Drinks of the world / by James Mew and John Ashton.

  • Mew, James.
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Drinks of the world / by James Mew and John Ashton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    93/390 (page 85)
    is full bodied, as is that of Scharlochberg. Wines of Nierstein,1 Loubenheim, and Oppenheim are good, but Deidesheimer is considered superior to them. Hock2 is derived from Hochheim ; but nearly every town on the banks of the Rhine gives its name to some lauded vintage. The flavour of Hock is supposed to be improved by thin green glasses. Perhaps, says the judicious Redding, this is mere fancy. The Pala- tinate wines are cheaper Hocks. Moselles have a more delicate perfume. The whole eastern bank of the Rhine to Lorich, called the Rheingau, about four- teen miles in extent, has been famous for its wines for ages. Naturally, therefore, it was once the property of the Church. Here is Sckloss- Johannisberger, once nearly destroyed by General Hoche, where a leading Rhine wine is made. Steinberger takes the next rank to J ohannisberger. Gr'dfenberg, also once ecclesiastical property, produces wine equal to Riidesheimer, which is a wine of the first Rhine growths. Marcobrunner, Roth, Konigsbach are excellent drinks. Bacharach has lost its former celebrity. The conclusion to which a cele- 1 A wine at Homburg, called Erlacher, at about one mark a bottle, is, says Dr. Charnock, frequently superior to the ordinary Niersteiner. 2 “ Hock,” says one of those wine circulars, which weary alike the postman and the public, “ is the English name for the noble vintages of the Rhine, which afford models of what wine ought to be. Their purity is attested by their durability. They are almost imperishable. They increase appetite, they exhilarate without producing languor, and they purify the blood. The Germans say good Hock keeps off the doctor. Southey says it deserves to be called the Liquor of Life And so Pindar would have called it, if he had ever tasted it.” Nothing surely can be added to this description of its virtues.