal of the cork but for the ad- 

 hesive character of the wine, which is strong enough to require a 

 certain mechanical influence to liberate the carbonic acid thus ab- 

 sorbed. Also will a piece of sugar, a crumb of bread, or a raisin 

 thrown into the wine after it has been poured out, cause a new 

 agitation and produce a lively sparkling. 



The temperature the wine is kept in is of no less importance, 

 for the higher it is the easier the carbonic acid develops itself 

 Champagne that has been placed in ice for a considerable time 

 will therefore not foam at all. 



Hoio to regulate the Sparhling. 



It was not till 1836 that H. Fran9ois, of Chalons sur Marne, pub- 

 lished a rational method to regulate the sparkling. Maumend, in 

 his book on Champagne, for instance, gives us the following items, 

 which go to show how little profit the early manufacture of that 

 wine rendered: 



" In the year 1746 I bottled 6000 bottles of a wine of very 

 heavy body: 120 bottles were all that remained of this lot; all 

 the others burst. In 1747 the wine did not contain quite so much 

 liquor as the preceding season, but still one third of the bottles 

 exploded. In 1748 only one sixth of the bottles burst. In 1749, 

 the wine being more astringent, I lost only one tenth ; and in 

 1750, when the wine of Jacquelet was still more so, I lost not 

 more than one twentieth of my Champagne by the bursting of 

 the bottles." 



The method of Mr. Fran9ois, above referred to, consists in the 

 following new manner of using the CEnometer, invented by Mr. 

 Cadet de Vaux, and perfected by Engineer Chevalier : 



A bottle of wine is, by boiling it down, reduced to four ounces, 

 by which process the alcohol is set free, and only the sugar and 

 several salts remain. After the crystallization of the tartaric acid 

 has taken place, which generally occurs in 24 hours, the degree 

 which the (Enometer indicates must be marked. Now when the 

 liquid thus condensed shows not more than 5° above zero, the 

 wine will not sparkle in the bottles, not even at 20° and 25° C. 

 These five degrees represent the specific gravity which the sugar 

 and saline particles give to the wine. 



Eight days before the wine is bottled, sugar or liquor of wine 

 (one pound of candied sugar to each bottle of wine produces this 

 liquor) are added, according to the following table : 



