If These Badly-Made Wines Have Founded An Important Trade, There Is Every Reason To Expect A Corresponding Extension When Scientific Principles Shall Have Resulted In A Superior Quality.

The black wines receive even less care than the commanderia; the grapes are trodden, and are thrown into receptacles to ferment, together with the skins and stalks.

This bruised mass, after lying a certain time exposed to fermentation, is pressed, and the muddy juice is stowed in the large tarred jars to ripen for a few months, which, according to Cyprian taste, are sufficient to prepare it for consumption. The stalks and black skins, being extremely rich in tannin, have imparted to the wine a powerful astringency and the exceedingly dark colour which so disagreeably distinguish this common quality. The growers imagine that the extra amount of tannin is preservative, without which, their wine might deteriorate during the rough treatment to which it is subjected by transport and exposure; and to their specially-educated palates this astringency is agreeable, combined with the strong flavour of tar, which completely excludes it from the consumption of Englishmen. Neither the commanderia nor any other quality of wine is subjected to the process of "fining;" when issued from the stores of the merchant, therefore, a really bright clear wine is never met with. The black wines could be considerably improved by allowing them to settle in large vats, and by a series of rackings into other vessels, as they become clearer by depositing their impurities.

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