Manufacture of Wines in the South, Part II [pp. 251-279]

MANUFACTURE OF WINES IN THE SOUTH.
Europe shall select this desirable village as the seat of their
industry, and we may send to Aiklen, ias we do to Cette, and
direct any wine to be made to order of such an age or quality.
To hasten this flourishing era, we have first to determine
whether the grapes of Aiken are susceptible of this high destiny-wliethlcr they are equal in quality to those at present
employed in Europe for the- same purpose. That similar fruits
should contain similar constituents is reasonably to be expected, and when we encounter similar fruits in different parts
of the world, we may infer similar composition. If we subject
identical fruits to identical examinations, we obtain identical
results; hence we had a right to presume that the Anmerican
gralpes contained the same composition as the'E'uropean, with
about as many differences as exist among the European va.rieties. VNarieties growing in the same vineyard will differ in subordinate details, whether the vineyard be in Americ(a or in
Europe. Climate, soil, cultivation and care have their influences for good or for evil, but no contingency can so fir il-th:ie
a vine as to make it lose the characteristics of its firuit. T'e
fruit wAill always contain water, holding in solution potash and
lime salts, fiee acids, tartaric principally, sugar, nmucilage, pecten,
essential and fixed oils, coloring and astringent matter, ac)d
woody fibres proceeding from the rupture of t,he organization
of the fruit by the mechanical action of the press, and held in
suspension. This woody fibre which is held in suspension, and
on the complete removal of which depen(ls the limpidity of the
future wine, together with impurities Nlwhich may accidentally
fiIll into it, may be denominated fecula, and defecation may be
applied to designate the process by wl-liellch it is removed. Of
the several constituents which enter into the composition of
grap,e juice, the most important to determine are the acids and
the sugar. The remainder may be determined sufficiently by
the sight, the smell or the taste. The quantitative determiiiiation of the acid and sugar enable us, first, to decide the miaturity of the fruit-for it is demonstrated that at maturity the
acids will be at its mninimumr and the sugar will be at its iiiaximum. Secondly, the knowledge of the quantity of acid and
su,gar enables us to predict the production of an acid or a
stron(, wine-for excess of organic acids make an acid wilie tnd
deficiency of sugar will make a weak wine. The wines of
Aiken are both acid and weak-attributable to the use of an
immature grape which I shall show hereafter. The maximum
of maturity may be determined by the maximum quantity of
sugar whichl the grape can produce, and correlatively the minimum quantity of acidity. If this correlative be true, it may be
sufficient for the viiie grower to know how to determine one
and infer the other. To demonstate this truth, I have been
compelled to employ both operations, one immediately after the
other; and to prove that the processes are neither difficult nor
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