476 
Clean.—A sound wine, which has no earthy, mouldy, or casky 
taste, or any taste foreign to the wine itself. 
Harmonious—A quality of wine whose constituent elements 
are well balanced and blended together. 
Delicate—A soft, pleasant, harmonious wine, generally deli- 
cate. 
Mute—A partially fermented wine, with a sweet and muci- 
laginous taste, which has been stilled by means of concen- 
tration or by means of alcohol, or of sulphur fumes, or 
other chemicals. Too much sulphur sometimes generates 
hydrogen sulphide, which reminds one of rotten eggs, or 
leads to the formation of sulphates, which impart to the 
wine bad flavours. 
Fruity—A wine which still retains a proportion of grape 
sugar. 
Sweet.—Of which there are several degrees, extending from 
“fruity” to “sickly sweet.” 
Sweetish.—Wines, in which the fermentation has suddenly 
got “stuck” before being completed, turn sweetish. This 
is due to the formation of manna sugar, resulting from 
the decomposition of the mucilaginous or albuminoid mat- 
ters in the wine by alcohol, owing to the agency of a 
bacillus, and under the influence of a high temperature. 
The trouble is known as that of “mannitic” disease. 
New or young Wine-—A wine freshly made; generally trom 
one to twelve months old; a wine that is still rough and 
has not been purged of its impurities, and has not yet 
developed those finer qualities that will distinguish it as 
a mature wine. 
Mature Wine.—A wine which has undergone the refining 
changes due to oxidisation and warmth, and has cleared 
itself of its lees, and is ready to be drunk or to be bottled. 
Decrepit Wine—An aged wine that is losing some of its 
qualities through long keeping, or rapid and_ excessive 
changes of the temperature. 
Tart.—Due to the presence of an excess of tartaric acid. 
Age modifies this defect. 
Dry—Not sweet, i.e., containing no grape sugar, slightly 
astringent. 
Astringent—Where the tannin predominates. 
Rough, harsh.—A wine astringent to excess; diminishes with 
time, 
