Wine

Wine, the fermented juice of the grape, is a highly complex liquid, whose proximate constituents are exceedingly liable to change. The juice, technically termed 'must,' as obtained by pressure from the grapes, is a somewhat viscid fluid, having a strong tendency to spontaneous fermentation when exposed to the heat of the sun. The must consists chiefly of water holding in solution, or suspended in exceedingly minute division, grape-sugar (dextro-glucose and levo-glucose), pectin, gum, dextrine, fat, wax, albumen, gluten; an indefinite series of compounds termed extractives; tartaric acid, both free and combined with potassium, as potassium bitartrate (cream of tartar) and other earthy bases. Racemic and malic acids are also in general present, likewise traces of one or more of the following—magnesia, the oxides of iron and manganese, potassium sulphate, calcium phosphate, common salt, and silica. The juice having fermented and become wine consists (prior to doctoring, plastering, &c.), as before, chiefly of water, in which, however, are now held in solution or suspension various alcohols (chiefly ethylc), several compound ethers, and tartaric, racemic, malic, succinic, glycolic, oxalic, acetic, and tannic acids (tannin). It also contains (before sophistication) glycerine, trace of acetaldehyde and of butyric, propionic, and cœanthic acids. Cane-sugar is said to be absent in all natural wines; it is, however, added in the manufacture of Champagne and in certain other cases of wine-making. The colouring matter and the tannin of the red wines are undoubtedly largely imported into them from the skins and the grape-stones during fermentation. The tannin and the various acids are supposed to exert a preservative influence on the wine. In normally coloured wine the oxidation of the cœotannin of the seeds, stalks, and husks, and of the extractives of the juice, contributes largely to the result.

The Bouquet, or peculiar aromatic odour of wines, is dependent on one or other of the compound ethers—aceto-propylic, butylic, amylic, caprylic, buto-ethylc, caprylo-ethylc, capro-ethylc, pelargo-ethylc, tannic, or other ether. The bouquet of wines, according to Rommer's experiments, is said to pass with the yeast from one wine to another, that is if the ferment from the must of one district be made to set up the fermentation of must derived, say from the Champagne, Côte d'Or, or other celebrated districts; in each case the wine had the bouquet of the vintage from which the special ferment was taken. The general vinous odour, common to all wines, is supposed to be due to the presence of cœanthic ether. The character of the wine, however, largely depends on both soil and climate. Thus a certain variety of grape grown on the Rhine gives a species of Hock; the same grape raised in the valley of the Tagus yields Bucellas; while in the island of Madeira it gives a wine known as Sercial, of entirely different flavour from either. The quantity of sugar in grape-juice varies extremely. In the juice of very ripe grapes it may reach 40 per cent. According to Fontenelle, the juice produced in the south of France contains from 18 to 30 per cent.; while in the neighbourhood of Stuttgart Reuss determines it at from 13 to 25 per cent. In the low and variable temperature of Holland, the juice of the best grapes yields only 10 or 12 per cent. of sugar. The composition of the albuminous matter is not clearly determined. It probably varies at from 1 to $\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ per cent., and equals in weight only about $\backslash frac\{3\}\{50\}$th of the sugar present.

The saccharin contents of grape-juice range from 13 to 30 per cent. If we regard all this sugar as grape-sugar, $C\_6H\_\{12\}O\_6$, with a molecular weight of 180 (and it is from this sugar the alcohol, the essential constituent of wine, is derived), then each molecule of grape-sugar may be resolved, in the act of fermentation, into two molecules of alcohol, $C\_2H\_6O$, whose molecular weight is 92, and 2 molecules of carbon dioxide, $CO\_2$, whose molecular weight is 44, according to the equation—

provided that there is no loss; that is, under the most favourable conditions of fermentation, 180 parts (by weight) of grape-sugar (with the symbol $C\_6H\_\{12\}O\_6$) may yield 92 parts of alcohol; or, roughly speaking, 2 parts by weight of sugar yield 1 of alcohol. From this, says Mulder, 'the juice of French and German grapes gives, when analysed, as a maximum, from 7 to 15 per cent. of alcohol by weight.'

According to Mulder, sugar is found in all wine, and its quantity depends to a considerable extent upon the treatment to which the grapes are subjected before pressure. Dr Bence Jones, in the appendix to his translation of Mulder's work, however declares, on the other hand, that, while Port, Sherry (except in two instances), Madeira, and Champagne always contained sugar, Claret, Burgundy, Rhine, and Moselle wine (excepting one sample of Sauterne) were always free from every kind of sugar. Tokay wine, for example, is prepared from grapes which have been allowed not only to get over-ripe, but partly to dry on the vines; vin de paille is obtained from grapes dried on straw exposed to the sun; and in both these cases water is evaporated, and the concentrated juice yields a wine of extra strength. The strong heavy wines used by the ancients were thus prepared.

In consequence of the close connection which exists between the amount of sugar in the grape-juice and the strength and excellence of the wine which it yields, extraneous sugar is introduced into the juice, so as to doctor it. For this purpose a cheap fermentable sugar is added to the sour juice, an adulteration which cannot subsequently be detected by chemistry. Many imitations of port wine are thus manufactured. If fermentation goes on till all the sugar is converted into alcohol a dry wine is produced; when it is checked before the change is completed a rich fruity wine is produced. Wines are thus divided into dry and sweet or fruity wines. When wine is bottled whilst the fermentation is still in progress effervescent wine is formed.

Shortly after the must has passed from the wine-press symptoms of fermentation appear; the juice becomes more turbid, bubbles rise to the surface, and a froth soon settles there. This process in a moderate climate usually reaches its highest point in three or four days; before it is quite finished the whole liquid mass is stirred up, so as to re-excite the process. For this purpose, in many districts, a naked man used to go into the wine-tub, who both accomplished the necessary stirring, and promoted fermentation by his animal heat. In two or three weeks the fluid becomes comparatively clear, and a precipitate accumulates at the bottom of the vessel. The wine is now removed from the sediment into another vessel, and a slow form of fermentation—after-fermentation, as it is termed—goes on for several months, sugar being constantly converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide, a fresh precipitate collecting at the bottom of the vessel as before. Several similar changes into other vessels are made, to get rid of the sediment, till it is fit for transferring into casks. That the process of fermentation may go on satisfactorily not only must water, sugar, and a nitrogenous matter in a state of actual change be present, but there must be a certain temperature and a certain amount of atmospheric air present. 'Although,' says Mulder, 'there is a wide interval between the extremes of temperature at which fermentation is possible, the boundary is very narrow which limits good and active fermentation in every kind of wine. The grapes of each country ripened under different degrees of summer warmth, and very unequally rich in constituents, require very different temperatures during fermentation; and different temperatures are also required for grapes which are the product of a warmer or a colder summer. But on these points we have little accurate knowledge.'

All we know is that a high temperature during autumn promotes fermentation, and a low one is detrimental to it; and that inequality of temperature during fermentation is extremely injurious, and not unfrequently spoils the wine altogether. To what extent it is expedient to admit atmospheric air to the must, so that the fermentation may go on most favourably, is a point which is not even yet definitely settled.

The actual organism—ferment—which causes the breaking-up of the grape-sugar of the grape-juice into alcohol and carbon dioxide is, according to Pasteur, the Mycoderma vini. It is always, normally, found in the bloom on the surface of the grape, and much resembles in structure and action the Torula of fermenting wort. It is from this circumstance that grape-juice at proper temperatures will ferment. Of itself, according to Engel, one cell of Mycoderma vini will in forty-eight hours produce 35,378 cells.

The leading points in which the constituents of grape-juice and those of wine differ from one another in consequence of fermentation are that in the wine there is a diminution (1) of the mucilaginous and saccharin matters, in consequence of the formation of ferment and alcohol; (2) of those substances which are insoluble in common water, but are held in solution in the viscid must, as, for example, calcium and magnesium tartrate; and (3) of cream of tartar and potassium sulphate, which, being less soluble in spirit than in water, fall as the formation of alcohol increases. Red wines lose a portion of colouring matter and of the tannin, which is withdrawn by these salts, and hence become of a lighter colour and less astringent.

The process of fining or clearing is undertaken with the view of removing all the sediment in which albuminous matters may still occur, and of diminishing the colouring matter and tannin of red wines. Amongst the substances used for these purposes may be mentioned albumen (white of egg), isinglass, gum, milk, lime, gypsum, &c. In warm countries gum is preferable to albumen or isinglass. The addition of lime throws down a precipitate of salts of lime, which carries down, in the case of red wine, a considerable quantity of colouring matter; its addition gives a sweeter and less astringent taste to the wine, and an appearance of age. As a general rule clearing increases the durability of wine. Sulphurising is a process which is especially applied to sweet white wines, which possess an excess of sugar and albuminous matter, and little tannic acid, and thus become easily decomposed. Its object is to check undue fermentation, and to prevent the formation of mould, which afterwards imparts a musty taste to the wine. The process is effected by burning sulphur (which should be free from arsenic) in bottles or casks, and instantly pouring in the wine, which absorbs the sulphur dioxide (converted by absorption into sulphurous acid). Wine intended for exportation to warm climates is usually strongly sulphurised.

The ages at which different wines attain their perfection are, as is well known, extremely different. 'As a general rule,' says Mulder, 'wines which have retained a considerable portion of albuminous matter, and possess but little tannic acid, cannot resist the influence of time; they become acid, or undergo some other change. This occurs in the case of Rhine wines, which contain but little alcohol; and all those wines which contain much sugar, or but little tannic acid, cannot be kept long. Wines which can be cellared are those which improve; or, to speak more correctly, those wines are stored which improve with age. In these odoriferous substances are formed, and the wine becomes less acid and better tasted. Such wine as is coloured often deposits a considerable amount of sediment; and if it be stored in casks there is a constant increase of alcohol.' Wine is improved by being kept in wooden casks, as water escapes by evaporation, and the other constituents are relatively increased. The vinous constituents being thus concentrated exert a stronger chemical action upon each other, and render the wine not only stronger, but better flavoured. The change, however, does not stop here. The loss of water must be replaced by the addition of wine, otherwise the action of the air would turn the wine sour, and convert the alcohol into acetic acid; and the diminution of water, which is thus replaced by wine, causes a constant increase of tartaric acid. Wines which are poor in sugar may thus soon become too sour; and consequently all wines cannot undergo this process. The popular idea that wine which has grown old in bottles has therefore become richer in alcohol is altogether false, and is doubtless founded on the fact that it is only the strongest wines that can be preserved. The colour, however, of bottled wine is materially affected by age, liqueur-wines and red wines containing no large amount of tannic acid becoming darker, while wines which are rich in tannic acid, as port wine, for example, deposit a sediment, and become lighter. Old bottled wines contain odoriferous constituents—ethers of various organic acids—which are not found in new wine. This effect of time may, however, be imitated by art—by Pasteuring the wine. Pasteur first showed that for the due preservation of wine it was necessary to kill the microbes whose presence was deleterious to it; he also showed that a temperature of 60° C. (140° F.) in the presence of the alcohol in the wine, the wine being shut out of contact with the air, was sufficient to accomplish this object. But it was afterwards found that not only was the wine thus treated preserved from spontaneous deterioration, but that it had acquired much of the flavour, aroma, and other qualities characteristic of good old (matured) wine. This process should naturally much lessen the cost of 'old' wine. If bottles corked, but not quite filled with wine, are placed for two hours in warm water at a temperature of 185° F., and after cooling are filled, their contents will be found to have acquired the flavour and aroma of wine that has been bottled several years. Wines which have been long in bottle sometimes acquire a peculiar flavour, which is incorrectly referred to the cork. It is in reality due to the peculiar mould which grows from the outside of the cork inwards; and should it reach the inner surface it imparts to the contents of the bottle a peculiar taste; and this wine is said to be corked. Very similar to this is what is known as 'the taste of the cask,' a peculiar flavour sometimes acquired by wine before bottling. This flavour is regarded as dependent on the development of a peculiar essential oil, during the growth of 'mould,' on the surface of the wine. It can be removed by the addition to each pipe of about a quart of olive-oil, which dissolves the unpleasant flavouring matter, and carries it to the surface.

Colouring, Doctoring, and Plastering of Wine.—Our limits prevent our even giving a list of the adulterants used in colouring wines, including such innocuous substances as mulberries, bilberries, &c., and terminating in such poisonous substances as magenta and other aniline or coal-tar colours. All good natural wines tend to become turbid, both as they age and with change of temperature. To prevent this gypsum (plaster of Paris, or calcium sulphate) is used. The chief cause of the turbidity of bottled wine is potassium bitartrate; the plaster of Paris removes this, leaving in its place acid potassium sulphate with a little free sulphuric acid. These give a peculiar dryness to wines, much admired by connoisseurs, who neither know its source nor are aware of the tendency to gouty diseases it may encourage or induce.

Bence Jones gives the following table showing the percentage of alcohol in the best-known wines :

Many of the lighter clarets, however, have not more than 7 per cent. of alcohol; brandy and whisky have usually about 50 per cent.; rum, somewhat more; gin, about 40; Burton ale, 5.5; porter, about 6; the strongest Edinburgh ale, 12; lager beer, 3; and cider, from 5 to 8 per cent.

In red Bordeaux very little sugar is found; red Sauterne contains less than 1 per cent. of extract, and Hermitage 1.7; hence the quantity of sugar must be very minute; while some kinds of Muscat yield 24.5 of an extract, containing about 22 per cent. of sugar. Good red wines should contain at least $\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ per cent. of sugar. Some of the sweet wines contain nearly one-fourth of their weight of saccharin matter. Bence Jones found that in

Under the term 'free acids' are included the acid potassium tartrate, known as cream of tartar, and other soluble bitartrates found in wine, besides such acids as are quite uncombined. Sugar has so much power in concealing the free acids that their amount cannot be estimated with any certainty by the flavour of the wine, and must therefore be estimated by ordinary chemical methods. Traces of tannic acid may be found in all white wines, but in no white wine is it sufficiently abundant to be of the slightest importance in a medical or dietetic point of view. On the other hand, it is abundant in Port and heavily loaded Bordeaux wines, especially when new. In the course of time this tannic acid becomes oxidised into a sparingly soluble compound, which is called by Berzelius the apothema, or precipitate of tannic acid—a process which is facilitated by the exposure of the wine in bottles to full daylight. There is no doubt that this acid, by combining with the albuminous matters, tends to increase the durability of these wines. Bence Jones holds that 'proceeding from the least acid wine to the most acid, we have Sherry, Port, Champagne, Claret, Madeira, Burgundy, Rhine wine, Moselle.'

The recent decline in French vintages by reason of the Phylloxera has developed a new wine-making industry in France. Enormous quantities of dried raisins are imported, mainly from Smyrna and the East, are soaked in water for forty or fifty hours, and then treated as fresh grapes, yielding a harmless white or straw-coloured wine.

Diseases of Wine.—(1) Turning is incidental to young wine, and seems to occur under special conditions of the weather. The colour becomes darker, and the taste first disappears, and if the disease goes on becomes disagreeable; the wine becomes turbid and acid. This disease is caused by a decomposition of tartar. (2) Ropiness consists in the formation of a sort of vegetable mucus from the sugar of the wine, and is known as viscous or mannitic fermentation, due, according to Pasteur, to a special microbe. The wines liable to this change are those which are deficient in tannic acid. (3) Bitterness—to which Burgundy wines are especially exposed—seems due to a second fermentation, inasmuch as a large amount of carbon dioxide is evolved; it has been ascribed to the formation of citric ether. The disease is caused by the sediment, and often ceases on the wine being drawn off into other casks. (4) Acidifying depends upon the conversion of the alcohol into acetic acid, and may be stopped at its commencement by adding alkaline carbonates, which, however, destroy the colour and affect the taste of the wine. This acidification is due to a special microbe. (5) Mouldiness is a disease in which mould-plants are produced on the surface of the wine; the admission of air is favourable to the disease.

Manufacture.—The mode of manufacturing wine varies in its details in different countries. Pagnierre, in his treatise On the Wines of Bordeaux, gives the following description of the manufacture of the superior Clarets. The grapes, after being gathered, are picked, all that are likely to injure the quality of the wine being carefully removed. A principal vat of the best fruit, which is called the mother-cask (cuve-mère), is then made, into which, after picking, the workmen continue to put the best grapes, without their stalks, and without treading them, till they are from 15 to 20 inches deep; after which they throw about two gallons of old Cognac or Armagnac upon them, and then another bed of picked grapes, followed by two gallons more of brandy, and so on till the vat is full. Spirit of wine is then added, about four gallons being used for a wine-vat of from thirty to thirty-six tons. The amount of brandy and spirits that is added varies with the quality of the vintage, the better vintages requiring the less spirit. When there is a deficiency of saccharin matter in the grapes starch-sugar is sometimes added. The cuve-mère when filled is closed and well covered with blankets to prevent the entrance of air, and is left in this state for about a month. A small cock or tap is placed in the side of the vat at about a third of its depth from the bottom, in order to allow of the progress of fermentation being observed, and to enable the manufacturer to know when the wine, having become cool and sufficiently clear, may be racked off and put into casks, previously prepared by scalding and rinsing with a little spirit. While the cuve-mère is at work the ordinary vintage goes on as follows: The grapes are trodden or acted on by machinery in the press, and put with their stalks into the vats, when the fermentation takes place naturally. About a foot of the upper part of the vat is not filled, in order to leave space for the fermentation, which in very mature vintages sometimes occasions an overflow of these limits. The term chapeau is applied to the floating mass of stalks, seeds, and skins on the surface. The vats are lightly covered, and in from a week to a fortnight the wine is ready for being drawn off; for if it is left upon the lees (marre), or in contact with its crust (chapeau), it would take the disagreeable taste of the stalks. The barrels in which it is then placed are filled to about two-thirds or three-fourths, after which the cuve-mère is emptied, and its wine is poured in equal portions into these casks so as to fill them; and the remainder is used to replace every week what is lost by evaporation, or may have leaked away. All proprietors have not the means of making a cuve-mère; but in its absence, and with the employment of small vessels, wine of an inferior character is produced. The casks being full are left unbunged for about a week, the bung-hole being in the meantime covered with a brick or piece of wood. They are filled up every two days, and after bunging at least once a week, till the wine is in a state to allow the cask to rest with the bung-hole at the side, which is not till after a year and a half.

White wines are made in a somewhat different manner. The grapes are not, as in making red wine, put into the vat to ferment, but after the removal of the stalks they are trodden, and when taken from the press the juice, skins, and seeds are put into casks, in which the fermentation takes place, and wine is formed. When the fermentation has ceased the wine is racked off from the barrels into smaller casks; and any loss from evaporation is replaced once or twice a week.

The wine-presses of the Jews consisted of two receptacles, or vats, placed at different elevations, in the upper one of which the grapes were trodden, while the lower one received the expressed juice or must (see Joel, iii. 13). These vats were usually hewn out of the solid rock (Isa. v. 2 [margin], and Matt. xxi. 33). The ancient Egyptian wine-press was also thus composed of two vats or receptacles; and old Egyptian pictures showing the process of treading are familiar from such books as Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians. A certain amount of juice was allowed to exude from the ripe fruit by its own pressure before the treading began. This was kept separate from the rest of the juice, and formed the gleucos, or 'sweet wine' noticed in Acts, ii. 13. Although the ancient system of treading the grapes still prevails in many countries, it is being gradually displaced by various mechanical appliances. In some parts of France two wooden cylinders turning in opposite directions are employed to crush the fruit; and more complicated presses are also in use.

Commerce.—The manufacture of wine has been carried on in all countries where the grape could be successfully cultivated from the very earliest periods of history; and during more recent periods it has followed the footsteps of man, and become established in the American and Australian continents. For the progress of viticulture in the United States, see VINE. The vine, like most cultivated plants, is capable of producing very numerous varieties, and these, of course, give rise to different qualities of wine; but far more influence is exerted upon the quality of the wine by climate, soil, and the position of the vineyard as to the sun's influence; so that we not only have wines peculiar to particular countries, but of those, again, we have usually very numerous varieties, produced by special causes within those countries; and in addition to all these, again, we have other differences, produced by the degrees of skill in the manufacture. The earliest wines of which we have any account were made in Asia. We find abundant evidence of the high esteem in which wine was held by the Greeks, Romans, and other civilised contemporary nations; and the name of one of the choicest Roman wines has continued in use till the present time—Falernian. From what we learn from Pliny and other writers regarding the extraneous additions made by the Romans to their grape-juice, and the treatment of the interior of their casks, we should much doubt whether even Falernian would be appreciated by the modern palate. The mediæval history of wine is involved in much obscurity. Though we find abundant mention of Sack and Canary, the Greek islands seem to have furnished a large portion of the wine then consumed in Europe, and the merchant-ships of Venice in the days of her glory appear to have been largely engaged in carrying Greek and Italian wines. The Malmsey of those times was not the produce of Madeira, but of the islands of Tenedos, Lesbos, Chio, and Crete.

Burgundy is the oldest wine-producing country of central Europe, and centuries ago the wine of this province was the choicest to be found on the tables of the rich and noble. Much of the Burgundy of the present day has excellent qualities —being of good body, velvety, and of delicate bouquet. A few scarce kinds, such as the Romanée-Conti, are really splendid wines. Claret or red wine, for the English market, is chiefly the produce of the Medoc district. It begins below Bordeaux, on the left bank of the Gironde, and stretches almost to the Bay of Biscay. White wine, or Sauterne, is also produced in the same neighbourhood. The general character of the Bordeaux wines, which are of all qualities, is crispness, elegance, and fine bouquet, and they improve by keeping. Sparkling wine of great renown is produced in the Champagne, the finest qualities of which sell at exorbitant prices.

Germany produces fine white but very few red wines. They are best known in the British market as Hocks and Moselles, and are made both still and sparkling. At the Vienna Exhibition of 1873 the jurors on the wine section had before them a sample of Rhine wine made in 1706, the year in which Marlborough gained the battle of Ramillies, another coeval with the war of American independence, and another of the year of the battle of Jena. But all these and others made in the early part of the century, before the days of 'fortifying,' had lost their characteristic taste and flavour, and were but the phantoms of what they had been.

The vineyards of Austria produce a great variety of wines, which are mostly consumed in the country itself. Hungary is still more a wine-growing country, producing considerably more than it consumes, and is the home of the renowned Tokay (q.v.), which boasts a high antiquity, and commands a fabulous price. Méneser-Ausbruch, Carlowitz, Ruster, Somlauer, and others are also favourably known, but the long land-carriage is a serious check on the trade with England.

The best Spanish sherries are those technically called dry—that is, free from sweetness. Manzanilla is said to be the purest, but Montilla, Amontillado, and Vino de Pasto are also famous kinds of sherry. This wine is chiefly shipped at Cadiz, near which it is made. The Malaga wines, both sweet and dry, are widely known, and from Catalonia come what are known in England as the Spanish Reds, one of them being Tent, dark and sweet, and much used as sacramental wine. Port wine (q.v.) is mostly brought from Oporto.

Italy, with great natural advantages and large home production, is behind several other nations in the manufacture and exportation of fine and especially of sparkling wines; but the Barolo of Piedmont, the Chianti of Tuscany, the Orvieto of the Roman States, the Lacryma Christi of Naples, and other special growths have a high reputation. Marsala, a wine with a sherry-like flavour, comes from Sicily. The lesser wine-growing countries of Europe are Switzerland, Russia, Turkey, and Greece, which continues as in ancient times to put resin in what is required for home consumption. The wines of Shiraz in Persia are still most excellent, and sometimes find their way to England. Australia already astonishes the best French judges by the excellence of her wines, and the Cape continues to yield her luscious Constantia and other growths of fine quality.

The boiled juice of the grape, also the water-infusion of dried raisins, have been termed unfermented wines. Some wine merchants supply what they designate unfermented wine, containing only enough alcohol (mixed with it) to preserve it, as sacramental wine; while other importers describe this same wine as being only slightly fermented, up to the point of generating the amount of alcohol necessary to its preservation. British wines, as gooseberry, damson, elder-berry, apricot, cherry, parsnip, and other wines, consist of the fermented juices of the fruit or roots from which they derive their respective names. Before being subjected to fermentation they are largely mixed with sugar. The general processes in the manufacture of British wines closely resemble those which have been just described.

The imports of wine into the United Kingdom vary from about 15,000,000 to nearly 20,000,000 gallons; in an average year, as 1897, the 17,559,000 gallons imported have a value of about £6,450,000. In 1891 the United States, in addition to 25,000,000 gallons made at home (more than half of it in California), imported wine to the value of 10,000,000. In 1897 the produce of California alone was over 32,000,000 gallons. But wine had not yet become a leading export from the States; while foreign wines were still imported to the value of 6,000,000. Of European countries Italy grows most wine, Spain exports most, but the export of France (about 56,000,000 gallons annually) has a higher value than that of Spain. Austria-Hungary produces about a third of the French produce (which latter amounts to over 600,000,000 gallons).

With respect to the high prices realised by old wines of famous vintages, we may state that as much as £2 per bottle has occasionally been given for Port and Tokay; and two bottles of old Burgundy have been sold in England at the very extraordinary price of £80 each.

Dietetic and Medical Value of Wines.—It may be laid down as a general rule that the use of wine, even in moderate quantity, is not only not necessary, but absolutely undesirable for young or adult persons enjoying good ordinary health. As, however, life advances, and the circulation becomes languid, wine in moderation becomes, in the opinion of some medical writers, a valuable article of food; and even in earlier life the physician meets large numbers of townspeople, especially women engaged in sedentary occupations, who cannot digest beer. In such cases the beer is replaced by the more grateful beverage, tea, which, however, when taken too freely, and without sufficient solid food, gives rise to a form of distressing dyspepsia, which too often impels the sufferer to seek refuge in spirits. In many such cases cheap wine, which may be purchased at from 1s. 6d. to 2s. a bottle, mixed with an equal bulk of water, will be found an excellent substitute for the beer or tea. The vast quantities, says Mr Williams, of brilliantly-coloured liquid flavoured with orris-root, which would not be allowed to pass the barriers of Paris, but must go somewhere, is drunk in England at a cost of four times as much as a Frenchman pays for genuine wine (see Williams, Chemistry of Cookery, p. 285). 'The distinctive elements of wine,' says Dr Druitt, 'are to be had in abundance in cheap Bordeaux, Burgundy, and other French wines; in Rhine wine; in the Hungarian, Austrian, and some Greek wine; and in all with a natural and not injurious quantity of spirit. In prescribing pure wine—i.e. light natural, virgin wine—the practitioner has a perfectly new article of both diet and medicine in his hands.' In cases of debility and indigestion such wine as that which we are now considering, diluted with cold water, may often be freely prescribed with great advantage in place of tea at breakfast, as well as at luncheon and dinner, or dinner and supper, according as the patient arranges his meals. The best of the cheap wines are those of Bordeaux; they are pure, light, and exhilarating; moderately strong, seldom containing 20 per cent. of alcohol; free from sugar and other materials likely to induce gout or headache. The Burgundy wines are fuller, stouter (on an average from 2 to 4 per cent. stronger in alcohol), and higher flavoured than the Bordeaux of equal price.

Some of the Hungarian wines are excellent substitutes for Bordeaux, and, not having the acidity, austerity, and coldness of the latter, are often preferred by patients. Amongst the most important of the dearer kinds of wine are Port, Sherry, and Champagne. Good old Port, now very difficult to obtain, is often recommended as a tonic of great value in cases of fever and other forms of extreme debility; but many persons past forty dare not take it if they have any predisposition to gout. Sherry is in general use, and is the only wine admitted into the British Pharmacopœia, in which it is employed in the composition of aloetic, antimonial, colchicum, and other medicated wines.

See Henderson's History of Ancient and Modern Wines; Bence Jones's translation of Mulder's Chemistry of Wine; Payen's Industrial Chemistry, translated by Dr Paull; Druitt's Cheap Wines; Thudichum and Dupré, Origin, Nature, and Varieties of Wine; Cyrus Redding, History and Description of Wines; on American wines and wine-growing, works by Hasmann, Staraszthy, Hyatt, and Rixford; The Wine Manufacturers' Handbook, edited by Gardner; Health Exhibition manual on the Esthetic Use of Wine (Thudichum); Muspratt's Chemistry applied to the Arts and Manufactures; Chemistry of Cookery, by W. Mattieu Williams, pp. 269–293; Analyse des Vins, by Dr L. Magnier de la Source; Il Vino (Florence, 1881), by Professor A. Graf and others; the works of Shaw and Derman, in English; those of Julien, Chaptal, Fauré, and Batilliat, in French; those of Ritter, Balling, Von Babo, Bronner, &c., in German; the chief works on technological chemistry, as Wagner's, in all languages; and the articles VINE, ALCOHOL, BORDEAUX, BURGUNDY WINES, CANARY, CHAMPAGNE, FERMENTATION, HOCHHEIM, MADEIRA, MALMSEY, PIPE, PORT WINE, SACK, SHERRY, &c. in this work. For arguments as to the wine of Scripture, see TEMPERANCE, and works there cited; also Dr F. R. Lees's Science Temperance Handbook (vol. viii.).