WINE AND THE ART OF WINE TASTING. 43 



ROUGH (Austero, Pavido, Allappante, It.; Austere, Apre, Picotant, Fr.). 

 These terms are used of wines which, on account of their excess of tan- 

 nin, or rather oenotannin, are in the highest degree rough and astringent. 

 Their flavor, which is somewhat nauseous, recalls immediately that of 

 ink, or of ferruginous substances. 



In drinking a rough, overastringent wine, a feeling of dryness is pro- 

 duced on the tongue and along the oesophagus. The daily use of wines 

 of this character, by persons of delicate constitution, may occasion 

 organic disorders. 



This roughness tends to diminish with time, and may completely dis- 

 appear; the cause being that the tannin, under the influence of oxygen, 

 gives place to a slo\v formation of carbonic and gallic acids. 



(Enotannin* possesses tonic properties, and insures the conservation 

 of the wine by causing coagulation, and consequently the elimination 

 of many substances which the wine contains, substances whose presence 

 is dangerous from their instability, and because they favor the develop- 

 ment of those organisms to which are due secondary fermentations. 



High-class and fine wines when young, and even sometimes when old, 

 are more or less markedly rough; this roughness they lose with time. 



HARSH (Duro, It.; Dur, Fr.). Harsh wines are generally young wines 

 rich in tartar and tannin, and which, consequently, leave a repellant 

 impression on the papillae of the tongue and palate. 



Harsh wines are lacking in delicacy and value. 



Harshness, of itself, is a defect; ordinarily it is due to the soil, and in 

 that case the wine is also heavy bodied. This defect may also be owing 

 to unskillful preparation or handling. 



Harsh wines keep easily, and can be kept for a longer or shorter time, 

 according to their quality. 



* (Enotannin has the property of forming with gelatine and with albumen volumin- 

 ous insoluble compounds, wnich precipitate with great readiness. By means of clarifi- 

 cation, therefore, tne contents of cenotannin can be notably diminished, thus curing, or 

 at least considerably lessening, the defect of roughness. 



I have called roughness a defect, but that should be understood relatively, not abso- 

 lutely, for it should not be forgotten that the general trade demands a certain rough- 

 ness, and wines in which it is lacking are often given this character artificially by the 

 addition of alum, which is undeniably an adulteration, or by the addition of tannin. 



Alum is used by unprincipled dealers, and has the quality of reviving the color, 

 precipitating the albuminoids, and imparting a roughness, almost styptic, analogous to 

 that presented by the common Bordeaux wines. 



The wine maker has the choice of two kinds of tannin which are found in commerce, 

 and which differ in their mode of extraction or preparation. Thus, the tannin may be 

 extracted from galls by means of ether, giving a tannin pure, but retaining a taste of 

 ether, which renders it objectionable in the treatment of wine. The other kind, which 

 is extracted by alcohol, is inodorous, and therefore preferable for the wine maker. 



Pure tannin dissolves completely in alcohol, and in water mixed with 10 per cent of 

 alcohol, and the solution should be limpid. When the wine maker needs tannin he can 

 make use of the grape seeds, which contain a considerable quantity; the seeds may be 

 used either fresh or dry, the latter being more convenient, as they can be preserved from 

 year to year. 



It is to be remarked that clarification attempted with isinglass, gelatine, or white of 

 egg, does not always succeed; the failure is due to the lack or insufficiency of tannin in 

 the wine, or to its superabundance. 



This explains the common usage of adding tannin to white wines before attempting 

 to clarify them; or in the case of highly tannic red wines why, after adding the clarifi- 

 cation, it is often necessary, in order to produce perfect limpidity, to have recourse to 

 sulphuring and racking. This is what the cellarman means when he says that the wine 

 has not taken the finings. 



Wines which have fermented slowly, and which contain substances resembling humic 

 compounds, can sometimes be fined even when lacking in tannin. 



It is also worthy of remark that tannin has a great influence on the color of wine; it 

 tends to increase it, and, according to M. Nessler, if the wine remains for some time in 

 contact with the lees, it prevents, to a great extent, the diminution of the color. 



