436 CASKS TO BE FILLED BOTTLING FRUIT. 



ment. A regular and brisk fermentation will generally 

 be completed in three or four days. According to the 

 French chemists and practical wine-makers, the must 

 or juice of the grape of the greatest substance is 

 aqueous to the extent of three-fourths ; the aqueous 

 portion differing in no obvious respect from common 

 water. And however strange it may seem, we learn, 

 on the same authority, that this watery part of the 

 must, during fermentation, contributes mainly to in- 

 crease the quantity of alcohol. Casks should be 

 filled to the bung, and that firmly driven in ; for an 

 ullage being left, will either produce acidity or a dead- 

 ness and flatness in the flavour of the wine. The 

 vent-peg will be at hand in case of any effervescence 

 arising. Wine that is cloudy in bottles, may be un- 

 corked and cleared into fresh bottles, the corks being 

 firmly driven, as bottles are usually laid upon their 

 side. A caution may be in place here, as to starred 

 bottles, in which a considerable trade is said to be 

 driven in London. These are bottles with small 

 cracks, ingeniously hidden by additional crust put 

 into the inside. 



All our wines, to ensure perfection, should be rich 

 of the fruit, and as much sugar should be allowed as 

 can possibly be decomposed by fermentation, since the 

 whole of it is converted into alcohol. I have yet 

 sometimes known this overdone, or the fermentation 

 had probably been imperfect, the wine (grape) at a 

 considerable age, tasting disagreeably syrupy, and 

 mawkish. 



