10. Artificial bouquet. The substances added for this purpose may often be readily detected by a comparison of the sample with another of known purity.
Uses. The uses of wine as a beverage are too well known to require description. As a medicine, port wine is most esteemed as an astringent and tonic; and sherry and Madeira as stimulants and restoratives, in diseases where the acidity of the former would be
objectionable; champagne is reputed diuretic and excitant, but its effects are not of long duration; and the Rhenish wines are regarded as refrigerant, diuretic, and slightly aperient. Claret, Rhenish, and Moselle wines are said to be the most wholesome. In pharmacy, wine is used as a menstruum.
Management of wine.
Age. The sparkling wines are in their prime in from 18 to 30 months after the vintage, depending on the cellaring and climate. Weak wines, of inferior growths, should be drunk within 12 or 15 months, and be preserved in a very cool cellar. Sound, well-fermented, full-bodied still wines are improved by age, within reasonable limits, provided they be well preserved from the air, and stored in a cool place, having a pretty uniform temperature. See Maturation (below).
Bottling. The secret of bottling wine with success consists in the simple exercise of care and cleanliness. The bottles should be all sound, clean, and dry, and perfectly free from the least mustiness or other odour. The corks should be of the best quality, and immediately before being placed in the bottles should be compressed by means of a ‘cork-squeezer.’ For superior or very delicate wines, the corks are usually prepared by placing them in a copper or tub, covering them with weights to keep them down, and then pouring over them boiling water holding a little pearlash in solution. In this state they are allowed to remain for 24 hours, when they are well stirred about in the liquor, drained, and re-immersed for a second 24 hours in hot water, after which they are well washed and soaked in several successive portions of clean and warm rainwater, drained, dried out of contact with dust, put into paper bags, and hung up in a dry place for use. The wine should be clear and brilliant, and if it be not so, it must undergo the process of ‘fining’ before being bottled. In fact, it is a common practice with some persons to perform this operation whether the wine require it or not; as, if it had been mixed and doctored, it “amalgamates and ameliorates the various flavours.” The bottles, corks, and wine, being ready, a fine clear day should be preferably chosen for the bottling, and the utmost cleanliness and care should be exercised during the process. Great caution should also be observed to avoid shaking the cask so as to disturb the ‘bottoms.’ The remaining portion that cannot be drawn off clear should be passed through the ‘wine-bag,’ and, when bottled, should be set apart as inferior to the rest. The coopers, to prevent breakage and loss, place each bottle, before corking it, in a small bucket, having a bottom made of soft cork, and which is strapped on the knee of the bottler. They thus seldom break a bottle, though they ‘flog in’ the corks very hard. When the process is complete the bottles of wine are stored in a cool cellar, and on no account upright, or in damp straw,
but on their sides, in sweet, dry sawdust, or sand.
Bouquet. See Flavouring and Perfuming.
Brandying. Brandy is frequently added to weak or vapid wines, to increase their strength or to promote their preservation. In Portugal, one third of brandy is commonly added to port before shipping it for England, as without this addition it generally passes into the acetous fermentation during the voyage. A little good brandy is also usually added to sherry before it leaves Spain. By the regulation of the Customs of England, 10% of brandy may be added to wines in bond, and the increased quantity is only charged the usual duty on wine. The addition of brandy to wine injures its proper flavour, and hence it is chiefly made to port, sherry, and other wines, whose flavour is so strong as not to be easily injured. Even when brandy is added to wines of the latter description, they require to be kept for some time to recover their natural flavour. To promote this object, the wine-doctors employ the process called ‘fretting in,’ by which they effect the same change in 3 or 4 weeks, as would otherwise require some months, at the very least.
Cellaring. A wine-cellar should be dry at bottom, and either covered with good hard gravel or be paved with flags. Its gratings or windows should open towards the north, and it should be sunk sufficiently below the surface to ensure an equable temperature. It should also be sufficiently removed from any public thoroughfare, so as not to suffer vibration from the passing of carriages. Should it not be in a position to maintain a regular temperature, arrangements should be made to apply artificial heat in winter, and proper ventilation in summer.