Rhenish wine

“ And again the crystal lips of the goblets kissed each other, with a musical chime, as of evening bells at vintage-time from the villages on the Rhine. Of a truth, I do not much wonder, that the Germanpoet Schiller loved to write by candle-light with a bottle of Rhine-wine upon the table. Nor do I wonder at the worthy schoolmaster Roger Ascham, when he says, in one of his letters from Germany to Mr. John Raven, of John's College; `Tell Mr. Maden I will drink with him now a carouse of wine; and would to God he had a vessel of Rhenish wine ”

“ The wine-producing area of Germany is limited chiefly to those parts watered by the Rhine and its tributaries, the Moselle, the Nahe, the Neckar, the Main, and several smaller streams, so that the terms Rhine wine and German wine may be considered almost synonymous. Bonn, in Rhenish Prussia, and Freiburg, in Baden, mark approximately the northern and southern limits of the grape culture. Both red and white wines are produced, but those known to commerce are, with a few exceptions, white. The red varieties are mostly of inferior quality and are consumed within the country. ”

“ In many places of Germany their growes very good wines, in some none at all. The Rhenish wine which growes on the renouned Rhein, on which standes so many brave tounes, is weill enough knowen. They sometymes sell their wine by the weight as the livre or pound, etc., which may seime as strange as the cherries 2 tymes a year in France. Thus they ar necessitate to do in the winter, when it freizes so that they most break it wt great mattocks and axes, and sell it in the faschion we have named. ”

“ He had the notion that it was precisely the same with pictures as with Rhenish wines, which, though age may impart to them a higher value, can be produced in any coming year of just as excellent quality as in years past. After the lapse of some time, the new wine also becomes old, quite as valuable and perhaps more delicious. This opinion he chiefly confirmed by the observation that many old pictures seemed to derive their chief value for lovers of art from the fact that they had become darker and browner, and that the harmony of tone in such pictures was often vaunted. ”

“ But it is no question of saying: it is a question of doing, i.e. of the action willed carried out by the movement that is willed, of a choice of movement. And do you think that the acquisition and consumption of a bottle of Rhenish wine involves no judgment of approval or disapproval? If I am very rich, if my aim in life is to obtain momentary sensual pleasures, and I know that Rhenish wine will secure me one of them, I buy and drink Rhenish wine and approve my act. I am satisfied with myself. ”

“ My grandfather writes to my father on 3 December 1857:—“A glass of good mellow full-bodied cider is far superior to your Rhenish wine: there is no body in that.” And if Devonshire{41} cider is to be compared with any class of wines, the Rhine wines certainly come closest to it. He thought the very best cider was wasted on the country-folk, and he writes on 18 September 1868:—“They do not much care what it is, so as its cider.” ”

“ Almost every wine has its good qualities, almost all deserve to be known. If in our country the Neckar exists scarcely for any purpose but to quench the thirst, the Würzburger now rises to the character of a generous wine, and the various superior sorts of Rhenish do not admit of being hastily characterized. ”

“ There were Florence wines, which came over in rush-covered flasks with oil in the neck of the flasks—Chiante, Multapulchana (? Montepulciano) , Madeira, Canary, Tockay from Hungary, and also (verily, there is very little new under the sun) Carlowitz, from the same country; there were wines from Neuchatel, and a wine I cannot class, called Mount Allaguer. We hear very little of Rhenish wines. In 'Tunbridge Walks' an uncomplimentary reference is made, 'Dam rotgut Rhenish'; but fine old hock was selling in 1713 at 26s. a dozen, including bottles, or new Rhenish might be had for 1s. ”

“ It is richer and fuller-bodied than the German wines, without the tartness which is strongly developed in nearly all the Rhenish varieties. It is a fine wine, and meets the approval of many of our best connoisseurs. Specimens of it have been sent to some of the wine-districts of Germany, and the most flattering expressions in its favor have come from the Rhine. The "Angelica" and "Muscatel" are both naturally sweet, intended as dessert-wines, and to suit the taste of those who do not like a dry wine. They are both of a most excellent quality, and are very popular. ”

“ In truth there runs through these traditions a stream of Rhenish which plays almost as important a part in them as the Rhine itself. We are told that the Emperor Wenzel sold his crown for a quantity of wine; in the tale connected with Thann, in Alsace, mortar is mixed with wine instead of water, because of the scarcity of the latter commodity during the building of a steeple; while in the legends of “The Devil’s Vineyard,” and “The Cooper of Auerbach” the vintage of Rhineland provides the main interest of the plot. ”

“ It is best to dissolve the sugar in a little water, and pour it upon the herb or fruit in a suitable receptacle, and then add a light (still) Rhenish or Moselle wine; the latter is preferable. An agreeable variation may be made by using some red wine, perhaps 1 bottle in 4 or 5. This mixture should stand covered until the taste has become pleasingly noticeable, and then, in some cases, the substance used should be removed to avoid the bitter flavour which comes later. The quantities required can only be learnt by experience. ”

“ In some places, as suppose in Franconia, Alsatia, Austria, and the Rhenish Tract, most fruitful for store of wine, these lees of wine are made nothing of, but are given to Swine and other Cattel to drink, by which means the Tartar in it so purges ’em, that they are soon fat; they seldom try to draw the spirit thence. Otherwhere, where wine is not made, especially where they fetch their wine a great way, they are much esteemed of, not only because wine may be drawn from ’em, but also put in small Hempen sacks, are pressed in adapted Presses, a good mixt wine flowing thence saleable to others ”

“ We crept through the garden scented with late flowers and sunny fruit,—we passed through the gate I had so often gazed at from the easy-chair, and were in the busy vineyard; great baskets lay on the grass already piled nearly full of purple and yellow grapes. The wine made from these was far from pleasant to my taste; for the best Rhine wine is made from a smaller grape, growing in closer, harder clusters; but the larger and less profitable grape is by far the most picturesque in its mode of growth, and far the best to eat into the bargain. ”

“ In the latter half of the last century many new vineyards were planted by persons of means from Mentz, Frankfort, and other neighboring cities; and by the conjunction of capital with intelligent labor the Rheingau has become the most highly cultivated wine-growing region, perhaps, in the world. Within a comparatively recent period the discovery has been made that the Riessling grape, which yields the bouquetted wines, develops its finest qualities only when in a state of over-ripeness, without concurrent acetification. ”

“ The process is universal in France, with the exception of the cases of the sparkling wines of the Rhone and Champagne, the grapes for which are squeezed by mechanical means, not by the human foot. Now, very venerable and decidedly picturesque as is the process of wine-treading, it is unquestionably rather a filthy one; and the spectacle of great brown horny feet, not a whit too clean, splashing and sprawling in the bubbling juice, conveys at first sight a qualmy species of feeling, which, however, seems only to be entertained by those to whom the sight is new. ”

“ Landscapes of greater beauty, joined to the luxuriance of fruitful vine culture, can nowhere be seen.
The glorious season of fruition—the Vintage—is the time for the visit of a wine-lover to the Rhine. It does not take place until the grapes are perfectly mature; they are then carefully gathered, and the bad fruit picked out, and, with the stalks, put aside. The wine of the pressing is separated, most vom ersten druck, vom nachdruck. The more celebrated of the wines are all fermented in casks ”

“ Deinhard draw their supplies of wine from white grapes, for conversion into sparkling wines, from the Rhine, the Main, the Moselle, and the Palatinate, giving preference to the produce of the riesling grape, as to this the wine is indebted for its natural bouquet. The proportion of wine from black grapes, mingled with the other wines, is vintaged by themselves in the Ahr valley and at Ingelheim on the Rhine. The Ahr, in summer a rippling streamlet and in winter a rushing torrent, falls into the Rhine about twenty miles below Coblenz. ”

“ The Rhine boats have a very good assortment of wines on board, but it is wise to run the finger a little way down the list before ordering your bottle, for the very cheapest wines on the Rhine are, as is usual in all countries, of the thinnest description. Most of the British doctors on the Continent make the greater part of their living by attending their fellow-countrymen who drink everywhere anything that is given them free, and who hold that the vin du pays must be drinkable because it is the wine of the country. ”

“ Notwithstanding the limited area of the estate, the soil varies considerably in different parts, which are marked off by stakes with numbers affixed; and the cultivation and the vintage are especially adapted to each part. A similar practice prevails in other celebrated vineyards of the Rheingau. Great care is exercised in the selection of grapes for the press, the first picking, or Auslese, of over-ripe fruit yielding the highest quality of the wine of each year. The quantity of wine annually produced has varied from 25 pieces of 240 gallons each to 60 pieces. ”

“ He has somewhere stumbled upon the whim of pretending not to, and he can deceive himself more completely than any other man I ever saw. Rhine wine is the most poetic of beverages. It should go down like oil and only leave a fragrance like a poet's dream behind it."
"That is quite a rhapsody for you, Will; only your cool tone gives it a certain cynical flavor."
"I mean all I say, I assure you. Champagne is vulgar. It is the drink of self-made snobs and cads who wish to pass for men of the world; but Rhine wine is the drink for poets and artists." ”

“ The latter is produced from the black Burgundy vine, the Pineau. In the Rheingau the predominant vine is the Riessling. This plant appears to be indigenous to the Rhine valley, and the finest wines are made exclusively from its grapes. In the hope of reproducing the characteristic of the Rhine wines, the Riessling has been planted in many young wine-producing countries, such as Australia, California and the Cape, and not entirely without success. It thrives best on rocky mountain slopes freely exposed to the sun, and requires a relatively high temperature to reach perfect maturity. ”

“ But the Rhegian wine, being richer than the Surrentine, may be used as soon as it is fifteen years old. The wine of Privernum too is very good, being thinner than the Rhegian wine, and one which does not take much effect on the head. And the Formian wine is like it; and is a wine which soon comes to its prime; it is, however, a richer wine than the other. But the Trifoline wine is slower ripening, and has a more earthy taste than the Surrentine. The Setine is a wine of the first class, like the Falernian wine, but lighter, and not so apt to make a man drunk. ”

“ The first cup of wine was solemnly offered to the emperor, a golden wine in a golden goblet, a wine worthy of a king.
Charles took a long deep draught, and with brightened eyes praised the delicious drink. It became his favourite wine, this fiery "Johannisberger," making him young again in his old age. What Charlemagne then felt when he drank this wine, every one who raises the sparkling grapejuice to his lips is keenly sensible of also. Wherever the German tongue is heard, and even further [Pg 42] still, the king of all Rhine wines is known and sought after, Johannisberger wine. ”

“ Owing to this increased demand, and the deficient supply of suitable Rhine wines at a moderate price, the manufacturers of sparkling hocks are reduced to buy much of their raw wine at a distance, and are to-day large purchasers of the growths of the Palatinate, which are less delicate than the vintages of the Rheingau, besides being deficient in that fine aroma which distinguishes genuine hock. A leading manufacturer computes that between four-and-a-half and five million bottles of sparkling wine are made annually in Germany, where there are no fewer than fifty manufacturing establishments. ”

“ THE special characteristic of Champagne is that its manufacture only commences where that of other wines ordinarily ends. No one would recognise in the still brut fluid—which, after being duly racked and fined, has somewhat the taste and colour of an acrid Rhine wine, with a more or less pronounced bitter flavour—that exhilarating essence which is capable of raising the most depressed spirits, and imparting gaiety to the dismallest gatherings. ”