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Wines.
The
district
in
which
these
wines
are
produced
was
the
ancient
province
of
Gascony
(now
the
depart-
ment
of
the
Gironde),
and
is
estimated
to
possess
above
37,000
acres
of
vineyard,
thickly
planted,
and
constituting
one
of
the
most
valuable
wine
districts
in
France.
The
popularity
of
Claret
has
fluctuated
very
much
in
this
country,
but
it
now
promises
to
become
as
common
in
England
as
it
was
nearly
two
hundred
years
ago,
when
our
hostility
to
Louis
XIY.
and
his
policy
resulted
in
breaking
off,
as
far
as
possible,
all
commercial
relations
with
our
neighbours,
and
led
to
the
introduction
of
the
red
wines
of
Portugal,
for
the
avowed
purpose
of
superseding
the use
of
Claret
and
Burgundy.
Claret
was
much
esteemed
in
England
during
the
noon-
tide
of
chivalry,
when
the
Black
Prince
kept
court
at
Bordeaux.
Froissart
says
that,
on
one
occa-
sion,
a
fleet
of
200
merchantmen
came
from
England
to
Bordeaux
for
wine.
In
process
of
time,
however,
the
Bordeaux
wines
were
super-
seded
in
England
by
the
sack
produced
in
Spain
and
the
Canaries,
which,
with
the
wines
of
the
Rhine,
held
sway
till
the
Stuarts
again
brought
Claret
in,
and,
long
after
the
differential
duty
im-
posed
on
it
by
the
Union,
it
was
the
favourite
potable
of
the
Scotch.