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THE OLD WINES AND THE NEW 14.1
cinnamon, cloves, mace, and all-spice into a sauce
pan, with half a pint of water ; let it boil until
reduced one-half. Boil one bottle of port wine;
burn a portion of the spirit out of it by applying a
lighted paper to the saucepan. Put the roasted
lemon and spice into the wine, stir it well, and let
it stand near the fire ten minutes.
Rub a few
lumps of sugar on the rind of a lemon, put the
sugar into a bowl with the juice of half a lemon
(not roasted), pour the wine into it, grate some
nutmeg into it, sweeten to taste, and serve with the
lemon and spices floating on the surface.
Xo sum up, the decline and fall of port in
British estimation may be said to be due, mainly,
to the following causes ; inferiority of most of
the modern vintages, the introduction of whisky,
the present taste for lighter wines, such as the
cheaper clarets and burgundies, with the wines of
Germany and Italy, and a sort of "boom" in
wines from Australia and California.
These
last-named, however, are but seldom seen at the
tables of the wealthy ; and thus far the demand
for the productions of gallant little Wales have
not been in any great request, although the
demand is said to be equal to the supply.
Sherry, the " sack "which was said to cheer the
heart of Sir John FalstafF and other of Shake
speare's heroes, is, like port, a light of other days.
Like thewine ofPortugal, also, its exportation has
for many years been in the hands ofEnglish settlers.
The following startling statistics have been
published about these exports, which statistics
speak for themselves : The output to England
in 1891 was 2,135,969 gallons, or sixty-four per