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    Chats about Wine
    Chats about Wine
    Chats about Wine
    Ebook75 pages52 minutes

    Chats about Wine

    By C. E. Hawker

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    About this ebook

    “This book does not aspire to be, in any sense, a treatise on wine, nor does it presume to teach anything to either experts or connoisseurs.
    Its object is to try and awaken an interest in the subject among those who have not hitherto given much thought or attention to it, and to point out how important it is in these days of fraud and adulteration that wine should be obtained from proper and reliable sources.” (1908 - C. E. Hawker)
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEdizioni Savine
    Release dateMar 5, 2016
    ISBN9788896365793
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      Book preview

      Chats about Wine - C. E. Hawker

      sources.

      CHAPTER I - What is Wine ?

      IN every clime, and under every sun, from the very earliest periods of time of which we have any record, wine has been considered as one of the choicest gifts of a beneficent Providence, and in the old days of Biblical antiquity it was always looked upon, in conjunction with corn and oil, as a symbol of national well-being and material prosperity. The legendary and mystical associations which cluster round its history have inspired the poet's song and the orator's panegyric from time immemorial, and writers, sacred and secular, classical and modern, have been unanimous in eulogising its virtues and advocating its use. Among civilised nations wine has always been, and is still, closely connected, not only with religious observances, but with all festive and social ceremonies, both public and private, and that it makes glad the heart of man now, as in days of old, few people will be disposed to deny. Taken in moderation its pleasurable and health-giving properties are all but universally acknowledged, and experience seems to justify the belief that, as compared with the innumerable benefits it confers, the harm produced by its misuse is comparatively insignificant.

      What then, it may be asked, is this wonderful elixir of life, which is almost as old as the world itself and yet is ever overflowing with the exuberance of youth ; which restores and invigorates us when the powers of life are low ; uplifts and cheers us in days of sorrow and gloom; evokes and enhances our joys and pleasures; and which, by the inherent living force it is endowed with, gives animation, energy and inspiration to every sense and faculty we possess ?

      Precise definitions in matters of food and drink are difficult at all times, and particularly so in these days, but it is safe to say that wine is, or should be, a beverage derived exclusively from the perfectly fermented juice of the grape. The quality and nature of true wine, however, depend upon a variety of circumstances. The species of vine, the climate of the region in which it is grown, the soil, the methods of cultivation adopted, the processes favoured for the treatment and maturing of the expressed juices, the vintage —all have their influence upon the final product, and to a very large extent too, in many cases.

      As a rule the most important feature about wine, from the ordinary consumers' point of view, is its alcoholic potency, but the stimulating power of wine and its use dietetically are by no means to be gauged by the amount of alcohol it contains. The volatile ethers and extractives exercise a great deal of influence upon its exhilarating powers, and, in this particular, wine stands alone amongst alcoholic beverages, for a mere admixture of spirits and water has a very different effect upon the human system, and, instead of being beneficial, is almost invariably harmful. The constituents of wine indeed, apart from alcohol, are surprisingly wide in their range, including as they do, in greater or lesser degree, volatile oil, ethers, grape-sugar, colouring matter, vegetable albumen, tannic and other acids, and tartrates; and the character of a wine is largely determined by the presence or absence of these constituents, or the proportion in which they are combined in any particular case.

      It is through shutting their eyes to its complexity that the opponents of wine have strayed into one of their most mischievous errors. Many of the blood-curdling experiments to demonstrate the noxiousness of wine have been made by mixing food, not with wine, but with ardent spirits or with chemist's alcohol. Such a test is no test at all. A flask of wine, like a bottle of ginger beer, contains alcohol, but it contains many other things as well. First and foremost nearly all its bulk consists of rain-water, exquisitely filtered and distilled by the kindly sun and subtly enriched with vitality by the silent alchemy of nature. The man who drains a whole bottle of sound wine absorbs only a single glass of alcohol ; and it must always be remembered that the alcohol of natural wine differs from the alcohol of the chemist's laboratory as much as bees' honey differs from chemists' saccharine or glucose. It follows, therefore, that when a sensible wine-drinker is confronted by scares and panics concerning the horrors of alcohol he remains

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