_Proportions of the Wine Gallon, according to the last London Pharmacopœia_:--
Gallon. Pints. Fluid Ounces. Drachms. Minims or Drops. 1 = 8 = 128 = 1024 = 61,440
There are 32 ounces in a legal wine quart. Multiply by 12 quarts in three gallons. ___ 384 ounces in ditto.
Measure the number of ounces your bottle holds--divide 384 by it, and the quotient will give you the number of such bottles required to contain three gallons of wine.
Some Bottles do not contain more than 26 ounces.
26) 384 (14 Bottles, 1 Pint, and a Quarter. 26 ___ 124 104 ___ 20
Multiply 26, _i. e._ the number of ounces By 12 your bottle will contain. ___ 312 the number of ounces contained in your dozen bottles, which Ought to hold 384 the number of ounces in Subtract 312 Three Gallons. _________ Divide by the number } 32) 72 (2 Quarts and half a Pint of ounces in a Quart,} 64 short of measure. __ 8 ounces.
So, instead of THREE GALLONS--you have only _Two Gallons, one Quart, and a Pint and a half_.
_The Quantity a Bottle will contain_, may easily be accurately ascertained, by LYNES'S _graduated Glass measure_, which holds half a pint, and is divided into ounces, &c.--_it is a convenient vessel to mix_ GROG _in_.
A PIPE OF PORT contains, on the average, 138 Gallons, of which three must be allowed for Lees, &c.--This is enough for waste, if the Wine has been properly fined, and steadily bottled.
A BUTT OF SHERRY contains 130 gallons. MADEIRA, 110 ditto. Hogshead of CLARET, 55 ditto.
It is convenient for small Families to have part of their Wine in _Pint Bottles_.
That Wine is much best when quite fresh opened, is a fact it is needless to observe,--half a Pint of Wine (_i. e._ 8 ounces, _i. e._ 4 ordinary wine-glasses) is as much as most people (who have not spoiled their stomachs by intemperance) require.
The Rage for Superannuated Wine,--is one of the most _ridiculous Vulgar Errors of Modern Epicurism_,--"the Bee's Wing," "thick Crust[52] on the Bottle," "loss of strength, &c." which Wine-fanciers consider the Beauty of their tawny favourite, "fine Old Port,"--are forbidding manifestations of decomposition, and the departure of some of the best qualities of the Wine.
The Age[53] of maturity for exportation from Oporto, is said to be the second year after the Vintage, (probably sometimes not quite so long.)