CELLAEING. 109 



in the opening of the cask, renewing the contents 

 so as to keep pace with the evaporation. Well washed 

 river sand is also used when there is not wine enough 

 to fill all the casks. St. Vincent* recommends that 

 the bottles in which wine is put should not be corked, 

 but closed with a bladder, because the water would 

 evaporate as slowly through the bladder as through 

 the casks, and equally beneficial results would be ob- 

 tained. But I am not aware that any one else has 

 ever tried the experiment. 



Young wine, and older wine, when placed alike in 

 wooden casks, comport themselves very differently. 

 For when fermentation first goes off, a great deal 

 more sediment is deposited than at a later period, and 

 tannic acid, combined with an albuminous body, is 

 always found in this sediment ; and as this compound is 

 capable, (by the change of tannic acid into apothema,) 

 of causing such chemical action as shall be injurious, 

 the wine is drawn off" into other casks, in order to free 

 it from sediment. And the reason that this change 

 cannot be more frequently effected is, because in every 

 transfer the wine becomes saturated with air, which 

 causes it to turn sour. 



The opinion that wine which has grown old in 

 bottles has therefore become richer in alcohol, is 

 thoroughly false. I do not deny that the alcoholic 

 contents of many old wines is considerable, but I 



* Pelouze and Frerny, Chenrie. Gen. t. iii. p. 432. 

 + Pulyt. Centralbl. 1849, p. 790. 



