1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

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Ooncliuling F acts and Hints.

it," r emarks he, "is the true neuralgia, intermitting fits of excruciating pain running along certain nerves, without in– flammation of the affected part, often a consequence of malaria, or of some other low and exhai;tsting 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 help– l essness 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 t elegram of comfort t o every remote ner ve. Nothing comforts and rests the stomach better, or is a grea.ter antidote to nausea." Champagne of fine quality should never be mixed with ice or iced water; neither should it be iced to the ext ent 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 "old destroys alike t he fragrant ·bouquet of the wine and its delicat e vinous flavour. R eally good champagne should not be iced below a t emperature 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 r emarks apply to all kinds of sparkling wine. In the Champagne what may be t ermed 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 t olerably 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 r ecklessly outbid each other for the grapes or