These three subdivisions are the following:

Table wines
Dessert or alcoholic wines
Blending or cutting wines

Table Wines

These wines may be of higher or lower quality, according to the locality in which they are produced, and to the care that is taken in their making and after-treatment; they must not be sweet nor too alcoholic; not aromatic nor possessed of too pronounced a bouquet, though those of higher quality may be slightly aromatic; they must not be too rich in color, too stringent, nor too acid; they ought not to be harsh nor of too heavy body, that is, too rich in extractive matter. A wine of this group should be clean tasting, and should form an harmonious whole, agreeable to the palate and stomach, so that it can be drunk with pleasure. These wines are healthful, because they favor digestion, and a certain quantity of them can be taken without producing intoxication or other physical disturbance. Concisely the characters of a typical table wine may be described as follows:

Light but not poor in alcohol; not the slightest tendency to sweetness; pleasing but light and delicate aroma and flavor; nothing excessive, but complete harmony of all parts. A full and generous homogeneity; limpidity; constancy of type. Though in the matter of dishes variety is both useful and pleasing, it is different with wine where constant uniformity of type is necessary. As in this class of wines are comprehended all qualities from the finest to the most ordinary, it is easily seen that other distinctions can and must be made, in order that the wines, for example, of Barolo or Chianti, shall be distinguished from wines produced in some less favorable locality. The various wines that enter into the category under discussion can be naturally and conveniently classified as follows:

A. Superfine, or high-class wines; the “Grands Vins” of the French.
B. Fine wines.
C. Fine common wines.
D. Common wines.
E. Low-grade wines.

This classification, as Polacci would say, has nothing imaginative or strained about it, as it simply represents the wines that we really have and of which we make use in commerce. I will now try to give, not a definition, because the name of each class is of itself a definition, and should give a fair conception of the distinction to be made between the several classes, but an idea regarding the characteristics which have served in grading the wines which we actually produce in Italy.

A. High-class Wines. These are wines which are produced in certain spots, or rather which are obtained from certain varieties of grapes, grown in especially favorable conditions of climate, and more particularly of soil, compared with those of the circumjacent vineyards; wines which also, it may be said, are the product of an almost infinite series of careful treatments, beginning in the vineyard and continued through the vintage and during the whole time, which is certainly not brief, of their conservation; wines, in short, which unite in themselves all the characteristics and qualities which should be found in a fine wine, united with the greatest delicacy and fragrance of aroma and freshness on the palate. An Italian wine which belongs to this class is the Chianti di Brolio. Of the French wines of Bordeaux, or more precisely of the Medoc, there are Chateau-Lafite and Chateau-la-Tour, the latter of which is distinguished from the former by a slightly heavier body and a more pronounced flavor and aroma.

B. Fine Wines. These are wines which approach very nearly to the preceding class, but are, nevertheless, somewhat inferior to them, either in delicacy of aroma or in some other quality; very often they lack or are deficient in the freshness which distinguishes the first class. These wines are very often the product of grapes grown in the neighborhood of the vineyards producing the first-class wines which have given renown to the locality, but they may be made from grapes grown in other localities. To this second class belong, for example, those wines of Chianti which resemble greatly in character the Chianti di Brolio, but do not equal it. In the same way among the French wines of the Medoc, Saint-Julien and Saint-Estephe approach but are not equal to Chateau-Lafite. It may very possibly be that some of the wines of Chianti exhibit qualities which place them, so to speak, in rank with the Chianti di Brolio; then from the second they must be promoted to the first class, as is the case with Chateau-la-Tour, which,, though somewhat different, is deemed worthy to stand in rank with Chateau-Lafite and the other two, Chateaux-Margaux and Chateau-Haut-Brion, which together form the four ” grands vins,” high-class wines of the Gironde.

C. Fine Common Wines. In this third category are placed those wines which are intermediate between the fine wines and the common wines. This class of wines can be produced in large quantities in Italy, as there are numerous regions both in the hills and plains which present the requisite favorable conditions. The wines in question generally lack or are deficient in delicacy; with time, and sometimes, too, with a little artificial aid, they acquire some aroma which is not, however, always very delicate. These wines form, or ought to form, the bulk of our export trade; but if we wish to do a steady trade we must set ourselves diligently to make and properly handle these wines. To do this the producers must abandon the idea of making high-class wines, and confine themselves to wines of this kind. The wines of this class produced in Italy, especially by those who have recourse to artificial additions, or who do not well understand the processes of wine making, present a certain dryness to the taste which is not exactly pleasing. The taster will pronounce them sound wines without any particular defect, but he is not quite satisfied. This may be owing to an artificial aroma, or to the addition of alcohol; it may be caused by heating, or by a too violent fermentation, to the grapes having been picked at the wrong time, or to an injudicious correction of the must, or but as this is not the place to try to account for it it will suffice to state the fact. Such artificial aids, then, as the addition of drugs, the drying of the grapes, heating, etc., should be abandoned, and instead a judicious choice of vines, or a blending of grapes or wines substituted; in this way it will be possible to deliver to the trade wines which have a sufficient freshness of taste and frankness of flavor; they will be to a certain extent smooth and delicate, and will possess more or less of that fruity taste so much liked by consumers.

D. Common Wines, or Wines of the Plains.This is a class of wines of which it is not very easy to give a definition or to point out its exact limits in Order that it may not be confused with the preceding or comprehended in the following class. To prove that this is a real difficulty it will suffice to quote the eminent agriculturist I should therefore state that all wines grown on level ground cannot be classed as common wines; even on the plains, when the climate and especially when the soil and the variety of grapes are particularly favorable, choice wines may be produced which are worthy to figure in the preceding class. The division or class of common wines comprises all those wines consumed in the largest quantities, and which, because of the ease and economy with which they are produced, can be sold at a low price, so that they find steady consumers among the working classes, who consume, after all, the greater part of the product of the vineyards.

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