The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-04-23


grapes give from TO fifteen per cent but the usual
figures range from thirteen TO thirty I'm Holland It Is
only from ten to twelve. Grape sugar rs optaned
by boiling the juice with chalk To saturate the free acids
then ilteng the liquid and washing the precipate The
liquid is then mixed with albumen, boiled filtered and
eyapomted, when the crystals of sugar are deposited
White is got from the skins by boiling them In
alcohol while the stones yield four and twothirds per
cent OF tannic acid and OIL Thus there is most fat in
those wines in which the stones have been pressed The
stalks, has been sad contain also tannic acld but
should be taken TO only those which ripe and
Of that rich golden brown which ia beautiful in vine
yard hard and green stalks would ruin the wine TOT Too
large portion Of acids ofany kind hinders the wine from
rpening aud keeping may be In the Rhine wines
generally and ia the acid wins orfnaires OF France and
Italy. '4t ~
When the grapes have hpened badly but when, per-
has the yield has been great and the wines are deficient
in sugar then cane or beeroot sngar Is added or potato
srup, glucose which additions be detected by no
chemical tests known The is not fine in wines
wdc have been thns sweetened, but no other change
takes place. Rasns used for the inferior German
wines but raisins simply grapes from which the
water has been evaporae this hardly be looked ON as
aduiteation when compared with the chemical nsses
the butyrc ether, the oxide Of anyl aud other sweet
smelling falsehoods which pretend to make good wine
for the public out of sirup alcohol and water Sugar
is also added to obtain stronger wine from good
grape juice for, as We have said before, alcohol
is in proportion to sweetness and thus wines are
made to initiate port which are not Of the genuine
Oporto grape Chalk is added in such to correct
over-acidy In two three days after expression fer
mentation begins this fermentation being due to the
sugarsugar setting up fermentation in opposition to pu
treaction. The whole must be kept well stirred
up kept too, in temperature, and rather warm
than chilled 1t used to be the custom in France even
now it may not be wholly disusedfor naked man to
go into the watts to stir up the juice and to aid in the
mentation by the heat Of his body but many died in
the process owing to the carbonic acid gas evolved AT
ter the first fermentation s over when the sediment has
been deposited and the liquid drawn off milder action
is kept up for months, increasing in spring wheR
the wines said '.to blossom" and being contn-
ually drawn off, leaving the sediment at the bot
tom. It being found in breweries- notably in
those for Bavarian beer--that free supply of air
increased the action of fermentation Liebig recon-
mended that openings similar to those employed in
the brewing watts should be made in the wine
watts. Prince Metternich gave six casks Of Johan-
nsbeg, each cask containing one thousand two hundred
bottles for the experiment to be fairly tried This was
in eighteen hundred and fortysx The result doubt
unsatisfactory in the white wine but in the red
answering better 1t found that the white wine lost
of its aroma and that the surpsage of air caused
acdity as indeed, any may prove for himself who
leaves his winebotes unsupported for couple of days.
Schubert attacked Lebg savagey the question, and
the chemical world in state of fermentation itself
the question. The experiment has not been tried again
Another matter OF the process agitaes it to this
hournamely, whether fermentation be due to purely
chemical vegetable agent Some affirm that fcrmcnt is
the lowest form of vegetable the link binding the in
organic and organic worlds together; Others that it is SIM
ply chemical and hrs nothing whatever to do with life
in any of its forms. Who decide? Be it as IL WILL
it is most powerful agent the great elinnator of inn
purtes and arrcster of decay all owing to the varied
qualities of sugar Nay If meal gluten ferment in
advanced state of decomposition be put into sugar and
part of the former and four of the latter
purefaction is arrested and the liquid becomes Of most
pleasant odor if distilled resembling alcohol We all
understand the anseptc qualities of sugar in jams
and jellies and alcohol the product of sugar. is the
known preservative OF everything The ancients used
honey their antiseptic e#i'
| Wine is sometimes sulphurzed preservatiye, and
often excessively quite to tain it. The sulphur is
burnt in the casks and bottles and then the wine poured
in. IT, by chance the sulphur is arsenica then slight
dose of arsenic is administered to the public far too in
nocent to understand whence comes the side wind which
blows them illness and disease Gloves, cinnamon, Law
ende thyme and other aromatic substances used to
weaken the influence of the sulphur and the combna-
ton gives peculiar taste and odor. They burnt in
the casks together with the strips of linen dipped in sn
phur and the whole horrible medley of taste and smell
passes for @ bouquet by the multitude, who believe
what their wincmerchants tell them, and praise accord
ing toprice In France, one tousandth part of puver
lied mustard seed is put in to preventany
ton but the greatest secret to be to preserve the
wine from any contact with the outside air. Som0 Nal
aga wne which had been buried during the great fire of
London That is to say, in sixteen hundred and sixty
sS-was dug up tweny years ago, and, though near
ly two hundred years old, found perfectly good,
well Favored, and fullbodied Exclusion of air alone
would not have preserved il sweet and alcoholic,
1t bore in itself the elements of longevity; had it
been poor in sugar and rich in acids, it would have
been dug mp vinous skeleton Wine kept in wood loses
much Of its water by evaporation the same may be said
of that kept in leather and skins BY this imnution Of
water the alcohol remaining and strengths
ened but only originally strong wines be treated
With weak and acid Wines the very concentration I'm
the formation of araric acid and that without
the proper counterbalance of alcohol spos ALL This
evaporation does not go in glass bottles, and Saint
Vincent therefore recommended that all bottles should be
secured by blers, not cos that evaporation might
be carried in them His advice has been followed
Oaken casks affect the wines which are kept in them
They affect them chemically; also IN color This last is
by means of the quorcron yellow cooring matter in
| the wood They not all alike For instance, the
Dantzc and Settn oak did not affect the white wines Of
In Gironde much when kept in cask but little of the
quercn dissolved gave them pleasant favor. The
wines treated with Memel, Lubbock and Riga oaks were
rendered strong and astrngent American oaks the
sary, have very slight influence when powdered but
strong when In bock-hence are improper for wine
casks and Bosnian oak from the Aatic colo the wine
almost black The French oak from Angounos b less inju
ous but still gives too much annc acid and therefore is
improper wood for wine casks These remarks hold good
only for white wines The red containng already So
much tannic acid less injured by tho addition of
little Burgundy is kept in troughs, or rcscr-
vors, coated with Roman cement and covered with a
wooden lid and the mode appears to very well.
4 |" Corked wines diseased wines. Mould has
formed either the cask the cork which gives thcan
the favor wh every one knows TO his cost when dining
at tables where the host is curious to his wine and g
norant OF it's real value Another discaseAof young
wines this s caused by the decomposition of the tartar
which they deposit this is when wine casks said to
% turn :; ropy wines breed vegetable But Of
all wines the Greek the worst and most easily spoiled
From the immense quantities Of pitch and gypsum which
are used to keep them they known to the trade by
the not very inviting of " pitch Wines. Efer-