Inside the book

The book begins almost as a history of wine and ends as a laboratory manual for catching its diseases and deceptions. The "Première partie," "Des vins malades ou fraudés" ("Diseased or Adulterated Wines"), reaches back to Noah, Osiris, Bacchus, Saturn, and Géryon before arriving at the cultivated vine itself, which Brun calls "un produit de l'art" ("a product of human art"). From there the book becomes increasingly scientific. The "Seconde partie," "Composition du vin naturel" ("Composition of Natural Wine"), establishes the standard against which everything else will be judged: true wine is fermented grape juice "sans la moindre addition d'autres substances" ("without the slightest addition of other substances"). Brun takes it apart into water, alcohol, acids, mineral constituents, lees, and fermentation products, even pursuing the chemistry behind bouquet and aroma. It is when this ideal wine meets the real world that the book becomes most interesting. Brun distinguishes legitimate cellar practices from manipulation: Spanish winemakers might perfume wine by steeping dried vine flowers in it, while raspberry, blackcurrant, "Médoc," and "Volney" essences belong to the arsenal of the fraudster. Natural faults, like acidity, secondary fermentation, "tourne," ropiness, excessive astringency, and bitterness, are likewise separated from deliberate adulteration. Suspected cider or perry masquerading as wine can be interrogated through silver nitrate, distillation, smell, and analysis of the ash. The folding "Tableau servant à reconnaître les principales matières colorantes rouges" ("Table for Recognizing the Principal Red Coloring Substances", p. 96-97) turns this chemical detective work into a practical diagnostic tool. Nine reagents (logwood, brazilwood, red poppy, elderberry, blackberry, blueberry, privet berry, pokeweed, and beetroot) are tested against genuine red wine and against a wonderfully suspicious cabinet of possible adulterants allowing the analyst to identify what might be hiding behind the color in his glass.