April 20. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
47 
move to make men acquainted with God’s doings, as re¬ 
vealed in His divine works of creation (without adventitious 
aid, the everlasting and unequivocal records of His will and 
power) than all who have lived since the days of Sir Isaac 
Newton.” 
TRANSLATION. 
“ Giessen, Otli March, 1852. 
“ Dear Sir,—It is a long time since I owe you my thanks 
for your friendly letter of October, 1850, and your kindness 
in forwarding me a sample of your wine for more minute 
examination. I have duly received both your trans¬ 
missions—the one via London, the other via Hamburgh. 
My time was so occupied last year with other labours, that I 
could not, until now, institute my experiments with your 
wine. At the same time with yours, I obtained a sample 
from Colonel Macarthur, which I tested at the same time. 
“The wine, Pineau Noir, Tinta, and Pineau Gris, indi¬ 
cates a specific gravity, .5920 ; produces, in 100 volumes, 10.20 ; 
of alcohol; in the same vols. .505 free acid, 0.205 dry resi¬ 
due, and .408 of incombustible ashy constituents. 
“The other (white) sort, Irrawang, has a specitic gravity 
.010; contains, in 100 volumes, 10. vols. of alcohol; 000 free 
acid ; 100 vols. yield, by evaporation, 3.313 dry residue, 
which consists principally of saccharine matter, and .503 
ashy constituents. 
“ These proportions are met with in Germany and France, 
in the most choice wines. Doth sorts contain more alcohol 
and less free acid than the most esteemed Ithenish wines. 
The soil on which these wines are grown must contain 
much calcareous matter, for they approach in flavour the 
wines of Hungaria and Franconia.* The red wine has many 
properties in common with Durgundy; two bottles of it, 
nevertheless, were turbid, and evidently not sufficiently set¬ 
tled. It might be possible to procure a sale for this wine in 
England and Russia, were you to succeed, by carefully con¬ 
ducted fermentation, in producing a stronger bouquet. 
Should you be inclined to make the experiment of adopting i 
the mode of fermentation which is usually resorted to with 
Bourdeaux wines, a great improvement might result from it. 
The best Bourdeaux wines are not pressed, but the grapes ■ 
are put along with their stalks into vats, in which they are 
allowed to remain until the fermentation is completed. I 
would advise 3 'ou also to make this experiment with the 
white grapes. 
| “ As the wine of Irrawang contains an ample quantity of 
saccharine matter, I deem it expedient that you should al¬ 
low it to ferment at the highest possible temperature. In 
! Germany, where the w'ine is poor as to saccharine matter, 
and rich in yeasty ingredients (a consequence of the use of 
j strong animal manure) it is necessary to proceed quite con- 
trary to this, namely, to allow it to ferment at a low tempe- 1 
j rature. I think, moreover, that by employing, as regards 
i the white wine, the method of fermentation adopted in Hun- 
! gary, namely, at Tokay, you would obtain a wine resembling 
j Tokay. There they allow grapes dried on the stalks to fer¬ 
ment together with undried grapes. The best Tokay is ob- 
* The soil of the vineyard at Irrawang contained, originally, very little 
calcareous substance, although strata containing a large proport ion of 
shells exist within a few chains of it. It is supposed, however, that a 
sufficient quantity both of carbonate and sulphate of lime lias from time 
to time been added, so as to render it well suited for the production of 
wine. This addition has been made under the impression that only a 
small proportion of lime in the soil is necessary, since avery minute quan¬ 
tity of that mineral can be assimilated by the vine ; much less, indeed, 
than silex is by cereals, the reed, or bamboo. On the other hand, a cal¬ 
careous soil, strictly so-called (notwithstanding the prevailing opinion to 
the contrary), is not indispensable to the production of superior wine. In i 
this respect the presence of alkaline salts is much more necessary. In ] 
the absence of lime, therefore, when the mechanical and chemical compo¬ 
sition of any soil is otherwise suited for the growth of the vine, I am of , 
opinion that the minute proportion of calcareous matter, then so ncces- j 
sary au ingredient in the food of plant, may be readily and effectively ap¬ 
plied artificially. 
I have also added to the soil of the vineyard at Irrawang, with marked 
advantage, considerable quantity of wood ash, charcoal, and even the 
prunings of the vine cut small. The vineyard of Terrcela, of which the 
soil is sandy, it is my intention, this winter, to enrich by a dressing of 
strong red clay, from the forest land, which the influence of the sun and 
atmosphere will soon intimately intermix with the sand. 
Many of the clays in this locality arc rich in valuable mineral constitu¬ 
ents, which render them naturally fertile, particularly those resulting 
from the disintegration of basaltic whinstone and porliyry, or from allu¬ 
vial deposit; but in many cases such soils are rendered utterly barren by 
their impenetrable solidity, resisting the entrance of roots, air, and also 
by retaining water too long on their level or hollow surface,—J. K. 
turned from three to four parts of dried pounded grapes, 
with one part of must from fresh grapes. 
“ The proportion of free acid in your wine is not consider¬ 
able ; it might contain even more without detriment to its 
quality. Since the bouquet is produced principally by the 
formation of various kinds of ether, resulting from the pre¬ 
sence of free acid, it is possible that you would obtain a wine 
of stronger bouquet, if you do not wait the full ripeness of 
the grapes.* According to the Hungarian mode of ferment¬ 
ation you obtain a sweet wine; by the application of not 
quite ripe grapes, a wiue resembling, if not surpassing in 
quality, tlie noble Rhenish wine. 
“ The wines of Colonel Macarthur are stronger than 
yours, namely, richer in alcohol; they are in that respect 
proportionally too rich, which is no advantage to their qua¬ 
lity. 
“ Since these Australian wines contain too little free acid, 
they would not improve by laying, that is to say, by age+. 
“ The wines of Colonel Macarthur contain—■ 
& 
P Cj 
3 O 
a> c3 
rt 2 
° 2 
^ 3 
• A A3 
{/l CJ 
<u CJ 
M 2 
Verdeillio and La Fullio 
.989 
17.15 
.48 
3.07 5 
.2050 
La Follie and Muscat ... 
20.473 
.000 
5.510 
.30 
White Muscat Lunel. 
.9970 
19.53 
.040 
6.420 
.238 
Verdeilko . 
17.08 
.580 
22.98 
.278 
Riesling grape . 
.189 
15.81 
.270 
2.81 
.200 
“The proportion of ashy constituents in your wines is on an 
average greater; and it appears as if Colonel Macarthur 
cultivates a soil poorer in mineral constituents, or that he 
has added sugar previous to its fermentation. The abun¬ 
dance of ashy constituents renders the wine superior and 
more wholesome. 
“ In the new edition of my chemical letters I have inserted 
a passage from your last letter, and I wish that the residents 
in your part of the world may act up to the wish I have there¬ 
in expressed.! 
“ For your kind transmission of seeds I thank you sin¬ 
cerely. I have distributed tbemin many Botanical Gardens 
in Germany. I likewise thank you for the interesting 
minerals, and tlie two skins of the ornilhoryncus parmloxus. 
* In order to avoid the bad effects consequent on not allowing tlie 
grapes to be sufficiently ripe before harvesting them (an error too often 
committed), I had for some time fallen rather into the opposite extreme, 
by allowing them to remain too long on the plant before gathering them ; 
conceiving that fruit intended for tlie press could not possibly be too free 
from acid, or too rich in sugar. The wines made under these circum¬ 
stances were those experimented on by Baron Liebig. I soon saw the 
injurious effects of allowing the fruit to be over-ripe, which I endeavour¬ 
ed to prevent by mixing must of opposite qualities, with favourable 
results, as mentioned in my last wine report. Still, much of the wine 
then made, although sound, was deficient of aroma. I suspected the over- 
ripeness of the fruit to be in some manner the cause, and expressed my 
suspicions to that effect, having before made better wine when less atten¬ 
tion was paid to the condition of the fruit. During the last three vint¬ 
ages, acting under these impressions, the wine was purposely made with 
the fruit on the whole less ripe, or at least a portion of the must of such 
was mingled with the must of the more ripe fruit, with a marked im¬ 
provement in the quality of the product. At the same time, I freely 
admit that the deficiency of free acid in the former samples of wine, and 
the great advantage of its presence in all wines, did not occur to me until 
I received these instructive letters from Baron Liebig, giving liis opinion 
of the samples I had forwarded to Giessen for his examination, with his 
valuable suggestions on the subject of winemaking, which I have eagerly 
followed this last vintage.—J. K. 
t This valuable practical observation has reference to the sample of 
wine then under examination, not to Australian wines generally, although 
it is also applicable to such of them as may be deficient of free acid ; a 
defect, however, which seldom occurs in the wines of this country, as the 
growers more generally err by gathering the fruit before it is sufficiently 
ripe. I have, nevertheless, tasted dry old wines made in the colony, 
having a fine aromatic perfume, of full hotly, and largely possessed of that 
peculiar ether (the ccnanthic) produced only by age, which constitutes 
the bouquet of fine wine, and were then of improving quality* These 
wines were the produce of vineyards in this district, where the fruit must 
have been harvested in proper condition, and the vintage on the whole 
conducted with consideration and care. Even now, there is at Irrawang 
a small quantity of wine made by me in 1836, upwards of seventeen 
years ago, which has all the while continued to improve. It is now an 
excellent wine, resembling first growth Burgundy, a sample of which I 
hope to produce to-day, when the wines are tasted. 
All this is calculated to show that, with common care and attention to 
minute circumstances, our wines may generally possess superior quali¬ 
ties ; and if they do not, it is our own fault, not that of the climate or 
the soil.—J. Iv. 
X See Baron Liebig’s Familiar Letters on Chemistry, last edition, Lon¬ 
don, 1851, of which the author kindly presented me with a copy.—J. K. 
