466 



looked at under a high-power microscope the gerrns show as oblong 

 cells disposed rod fashion. These cells multiply very rapidly by a 

 process of segmentation, or pinching in the centre. The disease is 

 easier to guard against than to counteract. As the alteration starts 

 from the surface it is sometimes possible when the trouble has just 

 started to draw off the lower portion of the wine still sound in the 

 cask, and separate it from the altered wine at the top. 



If the wine is not very much pricked it may to some extent be 

 corrected by using per quarter-cask : 



l p carbonate of lime (powdered marble), or preferably, carbonate of 

 magnesia, 2 to 4 oz. 



Neutral tartrate of potash (1 gramme) 15 grains. 

 Spirit of wine, 1 quart. 



Shake and stir well, and after a couple of days fine with 

 gelatine or isinglass, and if necessary add a little tannin. When 

 clear, rack in heavily -sulphured and clean cask, which must always 

 be kept quite full. 



Another method consists in mixing per 100 gals, of the slightly 

 pricked wine, 2 to 4 oz. of neutral tartrate of potash, which is 

 dissolved in a little warm water, then stirred into the cask, which is 

 next fined and racked. 



Other methods are used for correcting sour wines, but as they 

 result in leaving into it substances which would injuriously affect 

 the consumer, they are rightly considered illegitimate, and are not 

 used in respectable cellars. Sour wine can more profitably be 

 turned into vinegar and sold as such than faked up into unwhole- 

 some drugs. 



When the wine is lightly pricked, however, it may, with 

 advantage, be pasteurised, and then blended with a heavy wine low 

 in acids. 



Casse. This disease has been referred to when treating of the 

 manufacture of white wine (p. 408). Of casse or break there are 

 two kinds, the "blue" and the " brown." The "blue" casse is 

 characterised by the separation of the blue colouring matter of the 

 grape juice, of which two others exist, viz., the red and the yellow. 

 This particular kind of " break " can be stopped, or, better, pre- 

 vented, by the addition of tartaric acid to the must in doses at the 

 rate of 8oz. to Hlbs. per 100 gallons. The "brown" break is 

 caused by an oxidising diastase, which produces a kind of black 

 matter called " oxydare " by feeding on the albuminoid matters in 

 the wine. 



As this trouble is caused by an organised ferment, nothing 

 short of its suppression will bring about a cure. This is effected by 

 means of pasteurisation or sterilisation by heat or by the use of 

 sulphurous acid. 



