Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-03-31
LIQUID TREASURES UNDER
GROUND.
What 10 to be Seen and Tasted In the
London Wine Vaults.

" moS - 10 ne seen ana UASt00 In the
London Wine Vaults.
The wine vaults Of London, writes a CORE
spOndent. are not to be seen every day or by
every person. The guide books give no ade
quate description Of them, and, indeed, their
History. the methods under which they are run
and their conduct are not to be learned for the
asking. The other day was fortunate enough
to secure tasting order, and l, ia company
with one or two Others made a tour of some
vault. saw over 100000 packages of port
and sherry, over 900 600 of claret and 500. 900
of spirits. They were in vast tuns hOgsheads,
casks and barrels. and the total amount i'm stor-
age was 26O, 600 600 gallons. In fact there were
six and half gallons for every man. woman
and child OF the population of Great Britain.
Some OF 1t had been in store for years. The
owners had forgotten about it, and the old and
mOldy casks had rotten away at their chimes
ana had been several times replaced.
One lot of 900 gallons of sherry had been in
the vaults for nearly fifty years. 1t was brought
from the south Of Spain by its owner. who had
fallen dead in the vaults. The wine. along with
his other property. had passed into chancery and
the litigation. which has continued tor nearly
half century. is as far from being ended.
apparently, as when 1t began. But the wine
has been growing old and valuable and. If sold
now. would probably bring five guineas gallon.
The fact is. that wine rarely gets as old as it is
credited with. and there is but little sherry or
port OfV>n older vintage than 1879 to be had,
and then at prices very high indeed. The
majority of still wines i'm common use are not
more than two years old and glass of sherry
that has been in wood two years and bottled five
or more is a rare treat.
THE PROFESSIONAL FASTER"
All this We are told by the veteran faster of
the London dock wine vaults. a man who grades
wine in the same way and with the accuracy
that faster grades teas. His services are in
continual demand. and he travels all over the
British islands to respond to the calls for his
labOrs. He can detect the slightest difference
in the qualities OF liquors. and can locate every
brand of champagne in the country of its
growth. He formerly exercised his wonderful
faculty upon hard liquors, but found that this
destroyed his taste for fine wines But more Of
him and his skill later on.
Let ne explain that these vaults are simply
great cellars under the Lighthouses. In area
they aggregate some thirty-fiya acres. They
extend under the Thames on one side and we'll
under Tower Hill on the other. They are about
sixteen feet from floor to roof. and are by no
means regular i'm form. but reach out III strange
passages and alleys in all directions. They are
bonded by the government. and owners can
leave their property in them as long as they like
without paying customs duties The pack
ages are accessible at any time, and tasting
quantities may be taken from any cask. The
cost OF tapping each package is eighteen
pence, so. therefore, tasting orders are not left
laying around. The charge is made against the
owner. who has to pay number of items, among
them cOopcrage, sampling, rating aud so on. as
only an Englshman knows how to pile up the
agony of costs The storage is. of course. under
the charge OF government officials but the eX-
actions are none the less oppressive because they
are legal. Each owner has space allotted to
him according to his necessities. and his wines
are snidded upon each other, tier on tier to the
top of the vaults. 1t is the boast of the vault
hands that they can go direct to any part OF the
vaults and put their hands upon any cask that
may be named. without looking on the barrel for
the marks. l dare say that this is eXaggeratOn,
but my own experience with them showed that
their knowledge OF the geography of the vaults
and localities OF the different packages was as
tOnishing.
SUPPLYING 100000 DAILY WANTS.
The tasting orders that admitted us were tor
half dozen casks of sherry and port belong
ing to the stores of the largest firm of caterers
in the world. They sell over their bars at nearly
all the railroad stations and at three CT four of
the best restaurants i'll London, to over 900 900
customers a day. Their sale of wine and liquor
you may imagine. is very large, and their i'm
pOrtati0n is fabulous. Sherry is drunk here
much more than elsewhere, and. after Irish
whisky, is the favOritc tipple. Scotch whisky
bitter beer, gin and port being consumed in
quantities in the order of naming. Having
presented our orders in q little dark room
over high, dirty desk, to dark-faced,
shabby little clerk. who appeared to be
all cobwebs and mold Just like his surround
ings, tickets were handed to each of us and we
were told Ito turn to the right down stairs"
A long narrow flight of well-WOrn stone steps
that have been in constant use since 1904,
opened before our view. and at their foot were
dim twinklng lights that fliCkered fittully. as if
in a struggle to overcome the fumes of the
wines that came up the stone channel like a
breeze from q dstery. 1t was warm, rich
with the Odor of the Wines and musty and
mOldy. sniff of it wasn't half bad, but you
will remember the fate of the Persian esthete
who had his choice of death: ITO die amid
sweet perfumes" he said. So they chucked
him into a hOgshead of Ottar of roses and he eX-
pired in great agony.
THE GROTTOES OF BACCHUS.
At the bottom of the flight of steps the guide
met us, a tall, broad-shouldered, rudy cOckney,
who handed us each a lard oil lamp fastened to
a straight stick about eighteen inches long. He
began by asking us if any one was teetotaler
None of us were. Because" said he IF YOU
don't take drop of something on your stomach
you'll get screwed because of the smell" He
drew glass of sherry for each of us out Of big
cask near the foot of the steps. TWAS heavy
fuil-boded wine. with rich, nutty flavor and
an aftermath like leather smells. 1t had been
luilS Ill leather Skis over one season, having
been the last made and too late for the regular
wine harvest, but it was good for all that and
'wery mellOwin' to the hOrgans.''
Turning then sharply to the lett. the vaults
spread out before US in vast underground acre
age. Lights twinkled here and there, moldy
men were engaged in moving the packages at
some places, and down the long passage under
the Thames the polished steel skids for riding
barrel stretched in narrowing perspective till
they Joined apparently in one, and flashed on
under the line of lights above them. The air
was uncomfOrtably warm, and the general i'm
preston was that everything was musty. The
air was moist and seemed to be filled with an
mpalpable mold that one could feel but not
see.
BY this time we had penetrated the vault some
distance. Above us on one side rolled the traffic
OF the street; on the other we heard the plash-
ing wheels of the Thames steamboats, as, with
mellow beat. they plOwed the waters that flow
over half of the vaults. The construction of the
first vault was irregular. At intervals of every
twenty feet vast pillars, either Of stone or IRON
supported the roof. These pillars, where they
are regularly placed, form great galleries which
reach for half mile The galleries are lettered,
the vaults are numbered, but both marks are
imperceptible to the visitor, so covered are they
with mold. The guide knows them as we'll
drilled usher knows his seats in theater and
what appearS remarkable in the Way he goes tn