Bryan morning eagle. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1898-1909, 1902-11-14
THE WINE EXPERT.
He MUST BE As TEMPERATE As AN
ATHLETE m TRAINING.

lie Mast Lead "a Life at once Ris-
orou- aud Ascetic.
Many hotels and restaurants OF i'm
portance as well as many wholesale
and retail liquor dealing ilrms employ
wine expert II Is the duty of this
man 10 pass upon the quality Of all
wines. brandies. WHISTLES aud other
alcoholic beseugcs handled by his
house. lie works with an empty stom'
ach. and be makes his tests through
The three senses Of sight which tests
/ the spirits color aud clarity. smell
/ which tests lts odor. aud taste. the
most important sense. which tests Us
flavor. 40 Aocp these senses az once
delicate and sharp the expert must not
use tobacco uud in the use u liquors
he must be temperate 10 the point OF
/ teptotulIsm.
If two glasses of champagne are set
before a clever wine expert. one
champagne Of the vintage Of 1864. the
other OF the vintage Of 1855, be VIII
tell readily which Is which. There are
/ indeed a half dozen vintagcs which be
eau designate by their taste alone
without the helpful presence of the
labeled bottle.
The wine expert must also have a
profound knowledge of red wines.
/ Among the red wines of France he
must be able 20 tell those of the Ca
rome from those of burgundy and OF
Dauphiny.
In the white wines also he must be
learned, and he should have no din
Guilty In distinguishing the champagnes
Of Slilery. of Ay u Relms and OF
| Epernny and in distinguishing also
their best ylntagCs. Among the other
\ French white wines be must know
those OF Sauternc. Barsac, Prelgnac
and BOmmcs. And the Spanish white
wines OF Ncrcs the German white
wines OF Johannisberg. Stelnberg and
Hockhclm must bc Ike old time friends.
Whistles and brandies are divisions
~ his work that are as important as
the wines. Tie must tell at glance
whether n brandy has been aged In
wool or Iu glass and be must not only
separate with ease the Irish. the Scotch
aud the American WHISTLES, but he
even must designate the districts In
which cach was distilled.
Considering Dis knowledge the salary
of the wine expert Is not great II
averages SO a week. Occasionally IL
falls us low as So. and occasionally Il
mounts 90 munifcencc.
The expert must not eat rich. heavy
foods and liistrles. lie must not keep
late hours. His lie. in a word. must
be as temperate MS that of an athlete
In training. This Is Ia order that bis
senses OF sight and taste and smell
may bo at their best always. smoking
Is bad FOR the smell: rich foods are bad
Tor the taste; late hours or any sort Of
dissipation. even the mildest. Is bad
Tor the health generally aud Tor all the
senses. sight IN particular; hence the
rigorous and asceuc lie. OF the wine
expert.
The wine expert works with stomach
empty. for then bis taste and smell are
at their kceucst He works on bright
days only IN a room flooded with sun
light Tor then be can best weigh a
liquors. color and lucidIty. lie uses
glasses of the oldest shapcs-a diner.
cut glass almost Tor every llquor-for
these help him 20 distinguish the most
delicate gradatlous of smell aud color.
The brandy glass. Tor instance. has q
bowl almost as biz as washb0wL
The bottom u this bowl the brandy
covers In the thinnest layer. The ey-
pert puts his face down close and. with
his nose inside the bowl. rolls the
brandy about. thus getting the full bou-
quct Of the liquor.
lie must never swallow the beyer-
ages be tests. lie holds them In his
upon his tongue and letting them
touch his palate. and that II sufficient
FOR an accurate Judgment To swallow
them wonld not aid him, for there nre
no nerves OF taste In the stomach.
To swallow them would. on the con.
trary. hinder him. sending him drunk
20 bed each testing day.
The expert OF a large and fashlona.
bic New York hotel In discussing the
other day bis business said:
What is more difficult than 90 de
scribe Ia words the t,lste OF anythingl
How. for instance. would you say
what bread tastes like or meal or po-
tatOcsf
"But red wines have. after all. a de.
Enable taste. The poor red wines are
earthly. They have q flavor OF fresh
soil. The good ones taste like field
mushrooms. and the best ones taste
like trunies. Rut the taste OF whis.
kics and brandles aud white wines Is
not TO be- defined in any such concrete
way as this,
"Thc wine science Is nice one. Few
men know H. Few men indeed can
tell with their eyes shut whisky from
brandy or ale from beer. Few men
who use liquor even know the wines
that custom demands should be drunk
with dinner at which wine IL
served"
when asked what those wines were
he said:
"Sautcrne with the oysters. sherry