Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-10-13

bid farewell to It, for you will never see It
again. 1t will be taken from the cellar to
the nearest railway station and then make
its way to the centers of the red wine
trade, where 1t will be treated CONNER
cially. These are Cette, in the south Qfor the
wines of the Pyrenees), Bordeaux, DIXON,
here in Burgundy; Chalons on the Marine
for champagne. and Bercy, in Paris, for
what Mr.. Robert Louis Stevenson calls Its
red ink"
Even In the years when the phylloxera
was exercising Its ravages and there were
no more vineyards to give grapes for the
wine, you could still have your Bordeaux
and your Burgundy. of the year at every
meal. 1t was a mystery, only in part made
up of alcohol and raisins. Here is the real
secret of the years marked after high-cass
wines on restaurant cardS-if you believe
them. Such and such year was good, and
such and such & year was bad. 1t does not
altogether so by seniority. as some folks
think.
All the wholesale wine dealers. whether
they perform their operations in Dijon or
in Cette, in Bordeaux or ia Bercy, hold the
same opinion. They cannot get on without
Spanish wine. At Bordeaux they call 1t
the wine DOCTOR Others say it Is the
watchkey of wine, namely. that which
winds 1t up" 1t gives courage to the
fainthearted clsiret,' 1t corrects acidity
and enlivens hatress. What Is Spanish
wine? Not at ali the sherry and Malaga
1t is the blue-red. astringent and heady
wine which tastes of the iron in the sand
hills where 1t grew. 1t is q wine of Africa
rather than of Europe. 1t is the table
wine" of Spain. and travellers are knocked
out by its potency. In hotels they will give
it to you free in big carafes. Whoop!
Bang! No wonder Spain seems beautiful.
Use Of Spanish Wines.
Spanish wine owns the qualities which al
low it to tvrannize over the natural wine
of France to the alcohol which 1t con-
tains. When these vineyard owners send
up their mild grape juice to the wholesale
dealer, he tells hem: Your wine is not
drnkable. We must fortify 1t with Span
iSh wine" The wine owner would nave
the right to answer: Your reason for in
ssting on doctoring our wine, such as ma
ture has given 1t to us, with the wine of
Spain, Is because 1t helps on your trade
combinations. You can have Spanish wines
brought you to Paris by water for half the
price which our wines cost you by rail
Then our wines cannot be watered, while
two barrels of Spanish wine can easily be
made into three for the use of Pa,isians
and people across the seas. Do you expect
us to compete successfully with rain Wa
ter?'
sponsibfe for this manipulation Of the nat
ural French wine. The citified drinkers Of
wine all over the world have learned to
Ike strong dose Of alcohol in their
wines. even though the wine should be
Tade from stewed raislns and the alcohol
be no more than German potato brandy.
There is a Norwegian who for forty years
has ordered two barrels OF wine yearly from
the same house in Bordeaux. One year
some accident had happened to the wines,
and a manufa ctured brand was sent to him.
1t pleased him, and he insisted EVER after
on having The same wine. It was only
necessary for the merchant to keep note