In these processes of mixing consists the great art of cellar management, and to such an extent is it eanied on, both abroad and in England, that it may be e,onfidently aseerted that few wines ever reach the consumer in an unmixed or natural state.
Strengthening -Mmes.Wines are often strengthened by the addition of alcohol, for the purpose of rendering them preservative and preventing alteration. The fortification is generally performed with Montpelier spirit, of 86°; it is preferable, however, to use spirit of about 58°, obtaiued by distillation. This method of fortifying wines is very defective, since it imparts to them a crude, rough flavour and odour, which will not permit them to be used for a very long period. To avoid this, the following mixtures may be employed with advantage, instead of the raw spirit : Water .. 70 litres.
White sugar 6 kilos.
Carbonate of soda .. .. 30 grm.
Pure tannin .. 15 Alcohol (86°) .. 25 litres.
Or better still : Water .. 57 litres.
White sugar .. .. 6 kilos.
Carbonate of soda .. 30 grm.
Pure tannin .. .. 15 Brandy (58°) litres.
In making the first of these preparations, the sugar and carbonate of soda are dissolved in the water, and the spirit is then added. For the second, the sugar, previously dissolved on the fire in a little water, is added to the brandy, then the carbonate or soda, also dissolved in a little water, and finally the rest of the water is added. These preparations improve much on being kept. Their use will preserve wines from many maladies, and will even restore those which have been suffered to spoil.
Imitation of Wines.The practice of adding various substances to inferior wines, in order to pass them off as wines of great age and value, has become extremely wide. All sorts of tinctures and infusions are employed in making these imitations; and it will be well to give here the recipes from which they are chiefly prepared, and then to point out briefly the methods used to imitate certain wines of well-known brands. The following are a few recipes for these tinctures : Tincture of Iris.
Alcohol (50° to 58°) .. 1 litre.
Florentian iris (powdered) .. .. 125 grrn.
Allow to stand for twenty-four hours; then distil to obtain 1 litre.
Tincture of Strawberry roots.
Alcohol (85° to 90°) .. .. 5 litres.
Dry strawberry roots (powdered) .. .. 500 grm.
Tincture of Iron.
Oxide of iron .. .. 500 grm.
Crystallized tartaric acid .. 500 Water .. . . .. 2 litres.
Dissolve these by heat.
Tincture of the dried husks of nuts.
Alcohol (85° to 90°) .. .. .. 5 litres .
Dried husks . .. .. 500 grm.
Infusion of Raspberries.
Alcohol .. .. .. . .. 10 litres.
Raspberries (ripe and picked) .. . .. 10 kilos.
Tincture of Almonds.
Alcohol (85° t,o 90°) .. .. 5 litres.
Essence of bitter almonds .. 5 grm.
These preparations, after about a month or so, may be utilized in imitating various different wines. if it be required to make Burgundy, Macon, or Bordeaux, those wines are chosen which most resemble the one required in, age, colour, strength, &c. For Burgundy, a small quantity of the infusion of raspberries is added to each cask, either alone or with a little of the tincture of almonds. For Macon, the infusion of the husks of nuts and the tincture of strawberry roots are employed, a litre of each being added. Fur Bordeaux, the tincture of iron is used to produce the characteristic roughness ; 1 to 2 litres of the infusion of raspberries to every cask of 280 litres ; and a minute quantity of the tincture of iris to give the bouquet. The exact quantity of these tinctures required to give the right flavour or bouquet must be left to the dealer, as they depend entirely upon the nature of the wines dealt with.
Various shades of colour are imparted to wine, when necessary, by adding small quantities of tinctures made from different foreign woods. Some wines, owing to age, begin to lose their characteristic qualities ; this is frequently prevented by adding to it wine of the same brand, but perfectly new, by which means the old wine regains its freshness, colour, or bouquet. As a rule, however, the older the wine the finer does it become and the more agreeable is it to the palate. For this reason, many plans have been resorted to in order to make a new wine pass for an old one. These methods rarely succeed in deceiving a practised taster, and since they almost always injure the wine to some extent, they are not by any means to be recommended.