Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-14
BOGUS CHAMPAGNES1
MANY MADE TO ORDER THAT ARE
GOOD WINES.
Mixing q Common Method Of French
Growers-Amerieans No More De-
ceivsd Than 9tAer Nations.

Paris Corr. of the New York Sna.
Do Americans drink labels? When we
think we are drinking the great wines of
France are we bamboozled by printers ink
and gliding?
The manager of the spirits department OF
the British army and navy stores says that
we are: and DR.. W. H Wiley. chief Of the
bureau of chemistry of our Agricultural
Department, rather thinks SO. In particu-
| lar. according to this view, we are deceived
when we buy champagne. Saumur wines.
we are told, are served to us labeled Reims
and Epernay.
What Is the sparkling wine of Saumur?
The old French province Of Anjou in which
the city of Saumur is situated, produces an
immense variety of spurious champagnes.
tisanes and sparkling wines. Vintaged ON
| the banks Of the Loire, they are consigned
| to all the world, labeled: Creme de
Bouzy," "Sillery'' LAY Mousseux' and all
the Carries Noires' and Carries Blanches''
you please.
Shipments to London.
Do the English think that none of these
shipments get to London? They would be
| lucky If they got no worse. Being from ro-
buster growths than those of the cham
payne district, these sparkling wines lack
the lightness which is the browning grace
| OF the real article, HeSGftheIeSS the famous
vineyards of the Coteau de Saumur give a
product that has only to be kept a few
years to acquire great delicacy.
Saumur manufacturers, regular
thing, are obliged to draw considera BILE sup
plies of the white wine required to impart
| lghtness and effervescence to their vim pre-
pare from the vineyards of Vouvray on the
| Loire The new wines are mixed and al
! lowed to rest until the commencement of
| the ensuing year. the blending being done
| In immense watts. Then it is stored in
casks, never perfectly filed, yet with the
bungs tightly closed. So the wine con-
! later it is fined 1t is rarely kept in the
wood more than year, though sometimes
the superior qualities remain in cask two
years Thenceforth the wine is subjected
to the same treatment as is pursued with
regard to real champagne.
Take notice that such sparkling wine is
tremendously different in quality from the
fabrication of utterly dishonest people
Under its own name Saumur champagne
is drunk in considerable quantities all over
France. especially in the large provincial
cities. The best Saumur retails in Paris
as high 5 francs per large bottle, and
as low as francs so confines.
Sparkling sauterne.
1t is the same way with one sparkling
| wine from Bordeaux This is sparkling
sauterne, and it travels under its own
name. Sauterne is one of the finest of
WHO NlueS, dIu 1lS lulO
sparkling wine vas long ago success
fully accomplished AAs it is in itself an
expensive wine, it loses nothing by not
bearing the champagne name. 1t is sold
and consumed for Exactly what it is, a
fancy wine, novelty for rich mems tables.
like the greater sparkling burgundies.
Of all the champagnes that are not
champagne, these are the most Interesting
whether they pe of Beune, DIXON or Nuts.
Heavier and more potent than the subtle
n a..r-, ctrYa 1icf~t 1f
are nevertheless in many cases-particu-
larry the red varieties, Chambertin Ro-
nance and Vougeot--ef the highest quality.
On the other hand. many little white
burgundies, when made sparkling, are
regularly labeled with tile name of some
champagne of commerce. to deceive the
innocent consumer
In this matter of deceptive labels MANY
an effort to protect the word champagne"
has been made by a few of the greater
and more conservative Rems houses.
The latest of these dated from few
months prior to the Paris exposition of
1900 when uniting firms that built the
champagne palace, acting in connection
with the Reims syndicate, almost succeeded
IN having more rigorous law passed.
Blended Champagne.
This law would have prohibited the word
champagne appearing on any bottle not
containing real champagne. the product
of the district; and its failure 1 am told
was due to the practically insurmountable
difficulties thrown in the way of it's adj
vocates by other houses in the district, who.
TO sell a low-priced Wine resort to mixing.
You cannot say that their product is not
real champagne. 1t is real champagne
mixed with varying quantities of white
burgundy. often of so good a flavor that
the result is not bad at all.
Such wines, the trade says, cannot de-
ceive the public, for the simple reason that
their price tells its own story. They retail
IN Paris at around 5 francs per large
bottle, while the real thing, unadulterated
and guaranteed by the name of some fore
most RellnS house, cannot possibly be
retaiied in Paris under 6 francs 50 centimes
apart from the great test of known firm
name and honest retail price, there is no
better general test for the completely ig-
norant than that of the effervescing. If
your champagne stops bubbing very rapid
~ be sure 1t is a wrong un:'' If it does
not continue to send up it's bubbles very
long indeed, then it Is a secondary uuaIity