excellence of its vinous productions. Throughout all ages this country
has been distinguished for its wines. But the Spaniard’s chief glory
under heaven is in the preparation of white dry fortified wines such as
Sherries, and sweet wines such as _Malagas_. In the province of Andalusia
is situated Xeres de la Frontera, and the convent of _Paxarete_, which
produces a rich sweet sparkling drink. Here, too, are the vines of
the _vino secco_ and the _abocado_, and _Rota_,[38] which produces
Andalusia’s best red wines. Here are _Ranico_, _Moguro_, or _Moguer_, a
cheap light wine, _Negio_, and the capital _Seville_. Catalonia yields
a large quantity of red wine shipped to England mostly as a drink
for the general. The _Malaga_ of Granada is well known. Sherry[39]
wines are, or ought to be, the products of Cadiz, including Xeres de
la Frontera, San Lucar de Barrameda,—where _Tintilla_, an excellent
Muscadine red wine, is manufactured,—Trebujena, and Puerto de Santa
Maria. The celebrated wine known as Manzanilla[40] is made in San
Lucar de Barrameda. _Val de Peñas_[41] wines are commonly red. After
the perfection of age, this celebrated product of La Manche[42] is,
in the opinion of Redding, equal to any red wine in the world. Much
wine of Catalonia is now imported into England as Catalan Port. Borja
produces a luscious white wine. The country about Tarragona on the road
to Barcelona is almost wholly occupied with wine making. _Beni-Carlos_,
_La Torre_, _Segorbe_, and _Murviedro_, are all fair wines of Valencia.
Alicant produces an excellent red wine, _vino tinto_, strong and sweet;
when old, this wine is called _Fondellol_. Vinaroz, Santo Domingo, and
Perales, offer red wines of moderate excellence. The best wines of
Aragon are _Cariñena_ and the _Hospital_, from the vine which the French
call _Grenache_. In Biscay, at Chacoli, a _vino brozno_, or austere
wine, is produced in large quantity. The best is made at Vittoria, and
called _Pedro Ximenes_.[43] Fuençaral, near Madrid, offers a good wine
seldom exported. The most famous wine-growing district of Granada is
that of Malaga, termed Axarquia. This produces _Malagas_, _Muscatels_,
_Malvasies_, and _Tintos_. The red wines called _Tinto de Rota_ and
_Sacra_ are unfermented with only enough spirit for preservation, and are
commonly advertised in our wine circulars as “suitable for sacramental
purposes.” _Guindre_ is flavoured with cherries from which it derives
its name. Into this wine, as into some others, the Spaniards are wont
to put roasted pears, under the conceit that thereby it is much improved
in taste and rendered more wholesome. Hence arose the proverb _El vino
de las peras dalo a quien bien quiéras_. _Malaga Xeres_ is often known
in England as the pale, gold, dry Sherry,[44] as the wines of Alicant,
Benicarlos, and Valencia are sold as a rich and fruity Port. The
so-called _Amontillado_ Sherry is very often the outcome of accident. Out
of a hundred butts of Sherry from the same vineyard, some, says a great
authority, will be _Amontillado_, without the manufacturers being able
to account for it. At Cordova, a dry wine called _Montilla_ is commonly
drunk.
SWITZERLAND.
Swiss wines are commonly consumed only in Switzerland. The best is
produced in the Grisons, called _Chiavenna_, aromatic and white from the
red grape. A white _Malvasia_ of good quality is made in the Valais. It
is luscious, as is _Chiavenna_. The Valais also furnishes red wines, made
at La Marque and Coquempin in the district of Martigny. Schaffhausen
gives plenty of red wine. The _wine of blood_[45] is manufactured at
Basle. These wines are also known as those of the _Hospital_ and _St.
Jaques_. The red wines of Erlach, in Berne, are of a good quality. The
red wine of Neufchâtel is equal to a third-class Burgundy. St. Gall
produces tolerable wines. In the Valteline, the red wines are both good
and durable, much resembling the aromatic wine of Southern France. These
wines are remarkably luscious, and will, it is said, keep for a century.
The largest amount of wine is produced by the Canton of Vaud. The wines
of _Cully_ and _Désalés_, near Lausanne, much resemble the dry wines of
the Rhine.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: APPLES FOR CIDER.]
CIDER.
The original meaning of the word _cider_[46] appears to have been strong
drink. It was used to designate a liquor made of the juice of any fruit
pressed, and an example of the word in this use is to be found in
Wycliffe’s Bible, in the speech of the angel to Zacharias (Luke i. 15),
in allusion to his promised progeny: _He schal not drynke wyn and syder_.
The next meaning is that of a liquor made from the juice of apples
expressed and fermented.
“A flask of _cider_ from his father’s vats,
Prime, which I knew.”
TENNYSON: _Audley Court_.
We have little information about cider either from the Greeks or the
Latins. It would seem that it was not known to them, if we may trust
Ainsworth, who translates cider by _succus e pomis expressus_, and
Byzantius, who gives μηλίτης (οἶνος) εἶδ. ποτοῦ as the equivalent for
_cidre_.[47] Gerard, in his _Historie of Plants_, published in 1597,
says that he saw in the pastures and hedgerows about the grounds of a
“worshipful gentleman,” dwelling two miles from Hereford, called M. Roger
Bodnome, so many trees of all sorts that the servants drunk for the most
part no other drink but that which is made from apples. The quantity,
says Gerard, was such that by the report of the gentleman himself, the
parson “hath for tithe many hogsheads of Syder.” This reference to the
servants and the parson drinking it, but not to the “gentleman,” seems to
show that the liquor was not then held in much esteem.
Bacon placed cider after wine, and we have followed in our arrangement
of the present volume his august example. This great philosopher speaks
of cider and perry as “notable beverages on sea-voyages.” The cider
of his day did not, he says, sour by crossing the line, and was good
against sea-sickness. He also speaks of cider, a “wonderful pleasing and
refreshing drink,” in his _New Atlantis_.
John Evelyn’s _French Gardener_ gives much information on this subject,
and his _Pomona_ is, says Stopes, the first monograph on the manufacture
of cider in England.
Cider is made in many parts of Barbary, and in Canada. In all the States,
apples are abundant, particularly in New York and New England, and cider
is a common drink of the inhabitants. And it is as excellent as it is
common. That of New Jersey is generally considered the best. It is
curious that the least juicy apples afford the best liquor. Cider of a
superior quality is abundant in Cork, Waterford, and other counties of
Ireland, where it was introduced, we are told, in the reign of Elizabeth.
It was first made at Affane, in the county of Waterford.[48] Worledge’s
_Vinetum Britannicum_, 1676, and his _Most Easy Method for Making the
Best Cider_, 1687, have been considered at full length by Mr. Stopes.
Worledge’s press is an improvement upon one shown in Evelyn’s _Pomona_.
Cider appears in Russia under the name of _Kvas_. There is _Yàblochni
kvas_, made of apples; _Grùshevoi kvas_, of pears, a perry; and
_Malinovoi kvas_, of raspberries. George Turberville, secretary to
the English Embassy to Moscow in the year 1568, mentions _kvas_ in a
description of the Russians of his time as:—
“Folk fit to be of Bacchus’ train, so quaffing is their kind;
Drink is their whole desire, the pot is all their pride.
The soberest head doth once a day stand needful of a guide.
If he to banquet bid his friends, he will not shrink
On them at dinner to bestow a dozen kinds of drink,
Such liquor as they have, and as the country gives;
But chiefly two, one called _kwas_, whereby the Moujike lives,
Small ware and waterlike, but somewhat tart in taste;
The rest is mead, of honey made, wherewith their lips they baste.”
Stopes is of opinion that the finest cider is made, not in the west, as
has been commonly asserted, but in the east of England. This authority
seems particularly to favour the Ribston pippins of Norfolk.
“Worcester,” says Macaulay, in his _History of England_, ch. iii., “is
the queen of the cider land;” but Devon and Somerset, Gloucester and
Norfolk, might dispute the title. To make good cider the apples should
be quite ripe, as the amount of sugar in ripe apples is 11·0; in unripe
apples, 4·9; in over-ripe apples, 7·95. The fermentation should proceed
slowly. Brande says that the strongest cider contains, in 100 volumes,
9·87 of alcohol of 92 per cent; the weakest, 5·21. By distillation,
cider produces a good spirit; but it is seldom converted to that purpose
in consequence of its acidity, which, however, is greatly remedied by
rectification.
Much cider is distilled in Normandy, and sent to this country under
the name of _arrack_, or some other foreign spirit, according to its
flavour. To the Normans the invention of this liquor has been attributed.
They are also said to have received it from the Moors. Whitaker (_Hist.
Manchester_, i. 321) says this drink was introduced into this country by
the Romans; and Simmonds (p. 25) that it was first used in England about
1284.
[Illustration: AN OLD CIDER MILL.]
Cider has been immortalised by Phillips in a classical poem, in imitation
of Virgil’s Georgics, which, according to Johnson, “need not shun the
presence of the original.” Milton’s nephew thought that cider—
“far surmounts
Gallic or Latin grapes.”
PERRY.
Perry is prepared from pears, as cider from apples. It is capable of
being used in the adulteration of champagne.[49] The harsher, redder,
and more tawny pears produce the best drink. Perry is less popular than
cider, but some consider it superior.[50]
[Illustration]
BRANDY.
The Invention of Brandy—Early Alchemists—Aqua
Vitæ—Distillation—The Still-room—Ladies Drinking—Nantes
and Charente—Johnson’s Idea of Brandy—The Charente
District—Manufacture of Brandy—The Cognac Firms.
Who invented Brandy? is a question that cannot be authoritatively
answered offhand; but the good people of some parts of Germany hold that
it was the Devil. And their legend is, at all events, circumstantial.
Every one who is at all acquainted with old legends is fully aware that
the Father of Evil is extremely simple, and has allowed himself, many
times, to be outwitted by man. Once, especially, he was so guileless as
to put trust in a Steinbach man, who cajoled him into entering an old
beech tree, and there he was imprisoned until the tree was cut down. His
first step, on regaining his freedom, was to revisit his own particular
dominion, which, to his horror, he found empty!
This, naturally, would not do, and he set about re-peopling hell without
delay. He thought the quickest plan would be to start a distillery; so
he hurried off at once to Nordhausen, where his manufacture of Brandy
(his own invention) became so famous that people from all parts came to
him to learn the new art, and to become distillers. From that time his
Satanic Majesty has never had to complain of paucity of subjects.
It seems fairly established that the famous chemist Geber, who lived in
the 7th or 8th century, was acquainted with distillation, and we know
that it was practised by the Arabian and Saracenic alchemists, but have
no knowledge whether they made any practical use of the _alcohol_ they
produced. They, at all events, gave us the word by which we now know the
_spirit_, or ethereal part, of wine.
Alcohol, distilled from wine, is first reliably mentioned by a celebrated
French alchemist and physician, Arnaud de Villeneuve, who died in 1313,
who gave it the name of _aqua vitæ_, or water of life,[51] and regarded
it as a valuable adjunct in physic, and as a boon to humanity. Raymond
Lully, the famous alchemist, who is said to have been his pupil, declared
it to be “an emanation from the Deity,” and on its introduction it was
supposed to be the elixir of life, capable of rejuvenating those who
partook of it, and, as such, was only purchasable at an extremely high
price.
We may see, by a book[52] written 200 years after the death of Arnaud de
Villeneuve, the esteem in which Aqua Vitæ was held even after so great a
lapse of time.
Aqua Vite is comonly called the mastresse of al medycynes, for
it easeth the dysseases comynge of colde. It gyveth also yonge
corage in a person, and cawseth hym to have a good memorye and
remembraunce. It puryfyeth the fyve wittes of melancolye and of
unclenes whan it is dronke by reason and measure. That is to
understande fyve or syx droppes in the mornynge lastyng with a
sponefull of wyne, usynge the same in the maner aforsayde the
evyl humours can not hurte the body, for it withdryveth them
oute of the vaynes.
¶ It conforteth the harte, and causeth a body to be mery.
¶ It heleth all olde and newe sores on the hede comynge of
colde, whan the hede is enoynted therwyth and a lytell of the
same water holden in the mouthe, and dronke of the same.
¶ It causeth a good colour in a parson whan it is dronke and
the hede enoynted therwyth the space of xx dayes; it heleth
Alopicia, or whan it is dronke lastyng with a lytell tryacle.
It causeth the here well to growe, and kylleth the lyce and
flees.
¶ It cureth the Reuma of the hede, whan the temples and the
fore hede therwith be rubbed.
¶ It cureth Litargiam,[53] and all yll humours of the hede.
¶ It heleth the coloure in the face, and all maner of pymples.
It heleth the fystule when it is put therein with the Juce of
Celendyne.
¶ Cotton wet in the same and a lytell wronge out agayn and so
put in the eares at nyght goynge to bedde, and a lytell dronke
thereof, is good against all defnes.
¶ It easeth the payn in the teethe, when it is a longe tyme
holden in the mouthe, it causeth a swete brethe, and theleth
the rottyng tethe.
¶ It heleth the canker in the mouthe, in the teethe, in the
lyppes, and in the tongue, whan it is longe time holden in the
mouthe.
¶ It cawseth the hevy togue to become light and wel spekyng.
¶ It heleth the shorte brethe whan it is droke with water
wheras the figes be soden in, and vanisheth al flemmes.
¶ It causeth good dygestynge and appetyte for to eat, and
taketh away all bolkynge.[54]
¶ It dryveth the wyndes out of the body, and is good agaynst
the evyll stomake.
¶ It easeth the fayntenes of the harte, the payn of the mylte,
the yelowe Jandis, the dropsy, the yll lymmes, the goute, in
the handes and in the fete, the payne in the brestes whan they
be swollen, and heleth al diseases in the bladder, and breaketh
the stone.
¶ It withdryveth venym that hath been taken in meat or in
drynke, whā a lytell tryacle is put therto.
¶ It heleth the flanckes[55] and all dyseases coming of colde.
¶ It heleth the brennyng of the body, and of al membres whan it
is rubbed therewith by the fyre viii dayes contynnynge.
¶ It is good to be dronke agaynst the sodeyn dede.
¶ It heleth all scabbes of the body, and all colde swellynges,
enoynted or washed therwith, and also a lytell thereof dronke.
¶ It heleth all shronke sinewes, and causeth them to become
softe and right.
¶ It heleth the febres tertiana and quartana, when it is dronke
an houre before, or the febres becometh on a body.
¶ It heleth the venymous bytes, and also of a madde dogge, whan
they be wasshed therwith.
¶ It heleth all stynkyng woundes whan they be wasshed therwith.”
From use in medicine, Aqua Vitæ soon came into domestic use, and here
is given one of Iherom Bruynswyke’s “Styllatoryes,” which he says was
the “comon fornays” which was “well beknowen amonge the potters, made of
erthe leded or glased, and it may be removed from the one place to the
other.”
[Illustration]
It was in a still of this sort that the old housewives of the sixteenth
and succeeding centuries used to concoct their strong and cordial
waters—a practice which has given, and left to, our own times, the
name of “Still-room,” as the housekeeper’s own particular domain.
They experimented on almost every herb that grew, and some of their
concoctions must have been exceedingly nasty. Yet some of their recipes
read as if they were comforting, and they were not deficient in variety.
Heywood, in his _Philocothonista_, or _The Drunkard, Opened, Dissected,
and Anatomized_, 1635, p. 48, mentions some of them. “To add to these
chiefe and multiplicitie of wines before named, yet there be Stills and
Limbecks going, swetting out _Aqua Vitæ_ and strong waters deriving
their names from _Cynamon_, _Lemmons_, _Balme_, _Angelica_, _Aniseed_,
_Stomach Water_, _Hunni_, etc. And to fill up the number, we have plenty
of _Vsque-ba’ha_.”
The old housewives’ books of the latter end of the sixteenth century,
until much later, are still in existence, and from them we may learn many
drinks of our forefathers, how to make _Ipocras_ (_very good_, especially
when taken in a “Loving Cup”), to clarify _Whey_, to make _Buttered
Beer_, _Sirrop of Roses or Violets_, _Rosa Solis_, _a Caudle for an old
Man_, or to distil _Spirits of Spices_, _Spirits of Wine tasting of
what Vegetable you please_, _Balme Water_, _Rosemary Water_, _Sinamon
Water_, _Aqua Rubea_, Spirits of Hony, Rose Water, _Vinegar_, very many
scents, and a distillation called _Aqua Composita_, which entered into
many receipts. There are many formulæ for this, but Bruynswyke gives the
following:—
“AQUA VITE COMPOSITA.
“The same water is made some time of wyne with spyces onely,
sometyme with wyne and rotes of the herbes, sometyme with the
herbes, some tyme with the rotes and herbes togyder, for at all
tymes thereto must be stronge wyne.
“Take a gallon of strong Gascoigne wine, and Sage, Mints,
Red Roses, Time, Pellitorie, Rosemarie, Wild Thime, Camomil,
Lavender, of eche an handfull. These herbes shal be stamped all
togyder in a Morter, and then putte it in a clene vessell and
do herto a pynte of Rose Water, and a quart of romney,[56] and
then stoppe it close and let it stand so iii or iiii dayes.
Whan ye have so done, put all this togyder in a styllatory and
dystyll water of the same; than take your dystylled water, and
pore it upon the herbes agayne into the styllatory, and strewe
upon it these powders followynge.
¶ Fyrst cloves and cynamon, of eche an halfe ounce, Oryous[57]
an ounce, and a few Maces, nutmeggs halfe an ounce, a lytell
saffran, muscus, spica nardi, ambre, and some put campher in
it, bycawse the materyals be so hote. Stere[58] all the same
well togyder and dystylle it clene of, tyll it come fat lyke
oyle, than set awaye your water, and let it be wel kepte.
After that make a stronge fyre, and dystyll oyle of it, and
receyve it in a fyole,[59] this oyle smelleth above all oyles,
and he that letteth one droppe fall on his hande, it will
perce through. It is wonderfull good, excellynge many other
soveraygne oyles to dyvers dysseases.”
Although the Still-room was serviceable for medicinal purposes, yet,
as we have seen, there were many comforting drinks made, including
_Vsquebath, or Irish aqua vitæ_ (a recipe for which we will give in its
proper place), and doubtless this contributed much towards the tippling
habit of some ladies in the 17th and 18th centuries. We hear somewhat of
this in the reign of good Queen Anne (who, by the bye, was irreverently
termed “Brandy-faced Nan”), when they used to make, and drink, _Ratifia
of Apricocks_, _Fenouillette of Rhé_, _Millefleurs_, _Orangiat_,
_Burgamot_, _Pesicot_, and _Citron Water_, etc., etc., numerous allusions
to which are made in the pages of “The Spectator,” and other literature
of the times. Edward Ward, who had no objection to call a spade, a
spade, thus plainly speaks out.[60]
“It would make a Man smile to behold her Figure in a front Box, where
her twinkling Eyes, by her Afternoon’s Drams of Ratifee and cold Tea,
sparkle more than her Pendants.... Her closet is always as well stor’d
with Juleps, Restoratives, and Strong Waters, as an Apothecary’s Shop,
or a Distiller’s Laboratory; and is, herself, so notable a Housewife in
the Art of preparing them, that she has a larger Collection of Chemical
Receipts than a Dutch Mountebank.... As soon as she rises, she must have
a Salutary Dram to keep her Stomach from the Cholick; a Whet before she
eats, to procure Appetite; after eating, a plentiful Dose for Concoction;
and to be sure a Bottle of Brandy under her Bed side for fear of fainting
in the Night.”
There is no necessity to multiply instances of the feminine liking
for brandy, for everyone finds numerous examples in his reading, from
Juliet’s nurse,[61] who, after Tybalt’s death, says, “Give me some
_aqua vitæ_,” to old Lady Clermont, of whom Grantley Berkeley tells the
following story[62]:—
“Prominent among my earliest Brighton reminiscences are those of old Lady
Clermont, who was a frequent guest at the Pavilion. Her physician had
recommended a moderate use of stimulants, to supply that energy which was
deficient in her system, and brandy had been suggested in a prescribed
quantity, to be mixed with her tea. I remember well having my curiosity
excited by this, to me, novel form of taking medicine, and holding on
by the back of a chair to watch the _modus operandi_. Very much to my
astonishment, the patient held a liqueur bottle over a cup of tea, and
began to pour out its contents, with a peculiar purblind look, upon the
_back_ of a teaspoon. Presently, she seemed suddenly to become aware of
what she was about, turned up the spoon the right way, and carefully
measured, and added the quantity to which she had been restricted. The
Tea, so strongly ‘laced,’ she now drank with great apparent gusto.”
We derive our name of Brandy from the Dutch _brand-wijn_, or the German
brannt-wein, that is, _burnt_ or distilled _wine_; and in the 17th and
18th centuries it was generally spelt, and spoken of as brandy wine. But,
also, in those centuries was it known by the name of “Nantz,” from the
town (Nantes, the capital of the Loire Inferieure) whence it came. But
this name was changed early last century, when the trade left Nantes, and
got into the Charente district, of which Cognac was the centre; so what
used to be “right good Nantz” of the old smuggling days, turned into the
delicate, many-starred “Cognac” of our times.
It was an eminently respectable spirit. Whiskey was practically unknown
out of Scotland and Ireland. Gin was the drink of the common people, and
rum was considered only fit for sailors. Even Dr. Johnson, though so fond
of his tea, was also fond of brandy, as Boswell chronicles of him, when
in his 70th year: “On Wednesday, April 7, I dined with him at Sir Joshua
Reynolds’s. Johnson harangued upon the qualities of different liquors;
and spoke with great contempt of claret, as so weak, that ‘a man would
be drowned by it, before it made him drunk.’ He was persuaded to drink
one glass of it, that he might judge, not from recollection, which might
be dim, but from immediate sensation. He shook his head, and said, ‘Poor
stuff! No, sir, claret is the liquor for boys; port for men; but he who
aspires to be a hero’ (smiling) ‘must drink brandy. In the first place
the flavour of brandy is the most grateful to the palate, and then brandy
will do soonest for a man what drinking _can_ do for him. There are,
indeed, few who are able to drink brandy. That is a power rather to be
wished for than attained.’”
And two years later on he gives another illustration of the doctor’s
liking for strong potations. “Mr. Eliot mentioned a curious liquor
peculiar to his country, which the Cornish fishermen drink. They call it
_Mahogany_; and it is made of two parts gin and one part treacle, well
beaten together. I begged to have some of it made, which was done with
proper skill by Mr. Eliot. I thought it very good liquor, and said it was
a counterpart of what is called _Athol porridge_[63] in the Highlands of
Scotland, which is a mixture of whiskey and honey. Johnson said ‘That
must be a better liquor than the Cornish, for both its component parts
are better.’ He also observed, ‘_Mahogany_ must be a modern name; for it
is not long since the wood called mahogany was known in this country. I
mentioned his scale of liquors: Claret for boys—port for men—brandy for
heroes. ‘Then,’ said Mr. Burke, ‘let me have claret; I love to be a boy;
to have the careless gaiety of boyish days,’ Johnson: ‘I should drink
claret too, if it would give me that; but it does not; it neither makes
boys men, nor men boys. You’ll be drowned in it before it has any effect
upon you.’”
But it was the spirit always drunk by gentlemen until well on in this
century, as we see by Mr. Pickwick, whose constant resource in all cases
of difficulty, was a glass of brandy. Pale brandy was not so much drank
as brown, which is now only taken, when very old, as a liqueur, although
a brown brandy of very dubious quality is to be met with in some country
public houses. Brandy, like every other spirit, developes its ethers with
age, gets mellower, and of exquisite flavour; and its popularity would
undoubtedly be revived if the drinker were only sure he could get such
brandy as the many starred brands of Hennessy and Martell, instead of
that awful substitute so often given—British brandy, made of raw potato
spirit.
The soil of the Charente slope is particularly adapted to the growth of
the vine, although, as in all vine-growing countries some districts, and
even small patches of land, produce finer wine than others. The grapes
are white, not much larger than good-sized currants, and the vines seldom
bear fruit until four or five years from their planting, and are most
vigorous at the age of from ten to thirty. Many bear well up to fifty and
seventy, and some are fruitful at one hundred years or more.