A HANDBOOK
OF WINE
A HANDBOOK
OF WINE
I 2
A HANDBOOK ,
OF WINE '
How to buy, serve, store
and drink it, by
Wm.J.Todd
Director of
FINDLATER. MACKIE, TODD & Co.. LTD.
LONDON.
Jonathan Cape
Eleven Gower Street, London
TP
First published 1922
Second Impression 1922
exf7/ rights reserved
PREFACE
THIS book on Wine is designed as a prac-
tical handbook for the amateur, the con-
sumer. It will not confuse him with the
jargon of the expert and the specialist ; nor bore
him with details, to him irrelevant, of process ;
nor with photographs of famous chateaux ; nor
with the history of Wine from Noah onwards.
It is designed, indeed, to give the reader such
knowledge as is necessary for him to buy wisely,
to store safely, to serve correctly, and to drink
with greatest enjoyment. Terms in ordinary
use are explained in a glossary. The illustrations
are explanatory, not merely decorative.
It is not, of course, possible to cover anything
like adequately the whole winefield. This
would need an encyclopaedia rather than a
handbook. Attention must be chiefly directed
to giving a workaday acquaintance with the
representative wines of the ordinary market —
enough to stimulate the would-be connoisseur
to pursue his own researches. He will realize
what the writer realizes only too keenly — how
inadequate mere words are to convey even the
essential differences, let alone the subtle cha-
racteristics of the various members of this
great family.
Perhaps the best thing this little handbook
can do is to set up the amateur with a little know-
ledge on which he can build more, to warn him
off snags and superstitions, and give him a few
A HANDBOOK OF WINE
practical hints for the better preservation and en-
joyment of his purchases. This I have attempted.
So far as process is concerned I have given
the barest outline in untechnical language and
have avoided abstruse disquisitions on ferments,
euzymes (endrotryptase, hexosephosphatase,
carboxylase), saccharomycetes, and the like as
not calculated to induce the proper temper in the
Wine drinker ! Scientific gentlemen will invent
names like these to make their achievements
look more difficult.
I am, of course, aware that there are many
merchants in all trades who like to keep their
particular trade a mystery. I cannot agree with
them. The more the consumer knows about Wine
the better appreciation he will be likely to have
of it. It is not as if it were an unpleasant subject.
Wine is a gracious, a kindly, even a noble
commodity. A world without the vine would
be unthinkable. The bounty of Nature and the
accumulated skill of man are poured out in the
making of Wine. You will find praise of it in
the Bible and in most of the poets, from Homer
to Chesterton — not always the wisest praise. It
has played a long part in history — not always
entirely creditable. But that is life, and does
not dismay a man. I may be permitted, perhaps,
to quote from Dr. Saintsbury.*
'Notes from a Cellar- Book,' by George Saintsbury.
Macmillan, 1920.
PREFACE
'One may . . . boldly say, with a certainty
of saying the truth, that for every evil deed that
fact or fancy or the unscrupulous exaggeration
of partisans can charge on alcohol, it has
prompted a hundred good ones ; that for every
life it has destroyed or spoiled it has made
thousands happy ; that much of the best imagin-
ative work of the world has been due to its
influence; and that as has been amply shown
of late it has given "more power to the elbow"
of stout workers and fighters in the best of
causes/
But, as I have said, it is not for me to write of
Wine from the heroic point of view or with the
scholarship and fine fervour of a Saintsbury. A
suggestion was made to me by a budding con-
noisseur that such a book as this — simple,
practical, concentrated — would be useful, and
finding there was none such in existence I set to
work to make it. I hope it may be of service.
I propose to resist the obvious temptation to
be drawn into the current controversy over
Prohibition. This much, however, I will permit
myself. Connoisseurship, the appreciation of
Wine for its savour, does much to kill the
drinking of Wine merely for its effect. No hard
drinker can be a true connoisseur. Excess kills
the palate. And I am sure that if Wine came
again into general favour and reduced the
drinking of spirits, the main plank of the
8 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
Prohibition* platform would collapse. The
wine-drinking countries are notably the sober
countries. We need not forget the time when
our three-bottle-men did themselves and a fine
gift of Nature no good. But times are changed
and manners with them. Nobody wants to go
back to three-bottle days, nor could a man in a
modern world do his work on that too liberal
ration.
My acknowledgments are due to Mr. Joseph
Thorp, to Mr. Andre L. Simon, and to Mr. G. A.
Keeler and others, who have helped me in
various ways with suggestions and criticism
and the thankless task of proof-reading.
Wm. J. TODD.
FlNDLATER'S CORNER,
LONDON BRIDGE, S.E. 1.
* An intelligently and wittily written little book, ' Fer-
mented Beverages.' by J. H. Moore (Harrison, I/- net), may
be consulted for an acute criticism of the 'Report on Alcohol :
Its Action on the Human Organism' (H.M. Stationery Office,
1918), issued at the instance of the Liquor Control Board.
It is particularly sound on the distinction between the
alcohol used for laboratory experiments and the alcohol in
the decently potable form of wine, spirits, etc., which
ordinary mortals use and enjoy, and challenges conclusions
based only on experiments with the former.
CONTENTS
Preface, 5
Chapter I. Introducing Wine, n
Chapter II. Of Wine in General, 20
Chapter III. The Wines of France, 29
Claret Vintages, 33
Champagne Vintages, 42
Burgundy Vintages, 45
Chapter IV. The Wines of Spain and
Portugal, 49
Port Vintages, 60
Chapter V. Other Wines, 62
Chapter VI. How to Buy and Store,
Serve and Drink Wine, 69
A Note on Brandy, 92
Brandy Vintages, 95
A Glossary of Terms, 96
Chapter I
INTRODUCING WINE
'^ • AHE wine you like is a good wine !' — a
phrase invented by some alert salesman
A to make his customer go away happy with
a low-priced commodity — is no more essentially
true than * The picture you like is a good
picture !' or ' The music you like is good music !'
There is a better and a worse in Wine as in Art,
which can be perceived by one whose taste has
been trained by experience and knowledge ; and
it is obvious that the more exquisite savours of
wine, as the higher pleasures of Art, can only be
enjoyed by those who have given intelligent
attention to the matter.
I am afraid that there are not wanting men
with a spurious air of connoisseurship who
make pretence to knowledge and perceptions
they do not possess. It is no bad thing to be
armed against the foibles of these amiable, if
irritating, people. It has been my own fortune
occasionally to be taugh't my own business, and
it is not always easy to be as polite as the
occasion warrants ! The fact is that knowledge
of wine requires a long apprenticeship and
experience as well as some sort of special gift or
flair. The specialists who can attribute a given
wine to the actual vineyard it came from, or who
can tell of what manner of oak the cask was
made in which another wine was exported, are
A HANDBOOK OF WINE
obviously exceptional, even though the skill of
professional tasters is astonishing. Such tasting
is commonly specialized, a man concentrating
on Clarets, or Burgundies, or Ports — really
expert knowledge of more than one type being
beyond the capacity of any ordinary man,
however well instructed. And an expert of this
calibre may be allowed to be a little impatient if
an amateur and callow judgment be set up
against his own, so laboriously acquired. How-
ever, life is full of such troubles, which must
needs be borne with dignity and resignation !
But certainly wine is an exceedingly complex
and subtle commodity. It will well repay study ;
and a certain modesty in the student will be no
bad qualification for success. Modesty in the
expert also is no bad thing and no sign of lack
of knowledge.
For a proof of its subtlety let it suffice to
point out that the wine of one level of the Cote
d'Or differs perceptibly from that of another;
that weeds in a vineyard affect the quality of the
wine from the grape, while more obviously, of
course, different soils with the same breed of
vine; different vines; climate and process; all
produce their very different wines, and the work
of time comes to crown the labours of man.
Praisers of past ages may be inclined to
suppose that the old wines were better in their
day than the new. The mellowness and delicacy
INTRODUCING WINE 13
that age has given them, and the too easy accep-
tance at their face value of the legends of the
wine table, prevent a just comparison. The
progress of viticulture and the fuller knowledge
we possess of soils and the bacteriology both of
health and disease, make it probable that never
was wine better made than now, even allowing
for the long-drawn-out ravages of the phylloxera
vastatrix, the grape louse, that little beast of a
green fly which emigrated from America to
France about the sixties of the last century in
some vine stocks, and has caused untold damage
and anxiety ever since, especially in the periods
1868-1873 and 1882-1885, when it halved the
output of the French vineyards.
Of course there are many factors, mostly of
late origin, which threaten to be increasingly
unfavourable to the continued production of
good wine.
Since the rather heavy Whisky of the hardy
Northerners began to be lightened with grain,
and Whisky came to be popular as a beverage
and a symbol of hospitality — say about the
eighties — an increasing indifference to wine in
these Islands has to be recorded. Now what the
Scotsman said, 'All Whusky is good Whusky,'
is not true, but it is true that there is very much
less variety among good Whiskies than among
good wines. I cannot see any one likely to
give utterance to such praise as fell from
A HANDBOOK OF WINE
Dr. Middleton when he was invited by Sir Wil-
loughby Patterne down into that 'inner cellar
sacred from the butler/ if the cellar were
merely stocked with the choicest available
samples of Whisky :
' A chirrup was in the Doctor's tone.'
'Hocks, too, have compassed age. I have
tasted senior Hocks. Their flavours are as a
brook of many voices; they have depth also.
Senatorial Port ! we say. We cannot say that of
any other wine. Port is deep-sea deep. It is in
its flavour deep; much the difference. It is like
a classic tragedy, organic in conception. An
ancient hermitage has the light of the antique ;
the merit that it can grow to an extreme old age ;
a merit. Neither of Hermitage nor of Hock can
you say that it is the blood of those long years
retaining the strength of youth with the wisdom
of age. To Port for that ! Port is our noblest
legacy ! Observe I do not compare the wines ; I
distinguish the qualities. Let them live together
for our enrichment; they are not rivals like
Idaean Three. Were they rivals a fourth would
challenge them. Burgundy has great genius. It
does wonders within its period ; it does all except
keep up in the race. It is short-lived. An
aged Burgundy runs with a beardless Port. I
cherish the fancy that Port speaks the sentences
of wisdom, Burgundy sings the inspired ode.
. . .' And when the learned Doctor actually
INTRODUCING WINE 15
got down to the Port : ' I will say this. ... I
will say that I am consoled for not having lived
ninety years back or at any period till the
present, by this one glass of your ancestral
wine.' Doctor Middleton had others to follow,
and did them full justice, and did not join the
ladies that evening. ' Ladies are Creation's
Glory,' says he, ' But they are anti-climax
following a wine of a century old/
That passage still lives in The Egoist to
gladden the heart of a wine-lover and to let us
know how far we fall short of our fathers in the
appreciation of a noble gift of Nature.
Though, indeed, we still have Mr. Saintsbury
with us to tell us that Port. . . 'is incom-
parable when good. It is not a wine of all-
work like Sherry. Mr. Pendennis was right
when he declined to drink it with his dinner.
It has not the almost feminine grace and charm
of Claret; the transcendental qualities of Bur-
gundy and Madeira; the immediate inspiration
of Champagne; the rather uncanny and some-
times palling attractions of Sauterne and
Moselle and Hock.'
I think, too, that the increasing restaurant
habit, if it has widened the number of those who
drink wine on occasion, has diminished the
number of those who take a pride in their
cellar. It has, moreover, rather tended to over-
stress the relative importance of Champagne,
16 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
which has become too exclusively the wine of
hospitality. As a matter of fact, the really
exquisite flavour and bouquet of the finest wine
cannot be appreciated in the vitiated atmosphere
of a crowded restaurant. Perhaps I may be
allowed here to protest against a growing habit
of smoking at dinner with the sorbet (or with-
out). The Russians, who drink their wines full
and sweet, are responsible for this custom ; it has
no sense or fitness in a country which has always
had some reputation for delicate appreciation of
the finer and drier wines. It is not to be won-
dered at that private hosts will not bring out
their finer Port for guests who will persist in
smoking a cigarette with it. A cigarette with a
glass of Sherry (I don't mean at, but before
dinner), perhaps, but with Port, Claret, Bur-
gundy, Madeira of any age, Champagne, Hock
— No ! by Jove ! However, that's a matter of
individual opinion, I suppose.
What is less open to question is this : that as
there are sensitive people who do distinctly
object to tobacco smoke when drinking fine wine,
it is a courtesy in the smoker-drinker to abstain
when sitting at Wine with such an one. And I
venture to think that such self denial will be re-
warded by the hero coming to the tasting of his
wine with a palate not rasped and deadened. A
little abstinence for a few hours before an
expected treat of this kind will be well rewarded
INTRODUCING WINE 17
not only in the fuller appreciation of the fine
wine, but of the, I hope, admirable cigar which
is to follow it. It is, by the way, commonly said
that it was the fashion of the long cigar, set by
King Edward, that gradually led to a decline in
the consumption of the finer Clarets.
As a factor on the other side, one may note
that the war gathered into various regimental
messes many youngsters who had grown up in
a too exclusively whisky-and-soda age, and
introduced them to the solemnity of the mess
Port. Not that it was always of a very great age
or of a very enlightened type. But it served as
an introduction, and the acquaintance has been
continued — which is all to the good.
The two most severe handicaps to the wine
industry are unwise and excessive taxation
(unwise because the excess leads to reduction
of net return as was proved in the instance of
cigars) and Prohibition in America. These
factors, together with the chaotic condition of
trade and the failure of old markets (incidentally
there is a glut of wine due to these two latter
causes) may lead to the discouragement of
production of wine in France, Spain, Portugal,
and Italy, which are our chief sources of supply.
Even in that part of America which manages to
escape drought, spirits are more in demand,
because easier supplied and more concentrated.
As to prices, while no stability has been
A HANDBOOK OF WINE
reached nor can be reached for some time, wine
will unquestionably be much more expensive
than before the war. It is a disadvantage which
it shares with other commodities heightened by
more than its fair share of taxation. But there is
this to be said of wine, that if quality is sought
instead of bulk, and if a little first-rate be pre-
ferred — as by a connoisseur it will be — to much
second-rate, the best wine is not beyond the
reach of the modest purse. It is a question of
adjustment, a balancing of the satisfaction to be
derived from easy habit or fastidious choice.
Different temperaments will make different
answers. I think I have sufficiently indicated
what I believe to be the more excellent way.
Let me quote again a few words of that discreet
wine-buyer and wine-drinker, Dr. Saintsbury :
' There is no money, among that which I spent
since I began to earn a living, of the expenditure
of which I am least ashamed, or which gave me
better value in return, than the price of the
liquids chronicled in this booklet. . . . They
pleased my senses, cheered my spirits, improved
my moral and intellectual powers, besides
enabling me to confer the same benefits on
other people.'
There are those of an ascetic turn who think
that to bestow attentions on such things is
beneath the dignity of a high-souled man.
Perhaps. For myself I am content to hold a
INTRODUCING WINE 19
brief as counsel for wine and to believe that
what is worth drinking is worth thinking about.
Which reminds me that in a certain college of
one of our older universities (where a sense of
the dignity of good wine still exists and an old-
time generosity of hospitality), a certain don
was lamenting that his college had for some
years been ruled by some high-minded men
who had neglected to lay down wines for their
successors and so help hand on the torch of
hospitality. What they had not neglected was to
drink, with disdain possibly, but still with
regularity, the wine stored by their predecessors.
Hence the don's lament and whatever moral
you will !
Wine that delights the eye with its jewelled
colours, the nose with its exquisite bouquet, the
palate with its delicate savours — that needs, in
fact, three senses to appreciate it, bountiful
product of Earth and Sun and the wit and toil
of man — Gentlemen, I .give you ' Wine.'
Chapter II
ON WINE IN GENERAL
WINE, for my purpose in this little
handbook, is the fermented product
of the grape. The dubious ginger
and the fearsome elderberry do not come into
our survey.
The essence of the process of wine-making is
as follows : The grapes are collected and the
juice pressed out either by treading or by more
or less developed mechanical contrivances. The
juice or 'must' ferments — which is to say that
the sugar in the grape juice, is converted into
alcohol. The chemistry of fermentation — the
action of yeast — is a complex matter. It is
sufficient here to say that it is a bacteriological
process in which living micro-organisms in-
crease and multiply, needing the active co-
operation of oxygen from the air. The primary
fermentation therefore takes place with free
access to the air. The young wine is run off
into casks or vats which are covered from the
air for the secondary fermentation, in which the
wine, at this stage a turbid liquid, clears by
throwing a deposit. After a few months the
bright wine is racked — that is, separated from
the deposit into a clean, sulphured cask. Not
yet clear enough, it is ' fined ' by the addition of
white of egg or gelatine which, combining with
the tannin in the wine, makes a further deposit
ON WINE IN GENERAL
and also carries down suspended particles.
Variations of the essential process are employed,
according to the character of the wine to be
produced. In from two to four years the wine is
mature and ready for bottling, as in the case of
the Burgundies, Clarets, Champagnes, Hocks,
etc., or for further maturing in the wood as in
Port and Sherry. It may be worth while here
noting the terms 'natural,' 'made/ and 'fortified.'
'Natural' wines, such as the still wines of
France, Germany, and Italy, are wines whose
diverse characters mainly depend, not on special
process, but (as all wines, including these, of
course, depend) on character of vine, soil,
aspect, climate, and vinfage weather. They are
matured according to the 'natural' process gene-
rally described above and untouched thereafter.
The ' made ' or manufactured wines, such as
the sparkling wines, Champagne, etc., have
added to them a liqueur consisting of fine wine-
brandy and sugar in greater or lesser quantities.
These classifications are not absolute. For
instance, there is occasionally added to Bur-
gundy in the cuve a certain proportion of fine
sugar if there be disclosed a deficiency of that
factor in the ' must.' But this rather by way of
making up a known deficiency from the normal,
not by way of absolute addition. The deficiency
was found to render the wine unstable, hence
the curative treatment.
A HANDBOOK OF WINE
The ' fortified ' wines — Port and Sherry — are
treated with an addition of wine spirit which,
checking the normal process whereby the sugar
in the grape juice is converted into alcohol,
leaves the wine characteristically sweet to a
greater or less degree as determined by the
discretion of the makers. These wines are
also 'blended' and 'coloured' The colour in
honourable wines is made by boiling down wine
till it is a dark, thick liquid; it is obvious that
less expensive and less wholesome additions can
be made by unscrupulous makers of inferior
wine. Of course, the main colouring of Port, as
of the natural red wines everywhere, is from the
colouring matter in the black grape skins. But
the longer Port is kept in wood the lighter it
becomes, and to demand, as the English market
has constantly demanded, old Port of a deep
colour has necessitated refreshing old stock with
newer full-coloured, full-bodied wine. Fashions
in colour (an unessential) have, in fact, had
much to do with the modification of much
fine wine to its disadvantage.
A special warning has now to be issued with
regard to Port. Once, only the wine shipped by
certain well-known shippers was usually de-
scribed and sold as Port, and the standard of
quality was maintained in the interest of pre-
serving established reputation. Now any wine
grown in the Douro district can be so sold,
ON WINE IN GENERAL 23
including some horrific concoctions. Fore-
warned is forearmed. On the other hand, it
must be recognized with regard to Port specifi-
cally (what I have noted with regard to wine in
general), that the adulteration and trickery and
absence of standard such as brought Port into
such disrepute in the mid- Victorian days, is
now nothing like so common; and as a result
Port of good shippers has fully recovered its
favour.
It may be truly said that the general terms,
Claret, Burgundy, Sherry, etc., are much too
general to denote specific quality. The genius
of wine really lies in the particular grape used.
Every kind of vine gives a distinct character to
its product, and the most celebrated wines are
made from distinct varieties of grape. Wine
from the Palomino grown at Xeres is very
different from the Mantico castellano grown in
the same district, and the term Sherry does not
adequately cover the two wines, and so of the
various French wines classified by district or
group terms.
It is interesting to note that the temperate
climate with high summer temperature is the
best for wine-producing. In the cold countries
the grape cannot ripen. In countries like
England, where the mean temperature is not
lower than in some wine-producing countries,
the normal summer heat is insufficient. In the
24 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
equatorial territories the vine does not prosper.
France is the most favoured country, and
produces the greatest diversity of character in
her wines. Other wine-producing countries,
roughly in the order of their quantitative output,
are Italy, Spain, Algeria, Germany, Russia,
Argentine, Chile, Portugal, Greece, Austria
and Hungary (late Austria-Hungary), the
United States (chiefly California), Peru, Rou-
mania, Turkey, Cyprus, Brazil, Servia, Tunis,
Australia, Switzerland, Uruguay, The Cape,
Corsica, Bolivia, The Azores, The Canaries.
Madeira, Bulgaria, Canada, Mexico, Persia,
Luxembourg, and Egypt.
While the general character of wine depends
on the factors of the vine itself, the climate, the
soil, the aspect (and in ' made ' and ' fortified '
wines, the process), specific quality depends on
the particular vintage, which is, to say, on
weather.
Wine is savoured both by the sense of taste
and the sense of smell (if these be really separate
senses as I understand has been philosophically
disputed). The eye also comes into the business,
and some astonishing stories are told of connois-
seurs (quite sober, bien entendu!) desperately
chagrined by being unable to tell whether they
be drinking Port or Sherry when blindfolded.
It is to my mind rather a mournful thing to
see the factors that make for taste and bouquet
ON WINE IN GENERAL 25
stated in terms of acids, salts, albumen, ethers.
Let us, then, wave away the chemist as a dull
(if clever) dog, and look at the matter from the
point of view of the owner of the cellar, the
wine-drinker as such.
We all know that well-made wine of a good
year will improve with age, will lose certain
rawnesses or harshnesses of taste, will refine
upon certain delicacies and subtleties of bou-
quet. Age, in fact, is a great factor in the
making of fine wine. But not so often is it
remembered that wine can undoubtedly be kept
too long, and nothing save occasional trials can
with certainty establish what is the best age for
any given wine except in very general terms.
The wines with the greatest alcoholic strength
will go on maturing and improving for the
longest time. A Port or Sherry will thrive for
eighty or ninety years and more. A good
Burgundy need not be too old at forty, nor a
Claret even at fifty. Champagne is probably at
its best at from twelve to fifteen years (bottling
in magnum will add to its maturing period
perhaps another four to six years). It is a
tragic thing, in view of the brave hopes of the
generous soul who laid down good wines, for his
sons to go down to some prized and ancient bin
and bring forth with pride a wine that has
passed its period and lost all its character and
charm. This, of course, apart from any such
a6 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
disaster as the perishing of corks. An occasional
bottle should be taken from the noble hoard and
sampled to see if all be well. And if the condi-
tion be such as to delight the heart, then by all
means consume the generous fluid that has
waited so long for its hour, and do not risk
disappointing it by keeping it imprisoned until
its character deteriorates.
As to the prices of old wine, caprice, scarcity,
special reputation will dictate them, apart from
a standard addition to original price represent-
ing interest, risks, and rent, which was about
5 per cent, per annum before the war, and is
now round about an unstable 7 per cent.
A word is necessary on the links between the
vine and the customer, the grower, the broker,
the shipper, and the merchant (the big merchant
being often his own shipper). The broker does
the necessary work in an exceedingly complex
trade of collecting from the innumerable in-
dividual vineyards and delivering to the various
shippers to their order. The merchant deals
direct with the shipper for his own calculated
general trade needs and the known needs of his
personal customers. This does not mean, of
course, that the merchant of repute does not
visit the wine districts personally. The various
specialists in the firm each go to their own
territory in quest of special qualities, peculiarly
delectable parcels, etc. The above apparatus of
ON WINE IN GENERAL 27
business merely means that no merchant can go
over and collect the various casks in his own van
and bring them over in his own ship. If he did,
certainly your wine ' would cost you more/
A word perhaps in fairness ought to be said
of the grocer and the term of reproach ' grocer's
wine/ A grocer selling the branded product of
a good wholesale house is doing a quite legiti-
mate trade. He does not attempt in the ordinary
way of trade to deal in the finer wines, and no-
body would be likely to seek them at his shop.
But there is here obviously nothing to quarrel
with. It is with the innocent-looking bottle
labelled, say, * Beaune ' (tout court), of which the
contents have never been near any vineyard of
that famous district, that the trouble begins.
The fact is that place and district names have
come to be freely used as mere descriptions of
(alleged) character, not as denoting real place
of origin. It is a difficult practice to stop. The
same difficulty appears in the Hotel Wine List.
An expert is no better'off than a layman as he
takes up his wine list and reads St. Emilion,
Pommard, etc. He must fall back on his know-
ledge or estimate of the reputation of the hotel
or on the price. If he is wise he will ask to see
some one who knows about the wine — in a first-
class restaurant the wine waiter may be suffi-
ciently instructed. He will not ask the ordinary
waiter, who is not likely to know anything worth
28 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
knowing of the matter in hand, though he will
probably not have the sense to say so, but will
assume that if you are so confiding as to ask
him you won't be very likely to catch him out.
The gist of all of which is that fundamentally
one has to bank upon the good faith of the man
who knows what is in the bottle and puts his
reputation behind it — that is, the wine merchant,
or, in the restaurant, the proprietor. In each
case it is a question of confidence. Obviously a
commodity of such value as wine, and so easily
manipulated, gives an opening to roguery. The
protection to the buyer is the experience and the
knowledge of the seller, the merchant who
knows not only by test of tasting the character
and quality of the wine he is selling, but the
actual derivation and authenticity of it through
the guarantee of the shipper.
The jealously-guarded standards of the
official classification of e.g. the French vine-
yards, the classified five growths of the Medoc,
of the two growths of Sauternes, the established
Crus of St. Emilion and of the Burgundies, the
makers' brand-name of Champagne — these are
part of the apparatus of securing honest dealing.
But ultimately it is the last link between the
customer and the merchant which must bear
the strain. I hope I have not overstressed this
important point.
Chapter III
THE WINES OF FRANCE
IN this and the following chapters on the
specific wines I have deliberately restricted
the notes to the chief wines of current con-
sumption so as not to confuse the reader by an
indigestible mass of information, much of
which would anyway be irrelevant to his
purpose.
THE WINES OF BORDEAUX
The term Claret, as we use it in England, is
generally understood as a description of a red
wine from the Bordeaux district (department
of the Gironde), the finest wine-bearing group
of vineyards in all France, and therefore in the
world. Actually it should embrace all wines,
white and red, in this district ; but Sauternes and
Graves are not popularly known as white
Clarets. There is thus a certain lack of de-
finiteness in the term, but certainly it cannot be
honestly used as a trade description of the wine
of any other district or country, and the quali-
fication, Australian, Californian, Spanish, must
be added, according to country of origin.
Claret is a relatively simple wine in its process
of vinification, containing the least amount of
sugar, alcohol, and acid — these substances
being, of course, present in all wines, the
proportion giving the specific character. Claret
is unfortified with any spirit and therefore will
30 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
not keep sound for more than a few hours,
certainly not more than six or eight, after being
opened. It is a sensitive wine, easily spoiled by
bad treatment. When maturing in bottle it
should be kept at an even temperature of 60°
Fahr. ; never subject to vibration nor exposed to
sunlight or strong daylight. Fine Clarets will
mature for thirty or even forty years in bottle.
The general character of fine Claret is a
delicacy, lightness, softness, and elegance of
taste and bouquet as compared with other
wines. The queen of wines ! Descriptions of
Claret may be otherwise confusing to the
amateur, and need a little explanation. Vague
territorial descriptions, as Medoc, St. Emilion,
give no clue to specific quality except that the
very vagueness of the descriptions suggests the
fact that they may be inferior wines of a good
district trying to claim some of the credit of the
better wines from such districts. Similarly, well-
known district names, Margaux, St. Julien, are
thus vaguely used. The name of the actual
Chateau not merely some vague place name will
appear on the bottle of wine that is produced by
that particular chateau. The formal official
classification of the various classed growths is
usually a sound guide to the standard of the
wines included.
The classifications are obviously not in-
fallible nor absolutely exclusive. There is still
THE WINES OF FRANCE 31
room for the judgment of the merchant and the
connoisseur to find good wines outside the lists,
and perhaps occasionally less good wines within
it, though it is fair to say that the standards are
zealously maintained, as far as the vagaries of
the weather year by year permit.
All Clarets need a full six months in bottle
before they can be drunk with any pleasure.
The classed growths, as also the lesser growths,
are never bottled till they have been two years
in wood, and they require a good time in bottle
to come to perfection. Old Clarets will throw a
deposit, and, of course, with great age, lighten in
colour. They should be brought from the cellar
very carefully a few hours before consumption.
Some Claret connoisseurs prefer to bring them
up the night before. The bottles should be stood
up to allow the deposit to settle. An hour or two
before drinking, the cork should be very gently
drawn, and, to avoid splashing and frothing, the
wine poured through a funnel with a curved end
which directs the wine down the sides of the
decanter, which must be thoroughly clean and
should be slightly warmed. The bottle should
be tipped very gently, so that the pouring may
be stopped immediately any signs of deposit
appear.
Claret should be drunk at the temperature of
a comfortably-warmed room, say 65° to 70° Fahr.
Claret, at a formal dinner where there are
32 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
several wines, is served with the entries or
roast.
Besides the bottle (reputed quart, actually
0.76 litres) and the half-bottle (reputed pint,
0.37 litres), the Magnum or double bottle (1.50
litres), the Jeroboam (4 litres), and the Imperial
(6 litres) are sometimes used for bottling the red
wines of Bordeaux. Wine bottled in large bottles
takes longer to come to perfection, but develops
qualities through obscure reactions within the
bulk that are not attained by the same wines
aged in smaller bottles.
FINE
CLARET VINTAGES
Of the Last Half-Century
Year
Quality
Yield
Year
Quality
Yield
1870
Good
Large
1900
Excellent
Large
1871
Excellent
1904
Fair
Large
1874
Good
Large
1907
Fair
1875
Excellent
Large
1908
Good
Small
1877
Good
1909
Good
Small
1878
Good
Large
1911
Good
Small
1887
Fair
1912
Fair
Large
1888
Fair
Large
1914
Good
Medium
1889
Good
1916
Good
Small
1890
Excellent
1917
Good
Small
1893
Excellent
Large
1918
Excellent
Small
1896
Fair
Large
1919
Excellent
Large
1898
Good
Small
1920
Good
1899
Excellent
33
34 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
The Gironde is divided into six main dis-
tricts : Medoc, Graves, Sauternes, Entre deux
Mers, Cotes, Palus.
It may be said that the wines of the Medoc
are the classical characteristic red Clarets of the
finest general quality. They are lighter than
those of the Cotes (St. Emilion and Pomerol
districts) which are nearer to the fuller, heavier
character of Burgundy.
It should be noted that the fourth wine in the
first growths, Chateau Haut-Brion, is actually
a wine from Pessac in the Graves district.
THE CLASSED GROWTHS OF
THE MEDOC
First Growths.
Chateau. Commune.
Chateau Lafite . . . . . . Pauillac
Chateau Margaux . . . . Margaux
Chateau Latour . . . . . . Pauillac
Chateau Haut-Brion . . . . Pessac
Second Growths.
Mouton-Rothschild . . . . Pauillac
Rauzan-Segla .,, .. . . Margaux
Rauzan-Gassies ...... .. Margaux
Leoville-Lascases .. . . St. Julien
Leoville-Poyferre . . . .St. Julien
THE WINES OF FRANCE 35
Second Growths. — continued.
Chateau.
Commune.
Leoville- Barton
. . St. Julien
Durfort-Vivens
. . Margaux
Lascombes . .
. . Margaux
Gruaud-Larose-Faure . .
. . St. Julien
Gruaud-Larose-Sarget . .
. .St. Julien
Brane-Cantenac
. . Cantenac
Pichon-Longueville
. . Pauillac
Pichon-Lalande
. . Pauillac
Ducru-Beaucaillou
. . St. Julien
Cos d'Estournel ...
St. Estephe
Montrose
St. Esttphe
Third Growths.
Kirwan
. . Cantenac
Issan, d' . .
. Cantenac
Lagrange
. . St. Julien
Langoa
. .St. Julien
Giscours
. . Labarde
Malescot St. Exupery . .
. . Margaux
Brown-Cantenac
. . Cantenac
Palmer
. . Margaux
La Lagune
Ludon
Desmirail
. . Margaux
Calon-Segur
St. Estephe
Ferriere
. . Margaux
Marquis-d'Alesme-Bekker
. . Margaux
Fourth Growths.
St. Pierre
. . St. J idier.
A HANDBOOK OF WINE
Fourth Growths. — continued.
Chateau.
Commune.
Branaire-Ducru
. . St. Julien
Talbot
. . St. Julien
Duhart-Milon
. . Pauillac
Poujet . . . . 4 ..'
. . Cantenac
Latour-Carnet
St. Laurent
Rochet
St. Estephe
Beychevelle
. . St. Julien
Le Prieure
. . Cantenac
Marquis de Terme
. . Margaux
Fifth Growths.
Pontet-Canet
. . Pauillac
Batailley
. . Pauillac
Grand-Puy-Lacoste
. . Pauillac
Grand-Puy-Ducasse
. . Pauillac
Lynch-Bages
. . Pauillac
Lynch-Moussas
. . Pauillac
Dauzac
. . Labarde
Mouton-d'Armailhacq . .
. . Pauillac
Tertre, du
Ar sac
Haut-Bages
. . Pauillac
Pedesclaux
. . Pauillac
Belgrave
St. Laurent
Camensac
St. Laurent
Cos-Labory
St. Estephe
Clerc-Milon
. . Pauillac
Croizet-Bages
. . Pauillac
Cantemerle
Macau
THE WINES OF FRANCE 37
GRAVES
The term Vin de Graves is given to the
wines grown on the gravelly soils of the Graves
district. These wines have body, beautiful
colour, finesse, very pronounced seve, and fine
bouquet. Among them may be noted (besides
the Chateau Haut-Brion classed with the first
of the Medoc) : —
Chateau. Commune.
La Mission-Haut-Brion . . Pessac
Pape Clement . . . . . . Pessac
Bon-Air (ler Cru) . . . . *Merignac
Camponac (ler Cru) . . . . Pessac
Haut Bailly . . . . . . Leognan
Larrivet-Haut-Brion . . . . Leognan
de Chevalier . . . . . . Leognan
Carbonnieux . . . . . . Leognan
Olivier (ler Cru) . . . . Leognan
Smith Haut Lafite . . . . Martillac
The white wines are generally dry, and the
best have high bouquet and flavour, such as :
Chateau. Commune.
Laguloup Leognan
La Louviere Leognan
F errand Martillac
Lalanne-Monplaisir Villenave d'Ornon
du Bouscaut Cadaujac
The white wines of Graves are drunk with
oysters and fish.
38 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
SAUTERNES
The commune of Sauternes lies south of the
Bordeaux district. This and the communes of
Bommes, F argues, Preignac, and Barsac, are
grouped as the ' Sauternes-Barsac districts.'
Sauternes are of golden colour — soft, sweet,
and highly perfumed. They are ideal sweet light
wines, warming and comforting without being
heady or bilious. The most famous of these is
the Chateau Yquem, which is in a class by itself.
THE CLASSIFICATION OF SAUTERNES
Grand First Growth.
Chateau. Commune.
Yquem . . . . . . . . Sauternes
First Growths.
La Tour-Blanche .. ... Bommes
Peyraguey . . . . . . Bommes
Lafaurie-Peyraguey . . . . Bommes
de Rayne-Vigneau . . Bommes
de Suduiraut . . . . . . Preignac
Coutet . , Barsac
Climens . . . . . . . . Barsac
Guiraud . . . . . . . . Sauternes
Rieussec F argues
Rabaud-Promis . Bommes
THE WINES OF FRANCE 39
Second Growths.
Chateau. Commune.
de Myrat . . . . . . . . Barsac
Doisy . . . . . . . . Barsac
d'Arche . . . . . . . . Sauternes
Filhot . . . . . . . . Sauternes
Broustet-Nerac . . . . . . Barsac
Caillou .. .. "'•'.•• .. Barsac
Suau . . . . . . . . Barsac
de Malle .. .. .. '•• Preignac
Lamothe . . . . . . . . Sauternes
La Montagne . . . . . . Preignac
LEADING GROWTHS OF ST.
EMILION, POMEROL, ETC.
Ausone (ler Grand Cru) . . St. Emilion
Belair (ler Grand Cru) . . . . St. Emilion
Magdelaine (ler Grand Cru) . . St. Emilion
Beausejour (ler Grand Cru) . . St. Emilion
Canon La Gaffeliere'(Ier Cru) St. Emilion
Fonplegade (ler Cru) . . . . St. Emilion
Pavie (ler Cru) St. Emilion
Coutet (ler Cru) . . . . . . St. Emilion
Petrus (ler Cru) . . . . Pomerol
Trotanoy (ler Cru) . . . . Pomerol
Nenin (ler Cru) Pomerol
Roussillon . . . . Neac-Pomerol
Pomys (Cru Bourgeois Superieur) St.Esiephc
40 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
CHAMPAGNE
The process of vitrification of the famous
sparkling wines of Champagne is very complex.
In outline it is as follows : The grapes are
pressed (black grapes mainly, but the skins,
stalks, and pips are at once separated from the
juice), then fermented in vats, and when the
wine has become limpid in the winter it is
racked, put into large casks, and thence trans-
ferred to bottles in the spring. The process of
fermentation finishes in the bottle, the sugar
remaining in the liquid being transformed into
carbonic acid gas. Champagnes are liqueured
by the addition of a syrup where a sweet rather
than a dry wine is demanded. The wines made
for and shipped to England are generally dry
(brut or nature).
Champagnes mature quickly, and are at their
best after from eight to fifteen years. They are
(unlike Burgundies and Clarets) known under
the name of the shippers. The best Cham-
pagnes come from the arrondisements of
Rheims, Epernay, and Chalons.
In the making of Champagne, wines of
different vineyards of the same vintage (often
with a substantial addition of older wine) are
blended together. It is for this reason that the
finished wine is not known under a local name
but by the name of the shipper.
A vintage Champagne is therefore rarely a
THE WINES OF FRANCE
vintage wine in the ordinary sense of a wine
made solely from the grapes of one fine season.
Champagne is rather made to a standard which
each shipper carefully maintains for his reputa-
tion's sake. Among leading brands the fol-
lowing may be named in alphabetical order :
Ayala & Cie, Ay.
Binet {Veuve), Fits & Cie, Rheims.
Bollinger, /., Ay.
Clicquot-Ponsardin (Veuve), Rheims.
Delbeck & Cie, Rheims.
Deutz & Geldermann, Ay.
Duminy & Cie, Ay.
Goulet (Veuve), Geo., & Cie, Rheims.
Heidsieck & Cie (Monopole & Dry Mono-
pole), Rheims.
Heidsieck, Charles, Rheims.
Irroy, E., & Cie, Rheims.
Krug & Cie, Rheims.
Lanson, Pere & Fils, Rheims.
Lemoine, /., Rilly -la-Montage, and Rheims.
Moet & Chandon, E-pernay.
Montebello (Due de), Marenil-sur-Ay.
Mumm, G. H ., Rheims.
Perrier-fouet & Cie, Epernay.
Piper-Heidsieck, Rheims.
Pol Roger & Cie, Epernay.
Pommery & Greno, Rheims.
Roederer, Louis, Rheims.
Ruinart, Pere & Fils, Rheims,
CHAMPAGNE
VINTAGES
Of the Last Half- Century
Year
Quality
Year
Quality
1870
Good
1899
Good
1872
Fair
1900
Fine
1874
Excellent
1904
Excellent
1878
Very good
1906
Very fine
1880
Very good
1909
Fair
1883
Fair
1911
Very fine
1884
Fine
1913
Fair
1889
Excellent
1914
Fine
1892
Fine
1915
Good
1893
Fine
1917
Fine
1895
Very fair
1919
Fair
1898
Fine
1920
Good
42
THE WINES OF FRANCE 43
BURGUNDY
Burgundies are the wines that come from the
Haute-Bourgogne (Cote d'Or), Basse-Bour-
gogne (Yonne, etc.) of Maconnais (Saone et
Loire), and Beaujolais (Rhone).
They are, in general, fuller in body and of
greater alcoholic strength than Clarets. No jury
can decide which of the two wines deserves the
crown. ' If Burgundy is the king, then Claret is
the queen of wines/ says Saintsbury. It is well
to hear the judgment of an enthusiast, Mr.
Andre L. Simon. ' Burgundy is the most fragrant
of all red wines, is equally pleasing to the eye
and to the olfactory sense; it possesses a fine
clear dark-red colour which no mixture of
grape-juice, spirit and sugar can ever approach.
Burgundy fulfils on the palate the promises held
out by its fine colour and charming bouquet;
soft and velvety, Burgundy never is ' sugary ; '
warm and generous, it never is 'spirity ;' delicate,
it never is vapid as the last sip is swallowed.
Burgundy leaves in the palate a most pleasing
* farewell,' never a watery or fiery taste. The
popular belief that Burgundy is a heavy, inky
wine is due, like many such beliefs, not to facts,
but to fiction. The black vinous brews sold
under the name of ' Burgundy ' or the appella-
tion ' Burgundy-type ' by retailers often more
ignorant than dishonest, are a gross libel upon
the highly-bred, delicate, and delicious wines of
44 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
Burgundy.' A characteristic passage which, as
the reader will guess, is quoted for its warnings
as well as for its appreciations.
Among the best wines of the C6te d'Or vine-
yards may be mentioned :
Vineyard. Commune.
Chambertin . . . . . . Gevrey
Clos de Vougeot . . . . Vougeot
Romanee-Conti . . . . . . Vosne
Nuits St. Georges . . . . Nuits
Nuits-Premeaux . . Premeaux
Gorton . . . . . . . . Aloxe
whilst many fine wines come from Pommard,
Volnay, Beaune, Chassagne, Savigny, etc.
Red Burgundy is, at a. formal dinner, drunk
with the roast. Burgundy will go on maturing
for thirty or forty years. For decanting, use the
same procedure as with Claret.
BURGUNDY VINTAGES
Of the Last Half- Century
Year
Quality
Yield
Year
Quality
Yield
1870
Excellent
Large
1898
Fair
Fair
1874
Excellent
Large
1899
Very good
Small
1877
Good
A verage
1900
Excellent
Large
1878
Fair
Large
1904
Good
Large
1883
Good
Large
1905
Fair
Large
1885
Good
Large
1906
Good
Medium
1886
Good
Small
1907
Fair
Small
1887
Good
Fair
1908
Excellent
Large
1888
Fair
Large
1911
Excellent
Small
1889
Excellent
A verage
1912
Fair
Large
1890
Good
Fair
19*5
Very good
Small
1892
Very good
1916
Good
Small
1893
Good
1917
Good
Small
1894
Good
1918
Fair
Large
1895
Good
1919
Excellent
Small
1896
Good
Large
1920
Good
46 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
MACONNAIS & BEAUJOLAIS
Wines from the Maconnais and the Beau-
jolais. The Maconnais comprises in the depart-
ment of Saone et Loire the arrondissements
of Macon, Autun, etc. The most esteemed
wines of this district are those from Macon
and its environs. Nor do the wines from the
Beaujolais (arrondissement of Villefranche in
the Rhone) lack either lightness, finesse, or
good taste.
Celebrated wines of this district include :
Romaneche, Thorins, Moulin-a-Vent, whilst
Pouilly (from the communes of Fuisse and
Solutre) is the most famous white wine here-
abouts.
CHABLIS
The white wines of Chablis are sometimes
incorrectly spoken of as white Burgundies.
In reality their character is very different.
They are of good alcoholic strength, and
vigorous without the alcohol being too pro-
nounced to the palate. They have body-deli-
cacy and charming aroma, and are distinguished
also by their remarkable whiteness of colour and
limpidity.
They are the favourite wines for consumption
with oysters. They should be served cold.
Chablis will go on maturing for years.
THE WINES OF FRANCE
CLASSIFICATION OF CHABLIS
The Chablis wines are now classified by the
leading brokers as follows :
The principal cms of Chablis.
Premiers Crus.
Vaudesir Blanchot
Les Clos Les Preuses
Valmur Bougros
Grenouille
Deuxiemes Crus.
Chapelot Chatain
Montee de Tonnerre Beugnon
Mont de Milieu Les Forets
Montmain Les Lys
Vaillon Les Epinottes
Fourchaume Vaulorent
Sechet
Troisiemes Crus.
Pargues Buteaux
Soyat Vieilles Voies
Valvan
Many villages round about Chablis also
produce white wines of good quality.
VERMOUTH
Vermouth is the product of the southernmost
vineyards of France. The basis is a white wine
48 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
fortified with spirit and aromatized with various
herbs and other aromatic and tonic materials.
French Vermouth has in general a drier
character than the Italian.
Is much in favour for aperitifs, and is
excellent with aerated water as a beverage.
Chapter IV
THE WINES OF SPAIN
& PORTUGAL
THE WINES OF SPAIN
SHERRY
THE wine of Spain par excellence is
Sherry, a name once restricted to the pro-
ducts of the vineyards of Jerez de la
Frontera in the province of Cadiz, but now
extended so as to cover the vineyards of the
South of Spain.
Good Sherry has a well-developed bouquet
and aroma, a fine and delicate taste with varying
degree of alcoholicity according to type and age.
Very old Sherries reach eventually a good
strength.
Sherry has great value as a restorative, and is
prescribed by Spanish physicians when we
should prescribe Brandy. It is said that it is the
only wine of which one Can drink while smoking
without losing some of its savour. Of Sherry
alone it is said ' It improves in the decanter/ It
maintains its excellence unimpaired for many
days.
It is made of white grapes only, which are
crushed lightly in a press, and after a short
fermentation the pulp is again pressed, native
earth burnt to a dust being sprinkled on the pulp
5o A HANDBOOK OF WINE
as an essential part of the process. The second
fermentation lasts about three months, when the
young wine is racked into fresh casks. When the
wine falls bright, the decision is made whether
the quality be good enough to make into Sherry
proper, in which case it will be racked off,
fortified with Brandy, and left to ferment with-
out further disturbance. If of poor quality it
is reserved for distilling.
The style or type of the ultimate Sherry
depends very largely on the development of the
'flor' in the secondary fermentation. Quality
can only be determined with time. Three main
types emerge : fine, clean, dry, and delicate ; a
fuller and richer wine, Raya; and a third com-
posite type with the cleanness of the Fino,
another full body of the Raya-Palo Cortado.
The wines, however, are shipped not under
these names, but the Finos as Amontillado and
Vino del Pasto, the Cortados as Oloroso and
Amoroso, the Rayas as Golden. Other well-
known names are Palo Cortado, Old Solera,
Montilla, Marcharnudo, Manzanilla, Maduro,
Modinetta, Molino, in addition to the usual
English acceptive titles : Pale full, Pale Brown,
Old Brown, etc.
Sherry is very definitely a blended wine.
And the making of Sherry is an expensive and
long process. Cheap Sherries, therefore, are
likely to be false or faked or bad Sherries.
THE WINES OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 51
Sherries are sweetened and coloured to meet
requirements of taste and fashion. Dry Sherry
alone or with Vermouth is an excellent appe-
tizer. A good full Sherry mixed with aerated
water is a refreshing beverage.
Sherry, being a fortified wine, is bottled with
an air space, not right up to the cork.
Among the more important Sherry shippers
may be named :
Duff Gordon & Co. . . (Port St. Mary)
Garvey & Co. . . . . . . (Jerez)
Gonzalez, Byass & Co. Ltd. . . (Jarez)
Mackenzie & Co. Ltd. . . . . (Jerez)
Manuel Misa . . . . . . (Jerez)
Williams & Humbert . . . . (Jerez)
Pedro Domecq . . . . . . (Jerez)
SHERRY VINTAGES
Of the Last Half- Century
Year
Quality
Yield
Year Quality
Yield
1870
Good
A terage
1898
Good
Small
1873
Good
Small
1900
Good
Small
1874
Fair
Small
i go i
Good
Large
1877
Good
Large
1903
Very good
V. small
1878
Fair
Small
1904
Very good
Large
1879
Good
Large
J905
Good
A verage
1880
Good
Large
1906
Good
Small
1882
Excellent
Large
1908
Good
Large
1885
Good
Large
1909
Excellent
Large
1887
Good
Small
1911
Good
Small
1890
Good
Small
1913
Excellent
Small
1891
Good
Small
1914
Fair
Medium
1892
Good
Small
i9J5
Good
Small
1894
Good
Large
1916
Excellent
Lavee
1895
Good
Large
1917
Good
Medium
1896
Good
Small
1920
Good
Small
1897
Good
Small
52
THE WINES OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 53
TARRAGONA
Tarragona is a sweet dark red or white wine
which comes from Catalonia. The wines of the
neighbourhood of Mataro are much sought
after. The Priorato reds are held the most in
esteem, as are the white wines of Villafranca de
Panades. Other wines are the Malvoisie (made
at Sitjes, with the grape-vine of this name), the
Muscat, the Grenache, the Rancio, the Panades,
and the Macabeo.
Tarragona is especially noted for its Priorato
(dry, musque, sweet, and even syrupy). The
Maduro and Cardona from this district are
much in demand.
Tarragona in England is quoted under such
descriptions as :
Blended Tarragona.
Spanish Red or Pure Tarragona.
Special Tawny (Spanish Red).
Tarragona, medium light.
Tarragona, rich, fall-bodied.
Tarragona, sweet red wine.
Tarragona, sweet, full, etc.
The term * Tarragona Port ' is now illegal.
MALAGA
Malaga is the wine grown on the hills round
the town of this name. Malaga blanc is a vin
54 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
fin, which the French describe as liquor eux
(sweet), and very delicate. Malaga color is a
dark wine. It is the product of a mixture of
Malaga blanc and one or the other of two pre-
parations known respectively as Arrope and
Color. There are other varieties of M alaga, such
as Malaga Muscat, etc. Malaga wines are ex-
ported exclusively from the Port of Malaga.
Malaga is sold in butts like Sherry. A fine
old dark 1800 vintage (therefore over 120 years
old) was quoted on the market not long ago.
This shows the great length of time this wine
can be kept in wood.
Other well-known Spanish wines are Rioja,
red (often called 'Spanish Claret'), and Rioja,
white (sometimes described as ' Chablis cha-
racter'), from La Mancha — the famous district
of Don Quixote.
There are also Valdepenas and Valencia
wines, etc.
THE WINES OF PORTUGAL
PORT
While the vineyards of France are for the
most part on gentle slopes, the black grapes from
which Port Wine is made grow on the rocky
terraced hills of the mountainous regions of the
Douro in the north of Portugal. Port is now
THE WINES OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 55
defined, by formal agreement incorporated in a
Treaty of 1916, as 'a fortified wine produced in
the Douro region and exported through the bar
of Oporto.' No wine not answering to this exact
description can be sold now as Port, even with a
qualifying name, as, 'Tarragona Port/ The
grapes are tipped into shallow granite troughs
and trodden by the trabalhadores. At a certain
stage in the fermentation the process is checked
by the introduction of Brandy. The newly-made
wine is run off into vats. When the wine falls
bright (the cold winter weather of these regions
helping to this end) it is racked from its lees.
A second racking is given in the warmer spring
weather, and the wine is stored in casks.
The three classifications of Ports — Vintage,
Ruby, and Tawny — need a word of explanation.
Vintage Ports are the finer wines bottled
young (i.e. when about two years old) and
matured in the cellar. It is these wines that have
really made Ports famous in England, as, being
bottled thus early, they retain the vintage
character and full fruity flavour, ruby colour,
and fine bouquet. In the process of maturing
in bottle they form the well-known crust.
Only years in which climatic and atmospheric
conditions have been favourable to the perfect
ripening of the grapes and successful harvesting
have any chance of coming into the category of
'vintage years/ for under such circumstances
56 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
alone can the wine be expected to possess the
necessary fruit and flavour and sufficient full-
ness of body to throw the firm crust in the bottle.
The consumer, if he would consult his purse
should buy Vintage Ports early — that is, as soon
as the wine merchants have bottled them. A
further advantage, which every regular Port
buyer knows, is that it is better for the wine to
be thus ' laid down ' and kept in the buyer's own
cellar, free from disturbance of any kind, to be
opened at the owner's discretion or that of his
successor.
To preserve the true vintage character all
Vintage Ports should be bottled within a period
— varying with the particular vintage and wine
— of from two to four years from the date the
grapes were gathered. Purchasers should
always assure themselves as to the bottling date
before taking delivery of Vintage Ports.
Ruby Ports stand half-way, in character as in
treatment, between Vintage and Tawny. They
are good wines, kept in wood for some time
before being bottled. They may be of one
vintage or a blend. They have lost some of
their depth of colour and strength in the wood,
but have more body and colour and character
than Tawny.
A Tawny Port is a Port that has been slowly
maturing in wood instead of in bottle. Ports so
stored lose their deep red colour. They are
THF: WINES OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 57
more suitable for consumption in hot climates,
but many people in the United Kingdom prefer
them to the vintage varieties.
It is a curious fact that whereas Sherries were
formerly largely shipped to India — a hot
country — on account of the benefits that accrued
to the wine either through the motion of the
boat or the effects of the change of temperature,
Ports are sometimes shipped to cold countries,
such as Newfoundland, and stored there for
several winters in the very cold and bracing
climate. They thus become extremely soft and
free from such qualities as are supposed to be
conducive to gout, etc. At the same time they
retain their freshness and characteristics of true
Port.
Decanting Port. When a Port is decanted the
white splash on the punt-end of the bottles
should be kept uppermost. The decanter must
be dry and clean. If not dry, rinse it out with
a little — a very little — of the wine. The bottle
must not be shaken, 'even when the cork is
withdrawn. If the cork breaks or there is any
dust, use a strainer or piece of muslin, but
avoid either, if possible. Do not allow any sedi-
ment to pass into the decanter. In a well-bottled
Port the wine will usually pour out bright to the
last. Wine only recently received from the
merchants should be stood upright if wanted
for immediate use. Stand the wine upright for
58 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
say, twenty-four hours in the dining-room to
enable it to acquire the temperature of the
room. By this means any crust that may have
slipped will also settle. At any rate, all old
vintage wines ought to be decanted two or three
hours before being consumed. This will allow
the wine to develop its bouquet and flavour — to
expand them, as it were, after its long confine-
ment. The same remarks apply to all old-
bottled wines, whether Vintage Ports or not.
Besides the Ports shipped from Oporto the
Lisbon red wines, of a similar type to Ports,
grown in the neighbourhood of Lisbon, are also
well known. Since the Treaty already referred
to, these wines have been largely sold under
their proper denomination of ' Lisbon.' Gener-
ally speaking, they are not so good as the wines
from the Douro, as they lack their fine qualities,
but some of them come up to the standard of
Port of fairish quality.
Port is sold, like Champagne, under the name
of the shipper or merchant-shipper. Among
the well-known Oporto shippers may be noted :
Butler, Nephew & Co.
Cockburn, Smithies & Co.
Croft & Co.
Delaforce, Sons & Co.
Dixon.
Dow (Silva and Cosens).
Ferrelra Bros.
THE WINES OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 59
Feuerheerd Bros. & Co. Ltd.
Fonseca & Co. (Guimaraens & Co.).
Gonzalez, By ass & Co.
Gould, Campbell & Co.
Graham, Wm. & John, & Co.
Hunt, Roope & Co.
Mackenzie & Co. Ltd.
Martinez, Gassiot & Co. Ltd.
Morgan Bros.
Offley Forrester Ltd.
Rebello V alente (Robertson Bros. & Co.
and G. Simon & Whelori).
Sandeman & Co.
Smith, Woodhouse & Co. Ltd.
Tait, S tor mouth & Co.
Taylor, Fladgate & Y eatman.
Van Zellers & Co.
Wane & Co.
PORT VINTAGES
Of the Last Half- Century
Year
Quality
Yield
Year
Quality
Yield
1870
Very good
1904
Fair
Large
i873
Very fine
1905
Fair
Small
1875
Excellent
1908 Very fine
Large
1878 j Excellent
1910
Fair
Small
1881
Good
Large
ign
Very good
Small
1884
Very good
V. small
IQI2
Excellent
Medium
1887
Fine
Large
1914
Fair
Small
1889
Fair
Large
IQJ5
Good
Medium
1890
Good
Large
1916
Good
Large
1891
Fair
1917
Very good
Large
1896
Fine
1919
Fine
Average
1900
Excellent
1920
Good
Small
1901
Fair
Large
60
THE WINES OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 61
MADEIRA
From Madeira comes a fine wine, popular in
England at the end of the eighteenth century,
and now much less in demand than its quality
deserves. It is a rich, generous wine, a delight-
ful alternative to Port, especially in hot weather.
Connoisseurs note it as the exquisitely fit
accompaniment of turtle soup. Its alcoholic
strength is due to the young wineberry being
kept in heated chambers for some months,
whereby the watery elements largely evaporate.
The best sweet variety is Malvoisie; the best
dry — White Sercial.
Chapter V
OTHER WINES
THE general English prejudice in favour
of dry wines may have had something to
do with the fact that Italian wines have not
had the vogue which the best of them deserve.
For Italian taste is on the whole in the direction
of sweet, heavy, or crude and rather fiery wines.
Chianti, the best known, from the vineyards
of Tuscany, is a light, reasonably dry, and easily
digestible wine. It is often judged too hastily
from rather raw, new, and fiery samples first
tasted perhaps in some Soho adventure. Ma-
tured, it is a delightful wine with fine bouquet
and clear character which ought to commend it.
Italian wines used to have the reputation of
not travelling well. But much has recently been
done by introduction of more scientific methods
to remedy this defect. This was particularly
true of Asti Spumante, the Champagne of
Piedmont. Made from muscatel grapes, and
over-sweet, it was also apt to go cloudy in bottle.
Study of the methods of the Champagne has
produced a drier, clearer wine which stands
exporting. From Piedmont, too, comes the
Vermouth di Torino, an increasing favourite as
an aperitif, a beverage (mixed with sparkling
minerals it is a most satisfactory drink), and as
an ingredient of the all-conquering cocktail.
The ideal Italian Vermouth should be of a
OTHER WINES 63
bright reddy-gold colour, not too sweet, aro-
matic, and of full vinosity — in other words, a
fine wine, not the mawkish syrup which occa-
sionally masquerades as the authentic.
Marsala, the Sicilian ' Sherry/ ought to
maintain its position in England, where it has
always had its backers. The whisky-soda
habit has tended to oust it. It used to be a great
favourite of professional and city gentlemen in
mid-Victorian days. It is, in general, heavier in
both body and colour than Sherry, and perhaps
the less dry types are the best as well as the
most characteristic. It is Dr. Saintsbury who
notes the ' sometimes fearfully acid ' qualities of
the dry Marsalas. Marsala ages well, and is a
generous wine. The island wines of Capri (and
Ischia) — the elegant dry and light Capri is
called 'the Chablis of Italy' — the characteristic-
ally named Lagrima Christi and the Falerno
(rather richer and sweeter wines these two
latter) are not without merit and reputation.
Other wines favoured by Italian opinion are
the red Valpolicella of the Venetian district,
the white Soave of Verona, the Burgundy-
like Barolo and Barbera of Piedmont, the
Castelli Romani of the province of Velletri, the
Montesfiascone of the province of Viterbo —
known also as Est — though we will spare the
reader the story of Bishop Fugger and his
' Est, Est, Est:
A HANDBOOK OF WINE
THE WINES OF GERMANY
AUSTRIA, AND HUNGARY
It is not likely that for some years to come the
wines of Germany will recover their popularity,
a fact which no keen patriot and ententist need
regret. But a natural prejudice should not
prevent one testifying to the fine quality of
many of the German pre-war wines — in parti-
cular to the Johannisberger, which has the
reputation among connoisseurs of being the
finest flavoured wine in the world; the
Steinberger,Rauenthaler,Geisenheimer,Marco-
briinner, Rudesheimer, Niersteiner, Liebfrau-
milch, and the restof the white Rhine wines which
we classify under the general name of Hock.
Of the Moselles — a lighter wine that has no
long life — the best are Piesporter, Oligsberger,
Brauneberger, Zeltinger, and Berncasteler
Doktor. The trade in the sparkling Moselles
and Hocks of the better quality was in keen
competition with the lesser wines of the
Champagne. Those of the worse quality
suggested perhaps a little too much the
triumphs of German chemistry.
A few red Hocks (which Dr. Saintsbury ad-
vises as a cure for insomnia) of the Aar district —
Walporzheim, Bodendorff,and Ahrweiler — have
some reputation, but nearly all the fine wines
of Germany are white.
OTHER EUROPEAN WINES 65
Scientific viticulture and careful process
built up the reputation of these wines. The
wines of the Alsace-Lorraine territory now
returned to France were almost entirely for
local consumption, and the cession does
not affect the balance of the wine trade very
notably.
It was the Hungarian Tokay — 'less a wine
than a prince of liqueurs ' with ' the colour and
price of gold ' — that gave reputation to the now
dismembered Empire of Austria-Hungary as a
wine country. Authentic Tokays are very rare
to-day. It is a sweet wine, and perhaps for that
reason never much in demand in England.
OTHER EUROPEAN WINES
The wines produced in the Balkan countries,
in Greece and Turkey, in the islands of the
Western Mediterranean, in the Crimea, need
no comment, as the quality is such as not to
appeal to our taste, and they are made mainly
for local consumption. The same may be said
of the wines of Asia, though Palestine is de-
veloping as a wine-producing country, and
exports now some 300,000 gallons of wine
mainly to Egypt, Turkey, and the countries of
the Eastern Mediterranean. A negligible
quantity comes to England.
66 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
THE WINES OF ALGERIA
Algeria, the great North African colony of
France, is an important wine area, being now
the fourth largest wine-producing country in
the world. These wines, produced by French
methods, embody essential qualities not found
in any other wines, except those of France, to
which country Algeria exports a goodly quantity.
The wines are soft and vinous, entirely free from
coarseness and earthiness, and keep well. Both
red and white wines are made, and approximate
in character to well-known French types.
THE WINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
AND AUSTRALIA
The best of the wines of these two dominions
deserve attention for their intrinsic qualities, not
merely because they are Empire products.
'Patriotism adds no bouquet' — an epigram
which is true if cynical.
In the middle of the seventeenth century the
vine was being cultivated in South Africa, and
by the end of it the craft of wine-producing had
made considerable progress.
In Australia serious vine-cultivation may be
dated from the thirties of the last century.
South Australia and Victoria have always been
the most successful areas. The dreaded phyl-
loxera appearing in 1880 in Victoria and New
THE WINES OF SOUTH AFRICA 67
South Wales gave a check to the industry.
Australia consumes seven-eighths of its output
of wine.
Both countries have followed the practice of
naming their wines after their European proto-
types. From South Africa we have Wynberger
Chablis.Tafelberg Hock,Schoongezicht Hermi-
tage, and (less specifically) Veldt Burgundy,
Veldt Claret, Africander Claret. From Aus-
tralia we have Cabernet, Hermitage, and
Riessling, named from the parent stock of
the imported vines. The practice had its con-
venience, but it is open to question whether it
would not have been better for both countries
to have taken the larger, though perhaps in the
end sounder, road of building up the reputation
of the native wines independently. They are
apt to suffer, unjustly often, from the inference
that a name like Tafelberg Hock conveys a
suggestion of inferior imitation.
Neither country has made any serious attempt
to export any other than young beverage wines
which naturally, however admirable in native
quality, are harsh and raw compared with the
mellowed vintage Clarets and Burgundies of
France.
The quality of the Australian branded
' Burgundies ' is consistently maintained — the
science of wine-production has made great
strides in Australia in recent years — and if they
68 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
are not precisely wines for connoisseurs, they
are sound and wholesome beverages for citizens
of modest means.
It is to be hoped that the serious condition of
the South African wine market, owing to price
inflations and manipulations, is only a tem-
porary trouble.
Chapter VI
HOW TO BUY AND STORE,
SERVE AND DRINK WINE
IT does not seem to be too gross an assump-
tion for me to make that in the purchase of
wine the layman will need advice. Wine is
not an altogether easy commodity to judge. It
can, of course, at worst be dishonestly tampered
with or misnamed; at best it is subject to
changes, during its years of maturing, which
only very experienced judgment can detect or
foretell with any degree of assurance.
Well-known houses, such as Berry Bros.,
Harvey of Bristol, Hatch Mansfield, Hedges
and Butler, Justerini and Brooks, and, I hope I
may add, my own firm, can be relied on to put
themselves and their long experience very
completely at the service of the customer. He
should feel no qualms about claiming special
personal attention, and need have no hesitation
in talking round the subject of his ideas and
preferences. The intelligent wine merchant
will welcome the interested customer even if he
be not a ' big' one. Wine happens to be a very
interesting subject, and anyway, quite apart
from a certain natural professional pride which
the merchant may feel in his job and the
technique of his job, an interested customer
is a retained customer and probably a good
recommender.
70 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
It is a wine merchant's business to find for a
customer the wine he wants, not merely to sell
what he happens to have. When you are
sampling wine see that your choice pleases eye
and nose and palate; see, moreover, that you
are buying it because you like it, not because
you think you ought to like it.
It seems to me much better to invest one's
predetermined outlay in fewer wines that are
good rather than more that are second-rate. I
hope it is not snobbish to suggest that as wine is
so often a medium of hospitality a man gets an
added ' bouquet ' out of his guests' appreciation.
Naturally one will buy beverage Clarets,
Burgundies, etc., for normal constant use, and
dessert and vintage wines for occasional special
use or for entertaining. When buying Clarets,
Burgundies, and all French light wines (wines
in general that will not keep when opened), buy
a certain proportion of half-bottles which,
though slightly dearer in proportion than
bottles, will, by the opening of a fresh half-
bottle instead of a bottle, prevent the waste of
good wine.
Wine merchants are always glad to store the
purchases of customers whose houses lack
suitable accommodation, and will deliver their
wine in reasonable instalments as directed.
Wine bought in magnums and other large
bottles takes longer to * come round ' than wines
HOW TO BUY AND STORE T\_
in smaller-sized bottles; but, on the other hand,
the longer period allowed for maturity of the
larger bulk develops qualities unattainable in
the smaller quantities.
The more the customer knows about wine the
better for both customer and merchant. But I
do not advise the private consumer to back his
knowledge by buying wines as a speculation or
investment unless he is content with the ex-
citement of the gamble as an alternative to
profit. This merely means that the layman is
quite unlikely to have anything like the spe-
cialized experience of those against whom he is
pitting his judgment.
Another important piece of advice to the
customer who would buy economically is : buy
ahead of your immediate requirements and
don't leave till the last minute. Let your wine
merchant know in good time that he may be
able to look round fof what you want, and so
buy at, for you, a favourable price. Laying
down young wine that is well succeeded and of
fine promise is, of course, in the long run a great
economy as it is a great interest.
Entries of all purchases should be made in
the cellar book, of which the pages should be
ruled so as to allow of entries of all purchases
(merchant's name, price, quantities, year of vin-
tage, number of bin); and of consumption (with
notes of character and condition of wine).
A HANDBOOK OF WINE
THE WINE-CELLAR
There is little to say about the wine-cellar save
that it should be of equable temperature, 53° to
58° Fahr. Depth underground will preserve it
from climatic changes of temperature and from
undue vibration. It is necessary to see that no
heating apparatus is in any way affecting it.
Wine contains living organisms, and substantial
changes of temperature can easily change their
condition materially. The cellar must be dry.
It is important that every bottle or group of
Fig. i
HOW TO BUY AND STORE 73
bottles should be readily accessible without mov-
ing other bottles. The wine, once binned, should
be left undisturbed so far as is possible till it is
drunk. Fig. i shows a convenient form of bin.
The bottle should always be on its side. In
the case of Port-bottles the splash-mark should
be uppermost, and always kept uppermost when
being moved. Sparkling wines soon become
flat if stood on end. The most convenient,
cheapest, and most compact bins are those of
strip-iron and wood made up in two-dozen units.
If no cellar is available, as in many modern
houses and, of course, flats, care should be
taken to keep one's immediate supplies (it is
assumed that the wine merchant will hold the
bulk of his customer's stocks in his cellars), in a
place that is dry, not likely to be subject to
excessive vibrations (as a cupboard under a
much-used light staircase might be), not near any
heating apparatus, and not with outside walls.
This is to say that we must try, as far as possible,
to approximate to the qualities of a good, dry
cellar. Wine should not be kept in strong light.
The 'bottle' of wine contains two 'reputed
pints.' The reputed pint is somewhat less than
the imperial pint (British standard measure). It
is natural that France, predominant in the wine
trade, should have dictated the universal mea-
sure. A few years ago Claret was specially
bottled in imperial pints, but this caused great
74 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
complications and extra expense, and the prac-
tice has been discontinued.
The wine owner needs a few tools and gadgets
for his greater comfort and better security of his
treasure. First of all a decent corkscrew. The
narrow gimlet corkscrew (Fig. 2), though suit-
able for the smaller beer cork, is not safe to use
for wine. It may easily pull away, bringing the
core of a perished cork with it.
The corkscrew in Fig. 3, drawn to the same
scale as Fig. 2, is to be recommended. The
section of the screw is flattened and edged, thus
giving a better bite on the cork.
N.B. — The brush should be used to brush
away fragments of dust, wax, or cork after care-
Fig 2 Fig. 3
fully removing the sealing-wax, but before
drawing the cork. After the cork is drawn, the
brush is more apt to push the particles into the
bottle than to remove them.
HOW TO BUY AND STORE
75
In the case of an obstinate cork nothing is
better than the double-lever extractor (Fig. 4),
but care must be taken at the beginning of the
stroke to see that the cork is coming and that
the screw is not merely pulling through.
The tongs (Fig. 5) should be at hand to save
the wine if any such accident should happen to
the cork. They are heated to a cherry-red ; the
neck is gripped just under the flange — when
the glow has passed away (from half-a-minute
to a minute). Remove the tongs, and, dipping
76
A HANDBOOK OF WINE
a feather or piece of rag into cold water, apply
it to the neck where the tongs have held it. It
will come off easily and cleanly.
The Crown cork-opener (Fig. 6), for aerated
water-bottles, is now an indispensable accessory
for the cellar.
Fig. 6
Hand-guards. When drawing a cork a guard
should always be used. A cloth at least, or a
leather guard which is slipped over the neck
(Fig. 7). One can never be sure there is not a
flaw in the bottle, and a dangerous cut to hand
or thigh is not worth risking. There exists a
Fig. 7
HOW TO BUY AND STORE 77
device with elevating gear like a turret-gun (but
something smaller) for steady pouring of a fine
old crusted Port. This seems to me overdoing
it a little. Still, to do justice to a really old
wine, 'twere best if the host — and anyway, this
is an impressive piece of ' business/ as they say
in the theatre — go down to his cellar and bring
up the treasure in his own hands. No depu-
tizing can be adequate.
The basket (Fig. 8), except in restaurants
where the bottle and cork are produced as
evidence of good faith, also seems to me some-
thing of a superstition. There is obviously,
except with the most tender handling, apt to be
Fig. 8
a ' back swish ' as the basket is set down. Better
decant at once and eliminate the basket ; or (in
the restaurant) decant from the basket and
A HANDBOOK OF WINE
dismiss it with its bottle, and enjoy the pleasure
of the look of a fine wine in the decanter. The
eye helps the palate in all drinking of good wine.
I cannot quite agree with Dr. Mathieu's case
against decanting, though distressed to find
myself with, I imagine, most of my fellow wine
merchants in opposition to such an authority.
Dr. Mathieu asserts quite truly that the wine
in process of being decanted takes up oxygen,
which changes the taste and perfume of the wine.
Agreed. But the wine, anyway, must reach the
oxygen before being drunk, unless we are to
drink it at one draught from the bottle; and
Fig. 9
HOW TO BUY AND STORE 79
there is surely more likelihood of the back swish
of the bottle, whether poured from basket or
hand, disturbing the sediment than really careful
decanting. But the connoisseur-scientist's some-
what ecstatic description of how wine should be
served and drunk seems to me so valuable that
I add it as a footnote to this chapter.
The decanting funnel (Fig. 9) is recommended .
for decanting good wine. It should always be
perfectly clean — boiled, in fact, before use —
and should be warmed to the temperature of the
wine which is being decanted. The turned end
of the funnel directs the wine down the side of
the decanter and prevents * frothing.'
The little hard wood 'swizzler' (Fig. 10) is
much in vogue with folk who do not care for
highly-aerated waters or extra fizzy drinks. If
Fig. 10 \J/
'sizzled' round in a glass of champagne it
effectually releases the gases and reduces the
effervescence.
For 'cups,' a double glass vessel (Fig. n) is
indispensable. The inner container holds the
ice and is removed just before serving. The ice
should not be put directly in the wine, because
it may not always be perfectly clean, and
because it dilutes and often 'clouds' the wine.
So A HANDBOOK OF WINE
Fig. ii
Decanting should always be done carefully.
All wines throw some deposit ; the deposit, in a
sound wine, indicating improvement. This
deposit is not required for consumption, and
should be left in the original bottle when de-
canting. Its presence in the decanter spoils not
only the appearance but the flavour of the wine.
When decanting very old wines, such as Port,
it is best, if possible, to remove the neck of the
bottle below the cork with the tongs as above
described.
When opening Champagne, remove all wire
HOW TO BUY AND STORE
81
and foil before releasing the cork. Many a bottle
of good wine has been spoiled by allowing the
contents to run over mouldy string and rusty
wire. Do not put ice into Champagne, but only
around the bottle. Wine drunk too cold loses
much of its fine flavour.
It is not, by the way, safe to decant two
bottles of wine into the same decanter, not
merely in case there should be anything wrong
with one of them, but because a supreme
accidental character of one specially-favoured
bottle may well be lost. Respect each bottle of
your fine wine as having temperament, indi-
viduality.
Having your good wine to decant, into what
sort of vessel are you to decant it? In general
terms one answers : Into a vessel which shall
show off to best advantage the colour of the
82 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
wine, which means certainly first of all into a
vessel of pure white glass. Custom has decided
that Port and Sherry shall be poured from solid,
heavy, broad-based, or onion-bellied decanters
(A). But let all other wines be decanted into
caraffes of the more delicate-stemmed shape
here illustrated (B and C).
This allows the light to shine through, and the
connoisseur will probably add that the simpler
the form and the less embellishment in the way
of cutting there is the better, as few things are
more beautiful on the well-set table than the way
the lights are reflected from the simply-curved
surfaces of fine glass.
Glasses are an even more important matter,
affecting more directly the savour of the wine.
Of course, fashions change and are wont to be
arbitrary. The present fashion which looks
askance at coloured glasses (except on the
shelves of a cabinet), is eminently sane, and
should be maintained. Obviously the wine's the
thing, and, if there is nothing the matter with it,
white glass is its best setting. Coloured glasses
have been used to disguise the fliers or sus-
pended particles in certain white wines. But
this is not sufficient excuse, and the discreet
host will set his face against them. Wine is not
drunk with the completest appreciation by any
one who does not understand the part the eye
plays in the full enjoyment of it.
HOW TO BUY AND STORE
Then there is shape and size of glass. No
doubt your scientist will assert that neither size
nor shape, neither material nor colour of a
vessel, can affect the tasting of the wine. Well,
there are plenty of subtleties in wine which are
beyond the reach of scientific analysis. This
matter of the vessel is one of them. Drink any
good wine from a thick, white teacup and see
what a difference it makes. The ideal wineglass,
whether lighter or heavier, should be smooth-
lipped. But I cannot do better than illustrate
13
84 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
Fig. 14
and describe the types of glasses, recommended
by various specialists on different wines, whom
I have consulted on the matter.
For Champagne the best glass is not one with
the saucer-shaped bowl, because that lets off the
carbonic acid gas in the wine too quickly and it
goes flat. The ideal is a tulip-shaped glass (Fig.
13) with a deep star cut at the bottom of the
bowl. This sets up a steady stream of bubbles
which makes the wine look its best while keeping
it lively longer than the shallow-bowled glass.
The shape suggested for the ideal glass for
Clarets, Burgundies, and white wines (Fig. 14)
gives the colour its best showing, and the inward
HOW TO BUY AND STORE 85
curve of the lip of the generous bowl concen-
trates the bouquet.
My Port expert says, ' for the drinking of Port
Wine the shape of the glass is not so important
as that it should be large and clear . . . Con-
noisseurs love to drink old Port out of old glass,
and a fine Port seems to show its ruby colour and
to give out a more exquisite bouquet from a fine
'5
old cut glass.' This authority evidently appre-
ciates the aesthetic factor in wine-savouring.
The Sherry expert recommends a thin long
glass only half-filled (Fig. 15).
86
A HANDBOOK OF WINE
Fig. 1 6
My Brandy expert says, ' Old Liqueur Brandy
cannot be properly tasted from a small glass
holding only the quantity to be consumed.'
In general, the idea is that the glass (Fig. 16)
should not be too small but large enough to give
the bouquet a chance ; and not filled to the top.
There is no need to go to the lengths, depths,
and breadths of the largest 'ballon' used some-
times for old Brandy. There is something
slightly ridiculous, perhaps, in the sight of a
teaspoonful of this liquid, however precious and
generous, being solemnly swished round in a
glass of the capacity of a pint. But it is im-
portant that the glass be large (at least one-third
of a pint capacity), and that it should be
HOW TO BUY AND STORE 87
narrower at the top. The glass should also be
warmed by the hand, or even warmed at the
fire as they do at La Reserve in Beaulieu. In
fact, a good deal of trouble is worth while to get
at the full savour of this King of Liqueurs.
For the general run of liqueurs which, however
pretty and pleasant, are not to be compared with
fine Champagne, one may allow complete liberty
of choice as to shape and colour of the glass.
Beautiful glass of fine clear-ringing quality
well repays its cost as an embellishment of the
hospitable table. Cheap dull glass does not give
those exquisite points of high light which are
more beautiful than anything reflected from the
precious metals.
Fine glass should be finely washed in hot
water, then rinsed in cold, and polished with a
soft, but not fluffy, glass-cloth.
Decanters should never be washed inside with
sodas and soaps, patent or otherwise. They can
be cleaned by shaking small shot about in them.
The following table will show at a glance with
what foods the various wines are served. Wine
should be served 'at the temperature of the
room,' should not be put in the fender, but
stood up, with the cork out, in the dining-room
some time before dinner. If there be a fire the
bottle (or the decanter if the wine be already-
decanted) may be put on the mantelpiece, but
not nearer the heat than that.
Wines ftf When to Serve Them
French
Spanish
Italian
Portuguese
Dish
Vermouth
Dry Pale
Sherry
Vermouth
Hors
d'CEuvre
Graves*
Chablis*
Oysters
Sherry*
Marsala*
Madeira*
Soup
Sauternes*
Chablis*
Alsace*
Lorraine*
Fish
Clarett
Chiantif
Entrees
Fine
Clarett
Fine
Burgundyf
Chiantif
Roast
Champagne*
Game
Madeira*
Pastry
Portt
Cheese
Malaga!
Portt
Fruit
Brandyf
Liqueurs!
Coffee
(after)
The aforegoing table outlines the Wines, etc., to be served for
dinners, etc., on state or formal occasions. For informal dinners
it is frequently the practice to serve only one wine throughout —
Claret, Burgundy, or Champagne.
* Serve at cool temperature or ' off the ice ' in summer,
t Serve at temperature of room.
HOW TO BUY AND STORE 89
In general, still white wines should be served
with oysters and fish. Red wine with roasts.
Sweet wines, such as Sauternes, are good with
any bird.
A good wine should never be served with a
salad or any other dish that has been seasoned
with vinegar or sugar.
If, say, two Clarets are served at any one sitting,
the younger wine shouldbe drunk bef ore theolder.
It is most important to avoid drinking the
Burgundies and Clarets with their high propor-
tion of tannic acid, the wines fortified with
spirit, and a fortiori, spirits themselves, with
oysters or any shellfish. These liquors protect
such food from the dissolving action of the
digestive juices, with results that may be
extremely inconvenient.
As this handbook is about to go to press the
Paris Wine Week has come to a satisfactory
end, and there is talk of an English Wine Week
to continue the good work. From the Times I
may take this summary of a speech by Dr. Louis
Mathieu, Professor of the Faculty of Science at
Bordeaux. It comes with the double authority
of a scientist and a connoisseur, and develops
ideas contained in this and other chapters :
' There are three factors to be considered in this
scientific examination — the wine, the taster, and cir-
cumstances which surround him. For the wine there are
its colour, its clearness, its bouquet. The taster's capa-
city of appreciation depends upon his ancestry, age, sex,
90 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
education, temperament, health, and mood. The varia-
tion in delicacy of sensation produced by a particular
wine upon all these factors in the taster is, declares Dr.
Mathieu, a mere matter of mathematics to be reduced to
a table of formulae.
' But Dr. Mathieu's science changes to lyricism when
he considers scientifically how wines should be drunk at
dinner. The great principle is to have a crescendo of
effect upon one's sensory apparatus. For this reason the
stronger wines should be kept till the last — first, because
the weaker wines seem even weaker after strong ones,
and, secondly, because as the dinner progresses one's
sensibility diminishes. It would therefore be heresy to
drink port after soup, as that would kill all the wines that
followed. It would also be an error to end a meal with
dry champagne. But, Dr. Mathieu complains, no one
any longer knows how to drink or to eat.
' According to this authority the proper order of wines
at dinner should be Chablis or Pouilly, with oysters and
fish; with the entree, Beaujolais, light Burgundy, or
Bordeaux ; with the roast, and above all with game, the
grands cr&s should be chosen, a Chateau wine, a Vougeot
or a Chambertin. With roast veal Beaune or Pommard
should be drunk, or perhaps dry Champagne. Cham-
pagne, sweet or demi-sec, should be taken with dessert,
and before coffee a glass of port in the English fashion.
Afterwards, Cognac or Armagnac.
' And, of course, you cannot appreciate the savours of
these wines unless you are deliberate and elegant in your
tasting. The room, the table, the company, the shape
and quality of glasses, make a difference ; and also,
though Dr. Mathieu does not mention it, the sound of
the names of the wines. Could any liquid bearing such
a name as Margaux, Latour, Chambertin, or Clos du
Roi, taste wholly ill?'
Agreed !
HOW TO BUY AND STORE 91
Dr. Mathieu's recommendations in a lecture
during the Paris 'Wine Week' on the drinking
and serving of wine are here summarised.
4 As for the temperature, white wines should be a few
degrees colder than the room, and in hot weather full-
bodied wines may even be iced. Red wines, on the other
hand, should have had time to take the temperature of
the room, a matter of two or three hours, and there is no
objection to their being- a degree or two above it. But
it must be remembered that if wine is at too high a tem-
perature all its finer qualities will disappear, and the
particles which it gives off will be so loaded with alcohol
that perfume, bouquet, and aroma, will become indis-
tinguishable. The wine-glass should be as thin
as possible, so that the wine may be affected by the
heat of the hand without delay, and it should be of a
bulging shape, with its opening smaller than its body, so
that the perfumed particles given off by the wine may be
inhaled, as it were, concentrated through a funnel. The
glass should never be much more than half full, and the
connoisseur will begin by tilting it gently, so that his eye
may enjoy the varying beauty of its colour as its depth
above the glass changes. Then with the glass steady,
he will inhale the bouquet of the wine through his nose,
and the appreciative powers of the sense of smell should
be assisted by an artifice which will be less effective if
the wine has been decanted. The base of the glass
should be held between the thumb and the first finger,
and a rotatory movement of gradually increasing speed
given to the liquid. This movement assists the vapori-
zation of all the volatile principles in the wine and brings
a larger surface of it in contact with the air. A good
wine offers a complete scale of perfumes, varying in deli-
cacy, subtlety, and power. The expert alone can dis-
tinguish accurately between his sensations and describe
92 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
them by comparison with those caused by more familiar
odours. The warmth of the hands will be applied until
the perfect temperature has been reached.
' Finally, it is the turn of the palate, already prepared
by what has gone before. The wine should be drunk as
birds drink water, in little sips, to be rolled attentively
round the tongue, for each part of the tongue has its own
special sensibility. Before swallowing, the lips should be
pursed up and a little air drawn in to mingle with the
wine, now at the same temperature as the mouth. This
action will be rewarded by a new series of perfumes. It
is important that the wine should not be allowed to stand
long in the glass before it is taken, and the true gourmet
knows that his taste is best in the morning when he is
fasting. Violent exercise is disastrous to the taste, and
there should be no noise or conversation to distract and
hamper that mental concentration which is necessary if the
full beauty of a great wine is to be felt and appreciated.'
A NOTE ON BRANDY
It is impossible to take leave of the subject of
wine without a note on Brandy, the spirit dis-
tilled from wine. In its finest form that of a
matured fine Champagne of anything from fifty
to ninety years — surely no liquid under heaven
can compare with it ! And did not Dr. Johnson
call it the drink of heroes — though he was
probably thinking of a coarser form, and more
of it than is lovingly swished round in the
warm ' ballon ' of the connoisseur.
The pre-eminent Brandy is the Cognac, dis-
tilled from the wines of the Charentes. Good
HOW TO BUY AND STORE 93
Spanish Brandy is made, and Australian and
Cape Brandies are not without their qualities.
The most celebrated Brandy-producing dis-
tricts in the Charente area are The Grande or
Fine Champagne, The Petite Champagne, The
Borderies, The Premiers Bois, the Fins Bois
and the Bons Bois.
Brandy is distilled from wines that are sour
and harsh, and, indeed, the harshest wines seem
to produce the best Brandy. The wine is poured
into the stills before separation, that is with the
head, and this is thought to encourage the pro-
duction of ethers. Brandy is matured in the
wood, whence it extracts a certain amount of
colouring matter and tannin. As in the case of
wine, the spirit must not be kept too long in the
wood or it becomes ' tired/ The process must
be arrested by bottling. Brandy is manipulated
in the course of making, colouring and sweeten-
ing matter being added^ not by way of adultera-
tion, but to obtain the desired character and
appearance. Old Brandy is best drunk after
black coffee, which prepares the palate for it.
Perhaps it may be said with regard to re-
staurant Brandy liqueurs, that all is not '48 that
says so ! Certain renewals and fortifications may
well have taken place. As with wine, the
restaurant's reputation must be the diner's
guarantee. But it is well to train oneself to
judge Brandy, not by the label, but by the
94 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
palate. Fifty years may be long enough for a
good Brandy to develop its generous mellow-
ness, subtlety, and fragrance to the full. A
Brandy will not necessarily be better because it
bears an older date. The palate must be the
judge.
BRANDY VINTAGES
Of the Last Half-Century
Year
Quality
Yield
Year
Quality
Yield
1870
Fine
1905
Fine
Large
1875
Very fine*
Large
1906
Very fine
Large
1878
Very fine
Large
1908
Good
Small
1884
Very fine
1909
Fair
V. small
1887
Fine
1910
Good
V. small
1890
Fine
1911
Excellent
V. small
1892
Fine
Small
1912
Fair
Medium
1893
Fine
Large
i9J3
Good
Small
1895
Good
Small
1914
Excellent
Large
1896
Good
1914
Good*
1898
Good
1916
Good*
Average
1899
Very fine
1917
Excellent*
1900
Fine
Large
1919
Very good
1902
Fair
Small
1920
Good
Small
1904
Fine
Large
•Too dear for distillation.
95
0 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
A GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Age, Ageing. The characteristics of age in time
are : first, progressive softening up to a
point (mainly due to deposition of tartar,
hence tartar is so often found on the insides
of casks) ; and, secondly, the development
of bouquet of a secondary nature (due, it is
thought, to the action of micro-organisms).
Beeswing. A light, filmy, floating 'crust' in
some old Ports, supposed to be something
like an insect's wing in appearance.
Beverage Wines. Opposed to vintage wines.
Wines of average quality and strength
(and price) suitable for drinking in large
quantities and regularly.
Body. That quality in a wine which gives it the
appearance of consistency and vinous
strength. Merchants speak of a ' full ' wine
or wine with body, as opposed to a light,
cold, or thin wine.
Bond. Wines or spirits, etc., are kept ' in bond,'
and are in the State-controlled warehouses
till the duty is paid on them.
Bouquet. The odour or perfume of fine wine —
appreciated by the sense of smell as
opposed to seve, which is aroma appre-
ciated by the sense of taste.
Brut. Of Champagne, with no added sugar or
liqueur. ' Nature ' means the same.
A GLOSSARY OF TERMS 97
Butt. Large cask for Sherry or Malaga or Ale,
108-140 gallons.
Chateau-Bottled. Special wines bottled at the
Chateau where grown, instead of by the
wine merchant. Similarly, ' estate-bottled/
Chateau- Bottling. Descriptive of wines bottled
at the cellars of the Chateaux (generally
classified wines) where the wines were
grown. At most Chateaux the privilege of
Chateau-bottling is only granted in good
vintage years. At the Chateau Lafite,
Chateau-bottling was not allowed from
1885 to 1905 (1915 also excepted); at
Chateau Mouton Rothschild it was not
allowed from 1883 to 1906 (1915 also
excepted), and similar remarks apply to
several other of the high-classed growths.
Chateau-bottling has never been accorded
at all at :
Chateau Leoville Barton
Chateau Langoa Barton
Chateau Giscours
Chateau Beychevelle
Chateau Pontet Canet
whilst at Chateau Yquem (white wine) it
was suppressed in 1910 and 1915.
Cordial. A lighter kind of liqueur made by
infusion of alcohol and sugar with fruit
juices. The term is not very explicit.
98 A HANDBOOK OF WINE
' Corked? Wine that is corked tastes mouldy ; it
also smells bad. The actual cause of corki-
ness is still in dispute. Corked wine is rare,
and wine-drinkers in a restaurant should be
careful before they make the charge. No
restaurateur would refuse to replace a
corked bottle or would make a mistake
about the condition. A few particles of
cork-dust falling into the wine do not con-
stitute 'corked' wine — as has been occa-
sionally thought by innocents. Sometimes
the corks of the bottles are too porous or of
inferior quality, and give the wine a bad
taste, this taste the French term 'gout de
bouchon.'
Crd. Growth. A particular growth is described
as ' premier cru,' ' grand cru/ etc.
Crust. A deposit in old wines, especially Port,
Burgundies, and red wines generally. Rest
after bringing up from the cellar, and
careful decanting, are necessary to prevent
the crust ' slipping.' It should remain in the
bottle, and not be allowed to pass into the
decanter or glass. Ports are always marked
with a white splash on the upper side of the
punt-end of the bottle, and this mark
should be kept upwards when re-binning
or decanting.
Cuvee. Contents of a cellar; also the different
products of pressure of one vine which fill
A GLOSSARY OF TERMS 99
many vats; more particularly applied to
Champagne, but sometimes to Burgundy.
Dry. Opposed to sweet — with no excess of
sugar.
Ethers. Certain, at present unanalysable, com-
ponents found in old wines, whiskies, etc.,
giving character to the bouquet. The
presence of ethers in still or sparkling
wines, or in spirits, show maturity.
Fine Champagne. 'Grande' or 'Fine' Cham-
pagne is the official description given to
finest quality Brandies from the Grande or
Fine Champagne district. (Not to be con-
fused with wines of the Champagne district).
Fiery. Applied to raw spirits or raw wine;
meaning is obvious.
Fining. The process of clarification of a wine
by introduction of albumen, e.g. white of
egg or other suitable medium.
Fliers. Light, whitish', fluffy particles that float
in white wines or rest at the bottom,
looking like a light sand. An effect ap-
parently of transportation to colder coun-
tries than the country of origin. They do
not affect the taste of the wine. The cure
is to rest the bottles in a warm temperature,
say about 70° Fahr.
Fortifying. By the addition of wine-spirit, e.g.
to Port and Sherry in the making.
A HANDBOOK OF WINE
Frappe. Of sparkling wine, iced sufficiently
for the table.
Green. Of young, immature wine.
Grande Champagne. See 'Fine' Champagne.
Hard, Harsh. Obvious terms applied to taste of
wines, generally those with excess of tannin.
Hogshead. Of Port, 57 gallons ; of Brandy, 60
gallons ; of Beer and Cider, 54 gallons ; of
Claret, etc., 46-48 gallons.
Jeroboam, Magnum. Bottles for Clarets and
Champagnes. Magnum, double bottle, 4
reputed pints; Jeroboam, double magnum.
Must. The grape juice before it becomes wine
by fermentation.
Nature. Same as ' Brut ' (dry).
Oeil de perdrix. Of Champagne, used by the
French; of White Burgundies and Cham-
pagnes which exhibit unexplained phe-
nomenon of a slight pinkish tinge. That of
Meursault (Cote d'Or) is considered the
type of this quality.
Oidium. A mildew disease of the vine.
Phylloxera. Phylloxera vastatrix : an insect pest
destroying the vine. Appeared in France
1865, and was at its worst 1868-1873.
Pipe. Cask for Port and Tarragona wines, 56
dozen bottles or 115 gallons.
Proof. A standard to estimate alcoholic strength
of a spirit. In the United Kingdom proof
A GLOSSARY OF TERMS
spirit at 60° Fahr. contains 57.06 per cent,
of absolute alcohol by volume, 49.24 per
cent, by weight.
Puncheon. Large cask for Brandy, 1 20 gallons ;
Rum, 114 gallons.
Racking. Separating the bright wine from the
deposit, as Claret from its lees.
Re-corking. After many years in bottle the corks
of some wines become rotten ; it is necessary
to draw the old corks and replace with new,
and to label the wine 're-corked" (e.g.)
'7/2/21.' Thus, a Madeira say after
twenty to twenty-five years would be re-
corked.
Ruby. Term to describe a Port midway between
Tawny and Full — of a reddish tinge.
Seve. This word is generally employed to
indicate the vinous strength and the aro-
matic savour which develops at the time of
tasting, embalming the mouth and con-
tinuing to make itself felt after the passage
of the wine through the mouth. It is com-
posed of alcohol and aromatic particles,
which are dilated and evaporate imme-
diately the wine is warmed by heat of the
mouth, etc. The seve differs from the
bouquet in that the latter disengages itself
or becomes apparent the instant the wine
comes into contact with the air, and that it
does not indicate the presence of any
A HANDBOOK OF WINE
spirit, and flatters the smell rather than
the taste.
Solera. Of Sherry : double butts of stock wines
used for maintaining the standard of
shipped Sherries.
Stalky. A harshness due to final pressure of
the pulp.
Tawny. Refers to colour and character of Port ;
of wines that have matured in wood
(contrast with Ruby and Vintage).
Tun. Large cask of 252 gallons; is now rarely
seen; generally means, in quotations, its
equivalent of four hogsheads.
Ullage. An ullaged cask or bottle is one, some
of the contents of which have leaked,
evaporated, or been extracted.
Vin Ordinaire. Used of wines of poorer quality
in comparison with the finer wines of
same district.
Vintage Wines. Of wines of high character.
Used principally of Ports, Clarets, Bur-
gundies, and Sauternes; shipped under
their respective years.
Well-succeeded. (Fr. Tres reussi) : a term to
express the fact that a given wine displays
the best characteristics of its particular
growth, and has fulfilled the expectations
formed of it. Thus the 1880, 1888, 1893,
1895, 1896, 1899, 1900, 1905, and many
A GLOSSARY OF TERMS 103
later vintages were all well-succeeded
wines of Chateau Lafite.
Woody. A wine may become tainted from a
defective or rotten stave in the cask. If
discovered early enough the wine may be
saved by racking off into a clean, well-
sulphured cask.
'Worn' (or 'tired'). Of Brandy: from being
too long in cask. Also of Clarets, etc.,
that have been left too long in bottle.
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