1899 The Mixicologist by C F Lawlor

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THE MIXICOLOGIST.

bunches exhibit a j'ellowish brown (instead of a green) color,and show signs of flacidity. In Spain, France, and Portugal it is a very common practice to dust over the grapes with plaster of paris, or to add the plaster to the must. The inteutioii is to prevent putrefaction of the berries in the latter, to add to the chemical .stability of the wine. Effervescing or Sparkling Wines. These wines are largely impregnated with car bonic acid, engendered by" an after-lermentation in the closed bottle by means of added sugar. The art originated in Champagne,where the best sparkling wines are produced, and whence it has spread to the Rhine, the Moselle, and other cli.s- tricts. A champagne which contains relatively little sugar is called "dry"; it is chiefly this kind which is imported into Great Britain, where cham pagne is used habitually principally as a dinner wine: inPrance a sweet wine is preferred. At the presentday wine is practically a European pro duct, although a certain quantity is • .ade in the United States, at the Cape of Good Hope,and in Australia. France shows to-day, and has during several iso lated seasons the past twenty years, shown herself to be the most remarkable wine-producing country country in the world's history, and this in face of the fact that the United States and Italy, with more territory suitable to grape-growing, and with won-