New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-12-26

Since champagne speaks for itself so loudly
every night, perhaps shall not be unfair yield
10 private prejudice and begin what have to
say about wines with " the brave sap of Gironde -
Clarets. were never cheaper, more abundant,
and purer than in the present day. the
Lancet says. Yet to give good dog bad
name Is halfway towards hanging him and the
sale Of fine clarets in English hotels has been
nearly killed by reversal Of this process-by
giving good names TO bad clarets. The old tales
about the one hogshead and the twenty labels
were true. Happily, the successful hotels Of
our day are owned by shareholders Of the same
class that own the railways and the banks and
1t is only in country towns that one still finds tho
simple, red-faced host who looks upon a claret
laDel as q mere ornament, to be shifted at
pleasure. In the case Of the Savoy Hotels, at
any rate, the purchase Of wines Is regarded as one
OF the nest important Of responsibilities, and
there are but few vino growers who do not know
that the Managing Director OF the Savoy began
his work-a-day life in the good town Of Bordeaux,
tasting claret in the great snn-baked stores Of
the Cours du Medoc, where the firm of CalTet
will soon be toasting its centenary, Tho Chair
man of the Board, and he, with the assistance of
one or two othor experts, form the tasting COM
mittee Of the Savoy Company, and they lay down
deal OF claret in one OF the better years and
very little, il any, in q poorer one.
The result OF the policy adopted by the Savoy
shareholders Is chat one to-day finds clsrets of
such vintages as rs, III, 70, and 'SS quoted on
tho wine-lists OF the Savoy, the Berkeley, and
Claridges OF price lower than that which they
would have cost private consumer had he
bought them for himself when they first came to
tho market and edded to his original outlay the
very modest allowance of 5 per cent. per annum
TO cover interest, breakage, and blunders. But
ono swallow does not mako summer, and public
opinion Is still influ enced by the fact that few
hotel keepers wero judges Of claret and that the
many became the prey CT certain Spectators in
wines, who used to mako it their business TO set
out for Bordeaux and buy tho worst vintages Of
well-known growths, thus acquiring Mt the same
time the right to apply the name Of Chateau to
such st2rveling offspring. These wines were then
put on tho English market at an unconscionable
advance upon their original price, and hotel pro-
prietors, ignorant OF the fact that tho most i'm
portant part Of a claret label Is the date rather
than the name. were delighted TO pay something
like thirty shillings dozen for wine fit only for
prison. wine that found its way into their wine
Lists at ten shillings bottle.
Even to-day it might be possible to ind clerets
priced at this figure which had been originally
solG for sixty or eighty shillings hogshead, q
price equivalent to about sixpence or sevenpence
the quart bottle. When the existing stock of
such wines shall have been consumed by 3 long
suffering public, poured into the gutters where
it belongs, the abuse OF Chateau titles will, one
may hope, be at an end, for the wine-groyers OF
the Gironde have at last been wise enough to
adopt the policy Of the champagne firms and to
bottle for themselves the good vintages Under
their proper labels, selling anonymously the pro-
duct Of inferior years. For their past reckessness
the proprietors OF the great growths have been
heavily punished. 1000 is vintage that promises
to be as good as 1874, yet the first growths of
1874 sold at Bordeaux ut ESQ the hogshead, FREQ
on board, and the second GrowthS at from e45
TO ECO, while In 1000 the frat growths sold for
&23 and the second growtha for from eI2 TO GIA
THE TRAGEDY OF THE BASKET.
The Chateau propGetors were, however, only
the first or long succession OF cruel stepmothers
who have made life very difficult for Bordeaux
wines. There Is no cold, In England at nny rate,
that can ever injure the most fragile claret |
but heot Will ruin it III week. The cellar
should never be warmer than So After a GOOD |
clarct has been insJilted by the application Of
label which has previously been used for trash,
it Is as often as not put in q cellar where only
thin wall separates 1t from the furnace which |
heats the hotel or makes steam to run the
lifts, Even IL it has escaped this rufianly treat
Inent, the unhappy ciaret may be exposed to the
most atrocious ba-baritles when it is about to |
appear on, the table. Putting the bottle or
decanter into warm water or on the hearth utterly
destroys the delioacy OF the wine. Good claret
should DO decantcd and placed IN the room where
e Is to be- drunk 10 room at temperature Of ca
IN hour-and IN the case OF some wines two
nours-bcfore dinner. That is all the warming il !
needs. The bottle should be slowly moved from
tho ticr By q man selected for his steadiness Of
band laid, with its plane unaltered, on wooden