1872 Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks (Mixellany)

18 Wines. Some of the higher sorts, indeed, resemble very much the Vins de Grave, but in general they are drier than the French white wines, and are charac- terized by a delicate flavour and aroma, called in the country gare, which is quite peculiar to them, and of which it would be in vain to attempt the description. A notion prevails that they are natu- rally acid; and the inferior kinds are no doubt so ; but this is not the constant character of the Rhine wines, which in good years have not any perceptible acidity to the taste—at least, not more than is com- mon to them, with the growth of warmer regions. But their chief distinction is their extreme dura- bility, in which they are not surpassed by any other species of wine/' Of this durability an interesting anecdote is told. In the autumn of 1800, Lord Nelson left the Mediterranean, and, on his way to England, stopped at Hamburg. A wine- merchant, seventy years of age, who had some highly prized Rhine wine of the vintage of 1625, which had been in his keeping fifty years, felt desirous to bestow some on an extraordinary occa- sion, and present it to some celebrated and worthy personage. Accordingly, he asked Lord Nelson to accept six dozen of this matchless wine, hoping that part of it would have. the honour to mix with