The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-12
SOME LONDON VINEYARDS.
Cellars In Which Wine Falxirs Pro-
duce Various brands CheapIy.


duce Various brands CheapIy.
London Daily Mail
Today is the day of the wine fakir
Never before in the history Of the trade
have his devices been so numerous and
his connections so villalnous Never be :
fore, too, have MS profits been more sat-
isfactory. So long as there is a demand
for fuIl-bodied "Burgundies anG cellar,
cts at, say, 6s. a dozen, that demand
will be supplied
There IS a vast difference between fab.
ricated and adulterated wine The lat
ter is generally pretty easy to deal with
Fabricated Wine is far more difficult OF
detection
Here we have concoction of a more or
less chemical nature, which is designed
with the express idea of closely initiating
the genuine wine, in color, bouquet and
taste One favorite fabrication consists
of 90 per cent of water, 51a per cent of
alcohol, and Az per cent of tannin. The
two latter ingredients are obtained from
the cheapest form of imported raisins
Very frequently these 'raisins" consist
of squeezed grape husks which have al
ready done genuine service in some
French wine press. They cost next to
nothing to import arc refermented here
in England, and their Juice" is sked out
with the aid of tartaric acid and ;no-
abled to sell his concoction at the ridicu-
lously low price of about Is I'd per gal,
Ion, and at the same time make an excel
lent profit upon the transaction Much
OF his beverage first sees the light in or
near London.
The retailer sells 1t again at about Is
sd per gallon; or, if bottled ard beauti-
fully sealed and cObwebbed, at the con-
s1derably enhanced price of, say, S;Xpence
per pint bottle-"Our famous SIS claret
A particularly pungent revelation of the
beauties of certain British light wines
was afforded the food preservatives COM
mittee by Prof w. H CorfieEd This sci.
enlist, who is consulting sanitary adviser
to her majesty's office of works. stated
that he commonly found saIicyIic acid in
these ''vintages." Salicyiic acid. added
he, for the benefit of his non-scientifc
hearers, was slightly acrid irritating
substance which was much In demand
among afflicted people as a corn solvent
a fabricated sherry, which can be sold
at good Profit for Is a bottle, is pre-
pared from cider-and more obnoxious
things. 'Champag ne,' which is also bet
ter left untouched, is prepared by the
willy fabrcatOr.
Whatever the shortcomings Of the Brit
ish wine fakir, and they are many, it is
certain that for sheer audacity he mus
yield the palm TO his Teutonic competi-
tors. In the city of Hamburg alone IL is
possible to purchase limitations Of practic-
ally every wine and spirit under the sun
at prices before which the British wine
fakir must stand aghast.
With spirits, however, the palate is a
better guide. A British East Indian
house was recently offered by Hamburg
exporters whisky at rs HID per dozen
case, and brandy at IS 10d. This is the
sort of poison which Germany annually
supplies upward of a millions worth to
the Niger coast protcetorate. The lia1or
is the most villainous potato spirit, care
fully disguised by strong essences and
sham labels.
France is not less culpable She only
produces about 10000 hectol.tres Of genu-
Inc French brandy, yet She expo. IS about