Chapter XX: On Wines, Ancient and Modern (3)

The difference which exists between these four or five superior qualities of wine, and the wines made by small proprietors, which are sold at from 300 to 450 francs the _tonneau_, results less from the quality of the grape and the nature of the soil than from circumstances incident to the want of capital, and from the desire of obtaining quantity at the expense of quality. There can be no doubt whatever that the large capitalist purchases a better wine than the small one, though the small capitalist has it in his power to produce as good a bottle of wine on his own table as his richer neighbour. But, when he caters for the public, it is more profitable by different mixtures to produce 100 _tonneaux_ of middling quality than fifty of superior wine, even though the latter be sold at a considerably higher price than the former. In the cellars at Bordeaux there is great management of the wine. It is always kept in a vault or cellar pretty nearly of the same temperature, and is fed, once every two or three weeks, if intended for the English or foreign market, with a pint or two of the best brandy. The wine is frequently tasted to know what state it is in, and the brandy is used accordingly. Care must, however, be taken never to put in much at a time, especially for wines intended for immediate sale, as such a mode of proceeding would destroy the flavour of the wine, and cause it to taste fiery. If a little be put in at a time, it is said to incorporate quickly with the wine, and to feed and mellow it. Among the London wine merchants the custom is, if the Claret be faint and has lost its colour, to rack it into a fresh hogshead upon the lees of good Claret. It is then bunged up, pulling the bung downwards for two or three days that the lees may run through it, after which its bung is laid up till it be fine. If the colour be not then perfect, it is racked off again into a hogshead that has been nearly drawn off, then an ounce of cochineal is added, shaken up in a bottle of wine, and put it into the hogshead; and by this method the wine is said to acquire both a good colour and body. Sometimes a pound of turnsole is put into a gallon or two of wine, and the cask rolled about, and then the wine-doctors tell you your beverage will have a perfect colour. The greenhorns may think this is pure invention; but, lest I should be thought “to draw on my fancy for facts,” I extract the following receipts from the work of John Davies, who, having practised them on the lieges of Leeds for a long while, at length came up to the metropolis, and published his work “On the Managing, Colouring, and Flavouring of Foreign Wines and Spirits,”--a work which subsequently went through many editions. The following are his receipts _verbatim et literatim_:--

“METHOD OF COLOURING CLARET.--Take as many as you please of damsons or black sloes, and strew them with some of the deepest-coloured wine you can get, and as much sugar as will make it into a syrup. A pint of this will colour a hogshead of Claret. It is also good for red Port wines, and may be kept ready for use in glass bottles.

“A REMEDY FOR CLARET THAT DRINKS FOUL.--Rack off your Claret from the dregs on some fresh lees of its own kind, and then take a dozen of new pippins, pare them, and take away the cores or hearts, then put them in your hogsheads, and, if that is not sufficient, take a handful of the oak of Jerusalem and bruise it, then put it into your wine, and stir it very well. This not only takes away the foulness, but also gives it a good scent.”

The great commerce of Bordeaux is in its wine, but it is much diminished since the loss of St. Domingo. A considerable export of wines, not so loaded as they formerly were, has recently taken place to the East Indies; and no doubt the opening of the China trade will also somewhat tend to improve the condition and state of the Gironde wine-grower. But what most desire to see, would be a freer exchange of the vinous wealth of France with England. It is in every sense desirable that our population, instead of drinking that thick and heady Port, consumed by the Eldons and Stowells of a past generation, and some old dons and tutors of Oxford, a few old barristers, and a great mass of attorneys of the present generation, should drink the ordinary red Bordeaux wines; or, if they will have white wines, those Sauternes and Graves whose prices sometimes rise so high as 3000 francs the _tonneau_. There is not a pleasanter or more healthful wine than good Sauterne. It is, of course, difficult to get pure Sauterne in taverns or hotels; but to such as have not establishments in town, a trial of the Sauterne at Bellamy’s, at the House of Commons, would be advisable. The following account of Jullien is very interesting:--

“The inferior wines of Bordeaux,” says the author of the “Topographic des Vignobles,” are exported to America and the interior of France; those of the first quality to India, Russia, and England.

“The difference in price between the first and inferior wines is very great. Those of the best vineyards sell generally the first year at from 2000 to 3000 francs the _tonneau_, and rise to 5000 or 6000, and even higher, in a very favourable vintage. On the contrary, the _vins communs_ fetch only from 100 to 120 francs, and seldom rise to more than 200 or 300.

“The wine of first quality, at its point of maturity, ought to have a beautiful colour, much firmness, a very agreeable _bouquet_, and a flavour which embalms the mouth, strength without intoxicating, and body without harshness. The Bordeaux wines are, contrary to the generality of French wines, improved by a sea voyage; and wines of the second and third quality, after a voyage, have equalled those of the first.

“The English houses at Bordeaux, immediately after the vintage, purchase a large quantity of the wines of all the best vineyards, in order that they may undergo _la travaille à l’anglaise_. This operation consists in putting into fermentation part of the wines during the following summer; by mixing in each barrel from thirteen to eighteen pots of Alicant or Benicarlo, or the wines of the Hermitage, Cahors, Languedoc, and others; one pot of white wine called Muet (wine whose fermentation had been stopped by the fumes of sulphur), and one bottle of spirits of wine. The wine is drawn off in December, and then laid up in the _chars_ (cellars) for some years. By this operation the wines are rendered more spirituous and very strong, they acquire a good flavour, but are intoxicating. The price, likewise, is increased.

“The age of wine at Bordeaux is counted _par feuilles_; that is, the number of times the vine has been in leaf since the vintage. The years which the wines require to be kept vary, but those of _vins de Graves_ do not reach perfection before the fifth or sixth.”

This is a recent account; but it will be well to hear what old Barry, who wrote ninety years ago, says on the same subject. After having perused his account it will appear that we, at the commencement of the twentieth century, are but practising, with variations, the tricks which our ancestors played centuries ago.

“The French wine-merchants,” says Barry, “encouraged by the great demands for these Claret wines, first began to mix their inferior wines with the Spanish; and, though there was a severe law forbidding this practice, yet it was connived at, as it increased the value and demand for them. This encouraged some persons from hence and Ireland to reside there as _factors_, with a view, at first, of acquiring the profit arising from the large commissions which before had always been consigned to the French wine-merchants. But these factors soon became wine-merchants likewise, among whom it was usual to employ their _tasters_, after the vintage was over, to examine the new wines; and, when they had been properly informed, purchased such a quantity as was sufficient to answer the demands they expected. These were soon after mixed and prepared with the Spanish wines, which added more strength and flavour to them. Thus the price of them was gradually raised much higher than the wines of these growths had been formerly estimated.

What Barry says about factors is perfectly true; but a very old Bordeaux wine-merchant and wine-grower informed me, nearly forty years since, that the factors of seventy years ago were principally Irish and Scotch, and that there were at that period many Irish and Scotch among the proprietors of vineyards. “There were,” said he, “Gernons, Byrnes, Cruises, Cassins, M’Donnells, Maxwells, Stewarts, M’Laurins, among the factors; and among the proprietors of vineyards Cockburns, M’Kinnons, Kirwans, Frenches, Dalys, Walshes, Bogles, Archers, and O’Connors.” This may have accounted for the superiority which Dublin and Edinburgh obtained more than half a century ago over the London market in respect of Claret,--a superiority which was attested by the great run made for these wines on the house of Sneyd, French, and Barton; Cockburn and Co.; Cranston and Co.; Stewart and Co.; Roche and Co.; Sir John Ferns and Co.; Sir Anthony Perrier and Co.; Brook and Co.; Wilson and Co., and many others.

The excellence of the Bordeaux wines was celebrated even in the days of Ausonius, and they have uniformly maintained their repute. They are, without any manner of doubt, the most perfect wines that France produces. They keep perfectly, are improved by sea carriage, and may be freely exported to any part of the world. The original fermentation being usually very complete, they are less disposed to acidity, and are more wholesome than the wines of Burgundy. A great proportion of the wine, however, which is drunk as Claret, is but _vin ordinaire_, or the secondary wine of the country, for the prime growths fall far short of the demand which prevails for these wines all over the world. In Bordeaux the very best growths are scarce, and cannot be purchased at less than from six to seven francs a bottle. “During the twenty years that I have been living at Bordeaux,” says one of Rozière’s correspondents, “I have not tasted three times any wine of the first quality; yet I am in the way of knowing it and getting it when it is to be had. The wines of the year 1784 were so superior to those of other years, that I have never met with anything like them.”

Whence comes the word Claret? From the French adjective _clairet_, which in the feminine, is _clairette_. In the masculine it is only used of what is called a _vin rouge paillet_, _vinum rubellum sanguineum_. In this sense a man is said to be _entre le blanc et le clairet_, _i.e._, that he is _entre deux vins_. Hypocras was formerly called Claret, and is still so called in Germany. Old Cowel, in his “Interpreter,” says, “This denomination originates from _claretum_, a liquor made anciently of wine and honey, clarified by decoction, which the Germans, French, and English call _hippocras_, and it is for this reason that the red wines of France were called Claret.”

In Pegg’s “Cury” there is an account of the rolls of provisions, with their prices, in the time of Henry VIII., and we there find at the dinner given at the marriage of Gervys Clifton and Mary Nevil, the price of three hogsheads of wine (one white, one red, one claret), was set down at 5_l._ 5_s._

The department of the Rhone produces the Côte Rôti at a vineyard about seven leagues from Lyons. This a wine which possesses body, spirit, flavour, and perfume. If allowed to remain in the cask for five or six years, it improves wonderfully. It may then be bottled, and will improve in bottle for twenty years. The Côte Rôti is a wine much drunk in Switzerland and Franche Comté. It is grown at Ampuis, and ranks as one of the best wines of France. It is, when young, slightly bitter and rather heady, but is much improved by a voyage. The flavour somewhat resembles red Hermitage, and if it were generally imported into England, it would be preferred to Port by all who have a sound palate and liver.

Tain, four leagues from Valence, possesses the famous Hermitage vineyard. Hermitage is divided into five classes. It is not bottled for exportation till it has been four or five years in the cask. The price of the wine is high, even if the quality be moderate. I am in possession of some obtained twenty years ago as a favour, at 96_s._ a dozen, from the Prince Charles de Broglie, and with freight, carriage, interest of money, &c., it now stands me in at least seven guineas the dozen.

The white Hermitage is made of white grapes only, and is divided into three growths. It is an exquisite and most delicious beverage, and may be pronounced to be the finest white wine France produces. White Hermitage is said to keep a century. I tasted some bought at the sale of the late Marquess of Londonderry’s wines in St. James’s Square, which must be at least sixty years old, and a more delicious wine was never produced at table. The only difference between it and white Hermitage of five years old is that the tint and colour are of a deep amber, but in dryness, richness, and aroma, it is unrivalled.

In 1836, a few bottles of this wine, which had been in the late Marquess of Wellesley’s cellars since 1807, was purchased by me; but, although a fine wine, it was not to compare with the Hermitage of the late Lord Londonderry, better known as Lord Castlereagh.

The grape from which the red Hermitage is made is supposed to have come originally from Persia.[36] The vineyard was, it is said, planted by a hermit of Bessas for his amusement.

Richard and Sons are among the first wine-merchants and bankers at Tournon, a town on the opposite side of the Rhone to Tain, and joined to it by a suspension-bridge. They export large quantities of the finest growth of Hermitage to Bordeaux to mix with the first growths of Claret. The largest wine-press in France belongs to this firm. By one charge of it the proprietors can obtain forty casks of wine, of about fifty gallons each.

One of the principal proprietors of the Hermitage vineyards is a gentleman of Irish descent, a Mr. Machon. The soil on which the Hermitage grows is highly calcareous, and it is to this peculiarity, as well perhaps as to the selection of the plants, that the wine owes its superiority. The labour bestowed in the vineyards is said to be unremitting.

The cost of wine cultivation in France is immense, and it seldom happens that more than four or five per cent., and frequently not more than two or three, are returned to the landowner.

The German wines, as a general description, may be pronounced generous and finely flavoured, rich in _bouquet_, and the least acid among the northern wines. They are, however, drier than the wines of France. That they are what the French call _vins de garde_, or wines that will keep, is plainly apparent from the fact that the better qualities have been found perfect at eighty and even at a hundred years old. The Moselle wines are among the least acid of the German, or indeed of the wines of any country. The German jurist Hontheim says the best Moselle wines make men cheerful; when drunk in quantity and old, good; the heat leaving the body and head without inconvenience and disorder. Rüdesheim, six leagues from Mayence, is said to produce the best wines in Germany, having more body, strength, and _bouquet_, than those on the left bank of the Rhine. An auhm of 1811 sells for 55_l._ On the Johannisberg wines it would be unnecessary to dilate here. Barry, seventy years ago, in speaking of the Hock wines, adduced, as a circumstance that contributed to their advancement, the fact that there was an annual addition of a due proportion of the recent and new wine of the same growth to the old wine. In his day the best old Hock sold at the price of 50_l._ the auhm. The Rhine wines of most strength are the Marcobrunner, Rüdesheimer, and Nierstiner. The Johannisberger, Geissenheim, and Hockheim have the most perfect delicacy and aroma. The wines of Bischeim, Asmanshausen, and Laubenheim, are also light and agreeable. The German proverb says, “Rhein wein, fein wein, Necker wein, lecre wein, Franken wein, tranken wein, Mosel wein, unnosel wein.” But the wines of all wines are the Julius Hospitalis Steinwein of 1811, and the Cabinet Leinstenwein of 1822. I remember in 1828 and 1829 drinking fine specimens of both at the Three Moors at Augsburg (a capital hotel), and noting down that the price of the Steinwein was four florins, twenty-four kreutzers, and of the Leinstenwein five florins, forty-eight kreutzers; the one amounting nearly to 8_s._ and the other fully to 9_s._ of our money. They are both exquisite wines, but are said to produce strangury. Switzerland grows little good wine. The Neufchâtel would, perhaps, most please an English palate; it is equal to the third quality of Burgundy, and has some resemblance to Port without much body.

On the Spanish wines I must be brief. Under the influence of the sun of a warm climate, they contain more alcohol, and are altogether differently prepared. The grapes are suffered to become quite ripe, and part of the must is concentrated by boiling it in large cauldrons for forty-four hours. The Spanish wines, however, with the exception of those of Xeres and Malaga, are greatly neglected in the manufacture. Manzinilla, the country wine of the district of Xeres de la Frontena, is a light, pleasant beverage, not destitute of mellowness and flavour. It is far preferable in every respect to those loaded, coloured compounds which pass for Sherries in London taverns.

The extent of the cellars of Gordon and Co., of Cadiz, is immense. The length of the largest 306 feet, and the breadth 222 feet. The ordinary stock of wine is said to be 4000 butts, which is kept in casks of various sizes, containing from one to four butts. The wine merchants of Xeres never exhaust their stock of finest and oldest wine. A cask of wine, said to be fifty years old, may contain a portion of the vintages of thirty or forty seasons. The better class of wine merchants at Xeres never ship wine for England till it is two years old. The higher qualities of Sherry are made up of wine the bulk of which is from three to five years old; and this is mixed in the older wines. From the gradual mixture, therefore, of the wines of various ages, no wine can be less a natural wine than Sherry. The Amontillado is a dry kind of Sherry, abounding in a dry, nutty flavour. It is very light in colour, and is often used to restore the colour of Sherries of too deep a brown. It sells much dearer than other Sherry wines. The Malaga Sherry very much resembles the wine of Xeres, and large quantities are exported to foreign countries as genuine Sherry. 200_l._ have been paid for a first-rate cask of Malaga.

On the Portuguese wine called Port I shall not waste many words. When dry and old it is a good winter wine for old people, if they restrict themselves to a glass or two.

A good glass of genuine Madeira which has gone the rounds, is good after soup, but the wine is no longer fashionable.

The only Italian wines worth drinking are the Montefiascone, Montepulciano, and Vino d’Asti. Many of these wines are too harsh, and some of them are too thick and sweet for a French or English palate.

Some of the wines of Hungary are very tolerable. The Tokay wine is exquisite. Even the Maslas, which is a diluted Tokay, is a splendid wine; soft, oily, and stomachic. A glass of it may be had any day after dinner, at about 10_d._ or 1_s._ English, in the Speise Saal of the Schwann, at Vienna, where I in my youth consumed many a bottle of Tokay. The Vermuth is a stomachic mixture, too much bepraised by those who have never tasted it; indeed, as much overpraised as the _Crême d’Absinthe_. All the Greek wines are also over-rated. There are tuns of them not worth the amount of a farrier’s yearly bill for shoeing a dog; or if you wish the Gallic phrase, “ne valent pas les quatres fers d’un chien.”

The Constantia wine of the Cape, though much liked by Frenchmen of seventy and upwards, and Frenchwomen above forty, never can be generally a favourite with Englishmen. There are some few Russian wines. At Kaffa, in the Crimea, they produce a Champagne very nearly as good as either the growth of the Borough or Lambeth.

Of New South Wales wines a word or two. I learned with much pleasure that the French, and all other wines, are now tried in that colony; and that the climate is particularly well suited to the growth of the vine. The preparation and keeping of the wine must, however, be much more attended to than heretofore. At the Cape, too, the English wine-growers have gone on very progressively from year to year in ameliorating their Pontacs. The best white Capes fetch, since their flinty character is diminishing, prices as high as Sherries of middling qualities. Such prices were, however, encouraged perhaps by the import duties on colonial wine being only half the amount levied on foreign grown. As these Cape wines are now so pure as to mix well with Xeres wines, the conscientious London dealer, of course, largely availed himself of a colonial-grown article to mix with Sherry wines for English country consumption.

Two works have recently been published on wine, in which may be found chapters dedicated to the wines of Southern Africa, Greece, the Western Archipelago, and to the wines of Columbia, Australia, &c. But notwithstanding these efforts to introduce new vintages from Italy, Greece, Hungary, Australia, and Southern Africa, elderly and middle-aged men of the present generation are certain still to adhere to the old wines which their fathers and grandfathers consumed for the last half-century. It may, I think, even be doubted whether the use of any new vintages can become general (supposing them to be as good or better than the old) before the end of the present century or A.D. 1900, from which coming epoch we are still removed by an interval of seven and thirty years. It would, therefore, be the idlest of idle follies in me to recommend to any host to fill his cellar with new vintages of which his guests knew nothing, and which they might not relish. The aim of a host, now as heretofore, should be to have choice wines and _liqueurs_, all excellent of their kind. Persons of moderate fortune should look to the excellence of the quality of the wines, rather than to the variety of their stock. With good bins of Sherry, Madeira, Port, Claret (white and red), Champagne, Hock, and Burgundy, any gentleman is in a position to entertain his guests worthily. Larger quantities of Sherry, Port, Madeira, and first-rate Claret, may be laid in than of lighter wines, for of these latter the consumption will be necessarily less.

At most London dinners in the season, Champagne, Sauterne, Barsac, Rhenish and Moselle wines are produced; but of the four latter wines scarcely more than a bottle of each is used, though three or four bottles of Champagne may be consumed, in a party of twelve. But, notwithstanding that there is a more considerable consumption of Champagne than of other light wines, it is not advisable that any private gentleman should have a large stock of this wine in his cellar, as after a twelvemonth it is apt to get ropy, and to require fresh bottling. But of the _vins de garde_, such as Madeira, Sherry, Port, first-rate Claret, and Burgundy, a host may profitably cellar as large a quantity as his fortune will allow. Of one thing, however, every purchaser should convince himself before he purchases a single bottle, and that is, that it is impossible to have good wine at a low price. The finest vintages of wine are always scarce and dear; and the finest vintages must, like other and inferior vintages, be matured before they are fit to drink. A considerable efflux of time is necessary for this, so that there is interest on the original cost of the wine, as well as the interest on its keep, to be added to the prime or original cost. This is so if the wine be imported direct from the wine-grower; but if it be obtained from the merchant or dealer in this country, his profit, as well as the skill, labour, and industry he has applied, must all be additional items in the price. The idea of low-priced wine is therefore a mere myth; and, whether at the sales of private gentlemen’s stock or otherwise, good wine generally fetches its full value in London. It is said that, at the sales of deceased gentlemen in Dublin and Edinburgh, few wines, unless some exceedingly rare specimens, fetch above 60_s._ per dozen; but in London it is very common, at private sales, for Port and Sherry to fetch double as much as this.

The best way for any gentleman desiring to stock a cellar, is to go to a first-rate wine merchant of position and character. Such a man will deal honestly, and give his customer a good article, though he may charge what is called in the trade a long price for it. If gentlemen have personal friends or connections at Cadiz in whom they can confide to send them wine in the piece, they may lay in Amontillado, Montilla, or Manzinilla, at 10_s._ or 12_s._ a dozen less than they can obtain them of the wine merchants in England. Anything like a first-rate Amontillado sells among English wine merchants at from 72_s._ to 84_s._ the dozen, while Manzinilla and Montilla range at from 60_s._ to 70_s._

Fabulous prices are given for old Ports and East India Sherries and Madeiras, at the sales of well-known _connoisseurs_ in wine. Many East India Sherries have sold for nine and ten guineas a dozen, and much of the late Mr. Justice Talfourd’s Port went for eleven and twelve guineas a dozen. Though the wine was excellent, this was unquestionably a fancy price. There is no need to give so large a sum for old and first-rate Port. Any man of ordinary acumen and intelligence, in addressing himself to a first-rate wine house in London may have excellent, if not first-rate, Port at from three to four guineas a dozen, and considerably cheaper if he buys it in the wood.

First-rate Clarets have been rising in price during the last five or six years; but even in London first-rate Clarets ought to be and are procurable at from four to five guineas a dozen, and the best sparkling Champagne at about the same price, or a shade lower. Sillery Champagne of the very highest quality is sold by wine merchants at 6_l._ the dozen. Burgundies of the highest qualities are rare, and difficult to find good; but excellent Beaune and Chablis can be obtained at two guineas the dozen in London, and considerably cheaper if imported direct.

As to the dietetic qualities of the wine, I would remark that those wines which contain a sufficient quantity of alcohol, and which have undergone a complete fermentation, stimulate and accelerate digestion. Among these are Madeira, Sherry, Port, Rhone, and Rousillon wines. The most salutary wines are those which contain a moderate quantity of alcohol, as old Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne. The modern practice of taking a great variety of wines at table cannot be commended. It is decidedly injurious to health and digestion, more especially when sweet succeed to slightly acidulated wines, or wines of much body to very light wines.

I should say that the best red Burgundy was the Romanée Conti, and the best white the Montrachet. But good vintages of Pomard, Volnay, Nuits, and Chambertin, are excellent. Burgundy, however, is a wine of which only a small quantity should be drunk, as it is very heating.

Among the Champagne wines the most esteemed growths are those of Aï, Sillery, and Epernay; and among the Rousillon and Rhine wines, red and white Hermitage, Côte Rôti, and St. Peray.

The best growths of Bordeaux red wines are Lafitte, La Tour, Château Margaux, and Haut Brion. Among the second class of red wines the best are the Monton, the Rauzan, and the Léoville; and among the third class are the Kirwan, the Château d’Issan, and Lagrange.

A glass of Chablis, Barsac, Sauterne, or Bucellas, may be taken after the oysters, while a glass of old Madeira or Sherry follows the soup. In the middle of the first course, in France, they serve Champagne or sparkling Burgundy; and toward the end of the first course, the finer kinds of Claret, white and red. With the roast comes Burgundy and Hermitage, and these wines, as well as Bordeaux, may be served with game. With the dessert it is the custom in France to offer Malmsey and Malaga; but these wines are rarely produced in England, though white and red Constantia, and Frontignan are frequently produced.

In the last sixteen years the consumption of Champagne has doubled in England. In 1831, the quantity of French wine imported amounted, in round numbers, to 254,000 gallons, whereas in 1861 it amounted to 2,227,000 gallons.