[Sca-cooks] period apple commerce

[Laura C. Minnick]

At 11:06 PM 1/31/2004, you wrote:
>>Perhaps for the same reasons the English imported French wine even though 
>>they grew grapes and made wine in England?
>
>Because English wines were known for being *really bad*. IIRC it was Peter 
>of Blois who remarked on the terrible wine. Can't cite it though- guess 
>where the books are? :-/

Replying to myself, I know...

I found this on the Godecookery website:

>Wine, in thirteenth century England mostly imported from English-ruled 
>Bourdeaux, was drunk young in the absence of an effective technique for 
>stoppering containers. Wine kept a year became undrinkable. No attention 
>was paid to vintage, and often what was served even at rich tables was of 
>poor quality. Peter of Blois decribed in a letter wine served at Henry 
>II's court:
>"The wine is turned sour or mouldy - thick, greasy, stale, flat and 
>smacking of pitch. I have sometimes seen even great lords served with wine 
>so muddy that a man must needs close his eyes and clench his teeth, 
>wry-mouthed and shuddering, and filtering the stuff rather than drinking."

I looked for the source of the Blois quote but haven't found it- everyone 
quotes it, but no one says exactly where it's from. I glanced through the 
Blois documents in the InternetSourcebook, and found a rather harsh letter 
from Peter to Eleanor of Aquitaine, amongst others, but the wines of 
England were not mentioned in the letters on that site
.
>>So, was English (or French) cider exported out of the area it was made 
>>in, in the Middle Ages?
>
>I'm pretty sure that French wines were imported fairly early. How far, I 
>don't know.

There's quite a few mentions in various places that French wines from 
Bordeaux began importing to England in a big way when Henry and Eleanor 
took the throne- it all being under management, so to speak. And apparently 
continued so until Gascony slipped from English control.

Hmm. A nice glass of Bordeaux would be really nice right now. If there were 
a tall Gascon to serve it, it would be even better!

'Lainie
___________________________________________________________________________
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president ... right or 
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