52 WJNE AND THE ART OF WINE TASTING. 



" Maladie de la pousse" This disease is recognized by the wine spurt- 

 ing out when the vessel in which it has been confined is opened; the 

 wine exercises a strong pressure on the staves of the cask on account of 

 the carbonic acid which is formed; it is from this that comes the term 

 "pousse.' 7 



In the glass the wine shows a persistent ring of small gaseous bub- 

 bles of a whitish color. If the wine is left exposed to the air it becomes 

 turbid; its color becomes dull with a tendency to yellowish. 



The wine has lost its primary flavor, and as the disease progresses, 

 becomes more and more insipid; if it is shaken there is an appearance 

 of silky waves at the surface, caused by the lees which has risen up. 



Balard was the first to show the presence in " vins pousses " of a fer- 

 ment which, according* to him, resembles the lactic ferment. He has 

 further shown that in these wines the quantity of volatile acids is in- 

 creased, the one found in largest quantity being acetic acid. 



Bechauip and Stenard have shown that propionic acid is formed in 

 these wines from the tartar and the glycerine. Nickles, on the con- 

 trary, is of the opinion that metacetic acid is produced. 



Duclaux, who has given much attention to this malady, seems to 

 have proved: (1) That the amount of free acids augments with the 

 progress of the malady; (2) that this increase is made at the expense 

 of the fixed acids of the wine, particularly of the tartaric acid; (3) that 

 the acids formed are propionic and acetic. After having shown this he 

 concludes by saying that all fermentation of the tartar that takes place 

 with the evolution of pure carbonic acid and production of propionic 

 and acetic acids should be called "maladie de la pousse" 



Cercone, vin girato, mercuriella, It.; Tourne, vin tourne, vin qui a donne 

 le tour, Fr.). At this word in an Italian dictionary is written: Cercone 

 a distiller's term is said of a spoiled wine, because in becoming thus 

 it works and turns; vappa, lora of the Latins. The lora of the Latins 

 is certainly not the cercone, but family wine, piquette; neither is vappa, 

 since that, according to the dictionaries, should indicate a flat, vapid 

 wine. Vappa vinum insipidum et nullino virtutis, postquam omnino odor 

 saporque optimus evaporavit. 



Vin tourne has this peculiarity, that when first poured out it appears 

 sound, but after a short time it tends to become turbid and iridescent. 



Under the influence of the oxygen of the air the coloring matter 

 becomes purplish, and precipitates, and the wine acquires a yellowish 

 tint, a sour taste, and a forbidding bitterness. 



Wines of this kind when distilled give a brandy having a bitter taste, 

 caused probably by ammoniacal compounds. The alcohol made from 

 them has not always, but often, a strong and pungent odor, and cannot, 

 without being well rectified, be put to the ordinary uses of wine alcohol, 

 that is, the manufacture of vermouth, etc. This odor is sometimes so 

 pungent as to bring tears to the eyes, and, by fractional distillations, it 

 is possible to isolate a certain quantity of eroton-aldehyde.* This com- 

 pound is formed, very probably, during the distillation by the conden- 

 sation of the aldehyde with diminution of water. 



Balard has found lactic acid in " vins tournes; " Glenard, on the other 



* Recently Professor Comboni, in distilling a wine made by blending Marzemino and 

 Black Pinot. which had been attacked by the bitter fermentation, found in the distillate 

 a considerable amount of aldehyde and formic acid. These products are certainly 

 formed during the progress of the secondary fermentation, for they are not found at all 

 in the same wine wnen sound. 



