From the earliest period of the colonisation of America the vine appears to have attracted the attention of the settlers, and it is said that as early as 1564 wine was made from the native grape in Florida. The first attempts to establish a regular vineyard date, however, from 1620, and would seem to have been made in Virginia with European vines, the prospects having become sufficiently encouraging in 1630 for the colonists to send for French vine-dressers to tend their plants. The latter were subsequently accused of ruining the vines by their bad treatment, but most likely this was an error, it having since been made evident that European vines cannot be successfully cultivated east of the Rocky Mountains, where the phylloxera vastatrix prevails. It was in vain that William Penn made repeated attempts to acclimatise European vines in Pennsylvania, that the Swiss emigrants—vine-growers from the Lake of Geneva—made similar trials, they having expended ten thousand dollars to no purpose. In vain, in Jessamine county, Kentucky, Pierre Legaud laboured in the environs of Philadelphia, and Lakanal, the member of the French Convention, experimented in Tennessee, Ohio, and Alabama; all their efforts to introduce the Old World vines proved futile. The attempts that were made by Swiss settlers at Vevay, in Indiana, with the indigenous plants were more successful, and after a time they managed to produce some palatable wine from the Schuylkill muscatel.

Towards the latter part of the 18th century the Mission Fathers had succeeded in planting vineyards in California. It is known that in 1771 the vine was cultivated there, and the San Gabriel Mission in the county of Los Angeles, some 300 miles S.E. of San Francisco, is said to have possessed the first vineyard. A prevalent belief is, that the vines were from roots or cuttings obtained from either Spain or Mexico, but it is also conjectured that they were some of the wild varieties known to be scattered over the country, while a third theory suggests that as attempts to make wine from the wild grapes would most likely have proved a failure, the Fathers planted the seeds of raisins which had come from Spain. The culture must have progressed rapidly, if, as stated, there were planted at San Gabriel in a single spring no fewer than 40,000 vines. These mission vines were mainly of two sorts, the one yielding a white grape with a musky flavour, and the other a dark blue fruit. The latter was the favourite, doubtless from its produce bearing some resemblance to the red wines of Old Castile.

From San Gabriel the planting of the vine extended from mission to mission until each owned its patch of vineland. At the time of the arrival of the Americans in 1846 the smallest of these was five acres in extent, and others as many as thirty acres, and it is calculated the average yield was from 700 to 1,000 gallons of wine per acre. This was owing first to the exceeding richness of the soil, and secondly to its being well irrigated. If the celebrated mission vine grown on one of the sunny slopes overlooking the lovely Montecito valley near Santa Barbara on the blue Pacific had many fellows in the Fathers' vineyards, the above estimate can hardly be an exaggerated one. The stem of this vine, which is four feet four inches in circumference at the ground, rises eight feet before branching out. The branches, under which the country people are fond of dancing, and which are supported by fifty-two trellises, extend over more than 5,000 square feet. This monster vine produces annually from five to six tons of grapes, and one year it yielded no fewer than 7,000 bunches, each from one to four pounds in weight. It is irrigated by water from the hot springs, situated a few miles distant, and is believed to be from half to three-quarters of a century old.

Viticulture and vinification languished in the United States until attention was called in 1826 to the catawba vine by Major Adlum, of Georgetown, near Washington, who thought that by so doing he was conferring a greater benefit on his country than if he had liquidated its national debt. This vine, which is derived from the wild Vitis labrusca, was first planted on an extensive scale by Nicholas Longworth, justly looked upon as one of the founders of American viticulture, and gradually supplanted all others, remaining for many years the principal plant cultivated along the banks of the Ohio—the so-called "Rhine of America"—until, ceaselessly attacked by rot, mildew, and leaf-blight, it was found necessary in many places to supplant it by more robust varieties.

Mr. Longworth, about the year 1837, among his numerous experiments at Cincinnati, included that of making sparkling wines from the catawba, isabella, and other varieties of grapes, and to-day there are several manufactories of sparkling catawba and other wines in the capital of Ohio—the self-named "Queen city," which its detractors have jocularly dubbed Porcopolis on account of the immense trade done there in smoked and salted pork. The chief sparkling wine establishments at Cincinnati are those of Messrs. Werk and Sons, whose sparkling catawba obtained a medal for progress at the Vienna Exhibition in 1873, and who have, moreover, largely experimented with ives' and virginia seedlings, delaware and other grapes, in making effervescent wines, though only with doubtful success. Another Cincinnati firm is that of Messrs. George Bogen and Co., whose sparkling wines also met with recognition at Vienna.

The reader will remember Longfellow's well-known song extolling catawba wine, which, with more than a poet's licence, he ranks above the best of the Old World vintages:—

"There grows no vine By the haunted Rhine, By Danube or Guadalquivir, Nor on island nor cape, That bears such a grape As grows by the Beautiful River.

"Very good in its way Is the Verzenay, Or the Sillery, soft and creamy, But Catawba wine Has a taste more divine, More dulcet, delicious, and dreamy."

On Kelley's Island, Erie county, also in the State of Ohio, a wine company, established in 1866, and trading principally in still wines, makes sparkling wines upon a considerable scale exclusively from the catawba variety of grape, which is cultivated in its highest perfection both on the islands of Lake Erie and along a narrow slip of territory not two miles long bordering the southern shore of the lake, and also in the vicinity of Lake Keuka, near Hammondsport, N.Y. The Kelley Island Wine Company, as it is styled, presses the grapes between the middle of October and the end of November, and bottles from about the 20th May until the commencement of July in the year following. Its brands are Island Queen, Nonpareil, and Carte Blanche. Ninety-five per cent. of the wines are dry, and the tendency of the market is in favour of a still drier article. Shipments are principally confined to the United States, the great centre of the trade being St. Louis, on the Mississippi, which has its own sparkling wine establishments, and to-day disputes with Chicago the title of Queen of the West. The company keep some 100,000 bottles of sparkling wines in stock, and possess facilities for bottling five times that quantity whenever the demand might warrant such a step being taken. Of recent years, however, economy has been the rule in American society, and the market for native sparkling wines at any rate is to-day a reduced one.

At Hammondsport, south of Lake Keuka—in other words, Crooked Lake—and in the State of New York, the establishments of the Pleasant Valley and Urbana wine companies, devoting their attention to both still and sparkling wines, are installed. The region, which enthusiastic writers now term the Champagne of America, was colonised in 1793, and vines of the catawba and isabella varieties were first planted for the purpose of making wine in 1854. At the present time there are about 8,000 acres under cultivation with all the better species of vines. The produce from black and white grapes is mingled for the sparkling wines of the district. Of the former but two kinds are considered suitable, the concord and the isabella, both being varieties of the indigenous labrusca, or so-called foxy-flavoured grape. The concord is a hardy and productive plant, producing large and compact bunches of large round sweet grapes, yielding a wine of the obnoxious foxy flavour. The isabella is an equally hardy and productive variety, and its bunches are of good size, although not compact. Its berries, too, are large, oval, and juicy, and marked by a strong musky aroma.

Of the white, or rather pale-coloured grapes—for their hue is usually a reddish one—used for sparkling wines, the principal is the catawba, also of the labrusca variety. The branches are large and tolerably compact; the berries, too, are above the medium size, and have a rich vinous and pronounced musky flavour. Other so-called white species of grapes are the diana and the iona, both, of them seedlings of the catawba; the delaware, the bunches of which are rather small but compact, the berries round, extremely juicy and fresh-tasting, but sweet and aromatic, the wine produced from which is noted for its fragrant bouquet; and, lastly, the walter, a variety obtained by crossing the delaware with the diana. The bunches and berries of the walter are of medium size; the flavour, like that of the delaware, is sweet and aromatic; and the grape is, moreover, remarkable for its agreeable bouquet.



The vintage usually commences about the end of September or the commencement of October, and the grapes, after being carefully sorted, are run through a small mill, which breaks the skins, and admits of the juice running the more readily out when the fruit is placed beneath the press. The latter is worked with a metal screw, and the must is conducted through pipes or hose to casks holding from two to four thousand gallons each, in which it ferments. During the following May the wine is carefully blended, and the operation of bottling commences and lasts for about two or three months. The newly-bottled wine is at first stored in a warm place in order to start the fermentation again, and when the bottles commence to burst it is removed to the subterranean vaults, where it remains stacked in a horizontal fashion until the time arrives to force the sediment down upon the corks. This is accomplished precisely as in the Champagne, the subsequent disgorging and liqueuring being also effected according to the orthodox French system. Altogether a couple of years elapse between the epoch of bottling and shipment, and during this interval each bottle is handled upwards of two hundred times.

The Pleasant Valley Wine Company, established in 1860 for the commerce of still wines, in which it continues to do an extensive business, commenced five years later to make sparkling wines. It grows its own grapes and consumes annually about 1,500 tons of fruit, bottling from 200,000 to 300,000 bottles of sparkling wine in the course of the year. Its brands are the Great Western, of which there is a dry and an extra dry variety, the Carte Blanche, and the Pleasant Valley. Even the extra dry variety of the first-named wine tastes sweet in comparison with a moderately dry champagne, in addition to which its flavour, though agreeable, is certainly too pronounced for a sparkling wine of high quality. The wines, which secured a medal for progress at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873, are sold in every city in the United States, and the company also does a small but increasing trade with England and South America.

The Urbana Wine Company, also established at Hammondsport at the same epoch as its rival, deals, like the latter, in still wines as well. It has three brands—the Gold Seal, of which there is an extra dry variety, the Imperial, and the Royal Rose. At Vienna a diploma of merit was awarded to these wines, for which a considerable market is found throughout the United States and in the West Indies and South America. The Urbana Wine Company produces excellent sparkling wines of singular lightness and of delicate though distinctive flavour. In our judgment the drier varieties are greatly to be preferred. The prices of all the American sparkling wines are certainly high, being almost equivalent to the price of first-class champagnes taken at Reims and Epernay.

In California the manufacture of sparkling wines is carried on with considerable success, and at the Vienna Exhibition the Buena Vista Vinicultural Society of San Francisco was awarded a medal for progress for the excellent samples it sent there. The society was originally organised by Colonel Haraszthy, the pioneer in recent times of Californian viticulture. It commenced manufacturing sparkling wines with the assistance of experienced workmen from Epernay and Ay; but the endeavours, extending over some three or four years, were attended with but indifferent success, very few cuves proving of fair quality, whilst with the majority the wine had to be emptied from the bottles and distilled into brandy. The son of Colonel Haraszthy subsequently succeeded, in conjunction with Mr. Isidor Landsberger, of San Francisco, in discovering the cause of these failures, and for ten years past the wine has been constantly improving in quality owing to the increased use of foreign grapes, which yield a vin brut with a delicate bouquet and flavour approaching in character to the finer champagnes. The wine is perfectly pure, no flavouring extracts or spirit being employed in the composition of the liqueur, which, is composed merely of sugar-candy dissolved in fine old wine. A French connoisseur pronounces sparkling Sonoma to be the best of American sparkling wines, "clean and fresh, tasting, with the flavour of a middle-class Ay growth, as well as remarkably light and delicate, and possessed of considerable effervescence." The Sonoma valley vineyards produce the lightest wines of all the Californian growths, some of the white varieties indicating merely 15 of proof spirit, and the red ones no more than 17.

The vintage takes place towards the end of October, and the grapes are gathered by Chinamen, who will each pick his 12 to 14 cwt. of grapes a day for the wage of a dollar. Light wooden boxes are used for holding the grapes, which are stripped from their stalks on their arrival at the press-house, and then partially crushed by a couple of revolving rollers. An inclined platform beneath receives them, and after the expressed juice has been run off into cask they are removed to the press, and the must subsequently extracted is added to that forced out by the rollers. When white wine is being made from black grapes the pressure is less continuous, and the must is of course separated at once from the skins. The fermentation, which is violent for some ten or twelve hours, ceases in about a fortnight, providing a temperature of from 70 to 75 Fahr. is maintained in the vaults. The wine is racked at the new year, and again before the blending and bottling of it in the spring.

The Californian sparkling wines not only find a market in the eastern States, but are sent across the Pacific to the Sandwich Islands, Japan, China, and even to wine-producing Australia, which has not yet succeeded in producing sparkling wines of its own.

The manufacture of spurious sparkling wines is carried on to some extent in the United States. The raw wine is cleared by fining it with albumen or gelatine and with alum; the latter substance imparting to it great brilliancy. After being dosed with a flavoured syrup the wine is charged like soda-water with carbonic acid gas by placing the bottles under a fountain, and as this gas is derived from marble dust and sulphuric acid, it is liable to be impregnated with both lead and copper, which have the effect of disorganising alike the wine and the consumers of it—nausea, headache, and other ills resulting from drinking sparkling wines made under such conditions.





XX.—CONCLUDING FACTS AND HINTS.

Dry and Sweet Champagnes— Their Sparkling Properties— Form of Champagne Glasses— Style of Sparkling Wines Consumed in Different Countries— The Colour and Alcoholic Strength of Champagne— Champagne Approved of by the Faculty— Its Use in Nervous Derangements— The Icing of Champagne— Scarcity of Grand Vintages in the Champagne— The Quality of the Wine has little influence on the Price— Prices realised by the Ay and Verzenay Crs in Grand Years— Suggestions for Laying down Champagnes of Grand Vintages— The Improvement they Develop after a few Years— The Wine of 1874— The proper kind of Cellar to lay down Champagne in— Advantages of Burrow's Patent Slider Wine Bins— Increase in the Consumption of Champagne— Tabular Statement of Stocks, Exports, and Home Consumption from 1844-5 to 1877-8— When to Serve Champagne at a Dinner Party— Charles Dickens's dictum that its proper place is at a Ball— Advantageous Effect of Champagne at an ordinary British Dinner Party— Sparkling Wine Cups.

When 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. On the other hand, a sweet champagne can be produced from the most ordinary raw wine—the Yankees even claim to have evolved it from petroleum—as the amount of liqueur it receives completely masks its original character and flavour. This excess of syrup, it should be remarked, contributes materially to the wine's explosive force and temporary effervescence, but shortly after the bottle has been uncorked the wine becomes disagreeably flat. A fine dry wine, indebted as it is for its sparkling properties to the natural sweetness of the grape, does not exhibit the same sudden turbulent effervescence. It continues to sparkle, however, for a long time after being poured into the glass owing to the carbonic acid having been absorbed by the wine itself instead of being accumulated in the vacant space between the liquid and the cork, as is the case with wines that have been highly liqueured. Even when its carbonic acid gas is exhausted a good champagne will preserve its fine flavour, which the effervescence will have assisted to conceal. Champagne, it should be noted, sparkles best in tall tapering glasses; still these have their disadvantages, promoting as they do an excess of froth when the wine is poured into them, and almost preventing any bouquet which the wine possesses from being recognised.

Manufacturers of champagne and other sparkling wines prepare them dry or sweet, light or strong, according to the markets for which they are designed. The sweet wines go to Russia and Germany, the sweet-toothed Muscovite regarding M. Louis Roederer's syrupy product as the beau-idal of champagne, and the Germans demanding wines with 20 or more per cent. of liqueur, or nearly quadruple the quantity that is contained in the average champagnes shipped to England. France consumes light and moderately sweet wines; the United States gives a preference to the intermediate qualities; China, India, and other hot countries stipulate for light dry wines; while the very strong ones go to Australia, the Cape, and other places where gold and diamonds and such-like trifles are from time to time "prospected." Not merely the driest but the very best wines of the best manufacturers, and commanding of course the highest prices, are invariably reserved for the English market. Foreigners cannot understand the marked preference shown in England for exceedingly dry sparkling wines. They do not consider that as a rule they are drunk during dinner with the plats, and not at dessert, with all kinds of sweets, fruits, and ices, as is almost invariably the case abroad.

Good champagne is usually of a pale straw colour, but with nothing of a yellow tinge about it. When its tint is pinkish this is owing to a portion of the colouring matter having been extracted from the skins of the grapes—a contingency which every pains are taken to avoid, although, since the success achieved by the wine of 1874, slightly pink wines are likely to be the fashion. The positive pink or rose-coloured champagnes, such as were in fashion some thirty years ago, are simply tinted with a small quantity of deep red wine. The alcoholic strength of the drier wines ranges from 18 of proof spirit upwards, or slightly above the ordinary Bordeaux, and under all the better-class Rhine wines. Champagnes when loaded with a highly alcoholized liqueur will, however, at times mark 30 degrees of proof spirit. The lighter and drier the sparkling wine the more wholesome it is, the saccharine element in conjunction with alcohol being not only difficult of digestion, but generally detrimental to health.

The faculty are agreed that fine dry champagnes are among the safest wines that can be partaken of. Any intoxicating effects are rapid but exceedingly transient, and arise from the alcohol suspended in the carbonic acid being applied rapidly and extensively to the surface of the stomach. "Champagne," said Curran, "simply gives a runaway rap at a man's head." Dr. Druitt, equally distinguished by his studies upon wine and his standing as a physician, pronounces good champagne to be "a true stimulant to body and mind alike, rapid, volatile, transitory, and harmless. Amongst the maladies which are benefited by it," remarks he, "is the true neuralgia, intermitting fits of excruciating pain running along certain nerves, without inflammation of the affected part, often a consequence of malaria, or of some other low and exhausting causes. To enumerate the cases in which champagne is of service would be to give a whole nosology. Who does not know the misery, the helplessness of that abominable ailment, influenza, whether a severe cold or the genuine epidemic? Let the faculty dispute about the best remedy if they please; but a sensible man with a bottle of champagne will beat them all. Moreover, whenever there is pain, with exhaustion and lowness, then Dr. Champagne should be had up. There is something excitant in the wine; doubly so in the sparkling wine, which the moment it touches the lips sends an electric telegram of comfort to every remote nerve. Nothing comforts and rests the stomach better, or is a greater antidote to nausea."

Champagne of fine quality should never be mixed with ice or iced water; neither should it be iced to the extent champagnes ordinarily are, for, in the first place, the natural lightness of the wine is such as not to admit of its being diluted without utterly spoiling it, and in the next, excessive cold destroys alike the fragrant bouquet of the wine and its delicate vinous flavour. Really good champagne should not be iced below a temperature of 50 Fahr., whereas exceedingly sweet wines will bear icing down almost to freezing point, and be rendered more palatable by the process. The above remarks apply to all kinds of sparkling wine.

In the Champagne what may be termed a really grand vintage commonly occurs only once, and never more than twice, in ten years. During the same period, however, there will generally be one or two other tolerably good vintages. In grand years the crop, besides being of superior quality, is usually abundant, and as a consequence the price of the raw wine is scarcely higher than usual. Apparently from this circumstance the sparkling wine of grand vintages does not command an enhanced value, as is the case with other fine wines. It is only when speculators recklessly outbid each other for the grapes or the vin brut, or when stocks are low and the vin brut is really scarce, that the price of champagne appears to rise.

That superior quality does not involve enhanced price is proved by the amounts paid for the Ay and Verzenay crs in years of grand vintages. During the present century these appear to have been 1802, '06, '11, '18, '22, '25, '34, '42, '46, '57, '65, '68, and '74—that is, thirteen grand vintages in nearly eighty years. Other good vintages, although not equal to the foregoing, occurred in the years 1815, '32, '39, '52, '54, '58, '62, '64, and '70. Confining ourselves to the grand years, we find that the Ay wine of 1834, owing to the crop being plentiful as well as good, only realised from 110 to 140 francs the pice of 44 gallons, although for two years previously this had fetched from 150 to 200 francs. In 1842 the price ranged from 120 to 150 francs, whereas the vastly inferior wine of the year before had commanded from 210 to 275 francs. In 1846, the crop being a small one, the price of the wine rose, and in 1857 the pice fetched as much as from 480 to 500 francs, still this was merely a trifle higher than it had realised the two preceding years. In 1865 the price was 380 to 400 francs, and in 1868 about the same, whereas the indifferent vintages of 1871, '72, and '73 realised from 500 to 1,000 francs the pice. It was very similar with the wine of Verzenay. In 1834 the price of the pice ranged from 280 to 325 francs, or about the average of the three preceding years. In 1846, the crop being scarce, the price rose considerably, while in 1857, when the crop was plentiful, it fell to 500 francs, or from 5 to 20 per cent. below that of the two previous years, when the yield was both inferior and less abundant. In 1865 the price rose 33 per cent. above that of the year before; still, although Verzenay wine of 1865 and 1868 fetched from 420 to 450 francs the pice, and that of 1874 as much as 900 francs, the greatly inferior vintages of 1872-73 commanded 900 and 1,030 francs the pice.

Consumers of champagne, if wise, would profit by the circumstance that quality has not the effect of causing a rise in prices, and if they were bent upon drinking their favourite wine in perfection, as one meets with it at the dinner-tables of the principal manufacturers, who only put old wine of grand vintages before their guests, they would lay down champagnes of good years in the same way as the choicer vintages of port, burgundy, and bordeaux are laid down. Champagne of 1874 was a wine of this description, with all its finer vinous qualities well developed, and consequently needing age to attain not merely the roundness but the refinement of flavour pertaining to a high-class sparkling wine. Instead of being drunk a few months after it was shipped in the spring and summer of 1877, as was the fate of much of the wine in question, it needed being kept for three years at the very least to become even moderately round and perfect. In the Champagne one had many opportunities of tasting the grander vintages that had arrived at ten, twelve, or fifteen years of age, and had thereby attained supreme excellence. It is true their effervescence had moderated materially, but their bouquet and flavour were perfect, and their softness and delicacy something marvellous.

A great wine like that of 1874 will go on improving for ten years, providing it is only laid down under proper conditions. These are, first, an exceedingly cool but perfectly dry cellar, the temperature of which should be as low as from 50 to 55 Fahr., or even lower if this is practicable. The cellar, too, should be neither over dark nor light, scrupulously clean, and sufficiently well ventilated for the air to be continuously pure. It is requisite that the bottles should rest on their sides to prevent the corks shrinking, and thus allowing both the carbonic acid and the wine itself to escape. For laying down champagne or any kind of sparkling wine an iron wine-bin is by far the best. I much prefer the patent "slider" bins made by Messrs. W. and J. Burrow, of Malvern, they being better adapted to the purpose than any other I am acquainted with. In these the bottles rest on horizontal parallel bars of wrought-iron, securely riveted into strong wrought-iron uprights, both at the back and in front. The bins can be obtained of any size—that is, to hold as few as two or as many as forty dozen—and they can be had furnished with lattice doors, secured by a lock. One great advantage is that with them there is no waste of space, for individual compartments can be at once refilled with fresh bottles after the other bottles have been removed. These "slider" bins are especially adapted for laying down champagne, as they admit of the air circulating freely around the bottles, thus conducing to the preservation of the metal foil round their necks, and keeping the temperature of the wine both cool and equable.





When binning the wine the bottles are held by their necks and slid into their places with such ease and safety that a child might be entrusted with the work. The bottles can be withdrawn from the bin with equal or even greater facility. Breakage is avoided from each bottle having an independent bearing, which prevents the upper bottles from either falling or weighing down upon those below, and thereby crashing together. The larger engraving shows a wine-cellar fitted up entirely with. Burrow's patent "slider" wine-bins, while the smaller represents a bin adapted to laying down twenty dozens of champagne, and the dimensions of which are merely 5 feet 8 inches by 3 feet.

Official Return by the Chamber of Commerce at Reims of The Trade in Champagne Wines From April, 1844, To April, 1878.

Number of Number of Total number Years, from Manufacturers' Bottles Bottles sold of Bottles April to April. Stocks. Exported. in France. Sold.

1844-45 23,285,218 4,380,214 2,255,438 6,635,652 1845-46 22,847,971 4,505,308 2,510,605 7,015,913 1846-47 18,815,367 4,711,915 2,355,366 7,067,281 1847-48 23,122,994 4,859,625 2,092,571 6,952,196 1848-49 21,290,185 5,686,484 1,473,966 7,160,450 1849-50 20,499,192 5,001,044 1,705,735 6,706,779 1850-51 20,444,915 5,866,971 2,122,569 7,989,540 1851-52 21,905,479 5,957,552 2,162,880 8,120,432 1852-53 19,376,967 6,355,574 2,385,217 8,740,790 1853-54 17,757,769 7,878,320 2,528,719 10,407,039 1854-55 20,922,959 6,895,773 2,452,743 9,348,516 1855-56 15,957,141 7,137,001 2,562,039 9,699,040 1856-57 15,228,294 8,490,198 2,468,818 10,959,016 1857-58 21,628,778 7,368,310 2,421,454 9,789,764 1858-59 28,328,251 7,666,633 2,805,416 10,472,049 1859-60 35,648,124 8,265,395 3,039,621 11,305,016 1860-61 30,235,260 8,488,223 2,697,508 11,185,731 1861-62 30,254,291 6,904,915 2,592,875 9,497,790 1862-63 28,013,189 7,937,836 2,767,371 10,705,207 1863-64 28,466,975 9,851,138 2,934,996 12,786,134 1864-65 33,298,672 9,101,441 2,801,626 11,903,067 1865-66 34,175,429 10,413,455 2,782,777 13,196,132 1866-67 37,608,716 10,283,886 3,218,343 13,502,229 1867-68 37,969,219 10,876,585 2,924,268 13,800,853 1868-69 32,490,881 12,810,194 3,104,496 15,914,690 1869-70 39,272,562 13,858,839 3,628,461 17,487,300 1870-71 39,984,003 7,544,323 1,633,941 9,178,264 1871-72 40,099,243 17,001,124 3,367,537 20,368,661 1872-73 45,329,490 18,917,779 3,464,059 22,381,838 1873-74 46,573,974 18,106,310 2,491,759 20,598,069 1874-75 52,733,674 15,318,345 3,517,182 18,835,527 1875-76 64,658,767 16,705,719 2,439,762 19,145,481 1876-77 71,398,726 15,882,964 3,127,991 19,010,955 1877-78 70,183,863 15,711,651 2,450,983 18,162,634

From the subjoined table it will be seen that the consumption of champagne has almost trebled since the year 1844-5, a period of little more than thirty years. Another curious fact to note is the immense increase in the exports of the wine during the three years following the Franco-German war, when naturally both the exports and home consumption of champagne fell off very considerably. No reliable information is available as to the actual quantity of champagne consumed yearly in England, but this may be taken in round numbers at about four millions of bottles. The consumption of the wine in the United States varies from rather more than a million and a half to nearly two million bottles annually.

Distinguished gourmets are scarcely agreed as to the proper moment when champagne should be introduced at the dinner-table. Dyspeptic Mr. Walker, of "The Original," laid it down that champagne ought to be introduced very early at the banquet, without any regard whatever to the viands it may chance to accompany. "Give champagne," he says, "at the beginning of dinner, as its exhilarating qualities serve to start the guests, after which they will seldom flag. No other wine produces an equal effect in increasing the success of a party—it invariably turns the balance to the favourable side. When champagne goes rightly nothing can well go wrong." These precepts are sound enough, still all dinner-parties are not necessarily glacial, and the guests are not invariably mutes. Before champagne can be properly introduced at a formal dinner the conventional glass of sherry or madeira should supplement the soup, a white French or a Rhine wine accompany the fish, and a single glass of bordeaux prepare the way with the first entre for the sparkling wine, which, for the first round or two, should be served, briskly and liberally. A wine introduced thus early at the repast should of course be dry, or, at any rate, moderately so.

We certainly do not approve of Mr. Charles Dickens's dictum that champagne's proper place is not at the dinner-table, but solely at a ball. "A cavalier," he said, "may appropriately offer at propitious intervals a glass now and then to his danceress. There it takes its fitting rank and position amongst feathers, gauzes, lace, embroidery, ribbons, white satin, shoes, and eau-de-Cologne, for champagne is simply one of the elegant extras of life." This is all very well, still the advantageous effect of sparkling wine at an ordinary British dinner-party, composed as it frequently is of people pitchforked together in accordance with the exigencies of the hostess's visiting-list, cannot be gainsayed. After the preliminary glowering at each other, more Britannico, in the drawing-room, everybody regards it as a relief to be summoned to the repast, which, however, commences as chillily as the soup and as stolidly as the salmon. The soul of the hostess is heavy with the anxiety of prospective dishes, the brow of the host is clouded with the reflection that our rulers are bent upon dragging us into war. Placed between a young lady just out and a dowager of grimly Gorgonesque aspect, you hesitate how to open a conversation. Your first attempts, like those of the Russian batteries on the Danube, are singularly ineffectual, only eliciting a dropping fire of monosyllables. You envy the placidly languid young gentleman opposite, limp as his fast-fading camellia, and seated next to Belle Breloques, who is certain, in racing parlance, to make the running for him. But even that damsel seems preoccupied with her fan, and, despite her aplomb, hesitates to break the icy silence. The two City friends of the host are lost in mute speculation as to the future price of indigo or Ionian Bank shares, while their wives seem to be mentally summarising the exact cost of each other's toilettes. Their daughters, or somebody else's daughters, are desperately jerking out monosyllabic responses to feeble remarks concerning the weather, lawn tennis, operatic dbutantes, the gravel in the Row, the ill-health of the Princess, and kindred topics from a couple of F.O. men. Little Snapshot, the wit, on the other side of the Gorgon, has tried to lead up to a story, but has found himself, as it were, frozen in the bud. When lo! the butler softly sibillates in your ear the magic word "champagne," and as it flows, creaming and frothing, into your glass, a change comes over the spirit of your vision.

The hostess brightens, the host coruscates. The young lady on your right suddenly develops into a charming girl, with becoming appreciation of your pet topics and an astounding aptness for repartee. The Gorgon thaws, and implores Mr. Snapshot, whose jests are popping as briskly as the corks, not to be so dreadfully funny, or he will positively kill her. Belle Breloques can always talk, and now her tongue rattles faster than ever, till the languid one arouses himself like a giant refreshed, and gives her as good as he gets. The City men expatiate in cabalistic language on the merits of some mysterious speculation, the prospective returns from which increase with each fresh bottle. One of their wives is discussing the E.C.U. and the S.S.C. with a hitherto silent curate, and the other is jabbering botany to a red-faced warrior. The juniors are in full swing, and ripples of silvery laughter rise in accompaniment to the beaded bubbles all round the table. And all this is due to champagne, that great unloosener not merely of tongues but of purse-strings, as is well known to the secretaries of those charitable institutions which set the wine flowing earliest at their anniversary dinners.

* * * * *

A few recipes for sparkling wine cups gathered from various sources will conclude our work. Not having personally tested these we leave the responsibility of them to their respective authors—Soyer, Tovey, Terrington ("Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks"), &c.—premising that it is the merest folly to use a high-class champagne or a fine sparkling hock for a beverage of this description. Sparkling saumur, or the newly-introduced sparkling sauternes, and the cheaper hocks and moselles, will do equally well at a greatly reduced cost. In all cases, too, the kind of liqueur, the amount of sugar, and the flavouring with borage, verbena, pine-apple, or cucumber, may be varied to suit individual tastes. For soda or seltzer water we have invariably substituted Apollinaris, which is far better adapted for effervescent drinks of this description by reason of its purity and softness, its freedom from any distinct flavour, and above all its powerful natural effervescence.

Soyer's elaborate recipe for champagne cup for a large party is as follows:—

Prepare three ounces of oleo-saccharine by rubbing some lumps of sugar against the outside of a lemon or Seville orange and scraping away the sugar as it absorbs the essential oil contained in the rind of the fruit. Put the oleo-saccharine with the juice of four lemons in a vessel, add a quart bottle of Apollinaris water (Soyer says soda-water, but Apollinaris is certainly preferable), and stir well together until the sugar is dissolved. Then pour in one quart of syrup of orgeat and whip the mixture up well with an egg whisk in order to whiten it. Next add a pint of cognac brandy, a quarter of a pint of Jamaica rum and half a pint of maraschino; strain the whole into a bowl, adding plenty of pounded ice if the weather is warm, and pour in three bottles of champagne, stirring the mixture well with the ladle while doing so in order to render the cup creamy and mellow.

A less potent and pretentious beverage, and better suited for a summer drink, is the subjoined:—

Dissolve two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar in a quart of Apollinaris water. Add a wineglass of curaoa, a sprig of green borage or a couple of slices of cucumber with the juice and fine shavings of the outside peel of a lemon, and a pound of bruised ice. After the whole has been well stirred pour in the champagne and serve.

Other recipes are as follows:—

Prepare an ounce of oleo-saccharine, add to it a large wineglass of maraschino, a liqueur glass of cognac, and the juice of half a lemon. Mix well together, and add several slices of pine-apple, and a large lump or two of ice. On to this pour first a large bottle of Apollinaris water, and next a bottle of sparkling wine.

Mix with the contents of a bottle of chablis or sauternes a liqueur glass of chartreuse and a tablespoonful or two of powdered loaf sugar. When the latter is dissolved throw in a pound and a half of pounded ice and a sprig of borage. Pour over these a quart of Apollinaris water and a bottle of sparkling saumur. For the chablis or sauternes half a bottle of light claret may be substituted.

To a gill of good pale sherry add a liqueur glass of maraschino and a few lumps of sugar which have been well rubbed over the rind of a Seville orange, the juice of which is also to be added to the mixture. After the sugar is dissolved throw in a sprig of borage or a slice or two of cucumber and some pounded ice. Then add a quart bottle of Apollinaris water and a bottle of champagne or some other sparkling wine.

The following cup for a party of twenty is said to be of Russian inspiration:—

Pour on to some sprigs of borage or a few slices of cucumber a pint of sherry and half a pint of brandy, then rub off the fine outside peel of a lemon with a few lumps of sugar, and add these with the strained juice of the lemon and of three oranges. Pour into the mixture half a pint of curaoa, a wineglass of noyau, a couple of bottles of German seltzer-water, three bottles of soda-water, and three bottles of champagne. Sweeten and ice to taste.

Here is a recipe for a cup made with chablis and sparkling red burgundy:—

With a bottle of chablis mix a liqueur-glass of chartreuse and then dissolve in it some powdered sugar. Add two pounds of ice in largish lumps, a slice or two of cucumber, and a sprig of lemon-scented verbena, or substitute for these a few slices of pine-apple. Pour in a quart bottle of Apollinaris water, mix well together, and add a bottle of sparkling burgundy just before serving.

The following refer to sparkling hock and moselle cups:—

To a bottle of sparkling hock add a quarter of a pint of lemon water ice and a liqueur glass of pine-apple syrup. After mixing them add a slice of cucumber, a lump or two of ice, and a bottle of Apollinaris water.

Add to the strained juice of a couple of lemons an ounce and a half or more of powdered loaf sugar and a wineglass of maraschino. Mix well, and pour in a couple of bottles of iced sparkling hock and a large bottle of iced Apollinaris water.

Dissolve a couple of ounces of sugar in a gill of dry sherry, add the thin peel of half an orange, a few slices of pine-apple, peaches, or apricots, with some pounded ice, and then pour in a bottle of sparkling moselle and a bottle of Apollinaris water.

With half a pint of lemon water ice mix a bottle of iced sparkling moselle, add a few drops of elder-flower water and a bottle of iced Apollinaris water. Instead of the lemon ice half the quantity of pine-apple ice may be used with the juice of half a lemon, and the elder-flower water may be dispensed with.





THE PRINCIPAL SPARKLING WINE BRANDS.

*** In this list whenever a manufacturer has various qualities the higher qualities are always placed first.

[Transcriber's Note:

In the original text the tables were laid out in four columns: Firms and Wholesale Agents. Brands. [Impress of Cork Design] Qualities. On side of Corks. For this e-text, the table has been changed to a list format, with the columns represented by levels of indentation. The "Brands" are indicated by the bracketed word [Cork]; the "Side of Cork" text—if any—is given in the same line as its associated Quality.

The book included an errata sheet for the tables. It is shown here immediately after the tables themselves. The changes and corrections listed have not been made in the text.]

CHAMPAGNES.

Firms and Wholesale Agents. Brands. Qualities. / On side of Corks.

AYALA & CO., Ay Ayala, 7, Little Tower Street, London Rinck & Unger, 50, Park Place, New York [Cork] Carte Blanche / Extra. Carte Noire / Premire. [Cork] Second

BINET FILS & CO., Reims Rutherford & Browne, Old Trinity House, 5, Water Lane, London. [Cork] Extra First Second / Binet fils & Cie. [all varieties]

BOLLINGER, J., Ay L. Mentzendorf, 6, Idol Lane, London. E. and J. Burke, 40, Beaver Street, New York. [Cork] Very Dry Extra / Very Dry Extra quality. Dry Extra / Dry Extra quality.

BRUCH-FOUCHER & CO., Mareuil L. Ehrmann, 34, Gt. Tower Street, London. [Cork] Carte D'Or First Second

CLICQUOT-PONSARDIN, Veuve, Reims (WERLE & CO.) Fenwick, Parrot, & Co., 124, Fenchurch Street, London. Schmidt Bros., New York. [Cork] Dry Rich / England. [both varieties]

DE CAZANOVE, C., Avize J. R. Hunter, 46, Fenchurch Street, London [Cork] Extra / Extra qualit. First Second Third Fourth [Cork] Fifth

DEUTZ & GELDERMANN, Ay J. R. Parkington & Co., 21, Crutched Friars, London. [Cork] Gold Lack (Extra Dry and Dry) / Gold Lack. Cabinet (Extra Dry and Dry) / Cabinet.

DUCHATEL-OHAUS, Reims Woellworth & Co., 70, Mark Lane, London [Cork] Carte Blanche (Dry and Rich) Verzenay (Dry and Rich) Sillery (Dry and Rich)

DUMINY & CO., Ay Mogford, Courtenay, & Co., 16, Mark Lane, London Anthony Oechs, New Street, New York [Cork] Extra / Maison fonde en 1814. [both brands] [Cork] First / Maison fonde en 1814. [both brands]

FARRE, CHARLES, Reims Hornblower & Co., 50, Mark Lane, London Gilmore & Gibson, Baltimore Mel & Sons, San Francisco [Cork] Cabinet (Grand Vin) / Cabinet Grand Vin. [Cork] Carte Blanche / Carte Blanche. Carte Noire / Carte Noire. [Cork] Sillery Sec / Sillery Sec. [Cork] Sillery / Sillery. [Cork] Ay Mousseux / Ay.

FISSE, THIRION, & Co., Reims Stallard and Smith, 25, Philpot Lane, London [Cork] Cachet d'Or (Extra Dry and Medium Dry) / Cachet d'Or. Carte Blanche (Dry, Medium Dry, and Rich) / Carte Blanche. [Cork] Carte Noire (Dry and Medium Dry). / Carte Noire.

GIBERT, GUSTAVE, Reims Cock, Russell, & Co., 63, Great Tower Street, London Hays & Co., 40, Day Street, New York [Cork] Vin du Roi [Cork] Extra [Cork] First [Cork] Second [Cork] Third All these wines are prepared Extra Dry, Dry, or Rich.

GIESLER & CO., Avize F. Giesler & Co., 32, Fenchurch Street, London. Purdy & Nicholas, 43, Beaver Street, New York [Cork] Extra Superior India / India. First [Cork] Second [Cork] Third

HEIDSIECK & CO., Reims. Theodor Satow & Co., 141, Fenchurch Street, London Schmidt & Peters, 20, Beaver Street, New York [Cork] Dry Monopole. Monopole (Rich) Dry Vin Royal Grand Vin Royal (Rich)

IRROY, ERNEST, Reims. Cuddeford & Smith, 66, Mark Lane, London O. de Saye, 18, South William Street, New York W. E. Hepp, 101, Gravier Street, New Orleans [Cork] Carte d'Or, Dry / Carte d'Or, Sec. Carte d'Or / Carte d'Or.

KRUG & Co., Reims Inglis and Cunningham, 60, Mark Lane, London A. Rocherau & Co., New York Hillman Bros. & Co., San Francisco [Cork] Carte Blanche / Carte Blanche, England. Private Cuve / Private Cuve, England. [Cork] First / England. [Cork] Second

MOT & CHANDON, Epernay Simon & Dale, Old Trinity House, 5, Water Lane, London, Agents for Great Britain and the Colonies Renauld, Franois, & Co., 23, Beaver Street, New York J. Hope & Co., Montreal [Cork] Brut / Imperial, England. Creaming / Creaming, England. Extra Superior / Extra Superior, England. Extra Dry Sillery White Dry Sillery / White Dry, England. [Cork] First Quality / England. Second Quality

MONTEBELLO, DUC DE, Mareuil-sur-Ay John Hopkins & Co., 26, Crutched Friars, London Cazade, Crooks, & Reynaud, 25, South William St., N.Y. [Cork] Cuve Extra / Cuve Extra. Carte Blanche / Reserve. Carte Bleue / Cte. Bleue. Carte Noire / Cte. Noire.

MUMM, G. H., & CO., Reims W. J. and T. Welch, 10, Corn Exchange Chambers, Seething Lane, London F. de Bary & Co., 41 and 43, Warren Street, New York [Cork] Carte Blanche / Cuve Extra. Extra Dry / Extra Dry. Extra / Extra. First / First. For America only. Cordon Rouge / Cordon Rouge. Extra Dry / Extra Dry. Dry Verzenay / Dry Verzenay.

MUMM, JULES, & CO., Reims Jules Mumm & Co., 3 & 4, Mark Lane, London [Cork] Extra Dry Dry

PRINET & FILS, Reims John Barnett & Son, 36, Mark Lane, London Wood, Pollard, & Co., Boston, U.S. Hooper and Donaldson, San Francisco [Cork] Cuve Rserve (Extra Dry) / Cuve Reserve. White Dry Sillery / White Dry Sillery.

PERRIER-JOUT & CO., Epernay A. Boursot & Co., 9, Hart Street, Crutched Friars, London [Cork] Cuve de Rserve / Extra Pale Dry Creaming First [Cork] Second [Cork] Third

PIPER, H., & CO., Reims (KUNKELMANN & CO.) W. Foster Newton & Son, 3, Maiden Lane, E.C., London John Osborn, Son, & Co., New York and Montreal [Cork] Trs-Sec (Extra Dry) / Kunkelmann & Co. [all varieties] Sec (Very Dry) Carte Blanche (Rich)

PFUNGST FRRES & CIE., Ay, Epernay J. L. Pfungst & Co., 23, Crutched Friars, London [Cork] Carte d'Or (Dry, Extra Dry, and Brut) / Carte d'Or. Sillery Crmant (Extra Dry and Brut) / Sillery Crmant. Carte Noire (Dry, Extra Dry, and Brut) / Carte Noire. Cordon Blanc (Full, Dry, and Extra Dry) / Cordon Blanc.

POL ROGER & CO., Epernay Reuss, Lauteren, & Co., 39, Crutched Friars, London [Cork] Vin Rserv.

POMMERY, VEUVE, Reims (POMMERY & GRENO) A. Hubinet, 24, Mark Lane, London Charles Graef, 65, Broad Street, New York [Cork] Extra Sec (Vin Brut) / Veuve Pommery. [Cork] Sec

ROEDERER, LOUIS, Reims Grainger & Son, 108, Fenchurch Street, London [Cork] Carte Blanche / Reims, Carte Blanche, Gt.-Britain.

ROEDERER, THOPHILE, & CO., MAISON FONDE EN 1861, Reims Thophile Roederer & Co., 150, Fenchurch Street, London [Cork] Crystal Champagne, Special Cuve / Special Cuve. Extra Reserve / Cuve / Reserve Cuve. Extra Superior Carte Blanche Dore / Carte Blanche Dore Extra Quality Carte Blanche / Carte Blanche. First Quality Carte Noire / Carte Noire. Verzenay / Verzenay.

ROUSSILLON, J., & CO., Epernay J. Roussillon & Co., 15, New Broad Street, London D. St. Amant & Son, 13, South William Street, New York [Cork] First Cuve Second Cuve Dry Verzenay Sillery Sec / 1874 Extra Sec.

RUINART, PRE ET FILS, Reims Ruinart, Pre et Fils, 22, St. Swithin's Lane, London [Cork] Carte Anglaise Dry Pale Crmant Extra Dry Sparkling Carte Blanche First

DE SAINT-MARCEAUX & CO., Reims Groves &, Co., 5, Mark Lane, London Hermann Batjer & Bro., New York [Cork] Vin Brut Carte d'Or (Extra Dry) / Very dry. Bouzy Nonpareil (Dry) / Vin Sec. Carte Blanche (Medium) [Cork] Second (Medium) [Cork] Third (id.) For America only. Dry Royal

SAUMUR AND SAUTERNES.

Firms and Wholesale Agents. Brands. Qualities. / On side of Corks.

ACKERMAN-LAURANCE, St. Florent, Saumur J. N. Bishop, 41, Crutched Friars, London Timothy Stevens, 29, Beaver Street, New York Chapin and Gore, 70, Monroe Street, Chicago [Cork] Carte d'Or / Carte d'Or. Carte Rose / Carte Rose. Carte Bleue / Carte Bleue. Carte Noire / Carte Noire.

DUVAU, LOUIS, An, Chteau de Varrains, Saumur Jolivet and Canney, 3, Idol Lane, London [Cork] Carte d'Or, Extra Superior Carte d'Argent, Extra Carte Blanche, Superior Carte Rose, Ordinary

LORRAIN, JULES, Chteau De la Cte, Varrains, near Saumur J. Lorrain, 73, Great Tower Street, London [Cork] Carte d'Or Carte Blanche Carte Rose Carte Bleue

ROUSTEAUX, A., St. Florent, Saumur Cock, Russell, & Co., 63, Great Tower Street, London I. H. Smith's Sons, Peck Slip, New York Law, Young, & Co., Montreal [Cork] Extra [Cork] First [Cork] Second [Cork] Third Sparkling Vouvray, Superior Sparkling Vouvray

NORMANDIN, E., & CO., Chteauneuf-sur-Charente P. A. Maignen, 22, Great Tower Street, London [Cork] Sparkling Sauternes (Extra Dry) Sparkling Sauternes (Dry)

BURGUNDIES.

Firms and Wholesale Agents. Brands. Qualities. / On side of Corks.

ANDR & VOILLOT, Beaune Cock, Russell, & Co., 63, Great Tower Street, London P. W. Engs and Sons, 131, Front Street, New York [Cork] Romane (White) Nuits (do.) Volnay (do.) Saint-Pray Pink and Red Wines

LATOUR, LOUIS, Beaune Reuss, Lauteren, & Co., 39, Crutched Friars, London [Cork] Romane (White) Nuits (do.) Volnay (do.) Saint-Pray (do.) Chambertin (Red) Nuits (do.) Volnay (do.)

LIGER-BELAIR, COMTE, Nuits and Vsne Fenwick, Parrot, & Co., 124, Fenchurch Street, London [Cork] Carte d'Or (White) Carte Noire (do.) Carte Verte (do.) Carte Noire (Red) Carte Blanche (do.)

HOCKS AND MOSELLES.

Firms and Wholesale Agents. Brands. Qualities. / On side of Corks.

DEINHARD & CO., Coblenz Deinhard & Co., 6, Idol Lane, London H. G. Schmidt & Co., 38, Beaver Street, New York [Cork] First [Cork] Second [Cork] Third

EWALD & CO., Rudesheim-on-Rhine Simon and Dale, Old Trinity House, 5, Water Lane, London [Cork] Sparkling Hock Nonpareil (Extra Dry and Dry) Sparkling Moselle Muscatel Nonp. (Dry) Sparkling Moselle (Nonp.) Scharzberg (Dry)

HOCHHEIM ASSOCIATION, Hochheim-on-Maine F. Class & Co., 31, Crutched Friars, London [Cork] Sparkling and Creaming Johannisberg Hochheim First (White or Red) Do. Second (do.) Do. Third (do.) Do. Fourth (do.) Hocks and Moselles Nonpareil First Second Third [Cork] Fourth

KESSLER, G. C., & CO., Esslingen George Saurmann, 7, Cross Lane, St. Mary-at-Hill, London [Cork] Kaiser Wein Sparkling Hock Do. Neckar

LAUTEREN, C. SOHN, Mayence Reuss, Lauteren, & Co., 39, Crutched Friars, London [Cork] Sparkling Johannisberg Hock No. 1 Do. No. 2 Do. No. 3 Moselle, Dry, No. 1 Do. No. 2 Do. No. 3 Moselle, Muscatel, No. 1 Do. No. 2 Do. No. 3

MLLER, MATHEUS, Eltville M. Muller, 15, Philpot Lane, London [Cork] Flower of Sparkling Johannisberg Sparkling Johannisberg Pearl of the Moselle Extra Superior Moselle Nonpareil Sparkling Moselle Nonpareil Sparkling Hock Fine Sparkling do. Fine Sparkling Moselle Sparkling Assmannshuser, Superior (Red) Sparkling Assmannshuser (do.) [Cork] Sparkling Hock (Ordinary) Sparkling Moselle (do.)

OPPMANN, MICHAEL, Wrzburg [Cork] Franconia Wine: Nonpareil Stein Wine Blue Label White Label Sparkling Moselle, First Do. do., Second Do. Hock, First Do. do., Second

SILIGMLLER, F. A., Wrzburg [Cork] Cabinet / Cabinet. Carte d'Or Carte Blanche Carte Noire

STCK, JOS, & SHNE, Creuznach John Barnett & Son, 36, Mark Lane, London [Cork] Johnnnisberg, supr. Scharzberg, do. Johannisberg, ordin. Scharzberg, do. Hock, superior Moselle, do. Hock, ordin. Moselle, do. Red Hock, First Do., Second Do., Third Do., Fourth

STYRIAN, HUNGARIAN, AND SWISS WINES.

Firms and Wholesale Agents. Brands. Qualities. / On side of Corks.

KLEINOSCHEG BROTHERS, Graz, Styria Davis and Littlewood, 4 and 5, Botolph Lane, London [Cork] Dry Pale Styrian Muscat Champagne. Dry Pale Styrian Champagne Sparkling Burgundy (Red)

HUBERT & HABERMANN, Pressburg, Hungary C. O. Pattenhausen, 40, Great Tower Street, London [Cork] Sparkling White Sparkling Red (Carlovitz)

DE RIEDMATTEN, DE QUAY, & CIE., Sion, Valais, Switzerland [Cork] Carte Verte, Glacier du Rhne Carte Blanche, Mont-Blanc

AMERICAN WINES.

Firms and Wholesale Agents. Brands. Qualities. / On side of Corks.

KELLEY'S ISLAND WINE CO., Kelley's Island, Ohio [Cork] Island Queen Nonpareil Carte Blanche

PLEASANT VALLEY WINE CO., Hammondsport, N.Y. [Cork] Great Western (Dry and Extra Dry) Carte Blanche Pleasant Valley Paris Exposition

URBANA WINE CO., Hammondsport, N.Y. [Cork] Gold Seal (Extra Dry) Gold Seal Imperial Royal Rose

* * * * *

[Author's errata sheet, first part]

The subjoined corrections are necessary in the following brands (See pages 226 and 227):—

FISSE, THIRION, & Co., Reims Stallard and Smith, 25, Philpot Lane, London [Cork] Cachet d'Or. (Extra Dry and Medium Dry) / Cachet d'Or. Carte Blanche. (Dry, Medium Dry, and Rich) / Carte Blanche. Carte Noire. (Dry and Medium Dry). / Carte Noire. N.B.—The brand on the corks is an anchor instead of an eagle.

GIBERT, GUSTAVE, Reims. Cock, Russell, and Co.'s address is 23, Rood Lane, London.

GIESLER & CO., Avize. The corks of the firm's Extra Superior quality wine are branded "Extra Superior" on the side.

IRROY, ERNEST, Reims. The New York agent is F. O. de Luze, 18, South William Street, New York. W. E. Hepp is no longer M. Irroy's agent for New Orleans.

* * * * *

[Author's errata sheet, second part]

The following are the correct brands of MM. de Saint-Marceaux & Co.:—

DE SAINT-MARCEAUX & CO., Reims Groves & Co., 5, Mark Lane, London Hermann Btjer & Bro., New York [Cork] Vin Brut Carte d'Or (Extra Dry) / Very dry. Bouzy Nonpareil (Dry) / Vin Sec. Carte Blanche (Medium) For America only. Dry Royal [Cork] Second (Medium) [Cork] Third (id.)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Errata:

Missing or incorrect punctuation in the List of Brands has been silently regularized.

Expressions such as "132lbs." were consistently printed without space.

A number of words were printed both with and without umlaut. These have generally been left unchanged: Wurzburg / Wrzburg Rudesheim / Rdesheim Muller / Mller (also Siligmller / -muller) Three occurrences of "Mot" were printed without dieresis. It has been silently supplied.

Table of Contents: II.—THE VINTAGE IN THE CHAMPAGNE. ... 20 last digit of page number invisible the future roues of the Regency accent on "rous" missing in original Baume's aerometer first "e" in "aerometer" illegible the Champenois winegrowers printed at midline without usual hyphen Chapter V, first page through "... the bulk of the new-made" left edge of text missing: manu/[fac]ture only just... (at line break) [en]ds. [res]ervoirs ... [bei]ng allowed ... [for]ty-four gallons ... (number supplied from other passages) loosens the agrafe securing the cork, Bang goes the latter comma in original may be intentional from one to three per cent. of liqueur. text has comma for period St. Marceaux and Co.'s New Establishment text reads "Co.'" Those magnates of the champagne trade, Messrs. Mot and Chandon text reads "Mesrs." Messrs. Mot and Chandon give a banquet or a ball period (full stop) invisible resting familiarly on the marchal's shoulder period (full stop) invisible bounded by trees and garden-plats text unchanged: probably correct the liqueur which Messrs. Giesler add so sparingly text reads "Griesler"

opening parenthesis missing having composed at his mistress's table some doggrel rhymes spelling unchanged restored Stolzenfels, the historic Knigs-stuhl text reads "Konigs-stuhl" vineyards of Bsing, Genau, and St. Georgen spelling unchanged Societa Unione Enofila accent missing in original cannot be gainsayed. spelling unchanged curaoa spelling unchanged (two occurrences)

List of BrandsPOMMERY, VEUVE, Reims final "s" missing

THE END