The Dickinson press., 1898-01-15
WINES IN AMERICA.
Champagne Il by No Means the Most Ex-
pensive Used.

PcubAvo ObOus
The consumption of wines in the
United States is decreasing so far as
the imported wines are concerned
and increasing as regards the ma
tive product, says the Chicago
Chronicle. The wines of France and
Germany, the famous Rhine wines
and the French burgundy and %claret,
are NOT in demand to any extent
among native Americans. Those
Americans who have Travelled a
great deal on the continent affect
the imported wines, but the average
citizen does not. Some of these
wines cost considerably more than
champagne, and their particular ex-
oellence is only known to the con.
noisseur. -
The Americans who have not &C
quired taste for beverages of this
kind either stick to the plain corn
juice of commerce or the cheering
or inebriating beer, OF, if they drink
wine, they tackle the homemade
stuff.
Among the steadiest partakers Of
these wines are those of the foreign
population who have come to this
country with the taste already &C
quired. Here in Chicago the Ger
mans and French know these wines
and drink them, but their sons do
not follow in the footsteps Of their
ancestry in this respect, so that the
trade in the rarest of the German
and French wines is confined in Chi
cago to the foreign born and a few
Americans. Some champagne is
drunk-a good deal, in fact, COM
pared with other wines imported,
and that il brought from France.
The French have a practical mo.
nopoly of the champagne market.
There are two reasons for this. The
first is that the grape used in the
manufacture of champagne grows
best in France, and the second rea-
son is the long continuance of cham.
payne making in that country. The
grape used is fit for making no 9th.
er wine.
But the making of wines and thei,
consumption have advanced won
derfully in this country, and with
the increase has come the falling of
in the demand for imported wine
More than a half a million gallons
of California wine is sold in Chi
oago every year, and the sales arr
increasing each year. The industry
in California has doubled itself fou,
times in the past 20 years.
The best grapes for the dry whit.
wines are the semilion,. Pedroxi
mines, Riesling, sistan, green Hun
garian, Chardonay, Sauvignon
Blanc and Burger, by the blending
of which all types of dry whit
wines are produced. Of what ar
known as the black grapes, used 70
the making Of the dry red wines
the varieties used mostly are tn
Petite Sirrah, Duriff- Mondeuse, Net
biola, Beclan, Barbera, Alicante
ihourchet and Tannet.
The best dry sherry and port com
from Spain. Dry wines attain thei
best at about five years in the cash
If bottled and Theoretically sealed
they will grow mellower, but in an,
other respect no better by agt
Sweet wines improve when bottle
for2 20 years and possibly after thai
American wines are driving foreig
wines from the market, except as t
the very fine brands of German an
French wines and champagne. Th
American growers have not yet su,
ceeded in making good champaign,
but that they will do 80 is assured.
What port wine is consumed
Chicago ought to come from Oport,
and the grapes from which it
made should have been grown alon
the banks Of the Douro river, for j
that case it is the real stuff, but it