This section is from the book "The Culinary Handbook", by Charles Fellows. Also available from Amazon: The Culinary Handbook.
A wine prepared from grapes; the best varieties are manufactured at Epernay, Rheims and Mareuil in France, but the vintages of each year are vastly different, and sometimes the grape crop is a dismal failure. Hence champagne drinkers in Europe and Great Britain are versed on the merits and demerits of the various vintages. While in the United States, but very little attention has thus far been paid to the matter; the following clipping from the Hotel World of London, England, will doubtless be of interest:
Year | Yield in gallons | Character of the wines |
1891 | 3,648,292 | Passable, but very dear. |
1890 | 6,673,666 | Ordinary quality. |
1889 | 6,109.994 | Very good, price excessively high. |
1888 | 4,639,098 | Passable. |
18-7 | 10,409,278 | Fairly good, light. |
1886 | 6,525,398 | Some good wines, with abundance of vin-osity; but for the most part the vintage is under suspicion, which time has not so far lessened |
1885 | 8,199,070 | Mediocre, resembling the 1883's. |
1884 | 11,528,946 | Fine elegant wines, highly prized by connoisseurs. |
1883 | 9,061,460 | Mediocre and dear; acid. |
1882 | 7,068, 568 | Mediocre; acid; immature. |
1881 | 14,627,140 | Passable. |
1880 | 2,423,236 | Very good; lighter than the 1874's, excessively dear. |
1879 | 2 008.776 | Complete failure, yield small, fortunately. |
1878 | 11.898,546 | Good; fine; light. |
1877 | 10,407,694 | Mediocre; acid. |
1876 | 16.120.786 | Mediocre. |
1875 | 21.710.346 | Passable. |
1874 | 8,178,544 | Very fine,both as to vinosity and color, has been greatly sought after. |
1873 | 3,138,718 | Bad; acid,and notwithstanding that. dear. |
1872 | 4.480,960 | Fairly good. |
1871 | 6,465,306 | Mediocre. |
1870 | 4960.010 | Good. |
1869 | 8.542.886 | Passable. |
1868 | 12,316,700 | Very good, elegant, and lighter than the 1865's. |
1867 | 3,889,356 | Mediocre. |
1868 | 19,449,870 | Bad. |
1865 | 14,314,542 | Wine of superior quality;very vinous. |
 
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