New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-12-15
THE COGNAC VINTAGE.
nm WEAR FOX BRANDY.


,r,ow AN AsloS,L CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRrBUSEl
+ CocxAc. Nov. 27.-This is Thanksgiving Day
nwav off in the States, a festival of which these
dvellers in the Cbarente probably never heard. III
Won were to ask them this year 10 assemble anu
thank God for the harvest and the fairness OF the
land. they would look increduous. shake their
heads, and walk or whistling. For now that the
vintage season of 1879 is over there is no longer
room for doubling hat had before been all but GER
Acknowledgements randy crop amonntstop rac-
tically nothing in short. that in Cocnac annasth
year 1879 may be regarded as an aimee perdHe. a
severe frost came at the last moment aud snapped
up what few grapes had managed to survive tue
phylloxera and the rains
Coming down here on the cars the other morning.
from Angouleme heard nothing from the peas
ants. men and women, who got in and out at the
yarious stations but one continuous jereniad about
their vineyards They all know each other. these
peasants and the affablc volubility with when
they ask about each others sisters and cousins ana
aunts is invariably supplemented by an inquiry
after the health of the crops. This year il is the
same ptiful story with them all They are dcsotes
last year they made fifty or a hundred barrels
where tins year they mako only ono or two and a
very poor quality at that. And when one comes 10
reflect that the grape forms the wealth or this sec
ton il is not difficult TO understand that the fan
void in every ones exchequer and necessitates
general curtailment of expenditure on the part OF
proprietor and peasant alike Many Charente
lady will be obliged to forcgo her accustomed
trip 10 Paris this Winter or her stay at the Canx
next Summer and many a lght-heartcd country
girl will have to return home from the fair next
season dlsconsoate for the want of the usual RID
bons and gew-gays-all simply because there were
no grapes on the vines during the golden month OF
October. 1879 Ii was indeed golden month. AS II
in mockerv the rain-cIouds had departed leaving
bright blue sky, bracing air. and landscape COW
cred with russell hues that wildly recalled an
American Autumn. But the harm was done ana
past recall and now if you ask any OF these same
disappointed wine-groweis what they are going TO
do about it, the grand thrift and hopeiulness OF
the French character shine ont IN their faces as
they answer. "Oh! we shall have to economize
little more this year and make double crop next
season, that's ALL"
These blue-bloused fathers and white-bonneted
mothers of peasant families will live thrive and
save money whore an ordinary American farmers
household would starve 10 death or take refuge IN
the poorhouse. Their villages are duller than
Quaker meeting house in the backwoods of In
diana: their houses are cold, bare and cheetless
their barnyards dirty and reeking, and their daily
life is so utterly stupid and uncventul that an ex-
istence in any remote American Smithvile or Po-
dunk would be whirlwind of excitement COM
pared TO il. Were compelled TO choose between
fortnights sojourn in st. Xandre or Dompierre and
n whole years exile in the qnietest hamlet Con-
necticut boasts, should unhesitatngly choose the
latter.
Better fifty weeks in Yaukdom, than a fort
night in Matha." All that French peasant lives
for NAV be summed up in the three words q to
A. ii Odd ptfiie Slv
practical He is crafty. cautious and conservative
ain sorry cannot give him better character,
but habit and tradition have made him a simple
machine, calous at heart, utterly devoid of senti-
ment and feeling. His morals, in practice at least
are as rigdy correct as any purtans. for he knows
very well that immortality apt in the long run TO
prove expensive. He pays religiously and punctu-
ally every sou he agrees to pay he exacts with
equal rgor and punctuality every centime that is
coming to him. He never goes over twenty miles
away from home during the whole course OF his
lfe unless il happen that military service calls him
with other .conscripts 10 some distant town.
As for politics. what does he care for En-
pire. Monarchy OF Republici Each of them, he
SAYS makes him pay the same taxes, and do the
same military -QI'inporte. 1t is a hard. cut
and dried existence lie leads y ar in and year out
vet he never complains so long each passing day
sees ffty-centime piece added TO his miser stores
He gories In his blue blouse such as his father and
grandfather wore before him, and his will
wear after him. He lives to green old age: he
tolls on up to almost the last days of his long, Ia
borious life and then some fine day, followed by
doublee of other peasants in blouscs and bonnets.
he is carried into the village church, which prob
ably saw him only too seldom during his lifetime a
few prayers are mumbled over him. and he is laid
t. sleep beside his progeDitors III the country
(hurch-yard
4 like to study these French peasants, for their
lives and methods tell the whole story of the con-
utantly increasing wealth and prosperity of France
Bnt this years failure is like bombshell in their
midst compelling them. as IL does, TO economic
more closely than befOre-ii that were possible-and
even TO fall back upon their little hoardngs Of pre-
vIous years for their own and their families main
tenance. do not think that any of the published
accounts have exasgerated the extent OF the DIS
aser SO far rs il affects this region The uoRiteur
ViRiooit the recognized organ OF vine-growing in
teress. has published WI hat claims 10 be statement
France see T Ths tWo Charentes It Says and
think it over-estimates. will not make
this year over 1,5OO, 600 heetoiltres OF wine, as
compared with nearly 1000, 900 III 1878. / asked
q prominent brandy merchant of this city how
much the brandy crop of this year, which necessa-
rly depends on the wine CROP would amount to.
quantity, but particularly the alcoholic dens
lily of the wine crop in any gwen wear that deter
mines the brandy crop for tue same year. There
are years, for instance. when even with an ill.,
creased productveness OF the vines there is less
brandy as resu tant than in other years when the
vines bore less but the grapes contained greater
percentage of alcohol. But this year not only do
the vines lack grapes but the grapes, such there
are lack alcohol, aud ~ Is bad time generally Tor
the brandy-makers
But, strange to say. "Old Cognac" is found to be
lust as plentiful ever That is, there is end Of
casks and cases labelled and filled with liquid
which i'm taste and appearance so closely resembles
the distilled juice OF the grape as TO defy all ordi
nary means Of detection. Some months ago
French newspaper correspondent writing from Ror-
deaux to The New Era. of Cognac, made the start
ling assertion that enormous quantities of spurious
brandy known as 'tros-siT' distiilation from
arriving there from Germany, were put into brandy
casks which had been sent back empty from Lon
don, and were then shipped TO foreign countries.
nofahly 20 England and Spain as " Pure Cognac