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Selected and rare materials, excerpts and observations from ancient, medieval and contemporary authors, travelers and researchers about Cyprus.
 
 
 
 
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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 290

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I of our country, " intoxication, " by weaning the spiritdrinker to a more wholesome drink. It must never be supposed by the most sanguine that Cyprian wines will be fashionable among the upper classes in England. I do not think they will ever surpass Marsala or many of the Cape wines. English people, as a rule, object to cheap wines, or at least they are reserved concerning the price, should cheap wine be upon their table. It is a dangerous thing to mention the cost of any wine, even to your nearest friend ; although he might have enjoyed it when he thought it must have cost you 72^. the dozen, lie will detect some unpleasant peculiarity when you may foolishly have confided to him that it only cost you 36s., or, worse still, 2ψί. He will possibly suggest to you fcn the following morning that " something disagreed with him during the night, but he does not think it .was the 24s. wine. " Here is the fault of half-edticated palates ; they expect too much, and are guided by fancies. Th e same person might be beguiled into the belief that the 2\s. wine was very superior if he had been deceived by an assurance that it cost 72.?. There are really very few amateurs who could value unknown wines by the test of their own palates ; but the chilly climate of England is adverse to light wines, and necessitates a full body, with considerable strength. The sherries are always fortified by an addition of between 30 to 40 per cent, of alcohol before they are shipped to England, without which they would be unsaleable ; as to our taste, they would be empty and vapid. W e must therefore make a considerable allowance when judging of Cyprus wines in their present extremely rude and uncultivated position.

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