The average buyer of champagne
would not understand the cork's story. He is accustomed to large and
bulging corks and if he were to see an attenuated specimen, of dark
complexion and as hard as a piece of vulcanized rubber he would look
at it with great suspicion and, doubtless, refuse the wine. But an
experienced waiter will know his man and will bring him the sort of
"large bottle" to which he has been accustomed, though it will not be
champagne that a wine drinker would care to swallow. Champagne of the
"large bottle" variety is drunk to a larger extent in the United
States than anywhere else; in fact one would not be far wrong in
saying that it is manufactured for the American market. Generally, the
best champagne is made for England and Russia. The people of those
countries who drink champagne have made at least a cursory study of it
and are able, at a moment's notice, to name the best vintages of the
last twenty-five or thirty years. There are Americans who can do this,
too, but they are not of the "large bottle" or "cold bottle" variety.
The latter are the people who account for the fact that much more
"champagne" is consumed than is furnished by the vineyards of France.
THOMAS B. FIELDERS.
=Drift of the Day=
From my station here on the housetop my gaze wanders out over acres of
roofs--the leaded coverings of hotels, apartment-houses, and office
buildings.
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