20 WINE AND THE ART OF WINE TASTING. 



Italy, connected in any way with wine, who has not been called upon to 

 act as judge in competitions of this kind. I need not say how much 

 harm this has done our national wine industry; I will simply, with 

 Polacci, express the desire that we might see some day in Italy " una 

 vera magistratura enologica," a body of competent men to look after 

 these affairs. 



We will now return to our tasting. The forenoon is the time best 

 adapted for wine tasting; the wines are of the proper temperature, a 

 temperature which varies for red wines between 54 and 60 F., and 

 for white wines between 50 and 54 F.; the taster is in good condition , 

 and consequently the tasting may begin. 



There should be no bad odors present, and the place in which the tast- 

 ing* takes place should be well lighted with diffused light, not obscurely 

 through a small and narrow window, nor too brightly by the direct rays 

 of the sun; it should be remote from all noise, where the taster can 

 remain quite undisturbed. 



It is a fact admitted by physiologists that the senses exercise a mutual 

 influence on one another, so that anything that excites one sense has 

 the effect of increasing the acuteness of the other. 



This reciprocal influence seems to be confirmed by the recent researches 

 of Dr. Albertini, who says that the defect of color-blindness is accompa- 

 nied by a corresponding deafness for certain sounds. Thus, those who 

 cannot perceive red cannot distinguish sol, while those who are color- 

 blind for green are unable to recognize re; to this lack of oral perception 

 is joined the inability to reproduce these notes with the vocal organs. 



"The taster," writes Franck, "should be deaf and dumb; deaf, in order 

 that his judgment of the various qualities and defects revealed to him 

 by his senses may be undisturbed; dumb, in order to prevent the expres- 

 sion of a hasty or insufficiently considered opinion." 



Every one has noticed how a gourmand will close his eyes in order 

 better to appreciate the delicate flavors of a substance, thus bringing his 

 mind to a proper state of attention by the absence of all other excite- 

 ment. This will explain the exclamation of the court parasite, who, dis- 

 gusted with his too turbulent table companions, cried: "Hush! You do 

 not understand what you are eating." 



* Here the question asked in " Conseils d'un amateur: " How should wine be drunk? 

 might appropriately be answered. In our opinion, in order that the benefits of drinking 

 it may be enjoyed in their fullness, the first thing necessary is that the wine shall be 

 presented in the manner most pleasing to the eye and to the palate, for this impression 

 on the senses has a most important influence on the rest of our body. With this end 

 in view we should be scrupulously careful to have the wine at the exact degree of tem- 

 perature that the nature and quality of the wine demand for the proper development of 

 its flavor and bouquet, and then to make a judicious choice of the kind of glasses in which 

 it is to be served. For Bordeaux, Burgundy, Ghianti, Barolo, etc., the proper temperature 

 is that of the dining-room, where they should be placed for some hours before they are 

 to be consumed. White wines, sweet wines, etc., must be of the temperature of the cellar, 

 that is, supposing the cellar is very cool, otherwise it is necessary to cool the wine, either 

 by placing the bottles on ice, or by placing them in water containing a few lumps of ice, 

 but never in the ice, for that completely destroys the character of the wine. Champagne 

 is the only wine that may be put in ice, but even in this case discretion should be used, 

 and if the wine is put in ice for three or four hours before being used it will be found 

 sufficient, and the wine should then be served directly from the bottle. It is then a 

 great mistake to place wine in ice or in freezing mixtures, for a wine so treated destroys 

 the appetite and is injurious to the health. 



The practice of pouring champagne into decanters containing ice cannot be too strongly 

 deprecated. In the first place, it is not wine you drink, but a mixture of champagne 

 and water; and secondly, the temperature is never right, as it cannot be regulated. 



Let us add that ice should never be put into wine, for it destroys the bouquet and flavor 

 of the wine, and if it gives a momentary pleasure to the palate by a sense of coolness, it 

 also renders the digestion slow and laborious. 



