Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1855-11-22

From the Ohio CultiyatOr.
The Wine Humbug.

The New York Times says;-We presume
we should run no risk in saying that there n mas
never been a single bottle OF genuine Olos
Vougeot Romance Cont or Johann's0eFg
vine within the limits Of the United States
We heard one Of the largest wine dealers ol
this eitv say, not a fortnight since, that ne
would Law wager Of a thousand dollars that
there was not in New York city at The present
moment, a single gallon OF genuine Port wei
nresume no one supposes that one bottle in ten
/ thousand of the Chanpagne drank IN this
country Is genuine, vineyard grown Cham
lpagne' And more than nine-tenihs Of all the
Sherry eonsumed in the United States comes
no nearer being the genuine article than 'he
Feeiee mermaid came to being The genuine
bona fde, song singing, looking g-glass' dlsPos'.
ing virgin OF the sea, thai barnum anu tue
crowd took her to be,
The fact is, nineteen-twenteths OF ah thS
wines and brandies drank in the eountry--ana
! nine huadred and ninety nine thousand!hs oil
all the rare and costly wines over which our
j. lhioh liyers smack their lip, and roll their eyes
0 ana astonish their epicureau friends. is manu-,
faptured for the market-made up by sklllul
c compunGing Of drugs, with infusions ol ha'
voring matter. and a basis OF alcoholic or vi
rous material so as TO resemble and brand Of
e any sort of liquid that may be desired. Eng
Land and France are the great fields OF tin'
> manufacture, though II is beginning 70 o.
t. prosecuted in this country to very consider
able extent.
But an order for any kind of wine that ma,
he Wanted-for clos Vougeot, Johannlsoerg
i'd or delicate Sherry, with directions Tor par
gn ticular flavor. a specific aroma or alspeelan
delicate bouquet sent to England Will be III
ed promptly and 10 any extent More oil an
ct brand can be bl ought over in single carg
md than the entire region where alone II grows 81
produce in yearsl tlle more than mon
ais, ago. (July "a. J we copied from London P
lice report, the evidence of famous WV
a dealer named Osborne, in which he stated ID
TO il was his practice to buy up all the spolle
ami sour red French wines he could at low price
nav duties on them as vinegar-store the
in the London docks-take them out and po
no them all into large vats--mix with them ct
tain quantity of French brandy--put into the
us also certain preparations Of his oWn-p
ood them up into hogsheads marked Old Port, a
sell them as the choicest Port wines at irt
500 to $40 hogshead. This, there is
doubt at all, is very extensively practiced
|, to large dealers in France, and those who b
e to from them, to supply the American mark
taid when they are not their accomplices, are tn
dn't victims. And the wine-d drinkers OF the UNI
States, from the lowest to the highest, 81
the decoctions of these wine fabricators in nj
p to ty>nine cases out OF hundred, instead oi
I l Juice of the grape, over which they grow
als, raplurously and poeticaly eloquent, q
If there is any claes of the community m
thoroughly and ridiculously humbugged u
I'd they are, we should be obliged to any per
em who will point them out,