Drinks of the World

by James Mew; John Ashton

That Italy produces good wines is, says Cyrus Redding, undeniable. She also produces wines that are very bad. The best Italian wines are believed to be of Tuscany. As Hafiz is the authority for Shiraz, so Redi’s Bacco in Toscana should be consulted for the wines of Italy. Monte Pulciano is of a purple hue, sweet and slightly astringent. It is to this wine that Redi gives the palm, calling it la manna di Monte Pulciano. The wine of Chianti, near Sienna, is well known. Artiminio, Poncino, Antella, and Carmignano, though of less reputation, are not greatly inferior. The best Verdea[34] comes from Arcetri near Florence. Trebbiano, a gold-coloured syrup, is produced, according to Drs. Thudichum and Dupré, from grapes, “passulated on the vine by torsion of the stalk.” Montelcino, Rimaneze, and Santo Stefano are Siennese wines. Of Sardinia the chief wines are the so-called Malvasias, Giro, Aleatico, like the Tinto of Alicante, and Bosa, Ogliastra, and Sassari. Of Piedmont the principal wines are Barolo, Barbera, Nebbiolo, Braccheto. Asti, Chaumont, Alba, and Montferrat have had reputation thrust upon them. Grignolinos are made from a vine closely related to the Kadarka of Hungary, and the Carmenet of the Gironde. The wines of Genoa are of small repute. Central Italy furnishes Montefiascone,[35] with a delicious aroma, Albano, resembling Lacryma Christi, and Orvieto. The principal wine of Naples, from the base of Vesuvius, is Lacryma Christi, a rich, red, exquisite drink, affirmed by some adventurous fancies to be the Falernian of Horace. “O Christ!” said a Dutchman who drank, “why didst Thou not weep in my country?” Gallipoli, Tarento, Baia, Pausilippo, yield good wines. The islands in the Bay of Naples all produce wine; that of Caprea is of good ordinary quality, both white and red. Calabria furnishes many good wines. Muscadenes and dry wines are made at Reggio. Asprino, a white foamy wine, with a pleasant sharpness, is a favourite of the Campagna. Carigliano is a Muscadine, with a flavour of fennel. Dr. Charnock speaks highly of the wine of Capri, and of Orvieto, a delicate white wine of Rome. The disagreement of travellers about the merits of wines arises principally, of course, from a diversity of tastes, but also in the matter of Italian wines, from the fact that different wines bear the same names in different countries. There is, for instance, a vino santo and a vino greco in Naples. A Veronese wine, vino debolissimo e di niuna stima, is also called vino santo, and an excellently good wine at Brescia. It is the same with half a dozen of the most noted wines of Italy. Modico, a fine white wine from the place of that name near Salerno, was apparently a favourite of the noted School of Salernum. The best known wines out of Italy are the Barola, Barbera, and the rest which may be found on the wine-list of every padrone of an Italian restaurant; the Inferno of the Valtellina; the Lambrusco of Modena; the Chianti of Tuscan—a wine grown on the estate of Baron Ricasoli, not thought so much of in Italy as in England; and the Lacryma Christi of Naples. Most Italian wines are bottled in flasks, in the old Roman style, with oil[36] on the top, and wool over the oil.

Madeira.

Wine is first mentioned as a product of Funchal, the capital of Madeira, in the fifteenth century. In 1662, when Charles II. married the Infanta Catherine of Bragança, English merchants began to settle in Madeira. The principal varieties of Madeira are Malvasia, Bual, Sercial, Tinta, and Verdelho (the Verdea of Tuscany). In England, Madeira is now within the reach of all. At the beginning of this century, it was known only to connoisseurs. The “fine rich old Boal” is fairly familiar, and if we may trust the wine merchants, the “Very Superior Old,” variously described as full, soft, golden, delicate, and mellow, is gradually winning its way into public favour, since that same “soft fulness,” added to a delicious and yet pungent flavour, produces a drink “altogether superior” to the best Sherry.

Persia.

The ancient, most famous wines of this country were those of Chorassan, Turan, and Mazanderan. These places still produce wines; but their characteristics and reputation have, it is affirmed, become blended in the wine of Shiraz, in the province of Ferdistan, on the Persian Gulf. Chardin, the Frenchman, describes this wine as of excellent quality, but of course not so fine as the French wines. The German, Kämpfer, puts Shiraz on the same level with the best Burgundy and Champagne. He who wishes to learn the nature of the wine of Shiraz should consult the Diwan of Hafiz. How far this poet speaks of wine literally understood, and how far of spiritual delights, is a matter for commentatorial investigation. Persian wine is frequently mixed with raki and saffron, and the extract of hemp. Sherbet, made of fruit juices and water, is English rather than Oriental.

Portugal.

Portugal: Peso da Regoa—Four Methods of Cultivation of Vine—White and Black Ports—The Quintas—Tarragona—Charneco. Russia: Kahetia—Gumbrinskoé. Sicily: Marsala. Spain: Malaga—Sherry—Amontillado. Switzerland: Chiavenna—St. Gall—The Canton of Vaud. Cider: Derivation—Ainsworth—Gerard—Bacon—Evelyn—Turberville—Macaulay—Phillips. Perry.

One hundred and fifty years ago, in the small town of Peso da Regoa, then called Regua only, near the confluence of the Corgo with the Douro, lived a single fisherman, in a hut which he had himself constructed. When the Oporto Wine Company was established, their warehouses were erected here, and an annual fair for the sale of wine was established.