The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-10-25
WHAT GERMANS EAT.
Their Wines the Finest, Their
Cookery the Worst.
KITCHEN AN ACCUMULATION.
Heine's scorn of the Fatherland's Cui-
sine-some Dishes Good, Bad and In
diferent-Great Writers Opinions.
lcoPyRreHr, 1891, BY NJ E. W. SHERWOOD

COPYRIGHT, 1891. BY NJ E. W. sHERwooD.]
wonder ii Charlemagne ever drank
A tankard OF Asmannshauser Nav;
II ne had MS empire never would rank
= As 1t does with the royalist realms today.
for the goddess that laughs within the cup,
Had wlied and won MIN from blood and war
Anu SHOWN as he drained her long draughts up
=, There wa something better worth living Tor
1han htnGcrdft keeping his gruf brow sad.
Il WISH from my very soul she had)
The deep, dark. swiftly flowing Rhine,
It's legends, its forests of silver FIR and
pines, its mountains crowned with castles
and its hillsides blushing with the bend
ing vine; the converts ancient walls, the
gllstening spire, the maidens with their
plated hair, and hands that offer early
flowers" all the bright, beautiful. roman
tic landscape; the dancing waves which
wash its historic Shores it, donjon keeps,
and haunted Lorellei rock, it's
Beetling walls with ivy grown
browning heights OF messy stone,
All this beauty is placed in the land of the
sauerkraut, the herring salad, the sweet
stewed fruit with pork (pig and prune
sauce), carp stewed in beer, raw goose
flesh or Gottengen sausages, potato sweet
ened and cabbage soured, in fact, a kitchen
which is an abomination to all other ma
tons.
Not that one does not get an excellent
dinner at a German hotel in a great city.
But then all the cooks are French.
The powerful young emperor has, how
ever, given his orders that all menus shall
hereafter be written in German. The lam
guage Of Ude, Soyer, Valet and Franca-
telll Brillat, SaVarin and Bechamel is to
be replaced by German
But If the viands are not good, the wines
are highly praised by the gourmet, and as
these wines are not SO often exported, it is
said that one gets better German wine in
New \ ork than at a second-class hotel at
Bonn or Cologne or Dusseldorf.
On the same principle that fish caught
at Newport is less fresh than at New York,
for it is all bought. sent to New York and
sent back TO Newport. Or in other words,
the exporters are careful to keep up the
reputation of their exported wines.
Asmannshauser is a red Rhine wine of
high degree; some gourmets call it the
Burgundy of the Rhine" Within the
gorge of the Rhine is found this poetic
beverage.
The bend which the noble river assn mes
at the Rheingau is said to have the effect
OF concentrating the suns rays, reflected
from the surface of the water as from a
mirror upon the vineclad slopes, and it is
to this circumstance, combined with the
favorable nature of the soil and to the
vineyards being completely sheltered from
the north winds by the Taurus range, that
the marked superiority of the wines of the
Rheingau is ordinarily attributed.
Bacharach has produced another fine
wine.
He never has been to Heaven and back
Who has not druken of Bacharach.
And Longfellow says:
At Frankfort on the Main
And at Wortsburg on the Seine,
At Bacharacl on the Rhine,
Grow the three best kinds OF wine
We know but little of the superior red
wines of Walporzheimer, Ahrwerter and
Bodendorfer which come from the valley of
the Abr.
The Abr falls into the Rhine near Sinzig,
midway between Coblenz and Bonn. The
wines from its beautiful vineyards are
fine deep red. The taste is astringent,
somewhat like port. There is an agree
able red wine, called Kreutzberger, which
comes from the neigh borhood of Ehren-
breitstein. Linz on the Rhine sends US a
good red wine known as Daltenberger.
These are all pure wines which know no
doctoring.
The Liebfraumilch is a Riesting with
fine bouquet. 1t owes its celebrity rather
to its name than its merits. 1t comes
from the vineyards adjoining the Lieb-
frauen kirche near Worms, and was
named by some pious churchman.
No wines have as many poetical tributes
as the Rhine wines. One of the English
poets sings:
O. for q kingdom rock -throned,
Above the trimming Rhine,
With vassaiS who should pay their toll
In many sorts OF wine.
Above me naught but the blue air,
And all below, the vine.
I'd plant my throne, where legends say
In nights OF Harvest time
King Charemague, in golden robe,
$50 runs the rustic rhyme)
Doth come to bless the mellowing crops
While bells OF heaven chime.
The Steinbergers, the Hochheimers,
Marcobrunners and Rudesheimers. sound
like so many noble families Indeed, an
American senator, hearing these FIVE
names. remarked: II have no doubt sir.
they are all very nice girls
There is a famous Hochheimer, no less
than l67 years old, the vintage of that
year when the Duke OF Marlboro gained
the battle of RatisbOn. Let US hope that
he and Prince Eugene moistened their
clay and lahOrs with some Of this famous
wine. These wines do not last, however.
The best age is ten years, ana those which
have been stored in the antique vaulted
cellar OF the Bernardne abbey OF Eber-
bach, world renowned as the grand ducal
cabinet wine or ruler of Nassau, are now
completely run out. Even Rudesheimer
OF 1872 is no longer good.
II must be remembered. however. that
these wines are never fortified. To put in
extraneous alcohol into their beloved
Rhine wine would rouse Rudolph of
Hapsburg and Conrad of Hotstettin
from the sleep of centuries.
The Steinberger cabinet of 1862 is the
most superb OF Rhine wines for bouquet,
refined flavor. combined richness and
delcacy. We do not except Schloss
Johannisberg, because that is not IN the
market.
A Macrobrunner and a Rudesheimer are
not 10 be despised. Prince Metternich
sent TO Jules Janin for his autograph, and
the witty poet-editor sent 3 receipt for
twelve bottles Of imperial SChloss
Johannisberger." The prince took the
hint ana had q dozen of the very best
being sealed and every cork duly
Johannisberger wine is excessively sweet,
singularly soft, and gives forth a delicious
perfume a rich. impld, amher-cOlOred
wine with a faint bitter flavor. II is as
beautiful 20 look as II is luscious 10 the
taste. and ii possesses q bouquet which
the Empress EUgenle compared 10 that of
heliotrope violets and geranium leaves
combined.
The refined, pungent flavor OF a good
hook, lis slight racy sharpness. with an
after almond flavor makes il an admir-