226 FIELD, FOREST AND FARM 



finished the wine is drawn off, leaving behind the 

 residuum of skins and pips. The final product is 

 thus composed of a large quantity of water from 

 the grapes themselves, a small quantity of alcohol 

 from the sugar which has undergone the chemical 

 change just described, and, finally, a coloring sub- 

 stance furnished by the dark grape-skins. 



"White wine is made from white grapes, which 

 have skins with no coloring matter; but it can very 

 well be made from dark grapes, colored though they 

 are. The secret consists simply in this : the crushed 

 grapes are pressed before fermentation begins. In 

 this way the juice is separated from the skins, and, 

 these latter being removed, the wine will be white 

 even with dark grapes. In short, the coloring mat- 

 ter in grapes which gives its hue to red wine is con- 

 tained solely in the skins ; and furthermore it is in- 

 soluble in water, but easily soluble in alcohol. Hence 

 it is only after fermentation has made some progress 

 that the liquid becomes colored by the dissolving of 

 the coloring matter through the agency of the alco- 

 hol that has been generated. Accordingly, if the 

 skins are removed before the juice ferments and 

 generates alcohol, the wine remains white, since it 

 no longer contains any coloring matter to dissolve. 



"Some wines force out the corks from their bot- 

 tles and are covered with foam on being poured into 

 glasses. These are foamy wines, and to produce 

 them the bottling must be done before fermentation 

 is finished. The carbonic acid gas then continues 

 to form, but as it finds no way of escape since the 



