FERMENTATION. 61 



TEMPEEATUEE. 



Supposing, however, that soil, climate, the kind of 

 grape, and many other circumstances have concurred, 

 and done their best to produce good wine, the result 

 may still be a failure, unless during the whole process 

 of fermentation a sufficiently high temperature can be 

 maintained. 



There is a wide interval between the extremes of 

 temperature in which fermentation is possible, but 

 the boundary is very narrow which limits good and 

 active fermentation in every kind of wine. 



It is unnecessary here to mention the degrees, but 

 how very various is the heat in autumn, during which 

 time wine is prepared in different countries ! An 

 acquaintance with many details of which we are still 

 ignorant is, however, necessary, in order to inves- 

 tigate thoroughly the influence of temperature upon 

 a good, well-tasted wine, which should not spoil 

 with age. The grapes of each country ripened under 

 different degrees of summer warmth, and very un- 

 equally rich in constituents, require different tempe- 

 ratures during fermentation, and different tempera- 

 tures are also required for grapes which are the 

 product of a warmer or colder summer. 



But we are still quite ignorant upon these points. 

 All we know is, that a high temperature during 



