Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-04-26

II reu Wlne-ls consumed
in Washington than in any other city
OF its size in the Union" said whole
sale dealer the other day to 3 STAR
reporter Zone advantage about native grape
juice Is that you can get il pure-a fact not TO
be despised when it is considered how largely
chemicals, such as acids, gums, and dye stuffs,
enter into the composition of the product sold
in the market under the guise of wine. The
printed name Bordeaux, for example. seems
something like a guarantee when found upon
a bottle, and yet it is hardly such. as one may
see when the fact is considered that Bordeaux
annually exports i've times rs much wine as is
produced during that period in the district.
1t may be fairly said that Bordeaux depends at
least as much upon the laboratory as upon the
vineyard Bordeaux has been called very
justly nest of forgers of red wine; the town
of Cette, near by, is chiefly engaged in this sort
of business. Burgundy is rather safe sort of
caret to buy, because of the difficulty of imi-
Eating its characteristic bitter taste, which
chemists say is due to the presence OF - bacillus
strongly resembling IN appearance the comma
bacillus of cholera"
UNHEALTHY MIXTURES.
"Are snch falsifcatons of wine ever danger
Gus to health" asked TIE STAR reporter
Decidedly. Fortunes have been made at
the expense of the consumers health by dis
honest wine merchants. 1t a SO easy, don't
you know, to make port out of a mixture OF
cider strip. gum klno and tartaric acid that
its manufacture with an assured market at
profitable prices presents a great temptation.
As for claret, you can easily make 1t from de-
coctlon OF orris root, raspberry juice. strip
and cochineaL Sherry, you may improve
upon natures plan for making il, is a combi-
nation of cheap materials with = cOloring mat
tor rod frnp In .safa.
winemakers who have not vineyards available
find a satisfactory substitute for fresh grapes
in dried raisins, currants and peaches of a low
grade, which they macerate with other fruit,
usually secondhand, water and sugar being
added. The mixture is fermented and subse-
quently the fermentation is checked by
salicylic acid. Finally it is clarified, favored
and coored % resemble any kind of wine
desired"
WHERE NATIVE WINE BEGAN.
''HOw was the vine first introduced into this
country"
by the priests from Spain, who
planted at San Diego, Cal, not only the olive,
the tig and pomegranate, but also the vine.
For some reason unknown, they chose for
planting certain grape, which, while fairly
useful Tor the table, produced only a very mod
erately good red wine. This variety of grape
still exists largely in California, and the great
recommendation in its behalf is that il pro-
stock, however, is still stuck to by many Cali
fornia people, notwithstanding the fact that
its bottled result is rather crude and goes to
the head like brandy. The slips of Malaga vine
planted by Franciscan monks at San Diego and
other points In California IN 100 did but
initiate what has since grown to be an enor-
nous industry. Within the past twenty-five
years clippings have been planted there from
the finest vines of Burgundy. Bordeaux. Cognac.
Hungary, the Rhine valley. Portugal and
Mahn \ ha trnnr ,artf her 10 IN
Tehama county. Cal, the largest vineyard in
the world covering 3.s25 acres, the property
of Senator Stanford. Santa Barbara. Cal, owns
the largest vine. bearing grapes in the world.
In one year it produces, on an average, 900
pounds of grapes.
SCIENTIFIC MANUFACTURE.
''The method of making wine, like every
thing else mechanical in this country" con-
tinued the merchant, ais reduced to scientific
principles. The grapes, as they are brought
from the vineyard, are placed upon an endless
wooden belt which carries them up to the top
story of the factory. There they fall into the
wine press, and every particle of juice is ex-
pressed from them, SO as to pour into watts be-
low. These watts run on wheels, SO that when
one is full it may be rolled off and emptied
into the great tanks wherein fermentation 10
conducted. Fermentation produces alcohol;
but how many people can tell how alcohol is
made? Ask the best-informed person YOU know
and he will be posed. Then inform HIM, with
the satisfaction of superior knowledge, that
alcohol is formed by the contact of the yeast
plant, which is fungus with sugar. Finally
the grape juice is run off into casks. and SUBJ
sequently bottled The term alcohol comes
down from the Arabian philosophers, who, as
you know. were the original chemists. They
referred to II in their own language as al kohl
meaning the spirit You find the same word
kohl used in Mohammedan countries to this
day. signifying the dark pigment which women
mali HEN wit he 40 nf he
lids to give them a soulful expression. Al kohl
is the spirit of the wine. We ourselves still
preserve the term, calling alcohols spirit of
wine. ,"
THE ANcIENTs AND THEIR WINE.
"Who is supposed to have invented wine?"
'Noah, 1 have understood. In the ruins Of
Thebes and Memphis, in Egypt, dating 1000
years back, have been found tablets showing
that the priests in charge of the corpse cities
were obliged to keep in the tombs for the
of the departed two kinds of beer-one light
and one Oakland five kinds of wines. The
original Solomon save that wine is a mocker
and strong drink raging. but Bob Ingersoll pre-
fers to alter it by saying that wine is the fire.
side and strong drink the confagration.
WHERE WINE WAS PLENTIFUL.
"During the fifteenth century wine was so
plentiful that in Wurtemburg pailful of the
fermented product sold for cents. The years
from 1920 to 1929 are memorable in south Ger
many for the abundance that the vineyards
gave. So great il was that. according to the
saying then, man was able to get intoxicated
on what he could buy for One-half of a cent
money is now. The cement used in building
the cathedrals of Vienna and Uhn during these
years was moistened with wine instead of
water. In the sixteenth century. il is under
stood brandy was first manufactured. During
that period law in the ancient city of Lubbock
directed that to the king, when he soiourned III
the town, should be given daily four pals and
sixteen measures of wine. A queen was to re-
ceive three pals and eight measures, an
elector twelve measures a duke eight measures,
a count or bishop four measures, countess,
knight, abbot, burgomaster or doctor of
university two measures, and a municipal clerk
one measure. Presumably the municipal clerk,
earnest work being required of him. pur-
posey not given more than might be good for
him if he chose to consume his entire allow
ance At the same time il was understood that
all the wine thus appropriated was of the best
that the municipal cellar afforded. Wine
| making was practiced by the ancient Egyptians
| quite 5000 years ago and by them handed
| down to the Greeks. who are supposed to have
| been the first adulterators of the beverage.
The wines of the old Romans were mostly very
| much condo nsed and combined with all sorts
| of queer things. SO that they would not be
| much relished nowadays The epicure of the
| nineteenth century would not be especially
| pleased to find himself guest at a table where
| under the name of wine, was offered a diluted
mixture of what had been