, 1885-11-18

and humour of the " honest mans" con-
fession so tickled his customers that they
did more business with him than before;
and an incident which threatened to ruin
his trade was the means of considerably
increasing his profits. But, after all, he
must have been an inartiStic practitioner;
for it is quite possible to sophlStlcate wine
without injuring the drinkers health Jun
less he drinks too much) or (Which, from
the wine-dealer'S point OF view, is still more
importantly running the slightest risk OF
detection or exposure. The process by
which this work is achieved is know as
" cutting,"-in other words, mixing the
Juice of the grape with a liquor distilled
from currants and raisins. When blended
according to the rules OF art the cOncoctlon
not only presents the taste and appearance
of the genuine article, but is inrrlnSlcaIly
so like it that the clevereSt analyst IS IN
able to detect the fraud. AS for the or
binary consumer. no blending is necessary;
he swallows Elm GNG rGiSlnS without the
least suspicion that he is not drinking TX
cellent uin Ordinaire, Macon, or Bordeaux,
according to the favour which has been
impaired to it, or the price which he pays.
The inventor of the system lSr NJ. Joseph
Audibert, of Marseilles; and, in q brochure
which has gone through eight editions, he
gives full directions for conducting the
new trade with safety and success. In his
opinion, no occupation can well be more
legitimate than that OF making currant-
wine, and vending it as the unSOphlStIca
ted Juice OF the grape and that he Is not
alone III this opinion is proved by the fact
that, in the South Of France, Wine-tactOrieS
may be counted by hundreds. The re-
suit of my labours," he eXclaims, til.
umphantly. has been to provide agricul-
turists, stricken by the phyllOxera, with the
means OF procuring another vintage, ana
to show merchants and dealers how use
full to them is this wine, wherewith one
may initiate every sort OF foreign wine so
exactly that one cannot distinguish the
true from the false.
The dried grapes most largely employed
in the manufacture are those Of COrinth
in plain English, the best c%urrantS vended
by grocers, and used by Shopkeepers for
the cOnfectiOn OF cakes and buildings.
The c~urrants of Thyrl, SamoS, and N0nrla
are also in vogue; but the COrlnthlan
fruit is both the best and the most easily
]mauipulated. Moura flowers have also
been tried but the outcome was not salts
factory, the liquor produced from them
having a bitter taste "SWj geRerjS and tres
prononC6." All the isame, these Moura-
flowers have their use they are some
times fraudulently mixed with genuine
~currants, to the prejudice Of the ingenious
gentlemen who make Il specially OF lmpart-
inc to currant-wine the taste and appear
ance of the best home and foreign YIN
tages. The process Of manufacture con
sists essentially in adding to the curramts
water of certain temperature, letting 1t
fermpnt, and then proceeding as II the
resulting muStn were the must OF Oraina-
ry grapes. But the details are somewhat
complicated, involving the use Of appara-
tus and manipulation which can only be
successfully undertaken by an expert. On a
small scale, however, anybody who gives
his mind to the matter and uses none save
the very best currantS can easily make a
very fair " wine" The quantity OF water
in which the currantS are infused is of
course regulated by the strength of the
liquor it is desired to produce. Thus, if
YOU want a wine having from 10 TO 90
degrees of alcoholic strength, you must add
$50 Iitres Of water to 100 kilOgrammps
110 lbs J of currantS whereas, if you are.
content with an alcoholic strength of Il to
Is degrees, you will use 225 litreS of water,
and so on. NJ. Audibert very properly
cautions his clients against using any sort
of water for " damping their currants,"-
dirty pond or pit water, for instance, might
impair the quality of the decOctiOn. Distill-
ed water, and river water which has been
o1o-oJ to Cnttlo Uivn tho host paSultC