| GERMANY (Wines of) | GEROK | 775 |
tation, and are often substituted for wines of the Rheingau. The district of Oberingelheim produces much red wine, resembling burgundies of the second and third class, from Burgundy grapes. The produce of the Nahe is nearly related to the middling growths of the Palatinate.—The Bavarian wines, grown in Lower Franconia, in the valley of the Main, are distinguished rather for their body and strength than for their bouquet, and are mostly consumed within the country. The only varieties exported are those produced in the neighborhood of Würzburg, where about 4,500 acres are under cultivation. The best vineyards are the Leiste and the Stein, the products of which are of fine quality and very expensive. Both are situated on the Main, and the former is principally owned by the king of Bavaria, who stores the wine made from the estate in the cellars which underlie the royal castle of Würzburg. In these cellars are more than 280 large casks, some having a capacity of 2,500 gallons. Though considered in the last century indispensable to the proper ripening of wine, they are now but little used. The Leiste wine of good, quality is mostly carried to Munich and drunk at court, and only a small quantity enters into trade. The Stein wine, which is also very celebrated, is sold in short-necked bottles of a peculiar shape, called Bocksbeutel. Much of the wine passing under this name in England and the United States is the product of the Palatinate, which at Mentz and elsewhere is put into bottles of the shape of the Bocksbeutel and sold as Stein.—In Baden a large quantity of third or fourth class wine is produced, the best growth being the white Markgräfler and the Affenthaler, a light, agreeable red wine. The great tun in the castle of Heidelberg was formerly filled with a wine grown in a district known as the Bergstrasse, which commences at Zwingenberg, in the province of Starkenburg, and follows a range of hills to Heidelberg.—More than half of the wine grown in Würtemberg is produced in the valley of the Neckar, and though not of high grade is agreeable to the taste and wholesome. From its changeable color it is termed Schiller.—The general character of the wines grown in the valley of the Moselle is that of thin Rhine wine. They are lighter and less spirituous than those heretofore described, and are noted for an aromatic flavor, which, however, is said to be generally communicated to the wine by mixing with it a tincture of elder flowers, called also the “essence of muscatel,” because it resembles the concentrated flavor of the muscatel grape. Messrs. Thudicum and Dupré, in their “Treatise on the Origin, Nature, and Varieties of Wine” (London, 1872), say: “It must be declared with emphasis that there is not a grape of muscatel grown upon the Moselle fit for wine making; that there is not a single barrel of wine made there which naturally has the muscatel flavor; and that all the wine having the flavor which imitates it is made up with tincture of elder flowers.” The better sorts are highly esteemed in Germany for their supposed medicinal properties. The wines held in highest repute are the Brauneberger and Scharzberger, the latter grown on the Saar, a tributary of the Moselle; and scarcely less noted are the Zeltinger, Graacher, Dun, Piesporter Auslese, Josephshoff, Berncastel, Grünhausen, and Scharzhoffberger. The area under cultivation comprises about 23,000 acres, yielding in favorable seasons 160 gallons to the acre.—About 50 years ago sparkling wines were first manufactured in Germany at Esslingen and Heilbronn, from the Neckar grape; and the process has since been so successfully carried on that these wines may be considered in some degree the rivals of champagne. Upward of 2,000,000 bottles of sparkling Moselle and sparkling hock are annually made at Hochheim, Mentz, Coblentz, and other places, much of which, by means of false labels, is sold as champagne, and readily passes for such. The process of manufacture is precisely similar to that employed in making champagne. (See France, Wines of.) The seasons of 1871, 1872, and 1873 were the most disastrous known to German viticulturists.
GERMERSHEIM, a fortified town of Rhenish Bavaria, at the confluence of the Queich and the Rhine, 7 m. S. W. of Spire; pop. in 1871, 6,223. It has several churches and schools, and an active trade in grain, hemp, flax, and fruits. Ship building and fisheries are carried on, and gold is washed from the sands of the Rhine. Originally a Roman stronghold, the present town was founded by the emperor Rudolph of Hapsburg, who died here in 1291. It formed part of the electoral Palatinate from 1330 to 1622, when it was conquered by Austria. From 1644 to 1650 it was occupied by the French, who retook and devastated the place in 1674 under Turenne. After the death of the elector Charles (1685), the French again claimed possession, whence arose the Germersheim war of succession, which came partly to an end through the treaty of Ryswick (1697), and finally through the arbitration of the pope (1702). It was subsequently the scene of important military operations up to July, 1793, when the French were here defeated by the Austrians. Germersheim having been made a fortress of the German confederation, works have been in progress since 1835, forming together with the fortress of Landau, distant 10m., and with a tête-de-pont on the right bank of the Rhine, a strong strategical position.
GEROK, Karl, a German prelate and poet, born at Vaihingen, Würtemberg, Jan. 30, 1815. He studied at the gymnasium of Stuttgart, held various ecclesiastical offices, and in 1868 was appointed first preacher of the court and chief consistorial councillor. His published sermons have passed through many editions, and his religious poems, including
