The morning times., 1896-08-30
George Gould Has the Finest One in the World
Under His Fifth Avenue House,
BOTTLES IN SEWER PIPES A, CURIOSITY
Potter Pames Wine Cellar in Chicago Boasts the Rare
Burgundy of 1861.
RARE yINTAGES IN RACKS IN A4OCKED CELLAR

The finest wine cellar in this country
belongs to George Gould. 1t is Il divided
Catskils at Furlough Lodge. A second
portion is under the residence at Lake
wood. But the great bulk OF II lies IN
the vaults of his new town house in Firth
avenue.
Every man wealthy enough to own a
wine cellar has one. He may not drink
the wine himself Henry Clews, who has
one of the best Burgundy wine cellars
In the world, drinks no wine himself
not drop. His uniform drink is Bass
ale and German brew of beer. But lie
glories in the possession Of the Bur
gundy of 1872, OF which there are not
more than five hundred bottles in exist
ence, and he is very fond OF owning
cases OF old Madeira of that same year.
George Gould's wine cellar is fitted out
with racks hung against the wall. These
racks were put up at great expense. They
are of three kiDds-wood, metal and sewer
pipe.
WIRE RACKS IMPORTED.
All metal wine racks are made abroad.
They are designated after the wine racks
invented by old Kaiser Wilhelm years ago,
and though the domestic racks are just as
good wine connoisseurs must have the
Kaiser imported racks. Wooden racks
can be made by anybody. They are shelves
with notches in them, In each notch there
rests the neck OF a bottle. The bottle
lies flat upon its side, perfectly level In
the metal racks the bottles are separated
by the wires. They barely touch each
other. Outside there is network that
opens and reveals one case OF wine at a
time The framework is open. Thus,
person breaking into a wine cellar, could
feast the eyes only, for the bottles are WIS.,
ible, but Gagged. The tips or the fingers
might tantalizingly touch the ends.
The sewer-pipe casing OF bottles was
brought to this country by Cornelius Van
derblt, whose wine cellar according to
Henry Ciews and many wine connoisseurs,
is the finest in the country. Mr.. Wander
bits favorite wine is German vintage
worth $3.50 per case Others say thatthe
Gould cellar is superior.
The sewer pipe storage was invented
by a French nobIeman during the Franco
Prussian war. Fire destroyed his resi-
dence. and the failing debris demolished
nobleman found some of the bottles
uninjured These be was so anxious to
preserve that he dug his sewer pipe from
the ground and la ying it in rows he pushed
a bottle into the depths of each link. The
result ten years later was the finest,
moistest, spciest wine ever tasted.
GOULD WINE CELLAR.
In George Gould's cellar there is long
shelving of these short links of sewer
pipe. In each link there hides a rare bottle.
Some of the wine is of the vintage of 1871,
which is the Oldest claret known. 1t is
worth $500 for a case of a dozen bottles.
Mr.. Gould's famous Bordeaux and Ma
deiri are the talk of the old world. When
they were at Cowes Mr. Gould took over a
mixed case TO the prince,
John w. Mackay has very fine chateau
wine, which he sends 10 this country to
friends at Christmas. Chateau wine is
wine that is bottled on the country estate.
Mr.. Mackay's chateau wine is pressed
from his own presses aud bottled in a
wine house. II is laid in baskets, taken
TO the cellar and put away to become
famous wine twenty years later.
Nonian drinks wine thatis under twenty
five years old no man who has wine
cellar. Nor is he afraid of Icing imposed
upon As a matter OF fact, he knows from
personal experience the age of his wines.
Every man has favorite vintage. j. b.
HaggiD, the famous silver mine king OF
California, has a large collection of the
1875 claret vintage. 1t is one OF the best
Of clarets, worth $50 per case 1t is deep
I'D color. soft and rich. He keeps it n the
darkest corner of the wine cellar of his
town house. Whenever he sees n new lot
for sale he buys it. He purchased much Of
the wine cellar of the late Samuel j. Til
den. recently sold at alarningly low rates.
When man buys vintage he marks
!tand puts il away. His son some day reads
the date and knows the a. of the wine.
In the rse of years the bottle are taken
away one by one, but so large Is a wine
cellar, so many are the bottles and SO care
full is the owner of them that in no case
do the rare bottles diminish more than a
bottle year. Owners OF rare wines be-
come like coin collectors. They want to
keep their possession to look at it.
c. Z. Huntington has been a collector
of wines for years. He owns some of
the 1901 brandy, which is sold for S120
per dozen, and he has SOME red chateau
wine of 1870, for which he paid $40 per
case, and practically cornered the market
on this wine.
The possession of clarct is a peculiar
thing. No wine is SO variable. You may
look ut the date and think you have rare
old wine. but when a wife connoisseur
visits you and sights the bottle he shakes
his head sadly. "You have II wine OF
1872 That is thin and poor. You were
cheated if you paid more than S12 case
for it,
His eye falls upon bottle of 1871. Il
see you have only one bottle of that, and
that is pint bottle. Too bad! 1t is one
of the best clarct vintages known. 1t
Is as good as 1869 and 1870. There you
should have paid SO case and bought
heavily"
A WINE CoNNoIssEUR.
You show him an 1868 bottle. mo
GOOD" he says. "The wines OF that year
are all miserable. And see you have
some of 80, 60 and ct. All poor. All.
there is '5s. The grandest vintage ever
known"
The wine connoisscur is up on all wines.
He knows their years, their ratings, their
prices and how many bottles there are
on the market. A man who is contem-