I'm pretty sure Carlyle's "whiff of grapeshot" was punning on the "whiff of grape", which is generally available in either red or white (vineyard products being inferior in spectrum to all the factions in the Russian Civil War), and well known in the context of sex & drugs & national anthems:

  And long may the Sons of ANACREON intwine 
  The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS'S Vine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l-n64NWHS4

(with Jordan apparently having been one of those people who were very particular about —at least in unprotected cases— which vines ought to be entwined in which myrtles!

Remember: a social darwinist is someone who is deathly afraid that the "unfit" are somehow outbreeding the "fit")