East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1865-01-18
ABOUT WINES.

cELLAkS = sIAIEMENTS CONCERN1N
PORT, ETC.
One Shaw, an old English win,
: merchant, has recently made som,
revelations to the public of secrets 0
the trade, and also given some goot
advice to those who deal in or keev
genuine wines, as to the best methods
of their preservation. He is opposed
to the habit of keeping winesin bond
1t is, he says, ruinous to every cask ot
pure, natural wine, from any and
every country. He exposes several oi
the more recent shams of English and
continental wine-dealers. Of an arti-
Gle called "Elbe Sherry" he saws:
'Grapes do not thrive much on the
sss,,0, paV pooavo0s Srvw III rlcn aDun-
dance in that favored locality, and
yield fine native spirit; while the
Elbe furnishes an ampls supply OF
what, in technical phrase, is called
liquor Both smell and taste give
proof Of the scarcity of grape juice in
this choice production; yet it really
does the Hamburghers great credit as
chemists and manipulators, when we
see what they contrive to send over to
us to tickle our palates with, at such
amazing low prices" He gives an
example of an operation of mixing
which was lately performed in bond
ed vault in London, when $3.50 gal
Ions of French red vino were COM
bined with 2,100 gallons of proof
spirit and 65 gallons of capillaire"
'sIhere is nothing in this compound
of upwards Of 4,600 dozens very inju-
rious," he says, ''to health; but those
who drink it are not to be envied.-
Capillaire is q preparation of sugar
en- wines that are thin and poor"
CHAMPAGNE.
Champagne-although made chiefly of
black grapes--being entirely free from
the juice, is almost colorless, and con-
sequently, those kinds called amber,
rose and pink have been colored -
How this is done Mr.. Shaw explains:
''For the first, very slight quantity
of preparation called fsmes, from
tho name of tho place where it is
made, is used. This is composed of
the elderberry, boiled with cream of
tartar and filtered To produce rose
or pink, more is required; but no one
can carefully compare even the amber
with that which is pure, without dis
covering coarse, extraneous flavor;
and in the deeper colors this is still
more perceptible. Sometimes any
shade Of color is given by adding
more or less musk from red grape, of
which tho husks have been pressed
and their color allowed to mix with
tbhIieiafhssrdlU;, - the wnolo is fermeit-
ed together.
He says that champagne shouldn
only be cool but cold, and if not kept
in q temperature sufficiently low
it must be iced. In hot room, even
in winter, the coolness is pleasant; bnt
if the bottle is allowed to remain in
the ice pail until the wine becomes
nearly as cold as tho ice itself, it is
wasting fine champagne to give it in
that state, for flavor and taste become
what the merchants call 'locked up"
Ten minutes iceing does not deterior-
ate the wine; but even then it is not
equal to that which is brought out of
cold cellar, where it has lain long
undisturbed. The practice Of putting
pieces of leo into the wine itself is
destructive to the quality.
Mr.. Shaw notices the establishment
of the Veuvo Cliquot, saying: "a few
miles on the Paris side of Epernay.
may be seen n chateau, above the
doorway Of which is carved, Mater
Fili@,' the mater being lady Of
worldwide fame, exceedingly rich,
but still living i'll a small house al
Reims, as she did many years ago;
and although above 80 years old, it is
said there is not caree made without
her opinion, nor transaction of i'm
portance withouts consulting her.
Others may have, and do have, quite
as good wine as hers; for they have
the same chances which she enjoys, o.
buying grapes or wines from growers
while tho preparation OF her liquors
is no mystery, and tho fermentation
must everywhere go on in its natura
course. The desire of her house is
not to make its wine better one year
than another, but to keep it as Close
as possible to its known standard pc
culiarity, year after year. If all sea
sons were alike, this would be com
paratively easy, but some are SO baC
that not single grape viii be admit
ted into cellars OF repute; and as two
three, and more such years often sue
coed each other, her and every othe
house arc compelled to keep up stocl
in tho best way they can. The onl,
plan of accomplishing this, is b
searching throughout the district TO
the bost wine that can be found in tn
cellars of the growers or merchants
and preparing them for their brand
Large firms, such as hers, and fey
more, will make several cprscs Of so,
900 and 100000 dozens after goo
vintage"
PORT WINE.
Concerning port, Mr.. Shaw ha
much TO say, though that wine is get
ting "v,ilgar' in London. He say
the most perfect vintage he reeollect
was the 1927. 'sThe wine was evi
dently from well, not over-ripene
grapes, and there was in it fine, tiru
/ fulness, with sufficient, richness, btl
no hard stallsiness or dfyness; SO tha
it was certain to go forward improv
ing. This kind has also the great ad
vantage that it does not r. quire alb
surdly long keeping in bottle.
cit is well-known fact that almos
every third cork containing very oil
wine is decayed and has bad smell
which it, Of course, imparts TO tn
u,no do mt sov flot mort evf.,. ho