Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-01-11
HIS MAGIC BOT TIES,
Tricks of London's professional
Wine Doctor.
NE is All EXPERT JUGGL.'::nE:

NE is All EXPERT JUGGL!!..fi'.
,This Master Mixer, With His Chem
Gals, Spirits and Water, Will Tcr'
Out cheapIy and With Ease AIRY
Desired Brand, New or Old.
Some people call him wine forger
and treat him accordingly. But pre-
fer to regard him as an entertaining
juggler who does surprising feats with
magic bottle.
His apparatus, arranged on a narrow
shelf, consists of dozen or so Of
small glass stoppered bottles Of vari-
GUS colored liquids, big jar of cara
mel and another of silent spirit. There
are other things, such as an aerated
water plant, but it is openly displayed
downstairs For the aeration of table
waters is the wine doctors ostensible
calling.
Fact is there's too much wine made
already" he says-"real wine, mean.
It's not wanted. 1t keeps down the
price. Besides, it's wasting good land
to plant it with grapes just to keep up
the old myth that they're necessary for
wine making"
He draws my attention to his row of
bottles with comprehensive wave Of
the hand.
"See those? Wine in embryo, tons
OF It! Give me good water"-he indi-
Gates an innocent looking tap in the
corner-"and I'll turn you out bottle
Of anything you like to name-while
you wait!'
That is what I have come for. /
ought perhaps to explain that origi-
rnally met the doctor In a distant col
iony, where men talk more openly than
they do here, and-we11, he knows that
what may set down in print about
him win convey no clew to his iden-
tity.
'tMind you," he goes on, II don't OBJ
ject to real wine in moderation. My
own best qualities have base Of
sound sherry or burgundy. Take
claret, for instance. Why send to Bor-
deaux when with gill of Australian
burgundy or Spanish rioja. water
watch while ! do tia few drops Of
Trench vinegar and IS per cent Of po-
tato spirit that's colorless and odorless
and only costs a few pence per gallon
I can give you chemically the same
thing with more alcoholic strength
Presto! 1t is done. He pours some
OF the result into q winsglass and
hands 1t to me. It has the leOk, smell
and taste OF the wine for which / pay
1s. and Cd. a bottle.
''Total cost a fraction over three
pence, bottle and label included" he ex-
ults; hooks and sauternss the same. A
little real sherry for the base, snficient
,acidity SAY citric-an astringent like
ftannic acid to dry them, spirit and
water in proportion to dry them, and
there you are! Leave out the fannie
and use white sugar strip instead and
you have chablis."
A dispensing druggist in hurry
could not make up prescription more
quickly than he manufactures wine
before my eyes. taste ''nierstein-
err
Light elegant dinner wine with
good body, from the Hoggen-Hoch-
heimer district" he remarks In the
tone of one quoting from wine circu-
lar. .'Now try the graves. Dry and
fiavory, eh? The chablis soft and
round, isn't it? You quite recognize
the vintages you've had to pay respect
able prices for?"
Is 1t so, or has he the power of sug-
gestion, like prestidigitator, who can
make you believe that you hear your
eighteen carat gold hunter ticking In
side a boiled egg?
These, of course, are new wines"
he explains. s'The addition Of a tea
spoonful of sterilized glycerin ages
them at once. You might remember
that when you've got new whisky.
It's worth knowing"
know some Whiskies that would
need pint of glycerin to the bottle at
least to make them palatable, and be-
gin for the first time to suspect their
source!
"a whisky or brandy properly made
ought not to want glycerin, though"
he observes, as If he had read my
thoughts. Here's brandy that
made yesterday from silent spirit and
oenanthic ether, colored and sweeten-
ed with caramel, that hardly differs
from well matured cognac. That's be
cause it's been heated to 40 de-
grees E."
My palate may be getting corrupted,
i do not know, but in spite of natural
suspicious the brandy seems above re-
proach. So does the champagne, which
is his next dexterous connection. AS
far as can see 1t consists merely Of
a mixture Of chablis and hook, with
which little aerated water is re-
quired. He calls 1t extra dry. adj
INIT that is what should have thought
Z 1t under the disguise Of tinfoil and a
label.
The doctor shrugs his shoulders.
II AAnybody can print labels and brand
corks," he declares contemptuously
Labels! The average man will drink
anything and enjoy 1t SO long as it's
labeled with one of the few names he's
acquainted with-beaune or rudesheim-
: y ar f0r, inc IN IN