Weekly Trinity journal., 1875-12-04
NUMBER 40.
OLD WINE.

Some twenty years ago the greatest of
all modern chemists called into his lab
oratory an American student. "Wll
you be good enough" said the man of
science, " to taste this ? Perhaps you can
tell what it is" And the philosopher
carefully poured from large vessel into
test tube about a teaspoontul of a coll
orless fluid. The liquor was tasted and
found to have no particular flavor, save
that it was fade and fiat, resembling wa
ter with slight admixture of some feeble
acid. "Iou cannot tell what it is ?"
asked the chemist. "Why, that is wine
or what once was wine. You can nattcr
yourself by my positive assertion that
you have tasted wine fully 400 years old,
at least. The Duke of Hesse had an old
crypt in cloister opened, and II flask OF
wine quite well sealed, was found hidden
away somewhere. An inscription stated
that the wine had been made sometime
in the beginning of the fifteenth century.
The flask was well stopped - not with
cork, but with bit of wood all pitched
over. You see this fluid has no flavor.
No one would know it was wine. 1t has
n slight acid reaction and will barely red
den litmus paper. You will observe that
nothing can last forever nature alone is
constant in her actions-creating and de-
stroying. My opinion about wines is that
twenty years is the utmost limit of their
excellence, at least for German wines"-.
and so ended Baron Liebig's judgment
on wines.
Said an old wine merchant, of New
York, with bottle before him "Thi4
wine is Madeira. Its date is authenticat-
ed. 1t came to Charleston in 1910, In
1872 it went to Savannah. Here is an in
voice Of the vino, for it was bottled in
1872. 1t remained in Savannah until ;he
war, when it was shipped here. Origin
ally it was twenty live dozen ; now about
ten dozen are left 1t is undoubtedly 60
years old at least" "It is Madeira" )" no
added after tasting it with an air of grent
relief. 81 have had wine brought To mo
to taste, said to have been put up when
mans father was married, which when
drawn was found to be shoe blaekng.
But this is, or rather has been Madeira
once. 1t is oily, but its tone and flavor
have gone 1t is dccayed, Ii | might
cast retrospective view over this wine
might advance the opinion that if some one
had drunk it to General Jnck-on's health
II good vino would not have been vast
ed" How could | help but admire
man who looked back on thing, like Lo-
verrer when computing the former move
ments OF Il lost planet "This wine is
decrcpit now. 1t is curious, but undrink-
able. Wines are not objects to be expos
cd in museums. The word curious coup
led with advice is an absurdty, How
would you like to cnt dish marked 'cu-
rious' on II bill Of fare, which was unpal-
atabe? Beware Of curious wines. This
Madeira has been sent to me to value. In
1910 when it might have been good it was
worth Sl2 dozen. We will put the de-
probation OF this wine since then, at only
IA quarter of dolara dozeC. This wine,
then, is actually worth Sl2 less $l2 Is, or
is positively good for nothing. 1t has
what old grannos call the true ink flavor
or rain water taste, or what the English,
who use still stronger term, call bottle
stink. Twenty-Five years is very old for
wine, providing it has been cared for in
bottles. Every ten years, wine wants
changing into new bottles. | don't care
fix for your chemistry, lugged in by
wiseacres who are not in the business or
other people who pirate about ielmenta-
tions and all that kind Of thing. 1t Isnot
Common sense that wood will stand, or
cork either. Both are perlshable, aud rs
to wine with little alcohol In it, il Is al
ways changing and will keep on changing
TO the end of time, until it loses its char
acter. How can the general American
know anything about wine when he Is II
whisky drinker? Wine-tnsting requires
years Of experience man must be born
with nerve-yes, sir, nerve in his tongue
and nose, to do it. Even then, the best
people get fooled sometimes. 1t was not
a week ago, when a leading wine man in
Boston-they pride themselves in Boston
on their sherres-came to me, to taste II
fine line Of wines | have in bond. lie was
SO difficult, 50 captious, SO conceited that
out OF patience altogether, gave him
some wine, out of the same cask, some
three or four times and he found all kinds
OF differences and shadngs in the samo
wine.-N. Y. Times.