The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-06-12
WINES
 LEAVE TABLES
 FOR GAS TANKS
By RALPH HETNzEN

VicIly, June 12. (UP)-The finest French wines have been distilled into motor fuel to help the Axis war effort.
 Entire trainloads of red and white wines, cognac, armagnac, champagne and sparkling wines head eastward almost every day across Alsace and Lorraine into Germany.
 Germany has pumped France dry of wine 80 that tanks and motor transports can keep running de- spite the lack of gasoline. Every F,renchman now is rationed to one quart of wine a week. In normal times he drank a quart to quench his thirst.
 At the peak of the eastward How of wine, more than 100 trains were sent to Germany within a week. They carried the choicest old stocks. Green, tasteleSs new wine is just as good as the rare old vintages for distilling for fuel. Some of the finest wines of Bordeaux and Bur- gundy were dumped into tankcars along with cOgnacS and green wines in a gigantic cocktail headed for the German distilleries.
 Champagne Disappears
 That torrent of wine swiftly de- prived France of its rich stocks and for the last six months it has been increasingly difficult to buy even ordinary table wine.
 The Germans absorbed" 14,OOO,- 900 quarts of champagne last year and ordered 21,000,0O0 bottles this year. As a consequence, champagne has disappeared from the shelves of French wine merchants. Cognac, armagnac and other distilled liQuorS have gone the same way.
 Inability to bring Haiti oranges through the blockade cut down the production of Cointreau and other liquors. The Chartreuse monks have ceased making their famous yellow or green liquors because they no longer can obtain the necessary sugar or the aged-in-wood fines" which are the basis of their brew. They are making a substitute but they avoid putting their Cartusian label on it.
 Vineyafds Endangered
 With 8 steadily growing thirst, France cannot even quench it with waters because there is a glass shortage which prevents the bottling of waters. It is necessary to carry an empty bottle to the deal- CTS to obtain any sort of bottled liquid.
 The real danger, however, lies in he shortage of copper sulphate which may allow mildew. to kill off the priceless vineyards just as they died off 40 years ago--and had to be replanted with roots from Amer ica. Mildew has made terrific prog ress and already about one-third, of the vineyards are touched. By melting down copper kitchen uten- sils, however, enough may be ob- tained to get through this summer. The government has requisitioned copper pots in all hotels and res-, taurantS.
 COnfiscate Jewish Vineyards
 Wine experts say that the quality of the wine diminisheS as the mill dew grows. Those who admire old wines will regret to learn that there is now almost no wine older than two years left. It will take 10 years after peace before wines can again be acquired in the full maturity of their taste and bouquet.
 There may never again be any Chateau Lafltte or Mouton- RothS- child. Those vineyards were the properties of the Rothschilds. Under the anti-Jewish legislation they were confiscated by the French gov- ernment, along with the priceless cellars which contained hundreds of millions Of francs worth of old vintageS.
 The government is inclined to convert those great estates into experimental farms" where youth camps will be installed to teach boys the winegrowing trade. In the process, 1t is likely that many vines will be sacrificed.
 III these arlu QayS VluCaSeS never heard of before have fiourished. There are "chateaux" invented every day, names which never before fig- ured on 8 label. The government recently enacted deere to eStab- fish control over appellation of wines.
 Under that decree there can be no more inventions of saints" !" chateau" "coteS" or "clDS' and no more names ending in 'ac" to il- legally rival the most famous old vintages of Montbazillac, Pauillac. Barsac, F'ronsac, Pessac and Cadil- lac. Henceforth no wine can bear the name of 8 castle or saint or community which was not standard before the war.