The Sunday globe., 1901-05-19
BENEDICTINE WINE.
The Real Fecamp Article and its
Spurious ImitatOrs.
MOST FAMOUS OF WINES.
The Secret Of It's Manufacture Preserved for
Observation-Disclosures Of Its Unique Dis
tlIerIsS, Museum, and Surroundings gs-The
Peculiar BenedCtins Bottle, Label, and Other
Interesting Things About BenedOtne

At Fecamp, France, is made the eel
ebrated Benedictine wine, known to
the world over. In California Bene-
dictine wine is distilled, which sells to
the uninitiated for the genuine article,
and if the imbiber knows no better he
is, perhaps, as well pleased, or at all
events as well off. However, he who
has once tasted the Fecamp product can
never be deceived A visit to this his
toric town is recalled by the presenta-
ton to the editor, the past week, of a
bottle of the Fecamp Benedictlne. It
is worth visit to Fecamp go through
the distillery where this famous wine is
manufactured.
To give "a detailed account Of all the
curiosities and objects of interest in the
distillery buildings would require a
book. and that no small one. 1t is
rather pity that the contents of the
museum are not catalogued for the ben
eft of visitors. NJ Violet lie Due, the
famous architect, described it as "a
veritable little Cluny," and the descrip.
ton is accurate enough. Statues of
marble and stone, with strange Aegine-
tian smiles, carved ivory, old credence
tables, abbots' chairs, pyXes of difierent
ages of ecclesiastical art, ancient chal-
ices, Golfers, clocks, sacerdotal woven
gowns, seals, manuscripts, and a vast
variety of objects, interesting not only
for their age, but also because Of then
intrinsic beauty, are to be seen there
And perhaps the most interesting of all
these matters was a seventeenth CEN
tury bottle stamped with the seal Of the
abbey. in every respect similar to that
which holds the modern Benedictine.
That was the ancestor of the vast and
noble army of liquor bottles (last yeal
] $50, 600 were Sold which has con-
quered every nook and corner Of the
planet in the name of st. Benedict and
Bernardo Vincelli. From such bottle
was filed the parcel gilt cup from which
Francis l.. , on his first and last visit tC
the Abbey of Fecamp, drank as he sat
in the saddle before the arched door
way. This notable visit forms the sub
ieet of a fine stained glass window in
the museum buildings In after years
hearing Breton nobleman Dragging
about the wines of his native land, the
King remembered the Abbot's cordial
"Slr.n said the King, 'your Breton
wines are the greenest and sharpest o
all the wines made i'm my kingdom, anC
are fit only to give william the collie
An! but if you had been talking abou
the good cordials made by the monks o
Fecampl On the word of a gentleman
never have / tasted aught bstler.o
From such a bottle D'Artagnal
poured out a stirrup cup for his friendi
and for himself before they set out on {
certain business. With bottles Of the
selfsame pattern poor people were com
| fortably doctOred for three centuries
and the Benedictine brothers solaceC
! Themselves whenever too much study
| had wearied the flesh After the rev
olution, when Christianity was driver
out of the monastery with peasant
pitcbfork, and the religion Of humanity
| was organized on the decimal system
! the monks of Fecamp went out into thu
bleak world each bearing his bottle
and the steward Of the abbey fled t
Entretat with the famous recipe. In
later years this precious parchment fel
into the possession of NJ, Alexandra Il
Grand, veritable Alexander the Great
! leading forth an army of stubborn
! broad based bottles to a worldwide con
quest.
When, ia 1868, the existing company
LA Benedictnen was organized (tht
/ 500 share is now worth 81 400, and las
years dividend as "a per cent?, the
! bottle proved itself a champion, and
vanquished a crowd of claimants to the
kingship among liqueurs. In lofty
glass case, covering the whole of d
wall in one of the distillery rooms, are
between 900 and 700 of the vanquished
rivals of the true Benedictine. All oi
them closely resemble the FecamI
product when seen from distance
more closely inspected, slight differ
ences in the lables aud seals are dis.
cernable. For example, the three de
dictory letters to ID. G. Nj. (DeO OptimC
magistrO) above the little cross on the
circular label are often replaced by two
or three other letters, and these in
many cases are merely the initials OF
the person or persons responsible fol
the fraud, who seem to have been ig.
noTant of the meaning Of ID. o. NJ. and
the cross below. To this crowd of cap
tive newcomers are constantly bling
added, for nowadays the law Of trade.
marks shields this Napoleon Of liqueuI
bottles, and lie Benedictine" never
stints the money required for fighting
imitators. In one recent lawsuit ,00O
was spent, and it is probable that the
conquest of these hundreds Of imita
tors must have cost them more than
$500 900. And it would be more inter.
esting to know how much money has
been lost i'm the, vain attempt to de-
stroy the monopoly possessed by LA
Benedictine But monopoly found
ed on Sheer excellence and buttressed
by the Church and the law is not likely
to be overthrown. Perhaps when the
Chartreuse Company gets to work in
downright earnest the manufacture of
Benedictine will become less profitable.
The image of the Benedictine bottle
II to he seen everywhere in Fecamp.
Wrought i'm the stone and metal work
of the huge pile OF dstillery buildings,
worn as badge by the workpeople
belonging to the Distillery Band, gOr-
geOusly printed on the menu cards OF
the fete, perched proudly on the high
est points of triumphal arches-One
such arch was entirely composed OF
Benedictine packing cases l-gloriously
displayed in stained glass windows
one Of thess windows representing a
meet ng Of the directors, and set for a
sign in every cafe and in nearly every
shop. There is no spot in the town
where you cannot see at least one of
these bottles or something exactly re-
sembling it. Even if you leave the
town and, following the footsteps OF
William the Conqueror, walk down to
the beach between the lofty sheer
chalk cliffs, you shall have no chance
to forget it,
The distlllery buildings are exceed
ingly will arranged and equipped.
The actual process Of distilling is car