Part 10 (1/2)

At Coblenz, the capital of Rhenish Prussia, and one of the strongest fortresses in the world, the so-called blue Moselle inal Roman name of Confluentia With so favourable a situation it is not surprising that the city should be the abode of several i in the wines of the two rivers At the head of these is the well-known house of Deinhard and Co, dealing extensively both in the au and the Moselle, and the higher-class sparkling wines of these districts In the resident partner, Herr Julius Wegeler, I was pleased to ue of the Wine Jury of the Vienna Exhibition, and accompanied by him I went over their establishment on the Clemens Platz--one of the most perfect and admirably appointed in Germany The firm was founded in 1798 by Herr F Deinhard, who in 1806, when Coblenz was in the hands of the French, secured a ninety-nine years' lease of some cellars under an old convent at the low rental of 30 francs per annust the archives of the firh in those days of uncertainty and peril, when coazed panic-stricken on the course of warlike events; nevertheless, for such a trifle as 30 francs a year of course no very extensive entrepot could have been rented To-day Messrs

Deinhard's new cellars on the Clemens Platz alone cover an area of nearly 43,000 square feet, besides which they have several other vaults stored ine in various quarters of the city, the whole giving ehty workmen and a score of coopers Their Clemens Platz establishment was only courated in presence of the Eraceful rateful attachment to Coblenz, in full appreciation of a hich does honour to the town and to the firm, I wish continued prosperity to both

AUGUSTA,

”German Empress and Queen of Prussia”

[Illustration: MESSRS DEINHARD & CO'S NEW ESTABLISHMENT AT COBLENZ (p 178)]

[Illustration: MESSRS DEINHARD & CO'S NEW CELLARS AT COBLENZ (p 179)]

The proximity of the establish excavated to a greater depth than 30 feet below the surface--a mere trifle when cone Any lower excavation, however, would have been attended with danger, and as it is, when the Rhine rose to an unusual height in March, 1876, the water percolated through the soil and inundated the lower cellars to a height of 5 feet Above these vaults is a corresponding range of buildings of picturesque design and substantial construction, divided like the cellars into three aisles, each 210 feet in length and 23 feet broad One of the arches of the facade looking on to the courtyard is decorated with a graceful and characteristic bas-relief, an engraving of which is subjoined

[Illustration]

The cellars, containing 1,400 stucks, as they are ter equal to 1,500 bottles--present a striking appearance with their long vistas of vaulted arcades, adas jets, aided by powerful reflectors at the extremities of the three aisles The capacious elliptical-headed casks, ranged side by side in uninterrupted sequence, contain the choicest Gerau--Johannisberger, Steinberger, Rudesheirowths of assmannshausen and Walporzheim; Deidesheimers, with rare bouquets and of tender tonical flavour; Liebfrauenmilch, of flowery perfu, Brauneberg and Berncastel, with other growths too nurand years, and fro wines stored in separate vaults form to-day an important item in Messrs Deinhard's business In 1843 the fir of less than 10,000 bottles Four years later their cuvee a the revolutionary epoch, and business only recovered its norradually increased as the wines have grown in favour, until in 1875 the tirage of 1874 vintage wines exceeded half a million bottles

Messrs Deinhard draw their supplies of wine fro wines, fro preference to the produce of the riesling grape, as to this the wine is indebted for its natural bouquet The proportion of wine froed by theelhei strea torrent, falls into the Rhine about twentyhills seerapes, one of the best of Ger produced in the vineyards adjacent to the village of Walporzheim In order that the wine rapes are pressed as soon after gathering as they can be, and only the juice resulting from the first pressure is reserved, the subsequently extracted hbourhood The newly-ht weeks while co its fermentation It is then racked into stucks and double stucks, and is blended in casks of the latter capacity during the early part of the following year, great care being taken to preserve the bouquet of the white grapes, hich view, contrary to the practice followed in the Charapes enters into the blend

[Illustration: VINEYARDS IN THE AHR VALLEY]

Next co, and four weeks afterwards the wine is newly racked The bottling takes place during May or June, when any deficiency of natural saccharine in the wine is supplied by the addition of pure sugar-candy At Messrs Deinhard's the wine is bottled at a tee stone tables until the fermentation is completed, and the saccharine is converted into alcohol and carbonic acid gas This result is coht days' ti this interval If on being tested with a h a pressure, it is at once ree rarely exceeds 2 per cent The wine is now left quiet for at least a year, and if possible for two years, after which the bottles are placed on stands in the customary inverted position, and shaken daily for a period of six weeks, in order to dislodge the sediainst the cork German workmen are far less expert at this operation than their fellows in the Chae more than their four-and-twenty thousand bottles per die of the wine is accomplished at Messrs Deinhard's and other German establishments in precisely the sane

[Illustration: ON THE BRIDGE AT RECH, AHR VALLEY]

The dry sparkling hocks we tasted here had the real riesling flavour and the fine natural perfu thene; but, on the other hand, every care had been taken to preserve the true hock character with its distinguishi+ng freshness of taste co liqueur in excess could never have exhibited The sparkling moselles, too, depended not on any imparted muscatel flavour and perfume, but on their own natural bouquet and the flavour they derive frorown

[Illustration: LIEBENSTEIN AND STERRENBERG]

XVII--THE SPARKLING WINES OF GERMANY (_continued_)

From Coblenz to Rudesheim-- Ewald and Co's Establishment and its Pleasant Situation-- Their Fine Vaulted Cellars and Convenient Accessories-- Their Supplies of Wine drawn from the most favoured Localities-- The Celebrated Vineyards of the Rheingau-- Eltville and the extensive Establishment of Matheus Muller-- His Vast Stocks of Still and Sparkling German Wines-- The Vineyards laid under contribution for the latter-- M Muller's Sparkling Johannisberger, Cha ass's Birthplace at Mayence occupied by the Offices and Wine-cellars of Lauteren Sohn-- The Sparkling Wine Establishment of the Firm, and their Fine Collection of Hocks and Moselles-- The Hochhei Wine association-- Foundation of the Establish Hocks and Moselles-- The Sparkling Wine Establishments of Stock and Sons at Creuznach in the Nahe Valley, of Kessler and Co at Esslingen, on the Neckar, and of M Opp of Bavaria beneath the Residenz-- The Establish the Rhine from Coblenz--past many an ancient ruined castle, past restored Stolzenfels, the historic Konigs-stuhl, the roendary Lurlei, the tribute-exacting Pfalz, and the old town of Bacharach, faes for its wine mart--we eventually come to Lorch, where the Wisper brook flows into the Rhine, and the grand wine-producing district known as the Rheingau begins A few her up are the vineyards of ass the finest red wine in all Gerendary toe ee of the Rhine and soon reach Rudesheim, crouched at the foot of lofty terraced vineyards, which, according to doubtful tradition, were planted with Burgundy and Orleans vines by Charlene

Rudesheim, like other antiquated little Rhine-side towns, boasts its ancient castle with its own poetical legend, while ns of further development are apparent on all sides In the outskirts of the town there are a couple of sparkling wine establishh the railway station on the western side belonging to Messrs Dietrich and Co, while eastwards on a picturesque slope overlooking the Rhine, and in the rounds, is the establishment of Messrs Ewald and Co, who date fro shi+ppers of sparkling hocks and land

[Illustration: MESSRS EWALD & CO'S ESTABLISHMENT AT RuDESHEIM (p 185)]

Here are handsoround, and two floors of cellars coth and 30 feet broad The lower vaults, 40 feet from the surface, are arched over and walled with stone, while the upper ones are faced with brick, both being floored with concrete and slanting towards the centre to allow of the wine froe of cellars is separately ventilated by shafts, generally kept open in winter and closed in the su 47 Fahr in the lower cellars and under 52 in those above Moreover, with the view of conducing to this result the cellars have an ice well co, when the newly-bottled wine indicates a sufficient number of atmospheres to insure a satisfactory effervescence, it is deposited in the lower vaults, the upper ones being devoted to reserve wines in wood and wines awaiting the process of disgorge in order to force the deposit against the cork Aboveground there are roo-cases, and in a spacious apart with the cellars beneath, the wine is blended and bottled, and in due tied and packed In very eather, however, it is found preferable for the disgorging and its attendant operations to be performed in the cooler temperature of the cellars

Messrs Ewald forth of their bottles with atheiven up the practice, feeling convinced that it was productive of ood Glass is an ah it will stand a high pressure once, often succu wine The fire at fro installed alau can readily draw their supplies of wine fro is within a few rapes not having thoroughly ripened, the wine is only of intermediate value as a still wine, it serves ad as it does its powerful bouquet Ingelheirapes, whose produce isRhine wines, is only a few her up the river, on the opposite bank