WINE AND THE ART OF WINE TASTING. 11 



At the end of two or three hours, more or less, according to the temperament and sus- 

 ceptibility of the individual, the irritation passes away and the taster finds himself in 

 the same condition as before, with or without a certain feeling of lassitude or sadness. 



2. If the white wine is replaced by a red wine of the same vintage, and taken at a 

 proper temperature, it will leave in passing a distinct impression on the two senses of 

 smell and taste of a soft aroma; its fluidity in the mouth is less, and though it feels 

 more material, so to speak, it leaves a less intense feeling of dry heat. Its contact with 

 the stomach produces a softer and more gradual impression. 



The organ is still warmed, but in a more vital manner, as it were. As to the svmpa- 

 thetic propagation of the stimulating action towards the head : it still takes place, but 

 without the nervous phenomena of pressure and pain; the brain is gently excited. Its 

 extension to the organs of the senses, if it takes place, is no longer betrayed by the need 

 of displacement and agitation, but bv a strengthened desire for exercise, which is very 

 different. The duration of the stimulation is more prolonged and ceases insensibly, so 

 that the most attentive observation cannot detect the exact time at which it ends. 



Here is, we believe, the sufficient explanation of the difference of effect observed 

 between white wine and red wine the first (white wines of Graves), produced by fermen- 

 tation of the must separate from the pomace, contains about 4 to 6 per cent of extractive 

 matter and tannin; the second, 8 to 11 and 12 per cent of the same matters. 



It is to this difference in the proportions of the rough and astringent matters of the 

 wines that we attribute their different effects. 



In the red wines the pressure of the alcohol on the nervous system of the stomach is 

 softened by the interposition of more abundant tonic and extractive matters; the effect 

 is thus slow and successive. In white wines it is almost immediate, and therefore stronger 

 and less lasting. 



Each of these large groups into which the various wines may be 

 divided is susceptible of three subdivisions, which are sufficiently 

 natural, as they give immediately some idea of the quality of a wine 

 which enters into any one of them. 



These three subdivisions are the following: 



1. Table wines. 



2. Dessert or alcoholic wines. 



3. Blending or cutting wines. 



1. Table Wines. 



These wines may be of higher or lower quality, according to the 

 locality in which they are produced, and to the care that is taken in 

 their making and after-treatment; they must not be sweet nor too alco- 

 holic; not aromatic nor possessed of too pronounced a bouquet, though 

 those of higher quality may be slightly aromatic; they must not be too 

 rich in color, too astringent, nor too acid; they ought not to be harsh nor of 

 too heavy body, that is, too rich in extractive matter.* A wine of this 

 group should be clean tasting, and should form an harmonious whole, 

 agreeable to the palate and stomach, so that it can be drunk with 

 pleasure. These wines are healthful, because they favor digestion, and 

 a certain quantity of them can be taken without producing intoxication 

 or other physical disturbance. 



Concisely the characters of a typical table wine may be described as 

 follows: 



Light but not poor in alcohol; not the slightest tendency to sweetness; 

 pleasing but light and delicate aroma and flavor; nothing excessive, 

 but complete harmony of all parts. A full and generous homogeneity; 

 limpidity; constancy of type. Though in the matter of dishes variety 



* " In the middle of the seventeenth century England consumed the light wines of 

 France, and, as Gladstone says, they laughed and sang in those days in the British realm. 

 The wars between France and Great Britain breaking out, the French wines were pro- 

 hibited and in their stead the heavy wines of Spain and Portugal were imported ; they 

 still drank as much, continues Gladstone, but they sang no longer; to laughter succeeded 

 quarrels and base deeds." R. Dejermon. 



