Take a bottle of red port that is pricked, add to it half an ounce
of tartarised spirit of wine, shake the liquor well together, and
set it by for a few days, and it will be found much altered for the
better. If this operation be dexterously performed, pricked wines may
be absolutely recovered by it, and remain saleable for some time; and
the same method may be used to malt liquors just turned sour.
_To manage Hermitage and Burgundy._
Red hermitage must be managed in the same way as claret, and the
white likewise, except the colouring, which it does not require.
Burgundy should be managed in the same manner as red hermitage.
_To manage Lisbon Wine._
If the Lisbon is dry, take out of the pipe thirty-five or forty
gallons, and put in the same quantity of calcavella, stir it well
about, and this will make a pipe of good mild Lisbon: or, if it be
desired to convert mild into dry, take the same quantity out as above
mentioned, before, and fill the pipe with Malaga sherry, stirring it
about as the other. The same kind of fining used for Vidonia will
answer for Lisbon wines; or it may be fined with the whites and
shells of sixteen eggs, and a small handful of salt; beat it together
to a froth, and mix it with a little of the wines; then pour it into
the pipe, stir it about, and let it have vent for three days; after
which bung it up, and in a few days it will be fine. Lisbon when
bottled should be packed either in saw-dust or leather in a temperate
place.
_To manage Bucellas Wine._
In fining it, proceed in the same way as with the Madeira; only
observe, that if not wanted very pale, keep the milk out of the
finings. This tender wine should be fed with a little brandy, for if
kept in a place that is either too hot or too cold, it will be in
danger of turning foul.
_To improve Sherry._
If the sherry be new and hot, rack it off into a sweet cask, add five
gallons of mellow Lisbon, which will take off the hot taste, then
give it a head, take a quart of honey, mix it with a can of wine, and
put it into the cask when racking. By this method, Sherry for present
use will be greatly improved, having much the same effect upon it as
age.
_To improve White Wines._
If the wine have an unpleasant taste, rack off one half; and to the
remainder add a gallon of new milk, a handful of bay-salt, and as
much rice; after which take a staff, beat them well together for half
an hour, and fill up the cask, and when rolled well about, stillage
it, and in a few days it will be much improved.
If the white wine is foul and has lost its colour, for a but or pipe
take a gallon of new milk, put it into the cask, and stir it well
about with a staff; and when it has settled, put in three ounces of
isinglass made into a jelly, with a quarter of a pound of loaf sugar
scraped fine, and stir it well about. On the day following, bung it
up, and in a few days it will be fine and have a good colour.