New-York tribune., 1905-01-02


great clarets- 1 shculd add that the unifcation
Of the cellars of the Savoy, Claridgc's, and the
Berkeley IS being elected very rapidly, and that.
meantime, claFet from any one OF the three
stocks viii, if ordered in the morning, be
decanted and sent in time for dinner TO the
restaurant at which it is to be served. On tie
other hand, the reader who habitually dimes &C
any ono Of the three restaurants may enjoy
making visit to one OF the others for the sake OK
finding a special wine there
The first three letters Of the English word
" crushing " spell 4 French word which would
best be translated as 81 class, although . growth
is the technical term used IN the English wine
trade. The distinctions are purely geographical
but persons who arc not familiar with vine
making processes often suppose that 9 first and
&" second, " and 50 or, Indicate wines obtained BY
successive pressings Of tho same mass OF grape
pulp, the inferior wines being the later crush
ipgS with added water-EkO second drawing OF
tea. Some wines are indeed made in this way
but they:are used only by tho poorest French
peasants.
The odfcidl classifeation' was made. In 1855.
when q congress OF vino brokers undertook
TO reform abuses in tie Bordeaux trade by dfyid-
ling Gironde wines into four grades: (a) . the
fine grade b) " the burg6er grade" (c) :" the
artisan: grade and de- the peasant grade"
The 8 fine grade was then sTbdivided into smaller
categories, groups of g growthS, Ofwhichin the
MedOc district there no less than Eve. Tbe
work was admirably done, and has stood the test
of time better than do most arbitrary elassiaca-
ttions. It may, however, before many years, be
/ slightly modified, as it Is now generally thought
/ that MOuton-ROthschild, which is elassed as
/ second growth, should be considered first, that
Palmer among the third grOwths, as well ss
Beychevelle and the buttery Branaire among the
fourth, will probably be released as seconds
There are three first growths Of MSdocs
Chateau Margaux, Chateau Latte, and Chateau
La -Four. Graves produced only one frss the
fragrant Chateau Haut7 Briou. These are the four
classic clarets of the world. The Margaux vineyards
belonging TO Comte Pillet-Wll, q Paris banker,
\ the La Tour to joint stock company, the Lafita
to the French branch Of the .RothsehHd family.
and the Haut-Brion to Victor Costeau. Tbs
ChateaW Margaux produces 265 tuns IN an average
year; the Latte 210 tuns, the La Tour lis tuns,
! and the Haut- -Brion 25 tuns, tun being equiva-
lent TO four hogSheads, and q hogshead TO twenty
four dozen, English - reputed quart " bottles.
4 Anticipating the expected new classification, and
1 therefore including MOuton-R Rothschild, the
average yield Of the five great clarets IS about
5000 dozen English bottles year. But this.
from the point, ,Of view Of the amateur In carets,
Is not an annual gainN The Tint ages-or years, To-
use palmer word-'vary greatly in quality, and
/ although the excellence OF all ciaret vineyards
virtually rises and falls at the same time, It is
not right to speak Of any but the really good
| YintageS in discussing these. five Royalwiness
for 70 third fourth growth is vastly superior
to a 70 first growth. have already said, in .,
lpreviOus chapter of these notes, that tho year
marked on the labels Of the Savoy clarets Is quite
las important as the name. Since the: phyllOxera
epidemic reached its climax, soon Efter the
| Franco German War, there have been only seven
really good elaret viatages, n, 70, III VS., SS,
/ 'S5, and 90. We have, therefore, to bless
period OF some thirty years, sLly seven years
/ yield Of the very finest possible wines. A fire
\ vintage is always, happily, a large vintage az
we'll. The yield Of these five vineyards for 90.
which. seems as good -&s To- was sixty thousand
English dozens. After thesectwO' great years,
the best vintage. is probably III and after ,hat
II G3 probably comes next in merit, followed
by rs and the very Eght-bodicd but 1avOury
tSS, wine especially suitable for clGret drinkers
Wko suffer from indigestion or . tendency Ia
/ rheumatism and gout. In the Savoy wine list
/ these 'S8'S are, by the way, represented in taa
/ hrst growths by the Eaut-Brion at twenty
shillings, the La Tour at fifteen shillings inthe
second growths by the Ducru-Beaucaillou az
twelve shilliDgss and tho Cos-d EstouEnel atteR
! ahiIiDss.
I FHEE@ @ROYAL~QLARETS-"
| No7v-that ! have explained how.the quaEty'og
my favourite clareEs varies from year TO year.
| win attempt the more difficult task OF discrimI-
mating among them. think that most Bordeaux
men would agree withme when ! say that Margaux
is the gr2ndest 6f Wines 1t has breed refinement
style, he would say 1t has the least hint OF cedas
favour, yet nops Of the unpleasant Z" les&
pencil aroma which marks some Of the burghsS
growthS OF the Margaux commune. One cannot
define tho beauty OF q woman by saying
\ that her nose is straight, her hGows archeds
her eyes limpid. One cannot say that a
Derby winners quarters arc cleaner, his
pasterns more sloping than those OF d horse
almost as good. Ia virtue;-of characteristics
as difficult to formulate, Margaux may
| claim 20 be the first OF claretS, and Latte the
second. Latte leads the school opposed TO thas
Of MsrgaUx ; 1t IS q fatter, bigger wine, with a
little less breed. 7 think it would be hard to
qualify the twC wines moro accurately than hY
comparing Latte to thousand guinea hunter up
to sixteen stone, and Margaux to q ten. thousand
guinea raeehorse. Ia Tour, although it Is q
! Pauillsc vineyard, so closely ndioins the St.
Julien line that it has something OF the Iruitiaasg
without bigness which the slicious soil OF the ST.
Julien communes gives to It's wines. M0uton-
ROthschild IS, IL 7 am not mistaken-at any rate.
| / know it was a few years ago-the only noble
growth for which but one species Of grapei 10 en-
tployed, the Cabernet Sauvignon and to my
fancy it is for this reason one. OF the trUest
aristocrats among clarets- If the reader desires
a more specific description, suggest to him that
he should order at the Savoy tat least two hours
before he dines-for MOUUOn needs the air before
ii is enioyed(a pint OF '75-and pick phrases him
self. 1t should be remembered, by the way, that
between the quality Of claret in pints and quarts
there is great difference ; it Is only when one
comes TO magnums that the larger parcel shows
marked superiOrity-whereas in the case OF
champagne quart IS better than pint and
infinitely better than magnum, since there ara
no champagne magnumS OF original bOttling,
the pressure caused by fermentation being, in 50
large body, too great for the glass to support
have now explained the geography of claret-
land country which any one may more closely
explore for himself while seated comfortably in
the Savoy or Claridge's or at the Berkeley.
| At the Savoy Grill Room, whero people 60 to
eat modest luncheon or to dine on the way to
the theatre without spending too much time OF
L a