The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-10-19
THE WINE EXPERT.
A Queer Calling That Requires
Much knowledge and Skill.

Much knowledge and Skill.
Every hotel and restaurant of i'm
portance. every important wholesale
and retail liquor dealing firm. employs
a wine expert. 1t is the duty OF this
man to pass upon the quality of all
wines, brandies, WHISTLES and other
alcoholic beverages handled by his
house. He works on an empty stom-
ach, and he makes his tests through
the three senses of-first, sight, which
weighs the spirits color and clarity;
second. smell, which weighs the odor,
and third, taste, the most important
sense, which weighs it's flavor To
keep these senses at once delicate
and sharp, tn expert must not use to-
bacco, and in the use of liquors he
must be temperate to the point OF tee
totalism. Furthermore, he must be
We'll versed in oenology, as the science
of spurious drinks is called. This is
a science quite as old, quite as large,
quite as complex, as is the science of
medicine.
II two glasses of champagne are
set before a wine expert, one a cham
payne of the vintage of 1864, the other
of the vintage of 1885, he will tell read
lily which is which. There are, indeed,
half dozen vintages which he can
designate by their taste alone, with
out the helpful presence of the labelled
bottle. The champagnes of 70, of "a,
of 'SS, of 'S4 and of 81 have each a dis
tinct and peculiar kind of excellence
which makes them readily distinguish
able to the expert. This excellence
makes them also worth from $40 to
SIS quart.
His Profound Knowledge.
The wine expert must have a pro-
found knowledge of the red wines.
Amongst the red wines of France he
must be able to tell those of the Ga
rome from those of Burgundy and of
Dauphiny. OF the Gironde red wines,
he must be able to distinguish between
Chateau La Fitte, Chateau La Tour,
Chateau MarGaux and Haul Brion.
And (of the Burgundies of the Cote
d'Or) the Chambertin. the Richebourg
and the Clos Vougeot must each seem
distinct and individual to him as the
verses of Kipling, Rossetti and Mat
thew Arnold seem distinct and indi-
| vidual to the student of prosody.
In the white wines also he must be
| learned. The effervescing white wine
called champagne must be familiar to
him. and he should have no difficulty
in distinguishing the champagnes of
| Sillery, of Ay, of Rheims and Of Eper-
nay, and in distinguishing also their
| best vintages. Among the other
| French white wines he must know
those of Sauterne. Barsac, Preignac
and Bommes. And the Spanish white
wine of Xeres, the German white wines
of johannesburg, Steinberg and Hook
helm must be like old-time friends.
Whiskies and brandies are divisions
of his work that are quite as important
as the wines. He must tell at a glance
| 6nf he Irv l.,
wood or in glass, and he must not
only separate with ease the Irish. the
Scotch and the American whiskies, but
he must even designate the districts in
which each was distilled.
His Average Salary.
Considering his knowledge, the sal
| cry Of the wine expert is not great II
| averages $40 week. Occasionally II
falls as low as S25 and occasionally
as at the Bellevue in Philadelphia, the
Waldorf-Astoria in New York, the
Touraine in Boston, the Auditorium ir
Chicago, the Raleigh in Washington
it mounts to munificence that sets il
beside the salary of a bishop.
The expert, as has been said, must
not smoke. He must not eat rich
heavy foods and pastries. He must not
keep late hours. His life, in a word
| must be as temperate as that of ar
athlete in training. This is in order
that his senses of sight and taste and
smell may be at their best always
Smoking is bad for the smell; rich
foods are bad for the taste; late hours
or any sort of dissipation, even the
mildest, are bad for the health gen.
orally, and for the sight in particular
Hence the rigorous and ascetic life of
| the wine expert.
The wine expert works on an empty
stomach. for then his tatste and smell
are at their keenest. He works on
bright days only, in a room flooded
with sunlight, for then he can best
weigh a liquors color and lucidity. He
uses glasses of the oldest shapes-a
different glass almost, for every differ
ent liquor-for these help him to dis