and the Method of making Wines . 2?3 
The stalks, no doubt, add neither to the saccharine 
principle nor to the aroma ; and in this double point of 
view, they cannot contribute by their principles either to 
the spiritous quality of the wine or to its flavour, but their 
slight austerity may correct, with advantage, the weak- 
ness of some wines ; and besides, by facilitating the fer- 
mentation, they concur to effect a more complete decom- 
position of the must, and to produce all the alcohol it is 
susceptible of yielding. 
Without wandering from the subject in question, we 
may consider wines also under two points of view, accor- 
ding to the uses to which they are applied. They are all 
employed either as a beverage or for distillation. In the 
former, qualities are required which would be useless in 
the second. Taste, which forms almost the whole merit 
of the one, adds nothing to the qualities of the other. 
Thus, when wine is destined to be distilled, it is neces- 
sary to pay attention only to the means of developing a 
great deal of alcohol : it is of little importance whether 
the liquor be tart or not ; in this case, to free the grapes 
from the stalks would be lost labour. But if wine is pre- 
pared for a beverage, it is then necessary to give it an 
agreeable taste and a delicate flavour, and for this pur- 
pose, care must be taken to avoid every thing that may 
alter these valuable qualities. On this account, therefore, 
it is necessary to withdraw the stalks from the fermenta^ 
lion, to pick the grapes, and to clean them with care. 
It is, probably, in consequence of a knowledge of these 
effects, which experience every day places before the eyes 
of the agriculturist, rather than from caprice or habit, 
that in certain countries the grapes are freed from the 
stalks, and that this process is omitted in others. To at- 
tempt to reduce the whole to one general method would 
be showing ignorance of the effects produced by the stalks 
in fermentation, and of the difference which exists in the 
Yol. i. m m 
