On Wine . 
489 
fry. Sherry will bear warmth, and gradual concentration equal 
to Madeira. But the first quality of it should be bottled in due 
time to preserve the flavour, which in fine Sherry is well worth 
preserving. 
Colmenar , is a cheap sound Avine, but the flavour is very infe- 
rior. 
Lisbon : white Port. If these wines be kept till they are old 
and dry, they are tolerably good : but once for all, a judge of 
Avine, and a judge of its effect upon the health, will confine his 
drinking chiefly to Madeira and Sherry of good age. These in 
moderate quantities, (and I should consider a pint daily and habit- 
ually, as beyond the scale of moderation) will probably do good. 
Other wines may be taken occasionally ; but all others are in my 
opinion decidedly inferior. Dr. Nesbit was right when he trans- 
lated Falernum by Madeira. 
The Calc av alia Lisbon, is the highest and best flavoured wine 
of the kind ; but not fit for a beverage to sit down to. 
All this remark you know would be useless at a French table, 
where a bottle of meagre Bourdeaux is set before the guests, and 
once, or at the utmost twice, during the continuance of a tAvo 
hours’ dinner, a glass of the finest Bourdeaux, of Constantia, or Mai- 
voisie is sent round : the desert finishes with Noyau, Mascarille 
or some of the Martinique liqueurs, and the guests adjourn to 
coffee. But in England, and with us, it is of great importance to 
know what kind of Avine Ave can sit down to for an hour, with most 
pleasure to the palate, and least ill effect upon the health ; remem- 
ber Plutarch’s advice, ei oinos esti kakos eis numfihas katafihugein : 
if the Avine be bad, fly to the tea table, as Dubois in his u old Nick,” 
well translates it. 
Is your cellar supplied with French wines ? For a Aveli appoint- 
ed cellar cannot be Avithout them. Your Hermitage, your Bour~ 
deaux, and Sauterne ; your Vin de Grave and Chablais, you import 
in casks : your Burgundy and Champaigne in bottles. 
Vin de Grave , of the first quality I have never seen here : it is a 
well flavoured, rich, gold-coloured wine, worth attention ; but the 
inferior qualities are not Avorth importing : nor in my opinion is. 
Chablais. 
Hermitage. This is the fullest bodied red wine that France 
produces. It is a sound good Avine, of high flavour. It is par- 
ticularly useful to give body to and develope the flavour of claret 
(Bourdeaux,) and a small quantity greatly improves Port. But it 
