WINE AND THE AiTf J OF 'WINE tST!*&" '"' '' 57 



All the means that have been suggested for the treatment of a pricked 

 wine may be considered as palliatives only, and not as radical cures. 

 In this regard Carpene writes very justly: 



" The neutralization of the acetic acid, which has developed in the 

 wine by the oxidation of the alcohol with potash, soda, lime, magnesia, 

 and their simple or double neutral carbonates and tartrates, seems to 

 be a rational method, but, in reality, is not so. These substances neu- 

 tralize wholly, or in part, the free, and even the combined acids, and 

 the diminution of the complex acidity of the wine renders the acetic 

 taste less noticeable, but does not completely remove it. To remove 

 entirely the acetic acid it is necessary to completely neutralize the wine, 

 because the acetic acid combines with the alkaline and earthy-alkaline 

 bases after they have neutralized the tartaric, malic, and succinic acids. 

 Moreover, acetic acid, even when completely combined with a base, 

 gives out, though less strongly, its characteristic odor, so that even after 

 complete neutralization the wine will still have an odor of acetic acid, 

 accompanied besides by a bitter taste, which lingers in the throat, and 

 may be worse than the first fault." 



MILK-SOUR, LACTIC ACID. This, by inexperienced tasters, is easily 

 confounded with pricking or acetification. 



A milk-sour wine has a more disgusting, biting, and penetrating acidity 

 than an acetic wine, a harsh acidity, whose effect is felt long after the 

 wine is swallowed. An acetic wine has a noticeable odor of vinegar, 

 whilst a milk-sour wine emits an odor of rancid butter, due to the 

 butyric acid which almost always accompanies lactic acid. 



If there is any doubt as to which acid the wine contains, the doubt 

 can be solved by pouring a drop or two of the wine into the palm of one 

 hand, and then rubbing it with the other; if any acetic acid is present 

 its odor will be immediately perceptible on the hands. 



A milk-sour wine loses some of its fluidity, and its color becomes dull. 



Sweet, badly defecated wines, especially those rich in albuminoids, are 

 liable to milk-sourness. 



The disease appears during the winter or in the spring, and generally 

 in wines poor in acids; it is accompanied by a turbidity of the wine and 

 a change of color. As long as the wine remains in full, well-bunged 

 casks, this turbidity and change of color do not occur, but only when 

 it is exposed to the air. 



Some observers have considered lactic acid as one of the normal 

 products of alcoholic fermentation, like glycerine, succinic acid, etc.; 

 the truth, however, is, as Pasteur has proved, that whenever the smallest 

 quantity or trace of lactic acid is found in wine it is caused by lactic 

 fermentation. 



Whenever the alcoholic fermentation of certain musts, rich in nitroge- 

 nous matters, is not well conducted, especially as regards temperature, 

 a certain quantity of lactic acid is very easily formed, which is a bad 

 defect. This happens generally in certain years in warm countries, 

 where the so-called sweet-sour wines are produced. 



It is difficult, not to say impossible, to take away the defect of milk- 

 sourness; the different methods proposed, including that of refermenta- 

 tion, do not succeed; consequently, the best thing is to prevent it by a 

 thorough defecation of the must, and a properly regulated fermentation, 

 not allowing the temperature to rise to a point at which the alcoholic 

 ferment becomes inactive, and thus preventing it from reducing all, or 

 the major part, of the glucose contained in the must. 

 5 



