self, under the pretext, that it is good for nothing; whereas, it is very good and scarcely discernible from the rest; only it ought to be used for immediate consumption.

It may be proper here to notice the various changes of which wine is susceptible, in wood and in bottle. Poor wines are apt to turn sour; some of the Burgundies turn bitter; white wines, especially Champagne, are subject to what the French call La Graisse, that is, to become ropy; these are disorders incident to the wines themselves. Another disorder, that of becoming mouldy or musty, arises from the carelessness of the person having the care of the cellar, as it only happens when the vessels are not kept filled.

The remedies generally in use, for recovering wines, are, fining them over again, sulphuric fumigations, and drawing them off into other casks. When these methods are not successful, they may be mixed with an equal quantity of the same wine of the last vintage, which generally produces the effect desired; or if, which is rare in England, you have abundance of fresh lees, that is still better.

When the wines have a bad or putrid taste, they must neither be mixed with good wine nor lees, until the bad flavour is destroyed by sulphuric fumigation.

LA GRAISSE, OR ROPINESS.

This disorder appears to be occasioned by a secondary fermentation, which destroys the oxygen contained in the wine. The best method, therefore, of restoring the oxygen, is best calculated to restore the wine. For this purpose, pouring the wine through a cullender, placed at the height of ten, twenty, or even thirty yards, and letting it fall into a cask on the ground, is what we most strongly recommend. If on examining it, it be thought, that the wine has not imbibed a sufficient portion of oxygen, the operation may be

If

repeated, and the wine should then be put into a well fumigated cask, and fined and bottled in the usual manuer. the ropy wine be in bottle, it will recover itself in time, but as the period may even extend to years, it is best to adopt the above method, taking care the bottles be well cleaned with potass.

Some persons, when the above method does not entirely satisfy them, mix as much as half a pound of bruised alum with the wine, and put a gill of spirits of wine in the finings, but the alum ought not to be used if it can be dispensed with. If the wine turning ropy, be discovered in time, mixing it with new wine is the best and simplest remedy.

ACIDITY.

Wines never turn sour if the acetous fermentation has been terminated. When it recommences its progress is rapid and is with difficulty arrested. Fining and transversing are the ordinary methods for preventing the new acetons fermentation; but unfortunately, the necessity for this is not to be ascertained but when it is too late. If the acetons fermentation be occasioned by the cask not being full, you ought to blow with a pair of bellows in at the bung-hole,: until all the bad air is driven out, which may be known by trying whether a sulphur match will burn in it or not. Then take the crumb of half a quartern loaf, hot from the oven, bung up the cask with it, when cold, take it off, and draw off the wine into another well-fumigated cask. If you taste the bread when taken off, you will find it quite sour.

If these methods fail, from the acetous fermentation having made great progress, the wine must then be what the French call muded, that is, fumigated: for this purpose, sulphur wicks, an inch in diameter, are prepared; they are lighted and placed in a barrel until about an inch is burnt; then put twenty or thirty quarts of the sour wine into the cask, shake it well, blow in at the bung-hole with the bellows, till all the impure air is driven ont, burn another inch of sulphur wick, put in twenty or thirty quarts of wine, and shake it as before, and repeat these operations until the cask is filled; let it stand four days, and if quite restored, fine and bottle it.

BITTER TASTE.

The common method is, as we have observed, to mix them with new wines; the author of this article has tried it several times, and never found it fail. The wine not only recovered its original fine quality, but became very potable, and could only be distinguished by good judges from the other.

Sometimes new wine to mix with cannot be procured; in this case, take a good clean wine cask, introduce a vase into it containing a pint of spirits of wine, to which set fire, and let it burn out; burn afterwards in the cask an inch of sul

phur wick, and put the bitter wine in the cask immediately, and bung it all up.

When wines become bitter in bottle, which is more rare, it is best to let them remain, and in a couple of years they quite recover; but they must be decanted carefully before they are drank, for if the deposit again mix with the wine, all is labour lost.

OLD AGE.

The best remedy for this is to drink the wines at once, which cures them effectually of this disorder; or you may mix them with new wines if you wish to keep them.

WINES FROZEN.

The frost is not always injurious to wines, for weak wines and vinegar gain by it. Taking care to remove the cakes of ice, which are nothing but pure water. If they thaw in the cask without the ice being removed, they become thick, and must be fined and drawn off into a well sulphured cask, which has been well washed with spirits of wine.

WINES SPOILED FROM THE BUNG NOT FITTING, &c.' These wines never can be entirely recovered. Mixing them with new wines, putting them in well sulphured casks, after two or three finings, and adding spirits of wine, may render them potable, for bad judges, but we recommend those who pride themselves on their cellars, to take no trouble with them, save that of emptying them into the kennel and burning the casks.

CHAMPAGNE WINES TURNED ROPY.

The simplest method is to serve them as above-mentioned for other white wines, namely, to pour them from a great height. M. Herpin, who has written very learnedly on this subject, attributes the cause of this disorder to a vegetoanimal principle, which has not been entirely decomposed by fermentation, owing to its not finding sufficient tartaric acid to hold it in solution. He therefore proposes to heat three quarts of the ropy wine till it boils, and add from four to eight ounces of pure cream of tartar, and as much loaf sugar. When they are melted, let the whole be poured boiling hot into the cask containing the ropy Champagne; bung up the cask, and fasten the bung so that it cannot fly, roll the cask about five or ten minutes, make a peg hole at which to let the gas escape, close it directly, let the wine repose two or three days, then fine and bottle it.

WINE IN BOTTLE.

Many persons fancy that if wine be old in wood, it may be drank as soon as bottled; certainly, it may, but a good judge will not touch it for at least three months or even six months.

We will now suppose the butler has his cel

lar in perfect order for his master's table, and we will, therefore, give him a few hints on the etiquette of serving French wines, the neglect of which, is a stab to his master's reputation, says M. Jullien, and will make him as much laughed at, as if the soup were served at the dessert, instead of the commencement of the repast.

"After soup, small glasses of madeira or dry sherry ought to be presented. At the first service, nothing but burgundies ought to be served, beginning with Macon or Beaune, and rising to the delicate Volnay, the delicious La Romanée, Corton le Roi, Chambertin, and Clos de Vaugeoit ; while the first service is removing, Champagnes may be served, and of these, Sillery ought always to have the preference, especially at the middle of the repast.

"On the second service, let all the Burgundy wine be removed, and replace them by those of the Cote du Rhone and Dauphine. It is now the time for red and white Hermitage, Cote Rotie, and Chateau Grillé. These being served twice or thrice round, Bordeaux wines. are now introduced. Medoc, Lafitte, Chateau Margaux, Sauterne, Haut-Barsac, &c."

"The servants now clear the table of every thing, save the Dormant, and the cook cedes his place to the gardener and the confectioner."

To Fit up a Cellar of Wines and Spirits.

Provide a good rope and tackling, to let down the casks into the vault or cellar, and a slide, ladder, or pulley for the casks to slide or roll on.

A pair of strong slings;

A pair of can hooks and a pair of crate hooks;

A block of wood to put under the pipes when topping them over in a narrow passage, or in casing them;

A small valinch to taste wine;

A crane, and a small copper pump to rack off;

Two or three gallon cans, made of wood;

A large wooden funnel;

Two or three copper funaels from a quart to a gallon each; Two racking cocks;

Two wine bottling cocks;

A brace and various bits;

Two small tubs;

A square basket to hold the corks :

Two small tin funnels;

A sinall strainer;

Two cork screws;

Two or three baskets;

A whisk to beat the finings;

Three flannel or linen bags;

A strong iron screw to raise the bungs ;

A pair of pliers;

Bungs, corks, and vent pegs;

Two frets or middle sized gimblets;

Some sheet lead and tacks to put on broken staves; Brown paper to put round cocks and under the lead, when

stopping leaks;

A staff with a chain at one end to rumage the wines, &c. Shots and lead canister, or bristle brush, and two cloths to wash bottles;

Two large tubs;

Some small racks that will hold six dozen each;

A cooper's adze;

An iron and a wooden driver to tighten hoops;

Two dozen of wooden bungs of different sizes;

A thermometer, which is to be kept in the vault, a stove or chafingdish, to keep the heat of the vault to a known temperature;

A few dozen of delf labels;

A cup-board to hold all the tools;

A spade, two good stiff birch brooms, and a rake to level the saw-dust.

To restore pricked British Wines.

Rack the wines down to the lees into another cask, where the lees of good wines are fresh; then put a pint of strong aqua vitæ, and scrape half a pound of yellow bees-wax into it, which by heating the spirit over a gentle fire, will melt: after which dip a piece of cloth into it, and when a little dry, set it on fire with a brimstone match, put it into the bung-hole, and stop it up close.

To manage and improve poor Red Port.

If wanting in body, colour, and flavour, draw out thirty or forty gallons, and return the same quantity of young and rich wines. To a can of which put three gills of colouring, with a bottle of wine or brandy. Then whisk it well together,