250 
ON COLONIAL WINES. 
and change of colour, and especially its total amount 
of free acids, which was determined by alkalimetry, 
the standards of reference being port, sherry, hock, and 
tokay, supplied by the agent of the Messrs. Macarthur, 
of Camden, the late Mr. Ralph Hutchinson, an educated 
and able judge of wine. 
I record the above outline of the points I inquired 
into, that others may follow the same, and, I trust, 
record their results. 
With reference to the experiments to determine the 
power a wine had of keeping, after exposure to the 
air, and of resisting acidity, T would mention in this 
place, next after determining the quantity of alcohol, 
I sought for the amount of tannic acid that it contained. 
In the case of white wines, this was an easy matter ; 
but difficult in the red. The following was the plan 
I adopted with the whites : — I took samples of good 
sound sherry, as nearly as possible of the same shade 
of colour as that of the colonial wine I was going to 
test ; and after putting about equal quantities of each 
in wine glasses of the same size, I added to each an 
excess of carbonate of soda — say, a small teaspoonful • 
a little too much makes no difference. After standing 
a few minutes, it will be easy to observe the depth of 
dark colour shown by the sherry. Now, compare this 
with the samples to be tried, and the greater or lesser 
depth of colour in the samples will show how this 
important point in the keeping of wine stands. If the 
wine be paler than the standard of sherry, eggs or 
isinglass must on no account be used for fining. If the 
sample is perceptibly darker after adding the carbonate 
of soda, even then much caution is needed in using eggs, 
or any other albuminous substance ; fafi these abstract 
