These are Divided by Boireau into two classes: 1. Those defects due to the nature of the soil, to fertilizers employed, to bad processes in wine making, and to the abundance of common, poor varieties of grapes. It is evident that defects of this class may exist in the wines from the moment when they leave the fermenting vat, or the press, and they are as follows: earthy flavor, greenness, roughness, bitterness, flavor of the stems, acidity, want of alcohol, lack of color, dull, bluish, leaden color, flavor of the lees, and tendency to putrid decomposition. 2. Those vices which wines acquire after fermentation, and of which the greater part are due to want of care, or uncleanness of the casks, and they are: flatness, flowers, acidity (pricked wine), cask flavor, mouldiness, bad flavors communicated by the accidental introduction of foreign soluble matters, ropiness, bitterness, acrity, flavor of fermentation, degeneracy, and putrid fermentation.

General Considerations.—Before entering on the subject of the correction and cure of defects and diseases, it is proper to say, that whatever be the nature of the malady or defect, especially if the bad taste is very pronounced, wine once hurt, however completely cured of the disease, will never be worth as much as a wine of the same nature which has always had the correct flavor.

It is, therefore, wiser and more prudent, says our author, to seek to prevent the maladies of wines, than to wait for them to become diseased in order to cure them.

Of course, the wine maker should use every endeavor to remedy the natural defects of his wines. And as for the wine merchant and the consumer, they should reject all vitiated wines, unless they can be used immediately, for they lose quality instead of gaining by keeping.

Moreover, when a wine has a very pronounced defect, it can rarely be used alone, either because deficient in spirit or in color, or because the vice cannot be entirely destroyed.

It would also be a mistake to suppose that the flavor of a diseased wine would be rendered inappreciable by mixing and distributing it throughout a large number of casks of sound wine; oftener the latter would be more or less injured by the operation. The defect of such a wine should first be removed by treating it by itself, and then it should be mixed only with the commonest wine in the cellar.

Each defect and disease will be treated under its proper name, the cause indicated, with the means to be employed to prevent, diminish, or to remove it.

The doses in all cases, unless otherwise indicated, are according to Mr. Boireau, who gives what is required to treat 225 litres, but we have increased the dose to what is necessary for 100 gallons of wine in each case.

Any one can first try the experiment on a gallon or less by taking a proportional amount of the substances indicated, leaving the sample corked, in a cool place, for at least two days in ordinary cases, or for eight days in case the wine is fined.

NATURAL DEFECTS.

Earthy Flavor—Its Causes.—It is a natural defect in the wine, and consists of a bad taste by which the pulp and the skins of the grapes are affected before fermentation. It occurs in wine made from grapes grown on low, wet, swampy land, and on land too heavily manured, or fertilized with substances which communicate a bad flavor. He says that this must not be confounded with the natural flavor and bouquet of the wine. Contrary to the opinion of those œnologues who attribute this defective flavor to the presence of essential oils, he believes that there is a sensible difference between the natural flavor (séve) and the earthy flavor. In fact, the flavor and bouquet of wines made from grapes of the same variety, but grown in different vineyards, present considerable differences, which are due to the different natures of the soils, to the different processes in wine making, to climate, exposure, age of the wine, etc. On the other hand, the taste and odor produced by the natural flavor and bouquet are not entirely developed till the wine is old, and the clearing is complete; while the bad taste transmitted from the soil through the sap, instead of increasing with age, diminishes, and often finally disappears. The reason is that this taste being communicated principally by the coloring matters of the skins, diminishes with the deposit of these matters, according as the wine becomes clear. It follows that certain wines may have a good flavor, and even acquire a bouquet in aging, which while young had a disagreeable earthy flavor.

He instances the wines of several crops, treated by him, having a fine color, mellowness, and 10 per cent. of alcohol, which in their early years had an earthy flavor so pronounced that it might almost have been taken for a mouldy taste. This taste diminished gradually, with proper care, and finally disappeared toward the third year; the natural flavor then developed itself, and the wines acquired an agreeable bouquet in bottles.

Grapes from young vines planted in moist land, have an earthy flavor more pronounced than those from older vines, grown in the same situations, and this flavor is generally more developed in the heavy-yielding common varieties than in the fine kinds.

How Prevented.—This flavor may be sometimes diminished or destroyed by draining the soil of the vineyard, aerating the vines when too crowded, and by avoiding the planting of trees in the vineyard. If it comes from too much manure, less should be used, and less wood left on the vines.

Great care should be taken to draw such wines from the fermenting vat, as soon as the active fermentation is finished, for a long sojourn in the tank with the stems and skins aggravates the defect.

The Treatment of wines so affected differs according to their origin, their nature, and their promise of the future; but the condition necessary in all cases is to promptly obtain their defecation or clarification, and never to allow them to remain on the lees. They should therefore be drawn off as soon as clear, and frequently racked to prevent the formation of voluminous deposits.

Red wines, which in spite of this defect, have a future, and may acquire quality with age, should be racked at the beginning of winter, again in the beginning of March, and after the second racking should be fined with the whites of 12 eggs to 100 gallons of wine; they are then racked again two weeks after fining.

Common red wines, without a future, dull and poor in color, and weak in spirit, are treated in the same manner, but before fining, a little more than a quart of alcohol of 60 to 90 per cent. is added to facilitate the coagulation of the albumen.

In treating wines which are firm, full-bodied, and charged with color, after the two rackings, an excellent result is obtained by an energetic fining with about three ounces of gelatine.

Earthy white wines should be racked after completing their fermentation, and after the addition of about an ounce of tannin dissolved in alcohol, or the equivalent of tannified white wine. After racking, they should be fined with about three ounces of gelatine.

These rackings and finings precipitate the insoluble matters, and part of the coloring matter, which is strongly impregnated with the earthy taste, and the result is a sensible diminution of the flavor. When not very pronounced, it is removed little by little at each racking. But if it is very marked, the wine after the first racking should have a little less than a quart of olive oil thoroughly stirred into it. After a thorough agitation, the oil should be removed by filling the cask. The oil removes with it a portion of those matters in the wine which cause the bad flavor. The wine is afterwards fined as above.

Some writers recommend that wine having an earthy flavor should be mixed with wine of a better taste, as the best method of correcting the defect; but from what has been said in the preceding part of this chapter, it would seem to be an unsafe practice.

The Wild Taste and Grassy Flavor are due to the same causes, and are removed in the same way.

Greenness—Its Causes.—This is due to the presence of tartaric acid, which it contains in excess. It gives a sour, austere taste to the wine, which also contains malic acid, but in a less quantity. When tasted, it produces the disagreeable sensation of unripe fruit to the palate, sets the teeth on edge, and contracts the nervous expansions of the mouth.

Greenness, as the term imports, is caused by want of maturity of the grapes. We all know that acids abound in unripe fruit, and it is only at the time of maturity, and under the influence of the heat of the sun, that they disappear and are changed into glucose or grape sugar.

A green wine, then, is an imperfect wine, which, besides this defect, generally lacks alcohol, body, mellowness, firmness, bouquet, and color, because the incompletely matured grapes contain much tartaric and malic acid, and but little grape sugar and other mucilaginous matter, and because the matters destined to give color to the skins, as well as the aromatic principles, are not completely elaborated.

The only way to Prevent this Defect is to resort to means necessary to increase the maturity of the grape, or to add sugar to the must, neither of which will scarcely ever be found necessary in California, where the defect is not likely to exist, if the grapes are not picked too green.

Treatment.—Where the sourness is not insupportable, the wine may be ameliorated by adding a quart or two of old brandy for each 100 gallons.

The wine as it comes from the vat contains much more free tartaric acid than it contains after the insensible fermentation in the cask, because it combines with the tartrate of potash in the wine and forms the bitartrate of potash, or cream of tartar, which is deposited with the lees, or attaches itself to the sides of the cask. It follows that the wine will be less green after insensible fermentation, at the first racking, than when it was new; but if the greenness is excessive after the insensible fermentation, the wine still contains much free acid. The excess of acid may be neutralized in wines which are very green by adding the proper amount of tartrate of potash, which combines with a part of the tartaric acid to form the bitartrate, which after a few days falls to the bottom, or adheres to the cask. The dose varies from 10 to 24 ounces per 100 gallons of wine. Five or six gallons of wine are drawn out of the cask, and the tartrate of potash is thrown in by the handful, stirring the while as in the case of fining. This treatment does not always succeed; hence, the necessity of preventing the defect when possible.

When the greenness is not very marked, the wine may also be mixed with an older wine, which contains but little acid and plenty of spirit.

Lime and other alkaline substances will surely neutralize the acid, but they injure the wine and render it unhealthy, and should never be used.

Machard lays great stress upon the addition of brandy to such wines, because, he says, the alcohol will precipitate the excess of acids, and will also combine with them to form ethers which give a delicate, balsamic odor to the wine, which is most agreeable. (See Ethers, Bouquet.)

Roughness is due to the astringency given to the wine by the tannin when in excess. Tannin is useful for the preservation and the clarification of wines, and those which contain much, with an equal amount of alcohol, keep much longer than those which contain less, and undergo transportation better, and are considered more healthful.

Roughness is Not a Fault, it is rather an excess of good quality, if the rough wines have no after-taste of the stems, bitterness, earthy flavor, acrity, and possess a high degree of spirit, a fruity flavor, and a good color. Such wines are precious for fortifying, and to assist in aging those which are too feeble to keep a long time without degenerating. When kept without cutting, they last a long time, and end well. But they are long in developing.

The Roughness Disappears in Time, because the tannin is transformed into gallic acid, and besides is precipitated by other principles contained in the wine, and by finings.

An Excess of Tannin is Avoided in strong, dark-colored, full-bodied wines by removing all the stems, and by early drawing from the tank. If the wines are inclined to be soft, weak, and with but little spirit, no attempt should be made to avoid roughness.

When wines are put into new casks, their roughness is increased by the tannin derived from the oak wood of which they are made; but during insensible fermentation a good deal of the tannin is thrown down with the vegetable albumen contained in the new wine.

How Removed.—If the wines are of good body and color, the roughness may be removed by fining them with a strong dose of gelatine, two or three ounces to 100 gallons. As this removes a portion of the color, it should only be resorted to in the case of rough and dark-colored wines, to hasten their maturity.

Bitterness and Taste of the Stems—Causes.—Bitterness is a disagreeable taste which, in new wines attacked by it, comes from the dissolution of a bitter principle contained in the stems, a principle entirely different from tannin. Sometimes it is communicated by the skins of certain varieties of grapes.

This is Prevented by allowing the grapes to reach complete maturity, and above all by stemming them all, and by not leaving the wine too long in the fermenting vat.

The Treatment is the same as for the earthy flavor, and also afterwards pouring in a quart or more of old brandy.

The bitterness here mentioned is only that met with in new wines, and its cause is entirely different from that found in old wines, which is described further on.

The Taste of the Stems, which often accompanies bitterness, is due to a prolonged immersion of the stems in the wine. It is supposed that this defect, which gives the wine a wild and common flavor, comes from an aromatic principle contained in the stems. It is prevented by stemming, and like natural bitterness, diminishes with time. The treatment is the same.

An unreasonably long vatting is one of the principal causes of bitterness and stem flavor.

Sourness—Its Causes.—Sourness, or heated flavor, as it is also called, is due to the presence of acetic acid in the wine. All wines, even the mellowest, the best made, and the best cared for, contain some acetic acid, but in so small a quantity as to be inappreciable to the taste. Acetic acid is produced in wines during their fermentation in open tanks, and is due to the contact of the air with the crust of the pomace. This crust or cap, formed of skins and stems, brought to the surface by bubbles of carbonic acid rising from the liquid, is exposed directly to the air, and the alcoholic fermentation of the liquid part is soon completed, and under the influence of the air and ferments, the alcohol is transformed into acetic acid. This transformation is so rapid that when the vatting is too prolonged, and the temperature is high, the exterior crust rapidly passes from acetic to putrid fermentation.

As long as the tumultuous fermentation continues, the crust is kept up above the surface by the bubbles of rising gas, but when it ceases, the cap falls, and settles down into the liquid, and the wine becomes impregnated with the acetic acid. The wine also, by simple contact with the crust, acquires a vinegar smell and taste.

Wines which become pricked by contact with the air after fermentation are treated further on under the head of Pricked Wines.

How Prevented.—The formation of acetic acid during fermentation is prevented by fermenting the wines in closed or partly closed vats, by avoiding contact of the air, by keeping the pomace submerged, and by confining the carbonic acid in the vat. If open vats are used, they should be only three-fourths full, so that a layer of gas may rest upon the pomace and protect it from the atmosphere; or the cap may be covered with a bed of straw as soon as formed. Care should be taken to draw off as soon as fermentation is complete.

Treatment.—Wines affected in this manner cannot be expected to acquire good qualities with age. They may be rendered potable, but their future is destroyed. Therefore, every precaution should be taken to guard against the defect. They should be separated from their first lees as soon as possible; consequently, they should be drawn off as soon as the gas ceases to rise. If they are still turbid, they should be clarified by an energetic fining, and they should be racked from the finings the very moment they are clear. They should be afterwards racked to further free them from ferments. If the wines are only heated, the odor of acetic acid will be sensibly diminished by the above operation; but if they are decidedly pricked, the means to neutralize their acid when drawn from the vat, as indicated for Pricked Wines, should be resorted to.

Alcoholic Weakness is due to a want of sufficient spirit, caused by an excess of water of vegetation, and the consequent lack of sugar in the grapes. In France this defect is generally found in wines coming from young vines planted in very fertile soils, or from the common varieties, pruned with long canes, and producing a great quantity of large, watery grapes. When wines weak in alcohol contain but little tannin and color, they rapidly degenerate, often commencing their decline during their first year, and before their clarification is completed.

How Avoided.—This defect can be corrected by planting the proper varieties of vines, and by avoiding rich soils; but in the climate of California there is but little danger of the wines being too weak, unless the grapes are late varieties, and grown in very unfavorable situations.

The Treatment of weak wines is to rid them of their ferments as soon as possible, in order to avoid acid and putrid degeneration, to which they are quite subject. This result is obtained by drawing them off as soon as the lees are deposited. If they remain turbid after the second racking, they should be gently fined with the whites of nine or ten eggs to 100 gallons. The coagulation of the albumen will be facilitated by adding one or more quarts of strong alcohol to the wine before fining, and by adding to the eggs a handful of common salt dissolved in a little water. But as these wines, by themselves, are short lived, it is necessary, in order to prolong their existence, to mix them with firm wines, strong in body and rich in color. By adding alcohol, they are still left dry and without fruity flavor, while if mixed with a wine of a flavor as nearly like their own as possible, and having a fruity flavor, and being firm and full-bodied, but not fortified, they will acquire mellowness as well as strength.

Want of Color—Causes.—As coloring matter is not found in the skins of grapes till they are ripe, green wines produced in years when the grapes do not ripen well, lack color.

The amount of color may be diminished if by excess of maturity the skins of the grapes decay.

The method of fermentation also influences more or less the richness of the color. Those wines, in the fermentation of which the pomace is kept constantly immersed in the liquid, dissolve out more coloring matter than those fermented in open vats in which the crust is raised above the surface of the must.

Some kinds of grapes naturally develop more color than others.

How Guarded Against.—It is therefore obvious, that the lack of color may be guarded against by gathering the grapes when they are just ripe, planting the proper varieties, and keeping the pomace submerged during fermentation, stirring it up, if necessary.

The Treatment should be such as to avoid as much as possible the precipitation of the coloring matter. They should, therefore, be fined as little as possible, and gelatine should be carefully avoided. If they must be fined, use the whites of eggs and in the quantity mentioned for weak wines—10 to 100 gallons.

Of course, their color may be increased by mixing them with darker colored wines, but in order not to affect their natural flavor, they should be mixed only with wines of the same nature and of the same growth.

It is not to be supposed that any one will resort to artificial coloring of any kind.

Dull, Bluish, Lead-colored Wine, and Flavor of the Lees—Causes.—Certain wines remain turbid, and preserve a dull, leaden color, even after insensible fermentation. This state may be due to several causes. Oftentimes young wines remain turbid because, for want of racking at proper times, and for want of storing in proper places, secondary fermentation has set in, which has stirred up the lees which had been deposited at the bottom of the cask. This also takes place when new wines are moved before racking.

Treatment.—In these cases, put them into a cellar of a constant temperature, leave them quiet for a couple of weeks, and see if they settle naturally. If not, clarify them by using the finings appropriate to their nature.

If they are turbid on account of an unseasonable fermentation, the first thing to do is to stop the working by racking, sulphuring, etc. When, in spite of all the cares that have been bestowed upon them, they still remain dull and difficult to clarify, while undergoing no fermentation, the cause must be sought in the want of tannin or alcohol.

If the difficulty is due simply to lack of spirit, the treatment consists in adding two or three quarts of strong alcohol to each 100 gallons, mixing with the wine a fifth or a tenth of a good-bodied wine of like natural flavor, and then by fining it with eggs as mentioned for weak wines.

If the dull wine has sufficient alcohol, as shown by a pronounced color, add about an ounce of tannin dissolved in alcohol, or the equivalent of tannified wine, and fine it with one to two ounces of gelatine.

Bluish or violet color, accompanied by a flavor of the lees, often occurs in wines of southern countries, and is due to an abundance of coloring matter and a lack of tartaric acid. When the violet-colored wine has a good deal of color, and more than nine per cent. of alcohol, the color may be changed to red by mixing with it from one-sixth to one-fourth of green wine, which contains an excess of tartaric acid, the natural blue color of the grape being changed to red by the action of the acid; then about an ounce of tannin, or the equivalent of tannified wine, should be added, that the color may become fixed, and that clarification may subsequently take place in a proper manner. In default of green wine, crystalized tartaric acid may be used, which is very soluble in wine. A small amount should be first experimented with, in order to learn just how much to use to change the blue of the wine to red, for we must not forget that this acid gives greenness to the wine and thereby renders it less healthful.

If the wines are so weak in alcohol that they have but little color, and that is blue and dull, they have a tendency to putridity. In this case, the blue color is in fact only a commencement of decomposition. It is due to an internal reaction which transforms a part of the tartrate of potash into carbonate of potash. Such wines have a slightly alkaline flavor, and left to themselves in contact with the air, they become rapidly corrupt, without completely acidifying. These wines are of the poorest quality. This disease, which is very rare, may be prevented by using the proper methods of vinification, and by rendering them firmer and full-bodied by the choice of good varieties of vines. In the treatment of such wines, some propose the use of tartaric acid to restore them. This will turn the blue color to red, but will not prevent the threatened decomposition. Mr. Boireau prefers the use of about one-sixth of green wine, which contains an abundance of the acid, and the subsequent mixing with a strong, full-bodied wine.

Putrid Decomposition—Causes.—Wines are decomposed and become putrid, on account of little spirituous strength and lack of tannin. The weakness in alcohol is due to want of sufficient sugar in the grapes—to the excess of water of vegetation. We see, then, that wine is predisposed to putridity when it is wanting in these two conservative principles, alcohol and tannin. Such wine quickly loses its color; it never becomes brilliant and limpid; it remains turbid, and never clears completely, but continues to deposit. The tendency to decomposition is announced by a change of color, which becomes tawny and dull, which gives it, though young, an appearance of worn out, turbid, old wine. Its red color is in great part deposited, and it retains only the yellow. If the defect is not promptly remedied by fortifying, it acquires a nauseous, putrid flavor of stagnant water; and it continues turbid, and is decomposed, without going squarely into acetous fermentation.

How Avoided.—To avoid this tendency, which is rare, means should be employed to increase the natural sugar in the must, and by planting proper varieties of grapes, which will produce good, firm wines, and by choosing proper situations for the vineyard, and employing the best methods of vinification.

Treatment.—Decomposition may be retarded in several ways: First, by fortifying the wines, by adding tannin to them, and by adding a sufficient quantity of rough, firm, alcoholic wine; second, in default of a strong, full-bodied wine, brandy may be added, or better, the tannin prepared with alcohol, so as to give them a strength of at least ten per cent.; third, fining should be avoided as much as possible, especially the use of finings which precipitate the coloring matter, such as gelatine; albumen should be used in preference, as for weak wines; fourth, the movements of long journeys, and drawing off by the use of pumps, should be avoided, for they are apt to increase the deposition of the coloring matter.

The treatment mentioned will retard the decomposition, but will not arrest it, and such wines can never endure a long voyage unless heavily brandied.

Several Different Natural Vices and Defects may attack the same wine, when it should be treated for that which is most prominent.

ACQUIRED DEFECTS AND DISEASES.

Flat Wine—Flowers—Causes.—Flowers of wine are nothing but a kind of mould, in the form of a whitish scum or film, composed of microscopic fungi, the mycoderma vini and mycoderma aceti, already mentioned under the head of Fermentation, and which develop on the surface of wine left in contact with the air. This mould, or mother, communicates to the wine a disagreeable odor and flavor, and also a slight acidity, which the French call évent odor, or flavor éventé, and which may be called flatness. The development of these organisms is due principally to the direct exposure of the wine to the air, which favors their growth by the evaporation of a portion of the alcohol which exists at the surface of the liquid which is exposed, and a commencement of oxidation of that which remains. The result is that the surface of the wine becomes very weak in alcohol, and having lost its conservative principle, it moulds. This mould consists, as before remarked, of a vast number of small fungi. They have a bad flavor, and are impregnated with an acidity which comes from the action of the oxygen of the air upon the alcohol, converting it into acetic acid.

This disease develops more or less rapidly, according to the alcoholic strength of the wine and the temperature of the place where it is kept. Those common, weak wines, which have only from 7 to 8½ per cent. of alcohol, are the first attacked; on them flowers are developed in three or four days. Stronger wines, which contain from 10 to 11 per cent. of spirit, resist twice as long as the weaker ones. Fine wines of an equal strength resist better than the common kinds; and wines which contain more than 15 per cent. are not affected. During summer they are much sooner affected.

Machard is of the opinion that this flavor is due to the commencement of disorganization of the ferments remaining in the wine, which, as they begin to putrify, give off ammoniacal emanations. Maumené says that it is due to the loss of carbonic acid.

To Prevent Flatness, all agree that wines should be protected from the air; for this purpose they should be kept in casks constantly full, or in well corked bottles lying in a horizontal position. When it is necessary to leave ullage in the cask, a sulphur match must be burned, and the cask tightly bunged. (See General Treatment, Wine in Bottles, Sulphuring, etc.)

In frequently drawing from the cask, the deterioration is retarded by taking care to admit the least possible amount of air, just enough to let the wine run, but the evil cannot be entirely prevented in this way; and by frequent sulphuring the wine will acquire a disagreeable sulphur flavor; therefore, ullage should never be left when it is possible to avoid it.

Treatment.—When the wines show flowers, but have not yet become flat, as in the case of new wines which have been neglected, and have not been filled up for a week or more, and are only affected at the surface, by filling up, the flowers may be caused to flow out at the bung. The cask must then be well bunged. It must afterwards be kept well filled, for besides the flat flavor that the flowers may give the wine, they will render it turbid on account of the acid ferments introduced, and cause it to become pricked in the end.

Wine badly flowered, and which has acquired a decided flavor of flatness, without being actually sour, should be filled up, and the flowers should be allowed to pass out of the bung; it should then be racked into a well sulphured cask, which must be completely filled. The flowers must not be allowed to become mixed with the wine. After racking, two or three quarts of old brandy to each 100 gallons should be added, or a few gallons of firm, full-bodied wine, as near as possible of the same natural flavor. It should then be well fined, using in preference the whites of eggs (one dozen for 100 gallons, and a handful of salt dissolved in a little water), and then it must be racked again as soon as clear.

The object of this treatment is to extract from the wine by racking the mould which causes the bad taste; to replace by fortifying, the alcohol lost by evaporation; and finally, by fining, to remove in the lees the acid ferments, which have developed in the form of flowers.

Yet those wines which have become badly affected through negligence are never completely restored, and if they are fine, delicate wines, they lose a large part of their value. Therefore, great care should be taken to prevent this disease, which in the end produces acidity, for, often, neglected wines are at the same time flat and pricked.

Some authors recommend that such a wine should be again mixed with a good, sound, fresh pomace, which has not been long in the vat, and allowed to ferment a second time; this is called passing it over the marc. Of course, this can only be done in the wine making season, and cannot be resorted to by those who do not make wine themselves, or who are at a distance from a wine maker.

When all else fails, they recommend that several large pieces of dry, fresh charcoal be suspended in the wine, attached to cords to draw them out by, Maigne says, for forty-eight hours, and Machard says, one or two weeks, renewing the charcoal from time to time till the taste is removed.

If the wine has already become acid, charcoal will not remove the flavor.

Sourness, Acidity, Pricked Wine—Causes.—Acidity is a sour taste caused by the alcohol of the wine being in part changed to acetic acid by the oxygen of the air. It is due to long contact with the air, and it is the oxygen which produces the change, as described under the head of Acetic Fermentation, and it is the more rapid, according as the temperature is more elevated, and the wine contains more ferments.

What Wines Liable to.—All wines whose fermentation is completed, and which have been fermented under ordinary circumstances—that is, those which have received no addition of alcohol, and no longer contain saccharine matter, are subject to this affection when left exposed to the air.

When they have been fortified up to 18 per cent. of alcohol, whether sweet or not, they do not sour until the alcohol has been enfeebled by evaporation.

If they contain sugar, although not fortified, a new fermentation takes place, and they do not acidify until the greater part of the sugar has been transformed into alcohol. Machard, however, says that wines which contain a good deal of sugar do often acidify, and in the experience of others, there is a continuous fermentation, which renders them very liable to become pricked.

As the acetic acid is formed at the expense of the alcohol, the more the wine contains of the former the less will it have of the latter.

Acidity is Prevented by giving wines proper care and attention, and by keeping them in suitable places, and by using the precautions indicated for flat or flowered wines, i.e., by avoiding long contact with the air. Flowers are the forerunners of acidity; yet they do not always appear before the wine is pricked, especially if the temperature is elevated, and the alcoholic strength considerable. In general, wines become pricked without producing flowers when they are exposed to the air at a temperature of 77° to 100° F.; acidity is produced under these conditions in a very rapid manner; and this is why extra precautions should be taken during hot weather. It should also be remembered that this vice comes either from the negligence of the cellar-man to guard the wines from contact with the air, or from the bad state of the casks, and storing in unsuitable places.

Treatment.—Acetic acid in wine may be in great part neutralized by several alkaline substances; but, if used, there remain in solution in the wine certain salts (acetates and tartrates) formed by the combination of the acetic and tartaric acid with the alkaline bases introduced. These alkaline substances not only neutralize the acetic acid, but also the vegetable acids contained in the wine. These neutral salts are not perfectly wholesome, being generally laxative in their nature. Moreover, the acetic acid cannot be completely neutralized by the employment of caustic alkalies (potash, soda, quicklime), and these bases decompose the wine and cause the dissolution and precipitation of the coloring matter, and render it unfit to drink by reason of the bitterness which they communicate. It is necessary, therefore, to choose for the treatment of pricked wines, those alkaline matters which are the most likely to neutralize the excess of acetic acid without altering the constitution of the wine, without precipitating their color, and which produce by combination the least soluble and least unwholesome salts.

Those which should be employed in preference to others are, carbonate of magnesium, tartrate of potassium, and lime water.

The following substances should only be employed when it is impossible to obtain those last mentioned, for the reason that the salts remaining in solution in the wine may cause loss of color, and even decomposition, if used in large doses, i. e., wood ashes (ashes from vine cuttings being preferred as containing much of the salts of potash); powdered chalk and marble (composed of the sub-carbonates of lime, marble dust being the purer); solutions of the sub-carbonates of potash, and of the sub-carbonates of soda, and plaster.

In Using the Substances, it is always best to experiment with a small quantity of wine, being careful to employ a dose proportioned to the extent of the degree of acidity. Thus, to a quart of wine add 15 or 20 grains of carbonate of magnesia (1 or 2 grammes per litre), little by little, shaking the bottle the while; again, but only when the wine is badly pricked, slack a suitable quantity of quicklime in water, and let it settle till the surface water becomes clear. Then add to the wine which has already received the carbonate of magnesia, 5 or 6 fluidrams of the lime water (2 centilitres), and shake the mixture; then pour in 2 or 3 fluidrams of alcohol (1 centilitre), and finally clarify it with albumen, using fresh milk in preference, from 1½ to 3 fluidrams to a quart (½ to 1 centilitre to a litre); cork the bottle, shake it well, and let it rest for three or four days, when by comparing the sample treated with the pricked wine, the effect will be seen.

This treatment varies according to the nature of the wine. If it is green and pricked, add 15 grains (1 gramme per litre) of tartrate of potassium to the magnesia; and if the wine has a dull color, after having added the milk, put in about 3 grains (22 centigrammes) of gelatine dissolved in about a fluidram (½ centilitre) of water; if the wine is turbid and hard to clarify, add a little more than a grain (8 centigrammes) of tannin in powder, before putting in the milk and gelatine.

Of course, the same proportion should be used in operating upon a larger quantity of wine.

If carbonate of magnesium, which is preferable to all others, cannot be obtained, the dose of lime water may be doubled, and in default of lime, powdered chalk, or marble and vine ash may be used, but with great prudence, and in smaller proportions, or solutions of the sub-carbonates of potash and soda. Great care should be exercised as to the quantity of the latter used, and they should not be employed in treating wine slightly attacked.

Mr. Boireau prefers the carbonate of magnesium to any other alkaline substance, because it affects the color less, and does not give bitterness to the pricked wines, nor render them unwholesome, as do the salts formed by alkalies with a potash, lime, or soda base. In medicine, carbonate of magnesium is used to correct sourness of the stomach (so also, we might add, is carbonate of sodium). For the same reason, decanted lime water is preferred to the sub-carbonate of lime, employed in the form of marble dust and powdered chalk; nevertheless, lime water in large doses makes a wine weak and bitter.

Brandy is added to these wines in order to replace the alcohol lost in the production of acetic acid. The preference given to milk for fining is founded upon the fact that it is alkaline, and therefore assists in removing the acid flavor of the wine while clarifying it. It is alkaline, however, only when it is fresh; skim-milk a day old is acid, and should not be used. Finally, the tartrate and carbonate of potassium employed to treat green and pricked wines, are used to neutralize the tartaric acid, and gelatine and tannin to facilitate the clarification and the precipitation of acid ferments.

Wines whose acid has been neutralized should be clarified, and then racked as soon as perfectly clear, according to the methods pointed out.

The acetic acid being formed at the expense of alcohol, the more acid the less alcohol, and hence the necessity of adding spirit, or, if the acidity is not too pronounced, of mixing with a full-bodied but ordinary wine; but those wines should not be kept, as they always retain acid principles, become dry, and turn again at the least contact with the air. If they are very bad, and their alcoholic strength much enfeebled, they had better be made into vinegar.

Machard’s Treatment.—Machard says that the most successful treatment for sour wine employed by him, is that founded upon the affinity of vegetable substances for acids, and that he has succeeded beyond his hopes in completely removing the acid from a wine which was so sour that it could not be drank without seriously disagreeing with the person drinking it. This is his method of proceeding.

He formed a long chaplet, six feet or so in length, by cutting carrots into short, thin pieces, and stringing them on a cord. This he suspended in the wine through the bung for six weeks, and at the end of the time he did not find the least trace of acetic acid, thereby accomplishing what he had for a long time in vain attempted. He says that this is the only treatment that succeeded with him, and he confidently recommends it to others. But he advises that the carrots be left in the wine at least a month and a half, protecting the wine from the air. And he says that there is no danger of injuring the wine by long contact with the carrots, or by using a large quantity of them.

Other Methods.—Maigne says that if the wine is only affected at the surface from leaving ullage in the cask, the bad air should be expelled by using a hand-bellows; when a piece of sulphur match will burn in the cask, the air has been purified. Then take a loaf of bread, warm as it comes from the oven, and place it upon the bung in such a way as to close it. When the loaf has become cold, remove it, rack the wine into a well sulphured cask, being careful to provide the faucet with a strainer of crape or similar fabric, so as to keep the flowers from becoming mixed with the wine. It will be observed that the bread absorbs a good deal of the acid, and the operation should be repeated as often as necessary.

Another plan is to take the meats of 60 walnuts for 100 gallons of wine, break each into four pieces, and roast them as you would coffee; throw them, still hot, into the cask, after having drawn out a few quarts of wine. Fine the wine, and rack when clear, and if the acidity is very bad, repeat the operation.

A half pound of roasted wheat will produce the same effect.

He also gives the following method for using marble dust.

Take of this from 3 to 6 lbs. to 100 gallons of wine, according to the degree of acidity; dissolve it in two or three gallons of the wine and pour into the cask. Shake it well, and continue the agitation from time to time, for twenty-four or thirty-six hours, till the wine has lost its acidity, taking care to leave the bung open to allow the escape of the carbonic acid which is generated. At the end of the time, add of cream of tartar one-half as much as the dose employed; shake again, from time to time, and at the end of five or six hours, draw the wine off and fine it. If, at the end of the first twenty-four hours, the wine is still acid, add a little more of the powder before putting in the cream of tartar.

In answer to the objections that the charcoal removes the color and bouquet of the wine, and that the acetate of potassium formed injures the wine, he says that the charcoal would not hurt a white wine, and would have but little effect upon a red wine; and as to the bouquet, that wines which have become sour have none, and that the acetate of potassium has no perceptible effect upon the health.

Instead of the preceding powder, the following may be employed:

From 5 to 7 lbs. of this are used for 100 gallons of wine, and one-half the quantity of cream of tartar in fine powder is then added, in the manner above mentioned.

Cask Flavor, or Barrel Flavor—Causes.—This, says Mr. Boireau, should not be confounded with the wood flavor derived from oak wood, and which wines habitually contract when stored in new casks, and which comes from aromatic principles contained in the oak. This barrel flavor is a bad taste, which appears to come from an essence of a disagreeable taste and smell, and which is the result of a special decay of the wood of the cask. This vice is rare. It is impossible for the cooper to prevent it, for he cannot recognize the staves so affected, so as to reject them. For those pieces of wood which have a disagreeable smell when worked, or show reddish veins, blotched with white, often produce casks which give no bad taste to the wine, while other staves selected with the utmost care, sometimes produce that effect, and even in the latter case it is impossible to point out the staves which cause the trouble. When such a cask is found, the only way is to draw off the wine, and not use the cask a second time.

The Treatment for wines which have contracted a bad taste of the cask, is to rack them into a sweet cask, previously sulphured, to remove them from contact with the wood which has caused the trouble. The bad taste may be lessened by mixing in the wine a quart or two of sweet oil, and thoroughly stirring it for five minutes, first removing a few quarts of wine from the cask to permit of the agitation. The oil is removed from the surface by means of a taster, or pipette, as the cask is filled up. The wine should then be thoroughly fined, either with whites of eggs or gelatine, according to its nature, and racked at the end of one or two weeks.

The reason for the treatment is that the fixed oil takes up the volatile essential oil, which apparently produces the bad flavor. The olive oil used contracts a decided flavor of the cask.

This treatment diminishes the cask flavor, but rarely entirely removes it.

Maigne says that to succeed well by this process, the oil should be frequently mixed with the wine, by stirring it often for two or three minutes at a time, during a period of eight days. It is also necessary that the oil be fresh, inodorous, and of good quality, and of the last crop.

The same author gives another process, that of mixing with the wine sufficient sugar or must to set up active fermentation. After the fermentation has ceased, fine and rack.

This author also mentions other methods of treatment, but as olive oil is the remedy more generally used, it is not worth while to give them at length; suffice it to say, that the substances recommended are, a roasted carrot suspended in the wine for a week; a couple of pounds of roasted wheat suspended in the wine for six or eight hours in a small sack; the use of roasted walnuts, as mentioned for sourness; and two or three ounces of bruised peach pits, soaked two weeks in the wine.

Mouldy Flavor—Bad Taste Produced by Foreign Matters.—Wine contracts a musty or mouldy flavor by its sojourn in casks which have become mouldy inside, on account of negligence and want of proper care, as by leaving them empty without sulphuring and bunging. (See Casks.) The mould in empty casks is whitish, and consists of microscopic fungi, which are developed under the influence of humidity and darkness. The bad flavor appears to be due to the presence of an essential oil of a disagreeable taste and smell.

Prevention and Treatment.—It is prevented by carefully examining the casks before filling them, and by avoiding the use of those which have a mouldy smell. Wines affected by this flavor require the same treatment as those affected with cask flavor.

Maigne says that this taste may also be corrected by applying a loaf of warm bread to the open bung, or by suspending in the wine a half-baked loaf of milk bread. The operation should be repeated in three or four days.

Foreign Flavors.—Wines which have contracted foreign flavors, either by being kept in casks which have been used for liquors of decided flavors and odors, such as anisette, absinthe, rum, etc., or from contact with substances having good or bad odors, owe their taste to the dissolution in them of a part of the essential oil which those substances contain, and should be treated in the same manner. The chief thing is to remove the cause, by changing the cask, for if the foreign taste and smell become very marked, they cannot be completely destroyed; they can only be rendered tolerable by mixing them with sound wines.

Ropiness is the name applied to a viscous fermentation which takes place in wine, making it slimy in appearance. It is met with more particularly in white wines, which contain albuminous matters in suspension, and but little tannin. It is not a very serious difficulty, for it can be easily corrected. It is only necessary to tannify the wine by adding 12 or 15 quarts of tannified wine, well stirred in with a whip as in fining, or an ounce or two of tannin dissolved in alcohol for each 100 gallons. The tannin combines with the viscous matter and precipitates it, so that in removing the ropiness the wine is fined at the same time. It should be racked from the finings after about two weeks’ repose.

And we may add that grapes which produce wines predisposed to ropiness ought not to be stemmed, or the must should be fermented with at least a portion of the stems.

Mr. Machard says that this disease is also due sometimes to lack of tartaric acid, and that it may be cured by supplying this substance, and setting up fermentation again. For 100 gallons of wine, about a pound of tartaric acid should be dissolved in hot water, to which the same quantity of sugar is added, and when dissolved, the whole is poured warm into the cask containing the ropy wine. Then replace the bung, and give the cask a thorough rolling for six or eight minutes. A small hole is previously bored near the bung and closed with a spigot, which is removed after rolling the cask, to allow the gas to escape. After resting two or three days, the wine, which we suppose to be a white wine, should be fined with isinglass.

Ropy Wines in Bottles generally cure themselves, but they must not be disturbed until the deposit changes color and takes a brownish tinge. Then is the time to decant them for drinking.

Ropiness may also be Cured by passing the wine over the marc again. But only good, fresh pomace should be used, which is but a few days old. This is done by mixing the wine with the marc of three times the quantity of wine, and stirring from time to time till fermentation is established. After the fermentation, the press wine may be mixed with the rest.

The author does not state whether this is to be done in the case of white wine or red wine, or both, but it is apparent that it would be subjecting a white wine to a very unusual operation. Fresh lees may also be mixed with the wine instead of the marc. Sometimes it is only necessary to let the wine fall into one vessel from another at a little height, several times, or to give it a thorough agitation by stirring it, or by driving it about for a few hours in a vehicle over a rough road.

Alum has been sometimes recommended, but it is now condemned as unwholesome.

Other means have been suggested, but these will suffice; and it is agreed by all that tannin is the sovereign remedy.

It is best to avoid the use of sulphur in treating ropy wines, for fermentation is to be encouraged rather than checked.

Acrity.—An acrid taste, with which certain wines are affected as they grow old, is a sign of degeneration. Mr. Boireau says that he has reason to believe that this disease is due to the presence of acetic acid, coupled with the precipitation of the mucilages which give the mellow flavor to wine. It is more often observed in old, dry wine, improperly cared for, and consequently deprived of its fruity flavor.

The Proper Treatment is to remove the acetic acid by using a gramme or two per litre (60 to 120 grains to a gallon) of carbonate of magnesium. (See Sourness, Pricked Wines.) If the acrity is not too great, wines may be fortified, or mixed with a strong, young, clean-tasting wine of the same nature, after which they should be fined.

Bitterness, which is often a natural defect (which has already been considered), becomes an accidental defect when developed in old wines which were previously sound. It is almost always a commencement of degeneration. This bitter taste comes principally from those combinations which are formed by the dissolution of the coloring matter, and by the precipitation of the mucilaginous substances, the pectines, which give the wine unctuosity and its fruity flavor.

Treatment.—The way to diminish this bitterness is to fortify and regenerate the bitter wine which has entered on its decline, by mixing it with wine of the same nature, but young, stout, and full-bodied, and which have not yet reached maturity. The mixture should be fined with albumen, and racked after resting a fortnight. The wine may be improved in this way, but the bitterness will reappear in a few months. It should, therefore, be used as soon as possible.

Machard recommends the following: Fine the wine with eggs, and let it rest till clear. Burn in a clean cask a quarter or a half of a sulphur match (for 60 gallons), and pour in the bitter wine at once with the smoke in the cask, after having added to each litre of the wine about one gramme of tartaric acid (say 60 grains to the gallon), dissolved in warm water. It must then be mixed with from a fourth to a half of old wine, firm and well preserved. He says that a new wine to mix with it is not suitable, not having sufficient affinity for the old.

Where there is such a difference of opinion as there is between these two authors, one recommending the mixture of new wine, and the other forbidding it, every one had better experiment for himself with a small quantity, and after the cut wines have become thoroughly amalgamated, a choice can be made.

And yet, Mr. Machard says that if the bitterness is not very great, it is better to give them no other treatment than simply mixing them with younger ones, but which have a tendency to become sour, or are already slightly pricked.

Mr. Maumene Distinguishes Two Kinds of Bitterness: 1. The nitrogenous matters, under certain circumstances not well understood, appear to be changed into a bitter product, and entirely spoil the best wine. This effect depends especially upon the elevation of the temperature and the old age of the wine. He says that he knows of but one way to remove this bitterness, and that is to add a small quantity of lime. For example, 25 to 50 centigrammes per litre (say 15 to 30 grains per gallon). The lime should be perfectly new and fresh. It is slacked in a little water or wine, and poured into the cask; after stirring well, it is left to rest for two or three days, and then racked and fined. Probably the lime combines with the nitrogenous matters, gives an insoluble compound, which separates from the wine, and restores to it its former flavor. The wine ought to remain acid after this treatment. He says that it has succeeded with him a great number of times. 2. Another cause of bitterness appears to him to be the formation of the brown resin of ammoniacal aldehyde, under the influence of oxygen. The ferment which adheres to the inside of the cask gives a little ammonia by decomposition.

We see how the wine, under the influence of the air, produces a little aldehyde, the ammoniacal aldehyde, and finally the very bitter brown resin, whose formation was made known by Liebig. It is under these circumstances that sulphuring may be employed as a remedy. The sulphurous acid destroys the resinous matter in taking its oxygen to become sulphuric. There is then made sulphate of ammonia and pure aldehyde. These two substances by no means communicate to the wine the disagreeable flavor of the brown resin from which they are derived.

Another origin of bitterness is given, that of the oxidation of the coloring matter, but there is no positive proof of this any more than there is of the two causes mentioned by him. Unfortunately, the whole matter is hypothetical.

Fermentation and Taste of the Lees—Yeasty Flavor.—By the term fermentation in this connection we mean the malady which is known in different parts of France by various names, such as la pousse, vins montés, tournés, tarés, à l’échaud. It generally attacks those wines which are grown in low places, which come from poor varieties of grapes, or are produced in bad seasons, are weak, full of ferments, and thereby liable to work.

Mr. Boireau gives it the name of goût de travail, working taste, or fermentation flavor. He says that the taste is due to the presence of carbonic acid, disengaged during secondary alcoholic fermentation, by reason of saccharine matter contained in the wine, or of mucilaginous matters which give them their mellowness. The principal cause of fermentation is the presence of these matters joined with ferments, and takes place in an elevated temperature.

The yeasty flavor comes from the mixture in the wine of the lees and deposits already precipitated, and which are again brought into suspension by the movement of fermentation.

How Prevented.—Fermentation and the consequent taste of the lees are prevented by making and fermenting the wines under proper conditions, keeping them in an even temperature, and by separating them from their lees by well-timed rackings, as detailed in the chapters on General Treatment, Racking, etc.

Treatment.—The working is stopped by racking the wines into sulphured casks, and placing them in cellars of a cool and even temperature. (See Sulphuring, etc.) If they have become turbid, they must be fined, and they must be left on the finings only as long as is strictly necessary for their clarification.

Machard recommends that about a quart of alcohol for 100 gallons of wine, or its equivalent of old brandy, be introduced into the sulphured cask before drawing the wine into it, and that it be fined in all cases.

Degeneration—Putrid Fermentation.—We are warned of degeneration in wines a long time in advance, in divers manners: by the loss of their fruity flavor, by bitterness, acrity, etc.; but the true symptoms in old wine are, the more abundant precipitation of their blue coloring matter, a heavy and tawny aspect, with a slightly putrid flavor. The principal causes are the same as those mentioned in speaking of the putrid decomposition in new wines, that is, feebleness in alcohol, and lack of tannin.

We know that by the time the tannin is transformed into gallic acid, the alcohol is diminished by slow evaporation, and it follows that wines which are too old have lost a part of those principles which give them their keeping qualities, alcohol and tannin.

The Duration of Different Wines is exceedingly unequal, and, like animate beings, they display marked differences in constitution. There are very feeble wines, as we have already seen, which are in the way of degeneration the first year, while others, firm and full-bodied, gain in quality for four, six, ten, and more years. As soon as it is seen that a wine, by its taste and appearance, has commenced to degenerate, it is important to arrest the degeneration at once.

Treatment.—Degeneration may be retarded by adding tannin, but it is preferable, in most cases, to mix the wine with younger wines of the same nature, firm, full-bodied, which are improving, and consequently possess an excess of those qualities which are wanting in the degenerating wine. (See Wine in Bottles.)