The presented list of wines planned for purchase was written down by the hand of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky on a sheet of paper. The wine list mentions the Moscow Deprez Wine Trade Association.

A captain of the Napoleonic army wounded in the Battle of Borodino, Philippe Deprez, after recovering, did not return to his homeland, but remained in Russia. He married Anna Riess, a nurse who cared for him, and opened a wine trading company and the first store of foreign wines in Moscow. His business was successfully continued by his heirs.

Clearly, the composer’s friend, music critic and teacher Nikolay Dmitriyevich Kashkin himself became the subject of jokes. In a letter to Jurgenson dated March 15, 1878, Tchaikovsky writes,

The range of alcoholic beverages that the composer consumed according to various sources was diverse. It consisted mainly of vodka and cognac, as well as beer, various wines and champagnes, grog, absinthe, punch, rum and others. However, vodka in the modern sense of the word did not exist in Russia until the late 19th century. Vodka was the name of distillate drinks of different strength and different taste (depending on both the raw ingredients and numerous additives), as well as polugars (vodkas with the strength of 38% alc.), alcoholic herbal tinctures and nalewki.