Claret wine

“ At the same time there are exceptional cases in which claret may be found in very fine condition after a lapse of as much as forty years, but even in such cases it will be found that for every bottle that is good there may be one which is distinctly inferior. ”

“ We did at one time introduce claret, as an every-day drink at dinner. We had been South for the first time, where the use of this mild wine is a universal practice, especially in New Orleans and Mobile. My husband and sister became quite fond of it, and so did our little Lizzie, who was then only five years old. Her father, consequently, purchased a cask for home use, had it bottled and sent to the house. ”

“ No man talks of the wine—he would as soon think of commending the air because it was wholesome, or the sun because it gave him warmth. They drink it with a quiet gusto and silent enjoyment, which prove that it is just the thing; and no impertinent remonstrance is made when the bell is pulled, until taste, which your true claret-drinker never disobeys, simultaneously indicates to the party that they have had a proper allowance. Indeed, you will almost never find a thorough gentleman, who has been properly educated in claret, committing any excess. ”

“ The second growths are shipped to the different markets of Europe, North and South America; and the third growth principally to Holland and Hamburgh. In order to strengthen the natural body of claret wine, and to render it capable of bearing the transition of the sea, the first and second growths are allowed from ten to fifteen gallons of good Alicant wine to every hogshead, with one quart of stum. ”

“ The European inhabitants of respectability certainly live well; that is, they keep as good tables as the seasons may enable them to furnish; and they drink none but the best of wines: Claret, Madeira, and Port, are in general use.
Of the former, there are two kinds; one called ‘English Claret,’ which is the best wine that France produces, manufactured after its arrival in England, with an addition of Brandy, &c., to enable its standing the hot climate of India, and with other liquids, to give it a richer body. ”

“ In clarets, we also make a mistake; we cling to them when by age they become too thin and watery. One fills up one’s wine cellar with claret, and then tenaciously holds it, until it frequently loses the fine characteristics of a first-class wine. ”

“ Johnny, thou art a sadly wayward fellow! there is more hope of “the wild ass’s colt” than of thee, when thy longings after foreign luxuries seduce thy palate and blind thy understanding!
Nor are the costly French wines less exempt from the devices and sophistications of the imps of the “Father of Deceit.” The “super-excellent” or “genuine Claret of exceedingly fine description and of the choicest quality” of the advertising and placarding dealers, is a composition of inferior claret and a quantum sufficit of Spanish red wine and rough cider, with the colouring22 berry-dye. ”

“ They grafted and crossed the vine plants till they got the most admirably bearing bushes, and then, generation after generation, devoting all their attention to the quality of the wine, without regard to the quantity—scrupulously taking care that not a grape which is unripe or over-ripe finds its way to the tub—that the whole process shall be scrupulously clean, and that every stage of fermentation be assiduously attended to—the results of all this has been the perfectly-perfumed and high-class clarets, which fetch an enormous price ”

“ He seems for his own part to have been, as far as nature permitted him, an accommodating toper, indulging, in addition to Champagne, in Tokay, Portugal, Florence, Burgundy, Hermitage, ‘Irish wine,’ i.e. Claret, ‘right French wine,’ Congreve’s ‘nasty white wine’ that gave him the heartburn, and Sir William Read’s ‘admirable punch.’ He acknowledges that the more fashionable beverages of the day were not to his taste. ‘I love,’ writes he, ‘white Portugal wine better than Claret, Champaign, or Burgundy. ”

“ I do not think it is easy to be certain of Bordeaux wines until they have been in bottles some years. A wine which while in{285} the wood may be excellent, may not ripen the right sort of way in bottles and prove disappointing. Decant all your clarets before serving them, even your vin ordinaire. If at a dinner you give both Burgundy and claret, give your finest claret with the roast, your Burgundy with the cheese. ”

“ As a consequence of our ancient alliance and direct trade with France, that wine was not only good, but was plentiful and cheap—cheap enough, indeed, to become almost the national drink—and vast quantities were daily consumed; though there were not wanting those who, protesting that claret was "shilpit" and "cauld on the stomach," called loudly for brandy, and with copious draughts of that spirit corrected the acidity of the less potent wine. ”

“ The spices usually used for mulled wine are cloves, grated nutmeg, and cinnamon or mace. Any kind of wine may be mulled, but port and claret are those usually selected for the purpose; and the latter requires a very large proportion of sugar. The vessel that the wine is boiled in must be delicately clean, and should be kept exclusively for the purpose. Small tin warmers may be purchased for a trifle, which are more suitable than saucepans, as, if the latter are not scrupulously clean, they will spoil the wine, by imparting to it a very disagreeable flavour. ”

“ The following are his receipts verbatim et literatim:—
“Method of Colouring Claret.—Take as many as you please of damsons or black sloes, and strew them with some of the deepest-coloured wine you can get, and as much sugar as will make it into a syrup. A pint of this will colour a hogshead of [351] Claret. It is also good for red Port wines, and may be kept ready for use in glass bottles. ”

“ The inherited French taste of the greater portion of the population, and the education by contact of the American element, makes claret the universal table wine. The climate, too, renders this wine particularly palatable, and during the long heated term it is seldom absent from the table of even the most economical. At the restaurant it is the exception to see a person dining without a bottle of vin ordinaire, while for breakfast, during hot weather, white wines of the lighter kinds are much used. ”

“ The serving of wine at luncheon is rapidly going out of fashion. A hostess belonging to the older generation sometimes offers her guests Rhine wine—a light, white wine—or, if there are men present, sherry or claret. In this case a wine-glass is set beside the water-goblet at the right of each place, and a decanter is placed on the sideboard. Wine-cup, fruit-punch, and similar beverages are served from a glass pitcher, lemonade cups or small tumblers being substituted for wine-glasses. ”

“ We know that alcohol, water, and acids exist in all wines, in varying quantities; that some are sweet, and contain sugar, and that others are dry, thoroughly fermented, and contain none. We also know that the alcohol in different wines may vary from 4 or 5 per cent. in piquette made by washing the pomace with water, to 20 or 25 per cent. in the more strongly fortified. And we know generally how a wine is modified as to its taste and effect on the system, by such substances as water, alcohol, sugar, and acid ”

“ The must is run off immediately into casks, and four-and-twenty hours later it is racked into other casks, a similar operation being performed every two or three days for the period of a couple of months, when the fermentation having subsided the wine is fined and usually bottled in the following March. Newly-made Clairette de Die is a sweet sparkling wine, but it loses its natural effervescence after a 170 couple of years, unless it has been treated in the same manner as champagne, which is rarely the case. The wine enjoys a reputation altogether beyond its merits. ”

“ And if what you buy for port or sherry be not absolutely a decoction, but only inferior wine made up, then the water equally acts as a detective. For the dilution has the effect of separating, so to speak, the respective tastes of the component parts—brings them out, sir; and you get each distinct. You get, on the one hand, the taste of the bad brandy, harsh, raw, and empyreumatic: and you get, on the other hand, the taste of the poor, paltry wine, wretched stuff, the true vinho ordinario flavour, that makes you think at once of some dirty roadside Portuguese posada, swarming with fleas. ”

“ The most popular wines are red and white clarets, the better qualities of which are excellent, but many other kinds are made. The country wine is by no means as cheap as it ought to [230] be owing to the high protection. ”

“ Wines, as well as all varieties of malt and spirituous liquors, owe their intoxicating qualities to alcohol. But the medical and dietetic qualities of wine are not solely due to it; a mixture of water and alcohol, or whiskey of equal strength, has a very different effect on the animal economy. Pure wines contain also natural acids, sugar, ethers, albumen, phosphates, etc. Their value is, however, mainly determined by their “Bouquet” or flavor, produced by substances natural to the grapes, heightened and rendered more delicate by fermentation. ”

“ In the Case of Dry Wines, whose sugar has all been transformed, the same attentions are to be bestowed as in the case of new red wines, and the rules laid down are referred to. (See Red Wine.)
Mellow White Wines, that is, those which retain a portion of their sweetness after the tumultuous fermentation, particularly if they do not carry 15 per cent. of alcohol, require the greatest amount of care in order to preserve their mellowness in aging; for if left to themselves they will again enter into fermentation, and become dry. ”

“ IN selecting a sparkling wine, one fact should be borne in mind—that just as, according to Sam Weller, it is the seasoning which makes the pie mutton, beef, or veal, so it is the liqueur which renders the wine dry or sweet, light or strong. A really palatable dry Champagne, emitting the fragrant bouquet which distinguishes all wines of fine quality, free from added spirit, is obliged to be made of the very best vin brut, to which necessarily an exceedingly small percentage of liqueur will be added. ”

“ It is claimed that it retards fermentation, and that red wines under its effects develop more color, because the marc can be left longer in the fermenting vat; that the froth of plastered wine is livelier and sooner disappears, which pleases the merchants; and that it has a preservative effect upon the wine. It is claimed by some that it renders the wine dryer and harsher, as it does, if used to excess, and by others, that it unites with a portion of the water of the juice, and renders the remaining juice richer in sugar. ”

“ There are wines still preserved of this year’s growth, nearly two hundred years ago; they have assumed the consistency of honey, with a rough taste; for such, in fact, is the nature of wines, that, when extremely old, it is impossible to drink them in a pure state; and they require to be mixed with water, as long keeping renders them intolerably bitter.1241 A very small quantity of the Opimian wine, mixed with them, will suffice for the seasoning of other wines. ”

“ But in time, as the sugar disappears, the alcohol becomes enfeebled by evaporation, and then acetic fermentation sets in, as in the weaker wines.
In the sherry countries it is considered necessary that the wine should be exposed to the action of the air, and therefore the casks are not kept full, and flowers are considered a good sign. In a few instances, where the wines are strong enough to bear it, aging may be hastened by some exposure to the air, but great care must be taken that they are not left too long under its influence, or disorganization may ensue. ”

“ Bluish or violet color, accompanied by a flavor of the lees, often occurs in wines of southern countries, and is due to an abundance of coloring matter and a lack of tartaric acid. When the violet-colored wine has a good deal of color, and more than nine per cent. of alcohol, the color may be changed to red by mixing with it from one-sixth to one-fourth of green wine, which contains an excess of tartaric acid, the natural blue color of the grape being changed to red by the action of the acid ”

“ To make Wines scent well, and give them a curious Flavour.
Take two ounces of powder of sulphur, half an ounce of calamus, incorporate them well together, and put them into a pint and an half of orange water; let them steep in it a considerable time, and then drawing off the water, melt the sulphur and calamus in an iron pan, and dip in it as many rags as will soak it up, which put into the cask; then rack your wine, and put in a pint of rose water, and stopping the hogshead, roll it up and down half an hour, after which let it continue still two days ”

“ Wines from must of 16° Baumé will preserve their sweetness for a long time, but as they develop a large amount of alcohol, it is preferable that they be sweeter, and that the must mark 18° to 20°. As these wines do not develop more than 15 to 16 per cent. of alcohol by fermentation, they will not bear transportation through tropical climates with safety, and it is necessary to add spirit enough to raise the strength to 18 per cent. If, however, they are carefully managed, and kept in a cool cellar, they will remain sweet. ”