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What Shall We Drink?
California products by that name;Chablis is quite dry and of
light gold hue, whether it be the French or the Californian
variety; Hock (another name for a species of Rhine wine) is
smoothly tart and of a very faint amber-green color, which
might also fairly weU describe Rhine wines as commonly
known, although they also come straw-colored, light golden
or pale yellow,into which category one also might place that
other noted German wine,Rieshng;Moselle is a pale,scented
wine,named from the Moselle river district whence it comes;
Catawba is light and clear, ranging sometimes from a very
pale and almost unnoticeable yellow to a shghtly deeper tone.
These wines form the major types, along with the red, of
wines most generally used. A wine buyer might be confused
by the many brand names given them,but as this book is not
an advertising medium for the many brands,they will not be
mentioned.
And now, for just a word more of explanation to help
clarify any novice's mind on what the words "dry" and
"sweet" and "sparkling" mean in wine lore:
"Dry" wines are those brought to perfection through
natural fermentation, without the addition of anything to
them. The natural sugars of the grapes or fruits used in
making them are allfermented into natural alcoholic content,
rangingfrom 6.65 to 14 per cent. They also are called "light"
wines, and are particularly adapted for table use with food.
"Sweet" wines usually are halted in the process of natural
fermentation by the addition of brandy. This process retains
unconverted sugar in the wines, leaving them sweet to the
taste,butthe alcoholic content rangesfrom the 13.50 per cent
of Burgundyto the 42 per cent of Benedictine.
"Sparkling" wines are effervescent but "dry," with
alcohoUc content ranging from 10 to the 12.50 per cent of
Champagne. They are the product oftwofermentations,the
second one following the first bottling. This causes the de
velopment of carbonic acid which, when the bottle is opened,
seeks to escape and forms the delightful bubble in the glass
as it rises from imprisonment to freedom in the air. Cham
pagne of good quality should emit bubbles for a period up to
three-quarters of an hour.