7 / 176
The
best
vintages
have been
1874,
1880,
1887
and
1889.
The
London
Champagne
buyers
whenever
there
is
a
choice
vintage,
buy
it
and
take
it
to
London,
so
that
the
greater
portions
of
good
Champagne
are
only
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
on
the
English
market,
and
generally
called
Brut,
contain
from
one
to
two
per
cent,
liqueur.
These
wines
are largely
impregnated
with
carbonic
acid,
engendered
by
an
after-fermentation
in
the
closed
bottle
by
means
of
added
sugar.
This
originated
in
Champagne,
where
the
best
spark-
ling
wines
are
produced,
and
whence
it
has
spread
to
the
Rhine,
the
Moselle
and
other
districts.
As
champagne
which
contains
relatively
little
sugar
is
called
"dry,"
it
is
chiefly
this
kind
which
is
imported
into
Great
Britain,
where
cham-
pagne
is
used
habitually
as
a
dinner
wine
principally
;
in
France*
a
sweet
wine
is
preferred.
At
the
present
day,
wine
is
practically
a
European
product,
although
a
certain
quan-
tity
is
made
in
the
United
States,
at
the
Cape
of
Good
Hope,
and
in
Australia.
France
shows
today
and
has
during
several
isolated
sea-
sons
the past
twenty
years
shown
herself
to
be
the
most
remarkable
wine-producing
country
in
the
world's
history,
and
this in
face
of
the
fact
that
the
United
States
and
Italy,
with
more
territory
suitable
to
grape-growing,
and
with
wonderful
natural
advantages
—
and
why?
Because
she
has
taken
advantage
of
her
fitness
of
soil
to
the
wine;
her
meteorological
conditions;
her
geographical
position
as
re-
gards
the
European
markets,
and
incidentally
those
of
the
world,
and
partly
to
the
aptitude
of
its
inhabitants.
Spain
is
second
only
in
reputation
to
France
among
wine-
growing
countries;
its
white
wine
known
as
Sherry,
first
brought
it
into
prominence.
Sherry,
so-called
from
the
island
of
Jesez
(Xeras)
de
la
Frontera,
the
headquarters
of
this
industry.
In
our
own
country
the
cultivation
of
the
vine
has
made
rapid
progress
of
late
years,
and
American
wines
are
steadily
taking
the
place
of
the
foreign
product.
The
soil
and
climate
of
the
Pacific
Coast
seem
best
adapted
to
the
growth
of
the
vine,
and
wine-making
is
very
likely
to
become
one
of
the
leading
industries
of
California.
The
Mission
grape
(being
the
first)
is
supposed
to
have
been imported
from
Mexico
by
the
Franciscan
fathers
about
the
year
1769.
Subsequently
varieties
of
French,
German
and
Spanish
wines
were
intro-
duced
into
the
state.
In
Ohio
upon
the
shores
of
Lake
Erie
and
along
the
Ohio
River
the
vine
is
extensively
cultivated.
New
York,
Missouri,
Illinois
and
Pennsylvania
are
like-
wise
large
producing
states,
the
largest
wine
manufacturing
establishment
being
in
New
York
State,
Steuben
County.
7