Wine, Its Use and Taxation (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1855 Excerpt: ...must necessarily be contingent and certainly remote. III.--Sicily. The wine next in importance to Port and Sherry, and that which presents the next largest proportion in the returns of consumption, is Sicilian Marsala. It is indicative of the prevailing taste and its influence, that this wine owes the share of favour shown to it, to its resemblance to ordinary sherry; and although it wants the peculiar flavour of the finer descriptions of the latter, still Marsala is a wholesome, and, as it is technically described in the trade, a " clean" wine. For this reason I am inclined to believe that in the event of a reduction of the duty, Sicily is of all others the country most likely to benefit by the change, and to send an increased export of her white wine to England; although, hitherto its consumption has scarcely exceeded 500,000 gallons, and of late years it has fallen below 400,000.1 Its characteristics approach so nearly to the wines we are most familiar with, that Marsala has already overcome the prejudice which so effectually obstructs the reception of a " new" wine in England, and once established in popular favour, I apprehend less difficulty will be found than in the case of almost any other wine to extend its consumption. There are no Sicilian statistics to afford a correct idea of the extent to which Marsala might be obtained of a quality fit for this market; but from private information I am assured that, for several years past, the shipments from Sicily to all parts of the world have been about 12,000 pipes,2 but that the cultivation may be greatly increased, as it has been ascertained that the soil prevails extensively in which it has heretofore been successfully grown. In corroboration of this, I find, by a recent letter from...