BERBERIDS. 415 
The bottles remain full, and are placed in horizontal beds, for 
six months without being disturbed. But during this period fer- 
mentation has produced in the bosom of the liquor a deposit which 
proves clearly enough that fermentation has been going on. It 
is necessary to remove this deposit, which would otherwise destroy 
the transparency of the liquid. This new operation, which is 
called disgorging (dégorgeage), is one of extreme delicacy. The 
operator shakes the bottle so as to detach the deposit from it, 
and replaces it gently in a vertical position, the mouth down- 
wards. The deposit thus descends to the neck of the bottle; if 
it is rapidly uncorked in that position the pressure of the liquor 
expels the deposit. The great delicacy of this operation lies in 
the necessity of losing the least possible quantity of gas and wine. 
The Champagne cellarman performs the difficult operation with 
great address. 
The Liqueurs of the Vine are those which after fermentation 
‘Preserve a great part of their saccharine. It is chiefly in the 
countries of the south of Europe—in Italy, Spain, and the south of 
France—that these wines are prepared. To obtain Tokay, for 
example, the proportion of saccharine is increased by leaving the 
most choice grapes to get thoroughly ripe, even to the extent of 
being slightly touched with frost ; and even by placing them, after 
ing cut, upon frames to dry, in order that the water may 
_ *Yaporate in part, thus increasing the saccharine richness of the 
must. 
: 
' 
It is thus apparent that in vinification the chemical process is 
_ Rot confined to the conversion of sugar into alcohol. There are 
- ides the combinations between the various free acids and the 
alcohol, with the essential oils proper to the kind of grape which 
_ Produce what is called Jowguet in wines. Their aleoholic richness 
Se also very variable, as the following table of the natural strength 
: ] of Wines will show :— 
ster Males. 04 20 per cent. of alcohol. 
Sherry, or Lachryma-Christo. . .) 17», 
i ee ne «— a 
Malaga and White Sauterne . . . 15 - ‘a 
crm dé Pies i Po eg 
Valney, Rhine Wine, and Fontignan 11 “i s 
Pe oe iy ‘3 
