~-— 
ed, and sugar, toan extent that will raise the gra- 
vity to 1120. In this case the fermentation must 
be conducted in the manner already stated for the 
production of a dry wine from green grapes; and 
when perfected, and the wine become bright, it 
is to be fined and racked off, during clear and 
cold weather, then returned to a clean and sweet 
cask, and bunged close. A second fining and 
racking may be required. Grape wine, made 
from the green berries, we have ever found deli- 
cious in flavour, and quite fit for the table in 
two years or less. But the liquor obtained from 
the leaves contains a quantity of vegetable ex- 
tract, which conveys a flavour that time alone 
can subdue ; hence, we recommend that it be al- 
ways retained two years in the cask, and be bot- 
tled in the second winter. It also ought to re- 
main during an entire year in the bottles.” 
The Varieties of Wine, and their Characteristics. 
—Port wine, according to Brande, contains 22:96 
| per cent. of alcohol of specific gravity 825. It 
takes its name from Oporto, whence it is shipped ; 
and it is produced in the province of Upper 
|| Douro, in Portugal, under a monopoly granted 
| to the “Oporto Wine Company,” in the year 
| 1756. Dr. Henderson gives the following account 
|| of it:—‘* A certain extent of territory is marked 
out by its charter as the only district on the 
Douro in which wine is to be raised for exporta- 
| tion. The entire and absolute disposal of the 
wines raised in this district is placed in the hands 
of the Company; who are further authorized to 
fix the prices to be paid for them to the cultiva- 
tors, to prepare them for exportation, and to fix 
the price at which they shall be sold to foreign- 
ers! It is obvious that a Company with such 
powers cannot be anything else than an intoler- 
able nuisance. What could be more arbitrary 
and unjust than to interdict the export of all 
wines raised out of the limits of the Company’s 
territory? But even in its own district, its pro- 
ceedings have been most oppressive and injuri- 
ous. ‘The Company annually fix, by a fiat of their 
own, two rates of prices—one for the vinho de 
feitoria, or wine for exportation, and the other 
for vinho de ramo, or wine for home consumption 
—at which the cultivators are to be paid, what- 
ever may be the quality of their wines! They 
have, therefore, no motive to exert superior skill 
and ingenuity; but content themselves with en- 
deavouring to raise, at the least possible expense, 
the greatest supply of vinho de feitoria, for which 
the Company allows the highest price. All emu- 
lation is thus effectually extinguished, and the 
proprietors who possess vineyards of a superior 
quality, invariably adulterate their wines with 
inferior growths, so as to reduce them to the 
average standard. In this way the finer pro- 
| ducts of the Douro vintages have remained in a 
|| great measure unknown to us; the Port wine 
has come to be considered as a single liquor, if I 
may use the expression, of nearly uniform flavour 
and strength; varying, it is true, to a certain 
degree in quality, but still always approaching 
to a definite standard, and admitting of few de- 
grees of excellence. The manipulations, the ad- 
mixtures—in one word, the adulterations—to 
which the best wines of the Cimo do Douro are 
subjected, have much the same effect as if all the 
growths of Burgundy were to be mingled in one 
immense vat, and sent into the world as the only 
true Burgundian wine. The delicious produce 
of Romanée, Chambertin, and the Clos Vougedt, 
would disappear, and in their places we should 
find nothing better than a second-rate Beaune | | 
The quantity of Port wine || 
or Macon wine.” 
consumed in England, annually, averages about | 
2,500,000 gallons. 
When kept a few years in the wood, these fla- | 
vours are ameliorated ; but in order to arrive at 
perfection, it should be laid down in bottle for | 
several years; for during the processof ripening, || 
a portion of the extractive and colouring matter 
is precipitated in the form of crust. There are | 
processes by which the change and the ripening 
may be accelerated; but the substances used to | 
effect this are more or less deleterious. 
although Port is such a favourite wine, there is | 
no doubt but that nine-tenths of the quantity | 
consumed has been adulterated, by one process | 
or another, after its arrival in this country. | 
Sherry wine, of the dry prime kind called || 
Amontillado, has a deep amber colour, and a | 
nutty and aromatic flavour; and, according to 
Brande, contains 19°17 per cent. of alcohol. This | 
is produced in a district of Spain called Xeres, | 
in the neighbourhood of Cadiz. Since the reduc- | 
tion of duty in 1825, the consumption of Sherry | 
is nearly as great as Port, and has more than | 
doubled its former extent. This isan excellent | 
dinner-wine when ripe; but it requires to be | 
kept four or five years in the wood, and double | 
or treble that period in bottle, before it attains 
its full bloom. The adulteration practised in it 
is immense, owing to the facility afforded by the 
cheap and inferior Cape wines. 
Madeira wine is rich and luscious, and has a 
pungent, aromatic, nutty or bitter-sweet flavour ; 
and according to Brande and Prout, the true 
kinds of it contain 22°27 per cent. of alcohol, the 
West-Indian kinds 21'2 per cent., and the Sercial 
kinds 20°32 per cent. Since the reduction in the 
duty of French and Spanish wines, its consump- 
tion in this country has very much decreased, 
being superseded by Sherry. The best Madeira 
wine is produced on those estates which lie on 
the south side of the island of that name: and 
although this wine is naturally of a strong full 
body, considerable quantities of brandy are al- 
ways added, in order to enable it to sustain the 
high temperature to which it is subjected on 
voyages to India, large quantities being placed 
on board ships trading to the East and to China 
a a nr re 
Before it leaves Oporto, a || 
large quantity of brandy is always added. On | 
its arrival it has a rough full body, with an as- | 
tringent taste, and astrong flavour of the brandy. 
In fact, | 
I a 
