Wine Law

of Spanish wines and spirits fell from 27.23%, in the period 1880 to 1884, to 21.11% in the period 1885 to 1889, and then 9.31%, in the period 1890 to 1894. As already mentioned, wine imports have not only reflected the consumption of Spanish and then Cuban wines by the population, but they have also had an impact on Cuban gastronomy. In the book Manual del Cocinero Cubano (1857) – republished in 2018 by Editorial Oriente in a facsimile edition –, Don Eugenio de Coloma y Garcés presents several recipes for meat for which he indicates the specific addition of white or red wines, he also adds a comment regarding the existence of a “remedy” for red wine stains through the application of cow’s milk to the surface of the stained fabrics 9 . SARMIENTO RAMÍREZ comments that Cuba’s wealthy class alternated, in their daily culinary life, popular dishes with dishes from Spanish cuisine, in which olive oil, garlic, onion and wine predominate 10 . Moreover, Blanca Díaz de Mujica, who graduated in 1909 from the Le Cordon Bleu Institute (Paris), in her book Manual de cocina y Directorio doméstico , offered advice on the most suitable wines to accompany each type of meal, as well as the most suitable glasses for consumption; and among the recipes, she also included meat dishes with white wine. Another author, María Dolores Reyes-Gavilán y Moënck, who wrote Delicias de la mesa (Havana, 1952), presents the recipes for “ropa vieja” (a dish of stewed beef with vegetables), “hígado a la Catalana” (a dish made with liver), prepared with the addition of white wine, and “costillas de puerco con Chartreuse”, a pork ribs dish prepared with Chartreuse liquor. Finally, Nitza Villapol, in her Cocina al Minuto (Havana, 1960, reprinted many times), uses in many of her recipes the dry wine Edmundo 11 . 9 Vid . MÉNDEZ RODRÍGUEZ-ARENCIBIA , Jorge, “¿Desde cuándo nos gusta el vino?”, in Excelencias Magazines , 11-12- 2016, available at : https://www.excelenciasgourmet.com/es/noticia/%C2%BFdesde-cuando-nos-gusta-el-vino. 10 SARMIENTO RAMÍREZ, Ismael, “Alimentación y relaciones sociales en la Cuba colonial”, in Anales del Museo de América II , p. 200. 11 Idem . This author arguments, regarding Cuban cocktail tradition: “(…) in his Recetario Internacional de Cock-Tails , published by the bartender Salvador Trullols Mateu (Havana, 1937) dedicates the second chapter to wines as the first to rum. And later, in El Arte del Cantinero. Los Vinos y Licores , written by another great Cuban author, Hilario Alonso Sánchez (Havana, 1952), begins with more than a hundred pages containing information on the history, manufacture, wineries, brands and consumption of wines. He also refers to the unpublished book Geografía Económica de Cuba , by Felipe Zapata , where the first efforts to produce grape wine in Cuba are mentioned. Another example of the local interest in consuming wine can be seen in a illustrated publication, consisting of a catalogue of beverages and which, together with appropriate advice on serving the wines, contains advertising for Oporto Sandeman , the Diamante wine from the Franco-Spanish wineries in Logroño , the Jerez de la Frontera by Agustín Blázquez , the Italian Chianti Gancia , the French Barton & Guestier , the Chauvenet , the Veuve Clicquot