CHAPTER V. 



CELLARING OF WINE. 



EOGIEB applies the proverb, "Everything which 

 lives is born dying," to wine, by saying, "That 

 every wine bears within itself the germ of corrup- 

 tion ! " As a rule, we may say, " Everything which is 

 organic perishes," the cause of its destruction is to be 

 looked for in itself. 



A complex mixture of organic substances may be 

 enclosed in hermetically sealed vessels, and withdrawn 

 as much as possible from external influences ; but even 

 if alcohol, a substance peculiarly opposed to decay, be 

 contained in it, time will still produce an effect, which 

 means that chemical rest is impossible in a complex 

 mixture. Though the action cannot be observed at 

 any moment, yet the effect of what has been carried on 

 during hours, days, and months, is perceptible at the 

 end of years. Tou do not see the wood from which 

 ships are built, and buildings erected, dissolved into 

 gas, but chemical change is ever going on, and at the 

 end of years or centuries it has become volatilized, and 

 no longer exists as wood. So all wine must eventually 

 be spoilt ; but some kinds acquire, as a first consequence 



