450 RAISIN WINE. 



Cognac brandy to fifteen gallons of wine ; but if not 

 yet bright, fine with isinglass, and rack again, before 

 adding the alcohol, stirring it well to promote incor- 

 poration. It must not, at any time, be bunged tight ; 

 a piece of loose board over the bung-hole, to keep out 

 the dust, is all that is necessary. When fine, it will 

 be fit to drink. It appears to me, that the method 

 is preferable, for obvious reasons, to wait, as here di- 

 rected, till fermentation has entirely ceased, before 

 the brandy be added. But in general, I entertain 

 some doubt, whether or not the quantity of water in 

 proportion to the juice, might not be advantageously 

 reduced : nor have I known any accident from close 

 bunging down currant wine, which seems necessary 

 for the due retention of its spirit and briskness. 



RAISIN WINE. Certainly the choice of good and 

 rich fruit, as hinted above, must conduce to obtaining 

 similar qualities in the wine : and this rule, with the 

 best practice being observed, we might hope to make 

 a raisin wine in this country, nearly equalling in 

 quality the wines of the continent, where the dried 

 grapes or raisins are supposed to retain a full mea- 

 sure of the native richness, strength, and spirit of 

 the grape. "We have not, however, yet attained 

 such pre-eminence in this country, our raisin wine 

 being, according to my taste and opinion, among the 

 most ordinary and unpleasant of our home-made 

 species. 



To twenty-four pounds of picked raisins, add six 

 gallons of boiling water, and six pounds of sugar. 

 Having stood twelve or fourteen days, and been well 

 stirred daily, pour off the liquor, and squeeze out the 



