On Family Wine Making. By W. MATTHEWS, Esq. *. To the Committee of Superintendance of the Bath and GENTLEMEN, HAVING in the 10th volume of the Society's papers Home made been indulged with the insertion of a few remarks on the utility of making family wines from several of our garden fruits; I took the liberty of presenting, at a subsequent General Meeting, for its examination, a sample of such wine made under my own notice. It will be within the recollection of different gentlemen, who attended that meeting, that the wine they tasted was deemed a very good, pleasant-flavoured, and useful article. The price at which it was made + was considered as small, when compared with wine, the uses to which the wine may be applied, even in genteel for family use, families, where economy is regarded. But the idea of making such an article, in considerable quantities, (espe cially in abundant fruit years,) so as to have the power of furnishing sick and sickly poor persons with such occa- and the sick sional refreshment, could not pass unapproved. The oldest poor. wine of this sort which I now have by me, is yet too youngto give proof of that excellence, which three or four years more will give it; but it is now so rich and valuable, that I can have no hesitation about publishing the recipe, by which it is made, and encouraging any of our members fully to rely upon it for success. The fruits used were of the different sorts mentioned in the recipe, excepting gooseberries, and I think nearly of equal quantities, taken out of a private garden, where they would otherwise have turned to very little account. My friends having fully Goodness. convinced me, that if I gave them white wine equally good * Papers of the Bath and West of England Society, vol. XI, p. 222. + This will be from 2s. 6d. to 3s. per gallon, according to cir cumstances. VOL. XIX.-Supplement. 2 A with with that produced, they will not call on me for foreign white wine, of at least five times the price; I have this year taken the advantage of a fine fruit season, and made several Several hogs. hogsheads. If I live to present the Society with a taste of it some years hence, I have no doubt of its being found worthy of their commendation. heads made. Black currants recommended. wine. I cannot conclude without repeating my recommendation to the owners of gardens in general, to all farmers in easy circumstances, and country gentlemen especially, to regard this useful practice :-and that they may do it to the greater advantage, the increased cultivation of the black-currant plant seems essential: It is easy to increase, greatly productive, and its fruit, in general, can scarcely form too large a proportion of the mixture. I remain, with all due respect, Bath, September, 1807. WILLIAM MATTHEWS. A useful Recipe for making Family Wine. Receipt for the Take, black currants, red ditto, white ditto, ripe cherries, (black hearts are the best) rasberries, each an equal, or nearly an equal quantity: If the black currants be the most abundant, so much the better.-To 4lb. of the mixed fruit, well bruised, put one gallon of clear soft water': steep three days and nights, in open vessels, frequently stirring up the mass: then strain through a hair sieve. The remaining pulp press to dryness. Put both liquids together, and to each gallon of the whole put three pounds of good, rich, moist sugar, of a bright yellowish appearance. Let the whole stand again three days and nights, frequently stirring up as before, after skimming off the top. Then tun it into casks, and let it remain, full and purging at the bung-hole, about two weeks. Lastly, to every nine gallons put one quart of good brandy, and bung down. If it does not soon drop fine, a steeping of isinglass may be introduced, and stirred into the liquid, in the propor tion of about half an ounce to nine gallons. N. B. N. B. Gooseberries, especially the largest, rich flavoured, Gooseberries may be used in the mixture to great advantage; but it has may be added. been found the best way to prepare them separately, by more powerful bruising, or pounding, so as to form the proper consistence in pulp; and by putting six quarts of fruit to one gallon of water, pouring on the water at twice, the smaller quantity at night, and the larger the next morning. This process, finished as aforesaid, will make excellent wine, unmixed; but this fluid, added to the former mixture, will sometimes improve the compound. ANNOTATION. better omitted. I am inclined to think the addition of brandy, here re. Brandy perhaps commended, injurious: an opinion founded on the authority of a respected friend, formerly a chemist in a country town, who excelled in making family wine, and confirmed by my own experience. A similar sentiment is entertained by Dr. Anderson, as appears in his judicious letter on the subject to the author of the preceding article, inserted in Vol. X of the Bath Society's papers, which I shall here annex. making white currant wine. I will only add, that the best home made wine I recollect Method of to have tasted was made by expressing the juice of white currants, bruised but not picked from the stalks: adding water to the fruit after it was pressed, in the proportion of double the quantity of juice: mixing the two liquors together, and putting the whole into a barrel with three pounds of pretty coarse brown sugar to every gallon of the mixture: stirring it well, and then leaving it to ferment with the bunghole at first open, and afterward loosely covered, the barrel not being quite filled. As the sugar does not immediately dissolve, the stirring must be repeated occasionally at intervals of a few days, till this is effected. After it has fermented properly, the barrel must be stopped close; and it may afterward be bottled for use. Some useful information respecting the fermentation and management of wine may be obtained from Mr. German's paper on the wines of Champagne; Philos. Journal, Vol. XVII, p. 353. Isleworth, Jan. 24, 1804. Our own fruits afford wine as good as foreign. DEAR SIR, "I received your letter some days ago re specting the wines that may be made from the natural fruits of this country, which I should have sooner answered, could I communicate any thing of the importance I wished; but that not being the case, I felt a great reluctance at the thought of troubling you with any thing not satisfactory. "I can say little else than that from our own expe rience for a short time past, and what I have seen of others, I am perfectly satisfied that wine may be made from our native fruits-red and white currants, gooseberries, black currants, rasberries, and other fruits, (with the help of sugar) as good, and of as rich a flavour in all respects, as any that are imported from abroad. But the particulars in the process that may vary the qualities of the wine, where the materials are the same, are so numerous, and the time that must elapse before the result of any experi ment can be known is so great, that I despair of living to see any certainty established on this head. At present I Liable to fail. sometimes taste as good wine of that sort as could be desired, and again as bad as can be thought of, made by the same persons, when they can assign no reason for the dif ference. From our own limited practice I have been able to ascertain only two points, that I think can be relied upon as tolerably well etablished. These are, first, that age, I mean not less than three years, is required to elapse, before any wine, that is to be really good, can attain such excellence as to deserve the name of good; and second, that it never can attain that perfection, if spirits of any kind be mixed with it. I apprehend that most of our made wines are greatly hurt by not adverting to these two cir Two leading points. Quality of the truit. cumstances. "Another circumstance that is in my opinion very necessary for the formation of good wine of this sort, is a certain degree of acidity in the fruit, without which the wine never acquires the zest which constitutes its peculiar excellence, but hurries forward too rapidly into the state of vinegar. Currants at all times possess enough of that acidity; but if gooseberries be too ripe they are apt to want fruit is not want it, and become insipidly sweet at an early period, Acidity of though they soon become vinegar. It ought to be revinegar. marked, that the native acidity of the fruit is different from the acidity of vinegar, and possesses qualities extremely dissimilar. The sourness of vinegar, when it has once begun to be formed, continues to augment with age; but the native vegetable acid, when combined with saccharine matter, is gradually diminished as the fermentation proceeds, till it is totally lost in the vinous zest into which both this and the sugar are completely converted before any vinegar is produced: if the fermentation be properly con ducted. "This I believe is a new opinion, which experience alone enabled me to adopt not very long ago. But I have had so many experimental proofs of this fact, independent of the support it derives from reasoning, that I am satisfied it is well founded. I am satisfied farther, that the wines of this country are debased chiefly by not adverting to it, and of which I think you will be convinced also by'a mode rate degree of attention. goes off, and "Every person knows, that an insipid sweetness is the The sweetness prevailing taste in liquors when they begin to ferment, and so would the that it is gradually changed into a pungent vinosity as the acidity. process proceeds; but few persons have had occasion to remark, that the native acid of fruit undergoes a similar change by the fermentatory process. Every one who tastes made wines, however, soon after the process has commenced, perceives that sour to a certain degree is mixed with the sweet. It chances, indeed, that the sweet is sooner blended than the sour; so that when the liquor is tasted a few months after it has been made, it hath lost some part of its sweetness; but still retains nearly the whole of the sour ness of the native acid of the fruit. And as the vinous flavour is yet but weak, the liquor appears to be thin and weak, and running into acidity. It is therefore feared, Common that if it be not then drunk, it will soon run to the state of mistake. vinegar; on this account it is often used in this state, when it forms a very insipid beverage. Frequently also, with a view to check the acetous process, and to give that degree of strength which will entitle it to the name of a cordial liquor, |