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THE MIXICOLOGIST.
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Id bad years by the addition of sugar to the fermenting
wine. Afterward, when the wine has fermented in the
cask until the spring, it is bottled. In the bottle slight
fermentation continues,and asediment is formed, which
is adroitly thrown out shortly before the wine is required
for the market, and this process is termed "disgorging."
The wine then receives a certain quantity of liqueur,
composed of the finest cane sugar dissolved in old still
wine. Champagne merchants have each their own views
as to the quantity of liqueur which ought to be used,and
this again is made to vary to suit the fancied require
ments of different markets. "Extra Dry" Champagne
contains less of the saccharine admixture than "Dry,"
and "Brut"should contain none whatever.
The best vintages have been 1874, 1880, 1884, 1887
and 1889. The London champagne buyers whenever
there is a choice vintage, buy it and take it to London,
so that the greater portion of good Champagnes are onl)
to be found there.
Heretofore the wines shipped to America have been
much sweeter than those used in London,but now Extra
Dry or Brut Wines are becoming more popular here
every day. Champagnes for the English market, and
generally called"Brut,"contain from one to two per
cent liqueur.
The best Rhenish wines are produced in what the
Germansterm the Rheingau,a region of hillson the right
bank of the Rhine, about twenty-five miles in length,
extending from Walluf to Loch. In the middle of this
district is the Schloss Johannisberg, given by the Em
peror of Austria to the late Prince Mettemich. In the
Rheingau are produced, among other wines, the.cele-