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BY
^^larets
H.
GRUENEBAUM
Of
Sonn
Bros.
Co.
New
York
The
poets
of
ail
générations
hâve
eulogized
the
clarets
of
the
Gironde
;
even
Ausone,
the
f
amous
poet
of
the
fourth
centnry,
lias
idolized
them
in
his
poenis.
The
clarets
of
Gascogne,
aniongst
which
the
clarets
of
Bordeaux
occnpied
a
prominent
place,
en-
joyed, in
the
year
1302,
a
firm
réputation
in
the
Lon-
don
markets.
Althongh,
in
the
middle
of
the
sixteenth
centnry,
the
con-
sumption
of
the
clarets
derived
from
Spain
and
Portugal
in-
creased
to
an
alarming
degree
in
the
London
market,
yet
it
was
impossible
to
dethrone
the
French
clarets,
which,
through
their
exquisite
taste,
quality
and
bouquet,
maintained
their
superi-
ority
above
ail
others,
and
graduai
ly
obtained
a
world-wide
réputation.
A
prominent
Ambassador
of
France,
speaking
of
the
coining
of
English
sovereigns
in
London,
at
that
time
stated
that
most
of
this
precious
métal
would
find
its
way
into
France
through
the
enormous
sales
of
French
clarets
from
Gascogne;
and
we
find
in
a
manuscript
given
out
by
the
Mercantile
Asso-
ciation
of
Bordeaux,
in
the
year
1730,
that
the
clarets
shipped
from
Bordeaux
annually
attained
the
stupendous
figure
of
70,000
tons,
principally
sold
to
England,
Holland,
Sweden,
Den-
mark
and
America.
The
production
of
clarets
in
France
increased
to
such
an
alarming
degree
that
the
vénérable
Minister
Montesquieu
in-
duced
the
farmers
to
destroy
their
vines
and
turn
over
their
fields
to
the
production
of
wheat
or
other
cereals.
In
1787
the
Bureau
of
Commerce
in
Bordeaux
published
that
the
animal
average
crops
of claret of
Gironde
attained
the
enormous
figure
of
200,000
tons,
valued
at
the
exorbitant
amount
of
510,000,000
francs.
Similar
to
the
soil
of
Havana,
particularly
adapted
to
the
growing
of
tobacco,
the
same
can
be
applied
to
the
Department
of
Gironde,
known
under
the
name
of
Clarets
of
Bordeaux.
This
territory,
comprising
about
1,000,000
acres,
produces
the
fanions
St.
Estephe,
St.
Emilion,
St.
Julien,
PauiHac,
Sau-
vignon,
and
the
white
wines
Le
Sauvignon,
Le
Semilion
and
Vigneau.
Among
the
most
known
brands,
let
us
not
forget
Château