1827 Wine and spirit adulterators unmasked

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to prevent that, which may and ought

tised upon it,

to be a blessing 1 , from being converted into a curse. That so widely diffused, and in such general de- mand, as Wine is, its abuses, therefore, deserve to be exposed, and a stop put to its being rendered baneful, without misapplication, no one can doubt, nor, that an individual thoroughly acquainted with the subject, is fulfilling more than his duty to the community, when he holds up to public reproba- tion, that class of persons, who, not content with the gains which fair dealing in Wine, in its genuine state, would yield them, seek to reap large and disproportionate profit, by the most base and fraudulent means, whereby they are not only undermining the character and livelihood of the honest Tradesman, in respect to his exacting un- necessarily high prices, but they are also cheating the pockets of those, who are so easily gulled, as to put faith in their pretences. To discharge this, which I conceive to be a duty, is now my intention, and I have every expectation that I can place sufficient, both of facts and argu- ments, on this head, before my Readers, to convince all those, who are too nice to drink a compound of Red Cape, Benecarlo, Fiyuera, and Inferior Port Wines, mixed together, under the name of * genu- ine Old Port,' or a mixture of Cape, Brandy Cowe, and Coarse Brown Skerry, with the colour ex- tracted by means of Lamb's Blood, for * Fine Pale Amontillado Sherry. 1