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•THE MIXICOLOGIST.
I27
If the whiskey dealers allow the whiskey sold over
the bars to deteriorate, while the other alcoholic bever
ages sold far cheaper improve in quality, they must ex
pect to lose business very rapidly.
Wines of Hungary and Austria.—The wines ot
Hungary, with the exception of Tokay, rank with the
most inexpensive wines of Europe, quality considered.
They are medicinal in a marked degree, promoting di
gestion and being particularly rich in phosphoric acid.
The lighter red wines resemble somewhat the clarets
of the Medoc, as do the richer wines bear resemblance
to those of Burgundy, and the white wines might bl
compared with the product of the Rhinegau, but the-
possess marked independent characteristics and have
the generous but fiery individuality of the Magyar race
which produces them.
Wines of Italy.—Italy is the largest wine-produc
ing country in the world, the annual product being
over nine hundred millions of gallons. Vineyards exf
tend throughout the length and breadth of the laney
from the foot of the Alps in the north to the southern,
most Sicily. Spain takes second place in the annua-
yield of wine, but France is not far behind Spain in
quantity, whereas in point of value of its annual vind
age France eclipses every other country.