"No Man Will Put New Wine Into Old Bottles," Referred To
This System Of Employing Skins Instead Of Casks, Or Other Receptacles
That Could Be Cleaned And Rendered Tasteless.
The goat-skin would
quickly rot, unless it was prepared by a species of tar; thus not only
is the naturally unpleasant flavour of the skin imparted to the wine,
but the mixture of tar renders it completely abominable to any palate
that has not been educated to receive it.
Let any person conceive the
result of pouring ten or twelve gallons of Chateau Lafitte into an old
and dirty goat-skin thoroughly impregnated with tar, and carrying this
burden upon one side of a mule, balanced by a similar skin on the other
side filled with the choicest Johannisberger. This load, worth at least
70 or 80 pounds at starting, would travel for two days exposed to a
broiling sun, and would lie for several days before it would be turned
into the vat of the merchant at Limasol. By that time, according to
civilised taste, it would be perfectly valueless and undrinkable; if the
best wines in the world can be thus destroyed by a savage means of
transport, what must the effect be upon such inferior qualities as the
crude produce of Cyprus? Common sense will suggest that the first step
towards improvement will be the completion of roads throughout the wine
districts, that will enable the two-wheeled native carts to convey the
wine in barrels direct from the growers to the merchants' stores at
Limasol.
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