The elderberry is capable of making an excel-
lent red wine. Its cheapness also recommends
it. It does not, indeed, possess any great
degree of flavour, but it possesses no bad one,
which is a negative property often of great
importance in artificial wine-making.
The cherry jjroduces a wine of no very peculiar
character. If used, care should be taken not to
bruise too many of the stones, otherwise a
disagi-eeable bitter taste will be imparted to
the wine.
The blackberry and mulberry are capable of
making coloured wines, if managed with that
view : they are deficient, however, in the astrin-
gent principle ; nevertheless, they may be
occasionally employed with advantage when a
particular object is to be gained.
The sloe and damson are so associated in
qualities that nearly the same results are
obtained from both. Their juice is acid and
astringent, and hence they are qualified only
for making dry wines. By a due admixture of
currants or elderberries with sloes or damsons,
wines not unlike the inferior kinds of port are
often produced.
Grapes, of British growth, are capable of
making excellent sparkling and other wines by
the addition of sugar. The grapes may be used
in any state, however immature ; when even
but half-grown and perfectly "hard they succeed
perfectly.
Raisins are extensively used in this country
for making domestic wines, therefore they
deserve to be .mentioned here. When properly
managed, they are capable of making a pure
and flavourless vinous fluid, well. adapted for
receiving any flavour which may be required,
and thus of imitating many -wines of foreign
growth.
The orange and lemon are likewise used for
making domestic wines. Upon the whole,
however, they are not very well adapted for
the purpose, as they contain too little acid
and too little of the extractive or fermentative
juice.
The quince, from its analogy to the apple
and pear, is better qualified for making a
species of cider than wine.
The following is the art of making wine from
native fruits. We start upon the grounds that
home-made wines are intended to be imitations
of foreign wines. In the first place, therefore,
we have to prepare a juice or must similar to
the juice or must of the grape in its general
composition. Now, no fruit whatever j-ields a
juice precisely similar to that of the grape. In
our northern climate, more especially, the sac-
charine principle, which is the fundamental
basis in wine-making, exists in verj- minute
proportion in most fruits. It must be, there-
fore, supplied artificially. The tartaric acid,
or rather super-tartrate of potash, which is
another essential principle in wine-making, is
likewise wanting in most of our fruits. This,
therefore, must be supplied. On the contrary.
WIN
( "42 )
WIN
other substances, and particularly the malic
acid, exist in too large a proportion in most of
our fruits, which, in their natural state, are
thus better adapted for making cider than wine.
To get rid of the malic acid, and to prevent its
deteriorating effects, as well as the deteriorating
effects of other foreign princijilcs, is difficult,
or perhaps impossible ; and this will doubtless
always render home-made wines inferior to those
of the grape, though very near approaches may
be made by judicious management.
Page 2317
Presented as published in 1892. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The elderberry is capable of making an excellent red wine. Its cheapness also recommends it. It does not, indeed, possess any great degree of flavour, but it possesses no bad one, which is a negative property often of great importance in artificial wine-making.
The cherry produces a wine of no very peculiar character. If used, care should be taken not to bruise too many of the stones, otherwise a disagreeable bitter taste will be imparted to the wine.
The blackberry and mulberry are capable of making coloured wines, if managed with that view : they are deficient, however, in the astringent principle ; nevertheless, they may be occasionally employed with advantage when a particular object is to be gained.
The sloe and damson are so associated in qualities that nearly the same results are obtained from both. Their juice is acid and astringent, and hence they are qualified only for making dry wines. By a due admixture of currants or elderberries with sloes or damsons, wines not unlike the inferior kinds of port are often produced.
Grapes, of British growth, are capable of making excellent sparkling and other wines by the addition of sugar. The grapes may be used in any state, however immature ; when even but half-grown and perfectly "hard they succeed perfectly.
Raisins are extensively used in this country for making domestic wines, therefore they deserve to be .mentioned here. When properly managed, they are capable of making a pure and flavourless vinous fluid, well. adapted for receiving any flavour which may be required, and thus of imitating many -wines of foreign growth.
The orange and lemon are likewise used for making domestic wines. Upon the whole, however, they are not very well adapted for the purpose, as they contain too little acid and too little of the extractive or fermentative juice.
The quince, from its analogy to the apple and pear, is better qualified for making a species of cider than wine.
The following is the art of making wine from native fruits. We start upon the grounds that home-made wines are intended to be imitations of foreign wines. In the first place, therefore, we have to prepare a juice or must similar to the juice or must of the grape in its general composition. Now, no fruit whatever yields a juice precisely similar to that of the grape. In our northern climate, more especially, the saccharine principle, which is the fundamental basis in wine-making, exists in very minute proportion in most fruits. It must be, therefore, supplied artificially. The tartaric acid, or rather super-tartrate of potash, which is another essential principle in wine-making, is likewise wanting in most of our fruits. This, therefore, must be supplied. On the contrary.
WIN
( "42 )
WIN
other substances, and particularly the malic acid, exist in too large a proportion in most of our fruits, which, in their natural state, are thus better adapted for making cider than wine. To get rid of the malic acid, and to prevent its deteriorating effects, as well as the deteriorating effects of other foreign principles, is difficult, or perhaps impossible ; and this will doubtless always render home-made wines inferior to those of the grape, though very near approaches may be made by judicious management.