NOTE FROM LEONA: We received the following article from John Cook, a long time contributor to EE&L, who, besides his interest in wargaming and Napoleonic history, is, like many readers, appreciative of good wines and good foods. Like Mr.Cook, we appreciate the great Bordeaux wines, but the Emperor, as we do, appreciated more the great Burgundies like his favorite Chambertin. But let s be fair, we also like the great Rhone wines like the Chateauneuf du Pape or the Cote-Rotie or Ermitage, or those of Alsace, and those of Italy or Switzerland and the great Chardormays and Cabernets from California without forgetting those of constantly increasing qualities of Oregon, Chile and Australia, etc. We also like a great deal the whites of Baden, where we lived for about two years. Well, that shows that we like many good wines. Do we have any takers to inform us on the quality of the European wines (as likely the others did existed yet) of the above countries? This would be most interesting for a future column. Of the great wines of the world, those of France, when at their best, are undoubtedly the greatest. The greatest of France are generally accepted to be those of Bordeaux, the tasting of which amounts to the performance of a sacred rite, carried out with gravity and serious attention. During the Napoleonic period the variable vintage was, clearly, no less a factor than it is today, as the following notes indicate and which I offer as a change from the reader's more usual diet. Food and the Napoleonic Soldier on Campaign We have seen that the basic food for the Napoleonic soldiers of all nations was bread. Sometimes these soldiers were not provided with bread but with flour (see EE&L #3, p.34). But to make bread one needs an oven and some yeast. On many occasions soldiers had flour but no oven or yeast with which to make it, so they were reduced to making some kind of concoction with water (or sometimes milk if they had it) and cooking it. Most preferred to make a paste with the flour, making small balls and cooking them over a camp fire. Then, the lucky ones who had wine soaked their unleavened bread balls in wine or in a soup made with whatever meat had been found in the fashion described in EE&L #6. Harvest and Quality of the Red Wines of the Gironde (Bordeaux) Since 1795 YEARS BEGINNING OF HARVEST QUANTITY OF HARVEST QUALITY 1795 24 September Small Very good 1796 30 September Small Mediocre, lean wines 1797 2 October Small Mediocre, lean wines 1798 13 September Reasonably large Marvelous, praised for 20 years Full wines, vigourous and smooth 1799 5 October Small Bad 1800 23 September Small Bad 1801 14 September Small Acceptable 1802 23 September Average Marvelous, almost as good as 1798 1803 25 September Average Less than 1802 but good 1804 15 September Average Mediocre 1805 23 September Very large Mediocre 1806 20 September Usual Bad 1807 11 September Large Good 1808 13 September Average Good, ordinary 1809 6 October Small Very bad 1810 19 September Average Acceptable 1811 14 September Fairly large Most remarkable, called "Wines of the Comet" 1812 21 September Low average Weak, insignificant 1813 4 October Average Flat, mediocre 1814 29 September Average Very good 1815 25 September Very little Marvelous, at the same level as wine 1798 and 1811. There you have it. I'd recommend the '98, '02, '11 and '15. Ask your wine merchant for some tomorrow! Source: Very old list of a well known London wine merchant. Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 2 No. 7 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1994 by Emperor's Headquarters This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com