1899 The Mixicologist by C F Lawlor

THE MIXICOLOGIST.

95

WINE. The word"wiae," in its wildest sense, includes all alcoholic beverages derived from sacchariferous vegetable juices bj- spontaneous fermentation. In the narrower sense of its ordinarj' acceptance, it designates the fermented product of grape juice, with which alone the present article proposes to deal. Wine making is an easy art where there is a sufficient supply of perfectly ripe grapes. In Italy, Spain, Greece, and other countries of Southern Europe, nature takes care of this. In the more northern districts of France, and especially on the Rhine in Germany, the Culture of the vine means hard work from one end of the year to the other, which only exceptionall}- finds its full reward. And jet it is in those naturally less favored districts that the most generous wines are produced. Southern wines excel in body and strength, but even the best of them lack the beantifnl aroma or bonqnet charac teristic of high-class Rhine wine. The large propor tion of sugar in southern grape juice would appear to be inimical to the development of that superior flavor. To secure the highest attainable degree of maturity in the grape, the vintage on the Rhine is postponed nutil the grapes almost begin to wither, and the white grapes on the sunny side of the