Home › Brandy, Whiskey and Imitation Spirits › What Wine Is
What Wine Is
ingredients of wine, above enumerated, are sometimes present, and sometimes absent. Thus, sugar is present in sweet wines, tannic acid in rough wines, and carbonic acid in those that effervesce. Coloring matter exists in the husk or skin of the grape, and is produced by the newly-formed alcohol; its natural color is a purple blue, and the red tint is due to the action of acids. Tartaric acid exists in the juice of the grape in combination with potents, forming bitartrate of potash or cream of tartar. When the fermented juice is left at rest, this gradually separates from the liquor, and deposits itself as a crust or tartar on the sides of the casks and bottles. Hence, by long keeping, good wines become less acid, and every year added to their age increases their marketable value. The different kinds of wine derive their various qualities from the mode of fermentation, the nature of the grape, and the soil and climate in which it may have grown. Grape juice possesses all the necessary essentials for the production of vinous fermentation, and, therefore, to effect this it is unnecessary to add yeast, as is done when alcohol is made from malt or grain. The alcohol in pure wine is that which results from the vinous fermentation, and is intimately united with the other ingredients of the liquid; but with almost all the wines of commerce a portion of brandy is mixed, the state of union of which is probably different from that of the natural alcohol of the wine. The intoxicating ingredient in all wines is the alcohol which they contain; and hence their relative strength depends upon the quantity of this substance entering into their composition. The alcohol, however, naturally in wine, is so blended with its other constituents, as to be in a modified state, which renders it less intoxicating and injurious than the same quantity of 128 ALCOHOLIC STRENGTH OF VARIOUS WINES. alcohol which has been separated by distillation and dilu ted with water.
Dr. Bence Jones, of England, has determined the quantity of alcohol in different wines, thus:
Alcoholic Strength of Various Wines.
Per cent.
Rhine Wine, varied from 9.5 to Per cent. 13.0 by measure, Sherry, “ 15.4 “ 24.7 " Madeira, " 19.0 " 19.7 " Marsala, “ 19.0 “ 21.1 " Claret, “ 9.1 " 11.1 “ Catawba, “ 9.0 “ 9.5 “ Burgundy, “ 10.1 “ 13.2 “ Port, “ 20.7 23.2 " Tokay, " 9.5 " 9.9 “ Moselle, “ 8.7 " 9.4 " Champagne, " 14.1 " 14.8 " Brandy, 50.4 " 53.8 " Rum, " 72.0 “ 77.1 “ Gin, " 49.4 " 50.0 " Whiskey, " 59.3 " 61.2 “ Cider, 5.4 “ 7.5 " Bitter Ale, " 6.6 " 12.3 " Porter, " 6.5 " 7.0 " Stout, “ 6.5 " 7.9 “ The Burgundy and Claret have less alcohol than was found by Mr. Brande forty years ago, in the wines he examined. The Sherry is now stronger; the Port is not so strong; the Marsala is weaker; the Rhine wine is the same strength; the brandy is as strong as formerly; the rum is nearly half as strong again; the porter is stronger, and the stout stronger than formerly.