The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-04-23
WINE NO MYSTERY.


(from Dickens Household Words ft'.i
~ This Lc age of revelations Every mystery whether
of science q Of manufacture, which used TO believe
could only be obtained by special grace and gift OF IN
sight III now thrown open TO the world The Isis of the
manuaetories is uncoverng not her feet aionc but her
hands and her head and there will be such things
trade secrets Before the appearance of certain articles
In the eleventh and twelfth volumes OF Household Words
which described the composition and manufacture OF
French wines, had always held this wine making to be-
of oil secret and exoterc manufactures exant the chief
and head, s mysteries second only to the Eeus
nian mysteries to which but the choicest OF the
few could be admitted Professor Muder has also
tered the gaps in the thick cellar walls which broke
through, and any who will, may learn much
about vines and wines the craftiest doctor in the
world. ae
M No plant is dependent external circumstances
than the vine and in s there variety When
Chaptal Minister OF the Interior be planted in the
Luxembourg gardens thousand four hundred varie
ties of vine grown Ia Franco alone and the same law
holds good wherever the plantis found. light heat
and the fertilization of the soil aecs the vine more, per-
haps than any other plant all-powerfu they
sarly in the growth and development the vegeta-
BILE world The chemical and illuminating rays rpen and
sweeten better though later, than the caorifc thus
white grapes the sweetest owing to the easier passage
of light through their SKINS by which larger formation
Of sugar obtained while the purple grape absorbs the
most heat and does not in general come out fine
favored delicate the white As for fertilization
professor repudiaes all organic substances which pu
rfy quickly holding only to the leaves and cuttings OF
the vne which contain large percentage of the akali
needul to the plant and to nodorous substances of
slow decomposition, such wood horn and bone black
which conduce very much to its fragance." But nor
ganc manures and especially alka of primary i'm
portnce for, all wines contain of tartar, @
ac acid and potash their quality is greatly determined
by the amount Of potash in the ground, this being the
vineyards staf of life. Varieties of soil, though
erting marked influence the kind of wine produced,
do not by this diversity necessarily exert deteroIang
influence. " Wine of very good quality, but of dissmi
lar bouquet, may he obtained from very different soils.
pagne fom thorough lime soil Hermitage from
granite and Chateauneuf from sandy soil A saty
soil produces Vim de La Gaude sandy one Graves and
Medoc and saty one the wine of Lamalgue, near Tou-
lon.''
M Quantity and quality of grape juice strangely di
vorced in the vineyard Some which have pro-
duced the largest quantity of wine have also produced
the worst kinds in others, when the supply has been
scaty the quality has been supreme In the south of
France where the grapes allowed to grow sometimes
to the height of six and half feet from the ground the
quantity of juice obtained il much greater than from the
short vines of the district but the wine is infinite
y inferior forming in fact the base of that vile adul-
teration, the piquette of the gunguetes outside the
barriers The advantage of the short ynestalk, well
Of the practice of stripping off the leaves in
France is to allow the radiation from the heated earth
during night to continue the process of rpenng without
check delay In Italy, where the is hotter the
vines arc cstooned in high and leafy arbosthe grapes
being there protected from excess Of heat and light
Another for Diversity Of quality is diversity of
kind. TO mix together several kinds of grape would
spoil the vintage would the admission of decayed
unrpe or spoiled punches into the fsrmentng vat
would the minglng of white purple grapes together
in part because the purple pen ten twelve days
lsi thar the white that their union would be an
achroni which every we'll educated palate would repu
date Care also should be taken to fill the vat at once
10 that fermentation should be carried throughout the
whole mass at the came moment If there be not enough
for this well washed river sand clay may be used as
u succedaneum. sse'-tsb t't 81
The finest wines are made of the same Kind Of grape
from avad Inn on
spoiled cluster lie pineau nor or noen makes the best
Burgundy, while lie gaay yields abundant but
inferior kind These red wines For white, e pneau
girls le gainay blanc and e ferint make the most es
teemed kinds. From le feamnt comes the Hungarian
Tokay. But wines change their repntations Thus Or
leans was far priced than Burgundy but the
seesaw OF the vineyard has exalted Burgundy far
above Orleans; with others Of like chameleon con,
dton. Claret is mere mixture of several kinds Of
wine. ~ a8 ssgaEE iaa tifa3 AGst ue stNA
The chemical componens OF grape juice are grape and
fruit sugars geatinous matter pectn, gum fat wax
vegetable abumen and vegetable gluten tartaric acid
both free and combined with potash Of tartar
partly also combined with lime In analyses have
been found racemic acid malic acid, partly free and
partly combined with lme tartaIate of potas and alu
nina further, oxide of iron and oxide Of manganese
sulphate of potash, salt phosphate Of lime
magnesia, and scc acid The skins stones, and stalks
all yield tannic acid which tannic acid turning brown
by exposure to the atmosphere becoming, in fact that
Cinderella of the chemists known apothema its
brown hue TO (unaduteted white wine for there
such thing purely coorless wine the celebrated
Vino cebedno, called coorless is pale yellow This is
the reason, too, why raisns all uniformly dark
skinned whether they be Of purple white grapes the
tannic acid in their skins turning brown by exposure to
the air in the of drying The purple grape has,
besides this annc acid, cooring matter of its own
which is properly distinct blue, but by the action of
acids is converted into deep red purple In unrpe
grapes saturated with acids it is bright red all
have seen and young wine is always brighter and
more brilliant than that which has matured. AS
the grape npens, does the skin, or rather the
colorng matter, become more purple blue. The
less acid the darker the skim till over-ripe purple
grapes become positively black. But this deep
color gradually changes by age well by expos
ure and the bright red of the young wineuc partly
to an excess of posphoric acdby degrees sobes and
mellows into the tawny port dear to connoisseus
that is the tannic acid is converted into apothema
best Burgundy and colored Champagne tho skins rsmain
in tho liquid from two to three daysthis il to color
them in Metioc six days eight days in the French
wines OF the south and fourteen in the dark astringent
vim ordnaire of the tables h8te To clear white wes
also to make them lighter if too dark albmen and isin
glass used. This ia the mode by which white port
wine 10 obtained In Spain they powdered marble
for the purpose in other countries gypsum and sand
also filing up any deficiency in the casks with clay and
sand In warm climates neither albumcn snglass is
used, as these being animal substances would decom-
pose too readily indeed, they do in colder climates
when used In excess. Powdered gm-ambc is substitu
ted dried blood, milk, and also used well
as lime Lime to bctle best for the purpose
king the wine swceter and less astrngent md giving il
the appearancc Of age. If used in excess IL turns the
wine brown Speaking of nlbumen, why Bur-
gundy il bad-kecping wine is owing to the free OF
abumen and snglass Containing but little annc acid