1892 Drinks of the world

DRINKIS. B depend on the vines, the soils, the exposure of the vineyards, the treatment of the grapes, and the mode of manufacture. Tlie alcohol ^ contained is the leading

In strong ports and sherries this varies

characteristic!

from about i6 to 25 per cent.

It is about 7 per cent,

in claret, hock, and other so-called light wines. 1 3 per cent, of alcohol may be as- sumed to be fortified, as it is called, with brandy or other spirit. The varieties of wine produced are said to be " almost endless." This great number of wines is in some measure owing to an interesting fact mentioned by Miller in his Organic Chemistry (3rd ed. p. 187), who tells us that a particular variety of grape, when grown upon the Rhine, furnishes a species of hock ; the same grape, when raised in the valley of the Tagus, yields Bucellas, in which the palate of a con- noisseur may possibly detect the flavour of hock ; whilst in the island of Madeira the same grape pro- duces the wine known as Sercial, which, though generally allowed to be a delicious wine, has suggested, Bucellas or of hock. It would therefore be more logical to commence an article on wines with an article on the grapes from which they are produced, but we fear it would be far ^ From an Arabic word for antimony, applied to the eyes, the name is said to have been transferred to rectified spirits (Cg Hg O), It is a liquid formed by fermentation of aqueous sugar solutions. Spirit of Wine contains about 90 per cent, of alcohol. 55 parts of alcohol and 45 of water iorm proof spirit. Of alcohol, spirits contain 40-50 per cent. ; wines, 7-25 ; ale and porter^ 6-8 ; small beer, 1-2. Wine containing about it seems, to no skilled palate the flavour either of