The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-03-27


Every Anglo-Saxon and medieval monastery
had Its vineyard, and to this day London has six
Vine streets and one Vineyard Walk. Mead. n
fermcnted beverage. made from honey and
WATERWAYS considered by the Mortimer and the
early English glorinod liquor fit for heroes
1t is plain from passage OF He-ry OF Hunt
ington that besides ale. beer. wine. and mead.
the Anglo-Saxons had other liquors. including
cider. morat Honey diluted with the juice OF
mulberry and pigment, liquor made OF
honey. wine. and spice The wine drunk in
Scandinavia was imported from Spain. Italy.
France. and Germany. CLAUS Magnus gives a
| receipt for making hydromel. or mead. This
| was composed. 1t seems Of one part honey and
| four OF boiling water: tho mixture was well
| stirred. boiled. and skinned: hops were
| then added. nftcr which tho liquor
was then casked and some brewer
yeast was inserted. It was fit for
drinking in eight days. There was, 1t seems.
a precedent for the Duke OF Clarence's
death by drowning In a tun OF Malmscy wine.
We learn from CLAUS MaGnus that one King
HundinG. being grieved at til" loss Of his
brother-in-law. called all his nobility around
him to II great feast. and had a large tun filled
with hydromel placed in the middle Of the hall
| When his guests were sufficiently inebriated he
| threw himself into the liquor and died sweetly.
The weak point of this book Is the meagre
attention given to American wines. Less space
is allotted to this subject than to the products
Of tho grape pertaining to Australia We
quote the fourteen lines devoted to the
northern half OF tho continent The
first attempt to cultivate the vine in North
America was made. wo are informed by
Drs. Thudichum and Dupr6. in 1864. Some
| OF its best-known wines at the present time
arc the Catawba tstill and sparkling,. red Also.
and An0etico. Vino has been made from the
vines on tho Ohio said to resemble Bordeaux
In quality. In several parts OF Mexico. MS Paso
del Norte. at Zalaya. and St Louis de In Paz.
wines are made OF tolerable flavor. Tho red
wine OF California Is agreeable. In Florida.
| according to Sir John Hawkins, wine was made
4 from grape like that Of Orleans as far back
| as 1864. According to BEDDING. the island Of
Cuba possesses light. cool. sharp wine" In a
subsequent part OF this volume rather less
than page is conceded to American beers.
but among tIem neither ole NOR thu so-caled
lager beer made or supposedto beinade Of
barley malt and hops. is mentioned There
| is Just a word about the Mexican pulque. and
| cursory reference to the brazilian beer. made
| from tho batItt root. Tho wines OF South
America receive little more consideration
than those Of the United States. Thus We are
told that wine was made long ago in Para
| quay. and that n sweet vino resent
bling Malaga is now made at Mendoza.
at tho foot OF the Andes. and is found to
improve by transportation some thousand
miles across the pampas. Both white and red
wines are made in Peru and Chill. and the
latter country has lately taken Paris medals
for the products OF its vineyards. Its muscatel
and wine OF Pisco are particularly esteem ed
Among the wines Of Australia several are de-
scribed In detail Thus Carbinet is said to re-
sembe burgundy and Verdailho is said to be
like Madeira. The so-callcd Frontignac is thin
white wnc with a slight tasto OF tho muscat
grape Adelaide is q white wine. made mainly
from Riesling grapes with n soupcon OF mus
cate. Many varieties OF pretended clarets.
such as Emu aud st. Hubert. and Of alleged
hook. such as Heron and Royal Reserve. are
imported into England from Australia. The
Conatto is an Australian liqueur which COM
bines the lavors Of curacao and rum shrub.
1t is naturally the wines OF France with re-
gard to which the compilers have tried to col
lect the most copious and accurate informa-
ton. What they have to record. however. is
very concisely presented in about fourteen
pages. beginning with champagne. they emu
mcrate tho principal establishments Of tho
Rheims district. subsequently referring to
those Of the region whose commercial centre
is Epernay. Tho wines OF the province of
Champagne have for centuries been coveted:
Henry VIII. Charles v. and Leo Y. as we'll as
Francis l.. all had vineyards Of their own in
that famous locality. The wine. however. that
they obtained thence was not sparkling. The
process ofrharGins n still vino with carbonic
acid gas and then applying cork and string is
safdt have been tho Invention Of tho cellarer
of ST. Pcter's Monastery ut Hautvilliers. The
same cellarer is averred to have been particu-
larry skltul in his blends OF the wine subjected
to the aerating process.
Champagne owes its merit. in the first place.
to the soil on which the grapes are grown.
which is unique in its mixture Of chalk. silica.
light clay. and oxide OF iron. and IN the second
place to the very great care and delicate ma
nipulation which the grapes and their Juice
receive. Every doubtful grape is discarded.
and the carts conveying tho grapes from the
vineyards so at a funeral pace. SO that none OF
their contents may get bruised. II these little
grapes-they are not much larger than cur
rants-get at all crushed or partly fermcnted
in carriage. the fruit is rendered worthless for
tho production OF champagne. Very great
care. too. is exercised in the pressing. The
grapes arc laid in stacked heaps upon the
floor Of the press. where they are left
for time and then subjected to first gentle
but firm. sustained squeeze Tho juice thus
extracted il tho cream OF the grape. and is
used only for the finest brands. There are
six OF these squeeZes applied each more pow
erful than the last: and the outcome Of each
is OF course inferior in quality to it's predeces-
sor till tho sixth. called the rebeche. is reached.
which produces coarse wine. reckoneI
only fl TO be given TO the workmen. 1t is Just
this rcbtclfe. howaver which is purchased by
peoI.La, manufacturing and exporting cheap
champagne. Mixed with other wines Of very