Delmonico's NYC Wine List, late 1800s

Thanks for posting. Interesting./ As would be expected, far more sherries, madeiras than would be on a list today.

Besides not having vintages (or producers for Burgs& Rhones), the French lists are a bit confusing. The Bordeaux is a mixture of estate names and appelations, in no discernable order.

Thanks for posting.

Very Interesting. Note the large number of German wines on the list, something you will not find on the wine lists of even the best dining establishment today.

German restaurants dominated the restaurant scene in the US in the 1890s so people were very familar with their wines.

I'd have agreed a few years ago. Now, in NY at least, German wines have definitely made a rebound. Riesling in general is getting acknowledgement for its food-friendliness. I can't think of a place with a reasonably extensive list in NYC I've been in last couple years that didn't have at least a few Rieslings (mostly German, but also Austrian, Alsace).

And following up on that thought: if Burgundy was anything then like it is today, ordering a bottle of Vougeot (e.g.) without knowing producer or vintage is as big a crap shoot as I can imagine. I suppose that Delmonico's patrons trusted to the discernment of the staff to select only top quality bottles. For an interesting (and possibly realistic) desription of a dinner at Delmonico's in the early 20th Century, one can read the novel "The Alienist" -- though the grisly plot may put off more sensitive readers...

Mark Lipton

Being insensitive, I loved "The Alienist", though I was a little disappointed in Carr's followup (Angel of Darkness")./

I noticed several interestng things about this menu.

Madeira was very popular in the early US and apparently still remained popular in this circa 1890 list. Many of the Madeiras then were named for a ship that brought them in or an organization that bought them, as you will note from some of the names on the list.

There were several Hungarian wines on the list that I have never seen for sale in the US such as Budai, Villanyi and Somlyai. I wonder if there are any good wines from these regons anymore.

I noticed that they offered both regular Yquem and the Creme de Tete Yquem. Creme de Tere Yquem was a special super selection that rarerly was made in the best years. I do not think there has been any since the

Although many rather fancy sherry wines were offered, there was not a single vintage port listed out of only 4 port selections. This leads me to think that vintage port was not very popular in the US in the late

I see only one wine on the list that likely was made in the US. That is Cook's Imperial in the Champagne section. High quality California wines were seldom seen on the East coast until WW II when many wine imports were cut off. Even after the war, many did not consider them worthy for a fine meal. If some social climber had given a dinner and served California wines, some of her catty "friends" probably could not wait to get home and call their friends saying something like: "Poor dear. Her husband's business must be nearly bankrupt. She served California wines at her dinner party." How times have changed.

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If this is the book I think it is (one that I borrowed from a chef friend several years ago), it's important to, and has gotten published attention from, US food-history circles. The author became estranged from the Delmonico family and published the recipes, regarded by the family (if I recall the story) as trade secrets.

"Cwdjrx _" in news: snipped-for-privacy@storefull-3174.bay.webtv.net...

In fact, some years before that, Delmonicos had the ONLY restaurants in the US.

The Swiss-immigrant family is credited with introducing the modern concept of the restaurant to the US in the early 1800s (it made inroads in Europe slightly earlier; J.-A. de Brillat-Savarin talks about it in his famous 1826 book but again the subject got other publicity in recent years). Prior to that time, if I remember the details at this late hour (after a good restaurant meal of Pike mousse, ris de veau in Cassis, and pheasant two ways), the US had two principal types of public dining: one type was what the US now calls buffets, with offerings laid out; the other was the ancient hotel-and-inn dining rooms with fixed menus daily. The new concept became popular in NYC and the family opened further restaurants. The history (varying with source) of the origins of shellfish in a cream sauce "Newburg," derived from the name Wenburg (a ship captain and regular customer who had a fight there and became estranged from Delmonico's, says Morrison Wood, 1949; a former chef, says Larousse Gastronomique, 1988) is only one of several attributed to these pioneering US establishments.

In other words it's an interesting book.

-- Max

Thanks so much for posting this ... I love old wine listings.

If you'd like I also have a couple of interesting ones on my site.

A 1933 hand painted wine catalog from Nicolas .. founded in 1892 with vintage from 1769 through 1930

Also a 1939 wine list from the Locke-Ober Restaurant in Boston

I wonder if I might a have permission to include yours on this page ?? If so drop me an email

Art Stratemeyer ============================

Cellar! Wine Software

Art Stratemeyer asked: "I wonder if I might a have permission to include yours on this page ?? If so drop me an email"

I sent you an email. You or anyone else may copy the menus. When I put somethng up on a public web page, I assume it probably will be copied. The only thing I did was to scan the menus. Sending them to my web site is all automatic using the CuteFTP program to upload the whole directory of images with a click or two of a button.

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