"The manufacture of wine is thus a many-sided art; and he who does not understand it, or knows not how to guide and direct the powers of Nature to his own purposes, may as well give up all hopes of success in it."
So far Dr. Gall; and to the intelligent and unbiased mind, the truth and force of these remarks will be apparent, without further extending or explaining them. How absurd, then, the blind ravings of those who talk about "natural" wines, and would condemn every addition of sugar and water to the must by man, when Nature has not fully done her part, as adulteration and fraud. Why, there is no such thing as a "natural wine;" for wine—good wine—is the product of art, and a manufacture from beginning to end. Would we not think that parent extremely cruel, as well as foolish, who would have her child without clothing, simply because Nature had allowed it to be born without it? Would not the child suffer and die, because its mother failed to aid Nature in her work, by clothing and feeding it when it is yet unable to feed and clothe itself? And yet, would not that wine-maker act equally foolish who has it within his power to remedy the deficiencies of Nature with such means as she herself supplies in good season, and which ought and would be in the must but for unfavorable circumstances, over which we have no control? Wine thus improved is just as pure as if the sugar and water had naturally been in the grapes in right proportions; just as beneficial to health; and only the fanatical "know-nothing" can call it adulterated. But the prejudices will disappear before the light of science and truth, however much ignorance may clamor against it. Galileo, when forced to abjure publicly his great discovery of the motion of the earth around the sun as a heresy and lie, murmured between his teeth the celebrated words, "And yet it moves." It did move; and the theory is now an acknowledged truth, with which every schoolboy is familiar. Thus will it be with improved wine-making. It will yet be followed, generally and universally, as sure as the public will learn to distinguish between good and poor wine.
Let us now observe for a moment the change which fermentation makes in converting the must into wine. The nitrogeneous compounds—vegetable albumen, gluten—which are contained in the grape, and which are dissolved in the must as completely as the sugar, under certain circumstances turn into the fermenting principle, and so change the must into wine. This change is brought about by the fermenting substance coming into contact with the air, and receiving oxygen from it, in consequence of which it coagulates, and shows itself in the turbid state of must, or young wine. The coagulation of the lees takes place but gradually, and just in the degree the exhausted lees settle. The sugar gradually turns into alcohol. The acids partly remain as tartaric acid, are partly turned into ether, or settle with the lees, chrystallize, and adhere to the bottom of the casks. The etheric oil, or aroma, remains, and develops into bouquet; also the tannin, to a certain degree. The albumen and gluten principally settle, although a small portion of them remains in the wine. The coloring matter and extractive principle remain, but change somewhat by fermentation.
Thus it is the must containing a large amount of sugar needs a longer time to become clear than that containing but a small portion of it; therefore, many southern wines retain a certain amount of sugar undecomposed, and they are called sweet, or liqueur wines; whereas, wines in which the whole of the sugar has been decomposed are called sour or dry wines.
I have thought it necessary to be thus explicit to give my readers an insight into the general principles which should govern us in wine-making. I have quoted freely from the excellent work of Dr. Gall. We will now see whether and how we can reduce it to practice. I will try and illustrate this by an example.
NORMAL MUST.
"Experiments continued for a number of years have proved that, in favorable seasons, grape juice contains, on the average, in 1,000 lbs.:
| Sugar, | 240 lbs. |
| Acids, | 6 lbs. |
| Water, | 754 lbs. |
| 1,000 lbs. |
This proportion would constitute what I call a normal must. But now we have an inferior season, and the must contains, instead of the above proportions, as follows: