Volume 4

Essays, political, economical, and philosophical / [Benjamin Rumford].

  • Rumford, Benjamin, Graf von, 1753-1814
Date:
1796[-1812]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essays, political, economical, and philosophical / [Benjamin Rumford]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to make, and does not intend to trust the result to chance, he should consider of what kind he wishes his wine to be, or which of the several modifica- tions of foreign Munes he means it to resemble. By these considerations, he must be guided in his practice ; and to assist his views, I will briefly enumerate the several varieties which it is in his power to imitate, in their general and fundamen- tal qualities. The first and simple class, are the siceet wines, of which the fermentation is incomplete. This incompleteness may arise from two sources, either the disproportion of sugar in the 7nust, or the arti- ficial means adopted for suspending the fermenta- tion, and which have been already described. It is to this class that our native wines bear the great- est resemblance ; a resemblance indeed so general, that few makers of this article appear to possess sufficient knowledge of the art, to enable them- selves to steer clear of that which may be fairly called the radical defect of domestic w'ines. But a consideration of the causes of sweetness in wines, already amply laid down, and of the modes in Avhich it may be avoided ; will, I trust, enable the manufacturer to choose, whether his wine shall be sweet or not,—a choice, which in the present mode of management, is rarely left to him. The next leading description of wines, is that to which, either in a state of sweetness, or com- parative dryness, is super-added the effervescencq