WINE AND THE ART OF WINE TASTING. 51 



substance spoken of by Polacci is nothing but thio-aldehyde or trithio- 

 aldehyde. 



TASTE OF LEES. Wine, by a prolonged contact with the lees, loses 

 its clean taste and acquires a more or less pronounced bitterness, which 

 has a distant resemblance to a taste of decay, and is characteristic of 

 lees even when sound.* 



TASTE OF DECAY (Sapore di fradicio, It.; Saveur de pourri, Fr.). A 

 taste which the wine contracts from unsound cooperage or too prolonged 

 contact with the lees; it is a repelling taste of rottenness, which, how- 

 ever, must not be confounded with that caused by putrid fermentation 

 of the wine. 



This taste may also originate in imperfectly ripened grapes, which, 

 through the prolonged action of dampness, have commenced to decay. 



If the grapes are ripe before they commence to decay, the wine will 

 still have something of this taste, but it will be less disgusting and will 

 tend to disappear with time; the wine will, however, always be insipid, 

 and lack frankness of taste. 



MOLDY TASTE. The characteristic taste of mold. Wines easily con- 

 tract this taste, either from moldy casks or from moldy grapes having 

 been used. It is generally possible to take away this taste by the use 

 of olive oil. 



Sapore di tempesta, It.; Saveur de grdle, Fr. A harsh, bitterish, some- 

 what moldy taste, perceived in wine made from grapes that have been 

 injured by hail at the commencement of their ripening. 



RANCID (Rancido, It.; Ranee, Fr.). "When the wine is swallowed, or 

 whilst it is being drunk, a displeasing taste is noticed in the throat and 

 slightly on the palate, almost analogous to that of rancid substances, 

 from which comes the name given to this disease of wine, till now 

 unstudied by any author. The ranee can also be smelt, if it is pro- 

 nounced, but a good nose is needed to discover it, and a delicate palate 

 to taste it, at its incipiency." 0. Ottavi. 



FRUITY TASTEf (Sapore di frutto, It.; Saveur de fruit, Fr.). Many 

 young wines, when well made, have a very pronounced taste of fruit. 



Common wines, with age, lose this taste, but fine, and above all, the 

 finest, wines retain it, much to their advantage; they retain it, however, 

 only when aged slowly, and without the use of artificial aids. 



TARTARIC FERMENTATION. This term is used to cover two different 

 maladies of wine caused by two micro-organisms, which differ somewhat 

 from each other, and the products of the fermentations caused by them 

 differ considerably. These maladies, however, have a certain affinity, 

 since both the micro-organisms, to whose action they are due, live at the 

 expense of the tartaric acid m the cream of tartar. 



The French distinguish these two maladies, calling the first "la mala- 

 die de la pousse vin pousse;" in Italian, "malattia del subbollimento;" and 

 the second, "maladie de la tourne vins tournes;" in Italian, "cereone." 



* It may perhaps be useful to note that the lees may become the seat of a bacteroid 

 fermentation independently of any anterior disease in the wine. Thus, according to the 

 experiments of Ravizza. the wine and lees may become the prey of bacteria without the 

 aid of molds or other micro-organisms that destroy the acids. 



The temperature most favorable to the development of bacteria in the lees seems to be 

 from 77 F. to 86 F. Below 77 F. the phenomena accompanying the life of these bac- 

 teria decrease, and towards 50 F. cease altogether. The practice, then, in racking, of 

 separating the last layers of wine, that is, the part lying in contact with the lees, from 

 the rest is a good one, and this wine may be considered of inferior quality, either because 

 it lacks a clean, fresh taste, or because it is sometimes cloudy. 



t Fruity is very often used in English with the inappropriate meaning of somewhat 

 sweet. Trans. 



