" Wine judged hy the sight. — Wine pleases the eye by its clearness and colour ; and be it ruby, rose, amber, or white, it ought always to have perfect clearness and freshness of colour. Neither of these latter tones will be out of harmony in a really good wine, even in extreme old age. If you will not take upon yourself to decide whether a wine is good when it is attractive to the sight, you can always say that it is not good, or at least that it is not in the best condition, when its transparency and shades of colour are questionable. Freshness of colour and clearness are good signs. Though they are not to be regarded as qualities, yet any appearance to the contrary betokens real defects in the wine. " Wine judged by the sense of smell ; the two odours of wine. — Wine reveals itself by two sorts of odours (the aroma and the bouquet) to the outer organ of smell — that is to say, when that sense is exercised by in- haling (or sniffing) the wine. The first, or aroma, is the general and com- mon odour peculiar to most wines. It is always strongest when the wine is newest, but it always characterises good wine, however old it may be. This first odour seems to be due to the volatilization of the spirit, which holds in solution an essential oil, more or less volatile, more or less powerful, and more or less characteristic of each kind of wine. This aroma is a sign of real quality in the wine, and is generally very strong and very noticeable during the first years ; it becomes concen^- AUSTRALIAX WINE. 231 trated, refined, and attenuated as the wine ages. The second kind of odour, the bouquet, on the contrary, is developed ■with age, and would appear to be owing to the reaction of vinous acids on the spirit, which gives rise to certain ethereal combinations, " Wines are not made chiefly to please the senses of sight and smell. — Aroma, like colour, is a favourable or unfavourable sign, agreeable or dis- agreeable. Yet before everything wine is a nourishing beverage. It is a very good thing that sight and smell should be gratified in this way, but it would be puerile and ridiculous to exfilt beyond measure the im- portance of these organs of sense ; and to pretend that the .superiority of wine rests almost exclusively on the pleasurable impressions which are derived therefrom. I have seen many hosts bother their guests with vexatious insistence to look at, hold up to the light, sniff their wine, even the empty glasses, almost throughout the whole duration of a banquet — at the risk of making them well nigh die of thirst. The true amateur, the wine-taster, knows perfectly well how to look at and how to smell his wine ; but he knows full well also that these two preliminaries ought to be immediately followed by the taking of the fluid into the front part of the mouth. Colour and smell are merely two notes intro- ductory to a gastronomic theme ; if they are only by themselves they lose their relative value, and the theme is not properly tinderstood.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

" Wine judged hy the sight. — Wine pleases the eye by its clearness and colour ; and be it ruby, rose, amber, or white, it ought always to have perfect clearness and freshness of colour. Neither of these latter tones will be out of harmony in a really good wine, even in extreme old age. If you will not take upon yourself to decide whether a wine is good when it is attractive to the sight, you can always say that it is not good, or at least that it is not in the best condition, when its transparency and shades of colour are questionable. Freshness of colour and clearness are good signs. Though they are not to be regarded as qualities, yet any appearance to the contrary betokens real defects in the wine. " Wine judged by the sense of smell ; the two odours of wine. — Wine reveals itself by two sorts of odours (the aroma and the bouquet) to the outer organ of smell — that is to say, when that sense is exercised by inhaling (or sniffing) the wine. The first, or aroma, is the general and common odour peculiar to most wines. It is always strongest when the wine is newest, but it always characterises good wine, however old it may be. This first odour seems to be due to the volatilization of the spirit, which holds in solution an essential oil, more or less volatile, more or less powerful, and more or less characteristic of each kind of wine. This aroma is a sign of real quality in the wine, and is generally very strong and very noticeable during the first years ; it becomes concentrated, refined, and attenuated as the wine ages. The second kind of odour, the bouquet, on the contrary, is developed ■with age, and would appear to be owing to the reaction of vinous acids on the spirit, which gives rise to certain ethereal combinations, " Wines are not made chiefly to please the senses of sight and smell. — Aroma, like colour, is a favourable or unfavourable sign, agreeable or disagreeable. Yet before everything wine is a nourishing beverage. It is a very good thing that sight and smell should be gratified in this way, but it would be puerile and ridiculous to exalt beyond measure the importance of these organs of sense ; and to pretend that the .superiority of wine rests almost exclusively on the pleasurable impressions which are derived therefrom. I have seen many hosts bother their guests with vexatious insistence to look at, hold up to the light, sniff their wine, even the empty glasses, almost throughout the whole duration of a banquet — at the risk of making them well nigh die of thirst. The true amateur, the wine-taster, knows perfectly well how to look at and how to smell his wine ; but he knows full well also that these two preliminaries ought to be immediately followed by the taking of the fluid into the front part of the mouth. Colour and smell are merely two notes introductory to a gastronomic theme ; if they are only by themselves they lose their relative value, and the theme is not properly understood.

The art of living in Australia