The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-14
GREAT WINE YEAR.
Excellent Promise Of the Vintage Of
Hungary and Bordeaux.

Red Wines.
From the New York Sun.
paris Oct. 25.-The failure of the
,rane crops during successive years, the
e,or quality of the wine made, and a rise
N the price of the older and better vint-
.ro well nigh occasioned a revolution in
me national beverage, and cider. formerly
oonfned to one or two provinces, sud
6anlv achieved a momentary and rapid
i nre-eminence. In England beer could never
h dethroned, be it ever so adulterated by
the Inscriptions publican, and except in
#nevonshire the ''apple wine' has never
been very popular. But in France the ex-
traordinary fertility of the orchards in
Normandy and Brittany, where this year
the apple trees broke under the weight of
the fruit, made it probable that cider sold
At Is confines az penny the liter would
soon find its way to all parts of the coun-
try, and supersede the cheap qualities of
wine sold at six or seven times that
figure.
Il However, the equally unprecedented
vintage in the south of France, has. in n
fashion, neutralized the apparent prepon-
sderanceo of cider, which, after this mo-
mentary general demand, will have to re-
main at home for consumption in the de-
partments where it is made and IS so
largely used, or undergo foreign importa-
ton. Cider is avowedly a wholesome and
Iinvigorating beverage; it was the drink
of the Celts and of the men of the north,
lust as wine has always been the drink of
the Latins. But whatever the excellence
and Cheapness of cider, it never will be-
come a favOrite to those born and bred to
the consumption of wine, and it will not
have a single chance in its favor as soon
as wine is once more good and inexpen-
sive
The grape growers of southern France,
taken unawares by the wealth of the har-
vest, found themselves short of casks,
and trade will be the gamer for their in
advertence. In some parts of the grape
country wine from the watts had to be sold
lat thirty to fifty francs the three hecto-
litres. There will, therefore, be no diff
fculty- orders are given in time
in securing at Bordeaux itself very good
sound claret at about eighty francs the
caSk, and the same wine from the Paris
agents or others at about 100 francs the
cask Bottled. the same quality is sure
Ito improve greatly, and in ten years
time, if kept in good cellar, it will be
both choice and valuable.
The poorer classes prefer a dark. adul-
terated wine in which the grape Juice en-
tiers for a small proportion, to the purest
and soundest cider; no rise or fall in price
affects its consumption among the rich.
These will find to-day rare opportunity
OF stocking their cellars with the best
wine at moderate price, for the growers
are compelled to sell their reserves, in
order to make room in their vaults for
the immense quantity of new wine they
are making. II is expected that a CON
siderable increase in the export trade is
inevitable. and that some of the choice
brands will find their way to Russia and
The very best, however, is
never affected by extraordinary circum-
stances, for it is only the gourmet or ex-
perienced cOnnoisseur who buys it. What
does he care if the harvest of 1898 is SUI
perabundant! 1t cannot, for many years,
attempt to compete with, or ever de-
throne, the noble wine of 1Sll-the year
of the comet, to which it owes its name
a wine which is found now only in the
possession of a few houses and some large
restaurants, where it is sold at the rate
Of Sl5 or $50 bottle
The French, the Belgians. and the
Swiss are the people who still have good
cellars. In Paris Baron de Rothschild the
Duke of Doudeauville, Mr.. Bischoffsheim,
and some Others are noted for their APP
probation and taste in rich brands, while
the cellars of the Restaurant Voisin and
0t the Cafe AnglaiS are estimated at TO-
100000 or ~, 600, 900 francs Some of the
clubs keep flrst-rate wine but it is we'll
known fact that the clubmen who will
pay the price for it are daily getting
scarcer, and, therefore, sales of the finest
qualities are being periodically made, the
haiY1rr OF u 70.
who are well aware that the
men who at his club viii be satisfied with
a four-franc bottle of wine will spend ten
times that sum when he gives a dinner or
a supper at the places still fashionably
called the cabaret"
Curiously enough, neither clubs nor
restaurants reckon champagne among the
wines that glorify their cellars; they are
proud OF their clarets and Burgundies,
and look down upon champagne; the rea-
son for this contempt lies in the methods
OF fabrication of the latter. CIaret and
Burgundy are emphatically the children
OF their native soil; they cannot be nat
uralized elsewhere, and are born to their
inheritance like poets and kings While
claret acquires in the silent shadow of
the cellar, under the gentle mantle of
peaceful dust and light cobwebs, the mel
lowness and flavor that enhance its
values, champagne only loses with age
the sparkle and freshness that were the
charm of its youth
Next to the wines of the south of
france serious Importance attaches to
the brandies and the cognac, products of
The Charente; some venerable fine
champagne is spoken of with ecstacy by
The excellence of brandy
not lnfrequently comes from the nature
OF the casks in which it has rested, but
when once matured and bottled, contrary
10 what takes place with wine, it remains
stationary
Many nOuveaux riches and imprOmptu
Inllllonaires are most anxious to create a
good cellar. It is problem not easily
Solyed, for really first-rate cellar cannot
De improvised and takes years to bring
10 perfection. To realize this perfection
time, taste and money are required. Taste,
III order to detect and avoid imposition,
and the artful and secret falslfcations
ana authorizations practiced by experts
ana folsted on the Market time, because
even genuine and matured wines will
suffer temporarily and even permanently
"hen they are transplanted from one
cellar, to which they have grown accus-
Toned, into another that may not suit
tuem equally well; money for prime vim
Iages can never be had cheap.
mere are in all European capitals, and
Holably in Lpdon, agents who act be-
tween the growers and consumers. Some
are perfectly honest, no doubt, but it is
Always better to deal directly with the
growers; examples are not wanting of
cases IN which the middleman has with
Via vi. oollcal ingenuity falsifed the consign-