Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-09
An Exhibit That is a Feature of the
Paris Exposition.
ANCIENT and MODERN METHODS
Nowadays the Juice of the Grape
is Sadly Doctored.
SOME FAMOUS VINTAGES

the Rhone, the heady juice OF Roussllon
and the sparkling cuvees of champagne. in
stage setting worthy Of the Opera Comique
itself. proclaim to the wanderer that he
has reached the right corner Of the exhi-
bition at last. The show takes up half OF
the old Machinery Hall, beside the new and
enormous Sale des Fetes. The scenery imi-
tates old farm and village buildings, Gothic
barns and Renaissance taverns. homesteads
OF patched styles from every corner OF Ia
belle France. whose leafy trellises declare
them to be the real things. In the cool
cellar Of the Champagne Palace and on Its
bright florid balconies the visitor may flush
his cheek and animate his eye with the
most celebrated "fizz" at less than cost
price.
In the Champagne Palace every stage OF
champagne making is taught by realistic
object lesson. A diorama combination Of real
vines growing in real dirt against painted
background, cunningly lit up. produces the
Illusion Of glimpse into the champagne
countryside. Here. all around, are scatter
ed the constructions that so closely initiate
the real old buildings of old France that
one associates with the old times when
wine. the pure, invigorating juice Of The
grape, and not grain and potato spirits. was
the peoples drink. The buildings are con-
structed of STAFF, wood and painted canvas,
but you would not dream it to look at them
LII OHt dHtleHl tavern Oh coDi DIdth SUMO
seemingly 800 years old. a sweet damsel
was pouring sparkling Saumur at cents
the glass. 1t is a frankly imitation cham
payne. The girl proved to be a Russian.
the wine was an imitation, and the ven
cradle building was stucco fraud; but.
after all. the spirit of the thing was there
the spirit of the thing which is the Illusion
of the poet and the artist. Let us not grow
so wise as completely to lose that spirit!
Deadly DecOctiOns.
tI,;. xr,itb fhn
spirit of the poet and the artist. From the
town of Saumur, on the Loire, are shipped
to England. America and South Africa
enough fraudulent. headachy Cremes de
Bouzy and Sillery and Ay mousseux to
physic army twice a week entire year
of twelve months. With corks branded
with the names of phantom firms they are
introduced to the public under the auspices
of mythical counts and dukes, and labeled
as of some chateau near Ay, BouZy, Cha-
Ions Epernay, Reims or Nerzenay. All this
is bad. as the fair Russian girl tells you in
good English: but there are worse things
yet. Monsieur haf' tisane from his gro
Gerry. He pay six francs for wine surcharge
of alcohol of the potato. The wine perhaps.
is not bad-but the potato. Its alcohol is
of dirtiness. 1t is Of poison. from which
there will be pain in the hairs of the morn
ing and immense disgust. But this wine is
wine naturel. at per cent 10 per cent,
as may be. and not raised with alcohol"
From many another grape-leafed trellis
we saw them pour these sparkling Antou
and Touraine wines to the thirsty multi
tude. The sparkling Vouvray in particular
has great reputation among the econom-
ically minded French. 1t is not rank imi-
tation. but honest vim mousseux. with
its own method of preparation. The new
wines (mixed into a cuvee near to the
champagne Ideal as possible) rest in vaults
almost year. Then 1t Is stored In casks,
never perfectly filled, yet with the bung-
holes tightly closed. So 1t continues it's
slow fermentation, "eating up its sugar"
''purging itself" just like real champagne,
and letting fall its lees Three months
later 1t IS fined" Rarely 1t is kept In the
wood more than a year. though some of the
superior qualities remain in cask two years.
Sometimes 1t even Is bottled in the spring
following the vintage. its sugar strength be-
ing raised to the right degree. Henceforth
the wine Is subjected to the same treatment
as champagne. going through the processes
of 'tdegorgement," dosage and final cork
age until 1t comes to us to drink, either
honestly by its own name or as cham
pagne," a name forbidden by the law-for
France.
When Wines Were Honest.
In the district of Burgundy exhibit Is
curious reproduction of old-time wine-mak-
ing. when the honest peasant trod the
grapes with his bare feet. The picture here
shows the whole outfit. with the pigeon cote
at the right hand. the old shed under which
d SdTue Cdmpelle WI SouulIy pOllCeHldtlJ
stands waiting for his morning nip, and the
great cask in which the peasant stains his
feet a rich red. The figures are in wax
work At the left hand they have placed
one of the first horizontal wine presses used
In France a clumsy Old wooden machine
that looks unutterably ancient and worm
eaten today. They say this Identical wine
press dates from the time of Louis XI.
Heady burgundy.
Observation-Disclosures Burgundy" as they
say In the old English plays-is a header
wine than Bordeaux, and its effect on the
mind is different. Bordeaux inclines to con-
versation and to light gayety. Burgundy
makes Its man first contemplative with
brooding earnestness and insight into all
things, then ready for the greatest deeds of
action, in particular courageous deeds. In
word 1t fighting wine. Look out for the
man loaded with victorious Burgundy!
Here in the exhibit Of the wines of France
one sees-and tastes at high price-those
great old Burgundies that in the middle
ages passed as presents from one royal
parsonage to another, as orders and deco
rations are exchanged between them now
adays. In those days Burgundy was called
1.-The wine of princes When cham
payne began disputing this proud title. a
tremendous controversy rose. in 1852, that
is not settled yet. famous doctor of
Paris wrote a folio volume to prove the
superiority of Burgundy. The medical
faculty of Rheims rose up against 1t. The
medical faculty of Beaume denounced the
faculty of Rheims. In 1I1S the faculty Of
Paris decided in favor Of champagne. In
all this controversy. 1t Is to be noted, there
was never question Of the sparkling, bub-
bling. foaming wine we know as cham
payne. In the last part of the sixteenth
century champagne wine was Of a yellow
ish hue, and later of that intermediate
tint between red and white which the
French call clairet ifrom which comes or
roneously, our word ''claret"), and which
old English writer's translated as 1.-The COM
plexion Of q cherry" or the color of a
partridge's eye" Always. before the great
discovery of the monk Perignon in 1888, It
was a "still' wine. like Bordeaux and Bur-
gundy today.
Expensive Vintages.
It 10 true that there are sparkling Bur-
gundies fancy curiosities for rich mems
tables. Some may be seen in this exhibit.
Sparkling Chambertin and Romance and
Vougeot" 1t goes without saying, how
ever, that by Burgundy ordinarily is meant
a still wine, red or white. These so-called
table Wines run into prices far beyond
the cost Of any champagne known to man,
a fact that often causes surprise to the in
uocent, who by wine understand the pop
ping "fz" and 1t only.
Bordeaux also-even more than Burgundy
runs into extraordinary prices In the