The wines of tlae South of France are strongly alcoholic, stimulating, and of a warm flavour. Some of them are highly aromatic and aaccharine and all possess a fine, delicate aroma. Those of Champagne and Burgundy are moderately alcoholic, full-bodied and delicately perfumed ; they are both red and white. The Spanish wines, port, sherry, and 1VIadeira, are the most alcoholic wines made; the former ia dark in colour and the two latter are white or golden ; all of them have an exquisite bouquet. The wines from the Rhine are dry and acid, of a light flavour, and poor in alcohol, and of a flue golden colour. Bordeaux wines are tonic and astringent, nutritive, stomachio, and of a delicate flavour and perfume. Those of Tokay, Alicante, Malaga, Malvoisie, and Cyprus are very saccharine, tonic, and stimulating.
Preservation of Wines.—The preservation of wine presents no serious difficulties provided that certain rules be carefully attended to. The principal conditions of success are the following :— 1. The more alcohol a wine contains, up to 18 or 20 per cent. by volume, the better it will keep.
2. It should also contain a good proportion of free sugar.
3. A wine, though rich in alcohol and poor in sugar, is more liable to spoil in proportion as it contains germs of nitrogenous organic) matter, whether soluble or insoluble, coagulable or non coagulable by heat.
From these conditions, it will he seen that when wine contains an average proportion of alcohol, or of alcohol and sugar, but when by repeated raekings all suspended matters have been removed, and if it contain sufficient tannin to effect the removal of soluble albuminous substances, and the processes of clarification have been scrupulously followed out, there is nothing to prevent its being preserved for an indefinite length of time, provided it be kept from the oxidizing action of the air.
The principal alterations s,nd maladies to which ill-made or carelessly stored wine is liable are acetone and viscous fermentation, excess of astringent or of colouring matters, ropiness, and bitter ness. These may all be avoided by careful attention to the rules -which have been given for the proper conduct of the various processes.
Testing Wine,—The good or bad qualities of a wine may be recognized hy the application of three senses—sight, smell, and taste. An eye secustoraed to the examination of wines can readily discover whether the colour is homogeneous or not, and whether it is natural or artificial. By the sense of smell, the aroma of different wines is distinguished one frorn another ; this method of examination becomes an almost infallible indiestor when the organs of smell are extremely sensitive. The
sense of taste, when carefully exereised, is the most to be relied on. When a wine is pure and un adulterated. the different component principles are blended together, forming a perfectly homogeneous whole, which leaves one flavour only upon the tongue and the roof of the mouth ; but when the wine is the result of a mixture, the constituents are not intimately combined, but merely loosely mixed. By keeping such wine in the mouth for a short time, the warmth volatilizes the lighter and more volatile constituents, rendering them at once sensible to the roof of the mouth, while the extractive and heavier matters are made evident to the tongue and lower part of the mouth ; if the wine has been diluted with water, it is detected at once by a practised taster, by a sensation of flatness and insipidity. Physical and chemical instruments, such as thermometers and cenometers, are frequently employed in testing the qualities of wines, in order to ascertain their vinous or saccharine richness.
Mixing Wines.—The mixing of wines is performed in order to rectify certain defects by bringing together two opposite qualities. Thus red wines are mixed with wines of too light a colour ; light wines, containing little alcohol, with stronger wines, in order to ensure their preservation, and so on. These mixtures, when judiciously made E,nd in proper proportions, always produce wines superior in quality to either of the two originally mixed ; they are generally more wholesome and more agreeable. The art of making such mixtures is a difficult one, since not only have the appearance, the taste, and the smell of the wine to be consulted, but also the taste of the consumer ; henee it is not possible to base it upon any definite rules.
The wines of Southern France are dark and heavy, but when mixed with white wines, obtained from a light, chalky soil, they yield splendid wines of a, beautiful, brilliant colour. If a fresh, sweet white wine is mixed with an acid wine, the product is also one of very good quality. A small quantity of a new wine, or two or three years old, added to an aged wine which has lost its fresh ness, or has begun to turn bitter, cornpletely restores it, and often quite removes the bitter flavour. Highly coloured red wines, when mixed with white ones which have become yellow, are much improved in flavour and quality.