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Wines, Effervescing

If wines are bottled before the fermentation is over, the carbonic acid is retained in the wine, and what is called an "effervescing" wine is produced. Certain kinds of wine are more favourable than others to this process; and in all countries effervescing wines are produced. In this country we are most familiar with the effervescing wines of France, which are generally known under the name of champagne. Hocks, Moselles, and even red wines are treated thus; and, on the cork being removed from the bottle, the carbonic acid begins to escape, and gives them their sparkling effervescent character. When such wines contain much sugar, the fermentation in the bottle is arrested before all the sugar is consumed, and they are sweet effervescing wines. In other cases the sugar is all exhausted in producing the carbonic acid, and such wines are then said to be dry. Sparkling or effervescing wines are agreeable to the palate, and in the same way as bottled ales they sometimes appear to assist the digestion of the food with which they are taken. In some cases, however, there can be no doubt that they produce injury. When new, they communicate the state of change in which they are to the contents of the stomach, and interfere with the healthy process of digestion. They are less liable to disagree when they are dry and contain but little sugar than when they hold much of this substance. The quantity of sugar varies in champagne from one hundred grains in the pint to considerably above an ounce.