Cassell's dictionary of cookery

by keeping, but this is erroneous. If fermentation goes on, a little more sugar will be converted into alcohol, but this is not large, even in the case of effervescing wines. It is, therefore, a false notion that wine gets stronger by keeping. Strong wines undoubtedly keep best. Wines get altered by keeping, and they get weaker by keeping. They should not be kept in hot cellars, nor cold cellars, nor cellars with a changeable temperature. It appears that a uniform temperature of between 50° and 60° is the best for aU kinds of wine. Wines are said to ripen. sooner in warm cellars than in cold ones, and it is very certain that new wines may be made to assume the flavour of old ones by exposing them to high temperatures, and letting them cool again. This, however, belongs to the art of doctoring." — Br. Lankester. The art of preserving wines is to prevent them from fretting, which is done by keeping them in the same degree of heat and careful working in a cellar where they will not be agitated by the motion of carriages passing. If persons wish to preserve the fine flavour of their wines, they ought on no account to permit any bacon, cheese, onions, pork, or cider in the wine cellars ; for if there be any disagreeable odour in the cellar, the wine will indubitably imbibe it ; consequently, instead of being fragrant and charming to the nose and palate, it will be extremely disagreeable. Wines, Wholesomeness of.— Wines may be resolved into two great divisions ; into those whieh are coloured, and commonly called red wines, and those which have a yellow tinge, more or less deep, termed white wines. This colouring matter is not derived from the juice, but from the husk of the grapes. If, therefore, the fermentation be not permitted to take place in contact with the husks, a colourless wine is in all cases produced. This colouring matter is highly astringent, and consequently the red wines differ from the white in their effects upon the stomach ; and yet it is difficult to explain the well-known extent of this operation by the presence of so small a proportion of active matter. It must, however, be remembered that irritable stomachs are frequently impatient of astringent matter. Many persons are incapable of drinking port wine, in consequence of the heartburn it occasions ; while others, on the contrary, appear to derive advantage from the tonic influence of its stringency. This is a circumstance of idiosyncracy which no theory can explain. A popular writer remarks, " When my stomach is not in good temper, it generally desires to have red wine ; but when in best health nothing affronts it more than to put port into it ; and one of the first symptoms of its coming into adjustment is a wish for white wine. Every physician is practically aware of the caprice which the stomach displays in its morbid conditions ; but as a general rule it may be stated that white deserves a preference over red wines, because the latter being pressed and subjected to a stronger fermentation to extract the colouring principle from the husk are necessarily more loaded with extractive and as- tringent matter ; and as this remains in the stomach after the liquid portion of the wine is absorbed, it will be liable to occasion disturbance."