The Republican journal., 1899-12-07

Subscribed and sworn tn before me, a
notary public. this 18th day of October,
1895.
WM B. WoLcoTr, .Netyr Public.
AT druggists or iireet from
DR.. Williams Medicine Co., scueuectedy. n. Y.
OF cents per box boxes $50,
When the light wine people heard Of it,
they pretended to be terribly shocked,
possibly to cover some crookedness of
their own, and raised no end of hue and
cry about 'adulteration, forgetting that
one fruit is really as wholesome as another.
As for log wood adulteration. that fable
has always been libellous. Any chemist
Will tell you that the peculiar reaction of
log wood makes it absolutely imperative
as dye in any sort of wine. Indeed, so
long as the public has the good sense to be
satisfied with the true garnet-red color of
pure port which turns with age to a
rich amber. no merchant Will be SO ex-
travagant as to put ederber1y in it-a
much scarcer and therefore dea1er fruit
than grapes III Portugal If exacung Gus
toners desire their wine to resemble ink.
there is a much cheaper dye than even
log wood, and one always al hand in Port
ugal-the darker varieties of native grapes
in their natural colors. SO the point is
clear, that as there is. nothing so cheap
and convenient with which to adulterate
port wine as itself, it is bound to be pure
as the ankee cider, for which the farmer
carries his own apples to the mill and
watches the process OF their crushing,
woims and all.
lie true port wine is made only
in one corner Of Portugal, in a district
marked out specially by nature to be
one huge vineyard It is cut off from
the sea by one lofty range ot mountains,
and sheltered by others from the north
and east winds. Even the valley
OF vineyards is billy and PERCEPTIONS.
the vines growing On barren looking
soil, peculiar brown, crumbling, sluy
scLis,, built az into mulitndnous ter
races from top to bottom Of the hills
The entire stip of country, about 30
miles above the mouth ri he Douro is
only twenty seven miles long by five or
SIN miles wide. In winter it is almost rs
cold as the climate OF Maine. but 10 sum
mel the sun fairly levels i'll the narrow
vale and is reflected from the Lii amphi-
theatres with particular intensity. Cut
off from every breeze, the whole region
lies still and beoalmed ia tlopic heat, -
though in about the same latitude as
Boston OF Chicago. Nowhere else in
Europe can the vines get such a roasting.
and nowhere else are tie juices of the
grade elaborated into sucl "a rich and 20
tent liquor 1t would be easy to find hot
ter suns-in Cuba, for instance but the
vine that produces the wine par excel
lence is not a tropical plant and needs
the severe cold OF winter to give it a
seasOnable rest. The wine district is
one Of the few in Portugal where ice forms
in winter, thick enough TO bear the weight
of a man. The vines are grown as bushes
more like English gooseberry trees than
anything else Early in the year they are
closely pruned and the summer shoots are
supported by stakes. Elsewhere in the
Peninsula, except where a specially good
wine is wanted, the vine is trained over
trellises, or against pollarded trees In
that way more grapes may be had, but
the wine is poor. The vintage begins
towards the end of September Much
care and knowledge are required in
selecting the right proportion of the
many varieties of grapes grown on a single
plantation-some for color, some for
flavor, some for bouquet, and some for
strength. The ripe grapes are thrown
into a vat and trodden under bare feet.
not unwashed, let us hope; and the weary
process reminds one of the Biblical
phrase, He hath trodden the wine press
alone. The skins, stones, juice and
stalks are then allowed to remain until
the liquid 1ermentS. As soon as the heat of
fermentation begins to abate the wine is
run into large casks, (tonels, l believe, is
the technical name), whereby the active
fermentation is checked, bnt is not Who'll
~ arrested until the cold weather of win
ter sets in Then the wine clears, the casks
are filled to the tops. bungs are driven tight
and the beverage is fit for consumption.
This is how red wine has been made since
the first juice of grapes was pressed out
and fermented; how it is still made in
France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal and
Hungary, the ingenuity of man having
added very little to the time -honored
process of Abraham's day. To be sure
there are some variations and improve
ments, such as scientific instruments, cali
ed saccharometers, for determining pre-
cisely the right moment for drawing off
the 'mist;' and in few cases fraudsIare
practiced, such as adding burned sugar
to the poorest and thinest sour wine ito
initiate the flavor of MADEIRA, and doctfr-