The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-06-06

1T is at this temperature that the best
qualities OF a vintage champagne are
to be enjoyed. Its bouquet. It's rare
'avor and the peculiarties that make
it valuable are in my opinion lost when
it is served at too low a temperature.
That it is worth while to take the neces-
sary trouble TO get the best out Of a vim
tage champagne is shown by its rarity.
There are vintage wines dating from
1874. and then came an interval Of ten
years. 1t was not until 1884 that the
vintage was good enough to produce
an unusual wine. Then came FIVE years
with no more vintage wines. Anything
that comes so unfrequently must be
worth taking care OF.
The English theory that 8 Bet wine
! should not be served as the dry light
champagnes was never held here. The
effect Of freezing champagne until it is
frappe shows how much better the bou-
uuet Of the rare wines will be preserved
il they are served only at the cellar tenn
perature. Unless a wine that Ia frappi
is drunk Immediately it is useless. The
next a it is f1avorless. The old vim
tage champagnes are corked not with
the ordinary cork but with a narrow one
that has the hardness Of wood and they
remain erervescent."
This authority departs from the usual
view that burgundy should be served
at the temperature Of the room. He be.
leves that the cellar temperature dis
plays Its merits at their best. This means
a temperature bet cen $50 and csc.
But he conours in the belief that sherry,
madeira. tokay and malaga should be
of the same temperature as the dining
room. These wines should not be kept.
however, at this temperature all the time.
II would probably cause renewed fer
m%entation, especially in the case OF the red
temperature by the treatment they re-
ceive after leaving the cellar.
That less frequently seen wine, port
should be at the temperature OF the cellar
and had perhaps best be placed in the
dining room a few minutes before dinner.
As it is the last wine to be served it will
have attained the temperature OF the o
by the time it's turf has arrived.
The fashion of decanting port still
prevails in England, n nearly all still
wines are treated in the same way. Here
the fashion is followed less frequently,
since few buffers are willing to TAX the
trouble necessary to decanter wines prop
CITY. II ~ - az -
common and more accustomed to do their
work well merely for its own sake. the
candle bright is always applied to de-
canted wines.
This . that a glass Of red wine
with a candle put behind 1t should shine
brilliantly clear. Any cloudiness comes
from 80 diment that has slipped from the
bottom Of the bottle into the decanter,
and such ineficiency would mortify a
oonscienti GUS English butler:
Claret is another wine which the Eng
fish are still in the habit Of ~deoanting.
although at the more formal dinners in
New York 1t is served in bottles. not in
frequently in the elaborate silver cradles
in which the bottle reclines In order that
the sediment may not be stirred up. The
English view is that decanting when care
fully done results in g much clearer wine.
since the last two or three glasses OF
claret in the bottle are likely TO be muddy
when they are served with the bottle on
It's side.
The same holds true OF burgundy.
These two wines are always drunk at the
temperature of the room, md careful
buffers In private houses as we'll as
walters in hotels take a great many pre-
cautions to insure the perfect condition
OF the claret when the tune for dinner
comes.
Even II claret is TO be decanted II must
room in the morning and kept there until
an hour or two before dinner 10 got the
correct Temperature. The theory Of the
| careful butler Ia that in taking n bottle
Of claret from the cellar he IA plucking a
piece of fruit. He has removed a living
| thing from one medium to another when
he carried the wine bottle from the oal-