taken with oysters, if Chablis cannot be obtained. But little mention
is made of the Hermitage wine till the seventeenth century. But if
its reputation was tardy, it was at least brilliant. As soon as it
became known at the court, it was placed in the first rank of wines.
“The king,” wrote Patin, in 1666, “has made a present to the King of
England of 200 _muids_ of very good wine of Champagne, Burgundy, and
Hermitage.” Boileau, soon afterwards, speaks of it as a wine of first
quality. The best white Hermitage I ever drank was a parcel purchased
at the sale of the late Marquis of Londonderry’s wines in St. James’s
Square, after the death of Emily, Marchioness of Londonderry, in 1828.
It was really exquisite,--a perfect _liqueur_ in its way.
“Hermitage wine is divided into five classes. It is styled by the
French the richest coloured in their great variety of wines, but it
differs much with the seasons as to quality. Red Hermitage will not
keep more than twenty years without altering. The price of the first
class is often as high as 550 francs the piece of 210 litres. The other
growths or classes sell from 450 down to 300, and even as low as 250
francs the piece. When the season is bad, and the wine of moderate
quality, the wine of the first growth will not bring more than 250, and
of the last, 120 francs.
“Red Hermitage, when it is of the first quality, is not bottled for
exportation until it has been four or five years in the cask, in which,
as well as in bottles, it is generally sold at that age. The price, in
the former case is high, even if the quality be moderate.
“The white Hermitage is made of white grapes only, and divided into
three growths. This is the finest white wine France produces. Its
colour should be straw-yellow; its odour is like that of no other known
wine. It is of a rich taste, between that of the dry and luscious
wines. It is often in a state of fermentation for two years, but
it is never delivered to the consumer, if it can be avoided, until
fermentation is complete. The quantity of real white Hermitage does not
exceed 120 pieces annually.”
The reputation acquired by the Burgundy wines was due to an accidental
circumstance. Louis XIV. having fallen ill, the physicians advised him
the _vin de Nuits_ as the most pectoral and proper to re-establish his
health; and thence the reputation which this class of wine has ever
since enjoyed. The memoir of the Intendant of Burgundy tells us that
the wines of Tonnerre were, in 1698, very much sought after by the
Flemish. The _vin de Tonnerre_ is fine, full-flavoured wine, of great
body, and very suitable to a damp, cold climate. It is not unlike
first-rate old port, but far superior in _bouquet_ and fragrancy. The
finest ever drank by me was at the château of the Marquis de Louvois,
at Ancy-le-France, and had been grown on his own estate.
The Abbé de Marolles, in his translation of Martial, gives a list
of the wines for which Burgundy was renowned in his day, and here
they are. The wines of Auxerre, Beaune, Coulanges, Joigny, Irancé,
Vermanton, and Tonnerre, “which some people prefer,” says he, “to all
other wine” (“que quelques-uns préférent à tous les autres”).
The wine of Tonnerre is certainly particularly calculated for the cold
and foggy climate of Burgundy, or for any portion of England. Henderson
thus alludes to the _vin de Tonnerre_:--“The department of the Yonne
furnishes several excellent red wines, of which those of Tonnerre and
Auxerre have been long celebrated.”
Redding is more copious and careful in his remarks on the Burgundies.
“The wines of Tonnerre,” says he, “of the finest kind fetch ninety
francs the hectolitre on an average; and the other wines in gradation
from sixty to thirty-five. The wine of Olivotte, one of the best, has
good flavour, is fine, and of excellent colour, but it lacks the true
_bouquet_, unless in very favourable years. The communes which
furnish the best wines are Tonnerre, Epineuil, Dannemonie, for the
finer red wines.”
The country round Tonnerre has many distinguished vineyards; as those
of Pitoy, de Perrière, and Des Preaux. Near these localities is
situated the famous vineyard called Des Olivottes, already spoken of,
which produces wines of a good colour, much body, and particularly
spirituous. They are at the same time fine and delicate, and possess
aromatic flavour and _bouquet_. Among the white wines of Burgundy is
the Chablis, so universally used with oysters, both in France and on
the Continent generally. The best classes of Chablis, produced at four
leagues from Auxerre, rank among the second classes of white Burgundy.
Chablis is not always to be procured good in England, more especially
in the provinces; but such as desire a light, pleasant wine with their
oysters, may swallow a tumbler of Chablis or Sauterne, or _vin de
Pouilly_, or a large glass of good Bucellas, a wine possessing the
fragrancy and _bouquet_ of the Rhenish, with the warm, aromatic, and
cordial flavour of the best Spanish and Portuguese wines. Bucellas is
produced at about six leagues from Lisbon; it is preferred to the dry
wine of Setuval, and is stronger than Barsac. It is, however, like all
delicate wines, irretrievably injured by an admixture of brandy. Care
should therefore be taken to procure it from a trustworthy source.
To return to the _vins de Bourgogne_. It would take a volume to
describe the different species of Burgundy. It is the vinous product
most noted in France for its exquisite flavour, _bouquet_, and
delicacy; but Burgundy is nevertheless a wine which least bears
transport even on land, whilst transport by sea is too often fatal to
its fragrance and flavour. Within the last thirty years I have imported
three parcels, one of which was completely spoiled. The two others (one
I procured through the good offices of my late friend the celebrated
Mauguin, deputy for Burgundy) arrived soundly and uninjured; but the
merchants had taken care to envelope the bottles in a thick paper, very
much like cotton wadding, and to encase the wine in two casks, the
inner hogshead being smeared over with a composition formed of plaster
of Paris and other ingredients of which I am ignorant. Burgundy is also
frequently exported, more especially to Russia and America, enveloped
in salt. The Burgundy wines are divided into numerous classes. In the
quantity yielded, as well as in the quality, these classes differ
hugely.
“That of the first class,” says Redding, “is small in quantity,
and, if any other wine be mingled with it, is certain to be injured
irreparably. From hence it may be judged how little the common wine of
Portugal can claim to be classed high in the list of superior wines,
when from six to ten gallons of brandy are added to each pipe. The
difference in the effect of wine that intoxicates from the presence
of a large admixture of alcohol, and that which exhilarates from
its native qualities alone, is very singular. The pure wine, by the
accurate blending of the constituent parts, even where there has been
a habit of free indulgence, never leaves those distressing effects
upon the constitution which are caused by drinking wine and unblended
alcohol.”
The author of the “Topographie des Vignobles” says that the vineyards
of Burgundy cover 103,000 hectares; the produce, on the average, being
2,550,000 hectolitres of wine, 70,000 of which are consumed in the
country. The vineyards have increased very much since the Revolution,
many landowners having converted into vineyards low and marshy lands;
others having introduced manures, or carried new earth upon the old
to increase the crop; others, again, have substituted young for the
old plants, and even common plants for the fine and superior growths
of the vine. This has caused a degeneracy in the wines in the opinion
of the purchaser; but, notwithstanding the increase in low and common
wines, the number of good vineyards have, in the opinion of good
judges, likewise increased. But little has been written in England on
the subject of vineyards since the time of Arthur Young, whose work on
France was published at Bury St. Edmund’s in 1794, seventy years ago.
The most modern journal giving an account of the Burgundy vineyards
that I have met with is the journal of Mr. James Busby, published
originally in New South Wales, and reprinted by Smith, Elder, and Co.
several years ago.
It is no common thing, according to the best authorities, for a
hogshead of red Burgundy wine to fetch from 1250 to 1500 francs; but
the white wine is never said to rise above 600 francs the hogshead.
Touching the _Clos Vougeot_ in particular, however, M. Joubert
remarks--and he represents at Paris the houses of Barton and Guestier
of Bordeaux, of Ruinart, _père et fils_, at Rheims, of Charles Marcy
of Nuits, and of Deinhart and Jordan of Coblentz--that this famous
vintage is year by year deteriorating. Formerly, says M. Joubert, this
wine possessed the greatest renown of any wine in France, but it is not
so now. It is no longer the production of _artistes_, but purely and
simply an affair of trade. So long as the vineyard was the property of
the monks (we owe to the monasteries the finest vineyards of France),
the _Clos Vougeot_ was made with infinite care, and carefully preserved
till age had developed its full perfections. The Messrs. Tourton and
Ravel had continued to practise these good traditions, but M. Joubert
seems to insinuate that since their time fraud and falsification abound
in the preparation of the wine. This remark was probably addressed to
the late notorious Ouvrard, who, in the year 1832 or 1833, took a
large house at the corner of Langham Place, for the purpose of making
known these wines. But notwithstanding these frauds, Burgundy produces
in good years admirable wines, in the most exact signification of
the term, possessing an incomparable colour and _bouquet_. A worthy
Benedictine named Perignon, according to the author of the “Spectacle
de la Nature,” presided at the making of the wines of the Abbaye of
Hauvilliers; and Pluche says, by the invention of new processes, Père
Perignon procured for these wines a reputation which they never enjoyed
before.
As though the vinous wealth of Burgundy were not already sufficiently
extensive, the wine proprietors have introduced within the last dozen
years a sparkling Burgundy; as Deinhart and Jordan, at Coblentz, have
sought to introduce a sparkling Moselle; but these new inventions,
though applauded by greenhorns, are not patronised by those wiser and
older wine drinkers who have been accustomed to Nuits, Volnay, Beaune,
Pomard, and Chambertin. The Nuits wine is seldom fit for drinking till
the third or fourth year after the vintage, but is said by Henderson
to bear the carriage well; and there can be no doubt that, when old,
it acquires a high flavour. Salins, who wrote in 1704 the “Defense du
vin de Bourgogne contre le vin de Champagne,” says, the inestimable
advantage which Burgundy possesses over its rival is that of furnishing
successively cases of wine for all seasons of the year. “In the first
place,” says he, “there are the wines of Pomard, Beaune, and Volnay;
then the white wine of Meulsant; and lastly the Nuits qui n’a pas son
pareil et ne peut être assez prisé.”
It is the district of Nuits which produces the Burgundy called St.
George and the Meursault wines. Here, also, the curious wine called
Mont Rachet is made of three distinct kinds of grape grown on the
same aspect, with no difference that can be discovered in soil; and
yet, says Redding, one species is so good as to bring three times the
price of the others. The wine produced at Volnay, a village situated
about three miles from Beaune, was in Barry’s time, who wrote in 1775,
exactly eighty-nine years ago, the finest and most volatile wine in
Burgundy.
In the year of a good vintage, there is no better wine of _entremets_
than Beaune. It is of a fine red colour, has no noxious qualities,
does not heat the blood like other _crus_ of Burgundy, will keep a
long time without spoiling, and will bear water carriage. I have drunk
excellent Beaune in the remotest corners of Hungary and Transylvania,
in the heart of Poland, nay, even in the midst of Russian snows. It is
a favourite wine both at Petersburg and Moscow, where great quantities
are consumed, mingled with ice and water in the summer months. In order
to drink Beaune in perfection, it should not, however, be more than
four or five years old.
Pomard is a delicious wine, having body and colour; and, if first-rate,
a light and grateful aroma. I have now some more than thirty years old,
obtained pure direct from the grower, through the instrumentality and
good offices of M. Mauguin, who succeeded the Marquis de Chauvelin, as
deputy for the Côté d’Or. A finer wine was never tasted.
Chambertin, it is well known to everyone, was the favourite wine of
Napoleon before he arrived at St. Helena. After that period he drank
Bordeaux, probably because he thought Burgundy would have been injured
by the sea voyage. Chambertin is produced, according to M. Jullien,
two leagues and a half from Dijon, occupies twenty-five hectares, and
produces yearly from 130 to 150 pieces of excellent wine, which gives
a most perfect _bouquet_ and aromatic flavour, what the French
wine merchants call _sève_ and _moelleux_. It has a fuller
body and colour than the Romanée, with an aroma nearly as fragrant.
The Richebourg Tache and St. George approach, according to Henderson,
the Chambertin in their more essential qualities. Chambertin is said
to be one of the Burgundy wines which best bears exportation. This,
and almost all other Burgundy wines should, however, be drunk in
moderation, for they are apt to give a feverish heat to the blood.
Herein the true _gourmet_ should follow the advice so happily
given by Panard:--
“Se piquer d’être grand buveur
Est un abus que je déplore:
Fuyons ce titre peu flatteur;
C’est un honneur qui déshonore.
Quand on boit trop on s’assoupit,
Et l’on tombe en délire:
Buvons pour avoir de l’esprit,
Et non pour le détruire.”
The wine which ranks the highest in estimation of all the Burgundy
wines is the Romanée Conti. The produce is exceedingly scant, as
the vineyard is limited to five acres. As the quantity is so small,
this wine is rarely exported. It sells even on the spot from six to
eight francs the bottle. Henderson says it is seldom met with in a
genuine state, and that there is reason to believe that the produce of
the vineyard of Romanée St. Vivant (so called from the monastery of
that name), which is more abundant and of a similar, though inferior
quality, is often sold for it. It may be here remarked, that when the
monks possessed the superior Burgundy vineyards, they wisely made it
a rule to sell the wines only in bottle. Tourton and Ravel of Paris,
who purchased the vineyard of Clos Vougeot during the Revolution at
a million of francs, or about £500 the English acre, followed this
example; but it appears the marked distinction of qualities that
existed in the time of the monks has not been kept up, and that it will
be long before the ancient character can be regained.
The vinous products of Saone and Loire do not equal the _premiers
crus_ of the Côté d’Or, but several of them nearly approach the wines
of this far-famed district; and they are in general what French
wine-growers call _plus solides_, _i.e._, they are less injured in the
transport and less exposed to sudden changes, ruinous to the merchant
and most unsatisfactory to the consumer. Chalons and Mâcon possess
wines of high merit. Under the name of Mâcon wines are comprehended
not only the growths of the Mâconnais, but also the wines of the
Beaujolais, forming part of the department of the Rhone. Those of
Romanèche and of Thorins, in the vicinity of Mâcon, in particular,
are esteemed for their delicacy, and sprightliness, and agreeable
flavour; that of Chenas, in the canton of Beaujeu, on the other hand,
is a more spirituous and fuller wine, and will bear keeping three or
four years in the wood. Of these wines the best are grown, according
to Henderson, on a granitic soil. Formerly the plant called _chanay_,
which produces a very small grape, and yields an excellent wine, was in
general cultivation here; but the cupidity of the farmers had led to
the substitution of the Bourguignon grape, in which, as usual, quality
is exchanged for quantity.
It may not be uninteresting to state that the Mâcon wines are praised
by no less an authority than Gregory of Tours; and mention is also made
of them in the “Comédie des Côteaux ou les Friands Marquis,” published
in the year 1665. They are, without any doubt, the wholesomest wines
that come from Burgundy, and may be drunk with impunity at all seasons
of the year; but a great portion of the ordinary Mâcon consumed at
Paris is adulterated. When, however, this wine is obtained genuine,
it is equal to mothers’ milk. I remember as a boy dining with an old
gentleman of large fortune in the Chaussée d’Antin, who had been one of
the Mousquetaires Rouges, and who gave me goblet after goblet of this
pure Mâcon.
“Where, my dear sir, did you obtain this excellent wine?” I asked.
“Ah, _mon cher_!” said my old friend, “that was a present to me from
Créuzé de Lesser, when he was Prefect at Autun. I doubt that my
neighbour Tourton, who lives at the corner of the Rue de Provence, or
that Jovet or Vilcoq of Antun could match it!”
Mâcon wine may be generally imported into England without risk of
being injured in flavour. There is one observation which might be made
on the wines of Burgundy before this part of the subject is closed,
and the observation equally applies to all wines which have, like the
Burgundies, a very fine _bouquet_ and aromatic flavour. Such wines
should never be iced. Icing, or even a too cold cellar, causes them to
lose that inappreciable and fugacious flavour which is developed by a
moderate degree of heat. Burgundies should be taken out of the cellar
an hour or two before dinner and placed in the dining-room, within the
wake of a temperate fire.
I go farther than most persons, and maintain that most red wines should
not be iced. It may be answered, that “there is no wine more iced than
Claret in all the Indian presidencies;” but this Claret so iced is not
the pure juice of the grape. It is a loaded wine made for the market,
which every genuine lover of Claret should abhor. It was the custom in
the first society of Bordeaux, and always at the prefecture, in the
days of Baron d’Haussey, afterwards Minister of Marine to Charles X.,
to serve Claret with a tepid napkin round the claret-jug or decanter
into which the wine was poured, or round the green glass bottle itself,
if, as indeed it more frequently happened, the wine was not decanted.
This gentle heat brings out advantageously the flavour and aroma of the
wine.
As to the period of the dinner when Burgundy should be introduced,
all I would say is this, that it should not be served later than the
roast. A glass of Pomard, Nuits, or Chambertin, may be very well
taken after the first mouthful of a good haunch of South Down or a
_filet de bœuf à la Poivrade_ is swallowed. Neither should I object
to a repetition of the dose (whatever Lord Brougham, who contends for
Claret after game, may say to the contrary) after swallowing a slice of
woodcock, partridge, or that excellent bird, so justly bepraised, the
golden plover; but to reserve Burgundy for the _entremets_, _sucrés_,
or dessert, is a piece of rampant snobbishness worthy of a _nouveau
riche_.
The water-drinkers may laugh at me for having written at such length on
such subjects, but I answer in the lines of François de Neufchateau:--
“Mais la sobrieté
Dans ses travers sera-t-elle plus sage?
Pour fuir l’abus doit-on bannir l’usage?
Ah, je connais la pauvre humanité
Tout est jolie; et bien mieux que personne
Un buveur d’eau quelquefois déraisonne.”
I now come to Champagne wine. The quarrel which existed in the time of
Louis XIV. between the Burgundy doctor and the Champenois, concerning
the respective merits and defects of the wines of their different
provinces, has been before alluded to. The Bourguignon maintained
that Burgundy merited a preference over the wine of Rheims, for that
these latter over-excited the nerves, produced dangerous maladies,
such as the gout; and, in a word, that Fagon, first physician to
Louis XIV., forbade their use to that monarch. The citizens of Rheims
deemed themselves in duty bound to resent this insult, and the faculty
of medicine of the town was charged with the task. The faculty, of
course, maintained that the wines of Aï, Pierri, Versenai, Silleri,
Hauvilliers, Tassi, Montbré, and St. Thierri, bore off the bell in the
“top-loftiest manner,” as Sam Slick would say, from Burgundy; that
they possessed a more limpid colour, a sweeter perfume, more body,
and greater durability. The Bourguignon rejoined, that the courts of
England, Germany, and Denmark, drank no other beverage than Burgundy;
“and as to Champagne,” says he, “it owes its renown to the two
ministers, Colbert and Le Tellier, who, as wine-proprietors, vaunted
their own vineyards in the neighbourhood of Rheims.”
This was, however, a mistake. Colbert was, indeed, a Champenois, but
neither he nor Le Tellier gave renown to the wines of Champagne.
The vineyards of Champagne had been celebrated for centuries before
they were born; and Francis I., Leo X., Charles V., and Henry VIII.,
had each of them a vineyard at Aï, with a resident superintendent.
The other objections of the Bourguignon have more show of reason.
“Champagne is a wine,” says he, “which is neither strong, nor
full-bodied, nor generous. It is weak, insipid, and watery, liable to
change colour, incapable of bearing exportation, or a long journey;
whereas Volnay was drunk in Poland at the coronation of Sobieski, and
Beaune was served at Venice by Comandante Morosini at the entertainment
which he gave the senators after the conquest of the Morea, when it was
considered one of the first wines of Europe.”
The champion of Champagne answered with an extract from a letter of St.
Evremond to the Duke d’Olonne:--“Fussiez vous a deux cens lieues de
Paris, n’épargnez aucune dépense, pour avoir des vins de Champagne.
Ceux de Bourgogne ont perdu leur credit auprès des gens qui ont le goût
délicat; et à peine conservent ils un reste de réputation chez les
marchands.”
This vinous battle continued till 1741, when another question was
started, viz. “Le vin de Champagne est il aussi salutaire qu’agréable?”
It was _à propos_ of this question that the Sieur Navier maintained
twenty years later, in the schools of Rheims, that Champagne might be
usefully employed in putrid fevers. But notwithstanding these _pros_
and _cons_, the world went on pretty much as usual. Those who relished
Champagne drank it, and those who preferred Burgundy swallowed their
modicum of their favourite tipple without the least regard to the
literary combatants. So it will ever be.
The department of Marne, in the opinion of most women, and of all boys,
is the real and genuine vinous glory of France. I admit that if you
find a Champagne of a really first-rate _cru_; limpid, neither too
sweet, nor too sparkling, nor too spirituous; but brisk with body,
vinous, and retaining these amiable qualities so as fully to develope
them in the _arrière bouche_--that then you obtain a rare wine, and not
to be despised. But how seldom, how very rarely indeed, is such a wine
to be had!
In consequence of the tricks played with Champagne wines, the
generality of the vintages possess not that perfect, piquant, and fine
flavour which heretofore characterized them. How can it be otherwise?
A gentleman with whom Mr. Busby travelled told him he could buy very
good sound Champagne at Châlons for two francs a bottle, and was then
going to purchase one hundred bottles at that price. Millions of
bottles of _champagne mousseux_ are, however, yearly sold in the
Champagne country at two and three francs the bottle, and this shocking
swipes is too dear by half. Champagne should only be purchased with the
greatest precautions.
“By Champagne wine,” says Henderson, “is usually understood a sparkling
or frothing liquor, or a wine subjected to an imperfect fermentation,
and containing a quantity of carbonic acid gas that has been generated
during the insensible fermentation in bottle, and is disengaged on
removing the pressure by which it was retained in solution. This notion
is not altogether correct; for the district under review furnishes
many excellent wines, both red and white, which do not effervesce. It
is true, indeed, that most of the white, or River Marne wines, are
brisk; and in general, they are of superior quality, and more highly
esteemed than the red or mountain wines. They are distinguished by
their delicate flavour and aroma, and the agreeable pungency and
slightly acidulous taste which they derive from the carbonic acid.
Their exhilarating virtues are familiar to every one.
“It must be remembered, however, that the briskest wines are not
always the best. They are, of course, the most defective in true
vinous quality, and the small portion of alcohol which they contain
immediately escapes from the froth as it rises on the surface, carrying
with it the aroma, and leaving the liquor that remains in the glass
nearly vapid; for it has been shown by Humboldt, that when the froth
is collected under a bell-glass, surrounded with ice, the alcohol
becomes condensed on the sides of the vessel by the operation of the
cold. Hence the still, or the creaming, or slightly sparkling Champagne
wines (_crêmants_, or _demi-mousseux_) are more highly valued by
connoisseurs, and fetch greater prices than the full-frothing wines
(_grand-mousseux_). By icing these wines before they are used, the
tendency to effervesce is in some degree repressed, or only allowed to
operate to such an extent as may be compatible with the more perfect
flavour that we desire to find in them; but when they are kept cool
this precaution is unnecessary.
“Among the white wines of Champagne, the first rank is usually assigned
to those of Sillery, under which name is comprehended the produce of
the vineyards of Verzenay, Mailly, Raument, &c. It is a dry, still
liquor, of a light amber colour, with considerable body and flavour,
somewhat analogous to that of the first growths of the Rhine, and,
being one of the best fermented Champagne wines, may be drunk with
the greatest safety. Having been originally brought into vogue by the
peculiar care bestowed on the manufacture of it by the Maréchale
d’Estrées, it was long known by the name _vin de la Maréchale_. It
has always been in much request in England, probably on account of its
superior strength and durable quality. It is usually drunk iced.”
The rich dry Sillery is kept longer in the cask than the other wines,
and the fermentation not being checked, it is esteemed more wholesome.
The still wines of Epernay are inferior to those of Rheims; but the
other kinds, according to Redding, approached very nearly to those
of Aï in delicacy of _bouquet_. The price to the merchant on the
spot, according to the same authority, is about 2_s._ 3_d._ a bottle,
and in scarce years 2_s._ 6_d._ In an article in the “Encyclopædia
Metropolitana,” it is said that those wines must be kept three years
in bottle to attain perfection, and will continue excellent for ten,
twenty, and even thirty years or more, if they are of prime quality.
This, under favour and with submission, is a grave mistake. Champagne,
with the exception of first-rate qualities, is not a _vin de garde_,
and requires to be looked after every year. If there be the least
sediment or deposit, it is the custom in all the great wine-vaults in
Champagne to filter the wine into fresh bottles. The Champagne wines
are short-lived; but if the quality of the liquor be of the very best,
the wine does not acquire perfection till it has been three years in
bottle. Supposing it to be of the very primest quality, the cream of
Champagne certainly may last for fifteen or twenty years, and still
acquire perfection. Some there are, indeed, who say that delicious
Champagne has been tasted forty years old. I never tasted any above
thirteen years old, and that was many years ago, at the house of Mr.
Marsh, author of “The Clubs of London,” then living in the Rue de
Bourbon, Faubourg St. Germain. A friend, however, who is a good judge
of Champagne, and fond of a good glass of it--and, what is better than
all, a good fellow,--says he has tasted excellent twenty years old,
and I defer to his authority, now that the old Irish peer, Allen (the
fondest and most inveterate of Champagne-drinkers I ever encountered,
whether peer or plebeian), is not producible, or, at least, not
forthcoming to give his evidence, though called on his subpœna.
It should be stated, that the wine-growers in Champagne prepare their
merchandise for the various tastes and caprices of different nations.
Thus, the Champagne for the Russians is a very different wine from
the Champagne for the Germans; which, again, differs from the wine
_confectionné_ for the English market. The Americans are said to
put up with anything which foams and sparkles in a “tarnation toplofty
fashion.” In Jaquesson’s cellars at Châlons sur Marne, you see bins
for all the principal towns of the world,--London, Vienna, Paris,
Petersburg, Madrid, &c.
Champagne, unlike Burgundy or Claret, is a wine always improved by
ice. The chief characteristic of the best Champagne is its exquisite
delicacy of flavour. The strength of the bottles for the sparkling
wines, and their uniform thickness, are most carefully ascertained. A
bottle with the least imperfection or malformation is put aside for the
red wines.
It were useless to particularise every variety of wine produced in
Champagne. Some of the classes are so bad that they will not bear
exportation. The wine most esteemed after the Sillery is the Aï; but
it is nearly equalled by the wine of Mareuil. The wine of Pierry is
drier, but will keep longer than those of Aï, and nearly equals them
in quality. The wines of Dizz follow next, and lastly Epernay, part of
whose wines is inferior, and part equal to those of Aï.
The author of the “Topographie des Vignobles” thus speaks of the high
price of the _Vins Mousseux_:--“The high price of the _Vins Mousseux_,”
says Jullien, “comes not only from the quality of the wines chosen to
make them, and the infinite pains required before they are finished,
but also from the considerable losses to which the proprietors and
dealers are exposed in this kind of speculation, and the strange
phenomena which determine or destroy the _qualité mousseuse_. As to
losses, the owners count in general upon fifteen or twenty bottles
broken in a hundred; sometimes even thirty or forty. To this must be
added the diminution which takes place as the wine is separated from
its deposits by decanting,--an operation which is performed at least
twice.”
These certainly are curious and unexplainable phenomena; but
explainable or not, one thing is certain, that if gentlemen wish to
obtain first-rate Champagne, whether still or sparkling, they must go
to a respectable wine-merchant, and pay a good price, whether at home
or abroad. In dealing with Moët, or Ruinart, or any other accredited
agent, they cannot fail to find a superior article; but they should
avoid the cheap Champagnes with as much care as they would avoid the
feculent water flowing out of Fleet Ditch into the Thames. Mr. Redding,
in a valuable little book of his called “Every Man his own Butler,”
says, “Some people fancy they get better Champagne by going to the
docks and choosing for themselves.” But that this is not so will be
very apparent, when it is stated that hundreds of thousands of bottles
of Champagne are imported, which, glass, wine, and all, are not worth
the duty.
The bottling of the effervescing Champagne wines begins in March, and
the fermentation in May. The latter continues all the summer, but is
particularly strong in June, during the flowering of the vine; and in
August, when the fruit begins to ripen. At these times, the greatest
loss in the bursting of bottles takes place, and it is not safe to pass
through a cellar without being guarded with a mask of iron wire. It
occasionally happens that the workmen who neglect this precaution are
sometimes severely, sometimes dangerously, wounded. Among the wines
prepared to effervesce--or, to use the technical phrase, for _la
mousse_--there are some which only partake of a slight fermentation.
These are the _crêmants_ wines, which drive out the cork with less
force, and sparkle in the glass. Their _mousse_ is frothy, and,
like the
“Snow-ball on the river,
A moment white, then gone for ever.”
They are said to have the advantage over the _Vins grand mousseux_, in
preserving more vinous qualities and being less sharp. Their price is
also higher, for they are sought for by connoisseurs, and cannot be
obtained in great quantity. The best red Champagne wines are produced
upon the north side of the declivities of the Marne, which are called
the _Montagnes de Rheims_.
The Champagne wine-merchants use the greatest precaution in packing
their wines for exportation. The sides of the baskets or cases are
lined with pasteboard, and each bottle is enveloped in a sheet of blue
or grey paper. Champagne _mousseux_, exported to the Indies or America,
is preserved from the excessive heat by being packed in salt. At the
bottom of the case there is a layer of straw, and then a layer of salt,
upon which the first row of bottles is placed. Jullien, in his “Manuel
du Sommelier,” states that the finest Burgundies thus packed have
preserved all their qualities on a voyage to India, and experienced but
fourteen degrees of heat in passing under the equator.
I come at length to Claret, and with Francesco Redi, exclaim,--
“Benedetto,
Quel claretto!”
Blessed, indeed, be Bordeaux, the ground that bare it; for it is king
of all wines, past, present, and to come! Of this opinion, too, was
Lémery, physician to Louis XIV., who thus speaks of it:--“Claret,” says
he, “of all others, is generally the best wine for all constitutions;
and the reason is, because it contains a sufficient quantity of
tartarous parts, that make it less heady and more stomachical than
white wine. As for pale wine; it is a middling sort, between the red
and white; the same is made of grapes of the same colour, or else by
mixing white wine with a little red.”
The Bordeaux wines are generally divided into _vins de Médoc_, _des
Graves_, _des Palus_, _des Côtes_, _de Terre forte_, and _vins
d’entre deux Mers_; but so much do they differ by the taste, colour,
_bouquet_, durability, and a thousand imperceptible shades, that it
would be difficult to give an exact list of the varied and magnificent
productions of the Gironde. Commercial men have, however, established
two recognised classes, which appear to be tacitly admitted by all
parties, and which may serve as a guide to the purchaser. In the first
class are ranked Château Margeaux, Château Lafitte, Latour, Haut Brion.
The product of these four vintages may be rated at from 400 to 450
_tonneaux_, the value of which represents a capital of 2400 to 3000
francs per _tonneau_. When age has developed the qualities of these
wines, more particularly in a good vintage, the value is at least
doubled. For the last twenty years the Haut Brion seems to be on the
wane in public favour, and it sells at a lesser price than one of its
three rivals.
The second class of Bordeaux wines is composed of the Rauzan, Braune,
Mouton, Léoville, Gruau, La Rose, Pichon, Longueville, Durfort,
Degorse, Destournelle; producing 850 _tonneaux_, which ranges at from
2000 to 2100 francs the _tonneau_.
The third class comprises within its ranks the Kirwan, Château d’Issau,
Poujets, many _clos_ of Cantenac, and of Margeaux, Mulescot, Ferrière,
Giscours, &c. These vineyards produce about 1100 _tonneaux_, of the
value of from 1700 to 1800 francs the _tonneau_.
The fourth class has two divisions: first, the Saint Julien,
Béchevelle, Saint Pierre, &c.; producing about 650 _tonneaux_, worth
about from 1200 to 1500 each. In the second division are ranged the
great properties of Pauillac and Saint Estèphe, with some others,
producing about 1000 _tonneaux_, at from 1000 to 1200 francs the
_tonneau_.
The difference which exists between these four or five superior
qualities of wine, and the wines made by small proprietors, which
are sold at from 300 to 450 francs the _tonneau_, results less
from the quality of the grape and the nature of the soil than from
circumstances incident to the want of capital, and from the desire of
obtaining quantity at the expense of quality. There can be no doubt
whatever that the large capitalist purchases a better wine than the
small one, though the small capitalist has it in his power to produce
as good a bottle of wine on his own table as his richer neighbour.
But, when he caters for the public, it is more profitable by different
mixtures to produce 100 _tonneaux_ of middling quality than fifty
of superior wine, even though the latter be sold at a considerably
higher price than the former. In the cellars at Bordeaux there is great
management of the wine. It is always kept in a vault or cellar pretty
nearly of the same temperature, and is fed, once every two or three
weeks, if intended for the English or foreign market, with a pint or
two of the best brandy. The wine is frequently tasted to know what
state it is in, and the brandy is used accordingly. Care must, however,
be taken never to put in much at a time, especially for wines intended
for immediate sale, as such a mode of proceeding would destroy the
flavour of the wine, and cause it to taste fiery. If a little be put
in at a time, it is said to incorporate quickly with the wine, and to
feed and mellow it. Among the London wine merchants the custom is, if
the Claret be faint and has lost its colour, to rack it into a fresh
hogshead upon the lees of good Claret. It is then bunged up, pulling
the bung downwards for two or three days that the lees may run through
it, after which its bung is laid up till it be fine. If the colour be
not then perfect, it is racked off again into a hogshead that has been
nearly drawn off, then an ounce of cochineal is added, shaken up in a
bottle of wine, and put it into the hogshead; and by this method the
wine is said to acquire both a good colour and body. Sometimes a pound
of turnsole is put into a gallon or two of wine, and the cask rolled
about, and then the wine-doctors tell you your beverage will have a
perfect colour. The greenhorns may think this is pure invention; but,
lest I should be thought “to draw on my fancy for facts,” I extract the
following receipts from the work of John Davies, who, having practised
them on the lieges of Leeds for a long while, at length came up to the
metropolis, and published his work “On the Managing, Colouring, and
Flavouring of Foreign Wines and Spirits,”--a work which subsequently
went through many editions. The following are his receipts _verbatim
et literatim_:--
“METHOD OF COLOURING CLARET.--Take as many as you please of damsons or
black sloes, and strew them with some of the deepest-coloured wine you
can get, and as much sugar as will make it into a syrup. A pint of this
will colour a hogshead of Claret. It is also good for red Port wines,
and may be kept ready for use in glass bottles.
“A REMEDY FOR CLARET THAT DRINKS FOUL.--Rack off your Claret from the
dregs on some fresh lees of its own kind, and then take a dozen of new
pippins, pare them, and take away the cores or hearts, then put them in
your hogsheads, and, if that is not sufficient, take a handful of the
oak of Jerusalem and bruise it, then put it into your wine, and stir it
very well. This not only takes away the foulness, but also gives it a
good scent.”
The great commerce of Bordeaux is in its wine, but it is much
diminished since the loss of St. Domingo. A considerable export of
wines, not so loaded as they formerly were, has recently taken place
to the East Indies; and no doubt the opening of the China trade will
also somewhat tend to improve the condition and state of the Gironde
wine-grower. But what most desire to see, would be a freer exchange
of the vinous wealth of France with England. It is in every sense
desirable that our population, instead of drinking that thick and
heady Port, consumed by the Eldons and Stowells of a past generation,
and some old dons and tutors of Oxford, a few old barristers, and a
great mass of attorneys of the present generation, should drink the
ordinary red Bordeaux wines; or, if they will have white wines, those
Sauternes and Graves whose prices sometimes rise so high as 3000 francs
the _tonneau_. There is not a pleasanter or more healthful wine
than good Sauterne. It is, of course, difficult to get pure Sauterne in
taverns or hotels; but to such as have not establishments in town, a
trial of the Sauterne at Bellamy’s, at the House of Commons, would be
advisable. The following account of Jullien is very interesting:--
“The inferior wines of Bordeaux,” says the author of the “Topographic
des Vignobles,” are exported to America and the interior of France;
those of the first quality to India, Russia, and England.
“The difference in price between the first and inferior wines is very
great. Those of the best vineyards sell generally the first year at
from 2000 to 3000 francs the _tonneau_, and rise to 5000 or 6000, and
even higher, in a very favourable vintage. On the contrary, the _vins
communs_ fetch only from 100 to 120 francs, and seldom rise to more
than 200 or 300.
“The wine of first quality, at its point of maturity, ought to have
a beautiful colour, much firmness, a very agreeable _bouquet_, and
a flavour which embalms the mouth, strength without intoxicating,
and body without harshness. The Bordeaux wines are, contrary to the
generality of French wines, improved by a sea voyage; and wines of the
second and third quality, after a voyage, have equalled those of the
first.
“The English houses at Bordeaux, immediately after the vintage,
purchase a large quantity of the wines of all the best vineyards,
in order that they may undergo _la travaille à l’anglaise_. This
operation consists in putting into fermentation part of the wines
during the following summer; by mixing in each barrel from thirteen to
eighteen pots of Alicant or Benicarlo, or the wines of the Hermitage,
Cahors, Languedoc, and others; one pot of white wine called Muet (wine
whose fermentation had been stopped by the fumes of sulphur), and one
bottle of spirits of wine. The wine is drawn off in December, and then
laid up in the _chars_ (cellars) for some years. By this operation the
wines are rendered more spirituous and very strong, they acquire a good
flavour, but are intoxicating. The price, likewise, is increased.
“The age of wine at Bordeaux is counted _par feuilles_; that is, the
number of times the vine has been in leaf since the vintage. The years
which the wines require to be kept vary, but those of _vins de Graves_
do not reach perfection before the fifth or sixth.”
This is a recent account; but it will be well to hear what old Barry,
who wrote ninety years ago, says on the same subject. After having
perused his account it will appear that we, at the commencement of the
twentieth century, are but practising, with variations, the tricks
which our ancestors played centuries ago.
“The French wine-merchants,” says Barry, “encouraged by the great
demands for these Claret wines, first began to mix their inferior
wines with the Spanish; and, though there was a severe law forbidding
this practice, yet it was connived at, as it increased the value and
demand for them. This encouraged some persons from hence and Ireland
to reside there as _factors_, with a view, at first, of acquiring the
profit arising from the large commissions which before had always
been consigned to the French wine-merchants. But these factors soon
became wine-merchants likewise, among whom it was usual to employ their
_tasters_, after the vintage was over, to examine the new wines; and,
when they had been properly informed, purchased such a quantity as was
sufficient to answer the demands they expected. These were soon after
mixed and prepared with the Spanish wines, which added more strength
and flavour to them. Thus the price of them was gradually raised much
higher than the wines of these growths had been formerly estimated.
What Barry says about factors is perfectly true; but a very old
Bordeaux wine-merchant and wine-grower informed me, nearly forty years
since, that the factors of seventy years ago were principally Irish and
Scotch, and that there were at that period many Irish and Scotch among
the proprietors of vineyards. “There were,” said he, “Gernons, Byrnes,
Cruises, Cassins, M’Donnells, Maxwells, Stewarts, M’Laurins, among the
factors; and among the proprietors of vineyards Cockburns, M’Kinnons,
Kirwans, Frenches, Dalys, Walshes, Bogles, Archers, and O’Connors.”
This may have accounted for the superiority which Dublin and Edinburgh
obtained more than half a century ago over the London market in respect
of Claret,--a superiority which was attested by the great run made for
these wines on the house of Sneyd, French, and Barton; Cockburn and
Co.; Cranston and Co.; Stewart and Co.; Roche and Co.; Sir John Ferns
and Co.; Sir Anthony Perrier and Co.; Brook and Co.; Wilson and Co.,
and many others.
The excellence of the Bordeaux wines was celebrated even in the days
of Ausonius, and they have uniformly maintained their repute. They
are, without any manner of doubt, the most perfect wines that France
produces. They keep perfectly, are improved by sea carriage, and may
be freely exported to any part of the world. The original fermentation
being usually very complete, they are less disposed to acidity, and are
more wholesome than the wines of Burgundy. A great proportion of the
wine, however, which is drunk as Claret, is but _vin ordinaire_,
or the secondary wine of the country, for the prime growths fall far
short of the demand which prevails for these wines all over the world.
In Bordeaux the very best growths are scarce, and cannot be purchased
at less than from six to seven francs a bottle. “During the twenty
years that I have been living at Bordeaux,” says one of Rozière’s
correspondents, “I have not tasted three times any wine of the first
quality; yet I am in the way of knowing it and getting it when it is
to be had. The wines of the year 1784 were so superior to those of
other years, that I have never met with anything like them.”
Whence comes the word Claret? From the French adjective _clairet_,
which in the feminine, is _clairette_. In the masculine it is only
used of what is called a _vin rouge paillet_, _vinum rubellum
sanguineum_. In this sense a man is said to be _entre le blanc et le
clairet_, _i.e._, that he is _entre deux vins_. Hypocras was formerly
called Claret, and is still so called in Germany. Old Cowel, in his
“Interpreter,” says, “This denomination originates from _claretum_, a
liquor made anciently of wine and honey, clarified by decoction, which
the Germans, French, and English call _hippocras_, and it is for this
reason that the red wines of France were called Claret.”
In Pegg’s “Cury” there is an account of the rolls of provisions, with
their prices, in the time of Henry VIII., and we there find at the
dinner given at the marriage of Gervys Clifton and Mary Nevil, the
price of three hogsheads of wine (one white, one red, one claret), was
set down at 5_l._ 5_s._
The department of the Rhone produces the Côte Rôti at a vineyard about
seven leagues from Lyons. This a wine which possesses body, spirit,
flavour, and perfume. If allowed to remain in the cask for five or
six years, it improves wonderfully. It may then be bottled, and will
improve in bottle for twenty years. The Côte Rôti is a wine much drunk
in Switzerland and Franche Comté. It is grown at Ampuis, and ranks as
one of the best wines of France. It is, when young, slightly bitter and
rather heady, but is much improved by a voyage. The flavour somewhat
resembles red Hermitage, and if it were generally imported into
England, it would be preferred to Port by all who have a sound palate
and liver.
Tain, four leagues from Valence, possesses the famous Hermitage
vineyard. Hermitage is divided into five classes. It is not bottled
for exportation till it has been four or five years in the cask. The
price of the wine is high, even if the quality be moderate. I am in
possession of some obtained twenty years ago as a favour, at 96_s._ a
dozen, from the Prince Charles de Broglie, and with freight, carriage,
interest of money, &c., it now stands me in at least seven guineas the
dozen.
The white Hermitage is made of white grapes only, and is divided into
three growths. It is an exquisite and most delicious beverage, and
may be pronounced to be the finest white wine France produces. White
Hermitage is said to keep a century. I tasted some bought at the sale
of the late Marquess of Londonderry’s wines in St. James’s Square,
which must be at least sixty years old, and a more delicious wine was
never produced at table. The only difference between it and white
Hermitage of five years old is that the tint and colour are of a deep
amber, but in dryness, richness, and aroma, it is unrivalled.
In 1836, a few bottles of this wine, which had been in the late
Marquess of Wellesley’s cellars since 1807, was purchased by me; but,
although a fine wine, it was not to compare with the Hermitage of the
late Lord Londonderry, better known as Lord Castlereagh.
The grape from which the red Hermitage is made is supposed to have come
originally from Persia.[36] The vineyard was, it is said, planted by a
hermit of Bessas for his amusement.
Richard and Sons are among the first wine-merchants and bankers at
Tournon, a town on the opposite side of the Rhone to Tain, and joined
to it by a suspension-bridge. They export large quantities of the
finest growth of Hermitage to Bordeaux to mix with the first growths of
Claret. The largest wine-press in France belongs to this firm. By one
charge of it the proprietors can obtain forty casks of wine, of about
fifty gallons each.
One of the principal proprietors of the Hermitage vineyards is a
gentleman of Irish descent, a Mr. Machon. The soil on which the
Hermitage grows is highly calcareous, and it is to this peculiarity,
as well perhaps as to the selection of the plants, that the wine owes
its superiority. The labour bestowed in the vineyards is said to be
unremitting.
The cost of wine cultivation in France is immense, and it seldom
happens that more than four or five per cent., and frequently not more
than two or three, are returned to the landowner.
The German wines, as a general description, may be pronounced generous
and finely flavoured, rich in _bouquet_, and the least acid among the
northern wines. They are, however, drier than the wines of France.
That they are what the French call _vins de garde_, or wines that will
keep, is plainly apparent from the fact that the better qualities
have been found perfect at eighty and even at a hundred years old.
The Moselle wines are among the least acid of the German, or indeed
of the wines of any country. The German jurist Hontheim says the best
Moselle wines make men cheerful; when drunk in quantity and old,
good; the heat leaving the body and head without inconvenience and
disorder. Rüdesheim, six leagues from Mayence, is said to produce the
best wines in Germany, having more body, strength, and _bouquet_, than
those on the left bank of the Rhine. An auhm of 1811 sells for 55_l._
On the Johannisberg wines it would be unnecessary to dilate here.
Barry, seventy years ago, in speaking of the Hock wines, adduced, as
a circumstance that contributed to their advancement, the fact that
there was an annual addition of a due proportion of the recent and new
wine of the same growth to the old wine. In his day the best old Hock
sold at the price of 50_l._ the auhm. The Rhine wines of most strength
are the Marcobrunner, Rüdesheimer, and Nierstiner. The Johannisberger,
Geissenheim, and Hockheim have the most perfect delicacy and aroma.
The wines of Bischeim, Asmanshausen, and Laubenheim, are also light
and agreeable. The German proverb says, “Rhein wein, fein wein, Necker
wein, lecre wein, Franken wein, tranken wein, Mosel wein, unnosel
wein.” But the wines of all wines are the Julius Hospitalis Steinwein
of 1811, and the Cabinet Leinstenwein of 1822. I remember in 1828 and
1829 drinking fine specimens of both at the Three Moors at Augsburg
(a capital hotel), and noting down that the price of the Steinwein
was four florins, twenty-four kreutzers, and of the Leinstenwein five
florins, forty-eight kreutzers; the one amounting nearly to 8_s._ and
the other fully to 9_s._ of our money. They are both exquisite wines,
but are said to produce strangury. Switzerland grows little good wine.
The Neufchâtel would, perhaps, most please an English palate; it is
equal to the third quality of Burgundy, and has some resemblance to
Port without much body.
On the Spanish wines I must be brief. Under the influence of the sun
of a warm climate, they contain more alcohol, and are altogether
differently prepared. The grapes are suffered to become quite ripe,
and part of the must is concentrated by boiling it in large cauldrons
for forty-four hours. The Spanish wines, however, with the exception of
those of Xeres and Malaga, are greatly neglected in the manufacture.
Manzinilla, the country wine of the district of Xeres de la Frontena,
is a light, pleasant beverage, not destitute of mellowness and flavour.
It is far preferable in every respect to those loaded, coloured
compounds which pass for Sherries in London taverns.
The extent of the cellars of Gordon and Co., of Cadiz, is immense. The
length of the largest 306 feet, and the breadth 222 feet. The ordinary
stock of wine is said to be 4000 butts, which is kept in casks of
various sizes, containing from one to four butts. The wine merchants
of Xeres never exhaust their stock of finest and oldest wine. A cask
of wine, said to be fifty years old, may contain a portion of the
vintages of thirty or forty seasons. The better class of wine merchants
at Xeres never ship wine for England till it is two years old. The
higher qualities of Sherry are made up of wine the bulk of which is
from three to five years old; and this is mixed in the older wines.
From the gradual mixture, therefore, of the wines of various ages, no
wine can be less a natural wine than Sherry. The Amontillado is a dry
kind of Sherry, abounding in a dry, nutty flavour. It is very light
in colour, and is often used to restore the colour of Sherries of too
deep a brown. It sells much dearer than other Sherry wines. The Malaga
Sherry very much resembles the wine of Xeres, and large quantities are
exported to foreign countries as genuine Sherry. 200_l._ have been
paid for a first-rate cask of Malaga.
On the Portuguese wine called Port I shall not waste many words. When
dry and old it is a good winter wine for old people, if they restrict
themselves to a glass or two.
A good glass of genuine Madeira which has gone the rounds, is good
after soup, but the wine is no longer fashionable.
The only Italian wines worth drinking are the Montefiascone,
Montepulciano, and Vino d’Asti. Many of these wines are too harsh, and
some of them are too thick and sweet for a French or English palate.
Some of the wines of Hungary are very tolerable. The Tokay wine is
exquisite. Even the Maslas, which is a diluted Tokay, is a splendid
wine; soft, oily, and stomachic. A glass of it may be had any day
after dinner, at about 10_d._ or 1_s._ English, in the Speise Saal of
the Schwann, at Vienna, where I in my youth consumed many a bottle of
Tokay. The Vermuth is a stomachic mixture, too much bepraised by those
who have never tasted it; indeed, as much overpraised as the _Crême
d’Absinthe_. All the Greek wines are also over-rated. There are tuns
of them not worth the amount of a farrier’s yearly bill for shoeing a
dog; or if you wish the Gallic phrase, “ne valent pas les quatres fers
d’un chien.”
The Constantia wine of the Cape, though much liked by Frenchmen
of seventy and upwards, and Frenchwomen above forty, never can be
generally a favourite with Englishmen. There are some few Russian
wines. At Kaffa, in the Crimea, they produce a Champagne very nearly as
good as either the growth of the Borough or Lambeth.
Of New South Wales wines a word or two. I learned with much pleasure
that the French, and all other wines, are now tried in that colony; and
that the climate is particularly well suited to the growth of the vine.
The preparation and keeping of the wine must, however, be much more
attended to than heretofore. At the Cape, too, the English wine-growers
have gone on very progressively from year to year in ameliorating their
Pontacs. The best white Capes fetch, since their flinty character is
diminishing, prices as high as Sherries of middling qualities. Such
prices were, however, encouraged perhaps by the import duties on
colonial wine being only half the amount levied on foreign grown. As
these Cape wines are now so pure as to mix well with Xeres wines, the
conscientious London dealer, of course, largely availed himself of a
colonial-grown article to mix with Sherry wines for English country
consumption.
Two works have recently been published on wine, in which may be
found chapters dedicated to the wines of Southern Africa, Greece,
the Western Archipelago, and to the wines of Columbia, Australia,
&c. But notwithstanding these efforts to introduce new vintages from
Italy, Greece, Hungary, Australia, and Southern Africa, elderly and
middle-aged men of the present generation are certain still to adhere
to the old wines which their fathers and grandfathers consumed for
the last half-century. It may, I think, even be doubted whether the
use of any new vintages can become general (supposing them to be as
good or better than the old) before the end of the present century or
A.D. 1900, from which coming epoch we are still removed by an
interval of seven and thirty years. It would, therefore, be the idlest
of idle follies in me to recommend to any host to fill his cellar with
new vintages of which his guests knew nothing, and which they might
not relish. The aim of a host, now as heretofore, should be to have
choice wines and _liqueurs_, all excellent of their kind. Persons
of moderate fortune should look to the excellence of the quality of
the wines, rather than to the variety of their stock. With good bins
of Sherry, Madeira, Port, Claret (white and red), Champagne, Hock,
and Burgundy, any gentleman is in a position to entertain his guests
worthily. Larger quantities of Sherry, Port, Madeira, and first-rate
Claret, may be laid in than of lighter wines, for of these latter the
consumption will be necessarily less.
At most London dinners in the season, Champagne, Sauterne, Barsac,
Rhenish and Moselle wines are produced; but of the four latter wines
scarcely more than a bottle of each is used, though three or four
bottles of Champagne may be consumed, in a party of twelve. But,
notwithstanding that there is a more considerable consumption of
Champagne than of other light wines, it is not advisable that any
private gentleman should have a large stock of this wine in his cellar,
as after a twelvemonth it is apt to get ropy, and to require fresh
bottling. But of the _vins de garde_, such as Madeira, Sherry, Port,
first-rate Claret, and Burgundy, a host may profitably cellar as large
a quantity as his fortune will allow. Of one thing, however, every
purchaser should convince himself before he purchases a single bottle,
and that is, that it is impossible to have good wine at a low price.
The finest vintages of wine are always scarce and dear; and the finest
vintages must, like other and inferior vintages, be matured before
they are fit to drink. A considerable efflux of time is necessary for
this, so that there is interest on the original cost of the wine, as
well as the interest on its keep, to be added to the prime or original
cost. This is so if the wine be imported direct from the wine-grower;
but if it be obtained from the merchant or dealer in this country, his
profit, as well as the skill, labour, and industry he has applied, must
all be additional items in the price. The idea of low-priced wine is
therefore a mere myth; and, whether at the sales of private gentlemen’s
stock or otherwise, good wine generally fetches its full value in
London. It is said that, at the sales of deceased gentlemen in Dublin
and Edinburgh, few wines, unless some exceedingly rare specimens, fetch
above 60_s._ per dozen; but in London it is very common, at private
sales, for Port and Sherry to fetch double as much as this.
The best way for any gentleman desiring to stock a cellar, is to go to
a first-rate wine merchant of position and character. Such a man will
deal honestly, and give his customer a good article, though he may
charge what is called in the trade a long price for it. If gentlemen
have personal friends or connections at Cadiz in whom they can confide
to send them wine in the piece, they may lay in Amontillado, Montilla,
or Manzinilla, at 10_s._ or 12_s._ a dozen less than they can obtain
them of the wine merchants in England. Anything like a first-rate
Amontillado sells among English wine merchants at from 72_s._ to 84_s._
the dozen, while Manzinilla and Montilla range at from 60_s._ to 70_s._
Fabulous prices are given for old Ports and East India Sherries and
Madeiras, at the sales of well-known _connoisseurs_ in wine. Many
East India Sherries have sold for nine and ten guineas a dozen, and
much of the late Mr. Justice Talfourd’s Port went for eleven and twelve
guineas a dozen. Though the wine was excellent, this was unquestionably
a fancy price. There is no need to give so large a sum for old and
first-rate Port. Any man of ordinary acumen and intelligence, in
addressing himself to a first-rate wine house in London may have
excellent, if not first-rate, Port at from three to four guineas a
dozen, and considerably cheaper if he buys it in the wood.
First-rate Clarets have been rising in price during the last five or
six years; but even in London first-rate Clarets ought to be and are
procurable at from four to five guineas a dozen, and the best sparkling
Champagne at about the same price, or a shade lower. Sillery Champagne
of the very highest quality is sold by wine merchants at 6_l._ the
dozen. Burgundies of the highest qualities are rare, and difficult to
find good; but excellent Beaune and Chablis can be obtained at two
guineas the dozen in London, and considerably cheaper if imported
direct.
As to the dietetic qualities of the wine, I would remark that those
wines which contain a sufficient quantity of alcohol, and which have
undergone a complete fermentation, stimulate and accelerate digestion.
Among these are Madeira, Sherry, Port, Rhone, and Rousillon wines. The
most salutary wines are those which contain a moderate quantity of
alcohol, as old Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne. The modern practice
of taking a great variety of wines at table cannot be commended. It
is decidedly injurious to health and digestion, more especially when
sweet succeed to slightly acidulated wines, or wines of much body to
very light wines.
I should say that the best red Burgundy was the Romanée Conti, and the
best white the Montrachet. But good vintages of Pomard, Volnay, Nuits,
and Chambertin, are excellent. Burgundy, however, is a wine of which
only a small quantity should be drunk, as it is very heating.
Among the Champagne wines the most esteemed growths are those of Aï,
Sillery, and Epernay; and among the Rousillon and Rhine wines, red and
white Hermitage, Côte Rôti, and St. Peray.
The best growths of Bordeaux red wines are Lafitte, La Tour, Château
Margaux, and Haut Brion. Among the second class of red wines the best
are the Monton, the Rauzan, and the Léoville; and among the third class
are the Kirwan, the Château d’Issan, and Lagrange.
A glass of Chablis, Barsac, Sauterne, or Bucellas, may be taken after
the oysters, while a glass of old Madeira or Sherry follows the soup.
In the middle of the first course, in France, they serve Champagne or
sparkling Burgundy; and toward the end of the first course, the finer
kinds of Claret, white and red. With the roast comes Burgundy and
Hermitage, and these wines, as well as Bordeaux, may be served with
game. With the dessert it is the custom in France to offer Malmsey and
Malaga; but these wines are rarely produced in England, though white
and red Constantia, and Frontignan are frequently produced.
In the last sixteen years the consumption of Champagne has doubled
in England. In 1831, the quantity of French wine imported amounted,
in round numbers, to 254,000 gallons, whereas in 1861 it amounted to
2,227,000 gallons.
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