Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1890-10-24
IMITATION CHAMPAGNE.
An Expert Tells How ft Differs
From the Genuine Article.

FROM the Genuine Article.
from the Chicago Evening Post-l
''The difference between an imitation
and a genuine champagnel Well, it Is
this: A genuine champagne is blend of
the most perfect white wines made from
different grapes. No one grape by itself
will make a perfect wine-one variety
makes a wine perfect in all respects but
one, lack of body or richness; whereas
another variety produces a wine of full
body, but imperfect in some other way.
Blending these two wines results in a
more perfect article, which illustrates the
idea of blending wines for champagnes,
the most perfect of all wines. Sometimes
as many as ten different wines are blend
ed. This blend of high-grade wines,
known as the cuvee, remains in large watts
for time, varying from eighteen months
to three years, the average being about
two years. 1t is then drawn off into bot
ties, corked and, after being placed for a
few weeks in cellar kept at a tempera-
ture of about seventy degrees to start fer
mentation, the bottles are taken to one
somewhat cooler, and remain there fer
menting for two years or more. During
this year the natural sugar in the wine is
transformed into alcohol and carbonic
gas, and the albuminoids are precipitated
to the bottom as sediment. The breakage
of bottles from over-pressure of gas dur
ing the two years is one of the many ex-
penses connected with the business.
From four per cent. up to twenty per
cent. are smashed. The champagne arti-
Gle from California averages in breakage,
am told, about sixteen per cent, which
means that out of the one million bottles
fermented in the cellars there at all times,
one hundred and sixty thousand are brok-
en- and the wine, bottles and labor lost
| ity to the wine. AT the completion of the
two years the bottles are all placed in
racks, with the corks down, to allow the
1 sediment to form compactly on the cork.
1 For two months they receive a quick turn
l daily to assist the sediment in becoming
| compact. The men who turn the bottles
/ are very expert. They use both hands
4 day each When the sediment is hard
1 and compact under the cork and the bal
ance of the wine is clear, or candle bright,
workmen skilfully release the cork, which
| flies out, and with il comes the sediment
and a little wine. The latter is replaced
| by liquor to give the wine sweetness and
| then a new cork is put in, the bottles are
capped, labelled and placed in cases and in
| a few months are ready for sale. This is
| a very complicated and expensive process
/ and the capital involved is large. No re-
| turns are had until after four or FIVE years.
'sNow observe the delightful brevitys of
the process of making the imitation or
| gas wine. Some ordinary California
| white wines are secured. Perhaps a pre-
| tense of blending is made and the blend
| is then fixed by some chemicals to keep
the wine from rebelling- The blend is run
into bottles, the wine first passing through
copper cylinders such as are used in chang
4 ing ordinary syphon soda, where ii has
most of the life shaken ont of it in an at
tempt to force into 1t gas made from the
action of acids on marble dust. Per-
chance there is a soupcon Of lead besides
| gas in the wine by the time il is forced
/ unceremoniously into a bottle and then
| quickly corked and wired This is all
done quicker than a wink. and in a few
moments the wine which was ordinary
California white wine yesterday goes forth
under a neat capsule and fancy label al
California champagne, and presumably
genuine champagne made after the French
method. The cost of these wines cannot
| be over four dollars case, and they are
sold from about eleven up to twenty-five
dollars per case TO innocent purchasers
Common Cause OF Headache
Astigmatism is the commonest cause of
headaches. In this disorder the object is
not properly focused upon the retina. 1t
may be due to fault in the shape of the
cornea or of the crystalline lens, or from
irregularities in the surface of the
retina. These faults demand additional
and continual intra ocular muscular
effort to assist in obtaining the proper
focus.
The muscular effort soon exhAusts these
muscles. and irritates the fifth cranial
nerve. This sensitive branch being excited,
all other branches from the same center are
liable TO irritation also, and thus the whole
train of sympathetic disturbances which
may be set up, says n medical journal
When the muscles give out entirely, then
the sympathetic disturbances are perpet-
ual.
In these cases the eyes should have
complete rest, or the faults should be
overcome by the adjustment of proper
glasses. 4 hypoderInic injection of NOR.
phine does not more promptly relieve pain
than the adjustment of proper glasses in
many cases relieves headaches. Rest will
not cure in many cases, and glasses are
essential.