1939 The Gentleman's Companion volume II Beeing an Exotic Drinking Book

THE GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION

WINE at TEA TIME The smartest people in America used to serve sweet wine-Ca– tawba, or Virginia Dare scuppernong, with cake or tiny small cakes, just as in France a sweet Bordeaux or champagne was often served with cakes in the late afternoon.... Ports, sherries, Malagas, Madeiras and Marsalas were also offered... . The old custom has merit. Why not offer favoured calfers a nip of decent wine and handsome small cakes, to relieve the eternal tea and macaroons, or cocktails? We've tried it and the combination tastes so good it's well worth con– sideration. EXPLODED OLD ALEWIVES' TALE No. IV, OVERRULING the COMMON BELIEF here in AMERICA, that a TRULY MAG– NIFICENT RED VINTAGE WINE-such as an ANCIENT PORT, a PRICELESS HOSPICE de BEAUNE BURGUNDY, or a . CHATEAU LAFITE CLARET-CAN BE OPENED by DRAWING the CORK Let us hasten to explain this does not apply to average wines, but to the priceless citizens in bottles; to those grand seigneurs whose name and dating should be mentioned only in bated breath. . . . In such ancient affairs it is just as ruinous to spoil the excellence through agita– tion-even with the greatest care-in cork pulling. An agitated great red wine becomes an average red wine, immediately. There is no more sanity in such spoilage than there is in checking a Raphael madonna, uncrated, in a baggage van. · Go to the nearest good hotel or club and get a pair of bottle tongs. Heat them quite hot and fasten about the bottle neck just below the lower cork end. Count 10, take tongs away, and touch the spot with a pad of cloth soaked in cold water. The neck cracks all around in a clean break-no fuss, no splinters.... Even during this slight activity a fine old red wine should be lifted gently as a babe, and carried so; no sudden jolts, no agitation whatsoever. Only in this way can the ancient sediments remain in their undisturbed position, and be kept from clouding, injuring the whole bottle. "Gloomy or depressed people should never be given good food, or any sort of wines or alcoholic beverages, as neither will go down well. The first quality a gourmet must possess is joie de vivre which implies a

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