Part 12 (1/2)

When selecting a sparkling wine one fact should be borne into Sa which makes the pie mutton, beef, or veal, so it is the liqueur which renders the wine dry or sweet, light or strong A really palatable dry chauishes all wines of fine quality, free froed to be made of the very best _vin brut_, to which necessarily an exceedingly se of liqueur will be added On the other hand, a sweet chane can be produced from the most ordinary raine--the Yankees even claim to have evolved it from petroleum--as the ainal character and flavour This excess of syrup, it should be remarked, contributes materially to the wine's explosive force and temporary effervescence, but shortly after the bottle has been uncorked the wine becoreeably flat A fine dry wine, indebted as it is for its sparkling properties to the natural sweetness of the grape, does not exhibit the same sudden turbulent effervescence It continues to sparkle, however, for a long ti to the carbonic acid having been absorbed by the wine itself instead of being accumulated in the vacant space between the liquid and the cork, as is the case ines that have been highly liqueured Even when its carbonic acid gas is exhausted a good chane will preserve its fine flavour, which the effervescence will have assisted to conceal Chalasses; still these have their disadvantages, pro as they do an excess of froth when the wine is poured into the any bouquet which the wine possesses frone and other sparkling wines prepare the to the o to Russia and Ger M Louis Roederer's syrupy product as the _beau-ideal_ of cha wines with 20 or more per cent of liqueur, or nearly quadruple the quantity that is contained in the average chaht and ives a preference to the intermediate qualities; China, India, and other hot countries stipulate for light dry wines; while the very strong ones go to Australia, the Cape, and other places where gold and diamonds and such-like trifles are from time to time ”prospected” Not merely the driest but the very best wines of the best hest prices, are invariably reserved for the English ners cannot understand the ly dry sparkling wines They do not consider that as a rule they are drunk during dinner with the _plats_, and not at dessert, with all kinds of sweets, fruits, and ices, as is alne is usually of a pale straw colour, but with nothing of a yellow tinge about it When its tint is pinkish this is owing to a portion of the colouring rapes--a contingency which every pains are taken to avoid, although, since the success achieved by the wine of 1874, slightly pink wines are likely to be the fashi+on The positive pink or rose-coloured chao, are simply tinted with a sth of the drier wines ranges frohtly above the ordinary Bordeaux, and under all the better-class Rhine wines

Chahly alcoholized liqueur will, however, at tihter and drier the sparkling wine the more wholesome it is, the saccharine ele not only difficult of digestion, but generally detrireed that fine dry cha the safest wines that can be partaken of Any intoxicating effects are rapid but exceedingly transient, and arise fro applied rapidly and extensively to the surface of the stoives a runaway rap at a uished by his studies upon wine and his standing as a physician, pronounces good chane to be ”a true stimulant to body and st the maladies which are benefited by it,” re fits of excruciating pain running along certain nerves, without inflammation of the affected part, often a consequence ofcauses To enune is of service would be to give a whole nosology Who does not know the misery, the helplessness of that aboenuine epidemic? Let the faculty dispute about the best remedy if they please; but a sensible ne will beat them all

Moreover, whenever there is pain, with exhaustion and lowness, then Dr Cha excitant in the wine; doubly so in the sparkling wine, which the ra coreater antidote to nausea”

Chane of fine quality should never be mixed with ice or iced water; neither should it be iced to the extent chanes ordinarily are, for, in the first place, the natural lightness of the wine is such as not to ad it, and in the next, excessive cold destroys alike the fragrant bouquet of the wine and its delicate vinous flavour Really good chane should not be iced below a tely sines will bear icing down al point, and be rendered more palatable by the process The above re wine

In the Chae commonly occurs only once, and neverthe saenerally be one or two other tolerably good vintages In grand years the crop, besides being of superior quality, is usually abundant, and as a consequence the price of the raine is scarcely higher than usual Apparently froes does not command an enhanced value, as is the case with other fine wines It is only when speculators recklessly outbid each other for the grapes or the _vin brut_, or when stocks are low and the _vin brut_ is really scarce, that the price of chane appears to rise

That superior quality does not involve enhanced price is proved by the arand vintages

During the present century these appear to have been 1802, '06, '11, '18, '22, '25, '34, '42, '46, '57, '65, '68, and '74--that is, thirteen grand vintages in nearly eighty years Other good vintages, although not equal to the foregoing, occurred in the years 1815, '32, '39, '52, '54, '58, '62, '64, and '70 Confining ourselves to the grand years, we find that the Ay wine of 1834, owing to the crop being plentiful as well as good, only realised froh for two years previously this had fetched froed from 120 to 150 francs, whereas the vastly inferior wine of the year before had co a small one, the price of the wine rose, and in 1857 the piece fetched as much as froher than it had realised the two preceding years In 1865 the price was 380 to 400 francs, and in 1868 about the saes of 1871, '72, and '73 realised from 500 to 1,000 francs the piece It was very similar with the wine of Verzenay In 1834 the price of the piece ranged froe of the three preceding years In 1846, the crop being scarce, the price rose considerably, while in 1857, when the crop was plentiful, it fell to 500 francs, or from 5 to 20 per cent below that of the two previous years, when the yield was both inferior and less abundant In 1865 the price rose 33 per cent above that of the year before; still, although Verzenay wine of 1865 and 1868 fetched from 420 to 450 francs the piece, and that of 1874 as es of 1872-73 commanded 900 and 1,030 francs the piece

Consune, if wise, would profit by the circu a rise in prices, and if they were bent upon drinking their favourite wine in perfection, as one meets with it at the dinner-tables of the principal es before their guests, they would lay down chaes of port, burgundy, and bordeaux are laid down Chane of 1874 was a wine of this description, with all its finer vinous qualities well developed, and consequently needing age to attain notto a high-class sparkling wine Instead of being drunk a fewand summer of 1877, as was the fate ofkept for three years at the very least to becone one had es that had arrived at ten, twelve, or fifteen years of age, and had thereby attained supreme excellence It is true their effervescence had moderated materially, but their bouquet and flavour were perfect, and their softness and delicacy soreat wine like that of 1874 will go on i it is only laid down under proper conditions These are, first, an exceedingly cool but perfectly dry cellar, the temperature of which should be as low as from 50 to 55 Fahr, or even lower if this is practicable The cellar, too, should be neither over dark nor light, scrupulously clean, and sufficiently well ventilated for the air to be continuously pure It is requisite that the bottles should rest on their sides to prevent the corks shrinking, and thus allowing both the carbonic acid and the wine itself to escape For laying down cha wine an iron wine-bin is by far the best

I much prefer the patent ”slider” binsbetter adapted to the purpose than any other I am acquainted with In these the bottles rest on horizontal parallel bars of wrought-iron, securely riveted into strong wrought-iron uprights, both at the back and in front The bins can be obtained of any size--that is, to hold as few as two or as many as forty dozen--and they can be had furnished with lattice doors, secured by a lock One great advantage is that with them there is no waste of space, for individual compartments can be at once refilled with fresh bottles after the other bottles have been re down cha freely around the bottles, thus conducing to the preservation of thethe temperature of the wine both cool and equable

[Illustration]

[Illustration: WINE-CELLAR FITTED WITH BURROW'S PATENT SLIDER BINS]

When binning the wine the bottles are held by their necks and slid into their places with such ease and safety that a child ht be entrusted with the work The bottles can be withdrawn froe is avoided fro, which prevents the upper bottles fro down upon those below, and thereby crashi+ng together The larger engraving shoine-cellar fitted up entirely with Burrow's patent ”slider” wine-bins, while the s doenty dozens of chane, and the dimensions of which are merely 5 feet 8 inches by 3 feet

Official Return by the Chane Wines From April, 1844, To April, 1878

Number of Number of Total number Years, from Manufacturers' Bottles Bottles sold of Bottles April to April Stocks Exported in France Sold

1844-45 23,285,218 4,380,214 2,255,438 6,635,652 1845-46 22,847,971 4,505,308 2,510,605 7,015,913 1846-47 18,815,367 4,711,915 2,355,366 7,067,281 1847-48 23,122,994 4,859,625 2,092,571 6,952,196 1848-49 21,290,185 5,686,484 1,473,966 7,160,450 1849-50 20,499,192 5,001,044 1,705,735 6,706,779 1850-51 20,444,915 5,866,971 2,122,569 7,989,540 1851-52 21,905,479 5,957,552 2,162,880 8,120,432 1852-53 19,376,967 6,355,574 2,385,217 8,740,790 1853-54 17,757,769 7,878,320 2,528,719 10,407,039 1854-55 20,922,959 6,895,773 2,452,743 9,348,516 1855-56 15,957,141 7,137,001 2,562,039 9,699,040 1856-57 15,228,294 8,490,198 2,468,818 10,959,016 1857-58 21,628,778 7,368,310 2,421,454 9,789,764 1858-59 28,328,251 7,666,633 2,805,416 10,472,049 1859-60 35,648,124 8,265,395 3,039,621 11,305,016 1860-61 30,235,260 8,488,223 2,697,508 11,185,731 1861-62 30,254,291 6,904,9152,592,875 9,497,790 1862-63 28,013,189 7,937,836 2,767,371 10,705,207 1863-64 28,466,975 9,851,138 2,934,996 12,786,134 1864-65 33,298,672 9,101,441 2,801,626 11,903,067 1865-66 34,175,429 10,413,455 2,782,777 13,196,132 1866-67 37,608,716 10,283,886 3,218,343 13,502,229 1867-68 37,969,219 10,876,585 2,924,268 13,800,853 1868-69 32,490,881 12,810,194 3,104,496 15,914,690 1869-70 39,272,562 13,858,839 3,628,461 17,487,300 1870-71 39,984,003 7,544,323 1,633,941 9,178,264 1871-72 40,099,243 17,001,124 3,367,537 20,368,661 1872-73 45,329,490 18,917,779 3,464,059 22,381,838 1873-74 46,573,974 18,106,310 2,491,759 20,598,069 1874-75 52,733,674 15,318,345 3,517,182 18,835,527 1875-76 64,658,767 16,705,719 2,439,762 19,145,481 1876-77 71,398,726 15,882,964 3,127,991 19,010,955 1877-78 70,183,863 15,711,651 2,450,983 18,162,634

From the subjoined table it will be seen that the consune has almost trebled since the year 1844-5, a period of little more than thirty years Another curious fact to note is the i the three years following the Franco-German hen naturally both the exports and hone fell off very considerably No reliable inforne consuland, but this may be taken in round numbers at about four millions of bottles The consumption of the wine in the United States varies from rather more than a million and a half to nearly two ourne should be introduced at the dinner-table Dyspeptic Mr Walker, of ”The Original,” laid it down that chaht to be introduced very early at the banquet, without any regard whatever to the viands it ne,” he says, ”at the beginning of dinner, as its exhilarating qualities serve to start the guests, after which they will seldo the success of a party--it invariably turns the balance to the favourable side When cha” These precepts are sound enough, still all dinner-parties are not necessarily glacial, and the guests are not invariably ne can be properly introduced at a forlass of sherry or madeira should supplement the soup, a white French or a Rhine wine accolass of bordeaux prepare the ith the first _entree_ for the sparkling wine, which, for the first round or two, should be served, briskly and liberally A wine introduced thus early at the repast should of course be dry, or, at any rate, moderately so

We certainly do not approve of Mr Charles dickens's dictune's proper place is not at the dinner-table, but solely at a ball ”A cavalier,” he said, ”lass now and then to his danceress There it takes its fitting rank and position aauzes, lace, ene, for chaant extras of life” This is all very well, still the advantageous effect of sparkling wine at an ordinary British dinner-party, coether in accordance with the exigencies of the hostess's visiting-list, cannot be gainsayed After the preli at each other, _ards it as a relief to be summoned to the repast, which, however, commences as chillily as the soup and as stolidly as the salmon The soul of the hostess is heavy with the anxiety of prospective dishes, the brow of the host is clouded with the reflection that our rulers are bent upon dragging us into war Placed between a young lady just out and a dowager of grionesque aspect, you hesitate how to open a conversation