AMERICAN  PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATION.  497 
sequent  pressings.  The  wine  it  produces  is  consequently  stronger  in  spirit, 
and  is  less  acid,  than  the  wine  produced  by  pressing  out  all  the  juice  at 
once  or  that  from  subsequent  pressings.  The  must  or  juice  is  now  placed 
in  casks  which  are  filled  within  five  or  six  inches  of  the  bung,  and  loosely 
stopped  up,  and  placed  in  a  cool  location  to  avoid  too  rapid  fermentation. 
Fermentation  soon  sets  in,  the  temperature  of  the  liquid  increases  as  the 
process  progresses,  the  clear  fluid  becomes  clouded,  the  fermentation  if  gone 
through  in  the  course  of  two  or  three  weeks,  the  wine  soon  settles  and  be- 
comes clear,  the  casks  are  then  filled  up,  bunged  tight  and  left  until  Feb- 
ruary or  March,  when  it  is  racked  off  into  other  casks.  Another  fermen- 
tation again  sets  in  late  in  the  spring.  After  this  is  over,  the  wine  is  again 
racked  off  and  is  ready  for  use  or  sale.  Wine  rich  in  sugar  may  undergo 
even  a  third  fermentation.  It  is  expedient  to  protect  the  wine  as  much  as 
possible  from  the  oxidizing  influence  of  the  atmosphere,  which  causes  a  too 
rapid  oxidation  of  the  gluten,  and  involves  a  part  of  the  alcohol  which  it 
converts  into  acetic  acid.  To  prevent  this,  the  wine  should  be  exposed  as 
little  as  possible,  either  during  fermentation,  racking  off,  or  in  the  casks. 
A  method  of  fermentation  has  lately  been  introduced  to  prevent  the  influ- 
ence of  the  atmosphere  during  the  process.  A  tin  syphon  tube  is  fastened 
securely  in  the  bung  of  the  cask,  the  long  end  of  which  is  placed  in  a  bucket 
of  water.  The  gases  generated  by  the  fermentation  are  thus  allowed  to 
escape,  under  a  slight  pressure,  but  no  air  admitted,  and  the  aroma  pre- 
vented from  escaping. 
"  There  is  a  peculiarity  in  the  fermentation  of  grape  juice  differing  from 
that  of  any  other  saccharine  fluid.  All  the  sugar  contained  in  the  juice 
does  not  pass  by  one  fermentation  into  alcohol  and  carbonic  acid.  Only 
a  portion  of  the  sugar  present  undergoes  this  change,  although  there  is  fer- 
ment sufficient  to  produce  it.  As  has  been  said  it  commences  again  in  the 
spring,  and  even  a  third  time,  till  all  the  sugar  present  is  converted  into 
alcohol,  and  the  wine  becomes  what  is  called  a  dry  wine,  and  contains  no 
sugar. 
"Other  complex  chemical  changes  are  taking  place  also  during  fermenta- 
tion, the  acid  of  the  must  acting  on  some  other  constituents  is  forming  an 
ether  -which  gives  the  wine  its  peculiar  bouquet,  and  the  tartar  that  was 
held  in  solution  in  the  original  must,  as  the  alcohol  increases,  is  slowly  de- 
posited upon  the  sides  of  the  cask  in  a  crystalline  form," 
"  The  next  and  most  important  subject  will  be  the  wine  produced,  its 
characteristics  and  analysis.  The  wine  is  a  light,  dry,  acidulous  one;  the 
foreign  wine  that  it  most  resembles  is  a  dry  Hock,  i.  e.  in  its  amount  of 
alcohol,  and  in  being  slightly  acid  to  the  taste,  but  the  flavor  is  entirely 
different.  There  is  a  great  difference  in  the  color  of  Catawba  wine ;  some 
specimens  are  of  a  ligh  red  or  pinkish  tint ;  others  of  a  straw  color.  The 
red  color  is  from  allowing  too  much  of  the  skins  of  the  grape  to  remain 
in  the  must,  which  imparts  to  the  wine  a  portion  of  their  coloring  matter,. 
They  also  give  the  wine  a  rough  taste  derived  from  tannin 
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