The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1855-11-28
)RT, LOUISIANA, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28 1866

The WINE HuMBuG.-The New J ork Times
thinks that to be humbugged in some way or
other seems TO be q necessity of human nature
one of the conditions of social existence.
Everybody is undoubtedly humbugged-if not
in one direction, then in another-and nobody
is probably worse humbugged than the man
who goes through the world supposing that he
isn't humbugged at all.
"After remarking that the most thoroughly
bamboozled men in that community are those
who suppose they are drinking choice and rare
varieties of genuine and delicate vines, it gives
the following facts which we doubt net will be
interesting to may.
If the reader of this paragraph will look at
the wine list on his bill of fare, the next time
he dimes at any hotel Or large eating house, he
will find that by calling for it he can have Clos
Nougeot, Romance Conti Mount Rachel, Jo
hannisberg, Rudesheimer, Stenberg-in short
/ any kind of wine he may prefer-at rates run
ming from $3 to S15 per bottle. And as for
choice Sherry, Madeira, and old Port, they
they can be supplied ad libitum, at each and
every hotel, eating house and drinking saloon
in the city Before he calls for them, perhaps
it would be we'll for him to consider for a mo-
ment where these superb wines come from
not from mere curiosity, but for the purpose Of
forming a conjecture as to the probability of
his getting the genuine article by calling and
paying for it. If he will look into little hook
on the Swine Duties, Just published in Eng
land by sir James Emmerson fremont, he ewill
find some facts which may aid him in coming
at conclusion on his subject. s-...-
He will find, for example, that all the wine
in the world known as the Clos Vougeot, grows
on single farm in Burgundy of fifty acres,
owned BY great nobleman, who uses great
deal oft himself, sends some to princes and other
great people, and probably sells the residue.
But whether the produce Of that fifty acres is
quite sufficient to supply all these great people
of Europe-the princes nobility and bon vivans
Of the continent and Great Britain--the rich
merchants, bankers, lawyers, and bishops of
1 England-the fashionable hotels and private
tables of wealthy men all over Europe, who
would naturally procure the best wines to be
had at any price, and then have enough lett to
keep all the hotels, private houses, and drink
ing saloons of the western continent constantly
supplied with Clos Vougeot, may be considered
somewhat questionable.
The Romance Cont wine, again, is grown only
on single farm of six acres and a half. The
south side of single hillin Germany produces
all the Johannisberg in the world, and yet any
body who chooses to order Johannsberg at any
hotel, or of any wine dealer in the city, will
have it delivered at very short note-though
accompanied by a very long bill. A single
small valley in Madeira produces all the Malm-
sey wine. Many of the choicest kinds of wines
can be grown only on the sites of extinct volca-
noes. Stenberg wine grows exclusively in the
!, of cupprocca cd mon The dis
trict of Xeres, from which Sherry is produced,is is
of very small extent, and its limits are very ac
curately defined. Genuine Port wine is pro-
/ duced only within comparatively narrow limits
And the same thing holds true Of champagne.
: We presume we should run no risk in saying
t that there has never been a single bottle o.
genuine Clos Vougeot, Romance Cont, or 10
t hannisberg wine within the limits Of the Unitet
: States. We heard one of the largest wine
dealers say, not fortnight since, that he woule
5 lay wager of a thousand dollars that there
e was not in New York city at the present mo
1 ment, single gallon of genuine Port. We pre-
, sumo no one supposes that one bottle in ter
t thousand of the Champagne drank in this coun
? try is genuine, vineyard-grown Champagne
: And more than nine -tenths of all the Sherry
consumed in the United States comes no nearer
, being the genuine article, than the Feejee mer
} maid came to being, a bona fde, song singing,
$ looking glass disporting virgin of the sea tha
Barnum and the crowd took her to be.
s The fact is, nineteen -twentieths of all the
S wines and brandies drank in this country, and
= nine hundred and ninety nine thousands of al
| the rare and costly wines over which our high
$ livers smack their lips and roll their eyes and
! astonish their epicurial friends, are manufac
tured for the market-made up by ski,fu
compounding of drugs, with infusions of flavor
ing matter and a basis of alcoholic Or vinou:
r material, so as to resemble any brand OF any
sort of liquid that may be desired. England
and France are the great fields of this manu-
. f1cture- though it is beginning to be prosecu
ted in this country to very considerable extent
. But an order for any kind of wine that may BE-
5 wanted-for Clos Vougeot, Johannisberg, OF
Sherry, with directions for particular flavor
!, a specific aroma or specially delicate bouquet
sent to England, will be 6lled'promptly and
to any extent. More of any brand can be
brought over in single cargo than the entire
region where alone 1t grows can produce in
years! -.. ..... ..... .......... .-...... .-..-
Strange and bitter scenes Of distress and
privation fell to the lot Of the Arctic adventu-
fefs, III StdICn Vi ETdnhlillr unueI command
of DIR. Kane. The absence of light and the
fearful severity of the cold are enough to make
the reader shuddcr. @as
The narrative say of several parties sent out
to explore. after the ships had been irrecovera-
bly, imbedded in continent of ice:
':All the parties returned by the 1st of Nov
ember; that under the command of Bonsell
having been out 28 days. At the time Of the
return of the parties the light was so far gone
that at noon they were just able to read. In
this high latitude the aurora was less brilliant
than further south-the region where this phe-
nomenon of the Arctic winter is most conspicu-
Gus being in latitudes So to 10. The win
ter experience Of the navigators did not ma
terially differ from that of other Arctic navi-
gators; bpt they have reached colder spo-
than any previous expedition, or else the seat
son was uncommonly severe.
The coolest weather experienced was 60
to rs degrees below zero. The mercury was
frozen for months, and during the spring it soft