Classification of The following is a list of well-known types of wines, arranged according to the countries where produced: For convenience we may group some of the leading wines as to color and taste, although it should be remembered that many of them are made in color both red and white, in taste, sweet and dry.
Alcoholic Strength, etc., of The figures in the following table have been taken from the various analyses by competent authori.
It may here be noted that many chemical analyses of European wints have been made and the data thus obtained have been used for the purpose of arriving at a standard for judg ing wines. In this way it is possible to deter mine the purity and quality of any type of wine. The limits of composition and the ratios which have been adopted in European countries for applying analytical results in judging the purity and quality of wines, togetht r with a number of analyses of American wines, have been compiled by Dr. W. D. Bigelow of United States Department of Agriculture. Consult Bureau of Chemistry Bulletin No. 59. 'The Composition of American Wines.) 1900.
The standards which have hero adopted for European wines are met in all particulars by the best American wines. This is shown by the chemical analyses of American wines re ceiving awards at the Paris Exposition of 1900. (Consult Bulletin No. 72, Bureau of Chemistry. United States Department of Agriculture, 1903). According to this report, °the percentage of alcohol in the samples of dry wines conforms to the standards that have been adopted for Furopean wines. The ratio of alcohol to ex tract and the sum of the alcohol expressed in grams per litre and the total acidity expressed as grams per WO cubic centimeters conform to the ratios adopted in France for wines to which neither alcohol nor water has been added' It is also stated that the percentage of acids in the samples examined conforms to the stand ards of the wine-producing countries. These and other facts go to prove that our American wines challenge favorable comparison with European wines. It is only a few foreign types of special excellence which surpass those of the same kind that we produce. In all respects in purity, color, taste, bouquet, etc.— the average
American wines are better than the average wines of Europe. Consult Atwood, Wm. B., (Enological Studies> (in Bulletins No. 140 and No. 145, Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington 1911) ; Vance, Lee J., Some Characteristics of American Wines' in Original Communica tions, Eighth International Congress of Applied Chemistry, 1912, Vol. XIV, p 173); Aschi, Chas. S., (Interpretation of the 'Results of Wine Analysis' (in Original Communications, Eighth International Congress of Applied Chemistry, Vol. XVIII, p. 17) • consult also various papers in the Report of the International Congress of Viticulture, at San Francisco, Cal., 1915.
The Wine Production of the wine production of every country, and, there fore, of the world, varies greatly from year to year, due for the most part to climatic or weather conditions. Thus when the season is unfavorable and the vines bear light crops, the wine output falls below normal.
The great European War, which broke out in the summer of 1914, did not have the im mediate effect of unduly decreasing the wine production of that year. But in the following year, the labor shortage and the consequent neglect of the vineyards, combined with un usually bad weather, resulted in the smallest wine crops in Europe in the last 50 years.
The following figures, which are compiled from official sources, show the wide fluctuations in the vintages of the leading wine-making countries of the world for three recent years: in the United States has been from 45,000,000 to 50,000,000 gallons per annum.
However, the consumption of wine has slowly increased from year to year in the United States, and this increase would have been much larger if there had been better means of distribution and if there had not been so much unfavorable legislation. Many people still need to be educated to the use of light wine with their meals, such as is the cdstom in the grape-growing countries of Eti iepe, where almost everyone—men, women and children—drink the wine of their country daily at table with their other food, and they are among the most sober, thrifty, industrious and temperate people of the world.