Respecting the relative amount of acidity in different wines much error prevails, not only in the popular mind, but among medical men. Dr. Praia (' On Stomach and Renal Diseases; 4th edit., p. 8) affirms that sound Sherry contains less acid and sugar than any other wine But severs( very careful experiments on different wines by no means confirm this statement. If applied to Manzanilla, which is the favourite wine of the Spaniards, it is true ; but that wine is Re:Indy known in this country, however well it deserves to be so, as its freedom from adventitious brandy and from much acidity, with its slight degree of bitterness, a quality to be prized in wine, strongly recommend it as a summer wine. It will be found that Port wine, both red and white, has lees free acid than even some of the finest Sherries, though this is not confirmed by Dr. Jones' Appendix to Mulder. Madeira has long laboured under a most unjust opprobrium in this respect. That bad Madeira, and the wine which, though produced elsewhere, was sold for it, contain much acid, and readily disagreed with the stomach, may be perfectly true ; but genuine first-rate Madeira has certainly very little, especially after a voyage to the East Indies. •` The Madeira wines had fallen off in quality from over-shipment, and thereby gave further effect to this taste for Sherry. In this a useful lesson was given to all wine-growing countries." The observations of Dr Paris are too just to be omitted :—" What, for instance, is the acid con tained in Madeira, and against which so many mighty objections have been urgedl—An atom merely of tartar I And yet the person who fancies that his digestion can be deranged by its action, will swallow twenty times the quantity of the same ingredient in sonic other shape, with perfect indiflerenee and impunity." " Before we quit," says the same author, " the subject of vinous acidity, I shall beg to say a few words upon its supposed influence in exciting paroxysms of gout. That such attacks have followed particular potations, I du not mean to deny ; but a slight excess of any kind, whether in diet or exercise, will excite the disease in those predisposed to it. Where the train is laid, an additional glass of Claret may have acted as the match ; but in all such cases the explosion would have equally taken place had, instead of Claret, some other exciting cause fired it" (` On Diet,' p. 198). Liebig unhesitatingly affirms that, while to the free acid the exquisite bouquet of the Rhine wines is owing, to the tartar present ip them some of their most salutary properties belong. To this he attributes the Ma monity enjoyed by those on the Rhine and Moselle, indeed of all who use the German wines, from the uric acid diathesis. This statement of the utility of these wines might be suspected to originate in national partiality ; but it is abundantly confirmed by Dr. I'rout and many others who have attended to the subject, and who have investigated it free from prejudice or favour. An occasional use of them is objec tionahle, but the habitual use is most salutary. (See Prout, 4th edit., p. 210.) Being light, they can be drunk without dilution, which is preferable to reducing a strong wine by adding water, which is much more prone to produce acidity in the stomach. irrout, p. 9.) The water furnishing the oxygen and hydrogen necessary to convert the alcohol into acetic acid, probably favours the production of the acid. Moreover, wine diluted with water more readily produces intoxication than the pure wine would do ; perhaps, as Dr. Paris has suggested, by applying the stimulus to a larger surface of the stomach (' On Diet,' p. 191).
The classification of wines has engaged the attention of almost all writers who have treated of them ; but no satisfactory one can be presented. Jullien, in his very valuable Topographic) de tons les %%nobles connus,' has given a geographical one, followed by an arrangement of the winos of each country into five or fewer classes, distinguishing the wines, simply so called, from the vine de liqueurs, and subdividing each into the red and white. This for all commercial purposes is sufficient ; but for dietetical, or as a guide to individuals desirous of procuring wine for their own consumption, is futile. Tho greater number of the different kinds mentioned are never heard of beyond the district where they are produced, either from being entirely consumed by the inhabitants, or from the diaiculty or expense of transport. or from deficiency in those qualities which ensure their preservation or recommend them to distant lands. This is especially the case with what are termed the fourth ur fifth growths, which are seldom, even in good years, worth the expense of transport, if sold under their real names and at their just value. The firs,:, second, and even third growths in good years bring a price on the spot which puts it out of the power of persons not possessed of large capitals to obtain even a small stock of them. The principal English shipping houses at Bordeaux and the first-rate houses in this country make their purchases only in the good vintages ; and it is their competition which then raises the price, and the absence of their demand which makts it sink again in the unfavourable seasons. First-rate wine must always
he high priced, if it ho borne in mind tirat the market-value of a renowned vineyard is very great ; that the territorial extent of such is in general very limited ; that the expense of cultivation is very high ; that these expenses are as great in the bad years, when they bring no return, as in the good years ; that the recurrence of favourable vintages are rare and distant ; and that constant superintendence and expense are necessary till the wine reaches perfection—uot to mention the loss from evaporation, ullage, breakage, and other accidents, and to say nothing of the accumulating interest of the original purchase money for twenty or thirty years. Besides all these, the duty, though paid in the first instance by the merchant, is recovered by a charge on the consumer.
Attention is now being paid to the culture of the grape and the making of wine in the United States, South Africa, and Australia ; with a view of determining whether temperate climates, and English or Anglo-American industry, can introduce this as a profitable culture, The tasto of lingliall wine-drinkers has been unquestionably vitiated by the long use of highly.brandied Spanish and Portuguese nines; the taste for light German and French wines, even if the price were law, is by no means extensive in England ; and as the now vintages above named would bear more resemblance to those of France and Germany than to those of Spain and Portugal, they will have some difficulties to contend against. Nevertheless, it is highly desirable that the new attempts should have a fair trial. When Professor Wilson reported on the New York Exhibition of 1853, he stated that vineyards are rapidly extending in that country, principally In Ohio ; twelve kinds of grapes are cultivated for the purpose; and the matter is an interesting one to English colonists, seeing that the climate of Ohio is very much like that of many of our colonies.
Of the South African wino which is now coming over to this country, it is to be regretted that the importers give it such names as " South African Port," " South African Sherry," &e. If it be a pure and plea sant wino, it should depend on its own reputation, and not on the attempts to imitate what are really mixtures of wine, brandy, and adulterants.
In 1850. the Society of Arts awarded a silver medal to the grower of four kinds of wine from Australia, three white and one red. Two of the white kinds were satisfactory ; one much resembled Cape wine, while the other was a dry and clean wine, with considerable body. The red wine was light, clear-tasted, and exactly like Bordeaux. These wines were made by Mr. Marking, in 1853 and 1854, at Irrawory, in the Hunter district of New South Wales. He found that the grapes suitable in Europe would be no criterion for those best fitted for the climate of New South Wales. The colony contains a large area of good vine land, some of which has been made to yield 1000 gallons per acre. It is believed that the freight would not necessarily be large, for the wine would form good ballast for wool ships to England. All the operations for making Australian wine are fully described in the Society of Arts' Journal for 1856. Professor Owen, as one of the jurors of the Paris Exhibition of 1855, said, " In the department for Australia were evidences of the increasing importations from the vineyards of New South Wales. The specimens of wine exhibited by Messrs. Macarthur, King, and Brown, are deserving of special notice. The wines included white wines akin to those of the Rhine ; red light wines like those of Bordeaux ; Mousseux varieties with a bouquet, body, and flavour equal to the finest Champagne; Muscats and other sweet wines rivalling the Montignac of the Cape. Some of these wines were of the vintage of 1839, bottled in 1842; others had made the voyage round the world in wood. The verdict of the experts (judges) was much in their favour; for, whereas, on the wines of Europe the numbers indicative of quality ranged from as low as 2 to 18, the lowest number assigned to the Australian specimens was 7, the highest 14, and the average number 104, being as high as that of the wines of Austria, and much exceeding that of the wines of the Cape, or any other wine-producing colony." It has been since stated, however, that the Australians themselves care little for their own wine; those who can afford to drink wine at ail. buy the port and sherry, the claret and champagne, of Europe. There is doubtless much of habit and conventionalism in this ; nevertheless the exertions of the planters are worthy of all commendation.
Of wines, real or sophisticated, other than the juice of the grape, we speak in Wilms, Burrisn. Of the extent and peculiarities of the trade, details will be found under WINE AND SPIRIT TRADE.