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easier clearing. To the eye it should, if a red wine, be of a dark 
ruby or of a somewhat deep colour. If ‘a white wine, it should have 
as little colour as possible beyond that which may be imparted to 
it by the debris of yeast cells and other impurities, which, after 
settling to the bottom of the cask, will soon leave it clear and 
transparent above. 
Liquorous WINEs. 
The methods already touched upon apply to white wines and 
to red wines which are fermented dry, .e., in which all the sugar is 
allowed to be transformed into spirit and carbonic acid. 
Liquorous wines, of which Port wine, Madeira, Sauterne, and 
Sweet Muscats are tyes well known in commerce, are made some- 
what differently. Some of their natural sugar is preserved in the 
wine, and fermentation is checked before it is complete 1. 
To effect this, several methods are used. One of the most 
common is to allow the grapes to hang on the vines until they are 
dead ripe. The higher the state of maturity of grapes, the richer 
they are in sugar, whilst the acidity is neutralised by the migration 
of alkaline sap from the wood and leaves into the fruit. Also 
ethers are formed, which impart to the various sorts of grapes an 
aroma peculiar to themselves. This explains why sweet wines made 
from grapes which have been allowed to become dead ripe have 
more individual character than sweet wines made from the same 
grapes at an earlier period of maturity. In some localities, viz., 
Tokav and Sauterne, which produce the most delicate sweet wines, 
the berries are allowed to even partially rot. A fungus known as 
gray mould, Botrytis cinerea, develops on the skin of the berries, 
and so modifies the juice as to give it a very delicate flavour. As a 
saprophyte it attacks the skin of ‘the grape, facilitating evaporation 
of water and a resulting concentration of the juice. It then pene- 
trates the pulp and feeds on both sugar and acid, principally the 
latter. No mouldy flavour is produced. It is known as the ‘noble 
mould” in the Sauterne district of France. 
Whether white or red sweet wine is made, it is allowed to 
ferment for 24 hours in a large vat, and is then run out into well 
sulphured smaller casks, and the skins are pressed. As much sugar 
is still left in these, they are either put into another red wine vat to 
ferment, or a little water is added, and the resulting fermented 
mash is distilled. In the smaller casks, if necessary, a sufficient 
quantity of well rectified spirit of wine is added, to raise the 
alcoholic strength of the wine to 15 or 16 per cent. of absolute 
aleohol by weight, which is equivalent to 18 to 20 by volume, or to 
32 to 34 proof spirit. It is better not to add this spirit all at once, 
but to bring the wine up to its full strength when the saccharometer 
