Moreover, when a wine has a very pronounced defect, it can rarely be used alone, either because deficient in spirit or in color, or because the vice cannot be entirely destroyed.
It would also be a mistake to suppose that the flavor of a diseased wine would be rendered inappreciable by mixing and distributing it throughout a large number of casks of sound wine; oftener the latter would be more or less injured by the operation. The defect of such a wine should first be removed by treating it by itself, and then it should be mixed only with the commonest wine in the cellar.
Each defect and disease will be treated under its proper name, the cause indicated, with the means to be employed to prevent, diminish, or to remove it.
The doses in all cases, unless otherwise indicated, are according to Mr. Boireau, who gives what is required to treat 225 litres, but we have increased the dose to what is necessary for 100 gallons of wine in each case.
Any one can first try the experiment on a gallon or less by taking a proportional amount of the substances indicated, leaving the sample corked, in a cool place, for at least two days in ordinary cases, or for eight days in case the wine is fined.
NATURAL DEFECTS.
Earthy Flavor—Its Causes.—It is a natural defect in the wine, and consists of a bad taste by which the pulp and the skins of the grapes are affected before fermentation. It occurs in wine made from grapes grown on low, wet, swampy land, and on land too heavily manured, or fertilized with substances which communicate a bad flavor. He says that this must not be confounded with the natural flavor and bouquet of the wine. Contrary to the opinion of those œnologues who attribute this defective flavor to the presence of essential oils, he believes that there is a sensible difference between the natural flavor (séve) and the earthy flavor. In fact, the flavor and bouquet of wines made from grapes of the same variety, but grown in different vineyards, present considerable differences, which are due to the different natures of the soils, to the different processes in wine making, to climate, exposure, age of the wine, etc. On the other hand, the taste and odor produced by the natural flavor and bouquet are not entirely developed till the wine is old, and the clearing is complete; while the bad taste transmitted from the soil through the sap, instead of increasing with age, diminishes, and often finally disappears. The reason is that this taste being communicated principally by the coloring matters of the skins, diminishes with the deposit of these matters, according as the wine becomes clear. It follows that certain wines may have a good flavor, and even acquire a bouquet in aging, which while young had a disagreeable earthy flavor.
He instances the wines of several crops, treated by him, having a fine color, mellowness, and 10 per cent. of alcohol, which in their early years had an earthy flavor so pronounced that it might almost have been taken for a mouldy taste. This taste diminished gradually, with proper care, and finally disappeared toward the third year; the natural flavor then developed itself, and the wines acquired an agreeable bouquet in bottles.
Grapes from young vines planted in moist land, have an earthy flavor more pronounced than those from older vines, grown in the same situations, and this flavor is generally more developed in the heavy-yielding common varieties than in the fine kinds.
How Prevented.—This flavor may be sometimes diminished or destroyed by draining the soil of the vineyard, aerating the vines when too crowded, and by avoiding the planting of trees in the vineyard. If it comes from too much manure, less should be used, and less wood left on the vines.