1903 The Flowing Bowl by Edward Spencer

CHAPTER XIII

I, ill

THE OLD WINES AND THE NEW

Decline and fall of port—Old topers—A youthful wine-bibber— The whisky age succeeds the port age—"Jeropiga"—Land ladies' port—A monopoly—Port nj. gout—A quaint break fast in Reading—About nightcaps—Sherry an absolutely pure wine—Except when made within the four miles radius —Treading the grapes—"Yeso"—Pliny pops up again— ** Lime in the sack" —What the Lancet says "Old Sherry"—Faux pas ofa General—About vintages. On the decline and fall of port wine volumes might be written. At the same time I am not the man who is going to write them. Accord ing to early recollections, the conversation of my elders was limited to hunting, racing, and the wines of Oporto. The man who had "'20," or " Comet," port in his cellars was a man to be cultivated, and dined with ; whilst '"34" " '47" men were next in demand. And this was after the era of the three-and-four-bottle heroes, of whose deeds I have heard my father speak, almost with bated breath ; how, after the retirement of the ladies, to discuss tea and scandal by themselves, the dining-room door would be locked by the host himself, who would