and the Method of making Wines . 417 
*est on fixed bases, recurrence must be had to princi- 
ples. 
The object of fermentation is to decompose the sac- 
charine principle : the more abundant, therefore, this 
principle is, the fermentation must be brisker, or continu- 
ed for a longer time. 
One of the inseparable effects of fermentation is, the 
production of heat and carbonic acid gas. The first of 
these results tends to volatilize and to disperse the flavour 
and smell, which forms one of the principal characters of 
certain wines. The second carries outwards, and causes 
to be lost in the air a fluid, which if retained in the be- 
verage would render it more agreeable and pungent. 
From these principles it follows, that weak wines, but of 
an agreeable flavour, require little fermentation ; and that 
colourless wines, the principal property of which is to be 
brisk, ought to remain scarcely at all in the vats. 
The most immediate product of fermentation is the for- 
mation of alcohol, which results immediately from the 
decomposition of the sugar. When the grapes, there- 
fore, are very saccharine, such as those of the south, the 
fermentation must be brisk, and long continued ; because 
these wines, being destined for distillation, ought to pro- 
duce immediately all the alcohol that can result from the 
decomposition of the whole of the saccharine principle. 
If the fermentation be slow and weak, the wines remain 
luscious, and do not become warm and agreeable till they 
have long worked in the vats. 
In general, grapes abundant in the saccharine principle 
must ferment a long time. In the Bordelois, the fermen- 
tation is suffered to work itself to an end : the wine is 
never removed from the vats till the heat has subsided. 
According to these principles and others, deduced from 
the theory before established, we may draw the following 
consequences : 
Vol. u * 3 & 
