Ropiness or viscidity of wines.—The cause of this phenomenon, which renders wine unfit for drinking, was altogether unknown, till M. François, an apothecary of Nantes, demonstrated that it was owing to an azotized matter, analogous to gliadine (gluten); and in fact it is the white wines, especially those which contain the least tannin, which are subject to this malady. He also pointed out the proper remedy, in the addition of tannin under a rather agreeable form, namely, the bruised berries of the mountain-ash (sorbier), in a somewhat unripe state; of which one pound, well stirred in, is sufficient for a barrel. After agitation, the wine is to be left in repose for a day or two, and then racked off. The tannin by this time will have separated the azotized matter from the liquor, and removed the ropiness. The wine is to be fined and bottled off.
The taste of the cask, which sometimes happens to wine put into casks which had remained long empty, is best remedied by agitating the wine for some time with a spoonful of olive oil. An essential oil, the chief cause of the bad taste, combines with the fixed oil, and rises with it to the surface.
According to a statement in the Dictionnaire Technologique, the annual produce of a hectare of vineyard, upon the average of 113 years, in the district of Volnay, is 1779 litres, which fetch 0·877 francs each, or 200 francs the piece of 228 litres, amounting in all to 1672 francs. Deducting for expenses and taxes (contributions) 572 francs, there remain 1100 francs of net proceeds; and as the value of the capital may be estimated at 23,000 francs, the profit turns out to be no more than 5 per cent. The net proceeds in the growths of Beaune, Nuits, &c., does not exceed 600 francs per hectare (2·4 acres), and therefore is equivalent to only 21⁄2 per cent. upon the capital.
The quantity of alcohol contained in different wines, has been made the subject of elaborate experiments by Brande and Fontenelle; but as it must evidently vary with different seasons, the results can be received merely as approximative. The only apparatus required for this research, is a small still and refrigeratory, so well fitted up as to permit none of the spirituous vapours to be dissipated. The distilled liquor should be received in a glass tube, graduated into one hundred measures, of such capacity as to contain the whole of the alcohol which the given measure of wine employed is capable of yielding. In the successive experiments, the quantity of wine used, and of spirit distilled over, being the same in volume, the relative densities of the latter will show at once the relative strengths of the wines. A very neat small apparatus has been contrived for the purpose of analyzing wines in this manner, by M. Gay Lussac. It is constructed, and sold at a moderate price, by M. Collardeau, No. 56, Rue Faubourg St. Martin, Paris. The proportion given by Brande ([Table I.]), has been reduced to the standard of absolute alcohol by Fesser; and that by Fontenelle ([Table II.]), to the same standard by Schubarth; as in the following tables:—
| Name of the Wine. | Sp. grav. | 100 measures, contain at 60° F. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alcohol of 0·825. | Absolute alcohol. | |||||||
| Port Wine | 0 | ·97616 | 21 | ·40 | 19 | ·82 | ||
| Do. | 0 | ·97200 | 25 | ·83 | 23 | ·92 | ||
| Mean | 0 | ·97460 | 23 | ·49 | 21 | ·75 | ||
| Madeira | 0 | ·97810 | 19 | ·34 | 17 | ·91 | ||
| Do. | 0 | ·97333 | 21 | ·42 | 22 | ·61 | ||
| Sherry | 0 | ·97913 | 18 | ·25 | 17 | ·00 | ||
| Do. | 0 | ·97700 | 19 | ·83 | 18 | ·37 | ||
| Bordeaux, Claret | 0 | ·97410 | 12 | ·91 | 11 | ·95 | ||
| Do. | 0 | ·97092 | 16 | ·32 | 15 | ·11 | ||
| Calcavella | 0 | ·97920 | 18 | ·10 | 16 | ·76 | ||
| Lisbon | 0 | ·97846 | 18 | ·94 | 17 | ·45 | ||
| Malaga | 0 | ·98000 | 17 | ·26 | 15 | ·98 | ||
| Bucellas | 0 | ·97890 | 18 | ·49 | 17 | ·22 | ||
| Red Madeira | 0 | ·97899 | 18 | ·40 | 17 | ·04 | ||
| Malmsey | 0 | ·98090 | 16 | ·40 | 15 | ·91 | ||
| Marsala | 0 | ·98190 | 15 | ·26 | 14 | ·31 | ||
| Do. | 0 | ·98000 | 17 | ·26 | 15 | ·98 | ||
| Champagne (rose) | 0 | ·98608 | 11 | ·30 | 10 | ·46 | ||
| ChaDo.agne(white) | 0 | ·98450 | 12 | ·80 | 11 | ·84 | ||
| Burgundy | 0 | ·98300 | 14 | ·53 | 13 | ·34 | ||
| Do. | 0 | ·98540 | 11 | ·95 | 11 | ·06 | ||
| White Hermitage | 0 | ·97990 | 17 | ·43 | 16 | ·14 | ||
| Red do. | 0 | ·98495 | 12 | ·32 | 11 | ·40 | ||
| Hock | 0 | ·98290 | 14 | ·37 | 13 | ·31 | ||
| Do. | 0 | ·98873 | 8 | ·88 | 8 | ·00 | ||
| Vin de Grave | 0 | ·98450 | 12 | ·80 | 11 | ·84 | ||
| Frontignac | 0 | ·98452 | 17 | ·79 | 11 | ·84 | ||
| Côte-Rotí | 0 | ·98495 | 12 | ·27 | 11 | ·36 | ||
| Roussillon | 0 | ·98005 | 17 | ·24 | 15 | ·96 | ||
| Cape Madeira | 0 | ·97924 | 18 | ·11 | 16 | ·77 | ||
| Muscat | 0 | ·97913 | 18 | ·25 | 17 | ·00 | ||
| Constantia | 0 | ·97770 | 19 | ·75 | 18 | ·29 | ||
| Tinto | 0 | ·98399 | 13 | ·30 | 12 | ·32 | ||
| Schiraz | 0 | ·98176 | 15 | ·52 | 14 | ·35 | ||
| Syracuse | 0 | ·98200 | 15 | ·28 | 14 | ·15 | ||
| Nice | 0 | ·98263 | 14 | ·63 | 13 | ·64 | ||
| Tokay | 0 | ·98760 | 9 | ·88 | 9 | ·15 | ||
| Raisin wine | 0 | ·97205 | 25 | ·77 | 23 | ·86 | ||
| Drained grape wine | 0 | ·97925 | 18 | ·11 | 16 | ·77 | ||
| Lachrymæ Christi | — | 19 | ·70 | 18 | ·24 | |||
| Currant wine | 0 | ·97696 | 20 | ·55 | 19 | ·03 | ||
| Gooseberry wine | 0 | ·98550 | 11 | ·84 | 10 | ·96 | ||
| Elder wine | - | 0 | ·98760 | 9 | ·87 | 9 | ·14 | |
| Cyder | ||||||||
| Perry | ||||||||
| Brown Stout | 0 | ·99116 | 6 | ·80 | 6 | ·30 | ||
| Ale | 0 | ·98873 | 8 | ·88 | 8 | ·00 | ||
| Porter | — | 4 | ·20 | 3 | ·89 | |||
| Rum | 0 | ·93494 | 53 | ·68 | 49 | ·71 | ||
| Hollands | 0 | ·93855 | 51 | ·60 | 47 | ·77 | ||
| Scotch whiskey | — | 54 | ·32 | 50 | ·20 | |||
| Irish whiskey | — | 53 | ·90 | 49 | ·91 | |||
| Name of the Wine. | Absolute alcohol. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Roussillon (Eastern Pyrenees.) | |||
| Rive-saltes | 18 | yrs. old | 9·156 |
| Banyulls | 18 | 9·223 | |
| Collyouvre | 15 | 9·080 | |
| Salces | 10 | 8·580 | |
| Department of the Aude. | |||
| Fitou and Leucaté | 10 | 8·568 | |
| Lapalme | 10 | 8·790 | |
| Sijeau | 8 | 8·635 | |
| Narbonne | 8 | 8·379 | |
| Lezignan | 10 | 8·173 | |
| Mirepeisset | 10 | 8·589 | |
| Carcasonne | 8 | 7·190 | |
| Department of l’Herault. | |||
| Nissau | 9 | 7·896 | |
| Beziers | 8 | 7·728 | |
| Montagnac | 10 | 8·108 | |
| Mèze | 10 | 7·812 | |
| Montpellier | 5 | 7·413 | |
| Lunel | 8 | 7·564 | |
| Frontignan | 5 | 7·098 | |
| Red Hermitage | 4 | 5·838 | |
| White do. | 7·056 | ||
| Burgundy | 4 | 6·195 | |
| Grave | 3 | 5·838 | |
| Champagne (sparkling) | 5·880 | ||
| Do. white do. | 5·145 | ||
| Do. rose | 4·956 | ||
| Bordeaux | 6·186 | ||
| Toulouse | 5·027 | ||
WINE, FAMILY, may be made by the following recipe:—Take black, red, white currants, ripe cherries (black hearts are the best), and raspberries, of each an equal quantity. To 4 pounds of the mixed fruit, well bruised, put 1 gallon of clear soft water; steep three days and nights, in open vessels, frequently stirring up the magma; then strain through a hair sieve; press the residuary pulp to dryness, and add its juice to the former. In each gallon of the mixed liquors dissolve 3 pounds of good yellow muscovado sugar; let the solution stand other three days and nights, frequently skimming and stirring it up; then tun it into casks, which should remain full, and purging at the bung-hole, about two weeks. Lastly, to every 9 gallons, put 1 quart of good Cognac brandy (but not the drugged imitations made in London with grain whiskey), and bung down. If it does not soon become fine, a steeping of isinglass may be stirred into the liquid, in the proportion of about half an ounce to 9 gallons. I have found that the addition of an ounce of cream of tartar to each gallon of the fermentable liquor, improves the quality of the wine, and makes it resemble more nearly the produce of the grape.