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case also with the cereal crops and many fruits and vegetables, the wines produced in countries possessing temperate climates are-when the vintage is successful—finer than those made in hot or semi-tropical regions. Although, for instance, the wines of See also:

Italy, See also:

GREECE

Greece, the Cape, &c., possess See also:

GREAT

great See also:

BODY

body and strength, they cannot compare as regards elegance of flavour and bouquet with the wines of See also:

France and Germany. On the other See also:

hand, of course, the vagaries of the temperate climate of See also:

NORTHERN

northern See also:

EUROPE

Europe frequently See also:

lead to a partial or See also:

COMPLETE

complete failure of the vintage, whereas the wines produced in relatively hot countries, although they undoubtedly vary in quality from See also:

YEAR

year to year, are rarely, if ever, See also:

TOTAL

total failures. The See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character of a wine depends mainly (a) on the nature of the soil; (b) on the general type of the climate; (c) on the variety of See also:

VINE

vine cultivated. The quality, as distinct from general character, depends almost entirely on the vintage, i.e. on the See also:

WEATHER (O. Eng. weder; the word is common to Teutonic languages; cf. Du. weder, Dan. veir, Icel. ve8r, and Ger. Wetter and Gewitter, storm; the root is wa- to blow, from which is derived " wind ")

weather conditions preceding and during the gathering of the grapes and the subsequent See also:

FERMENTATION

fermentation. Of all these factors, that of the nature of the soil on which the vine is grown is perhaps the most important. The same vine, ex-posed to practically identical conditions of climate, will produce markedly different wines if planted in different soils. On the other hand, different varieties of the vine, provided they are otherwise not unsuitable, may, if planted in the same soil, after a See also:

time produce wines which may not differ seriously in character. Thus the planting of See also:

French and See also:

German vines in other countries (e.g. See also:

AUSTRALIA

Australia, the Cape) has not led to the See also:

PRODUCTION (Lat. productionem, from producere, to pro-duce)

production of directly comparable wines, although there may at first have been some general resemblance in character. On the other hand, the re-planting of some of the French vineyards (after the ravages due to the See also:

PHYLLOXERA (Gr. 4suXXov, leaf, and Erlpbs, dry)

phylloxera) with American vines, or, as was more generally the case, the grafting of the old French stock on the See also:

hardy American roots, resulted, after a time, in many cases, in the production of wines practically indistinguishable from those formerly made. 11'See also:

ine-snaking.—The See also:

art of wine-making is, compared with the manufacture of See also:

BEER

beer or See also:

SPIRITS

spirits, both in principle and in practice a relatively See also:

SIMPLE

simple operation.

When the grapes have attained to maturity they are collected by hand and then transferred in baskets or carts to the See also:

PRESS (through Fr. presse from Lat. pressare, frequentative of premere, to crush, squeeze, press)

press See also:

house. After the stalks have been removed either by hand or by a simple apparatus the juice is expressed either—as is still the case in many quarters—by trampling under See also:

FOOT

foot or by means of a simple See also:

lever or See also:

SCREW (O.E. scrue, from O. Fr. escroue, mod. ecrou; ultimate origin uncertain; the word, or a similar one, appears in Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Schraube, Dan. skrue, but Skeat, following Diaz, finds the origin in Lat. scrobs, a ditch, hole, particularl

screw press or by rollers. In the case of red wines the skins are not re-moved, inasmuch as it is from the latter that the See also:

COLOUR (Lat. color, connected with celare, to hide, the root meaning, therefore, being that of a covering)

colour of the wine is derived. The must, as the expressed juice of the See also:

GRAPE

grape is termed, is now exposed to the See also:

PROCESS

process of fermentation, which consists essentially in the See also:

CONVERSION (Lat. conversio, from convertere, to turn or ,change)

conversion of the See also:

SUGAR

sugar of the must into See also:

ALCOHOL

alcohol and various subsidiary products. The fermenting operations in wine-making differ radically from those obtaining in the case of beer or of spirits in that (if we except certain See also:

SPECIAL

special cases) no yeast is added from without. Fermentation is induced spontaneously by the yeast cells which are always See also:

PRESENT

present in large See also:

numbers in the grape itself. The result is that—as compared with beer or spirits—the fermentation at first is relatively slow, but it rapidly increases in intensity and continues until practically the whole of the sugar is converted. In the case of the production of certain sweet wines (such as the sweet Sauternes, See also:

PORT

Port and Tokay) the fermentation only proceeds up to a certain extent. It then either stops naturally, owing to the fact that the yeast cells will not See also:

WORK

work rapidly in a liquid containing more than a certain percentage of alcohol, or it is stopped artificially either by the addition of spirit or by other means which will be referred to below. As the character of a wine depends to a considerable extent on the nature of the yeast (see FERMENTATION), many attempts have been made of See also:

LATE

late years to improve the character of inferior wines by adding to the unfermented must a pure culture of yeast derived from a See also:

SUPERIOR

superior wine. If pure yeast is added in this mariner in relatively large quantities, it will tend to predominate, inasmuch as the number of yeast cells derived from the grapes is at the commencement of fermentation relatively small. In this way, by making pure cultures derived from some of the finest French and German wines it has been possible to lend something of their character to the inferior growths of, for instance, California and Australia.

It is not possible, however, by this method to entirely reproduce the character of the wine from which the yeast is derived inasmuch as this depends on other factors as well, particularly the constitution of the grape juice, conditions of climate, &c. The other micro-organisms naturally present in the must which is pitched with the pure culture are not without their See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence on the result. If it were possible to sterilize the must See also:

prior to pitching with pure yeast no doubt better results might be obtained, but this appears to be out of the question inasmuch as the See also:

HEATING

heating of the must which sterilization involves is not a practicable operation. After the See also:

main fermentation is finished, the See also:

young wine is transferred to casks or vats. The general method followed is to fill the casks to the bung-hole and to keep them full by an occasional addition of wine. Thesecondary fermentation proceeds slowly and the carbonic See also:

ACID (from the Lat. root ac-, sharp; acere, to be sour)

acid formed is allowed to See also:

ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli

escape by way of the bung-hole, which in See also:

order to prevent undue See also:

ACCESS (Lat. accessus)

access of See also:

air is kept lightly covered or is fitted with a See also:

WATER

water See also:

seal, which permits See also:

gas to pass out of the cask, but prevents any return flow of air. During this secondary fermentation the wine gradually throws down a See also:

DEPOSIT (Lat. depositurn, from deponere, to lay down, to put in the care of)

deposit which forms a coherent crust, known as argil or lees. This consists chiefly of cream of See also:

TARTAR

tartar (bitartrate of potash), tartrate of See also:

lime, yeast cells and of albuminous and colouring matters. At the end of some four to five months this See also:

PRIMARY

primary deposition is practically finished and the wine more or less See also:

bright. At this See also:

STAGE (Fr. 6/age; from Lat. stare, to stand)

stage it receives its first racking. Racking consists merely in separating the bright wine from the deposit. The wine is racked into clean casks, and this operation is repeated at intervals of some months, in all three to four times.

As a general See also:

RULE

rule, it is not possible by racking alone to obtain the wine in an absolutely bright See also:

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition. In order to bring this about, a further operation, namely that of fining, is necessary. This consists, in most cases, in adding to the wine proteid See also:

MATTER

matter in a finely divided See also:

state. For this purpose See also:

ISINGLASS (probably a corruption of the Dutch huisenblas, Ger. Hausenblase, literally " sturgeon's bladder ")

isinglass, See also:

GELATIN, or GELATINE

gelatin or, in the case of high-class red wines, See also:

white of See also:

egg is employed. The proteid matter combines with a part of the See also:

TANNIN, or TANNIC ACID

tannin in the wine, forming an insoluble tannate, and this gradually subsides to the bottom of the cask, dragging with it the mechanically suspended matters which are the main cause of the wine's turbidity. In some cases purely See also:

MECHANICAL

mechanical means such as the use of See also:

SPANISH

Spanish See also:

clay or filtration are employed for fining purposes. Some wines, particularly those which lack acid or tannin, are very difficult to See also:

FINE

fine. The greatest care is necessary to ensure the cleanliness and asepticity of the casks in which wine is stored or into which it is racked. The most See also:

COMMON

common method of ensuring cask cleanliness is the operation known as " sulphuring." This consists in burning a portion of a See also:

SULPHUR

sulphur "match" (i.e. a See also:

FLAT (a modification of O. Eng. flet, an obsolete word of Teutonic origin, meaning the ground beneath the feet)

flat See also:

WICK

wick which has been steeped in melted sulphur, or simply a stick of melted sulphur) in the interior of the cask. The sulphurous acid evolved destroys such micro-organisms as may be in the cask, and in addition, as it reduces the See also:

SUPPLY (through Fr. from Lat. supplere, to fill up)

supply of See also:

OXYGEN (symbol 0, atomic weight 16)

oxygen, renders the wine less prone to acidulous fermentation. Sweet wines, which are liable to See also:

FRET

fret, are more highly and frequently sulphured than dry wines. After the wine has been sufficiently racked and fined, and when it has reached a certain stage of maturation—varying according to the type of wine from, as a rule, two to four years—the wine is ready for bottling.

Certain wines, however, such as some of the varieties of port, are not bottled, but are kept in the See also:

wood, at any See also:

RATE

rate for a considerable number of years. Wines so preserved, however, develop an entirely different character from those placed in See also:

BOTTLE (Fr. bouteille, from a diminutive of the Lat. butta, a flask; cf. Eng. " butt ")

bottle.

End of Article: VITICULTURE AND

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