_Brût Champagne--Another Revolution in treatment of this Wine--It
must be Old to be good--’74 Champagne worth $8 a bottle in
Paris--How to frappé Champagne--The best Clarets--Even your Vin
Ordinaire should be Decanted--Sherries--Spaniards drink them from
the Wood--I prefer this way--The “famous Forsyth Sherry”--A
Wine-cellar not a Necessity._
The fashionable world here have accepted the _Brût_ champagne, and avoid
all other kinds; ladies even more than men. But another revolution is to
occur in this country in the next five years in the treatment of this
wine. We will soon follow the example of our English brethren and never
drink it until it is from eight to ten years old.
A year or two ago one of the most fashionable men in London asked me to
assist him in ordering a dinner at Delmonico’s. When we came to ordering
the wines, he exclaimed against the champagne. “What!” said he, “drink a
champagne of 1880. Why, it is too absurd!” I told him it was that or
nothing, for we were far behind them in England, drinking new champagnes
and having no old ones.
The idea is prevalent that champagne will not keep in this climate.
After a few years one will always order his supply from abroad yearly,
keeping his champagne at his London wine merchant’s or at the vineyard.
To evidence the improvement in champagne by age, I can only cite that
the champagne of 1874 has sold in London at auction for $7 a bottle, and
now in Paris and London you pay $8 a bottle for a ’74 wine at a
restaurant, and $6 for an 1880 wine; at the vineyard itself $45 a dozen,
and hard to obtain at this price. If you once drink one of these old
champagnes you will never again drink a fresh wine. In England they now
drink no Madeira; it is never served. At their dinners they pride
themselves on giving 1874 champagne. If they can give this wine, with a
Golden Sherry and a fine glass of Port, they are satisfied.
It will be well to remember that champagnes are now known to
_connoisseurs_ by their vintage. Wines of some vintages do not keep at
all. In keeping champagnes, keep only, or order kept for you, the
champagnes of the best vintages. Of course, there is much risk in
keeping any champagne; but what all strive for, is to possess something
that no one else has; that is not purchasable, I mean, in any quantity,
and this now is 1874 champagne.
To properly _frappé_ champagne, put in the pail small pieces of ice,
then a layer of rock salt, alternating these layers until the tub is
full. Put the bottle in the tub; be careful to keep the neck of the
bottle free from the ice, for the quantity of wine in the neck of the
bottle being small, it would be acted upon by the ice first. If
possible, turn the bottle every five minutes. In twenty-five minutes
from the time it is put in the tub, it should be in perfect condition,
and should be served immediately. What I mean by perfect condition is,
that when the wine is poured from the bottle, it should contain little
flakes of ice; that is a real _frappé_.
It is often a mistake to _frappé_, for it takes both flavor and body
from the wine, and none but a very rich, fruity wine should ever be
_frappéd_. My theory is that for ordinary cooling of wine, it is not
necessary to use salt, unless you are in a hurry. The salt intensifies
the cold and makes it act more quickly. You get a speedier result. I
should simply use above formula, omitting the salt. Champagne should not
be left in a refrigerator for several hours before being served, as it
takes away its freshness. In serving it, for one who likes it cold, the
wine should be cooled sufficiently to form a bead on the outside of the
glass into which it is poured. It is pretty, and the perfection of
condition.
In regard to champagne of excellent years, we begin with 1857, as there
were no first-rate vintages of this wine between 1846 and 1857. The
great years were: 1834, 1846, 1857, 1858, 1861, 1862, 1865, 1868, 1870,
1872, and 1874, the last exceptionally fine and keeping well; 1878,
1880, and 1884, fine wines; 1885 is fair, but not to be classed with the
1884. The Romans noted the years of the celebrated growths of their
wines, marked them on their wine vessels, when Rome was a Republic, with
the Consul’s name, which indicated the vintage. A celebrated vintage was
that of the year 632, when Opimius was Consul. It was in high esteem a
century afterwards.
In clarets, we also make a mistake; we cling to them when by age they
become too thin and watery. One fills up one’s wine cellar with claret,
and then tenaciously holds it, until it frequently loses the fine
characteristics of a first-class wine. The clarets of 1854 promised very
great things, but were certainly a failure in Latour, and in some of
the other wines of that year; 1857, 1858, 1881, some were good. The
claret of 1865 was an extravagant wine, but developed a good deal of
acidity, and is not to-day held in very high esteem, but I have tasted
some perfect of that year. 1868 promised much, but has not turned out as
good as was expected. 1869 sold at very low prices, but has become the
best wine of very recent years. 1870 was a very big, full-bodied wine;
it is now very good. Of 1871, some of them are excellent (as Haut Brion,
Lafitte, Latour). The 1874’s were very good, Latour the best; 1875 was
very good; 1877, quite good; 1878, very good; 1879, only moderate; 1880,
light and delicate, quite good; 1881, big wines, very promising; 1884
promised well, and 1887 promised to be great wines. I do not think it is
easy to be certain of Bordeaux wines until they have been in bottles
some years. A wine which while in the wood may be excellent, may not
ripen the right sort of way in bottles and prove disappointing. Decant
all your clarets before serving them, even your _vin ordinaire_. If at a
dinner you give both Burgundy and claret, give your finest claret with
the roast, your Burgundy with the cheese. Stand up both wines the
morning of the dinner, and in decanting, hold the decanter in your left
hand, and let the wine first pour against the inside of the neck of the
decanter, so as to break its fall. With Burgundy, the Clos Vougeots have
run out. The insect has destroyed them. The Chambertins or Romanée
Conti, when you give them to those who can appreciate fine wines, have a
telling effect.
Table sherries should be decanted and put in the refrigerator one hour
before dinner. Personally, as a table sherry I prefer to drink the new,
light, delicate sherries, as they come from Spain, directly from the
wood, before they are darkened by being kept in glass, and before all
the water, that is always in them, has disappeared. This is the taste of
the Spanish people themselves. They drink them from the wood.
There is no need of having a large cellar of wine in this country, for
we Americans are such Arabs, that we are never contented to stay quietly
at home and enjoy our country, and our own perfect climate. No sooner
have we built a charming residence, including a wine cellar, than we
must needs dash off to Europe, to see what the Prince of Wales is doing,
so that literally a New Yorker does not live in his New York residence,
at most, more than four or five months in the year. In the other seven
or eight, his servants have ample time to leisurely drink up the wine in
his cellar, bottle by bottle; therefore, I advise against laying in any
large supply of wine. Your wine merchant will always supply you with all
wines excepting _old clarets_; these you must have a stock of; and, as
servants do not take to claret, you are comparatively safe in hoarding
up a good lot of it. Your old champagnes you can order from London, i.e.
a winter’s supply, every year, for as they say it will not keep in this
climate, you must do so to get it of any age. When sherry becomes old
and has been kept some time in glass, they then drink it in Spain as a
_liqueur_.
If you cannot get hold of the best, the very best and finest old
Madeira, give up that wine and take to sherry. I have seen sherry that
could not be distinguished from Madeira by experts. Again, I have seen a
superb sherry bring a hundred dollars a dozen. The most perfect sherry I
ever drank was the “Forsyth sherry,” given to Vice-President Forsyth by
the Queen of Spain, when he was the American Minister at her Court. I
give during dinner a light, delicate, dry Montilla sherry. At dessert,
with and after fruit, a fine Amontillado.
DINNERS.