London Wine Vintage 1427
paul bulkley
records September 7th 1427 the following:
An inquest of office before the mayor and aldermen by
oath of Geoffrey Bokeler and others on the panel who
said that Gerard Galganet, alien, on 10 July 1427 in
the parish of St Margaret Patyns mixed 6 casks of old
wine of La Rochelle, pale in colour and defective in
taste, with new Spanish wine, and coloured, composed,
and sophisticated them with wine cooked and coloured
to give them a pleasant appearance and delectable
taste, and put the wine thus mixed into 13 butts,
which had been smeared and lined with divers gums and
resins (cum diversis gummis et Rasis ---- unctis et
linitis) so as to give it the taste and likeness of
good Romeney wine, and offered it for sale as such, in
deception of the king's people and in contempt of the
good ordinances of the city. And further the jurors
said that the said Gerard was a common sophisticator,
counterfeiter and seller of such wines.
They also presented the same Gerard for having on 20
July sophisticated 10 casks of unsound La Rochelle
wine, which he placed in one butt and 20 hogsheads,
and a certain Dominicus de Venire, alien, for having
on 10 March at the quay of Ralph Gresvale, packer,
sophisticated 8 casks of old, sour-sweet (acredulcium)
Spanish wine, defective in taste and colour and
unsound, which he placed in 16 casks and exposed for
sale as good Romeney.
This chap probably would make a fortune in Napa
Valley!
It is interesting to note that some foreign
authorities claimed that the British were
unsophisticated drunken beer drinkers. Those claims
would appear not to apply to individuals in London
who were able to detect the difference between a good
and a bad wine.
Sincerely Yours,
Paul Bulkley
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John P. Ravilious
Thanks for that interesting item.
It now appears that wine drinkers should be sophisticated, but
not their wine.
Cheers,
John