WINE-MAKING.

The history of wines is both curious and amusing; and their topography is not less so, if we may apply this term to the several kinds, to their enumeration, and to that of the countries where they grow, and to the variations followed in their manufacture. This is a subject which would occupy a volume; and we must therefore pass it over, that we may dwell on what is of more moment, the general mode of making this important article, and the several chemical circumstances connected with it. France is the only nation which has bestowed much attention on the philosophy of wine-making, as it is that which excels all others in the variety and the goodness of its produce.

Vinous liquors, resembling wine, may be made from every fruit, as well as from every vegetable which contains acids united to its extractive matter. The term wine is thus applied to the produce of currants, gooseberries, and many others; while that of cider is especially reserved for the liquor to be obtained from apples. That term would be a fitter one for many of the vinous liquors in question, and we shall here restrict the term wine ito the produce of the vine.

All fruits consist of the following principles: water, sugar, a peculiar combination of sugar and extract, called the sweet principle by the French, supertartrite of potash, malat of potash, and malic acid, superoxalate of potash, extractive matter analogous to mucilage, and vegetable gelatin, tannin, a principle of flavour, and a colouring principle. These however are not all found in any one fruit, and they also vary in their proportion in different fruits. The essential ones to the making of wine are the tartarous acid, sugar or the sweet principle, extract, and water; and those which are useful, without being indispensable, are flavour, tannin or astringency, and colour. And it is by possessing these in right proportions that the grape excels all other fruits for the purpose of making wine.

Tartarous acid, or its combinations, are especially indispensable: and hence it is that the grape, which contains it in large quantity, produces wine; while the apple, and other fruits which contain the malic acid, produce cider. It is essential to the fermentation, as well as to the quality of the produce; and it is decomposed in the process so as to increase the quantity of alcohol, which the sugar would otherwise yield. Where malic acid is also present, the quality of the wine is bad. Sugar must be considered the fundamental element, and as that from which the alcohol is chiefly derived. Thus the most saccharine grapes produce the strongest wine. But it seldom exists in a pure state in the grape, or in any other vegetable. It appears to be most pure in the sugar-cane; hut even there it is combined with the extractive matter, and also with some acid, forming the sweet principle of the French. Pure sugar does not ferment in water, it crystallizes; and whenever fermentation occurs, some other vegetable matter is present. When sugar, again, has crystallized from a solution of the sweet principle, what remains runs still more readily into fermentation. In the produce of the cane, this is molasses. It is very important to keep this distinction in view, because the fabrication of sweet wines depends materially upon it. It explains many circumstances in the process of fermentation, and some that are often overlooked. It explains, among other things, why wine ferments in a cask when it will not ferment in bottles; because the sugar derives the necessary extractive matter from the wood. The chemical nature of the extractive matter is not known, but it is supposed to contain azote, as this is the produce of fermentation. Yeast, or leaven, contains the extractive principle in great abundance, and hence its power in inducing fermentation in a solution of pure sugar. All vegetables contain it; and it is most abundant in those juices which gelatinate in boiling. It is found in the grape, and it is thus the natural leaven of wine, whether existing in a separate state, or united to sugar in the form of the sweet principle. Water is a much more essential ingredient than would at first be suspected. If over-abundant, it is difficult to prevent the produce from running to the acetous stage. Hence weak wines become sour. If deficient, it is difficult to establish the fermentation; and hence sweet wines. Thus also sweet wines are insured by drying the grapes, or evaporating their juice, both common practices in the wine countries. Colour must be looked on in the light of an ornament, and is found in the husk of the grape. So is the tannin principle, which occasions astringency in Port wine. Of the principle of flavour chemistry knows nothing; it seems often the produce of fermentation, as in Claret and Burgundy wines: in those of Frontignan and Muscat it is the natural flavour of the fruit.

When the process is complete, the wine is dry, or contains no sugar, so that sweet wines, which are compounds of wine and sugar, are the produce of an incomplete fermentation. When all the elements above described are in due proportion, the product is perfect, a dry wine; and the elements that require particularly to be balanced for this result are the extract or leaven, and the sugar. If the former is in excess, the wine tends to vinegar, unless means are used to stop the fermentation by abstracting the leaven; if in defect, the product is imperfect, a sweet wine. Hence the perfection and management of the leaven are among the most important circumstances in the manufacture. It is coagulable partially by heat; and hence also it is, as well as by evaporating the water, that boiled must produces sweet wine. It is also abstracted by precipitation, and by the action of sulphurous acids; whence other processes in use in wine-making.

In fermentation, the superfluous extract or leaven is separated in two forms, that of yeast and lees; and these will excite that process in fresh solutions of sugar, or renew it, or continue it, in the mixture whence it was separated; whence racking and fining. There is however one important difference between the natural or original, and this artificial or secondary leaven. The latter is soluble in hot water, and not in cold; and hence it is separated in fermentation. By restoring this separated matter to wine in the course of fabrication, the fermenting process is prolonged, or the wine rendered drier; by skimming, and fining, and racking, the process is checked; and hence the application of these practices to sweet wines. The rolling of wine, or returning on its lees to feed, is hence understood; and hence also the improvement which certain wines experience in long voyages. But the same principle and process which improves Madeira destroys Burgundy, and the reason must now be obvious. The theory of racking, fining, and sulphuring, is hence also apparent; and, of the sulphurous acid, it is a property to combine with the leaven, and form an insoluble separable compound. It is thus that it checks fermentation. Hence also it is that sweet wines do not turn sour: their leaven has been expended. Thus also we may see that the process of fermentation is not an unmanageable and a precarious one; but that the essential ingredients are in our power, and that we can modify them to the desired result. If it has been stopped prematurely, it may be renewed by fresh leaven; if in ex [7:21:895]cess, it may be checked or suspended. And thus it is, too, that dry wines, and fined wines, and wines in bottles, are durable, when they would perish in the cask.

The acid was shown to be also essential to the produce of wine. Mere extract, or leaven, and sugar, produce beer, not wine. Tartarous acid cannot well be in excess in that compound in which it exists, viz. the supertartrite of potash; because it is a salt of difficult solution, and the superfluity is precipitated; hence the tartar of wine-casks; hence also the crystals which are seen, in cold weather, to float in Madeira wine. We noticed that it was decomposed in the fermentation, and was thought to contribute to the quantity of alcohol. The French chemists also assert that a part of it is converted into the malic; hence the peculiar properties of some wines; hence also the practice of liming the vats, or of sprinkling the grapes with lime in the manufacture of Sherry wines, whence they acquire that peculiar dry and hard taste which distinguishes them from the wines of Madeira. As the tartarous salt adds to the fermenting power of the fluid, hence we explain the facility with which the juice of green grapes runs into fermentation when compared with ripe ones; the immature fruit containing a much larger proportion of this salt than the mature. Thus also those wines continue to ferment longer, or to retain the power of fermenting; and hence the vivacity of Champagne wines, the most effervescent kinds of which are made from half-ripened fruit.

The temperature of 54° Fahrenheit is considered the most favourable to this process. In extreme heat it fails, as in extreme cold. Hence the difficulty of making wine in India and the West Indian islands. Hence also, in the temperate climates, we have it in our power to regulate fermentation by the use of heat or of cold. Hence also it is that wines which had ceased to ferment, recommence in spring; and hence one of the processes essential to the manufactures of Champagne wines, namely, that of watching the spring fermentation, and bottling the wines in this stage.

Air is necessary to fermentation, rather than essential. The operation does not cease in closed vessels, but is retarded. Air is not absorbed in the vinous fermentation, although its oxygen is in the acetous. The wine is stronger in close vessels if the process is slower, because a portion of the alcohol escapes from the vats; and this is now understood in our malt distilleries. That alcohol is held in solution in the carbonic acid which is generated, and thus it appears to intoxicate more rapidly; as is well known in Champagne wines. Under pressure, this compound is united to the fluid; and being disengaged, produces the well-known effervescence. The practice of fermentation is partly regulated by this consideration. The violent stage of that process in wine-making is allowed to take place in an open vat, the next is partially checked by an occasional bung, and in the last of all the vessel is completely closed. In strong still wines, the whole process may be conducted in open vessels; but in light and brisk ones, it is absolutely necessary that the last part should take place in closed ones. Champagne wines are managed so as to ferment even in their bottles.

The volume of the fermenting fluid has a considerable effect on the process; a few days are sufficient to complete it when the quantity is large. When small, it is difficult to establish, and tedious in the progress, and the results are also different; wines of different qualities being thus produced from the very same materials. It is the same in the ultimate fermentation or ripening of wines. Champagne would be destroyed in a large cask: porter, an extreme case, is ripened in enormous quantities, as are many of the stronger wines. Bulk is peculiarly required for the strong and sweet wines; Champagne may be made in a gallon measure.

The first appearance is the production of air-bubbles, terminating at length in a general ebullition. The liquor then becomes turbid, a variety of solid matters are disengaged, some falling to the bottom, and others rising to the top of the fluid. The leaven before mentioned is thus separated among other matters, while the bulk of the fluid is materially increased. It is in this stage that we have the power of regulating the extent of the fermentation, by separating the floating leaven, or allowing it to return into the liquor. Hence the process of fermenting in a full cask ejecting that substance by the bung-hole.

The disengaged gas is chiefly carbonic acid; but holding, as first remarked, some alcohol in solution. It appears by analysis that this is the produce of part of the carbon of the sugar and of its oxygen; and this is the great change which leads to the production of the alcohol. But it also contains some obscure vegetable matter in suspension; because, if passed through water, it not only converts it into vinegar, but deposits that mucilage which in vinegar is called the mother. It is possible, however, that this may itself be a new compound; and it is one which, in certain cases, contains azote. That substance, which exists in yeast, has also been found in the disengaged gas, partly, it is said, in the form of ammonia; and hence, possibly, a nauseous ammoniacal taste, well known in bad wines, and very remarkable in those of the Cape of Good Hope.

The generation of heat is one of the most remarkable phenomena in fermentation, and it bears a proportion to the bulk of the fluid. It is sometimes so great as to render it necessary to reduce it by art; its cause is obscure. The colour of wines is also produced during the fermentation; the red appears to be a substance analogous to resin, soluble in alcohol; and thus its production is accounted for. Hence white wines may be made from red grapes, by excluding the husks; hence also red wines are often astringent, because the tannin also lies in the husk. Thus also, in Champagne wines, the red are generally inferior, because the species of fermentation required to extract the colour dissipates part of the flavour.

The formation of alcohol is the last and the essential phenomenon; and it is now plain how this must depend on the quantity of sugar, on the goodness of the fruit, on the due apportioning of the leaven, and on the management of the process.

Thus, when all the necessary circumstances are present, the process goes on till the produce is pure wine, or a compound of alcohol, water, acid, colour, vegetable extract, and sugar. For although the two latter are said to be destroyed, there is almost always a minute portion of both remaining; the former rendered very sensible, in some wines, by the skinny matter which it deposits on the sides of the bottles. In a similar manner it happens that a portion of sugar continues attached to the wine for a long time, though it is not always sensible except to a fine taste. Thus it is perceptible in Claret, and even in Madeira, which are among the driest of our wines. It is often very sensible in Fort, and when in excess is commonly the mark of a bad wine. In the first stages of the fermentation the sugar is never thoroughly decomposed. If that were the case, indeed, the process would stop, or it would proceed to vinegar. Further fermentation, that slower species which takes place in the casks, tends further to diminish it; but still a portion remains, even when it has been bottled.

It is the gradual conversion of this sugar, the chief operation that goes on in bottled wines, which is the cause of the change which these undergo. This process often requires many years for its completion: that is the case in the Clarets of Chateau Margaux, and other Bordeaux wines; and the same process indeed takes place to a greater or less degree in Madeira and the other strong wines. In these cases it is a cause of improvement, the wine becoming [7:21:896] more perfect under this last tedious fermentation; in others however it is mischievous, and hence the destruction of many wines. Thus Champagne is destroyed, and often very quickly: thus Burgundy also is easily ruined; and thus even our Port is not a very durable wine, though the destruction is here accelerated by the intermixture of brandy used in this particular manufacture. Age, which thus meliorates one wine, destroys another, independently of that loss of flavour which occurs in some of the more delicate, though this also is the result of the slow fermentation under review. In the sweet wines the same process tends constantly to diminish that sweetness; and hence the comparatively dry qualities of ancient Malmsey and of Paxaret under the same circumstances. In this class of wines also the flavour is injured by the same process, or by age; and hence, though age may confer merit as well as honour on Malmsey and Malaga, and generally on the sweet Spanish and Greek wines, which have little flavour, by diminishing their lusciousness, it destroys or injures the highly perfumed wines of Frontignan, which can scarcely be drunk too new.

By the same considerations we can account for the benefit which Madeira wines receive in a hot climate, or in a hot cellar. The effect of the heat, and, in the case of a sea-voyage, united to the agitation, whose action was considered before, is that of accelerating the imperceptible fermentation, and thus ripening the wine sooner than would have happened in a low temperature and at rest. But it is a mistake to imagine that this is peculiar to Madeira, or that it is the only wine which can be benefited by this treatment. It is the same for all the Spanish wines, for Sherry and for Port; and it is also true of the better and safer wines of France, of those of Hermitage and the Bordelais. Claret becomes drinkable in a much shorter time in a warm than in a cold cellar; and that is equally true of many more of these wines. But that which some will bear, others will not; and thus many of the wines of France, so far from admitting a high temperature, can scarcely be preserved even in a low one. As to Port, it is a useful piece of knowledge to be aware that it may speedily be rendered aged by heat. And in this case it deposits its colour, and assumes the marks of old wine to the eye as well as to the palate. One year will thus do that for Port which might have required five or six; but the period of its entire duration is consequently shortened, as might be expected. The effect of heat is indeed such in this case as is suspected by few. In America it is a well-known practice to boil Madeira, or to heat it to the boiling temperature; and the effect is that of rendering it good and old wine, when previously harsh and new. The same practice is applicable to Port. If newly-bottled wine be exposed to the sun, it begins shortly to deposit, and improves in flavour; and even the rawest wine of this kind may, by heating it in hot water, be caused, in the course of a day, to assume the quality which it would have had after many years of keeping. It is so far from being injurious, as might be imagined, that it is a valuable secret; and, as we believe, one that is but little known to those whose interest it is to give the complexion of old wine to new, and who generally effect this purpose in a fraudulent manner, by putting it into foul and crusted bottles.

It is important, in another view, to consider the effects which follow from a portion of undecomposed sugar remaining in wine. It is supposed to be a means and a test of the security of wine; and the French chemists assert, that as long as any portion remains undecomposed, such wine cannot run into the acetous fermentation. This appears true only in a limited sense. In Hock, it would seem as if every atom of sugar had vanished, and yet the durability of that wine appears to be endless. If that is not absolutely the case in Claret and Madeira, still these are very durable wines; the most so, after Hock, at least of the dry class. None of these, when of a good quality, ever runs into the acetous fermentation. Perhaps this may depend on some peculiar balance of principles, which chemistry has not yet found the means of discovering; for, in other cases, it is certain that the chemists in question are under an error, and that the acetous fermentation will come on though sugar should still be present. This happens in many of the French wines of the lighter kinds. If, in the sweet wines from the grape, that effect does not take place, it is very certain that it happens in the wines made in this country in imitation of them from various substances. In these cases even sweet wines are found to be occasionally pricked, as the technical term is, or vinegar and sugar are co-existent in the fluid at the same time. Nor are even all the foreign sweet wines of the grape exempt from this disease; as must be well known to those who have an extensive knowledge of wines, or of the wine market.

There is reason to believe, that the cause of this must be sought as a circumstance which these chemists seem to have overlooked. If the balance of principles in a sweet wine has been perfect, and the process of fermentation has also been complete, and if, in addition to this, these wines have been so carefully racked and fined that no lee or leaven remains in them, they may be safe, because there is nothing left in them to re-excite a fermentation, or to bring on the acetous stage. But if that is not the case, if any impurity, any leaven in any form remain, the sweetness offers no security against the change into vinegar, or at least against the partial change which constitutes a pricked wine. The acetous fermentation may commence, and proceed as far as the circumstances allow; and thus vinegar and sweet wine may exist together in the fluid. The nature of the acetous fermentation is indeed very ill understood, as little as that of the vinous; and we are at present incompetent to reason much about it. It is a common opinion that it must be preceded by the vinous; yet this does not appear to be true. Certain mixtures of sugar, leaven, and water, will immediately tend to vinegar, without our being able to detect a previous vinous stage; and this seems always the case when the solution is very weak, or the water in large quantity, provided, of course, there be access of air. It is indeed unquestionable, that in the common process of making vinegar, the acetous fermentation is going on in a saccharine fluid, so that the mixed taste of vinegar and sugar is perceptible until that process is completed. Vinegar can also be produced by passing alcoholized carbonic acid through water, another obscure operation; and in the human stomach it is produced in a very few minutes, when we can scarcely imagine that any previous vinous stage can have taken place.

When all the favourable circumstances above stated are present, the fermentation begins, and passes through its regular stages, till there is produced wine, perfect and dry if the sugar has been thoroughly and accurately proportioned to the other ingredients; sweet if it has been in excess; and acid, as in Hock, when this substance has been in undue proportion to the other ingredients. The unfavourable circumstances must be sought in the temperature, or in the quality of the fluid. The juice of the grape rarely labours under any defect but the want of sugar, arising from a bad variety of this fruit, from a bad season, or from imperfect ripening. In the latter case, however, there may be added to defect of sugar or excess of water, an excess of acid and an excess of extractive matter.

In the wine-countries, the defect of sugar is remedied by different expedients. In some, sugar or honey is added to the juice or must; in others, a portion of the juice is evaporated and added to the rest; and sometimes all the juice is boiled before it is submitted to fermentation. These seem to have been the vina cocta of the ancients, which, [7:21:897]from other circumstances, we know to have been thick and sweet wines, requiring dilution. They could not have been boiled to any consistence after they had become wine, without losing all their properties; and as to wines that were to be cut by a knife, it is plain that we must have misapprehended the meaning of the term vinum in this case, as no wine could exist under such a form. To gain the same ends, it is a practice in many countries to dry the grapes partially, by suffering them to remain on the vine; but this is chiefly resorted to for sweet wines, as in the case of Cyprus, Tokay, Lipari, and others. The other expedient for increasing the properties of sugar in the juice is by plaster of Paris or gypsum, not an uncommon ingredient; and this effect, as well as that of absorbing and destroying superfluous acid, is also partially attained by the use of lime.

The management of the fermentation, supposing the fluid to be perfect, is regulated by the intended nature of the wine. If sweet wine is desired, not only must the proportion of the water be diminished by one or other of the means above mentioned, if necessary, but the proportion of extractive matter or leaven must be reduced, to prevent it from running to the ultimate stage, and producing a dry and strong wine. In this case the yeast is separated as fast as it rises, by mechanical means; as by fermenting in full casks in such a manner that it may be continuously ejected at the bung-hole as fast as it is formed. Should the reverse be desired, or a dry wine be the manufacturer’s object, the yeast is suffered to remain on the surface in the vat, that it may be continually returned into the liquor by the internal agitation; or else it is stirred, or rolled in a cask or in the vat, so as to protract the fermentation. Lastly, if the wine is to be brisk, to retain carbonic acid, as in the wines of Champagne, not only must the proportions of water and leaven be increased, but the fermentation must be conducted in vessels partially closed, and these also must be fully closed before the fermentation is completed. The management of the temperature is easily deduced from the principles already laid down. A deficiency of heat is easily remedied by artificial means, by a fire, or by exposure to the sun; and this is sometimes done by heating a portion of the fluid, and then mixing it with the mass. An equal temperature in the vat is also procured by agitation; and when it is necessary carefully to maintain a mean heat, this is frequently done in the wine-countries by surrounding it with straw or other bad conductors, or by other obvious artifices.

On apparently minute attentions of this nature, far more depends than would, on a superficial view, be imagined; and the great superiority of the wines of France above those of Spain, Italy, and Greece, often depends much more on delicacies of this nature than on any difference in the quality of the grape. In wine-making, indeed, more seems often to depend on art than on nature; and it is both to the praise and advantage of the French, that, by these minute attentions, they have contrived to excel all Europe in this art. Italy, Spain, and Greece, with better climates, and every natural advantage, are thus the manufacturers of a thousand detestable wines, which, in the hands of Frenchmen, might rival the produce of that country. The recent improvements made in the Sicilian wines in new hands, are a proof how much depends on these attentions; and those who have drunk the nauseous, putrid, acid, and disgusting common wines of Italy and Spain, where nothing is wanting but management and care, will know how to appreciate the value of these.

In conducting the fermentation, some other considerations are necessary, on which some remarks are also required. The first of these is the flavour. That evanescent and delicate property, the bouquet, as it is called, depends on attentions no less minute. The flavour is very apt to be dissipated by a violent or a long fermentation, or by an open one; and hence, for the finer wines, great care is required through every stage of that process It is the same for the brisker wines; as, if this be neglected, this volatile substance, on which their peculiar property depends, may be irrecoverably dissipated. A consideration of the general divisions of the quality of wines will render these remarks more intelligible.

They may be divided into four classes; the sweet and strong; the dry and strong; the delicate and light, which are generally weak compared to the former; and the effervescent or brisk. Malmsey, Tokay, Frontignan, are examples of the first; and the second are peculiarly familiar to Britain. Hermitage holds an intermediate rank, as does Claret, between these and the third class; of which the lighter Burgundy wines, the white wines of Greece, and those of the Rhine and the Moselle, may be considered pure examples; and, of the last, Champagne is almost the only one that deserves to be named.

If therefore the intention is to make either a strong sweet wine or a strong dry one, the fermentation is commenced in an open vat. But in the former case it is not suffered to remain there long as it is in the latter. For the driest wines, or for those which are manufactured for distillation, the fermentation is allowed to expend itself in the vat, and the wine is not tunned till it is made; the completion of the process merely, or the final solar fermentation, being reserved for the cask. In the sweet wines, on the contrary, it is soon removed from the vat to the casks, that it may be more in the operator’s power to suspend the process, and thus to prevent the annihilation, or total conversion, of the saccharine matter. In the third class, again, in the highly flavoured wines, of which Burgundy may be selected as an example, the fluid is only suffered to remain a few hours in the vat; from six perhaps to twenty, that period varying according to the state of the temperature, the particular quality of the juice as to goodness or strength, and the other views of the manufacturer. This is done to prevent the dissipation of the flavour, which would be injured, if not destroyed, by an open fermentation. The same practice is followed for the wines of Champagne, though there is little flavour to preserve; the purpose being in this case to secure the power of checking the fermentation by pressure, so as to retain the wine in a low stage of this process, and thus to secure a supply of mixed or combined carbonic acid at the period of use or drinking.

There is nothing which more strongly distinguishes the bad or inferior wines of Spain and Italy from those of France, even from those which, from their cheapness, must be considered as belonging to the same class, than the various disgusting flavours which they commonly present. Wines may have bad qualities from other causes,—from the nature of the soil or the grape; but there is far less difference in this fruit in different countries than there is in the care bestowed on the manufacture. To use a short and intelligible term, it is filth which is the cause of the bad quality of these wines; filth and neglect in every stage of the process, from the gathering to the pressing, the fermentation, and the tunning. In the fermentation, no precaution too great can be used to have all the vessels clean, and entirely free from every odour. There is no substance more delicate than wine, nor any one which is so easily contaminated and destroyed by bad flavours, even in the minutest quantity.

The same rules apply to the casks as to the vats. New casks communicate the well-known flavour of oak, often found in wines, and that, fortunately, is so agreeable that it is often given designedly by means of oak shavings. But in the finer wines, where it would be injurious, it is extracted from the wood by washing, and by hot water and [7:21:898]by salt. The more destructive evil of musty vats or casks, so often a cause of the nauseous flavour of the common wines above mentioned, is remedied by scraping, by washing with boiling water, and most effectually by firing or charring the insides; while staves which are deeply injured are replaced by new ones. Hot lime and water are also used for the same purposes.

Another precaution is that of removing all the insoluble matter, of whatever nature, during every stage of the process; and from this neglect it is also that the great mass of bad wines is produced in those countries where this art is neglected. Thus the seeds are always to be removed as fast as they rise to the surface, as they both render the wine harsh and communicate a bad flavour. The same is done with the husks when they have performed their duty in giving out their colour. It is most peculiarly necessary to be watchful over these, lest they should become moulded or musty; whence often arises that taste which resembles that of what is called corked wine; a disease also arising from a bad cask, and often attributed wrongfully to careless bottling. In the finer wines, a single musty seed or husk will ruin a whole tun. In transferring the wine from the vat to the cask, or from one cask to another, whether by drawing ofl' or pumping, care must be taken not to disturb the sediment, and more especially still, to separate any of the scum which may be on the surface, as this is always in danger of becoming musty, more particularly where it is most injurious, that is, in the lighter and finer wines.

When the quantity of the fermented fluid is considerable, the remaining wine, which adheres to the solid matter, is separated by the press, and made into wine of an inferior quality, either for use or distillation. That refuse is also subjected to distillation with water in some cases; sometimes, by means of water, it is converted into vinegar, or used for the manufacture of white-lead or of verdegris; or, lastly, formed into cakes with the other refuse of the first pressing of the grapes, and used for feeding cattle.

If, after the wine is made and tunned, it were suffered to go on fermenting, it would in many cases be destroyed. This, it has already been seen, does not easily happen in the sweet wines, where a large portion of the saccharine matter remains unchanged, though even these are not absolutely exempt. Nor does it very easily happen in the stronger dry wines. Yet it does happen to all, and is almost inevitable in the light still wines, and in the brisk ones, whatever the strength or sweetness of the latter may be. Champagne would quickly become vapid, Burgundy would become stale and sour, and Claret would become vinegar. For though the natural progress is supposed to be from the vinous to the acetous stage of fermentation, there are phenomena in practice which show us that we are yet imperfectly acquainted with the exact nature and varieties of fermentation. Champagne, for example, becomes mucilaginous and flat; while, though Burgundy becomes acid, it is scarcely possible to make it pass to the exact state of vinegar.

Yet the tendency to the acetous stage must be considered as general, for want of a better expression; and on this view the management after the great fermentation is regulated. If it is suspected that even intended sweet wine has been overwrought, boiled must or sugar is added to it, and thus, in the tedious fermentation of the cask, it is secured or restored. But it must be remarked, that if the acetous stage should have commenced, that addition would only serve to accelerate and determine it. The remainder of the general management consists in regulating the fermentation of the cask by the general principles before laid down; that is, if the wine is incomplete, it is not suffered to rise to the bung-hole, so that the new leaven which is disengaged may fall back again and protract the fermentation, while this is also aided by heat, by stirring up the lees, and by agitation. If the reverse be the case, and it is necessary to check the secondary fermentation, then a cool temperature and rest are adopted; while, as fast as the wine wastes, it is kept close to the bung by fresh additions, that so the disengaged leaven may escape. Some of the other requisites to the completion of wine will fall better into another section of this little essay; but the process of sulphuring belongs to the second stage of management, as well as to the final operations of the manufacture.

However vulgar and mechanical the process of sulphuring may appear, it is a refined chemical operation, the practice of which was long known before the theory, however discovered, and the theory of which, in a scientific and rigid view, is not very well understood even now. It has been already shewn, that the process of fermentation has a perpetual tendency to continue as long as all the requisites are present, and more particularly as long as there is present that peculiar and obscure substance, the extractive matter or leaven, on which it mainly depends. If this substance has been entirely separated in the two forms of yeast and lee, the process terminates naturally, the produce being dry or sweet, according to other circumstances now understood; but if any portion of leaven remains in the liquor, then the acetous or some similar stage may come on, and the wine will be destroyed.

The processes of racking and mechanical separation just described, are all intended to separate this matter; and whenever the wine remains turbid, it is always in danger, because the fermentation may at any time be renewed. But these operations are often insufficient to disengage all the leaven or lee, as much of it not only continues mixed, so as to produce the turbid state, but the extractive matter itself, which has not been brought to this insoluble form, remains combined with the fluid.

The merely turbid state is remedied by the process called fining, which precipitates all the insoluble or disengaged lee and leaven that will neither subside nor rise; thus removing one part of the hazard, besides communicating that brightness and beauty which is demanded in all wines. That brightness, therefore, is more than a beauty, since without it there is no security, at least in the finer and lighter wines. Various substances are used for this purpose, and the action of many of them is very obscure. They are either chemical or mechanical. The mechanical substances are sand and gypsum, both of which have the property of precipitating the insoluble matter, while the latter also absorbs water. Beechwood chips are sometimes used for the same purpose; but the mode in which these act is not known. But the matters chiefly in use are chemical ones, gluten and albumen. Of the latter, eggs and milk are both used, but the former are preferred. Of gluten, isinglass alone is used; for, from some causes hitherto undiscovered, the gluten of terrestrial animals, or common glue, does not produce this effect to the same extent that it is obtained by the glue of fishes. It is also usual to adopt albumen for the white wines, and gluten for the red, as the former is found to precipitate much of the colour from these last. The proportion used is very small, an ounce of isinglass being sufficient for a hundred gallons. To these chemical matters we might have added starch, gum, rice, and blood; but they are very little used. The action of the albumen appears more mechanical than chemical; becoming coagulated, and then entangling the dust, if it may so be called, which is suspended in the fluid, in the same manner as it would purify muddy water. In the case of the gluten, however, a new chemical combination is formed with the tannin of the wine; and the produce is that well-known substance resembling bird-lime, which is the basis of leather. Hence, also, fining diminishes the astringency of red wines.

Presuming that one of these substances has been introduced[7:21:899]. the fluid is strongly agitated, and suffered to repose till clear, when it is again racked into a fresh cask. It is found very important to select for this purpose dry cold weather, and, as is particularly remarked, north-east winds. From some mysterious cause, in close weather, and fogs, and southerly winds, the precipitated matters rise again, and defeat the objects of the operation. The other precautions are those of using a syphon instead of a cock, as affording greater security; or, what is now used in all the best French manufactories, blowing off. This is performed by a condensing engine, as in the drawing of porter, and thus access of air is prevented. This is very important where fine-flavoured wines are concerned, as it is in brisk wines; because the carbonic acid which would be lost, carrying away also a portion of the alcohol or strength of the wine, is thus preserved.

But the leaven held in solution cannot be separated in this manner, and for that purpose recourse is had to the process of sulphuring. The most common and the simplest practice in this case, is to fill the proposed cask into which the wine is to be racked, with sulphurous gas, by burning matches in it till full. The wine being then introduced, becomes turbid, and, after the necessary time, it is found as before. Should the fermentation still be renewed or dreaded, this operation is repeated as often as it may be necessary. If, as in the case of some of the Bordeaux wines, the quantity of leaven in the wine is so great that it cannot be overcome in this manner, the combustion of the sulphur within the cask is repeated at intervals during the process of filling it. But it is also a practice in that country to impregnate with sulphurous acid a quantity of wine, and this substance or mixed fluid, called Muet, is reserved for adding to those which may require it, by which means the efficacy of the operation is better insured.

The theory of this practice seems to a certain extent simple. The sulphurous acid, or possibly its oxygen, unites to the extractive matter, or the soluble leaven, and renders it insoluble, as happens in the act of fermentation itself; and thus it becomes capable of being separated by the mechanical processes of racking and fining. It is for this reason also that sulphuring is largely used for the sweet wanes, to insure their preservation in that state. It has been said that manganese, and other substances containing much oxygen, will produce the same effect; but the cheapness and simplicity of the common process renders other expedients unnecessary.

Supposing wines of any class to have been thus obtained, there is yet much more to be done before they become the wines which we know in our market. The processes in use for making marketable wines are badly distinguished by the term medication, as they are of various natures. There is indeed a great deal of wine which can scarcely be considered as strictly natural, though it is a common prejudice that all wines are so, except when fraudulently mended, or altered, or mixed. It is difficult to draw the line between what may be considered fraud, and what is legitimate; and certainly by those who expect that all wine is to be what it is commonly thought, the mere produce of the grape, and of one process on one grape, every subsequent process may be esteemed a fraud. We must here limit ourselves to some of the most important operations, as the whole would lead into a very long detail.

The simplest process is that of mixing different wines together, whether of the same quality or country, or of different ones. In either case this practice may sometimes be considered fraudulent, and in the latter especially so. But in a degree it is inseparable from the nature of the manufacture, and the mode in which it is conducted. The larger maker, or the capitalist on the spot, buying in small lots from the petty manufacturers, is obliged to adopt this practice, partly to insure a certain quality, and partly for the purpose of remedying those that are defective, by the addition of better ones.

The mode of performing this operation, which requires great experience and judgment, is to select, first, that period of the year in which the wines show a disposition to renew their fermentation, which is in the spring. They are then said, in English, to bear the fret; and hence the operation is called fretting-in. It is only thus that a new and fine wine can be produced. The operation of mixing different wines in all cases disturbs both, so that they become foul. They also tend to ferment again, till a new balance of all their principles is produced; and thus it is expedient to accelerate and determine this fermentation, so as to form a proper compound, without which the new wine would be perishable. After this, also, it becomes necessary once more to have recourse to sulphuring, fining, and racking; and not till all this has been gone through is the wine completed. In the Bordeaux practice of mixing Clarets, the muet or sulphured wine is sometimes added at the same time, where the wines being of very discordant qualities, a dangerous fermentation might be excited.

In the wine-countries it is usual to cultivate particular grapes or wines, rough, or coloured, or astringent, or high flavoured, for the mere purpose of mixing with others; so far is this art from being so simple as is commonly imagined. It is a frequent practice to import the wines of one country to mix with those of another, and thus to suit the taste of purchasers, or obtain other ends. This practice is pursued even by the importers into Britain, and, as we need not say, opens a door to endless frauds, while it may also be innocent. Thus, in this country, as well as in Portugal, the wines of Spain, Alicant, Barcelona, and so forth, are mixed with Port wines; as are the cheaper Clarets of the south of France, and some other of the strong-flavoured wines of that country. In a similar manner, the wines of Fayal and the Canaries are manufactured into Madeira, as are those of Sicily; and thus, too, Sherry is largely compounded out of many of the wines of Spain and Portugal, and of the islands of the African coast.

But the most extensive operations of this nature are carried on at Bordeaux with the wines which we call Claret, not one-thousandth part of which are of a good quality, or unmixed in some way, and the one half of some of which, perhaps, are not French, but Spanish wine. The following statement, while it is curious in itself, will illustrate this subject. In the year 1814, the total quantity of the Clarets, or Bordeaux of the first class, was as follows :—

Chateau Margaux 80 tons.

Latour 70 ...

Chateau Latite 80 ...

In the second class it was thus:

Margaux de Madame Derauzan 60 tons.

M. Chevalier 25 ...

M. Monterison 25 ...

Μ. Montalambert 25 ...

St Julian Leoville 80 ...

Lanoze 70 ...

Pauillac M. Depichon 60 ...

Brame Mouton 80 ...

We cannot afford room for the remainder of this statement, comprising the produce of the fourth and the fifth qualities; but it is plain that very few of those persons who imagine that they are drinking the first growth of Bordeaux wines, can even be drinking the second.

The first growth of Claret, it is thus seen, amounts only to 230 tons for an average; and that even of the second is only 425; a fraction indeed in the consumption of Europe. But in the third class, of which we cannot afford to give the details, there are 1061 tons, and in the fourth 825, making a general total of 2541 tons. Besides this,, there are other inferior[7:21:900] wines which do not enter into the enumeration; and it is by mixing the greater number of these in various proportions that the market is supplied, it being necessary to reserve many of the better wines to render the others saleable.

We must however remark, that, among the districts which produce the inferior wines, such as those of the Bas and the Petit Medoc, a few farms produce small quantities, of a quality equal nearly to the good St Julian or Lafite wines; and these add to the bulk of the better kinds, being generally reserved, and sold at high prices. In the district Medoc. the seat of the better wines already mentioned, there are, besides the third and fourth classes, six or eight kinds of wine, known by the names of Gros Bourgeois, Petit Bourgeois, Artisan, and Paysan; and these are manufactured, with others, for the British market chiefly, by means of Spanish wines, by mixing with the strong wines of Bene-casto and Alicant. The same is true of the Grave wines.

This is the great mixture, in fact, by which the market is filled to almost any extent with Claret wines so called; and these mixed wines are almost the only ones we drink in this country. If that be a fraud, it must also be remembered that such is British taste in wine, and that Claret is generally esteemed here only in proportion to its strength. Of the stronger and finer wines there is not enough for even our consumption; and as we must have them strong, they are rendered so by this process. That effect is also obtained, however, by some of the south of France wines; by those of Côté, which are used for mixing with the weak Medoc and Grave wines, for the British market. This is the case with those of Queyries, such as Monferrant and Bassens; and those of Palu, such as Macaw, St Romain, Codillac, St André, Lugon, and many more.

The French wines of which we have been speaking will not endure to be rendered stronger by means of brandy. The property of this substance, thus mixed, is to decompose the wine in process of time, causing the extractive matter or mucilage to be deposited, as well as the colour, as is daily seen in Port wines, and thus diminishing their powers of duration. At the same time it destroys their lightness and flavour, that peculiar indefinable delicacy well known to drinkers of good wine, but quite imperceptible to British drinkers of Port. In a certain sense, we may consider that it is only the bad wines which will bear this medicine; those which have no flavour of their own, and whose whole merit already is their strength. What sort of a compound is made of a weak wine with brandy, ought to be known to those who drink what is called Lisbon wine. But a depraved taste has rendered it necessary to our nation, and thus it is largely used, even in those wines of Portugal and Spain, of which the chief fault is that of being too strong already. We may thank the Methuen treaty for being condemned to drink what Mr Pinkerton calls wine fit for hogs only. This mixture is performed in the same manner, at the period of fretting; and the proportion is regulated partly by the taste of the consumers, and partly by the badness of the wine. As it must have a certain strength, the worst wines require most; and hence, whenever we taste the brandy in wine, we may be sure it is bad. It is a taste sufficiently perceptible to those who know what real wine is.

Many wines have naturally so little flavour, that they can scarcely be considered to possess any. There are few indeed that possess this quality in any great degree; and of these flavours a large proportion is bad. Wines so highly perfumed by nature as Hermitage and Burgundy are rare; indeed these are almost the only examples; and after them we may consider the finest Clarets, and then the finest of the Rhine wines. The sweet wines which possess it are well known; and these also are but a small part of the total number in this class, being almost limited to Paxaret and the Muscat wines, among which Rivesaltes stands first. Constantia has rather a taste than a flavour; and what the ordinary sweet Spanish wines possess is rather bad than good, though, like the taste of Sherry, and porter, and olives, they may become agreeable by habit.

Excepting these cases, and a few among the Italian wines, which we cannot afford room to detail, many of the flavours found in wines are communicated by art; and this forms part of the business of the manufacturer and merchant. Much of this is a secret, but some of the substances used for the purpose are known. The taste of Greece is now, as it was in ancient times, to perfume its wines with turpentine —the vina picoa of the ancients; and this is effected by putting turpentine or rosin into the casks. In Britain our chivalrous and baronial ancestors perfumed their wines with every strange ingredient that can be imagined; but that was the age of spicery and perfumes, and he who ate cinnamon with his pork, might drink ambergrease in his wine.

The flavour of Madeira is nothing but that which we know is given by means of bitter almonds, and we believe of sweet almonds also; and the same practice is followed for the wines of Saint Lucar. That which is called the borrachio taste in wine is for the most part that of the tar with which the seams are secured. In Sherry the flavour seems produced by the destruction of the acid, the consequence of the lime used, and possibly by some other action of that substance on the fruit. One of the most common ingredients used for flavouring wines is oak chips; and from this the wretched Lisbon wines acquire the little taste they have. Orris root is also a common ingredient, and the high-flavoured wine of Johannesberg is imitated by a proportion of rose-water. The orris root gives a very agreeable flavour, and is used in France; and there it is also the custom to use raspberries and other highly perfumed fruits. A very agreeable flavour is also said to be produced by wormwood. The flowers of the vine itself are likewise used for the same purpose, their smell much resembling that of our mignonette. This last is an ancient practice in Egypt.

The method of gaining this end requires some delicacy and attention. In particular, care is taken that it be not overdone. As the full fermentation would destroy the more volatile flavours, these substances are only introduced towards its decline. In Madeira the nut-cake is put into the cask. Flowers are suspended in a net or cloth, either in the fluid or the vacant part of the cask, and thus a small quantity of raspberries communicates a considerable flavour.

The colouring of wine is also part of the business of the maker, because colour is in a good measure a matter of fashion and fancy. Some grapes contain naturally very little colour, while that of the Claret vine, and many of the grapes of Spain, are highly charged with the colouring principle. We already explained that the colour was contained exclusively in the husk. These latter wines are often, therefore, selected and reserved for this particular purpose; and it is also a practice to use the dyeing woods, logwood and Brazil wood, for obtaining the same end. The elder-berry, which is full of colour, is also resorted to; and in Portugal it used to be extensively cultivated for the purpose of dyeing Port wines. When white wines are thought too pale for the market, they are coloured browner by means of the well-known ingredient burnt sugar; and the chips of oak also produce the same effect. By some means also iron finds its way into some of the French wines, and thus, on exposure to air, they become black. This unpleasant effect is not unusual in the sweet wines from the south of France.

This property relates almost exclusively to the wines of Champagne, and it is one that may err in excess or defect. It is already apparent that it is the product of an unfinished fermentation, and therefore a due degree of it must mainly depend on the proper management of this process. It is secured by bottling at the proper season, March, and before the fermentation is exhausted; and if in danger of excess, it is restrained or diminished by racking, or decanting and [7:21:901]sulphuring. But it happens not unfrequently that it fails altogether, either from accident in the management, or a bad season; from faults in the fruit, or fermentation carried too far, or a weak wine exhausting itself unexpectedly. In this case the remedy is to introduce sugar, not only into the casks, but into the bottles. In the first case the fermentation is renewed, and the wine may thus become legitimate and good. In the other the effect is far different, and not good; and hence it is that all the very sweet Champagne wines are bad or indifferent. These are, in fact, a mixture of wine and sugar rather than proper wine; and in this case the effect of the sugar is not to produce a new fermentation, but to disengage the carbonic acid of the wine, as a salt or any other soluble substance would do by a superior affinity. To gain this end, the solid sugar is corked up in the bottle, so that the disengaged gas is retained under the pressure of the cork, ready to fly out whenever that is removed. Thus Champagne which has been destroyed by age, is rendered at once sweet and effervescent; and this, however convenient a secret it may be to the possessor, is but a fraud, and a very common one.

The acidity, or the pricked taste of wines, is a fault which perhaps ought never to be corrected, as in this case the wine is generally spoiled. This nevertheless is done, and sometimes to a considerable extent. Acidity arising from tar-tarous acid, or even from malic acid, if that really be the acid in wines which is not tartarous, may be a virtue and a quality, as it is very remarkably in Hock. But it is often thought otherwise, even when it is the natural property of the wine, arising from its own native acid, and after a correct fermentation. In this case means are applied to remedy it as a disease in the wine. In the manufacture of Sherry, it was already remarked that lime was used to prevent it; and this is also applied in other cases where tartar is in excess, as the tartrite of lime is insoluble, and can be fined down and separated by racking. It has been the fashion to use lead, metallic lead, for this purpose; and in France it was formerly used largely in the wines consumed in Paris. It was then discovered, and the act made penal; and if not abandoned entirely, it is less used at present everywhere. That this is a poisonous substance is too well known; but that has been overrated in this particular case. The tartrite of lead, like that of lime, is insoluble; so that after the lead had done its duty, it was discharged by racking and fining. Had this not been the case, all Paris, at the time we speak of, must have been poisoned. Yet it is a substance that ought not to be used, because, in an acid wine ascescent from fermentation, it might produce either white lead or subcarbonate of lead, or else sugar of lead, acetite, both of them poisons if in different degrees.

For the acidity of wine from the commencement of the acetous fermentation there is no proper remedy. It may be checked if taken in time, as it would be prevented by careful sulphuring. Here lead is highly pernicious; and it need scarcely be said, that to add sugar of lead, as has been done from ignorance and fraud united, is to add a poison without even obtaining a remedy. Chalk and lime may be used with impunity; yet neither can these, and far less alkalies, be used to such an extent as to cure the disease, as they unite to the other acids, and also decompose and destroy the wine. To prevent it as far as possible when commenced, a low temperature and careful exclusion from the air are necessary. But it must be remembered that air will find access, not merely through cork, but through sealing-wax, and indeed through all rosins also; and thus there can be no complete security, the best being that of placing the bottles on their sides, so that the fluid itself becomes its own cork. The Italian practice of using oil is thus far safer, but it is balanced by various inconveniences.

Ropiness is a disease almost peculiar to the wines of Champagne, and its chemistry is very obscure. It is not a destruction of the wine, although it materially injures its flavour and other qualities. It occurs in this wine from the quantity of extractive matter which it still contains, and which is that by which the fermentation is maintained. It is conceived to arise from the action of oxygen on this substance, converting it into a matter analogous to fibrine, instead of changing the whole into vinegar. Thus it resembles the mucilaginous deposit of vinegar called the mother. In the bottles it may be often cured merely by heat, by exposure to the sun, or by immersion in hot water. When obstinate, it is remedied by uncasking and by agitation, by exposing the fluid to the air. It is also said to be removed by a small quantity of vegetable acid, or by sugar; but when on a large scale, it requires the process of fining.

It is held essential by the French, who are our chief teachers in every thing that relates to wine, that a wine-cellar should not only be dry, but preserved in a very uniform state of temperature, as near to the mean annual heat of the country as possible. We have already shewn, however, when this rule may be usefully departed from, for the purpose of accelerating the ripening of wines. In the delicate wines of that country the rule still holds good, and very conspicuously too with regard to the wines of Burgundy and Champagne. It is equally true of the finer and lighter Italian wines. The wines of Spain and Portugal seem to defy every thing. It is also held by the French most essential that a cellar should not be subject to the agitation of carriages, the reason of which is plain enough; and that it should be free of bad smells. As to moisture however we must remark, that, like heat, it seems to accelerate the deposition and consequent ripening of Port wines. Of bottling we need say nothing; only let it be remembered that corks cannot be too good, but that no precaution will absolutely prevent all communication through a cork, however secured and sealed.

The rules which we have thus given are all of a general nature; but there are yet a few niceties to be explained, and an example from each of the four classes into which we divided wines will render the subject more intelligible.

The attentions required in Champagne wines are perhaps the most minute and the most complicated, and they therefore stand most in need of being detailed. Champagne is a late country, and it frequently happens that the frosts have commenced before the grapes are ripe. Of course it is an imperfect vintage, which limits that country to this particular class of wine. A very brisk wine is not easily secured from grapes absolutely ripe; and thus the half-ripened fruit of this district is brought into use. Yet the best of these wines, the finest class of Sillery, rarely seen in this country, is made from the ripened grapes; and hence it is that the best of the Champagne wines are those which are least brisk or violent, and that great violence is a characteristic of the inferior kinds.

The finest wine is produced here by a very light pressure of the grapes, in which case only the ripest give out their juice. It is held necessary to gather them when the morning dew is off, to prevent water being added to the juice. The next pressure and the least ripe grapes are reserved for the inferior classes. When the juice is poured into the vat, it remains one night only, the seeds being carefully separated. In all cases the greatest care is taken to separate damaged grapes or rotten ones; and it is as much from this neglect as any other cause that the common Italian wines are so bad. If the Champagne is to be red, the fermentation is suffered to proceed on the husks a little longer, for the purpose of extracting the colour; and according to the length of this process, we have the oeil de perdrix, and the pink and red wines. But, as we remarked before, this injures the flavour, as all good judges of Champagne know.

When the liquor is transferred to the cask, the discharge· of yeast at the bung-hole is encouraged for ten or twelve [7:21:902]days; and when the fermentation has become moderate, the bung is put down, and a hole is made by its side. This hole is occasionally opened to give vent to the air, for a space of eight or ten days. When no more air is discharged, fresh wine is introduced, so as to keep the cask constantly full to the bung-hole. This operation is continued if necessary till the end of December, when the wine generally becomes clear. It is then racked into a fresh cask, and fined. After this it begins to ferment again, losing a portion of its sweetness, and improving in quality. If too sweet, it is not decanted and fined till the fermentation has been renewed by agitation. As the fineness of this wine is one of its essential qualities, and one difficult to obtain on account of its perpetual fermentation, it is racked and fined a second time, and thus it remains till March. In March it is bottled; yet still it ferments, though corked, and again it begins to deposit. In the best wines it thus remains from fifteen to eighteen months in the cellar, when it is bottled over again, and is then marketable. The inferior kinds are seldom bottled twice, but an expedient is used instead to get rid of the sediment. For this purpose the bottles are ranged in frames with their necks downwards, and when the sediment has been collected in the neck, the cork is dexterously drawn, and again replaced, after which the bottles are filled and completed for the market. There are varieties also in this general process, such as that of suffering the wine to remain in the cask for a year or more on its lees; but we need not enter into these collateral details.

There is little difference in the practice of Burgundy, except what refers to the retention of the carbonic acid. All else is the same; but great care is taken to clear these wines of their lees, as, from their extreme delicacy, they would soon lose their flavour, and also become sour. In the practice of Bordeaux also the first stages of the process are the same, excepting in as far as a longer fermentation in the husks is used to extract the colour from the red wines. But there is a difference as to the process of sulphuring, which is largely used in these, in the manner already described. The red wines of Bordeaux are racked about the end of March or the beginning of April, but the white in December; and in all these wines great care is taken in all those circumstances which relate to cleanliness, however rude the people and the operations may appear on a superficial view.

In the drier Italian wines, the must is allowed to ferment completely in the vat. In some vineyards a quantity of selected and half-dried grapes is thrown into each tun when the wine is finished, so as to give it sweetness, and prevent the hazard of its running to the acetous stage; a rude and a bad process. In the manufacture of Florence wine, the must is withdrawn from the vat as soon as the head is raised, and the wine is transferred to a cask, where it is only suffered to remain thirty-six hours, when it is again decanted into a fresh cask at the end of a few hours, and so on until it is clear and marketable. Thus it is completed in a short time by little more than the process of racking.

In different countries the practices used for procuring the sweet wines vary, but they will be found to depend on one or other of the principles already laid down. In Italy, as in the making of Florence wine, the fermentation is quelled by repeated racking and shifting. Thus the other processes are partly or entirely saved. But it is necessary that very sweet and rich grapes should be used if this process is to be followed. To insure sweetness, on the principles formerly laid down, the grapes of Tokay are partially dried before they are used; and this is also done for the wines of Cyprus, and for some of those of France and Spain. The remaining processes, consisting in sulphuring, &c., need not again be detailed, as they are nearly the same in all countries.

In Oporto, for the dry wines, the practice is to carry on the complete fermentation of the must in the vats. The wine is then introduced into large tuns, capable of holding twenty-five pipes each, and at this stage the brandy is added at the discretion of the maker. In Madeira, the second or insensible fermentation is effected in pipes; and at the end of three months the wine is racked, when a certain portion of brandy is added. In both these practices it would seem as if the union of the brandy with the wine was less perfect than it might be rendered by a different management of this part of the process. Hence probably it arises, in a great measure, that the taste of brandy is so sensible in many of these wines. In the best, the quantity is said to be about a twentieth part; but in the worst class of Port wines it seems sometimes to amount to a fifth or more. The process followed in making Sherry is rather more complicated. The grapes in this case are first slightly dried, and then sprinkled with quicklime. They are then wetted with brandy when introduced into the press, and a further portion is again added to the must before fermentation. It is highly probable that by this practice the brandy is more perfectly combined in the wine, and the fluid rendered more uniform; and hence also probably it arises that the taste of brandy is not to be perceived in genuine Sherry, though often found in those baser imitations which are manufactured from the tasteless wines of the Canary Islands, and of other parts of Spain. The remainder of the process for Sherry consists in racking repeatedly, at intervals of a month or two, fresh brandy in small quantities being added at each stage of this process.

In conclusion, we remark, that in the attempts to make wines in our own country from native fruits, the same rules are of universal application, and that an attention to them would render these domestic processes more complete than they now are, and the results more valuable. In Britain also it is easy to make very good wine from immature grapes, by the addition of sugar in the necessary proportions; and these can be procured in almost any season, so that this might even become an object of a petty domestic commerce. Nor is the manufacture limited to the fruit alone, since the leaves and tendrils, by infusion, admit of the same treatment, and with the same results. Very tolerable wine, perfectly resembling the wines of France, can thus be made, and at an expense of little more than the very moderate cost of the sugar. (z. z. z.)

The following table shows the number of gallons of foreign wine imported into the united kingdom, the quantities upon which duty has been paid for home consumption, and the quantities exported; also the quantities retained for home consumption, after deducting the amount exported subsequently to the payment of duty; for the year ended the 5th January 1841.
[table]
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