1892 Drinks of the world

DRINKS.

33

Germany

: Rhine Wines— Heidelberg Tun— Hock— Stelnwein

— Goethe's Opinion of Wine. — The Wine of Night. Hungary :

— Straw Wines — Vino Santo

Asmannhaiiser

Greece Maszlacz :

Verdea — Tokay — Chianti

— Carlowitz — Barolo

—

Italy

Monte

Erlauer.

— Barbera

: — Montefiascone

—

Pulciano

— Tinta

— Bual, etc.

Madeira :

Lachryma Christi, etc.

Malvasia

Persia

Shiraz.

:

Germany. The Germans, says Cyrus Redding, like vain men of other nations, have wasted a good deal of idle con- jecture on the antiquity of the culture of the vine in their country; and then, as though to show by example that this waste of idle conjecture is not confined to the Germans, Mr. Redding continues the investiga- tion of this important matter himself. In the opinion of an experienced merchant these wines have a " dis- tinct character and classification of their own." Their alcoholic strength is low, averaging about i8 per cent. To the north of Coblent? the wines are of little comparative value, though a Rhenish wine has been produced at Bodendorf, near Bonn. On the Rhine or its tributary rivers between Coblentz and Mayence, all the most celebrated wines of Germany are grown. The grapes preferred for general cultivation are the Riessling, a small, white, harsh species. The true Hochheimer, daily consumed in Germany, is grown to the eastward of Mentz, between there and Frankfort. The wines mellow best in large vessels, an experience which has produced the celebrated Heidelberg Tun, holding some six hundred hogsheads. The dis- tinguishing characteristics of German wine have been