The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-10-10

-mlddhng IL e; receipts 260 bales; sales
sos; stock 1,6O5
Something About tho Vino We Drink.
1t is generally supposed that the world
consumes great deal of wine, whereas
OF the vast quantities of liquids used as
such, very little ia wine. The usual run
of statistics are ignorant, and therefore
silent, on the subject of adulteration.
Cheating has become &C respectable and
popular that if it were suddenly to stop.
many departments of trade and COM
merce would dry up for want of material
1t is, therefore, the safest to let the sharp
practloes go on, or, at farthest, emanci-
pate the people from them very gradu-
ally. 1t will do no harm to expose few
tricks that arc played with wines, espe.
cially some of the famous foreign pro.
ductlons that pass for wines, but are en-
tlrely innocent Of grapes. Many have
seen the old conjurer's trick of pouring
dozen different kinds Of wines aud
liquors out of the sams bottle. The
wine makers have trick that performs
the same miracle on grand scale, and
the wine drinkers willingly pay for with
out the fun OF seeing it done.
The leading wines are Port, Madeira
and Champagne. Claret. Sherry and
Malaga take the second rank, and Hook
is still lower il the scale. Malmsay from
Madeira is produced in such small quan.
titles that the best of it is never sold.
Madeira wine should be ten years in pipe
and ten years in bottle to reach perfec
tlon. They now make twenty year old
Madeira In year or two of most. by
extra heat. which may be applied to pro.
duce any required age
NO wine suffers 80 much abuee as Ma
delra. 1t IL adnlterated to uuch an e3-
tent that tho wonder is it has nny good
name left. 1t is vilely fabricated in Ger
many. Austrian white wines, alcohol
and an extract of walnut hulls are the
materials there used in its manufacture.
In France, apple Older and honey dis.
titled form the basis, which is dosed with
brandy and then bottled, and in six
months the compound is old Madeira.
The product of real Madeira is 30 small
and the demand SO great, that all sorts of
substitutes had to be invented. or the
consumers would have been miserable.
Sherry is produced in the district of
Cadiz, which has sc, 600 acres of vines.
Port is nearly always fraud. Cherry
and logwood extracts are responsible for
much Of the so-called Port. Juniper
berries. which are used in the manufac-
ture of base Ports, are All article of
commerce, and Oporto sends these Der.
ries to all parts OF the world for this pur-
pose. Then there are various wine dves
which contribute to the deceit of red
wines. Madeira once produced 25, 600
pipes OF wines. In 1852, the vines were
destroyed; in 1856, only 200 pipes were
produced, and now the annual exporta-
ton is 1000 pipes at the outside. Genu-
inc Port is very rare. In 1899, 1000
pipes were exported, and in 1888 only
33. 600 we're exported. The present pro-
duction is 100, 900 pipes per yenr The
heaviest export of late years was 81, ,487
pipes, of which Great Britain got 25, 400,
the lions share, and the United States
got only 4.69S pipes. The formula for
making Port wiue in the United States
is 1888 gallons of common white wine,
g of gallon Of sugar-house syrup, the
whole dyed with the tncturs of juniper.
Anybody can try it.
Champagne did not come into general
use until 1920. The Koran forbids the
use OF wine, but the Moslem has decided
that champagne il lemonade" aud they
use it universally. The process of pre-
pairing champagne is particularly de-
scribed in German review. MS follows:
"After being pressed, the wine remains
in the wood until March, when the bot.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. The bottles
constitute quite an item Of expenditure,
ranging in quantity required from SO, 900
to 600, 900 to single firm, each of which
hag its own salaried bottle-t tester. Each
bottle pays sous revenue, the broken
ones deducted, and the 100 bottles cost
% francs. Five men cooperate in bot.
Ting, and deliver from 1900 to 1.5OO
bottles per day; the whole bottling of the
largest firm has to be done in the short
space of one month. The corks are
select and cost from 80 to 100 fraucs per
l,00U. The bottles are piled up from 20
to 30 feet in length, and 4 to s feet in