Red Hermitage 12,32 Vin de Grave 13,94 Ditto 12,80 Average 13,37 Frontignac 12,79 Cote Rotie 12,32 Gooseberry Wine 11,84 Currant Wine 20,55 Orange Wine aver. 11,26 Tokay 9,88 Elder Wine 9,87 Cyder highest aver. 9,87 Ditto lowest ditto 5,21 Perry average 7,26 Mead 7,32 Ale (Burton) 8,88 Ditto (Edinburgh) 6,20 Ditto (Dorchester) 5,50 Average 6,87 Brown Stout 6,80 London Porter aver. 4,20 Do. Small Beer, do. 1,28 Brandy 53,39 Rum 53,68 Gin 51,60 Scotch Whiskey 54,32 Irish ditto 53,99 CONSTITUTION OF HOME-MADE WINES. Besides grapes, the most valuable of the articles of which wine is made, there are a considerable number of fruits from which a vinous liquor is obtained. Of such, we have in this country the gooseberry, the currant, the elderberry, the cherry, &c. which ferment well, and affords what are called _home-made wines_. They differ chiefly from foreign wines in containing a much larger quantity of acid. Dr. Macculloch[42] has remarked that the acid in home-made wines is principally the malic acid; while in grape wines it is the tartaric acid. The great deficiency in these wines, independent of the flavour, which chiefly originates, not from the juice, but from the seeds and husks of the fruits, is the excess of acid, which is but imperfectly concealed by the addition of sugar. This is owing, chiefly, as Dr. Macculloch remarks, to the tartaric acid existing in the grape juice in the state of super-tartrate of potash, which is in part decomposed during the fermentation, and the rest becomes gradually precipitated; whilst the malic acid exists in the currant and gooseberry juice in the form of malate of potash; which salt does not appear to suffer a decomposition during the fermentation of the wine; and, by its greater solubility, is retained in the wine. Hence Dr. Macculloch recommends the addition of super-tartrate of potash, in the manufacture of British wines. They also contain a much larger proportion of mucilage than wines made from grapes. The juice of the gooseberry contains some portion of tartaric acid; hence it is better suited for the production of what is called _English Champagne_, than any other fruit of this country. FOOTNOTES: [27] Dried bilberries are imported from Germany, under the fallacious name of _berry-dye_.