'No two persons have the same ideas of the flavour of any particular wine.'

 

Cyrus Redding 1785 -1870. Forgotten polymath and wine writer.

With thanks to 'Wein Plus' we read:

The British journalist and wine author Cyrus Redding (1785-1870) initially worked in London for the newspaper "Pilot" before publishing the "Plymouth Chronicle" and then the "West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser." In 1814, he traveled to Paris, where he served as the editor of various magazines. He then gave up journalism and wrote books, including "Gabrielle: a Tale of the Swiss Mountains" and "Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea." 

He then dedicated himself to the subject of wine, traveling to many wine regions, describing and evaluating their wines. In 1833, he published "A History and Description of Modern Wines," which was influenced by the works of the two wine authors André Jullien (1766-1832) and Jean-Antoine Chaptal (1756-1832).

This was followed in 1839 by a continuation titled "Every Man His Own Butler," which describes many wine-making techniques (including wine adulteration), various wine types from Portugal and Spain such as Sherry, Port, Setúbal, and Madeira, as well as French wines. His evaluations of Bordeaux wines were included in the decision by the jury in the Bordeaux Classification of 1855. 

In 1860 he published 'French Wines and Vineyards: and the way to find them,' Another of the 60 books he wrote was called 'Memories of Remarkable Misers,' Other titles include 'Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea,'  'An Illustrated itinerary   of the County Of Cornwall', 'Personal Reminiscences of Eminent Men' and various novels.

There are scant references to Cyrus Redding's wine writings these days. Jancis Robinson's Oxford Companion and Purple Pages do mention him. Perhaps this is not too surprising because Redding's 'History and Description of Modern Wines' is far too detailed and inclusive to have been researched by any one person including as it does unbelievable descriptions of a bunch of Chilean grapes ('large enough to fill a basket') and comparative notes on various wines made from Muscadine grapes. Such wines from the USA are truly terrible but according to Redding, worthy of mention alongside wines from other species of grape. Goodness knows where he got much of  his information. It could hardly have been limited to his reading of Jullien and Chaptal.And yet there is much which we would find very fair comment from regions such as Mendoza where he surely never visited himself. Interesting indeed is the mention that he contrbuted to the Bordeaux Classification of 1855.

Our favourite quote from 'History and Description of Modern Wines' is 

'No two persons have the same ideas of the flavour of any particular wine.'

If for nothing else, Cyrus Redding should be remembered for this.