Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1855-10-09
Tho Wine Humbug


Tho Wine Humbug
The New York Times" thinks thnt to be hum
bugged in some way other seems to be apeces-
sity oi human nnture--one of the conditions 81
sncinl existence Everybody i undoubtedly
humhugged--f not in one direction then IN ano
thor-nnd nobody is probably worse humbugged
than the innn who goes through the world snppo-
sing TINT he Isn't bumbugged at all.
After remarking that the most thoroughly y DAM
boozled men in that community are those VINO sup
pose they nre drinking choice and rare ynrieues
nf genuine aud delicate vines, 1t gives the folow-
ing facts, which we doubt not will be interesting
Ia the many readers OF the Courier
If the reader Of this paragraph will look nj the
wine list ON his bill of fare, the next time he lines
nt any hotel or large eating house, ne wiz IN"
that by calling for it he can have CLOS Vouge"''
Romance Cont, Mont Rachot Johnnnlsberg'so-
deshcimer, Steiuberg--in short, any KIND OF wins
lac may pr,fer-ai rates running from ~ TO S'o
the bottle Aud ns for choice Sherry ,Madeirn'and
old Port they con be supplied dd hbitum'at eaeh
mud every hotel, eating house and drinking saiooh
in the city Before he ealls for thrn' perhaps
il would be- we'll for him to consider tor inonent
where these superb wines come iron--not from
Nero curiosity, but for the purpose Of forming
conjecture Us to the probability OF his gettng
Tie penninc article by calling and paying Tor H.
If he will look into al little book on the "Wine
Duties Jus, published in England by SIR James
Emmerson Tennan,. he will find some iaeis which
may aid him in coming to oohcus'9h ou '''7
subject.
Tie will find. for example. that all the wine in
ihe wolrd known ma the Clos Nougeotgrows on a
single farm in Burgundy of fifty acres, owned by
prsat nohlemnn, who uses great deal oi II h'ufeh
| sends great deal more tn princes other eiea'
| poopleN * probably soils The residue. But wnethe'
the produce of that fifty acres II quite su'he'he
Ia SUNNY all these erent people OF Earope-th'
| Inn iii Il -
and Grent Brtnin--iho rich merchants. hnhkef-
lowysrs md bishops of England-the fashlohh.
bile hotels and private tables of wealthy men iil
| over Europe who would naturally procure 'he
bost wines to ho had at any price, aud urh nave
enough lef, to keep all the hotels pnvaie houses
and drinking enioons Of the Western Continent
constantly supplied With Clos Nongeot, may Dc
considered somcwha, questionable.
The Romano Cont wine, agali, l. grown
only on II single farm of rix acres aud n hall. Inc
south side of single hill in Germany produces
all the Iohunnisberg in the world, and et any eody
who chooses to orde, Johanui-herg ut any hote''
or of any wine denler in the city will have iGde-
liyered ut n very short notice-though aeeompani-
ed by n very long bill. A singl small valley in
Madeira produces oil the Malmscy wine. Many
ofiho choicest kinds of wine can be grown only
on the SITES If extinct volcanoes Sienherg WINE
| grows exclusively in the vineyard OF II suppress
Cd monastery. Tho district of Aeres, from winch
| II.
lis limits are very accurately defined. Genuine
Port wine il produced only within comparatively
narrow limits And the same thing holds true oi
Champagne
We presume we should run no risk IN saying
that there has never been single bottle oi gen
une Clos Vougeot, Romance Cont, or Johannls-
berg wine within the limits of the United States
We benrd one of the largest wine dealers say. not
fortnight since, that he would lay wager of u
| thousand doars that there not New ork
! city at tho present moment, Il single gailoh Oh
genuine Port. We presume no one suPposes
| that one bottle in ten thousand OF the Champagne
drank in this country is genuine, vineyard grown
| Chnlnpague. And more than nine tenihs oto all
the Sherry consumed in the United States Games
no nearer being the genuine article, than the re-
Zee mermaid came to being the genuine, bona fde
song singing looking glass, disporting virgin OF
the sea that Barnum and the crowd took her TO
| he. . :,
The fact is nineteen twentieths OF all the
wines and brnndies drank IN this country, ana
| nine hundred and ninety nine thousandths of all
| tho rare and costly wines over which our hlgh
| liyers smack their lips and roll their eyes and as
tonsh their epicurean friends, nre lnahnihctureu
| for the market made up by skilllul compound
| ing of drugs, with intusions OF fiayorihg matter
| and n basis of alcoholic or vneons material, so
ns to resemble any brand dor any sort OF liquid
that may be desired. England and France are
the groat fields Of this manufacture though 1t Is
beginning to br prosecuted in this country to II
very considerable extent. But an order Tor any
kind Of wine that may be wanted-for Clos YOU
geot, Johannsberg, Sherry, with directions
| for particular flavor, specific aroma or spe-
/ cally delicate boquet-- sentto England, VIII be
| filed promptly and to any extent. M"re ct any
| brand can be brought over in single cargo than
the entire region where alone it grows can produce
| in years.
A little more than month ago we copied iiom
| n London police report the evidence ofa famous
! wine dealer named Osborne. in which he stated
that il was his practice to huy mp all the spoiled
sour red French wines he coul1 get at low prices
pay duties on them rs vinegar store them in
the London docks take them GU, and pour them
all into large ynts-mix them with certain guam
tty of French brandy-put into them also GER
tain appropriations" of bis own--put them up into
bopsheads marked Old Port, and sell them as the
| choicest Port wines at from 500 to $40 hogs
hend This, there is no doubt at all, is very ex-
! to,sivolv nrnctised by large dealers in France
! and Fn,,,lnnd. and those who buy from them, to
sonnIv The American market, when they are
not their acconpliee are their victims. And
| the wine drinkers of the United States, from the
! lowest to the highest, swig the decoctions OF
these wine fabrcations in ninety nine cases out
of hundred. instead Of the juice of the grape,
over which they grow SO rapturously and poet.
cally eloquent.
thoroughly and ridiculously humbugged than theJ
are, we should be obliged to any person who vii
point them ont = I.orisriue Coarier
TVyts Is,NTRACVUass.-Propo viii b. reeeiye
IL my office in razewel Claibourne CO.. Tenn until "