| Name, &c. | Alcohol of ·7937 per cent. by weight | Proof spirit per cent. by volume | |
| Port | Weakest | 14·97 | 31·31 |
| Mean of 7 samples | 16·20 | 34·91 | |
| Strongest | 17·10 | 37·27 | |
| White | 14·97 | 31·31 | |
| Sherry | Weakest | 13·98 | 30·84 |
| Mean of 13 wines, excluding those very long kept in cask | 15·37 | 33·59 | |
| Strongest | 16·17 | 35·12 | |
| Mean of 9 wines long kept in cask in the East Indies | 14·72 | 31·30 | |
| Madre da Xeres | 16·90 | 37·06 | |
| Madeira | Long kept in cask in the East Indies | Strongest 16·90 | 37·06 |
| Weakest 14·09 | 30·86 | ||
| Teneriffe (long in cask at Calcutta) | 13·84 | 30·21 | |
| Cercial | 15·45 | 33·65 | |
| Lisbon (dry) | 16·14 | 34·71 | |
| Shiraz | 12·95 | 28·30 | |
| Amontillado | 12·63 | 27·60 | |
| Claret (a first growth of 1811) | 7·72 | 16·95 | |
| Chateau-Latour (ditto 1825) | 7·78 | 17·06 | |
| Rosan (second growth of 1825) | 7·61 | 16·74 | |
| Ordinary Claret (Vin Ordinaire) | 8·99 | 18·96 | |
| Rivesaltes | 9·31 | 22·35 | |
| Malmsey | 12·86 | 28·17 | |
| Rüdesheimer. 1st quality | 8·40 | 18·44 | |
| Rüdesheimer. Inferior | 6·90 | 15·19 | |
| Hambacher. Superior quality | 7·35 | 16·15 | |
II. Quantity of Alcohol (sp. gr. ·825[270] at 60° Fahr.) in 100 parts of Wine by volume.
[270] Alcohol of ·825 contains 92·6% of real or anhydrous alcohol; or, in the language of the Excise, is about 621⁄2% o.p., and in round numbers may be said to be of about twice the strength of brandy or rum, as usually sold.
| Names of Wines. | Alcoholic content. | Authority. |
| Alba Flora | 17·26 | Brande. |
| Barsac | 13·86 | do. |
| Bucellas | 18·49 | do. |
| Burgundy (average) | 14·57 | do. |
| Ditto | 12·16 | Prout. |
| Calcavella (average) | 18·69 | Brande. |
| Cape Madeira (do.) | 20·51 | do. |
| Cape Muschat | 18·25 | do. |
| Champagne (average) | 12·61 | do. |
| Ditto | 12·20 | Fontenelle. |
| Claret (average) | 15·10 | Brande. |
| Colares | 19·75 | do. |
| Constantia (White) | 19·75 | do. |
| Ditto (Red) | 18·92 | do. |
| Ditto (average) | 14·50 | Prout. |
| Côte Rôtie | 12·32 | Brande. |
| Currant | 20·55 | do. |
| Elder | 8·79 | do. |
| Frontignac (Rivesalte) | 12·79 | do. |
| Gooseberry | 11·84 | do. |
| Grape (English) | 18·11 | do. |
| Hermitage (Red) | 12·32 | do. |
| Ditto (White) | 17·43 | do. |
| Hock (average) | 12·08 | do. |
| Lachryma Christi | 19·70 | do. |
| Lisbon | 18·94 | do. |
| Lissa (average) | 25·41 | do. |
| Ditto (do.) | 15·90 | Prout. |
| Lunel | 15·52 | Brande. |
| Madeira (average) | 22·27 | do. |
| Ditto (do.) | 21·20 | Prout. |
| Malaga | 17·26 | Brande. |
| Ditto | 18·94 | do. |
| Malmsey Madeira | 16·40 | do. |
| Marsala (average) | 25·09 | do. |
| Ditto (do.) | 18·40 | Prout. |
| Nice | 14·63 | Brande. |
| Orange (average) | 11·26 | do. |
| Port (do.) | 20·64 | Prout. |
| Ditto (do.) | 22·96 | Brande. |
| Raisin (do.) | 25·41 | do. |
| Ditto (do.) | 15·90 | Prout. |
| Red Madeira (do.) | 20·35 | Brande. |
| Roussillon (do.) | 18·13 | do. |
| Sauterne | 14·22 | do. |
| Shiraz | 15·52 | do. |
| Sherry (average) | 19·17 | do. |
| Ditto (do.) | 23·80 | Prout. |
| Syracuse | 20·00 | do. |
| Ditto | 15·28 | Brande. |
| Teneriffe | 19·79 | do. |
| Tent | 13·30 | do. |
| Tokay | 9·88 | do. |
| Vidonia | 19·25 | do. |
| Vin de Grave | 13·94 | do. |
| Zante | 17·05 | do. |
Composition. The constituents of wine are—alcohol, which is one of its principal ingredients, and on which its power of producing intoxication depends; sugar, which has escaped the process of fermentation, and which is most abundant in the sweet wines, as tokay, tent, frontignac, &c.; extractive, derived chiefly from the husk of the grape, and is extracted from it by the newly formed alcohol; tartar, or bitartrate of potassa, which constitutes the most important portion of the saline matter of wine; odoriferous matter, imparting the characteristic vinous odour, depending chiefly upon the presence of œnanthic acid and ether; bouquet, arising from essential oil or amyl-compounds, probably existing under the form of ethers. Besides these, small quantities of tannin, gum, acetic and malic acid, acetic ether, lime, &c., are found in wine. The specific gravity of wine depends on the richness and ripeness of the grapes used in its manufacture, the nature of the fermentation and its age. It varies from about ·970 to 1·041.
Purity. The most frequent species of fraud in the wine trade is the mixing of wines of inferior quality with those of a superior grade. In many cases the inferior kinds of foreign wines are flavoured and substituted for the more expensive ones. This is commonly practised with Cape wines, which, after having a slight ‘nuttiness’ communicated to it by bitter almonds or peach kernels, a lusciousness or fulness by honey, and additional strength by a little plain spirit or pale brandy, is made to undergo the operation of ‘fretting in,’ and is then sold for ‘sherry.’ Formerly, it was a common practice of ignorant wine-dealers to add a little litharge or acetate of lead to their inferior wines to correct their acidity, but it is believed that this highly poisonous substance is now never employed in this country, ‘salt of tartar’ being made to perform the same duty. The lead which is frequently detected in bottled wine, and which often causes serious indisposition, may be generally traced to shot being carelessly left in the bottles, and not to wilful fraud. Sherry is commonly coloured in Spain by the addition of must boiled down to 1⁄5 of its original volume; and in England, by burnt brown sugar, or spirit colouring. Amontillado (a very nutty wine) is frequently added to sherries deficient in flavour. Various other ingredients, as the essential oil of almonds, bitter almonds in substance, cherry-laurel leaves, cherry-laurel water, &c., are also employed for a like purpose. In Portugal the juice of elderberries is very commonly added to port wine to increase its colour, and extract of rhatany for the double purpose of improving its colour and imparting an astringent taste. In England beet-root, Brazil wood, the juices of elderberries and bilberries, the pressed cake of elder wine, extract of logwood, &c., are frequently added to port to deepen its colour; and oak sawdust, kino, alum, and extract
of rhatany, to increase its astringency. But the most common adulterant of port wine, both in Portugal and this country, is ‘jerupiga,’ or ‘geropiga,’ a compound of elder juice, brown sugar, grape juice, and crude Portuguese brandy. That imported here contains about 45% of proof spirit, and is allowed by the Custom-house authorities to be mixed with port wine in bond. A factitious bouquet is also commonly given to wine by the addition of sweetbriar, orris root, clary, orange flowers, elder flowers, esprit de petit grain, &c.
Tests. These, for the most part, are applicable to all fermented liquors:
1. Richness in alcohol. This may be found by any of the methods noticed under Alcoholmetey, Porter, and Tincture.
2. Saccharine and EXTRACTIVE MATTER. The sp. gr. corresponding to the alcoholic strength, last found, is deducted from the real sp. gr. of the sample, the difference divided by ·0025, or multiplied by 400, gives the weight of solid matter (chiefly sugar) in oz. per gallon (nearly).