1895 Mixed Drinks by Herbert W Green

MIXED DRINKS.

113

as has color often deposits a considerable amount of sediment, and if stored in casks there is a constant increase of alcohol. Wines which have retained much albuminous matter and which possess but little tannic acid cannot resist the influence of time. They become acid or undergo some other change. This occurs in the case of Rhine wines which contain but little alcohol, and all those wines which have much sugar and but little tannic acid in them cannot be kept very long. The wine is improved by being kept in wooden casks, as water escapes by evaporation and the other constitu ents being thus concentrated exert a stronger chemical action upon each other and render the wine not only more condensed but better flavored. Wine must be added to supply the loss of water or the action of the air will turn it sour and convert the alcohol into acetic acid,and the diminution of water which is thus replaced by wine causes a constant increase of tartaric acid. ■W ines poor in sugar may thus soon become too sour. The idea more or less prevalent that wine which has grown old in bottles has become stronger is entirely erroneous, but tbe color of bottled wine is materially afiected by age. Liqueur wines and red wines contain ingno great amount of tannic acidbecome darker, while wines which are I'ich it tannic acid, like port, deposit a