36 



WINE AND THE ART OF WINE TASTING. 



the short time preceding their complete maturity; these substances are 

 peculiar to certain varieties of grapes, and owe their existence also to 

 careful cultivation, as well as to certain conditions of climate and soil.* 



In analyzing wine, writes Faure*, I have observed that fine and deli- 

 cate wines, those renowned for their flavor and general high quality, 

 contain a certain glutinous, viscid substance, which exists only in 

 almost inappreciable quantities in ordinary wines, and is quite absent 

 from inferior ones. 



This principle, to which wine owes its seve, has been called by Faure 

 oenanthin,f or flower of wine, and is only found in grapes which are 

 completely mature. Some vineyards, which usually produce grapes 

 containing this substance, fail to do so in stormy seasons. The only 

 vines containing it in such years are those produced on dry sandy or 

 gravelly soils. The same variety of vines, which, when grown on an 

 appropriate soil, gives a wine full of seve, will, when grown on a rich, 

 heavy, or clayey one, produce a wine containing little or no cenanthin. 



Thus it can be seen that the preeminence of high-class wines is not 

 due to the caprice of the taster, but to actual differences of composition, 

 and to the presence of principles not found in inferior wines. 



The ordinary wines of the three communes of the Gironde, where the 

 four high-class Bordeaux wines are produced, are, in general, poor in 

 cenanthin. These four wines, however, contain a larger quantity of the 

 substance, as may be seen by the following: 



(Enanthin contained in vines of 



FLAVOR (Sapore, It.; Saveur, Fr.). In this character we have the 

 effect of the wine on the sense of taste, and more particularly on the 

 tongue, which best distinguishes between various tastes. The flavor is 

 distinct from either aroma, bouquet, or "seve"; unlike the last, it does 

 not affect the sense of smell. As has been shown, the seve is per- 

 ceived after the wine has passed the base of the tongue, the soft palate; 

 the taste, on the contrary, or better, the flavors, are perceived almost im- 

 mediately, and continue to affect the tongue and its sides, or posterior 



*The result of many observations and studies regarding the influence of soil composi- 

 tion or the character of wine, may be summed up as follows: High alcoholic strength is 

 characteristic of wines grown on calcareous soils; color depends on the iron in the soil; 

 smoothness on the alumina and on the variety of grape; bouquet on the silica. 



Chambertin, writes Julian, is a wine which has a good color, much seve, is very delicate 

 and smooth, faultless in taste, and possessing the most agreeable bouquet. 



The vineyard which produces this wine has the following soil composition: 



Alkaline salts 0.031 



Carbonate of calcium and magnesium . 4.425 



Ferric oxide 2.961 



Phosphoric acid 0.235 



Alumina 2.063 



Silica (soluble) 0.110 



Organic matter 1.973 



Insoluble residue (silica) 89.302 



tBy oenanthin should not be understood 2 as perhaps was done by Faure", a single 

 chemical compound, but rather a complex mixture of ethers. 



