THE CHEMICAL TESTING OF WINES AND SPIRITS.

Press, Volume XII, Issue 1589, 10 December 1867, Page 3

THE CHEMICAL TESTING OF WINES AND SPIRITS.

[From the " Athensaum."] Mr J. S. Griffin has written a work which is intended to assist those who are anxious to ascertain by experiment the relative proportions of the principal constituents of wines and spirits. To this Mr Griffin might have added bfeera, for the processes used for the discovery of the constituents of one are certainly good for the other. And what is more* under whatever form or name fermented liquora are drank throughout the world, all their qualities and characters depend on four or five constituents ; and before any one uses "this book of Mr Griffin's, he should thoroughly understand the relative importance of the different constituents of fermented liquors. First and foremost of these substances stands the alcohol. This substance, in spite of the teetotaller's insinuation that it has a special origin, is the f result of a change in fruit sugar, by ' which this substance is split up into carbonic acid and the salt of a compound radical, water in this case acting the part of the acid, and ether or oxide of ethyle the base. Now there is nothing exceptional about this, hut one of the most beautiful exemplifications of a law in chemistry that we have. JBvery sweet fruit that decomposes at a certain temperature gives -off this volatile alcohol. Nay, ffiore, all the scents of flowers and flavours of plants are dependent on compounds formed on the same plan as-this "devilish" alcohol:' It should be remembered, then, that man alone toakeg it "devilish.". We need not dwelt on the effects ,of alcohol on the nervous system—now it. first stimulates, then deranges, and at last destroys the nervous matter; how it denudes the mucous membrane of the stomach, causes decay in the liver, produces - fetty degeneration of the heart, granular disease of the kidneys, softening of tßehrain, and, permeating every tissue °f;the body, lays up explosive materials for diseased actions of all kinds to make riot of. But this dreadful enemy is a powerful friend. Short of evil it does much good. It stimulates the nerves to act when they are feeble aid under-worked. Stomach, liver, kidneys,; brain, are all urged to duty under its influence. The intellect is brightened, the social feelings are called into play more actively, the finest actions of body and mind in the history of man have been achieved under its influence. The greatest nations the world has seen have been addicted to its use, and the noblest of the world have given to its Use in health and disease their sanction .and approval.' "Withdraw alcohol from the beverages of mankind, and they sink to the dead level of soups, toast-and-water, and tea. The influence and importance of alcohol may be judged' by the statement that for its consumption in this country every year £70,000,000 of | money is paid. There can be, therefore, no doubt that the primary con-

stituent of fermented beverages is the alcotrol; —At~ the same timethe price paid for it varies in each class of beverage. It is cheapest in beer, and dearest in winu. The quantity of alcohol to the pint varies greatly in the various kinds of fermented drink. It is smallest in beers, greatest in spirits, and in mediocre proportion in wines. Mr Griffin in his book gives tables by which you can see at a glance the quantity of alcohol in wines and spirits, and he might have extended it to beers. At the South Kensington Museum there used to be a series of specimens illustrating the quantities of alcohol in a large series of fermented beverages, including beer. Now the value of all these analyses, and of Mr Q-riffin's experimental directions in so far as alcohol is concerned, is to ascertain which beverage gives the largest amount for the money. If we look at prices in connection with alcohol, we shall find that it is sold in beer, ale, and porter at about 2d an ounce, in spirits at from 3d to 6d, and in wines at from 6d to 3s or 4s an ounce. To those who drink fermented liquors for the sake of their alcohol, it may be some consolation to know that beers and spirits are cheaper than wine. More depends on this fact than most people think for. The great majority of mankind drink fermented beverages for the sake of their alcohol. The cheap wines of France and Germany will never be generally drunk in England till they are sold at a price that will make their alcohol as cheap as*beer on the one hand, or low-priced ports and sherries or spirits on the other. Ports and sherries successfully compete with strong ales when they are so brandied that their alcohol is nearly as low-priced as that of beer. The next constituent of the greatest importance in fermented beverages is their flavour, — bouquet. Mr G-riffin is very learned on all the constituents of wines; but he gives no means of chemically ascertaining the presence of bouquet. Mulder, in his learned book on wines (see Dr. Jones's translation), gives an analysis of a pint of common Rhine wine, and a pint of Johannisberg, the one sold at Is, the other at 25s a bottle, but finds no difference in its composition. It is the same with wines, as all other articles of food. There is a basis of what is necessary, and, as Mr Brooks observed to Mr Samuel Weller of his cat's-meat pies, which became veal or ] beef or mutton as the public required, " it's the seasonin , that does it." The alcohol is the basis of wines, of spirits, and of beers, but what makes any of these rise above the. price of their alcohol in the market is the bouquet. It is the delicate hop flavour that makes Eomford and Burton beers fetch a higher price in the market in proportion to their alcohol than the coarse stouts and porters of the London brewers ; it is the fine bouquet of well-made gin,.of old Jamaica rum, or of Cognac brandy, that makes their prices differ ; and it is the exquisite and peculiar flavour of fair and old wines that wins their high prices. As to their flavours, Mulder has investigated their nature with a laboriousness which only their fascination could have prompted ; but he has failed to tell how to discover by chemistry a high-priced wine. Rudersheim, Steinberger, and Johannisberger are produced on a little knoll on the banks of the Ehine, and have always fetched the highest prices amongst hocks. Little nooks have produced the best wines of other districts, but why they were the best has depended on no chemical knowledge, but entirely on the taste of the connoisseur. Everywhere the same spirituous question, defying the researches of the chemist, meets us on the question of flavour ; and we might just as well apply to the chemist to tell U8 what constitutes the charm of Imperial Tokay, Cabinet Steinberger, or Johannisberger. But then there is the sugar, the absence presence of which makes wines sweet or dry; there is the acid which make them tart, the tannin that makes them astringent, and the saline constituents which give them action on the excretory organs. Here is undoubtedly work for the chemist— important work, too. Take, for instance, sugar. Without anything like demonstration, sugar has been held to be most pernicious in beers and wines. Hence the preference for pale bitter ales, the consumption of sugarless clarets and hocks, and the advocacy of a " little spirits " and water. To the unenlightened, this question is easily explained ; but physiologists are still puzzled to know why an ounce of sugar daily taken in a pint of port or ale will give gout, while double that quantity in tea or coffee produces no such effect Eecent chemical researches seem to show that the sugar of wine is not sugar at all, but a compound resembling glycerine, which, when taken into the blood, runs much more easily into dangerous compounds than common sugar. There seems to be little doubt that the same quantity of alcohol in sugarless wines and spirits and water may be taken without danger of producing gout. But then the awful possibility is held by certain medical authorities that these things kill off the indulger in them before gout has time to develope. We cannot help it; but we must leave our drinking friends on the horns of this dilemma. Next to the sugar come the acid —the acids. Beer contains acetic acid, vinegar; wines contain tartaric acid ; cider and perry, malic acid ; British gooseberry and currant and orange, citric acid; rhubarb, oxalic acid. All these acids were at one time supposed by the doctors to give gout; hence all acid wines were interdicted, and porta and sherries were sugared to hide their taste. The doctors know better now although the public do not. The doctors found acid in the blood in rheumatism and gout, and so interdicted taking acids. But they have now learnt that the acid in the blood of gouty and rheumatic patients is lithic acid, and that this acid is not generated directly or indirectly by the acids of wines. So the acid question is of no particular importance at this time, and no amount of any kind of acid in a pint of beer or wine is likely

to do more injury to a person than a fceaspoorrf ul of "vinegar, or the acid contained in an apple. Then there comes the tannin, which is allied to the colouring matters in red wines. It is an astringent and a tonic, and acts favourably iii cases of debility dependent on "fiabbiness" of tissue. There is not so much tannin in pint of claret as in a cup of tea ; hence, as far as tannin is concerned, the wine is really not of much value. But then there is that other question of bouquet, which connects itself with tannin with red wines, and which makes their astringency as enjoyable as a pretty picture or a piece of melody. Last of all, the "saline" constituents of wine demand the attention of the chemist and the purchaser of wine. Some clarets are said to contain a little iron, and so do the chalybeate springs of Tunbridge. Others contain phosphates, so does bread. The fact is, if you want saline constituents, you had better drink mineral waters than select wines. The moral of the whole seems to be that, having ascertained the quantity of alcohol in your fermented beverage, limit yourself to under two ounces a day. If you are gouty or dyspeptic, avoid wines containing sugar, as port, sherry, Lisbon, Tokay, champagne, and many others. There is nothing dangerous, nothing beneficial, in high priced wines. What you pay for is flavour, and in this you indulge to any extent, provided you do not exceed two ounces of alcohol. You need not avoid wines on account of their acid, nor drink them on account of their saline constituents. With these few rules, and Mr Griffin's book, you may be safely trusted with the use of a wine-cellar of unlimited variety and extent.