WHAT IS WINE? 
15 7 
and astringent, and, on account of the large amount of spirit 
added, has rather a burning taste. It is at the same time very 
fruity, owing to the large quantity of unfermented grape-juice 
it contains. However, when mellowed by age, it has lost these 
disagreeable qualities, retains only a moderate fruitiness, has an 
excellent flavour and bouquet, and is then undoubtedly a very 
superior generous drink, which, if taken in moderation, is both 
exhilarating and strengthening, 
Marsala is a Sicilian wine, produced in the district of 
Marsala, at the western extremity of the island. This district 
yields about 3,000,000 gallons yearly, the produce of the whole 
island averaging 8,000,000 gallons. Most of the Sicilian wine is 
shipped from the port of Marsala, and no doubt much of what 
is exported as Marsala comes from various other parts of the 
island. 
Marsala is a wine fortified by spirit, and generally sweetened 
by the addition of sugar. The wine is usually well fermented, 
in consequence of which it contains only traces of albuminoid 
substance, and is therefore of good keeping quality. It has a 
very small amount of acid, being, in fact, one of the least acid 
of wines. It is thus strong, sweet, and but slightly acid — to 
which combination, no doubt, being also otherwise a sound 
wine, it owes its great popularity. The wine leaves a somewhat 
high proportion of ash, though not so high as sherry, and in 
this ash sulphates are rather prominent, suggesting the use of 
plaster of Paris ; as in most fortified wines, fixed ethers are 
present in higher proportion than volatile ethers. This fact 
constitutes a striking difference between Marsala and sherry, 
the lower qualities of which it otherwise resembles. 
In conclusion, I append a few analyses of each class of wine 
described. Those of my readers who have thus far followed me 
wdll understand that, inasmuch as in the same class of wine 
every constituent varies between wide limits — nay, as even one 
and the same wine varies from year to year — it is impossible to 
give an analysis of one or more wines to represent a class ; 
accordingly, every analysis in the table must be taken as repre- 
senting only the one particular sample of wine analysed, and 
should on no account be regarded as a mean, or a represen- 
tative, of its whole class. An attentive examination of the table 
will, nevertheless, enable anyone to trace some of the more 
striking characteristics of the several classes alluded to in the 
preceding descriptions. See, for example, columns 4 and 5 
showing the amounts of volatile and fixed acid ; or columns 10 and 
12, giving the proportions of ash, and sulphates, and chlorides 
respectively; or, finally, the last four columns, relating to 
compound ethers. The table, moreover, will, I believe, be 
found to give the most complete analyses of the several wines 
