Wine
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Wine. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a spirituous liquor produced by fermentation from vegetable substances containing saccharine matter. There are a great many vegetable substances from which, by this process, wine may be produced, such as apples, pears, currants, elderberries, and others; but unless otherwise expressed, the term is always used to indicate the fermented juice of the fruit of the common vine. The history of the vine and its product goes back to the very earliest times of which there is any record, and it may almost be said that its use is coeval with the existence of man. In a very early part of the Mosaic record it is said, "Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine, ne, and was drunken" (Gen. ix: 20); and throughout the whole of the Old Testament narrative, and in the prophetical books, there are frequent references to the use of wine and its effects. In mythological times Bacchus or Dionysos, the son of Zeus and Semele, is known as the god of wine, and the early Greek poets have sung its praises. Homer speaks of wine in its 11th year; Horace commends wine which was of equal age with himself; and Pliny, who devotes to the subject an entire book of his work on natural history, mentions some which he had tasted which was 200 years old. In more modern times the culture of the vine has been a matter of careful study and anxious observation, and so important has become everything connected with its proper growth and propagation and the most advantageous use of its fruit that the published works on the subject are said to number no fewer than 600. In wine producing countries the cultivation of the vine is as much a branch of national industry as that of wheat or other food producers is in others. The soils which are found to be suitable for its growth are very various in quality, but it thrives best along the borders of rivers or in places where a constant supply of water can easily reach its roots, as along the Rhine valley or in the paludial districts of the Gironde. It is usually propagated, not by seed, which takes five or six years before a seedling begins to bear, but by means of eyes cut from vines and planted in open beds and vineyards, or by planting cut canes which have been obtained from plants of the previous year, and which are usually not interfered with for three years after being put in the ground. The plants are placed in parallel lines, about a yard apart from each other, while the single are removed from each other about the same interval. When the grapes are ripe they are collected and transformed into wine with no unnecessary delay. White grapes are crushed and pressed, and the juice, freed from stalks and husks, is put into clean barrels and allowed to ferment in a cellar or other temperate place. Black grapes, which are to yield red wine are crushed, put into vats, juice, husks, and all, and allowed to ferment till the wine is completed, and has extracted the coloring matter. The wine is then drawn off, the murk pressed, and the united products put into barrels. The process of fermentation, on which the peculiar property of the extracted liquor depends, proceeds spontaneously after the grapes have been crushed and the liquor extracted, and its action is to convert the sugar contained in the fruit into alcohol and carbonic acid. Effervescent wines, such as champagne, are bottled, before the fermentation is quite complete, and in that way a portion of the carbonic acid which would otherwise have escaped is forcibly retained and dissolved in the wine. The amount of alcohol contained in the wine varies in different sorts. In the stronger ports and sherries it amounts to from 16 to 25 per cent.; in hock, claret, and other light wines from 7 per cent. The greater part of the wines having more than 13 per cent. of alcohol (i. e., 26 degrees of proof spirit) may be assumed to be brandied or fortified with spirit. The obscure process of fermentation, by which the sugar of grape juice juice is changed into alcohol, has been the subject of a vast amount of investigation by many eminent investigators, the last and greatest of whom is Pasteur, who published a most valuable work, "Studies of the Vine" (2d ed. 1873). The change is induced by a minute fungoid organism, Mycoderma vini, and chemically it consists in transforming 105.4 parts of grape sugar (glucose) into alcohol 51.1 parts, carbonic acid 49.4, succinic acid 0.7, glycerine 3.2, and yeast matter 1.0. With these there are also developed minute portions of fusel oil and ether, to which is due the aroma or bouquet of the wine. These ethers develop and interact while the wine is maturing, and proper preservation of wine is a matter of the utmost importance. Other changes also occur during ripening. The acid tartrate of potash contained in the juice separates and forms a crust of argol; and frequently, especially with light wines, acid fermentation ensues, and the wine becomes sour. The acid fermentation is caused by a fungus, Mycoderma aceti, or by oxidation of alcohol by exposure. Other diseases of wine are due to parasitic and other growths, which have been traced by Pasteur.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the fermented juice of the grape. Freshly gathered grapes are thrown into a vat and pressed, frequently by trampling on them. The juice or must is drawn off and allowed to stand. Fermentation, a process carried on by a yeast plant present in the must, sets in at once. The must "works" for a few days, being stirred up from day to day to reexcite the fermentation. Sugar is present in all grape juice and is changed by fermentation into alcohol. If the sugar be changed wholly to alcohol we have a "dry" wine free from sweetness. If the wine be bottled before fermentation is complete a "sparkling" wine is produced. As wine ferments sediment is formed, and the wine is drawn off repeatedly until judged ready for bottles or casks. The same kind of grape produces very different wines in different localities for no known reason. Certain celebrated vine-yards of the Rhine a few acres in extent yield wine of superior quality. Wines are supposed to improve with age. The vintages of different years differ. The vintage of 1846 is celebrated. The vintage of 1856 was considered wretched. The red wines and white wines owe their names to the color of the grapes from which they are made. Most wines take their names from the vineyard, district, or town from which they are obtained. "Port" is a shortened form of Portugal; "sherry" is the English equivalent of Xeres; "hock" is for Hocheimer, etc. The amount of alcohol in wine varies according to the kind of wine, but may be placed at from nine to twenty-four per cent in the following order, the last named containing the largest percentage of alcohol: moselle, claret, Rhine wine, burgundy, champagne, sherry, madeira, and port. The great wine-producing countries of the world surround the Mediterranean. A belt of wine-producing countries in the southern hemisphere includes Peru, Argentina, Cape Colony, and the Australian colonies. American grapes are grown chiefly for table use, but the Ohio Valley produces considerable Catawaba wine, and California wines are an important product of that state. The figures of the world's wine crop for 1908, as compiled by the Italian trade, were: Country. Gallons. United States 40,000,000 Italy 1,495,126,400 France 1,744,255,207 Germany 50,160,000 Austria 92,400,000 Hungary 81,400,000 Spain 464,640,000 Portugal 118,800,000 Switzerland 23,760,000 Russia 68,640,000 Mexico 500,000 Argentina 35,000,000 Chile 55,000,000 Brazil 8,000,000 Bolivia 650,000 Cape Colony 5,000,000 Corsica 6,654,800 Algeria 227,072,400 Tunis 7,920,000 Azores, Canaries, and Madeira 3,960,000 Luxemburg 2,772,000 Turkey 39,600,000 Greece 32,000,000 Bulgaria 50,000,000 Servia 10,000,000 Roumania 68,740,000 Persia 450,000 Peru 2,400,000 Uruguay 2,300,000 Australia 7,000,000 Total 4,744,200,807 Germany owes its prominence in the production of wine almost wholly to the valley of the Rhine and its tributaries. Greece grows a smaller grape, for an account of which see CURRANT. The wines of Portugal are celebrated, but the area under vines is necessarily limited. Most of its wine is of a cheap quality, and is made for home use. The better grades are shipped in bottles or casks to all parts of the world. Some idea of the enormous commerce in wines may be formed from the importation of London alone, which amounts to 17,000,000 gallons a year. See Champagne ; Burgundy ; Sherry ; Fermentation ; Cream Of Tartar ; Grapes; Hail