137 / 220
White Wines
^
The principal sparkling wines are Burgundy,Champagne
and Mousseaux, which latter at its best contains only lo per
cent of alcohol, Burgundy 13.50 and Champagne 12.50.
May I also point out a number of rules which have come
down through centuries of wine usage by connoisseurs?
Never serve a sweet wine,red or white, before a dry wine.
Neverserve a heavy red wine before alight,tart wine.
Never serve more than one glass of wine to each course,
and when it is finished with the course,serve the next wine in
the order outUned in Chapter XIV. This averts the pos
sibility of mixing wines, which is atrocious.
Avoid excess at all times. Never call for a second helping
of wine for any course,if you are a guest. As host or hostess,
never proffer a second glass to any course.
Eat and drink leisurely, so that every morsel and drop is
enjoyed and appetite the better satisfied, with better diges
tion assured thereby.
Never grasp a wine glass by the bowl, but always by the
stem. It is essential to the enjoyment of wine that it be
drunk gracefully, not as a boor might drink it.
Avoid spilling on tablecloth. There should be no excuse
for this if the glass is only half-filled, as social etiquette
demands.
If wine is poured at table, the host should always pour
into his own glass first a small amount,to make sure no parts
of broken cork or dregs near the bottle mouth get into a
guest's glass. After aU guests are served, the host or hostess
doing the pouring fills his or her glass—afresh one if anything
annoying first camefrom the bottle.
These rules have been mentioned before but are repeated
and should be earnestly studied and remembered.
Wines have nutrimental value, whether made of grapes,
apples, pears, dates, figs, pineapples, cherries, rhubarb or
other fruits, berries or vegetables.
Natnre gives them from five to twelve per cent alcohol by
weight through natural fermentation.
Any other wines, with higher alcoholic content,have been
"reinforced" or "fortified" by the addition of brandy,alcohol
or whisky, or other ardent spirits, as in the preparation of