Another sparkling wine establishment was founded at
Würzburg by Herr F. A. Siligmuller in 1843. The wine from white grapes employed by him is vintaged partly in his own vineyards on the Stein and the Harfe, and partly in other Main vineyards, at Randersacker, Escheradorf, &c., the wine used by him from red grapes coming from the Baden Oberland around the so-called Kaisers-stuhl—an isolated vine-clad dolerite mountain bordering the Rhine, and on the verge almost of the Black Forest—and from the neighbourhood of Offenburg, one of the ancient imperial free towns, which has lately raised a statue to Sir Francis Drake, “the introducer,” as the inscription says, “of the potato into Europe.” The vintage here, which commences fully a fortnight earlier than around Würzburg, usually takes place about the beginning of October, and the wine is bottled in the height of the following summer. Herr Siligmuller’s wines, of which there are four qualities, were awarded a medal for progress at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873.
A SPANISH VINTAGE SCENE.
[ XVIII.—The Sparkling Wines of Austro-Hungary, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Russia, &c.]
Sparkling Voslauer—The Sparkling Wine Manufactories of Graz—Establishment of Kleinoscheg Brothers—Vintaging and Treatment of Styrian Champagnes—Sparkling Red, Rose, and White Wines of Hungary—The Establishment of Hubert and Habermann at Pressburg—Sparkling Wines of Croatia, Galicia, Bohemia, Moravia, Dalmatia, the Tyrol, Transylvania, and the Banat—Neuchâtel Champagne—Sparkling Wine Factories at Vevay and Sion—The Vevay Vineyards—Establishment of De Riedmatten and De Quay—Sparkling Muscatel, Malmsey, Brachetto, Castagnolo, and Lacryma Christi of Italy—Sparkling Wines of Spain, Greece, Algeria, and Russia—The Krimski and Donski Champagnes—The Latter Chiefly Consumed at the Great Russian Fairs.
Sparkling wines are made in various parts of Austria and Hungary, and of late years their produce has been largely on the increase. At Voslau, in the vicinity of the picturesque and
fashionable summer watering-place of Baden, about twenty miles south of Vienna, Herr R. Schlumberger, one of my colleagues on the wine jury at the Vienna and Paris Exhibitions of 1873 and ’8, makes a white sparkling Voslauer—introduced into England some years since—from the blue portuguese, the burgundy (the pineau noir), the rulander (the pineau gris), and the riesling varieties of grape. It is, however, at Graz, the capital of Styria, picturesquely situated on the river Mur, and surrounded by lofty mountains, where sparkling wines are made upon the largest scale and with the most success. By far the principal manufactory is that of Kleinoscheg Brothers, founded in the year 1850, at an epoch when the larger Styrian wine-growers were directing their attention to the general improvement of their vineyards. The firm gained their knowledge of sparkling wines by practical experience acquired in the Champagne itself, and to-day they unquestionably produce some of the best sparkling wines that are made out of France. They possess extensive vineyards of their own, and are also large purchasers of wines from the best districts, including Pettau, Radkersburg, the Picherergebirge, and Luttenberg, the latter yielding the finest wine which Styria produces, vintaged from the mosler or furmint—that is, the Tokay variety of grape.
White wine from the clevener grape, understood to be identical with the pineau noir of Burgundy and the Champagne, and vintaged early in October, forms the basis of the sparkling wines manufactured by Kleinoscheg Brothers. The produce of several other grapes, however, enters in a limited degree into the blend, including the riesling, the rulander or pineau gris, and the portuguese, the gathering of which is usually delayed several weeks later, and is sometimes even deferred until the end of November. The first and second pressings of the black grapes yield a white must as in the Champagne, while the third and fourth give a pink wine of which the firm make a speciality.
The wines, which are treated precisely after the system pursued in the Champagne, are bottled during the months of July