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diff --git a/20889-8.txt b/20889-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1cf53f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/20889-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8348 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling +Wines, by Henry Vizetelly + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines + +Author: Henry Vizetelly + +Release Date: March 24, 2007 [EBook #20889] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FACTS ABOUT CHAMPAGNE *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + [Transcriber's Note: + + This text file comes in several versions. The unicode/utf-8 version + (file name ending in -0) is "best" and should be used if your text + reader or browser can handle it. The latin-1 version (file name ending + in 8) is similar but not as precise. The ASCII-7 version (file name + without extra numeral) should be used only as a last resort. + + Errors are listed at the end of the text.] + + + + + [Illustration: + THE DISGORGING, LIQUEURING, CORKING, STRINGING, AND WIRING + OF CHAMPAGNE (Frontispiece)] + + + + + FACTS ABOUT CHAMPAGNE + + and + + OTHER SPARKLING WINES, + + + Collected During Numerous Visits to the Champagne + and Other Viticultural Districts of France, + and the Principal Remaining + Wine-Producing Countries of Europe. + + + by + + HENRY VIZETELLY, + + _Chevalier of the Order of Franz Josef._ + _Wine Juror for Great Britain at the Vienna and Paris Exhibitions + of 1873 and 1878._ + _Author of "The Wines of the World Characterized and Classed," &c._ + + + WITH ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS, + Drawn by Jules Pelcoq, W. Prater, Bertall, etc., + From Original Sketches. + + + London: + Ward, Lock, and Co., Salisbury Square. + 1879. + + + + +This little book scarcely needs a preface, as it speaks sufficiently for +itself. It is for the most part the result of studies on the spot of +everything of interest connected with the various sparkling wines which +it professes to describe. Neither pains nor expense have been spared to +render it both accurate and complete, and the large number of authentic +engravings with which it is illustrated will conduce, it is hoped, to +its value. + + + + + Uniform with the present work and the Author's "Facts About Sherry," + + FACTS ABOUT PORT + AND MADEIRA, + + Including Chapters on the Wines Vintaged Around Lisbon + and the Wines of Teneriffe. + + Illustrated with 80 Engravings from Original Sketches. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + PAGE. +I.--THE ORIGIN OF CHAMPAGNE. + +The Early Vineyards of the Champagne-- Their Produce esteemed by + Popes and Kings, Courtiers and Prelates-- Controversy regarding + the rival Merits of the Wines of Burgundy and the Champagne-- + Dom Perignon's happy Discovery of Sparkling Wine-- Its Patrons + under Louis Quatorze and the Regency-- The Ancient Church and + Abbey of Hautvillers-- Farre and Co.'s Champagne Cellars-- The + Abbey of St. Peter now a Farm-- Existing Remains of the Monastic + Buildings-- The Tombs and Decorations of the Ancient Church-- + The Last Resting-Place of Dom Perignon-- The Legend of the Holy + Dove-- Good Champagne the Result of Labour, Skill, Minute + Precaution, and Careful Observation 9 + +II.--THE VINTAGE IN THE CHAMPAGNE. THE VINEYARDS OF THE RIVER. + +Ay, the Vineyard of Golden Plants-- Summoning the Vintagers by + Beat of Drum-- Excitement in the Surrounding Villages-- The + Pickers at Work-- Sorting the Grapes-- Grapes Gathered at + Sunrise the Best-- Varieties of Vines in the Ay Vineyards-- Few + of the Growers in the Champagne Crush their own Grapes-- + Squeezing the Grapes in the "Pressoir" and Drawing off the + Must-- Cheerful Glasses Round-- The Vintage at Mareuil-- + Bringing in the Grapes on Mules and Donkeys-- The Vineyards of + Avenay, Mutigny, and Cumières-- Damery and Adrienne Lecouvreur, + Maréchal de Saxe, and the obese Anna Iwanowna-- The Vineyards of + the Côte d'Epernay-- Boursault and its Château-- Pierry and its + Vineyard Cellars-- The Clos St. Pierre-- Moussy and Vinay-- + A Hermit's Cave and a Miraculous Fountain-- Ablois St. Martin-- + The Côte d'Avize-- The Grand Premier Crû of Cramant-- Avize and + its Wines-- The Vineyards of Oger and Le Mesnil-- The Old Town + of Vertus and its Vine-clad Slopes-- Their Red Wine formerly + celebrated 20 + +III.--THE VINEYARDS OF THE MOUNTAIN. + +The Wine of Sillery-- Origin of its Renown-- The Maréchale + d'Estrées a successful Marchande de Vin-- From Reims to + Sillery-- Failure of the Jacquesson Vineyards-- Château of + Sillery-- Wine Making at M. Fortel's-- Sillery sec-- The Vintage + and Vendangeoirs at Verzenay-- The Verzy Vineyards-- Edward III. + at the Abbey of St. Basle-- From Reims to Bouzy-- The Herring + Procession at St. Remi-- Rilly, Chigny, and Ludes-- The Knights + Templars' "Pot" of Wine-- Mailly and the View over the Plains of + the Champagne-- Wine Making at Mailly-- The Village in the + Wood-- Village and Château of Louvois-- Louis-le-Grand's War + Minister-- Bouzy, its Vineyards and Church Steeple, and the + Lottery of the Great Gold Ingot-- MM. Werlé's and Moët and + Chandon's Vendangeoirs-- Pressing the Grapes-- Still Red Bouzy-- + Ambonnay-- A Peasant Proprietor-- The Vineyards of + Ville-Dommange and Sacy, Hermonville, and St. Thierry-- The + Still Red Wine of the latter 32 + +IV.--THE VINES OF THE CHAMPAGNE AND THE SYSTEM OF CULTIVATION. + +The Vines chiefly of the Pineau Variety-- The Plant doré of Ay, + the Plant vert doré, the Plant gris, and the Epinette-- The Soil + of the Vineyards-- Close Mode of Plantation-- The Operation of + Provinage-- The Stems of the Vines never more than Three Years + Old-- Fixing the Stakes to the Vines-- Manuring and General + Cultivation-- Spring Frosts in the Champagne-- Various Modes of + Protecting the Vines against them-- Dr. Guyot's System-- The + Parasites that Prey upon the Vines 42 + +V.--PREPARATION OF CHAMPAGNE. + +Treatment of Champagne after it comes from the Wine-Press-- + Racking and Blending of the Wine-- Deficiency and Excess of + Effervescence-- Strength and Form of Champagne Bottles-- The + "Tirage" or Bottling of the Wine-- The Process of Gas-making + commences-- Inevitable Breakage follows-- Wine Stacked in + Piles-- Formation of Sediment-- Bottles placed "sur pointe" and + Daily Shaken-- Effect of this occupation on those incessantly + engaged in it-- "Claws" and "Masks"-- Champagne Cellars-- Their + Construction and Aspect-- Transforming the "vin brut" into + Champagne-- Disgorging and Liqueuring the Wine-- The Corking, + Stringing, Wiring, and Amalgamating-- The Wine's Agitated + Existence comes to an End-- The Bottles have their Toilettes + made-- Champagne sets out on its beneficial Pilgrimage 48 + +VI.--THE REIMS CHAMPAGNE ESTABLISHMENTS. + +Messrs. Werlé and Co., successors to the Veuve + Clicquot-Ponsardin-- Their Offices and Cellars on the site of a + Former Commanderie of the Templars-- Origin of the Celebrity of + Madame Clicquot's Wines-- M. Werlé and his Son-- The Forty-five + Cellars of the Clicquot-Werlé Establishment-- Our Tour of + Inspection-- Ingenious Liqueuring Machine-- An Explosion and its + Consequences-- M. Werlé's Gallery of Paintings-- Madame + Clicquot's Renaissance House and its Picturesque Bas-reliefs-- + The Werlé Vineyards and Vendangeoirs-- M. Louis Roederer's + Establishment-- Heidsieck and Co. and their Famous "Monopole" + Brand-- The Firm Founded in the Last Century-- Their various + Establishments Inside and Outside Reims-- The Matured Wines + Shipped by them 63 + +VII.--THE REIMS ESTABLISHMENTS (_continued_). + +The Firm of G. H. Mumm and Co.-- Their Large Shipments to the + United States-- Their Establishments in the Rue Andrieux and the + Rue Coquebert-- Bottle-Washing with Glass Beads-- The Cuvée and + the Tirage-- G. H. Mumm and Co.'s Vendangeoirs at Verzenay-- + Their Various Wines-- The Gate of Mars-- The Establishment of + M. Gustave Gibert on the Site of the Château des Archevêques-- + His Cellars in the Vaults of St. Peter's Abbey and beneath the + old Hôtel des Fermes in the Place Royale-- Louis XV. and Jean + Baptiste Colbert-- M. Gibert's Wines-- Jules Mumm and Co., and + Ruinart père et fils-- House of the Musicians-- The Counts de la + Marck-- The Brotherhood of Minstrels of Reims-- Establishment of + Périnet et fils-- Their Cellars of Three Stories in Solid + Masonry-- Their Soft, Light, and Delicate Wines-- A Rare Still + Verzenay-- M. Duchâtel-Ohaus's Establishment and Renaissance + House-- His Cellars in the Cour St. Jacques and Outside the + Porte Dieu-Lumière 74 + +VIII.--THE REIMS ESTABLISHMENTS (_continued_). + +M. Ernest Irroy's Cellars, Vineyards, and Vendangeoirs-- + Recognition by the Reims Agricultural Association of his + Plantations of Vines-- His Wines and their Popularity at the + best London Clubs-- Messrs. Binet fils and Co.'s Establishment-- + Wines Sold by the Firm to Shippers-- Their Cellars-- Samples of + Fine Still Ay and Bouzy-- Their Still Sillery, Vintage 1857, and + their Creaming Vin Brut, Vintage 1865-- The Offices and Cellars + of Messrs. Charles Farre and Co.-- Testing the Wine before + Bottling-- A Promenade between Bottles in Piles and Racks-- + Repute in which these Wines are held in England and on the + Continent-- The New Establishment of Fisse, Thirion, and Co. in + the Place de Betheny-- Its Construction exclusively in Stone, + Brick, and Iron-- The Vast Celliers of Two Stories-- Bottling + the Wine by the Aid of Machinery-- The Cool and Lofty Cellars-- + Ingenious Method of Securing the Corks, rendering the Uncorking + exceedingly simple-- The Wines Shipped by the Firm 86 + +IX.--THE REIMS ESTABLISHMENTS (_concluded_). + +La Prison de Bonne Semaine-- Mary Queen of Scots at Reims-- + Messrs. Pommery and Greno's Offices-- A Fine Collection of + Faïence-- The Rue des Anglais a former Refuge of English + Catholics-- Remains of the Old University of Reims-- Ancient + Roman Tower and Curious Grotto-- The handsome Castellated + Pommery Establishment-- The Spacious Cellier and Huge Carved + Cuvée Tun-- The Descent to the Cellars-- Their Great Extent-- + These Lofty Subterranean Chambers Originally Quarries-- Ancient + Places of Refuge of the Early Christians and the Protestants-- + Madame Pommery's Splendid Cuvée of 1868-- Messrs. de St. + Marceaux and Co.'s New Establishment in the Avenue de Sillery-- + Its Garden-Court and Circular Shaft-- Animated Scene in the + Large Packing Hall-- Lowering Bottled Wine to the Cellars-- + Great Depth and Extent of these Cellars-- Messrs. de St. + Marceaux and Co.'s Various Wines 93 + +X.--EPERNAY CHAMPAGNE ESTABLISHMENTS. + +Early Records of the Moët Family at Reims and Epernay-- Jean + Remi Moët Founder of the Commerce in Champagne Wines-- Extracts + from the Old Account-Books of the Moëts-- First Sales of + Sparkling Wines-- Sales to England in 1788-- "Milords" Farnham + and Findlater-- Jean Remi Moët receives the Emperor Napoleon, + Josephine, and the King of Westphalia-- The Firm of Moët and + Chandon Constituted-- Their Establishment in the Rue du + Commerce-- Delivering and Washing the New Bottles-- The Numerous + Vineyards and Vendangeoirs of the Firm-- Making the Cuvée in + Vats of 12,000 Gallons-- The Bottling of the Wine by 200 Hands-- + A Hundred Thousand Bottles Completed Daily-- 20,000 Francs' + worth of Broken Glass in Two Years-- A Subterranean City, with + miles of Streets, Cross Roads, Open Spaces, Tramways, and + Stations-- The Ancient Entrance to these Vaults-- Tablet + Commemorative of the Visit of Napoleon I.-- Millions of Bottles + of Champagne in Piles and Racks-- The Original Vaults known as + Siberia-- Scene in the Packing Hall-- Messrs. Moët and Chandon's + Large and Complete Staff-- Provision for Illness and Old Age-- + Annual Fête Given by the Firm-- Their Famous "Star" Brand-- + M. Perrier-Jouët, the lucky Grandson of a little Epernay + Grocer-- His Offices and Cellars-- His Wine Classed according to + its Deserts-- Messrs. Roussillon and Co.'s Establishment-- The + Recognition accorded to their Wines-- Their Stock of Old + Vintages-- The Extensive Establishment of Messrs. Pol Roger and + Co.-- Their Large Stock of the Fine 1874 Vintage-- Preparations + for the Tirage-- Their Vast Fireproof Cellier and its Admirable + Temperature-- Their Lofty and Capacious Cellars of Two Stories 101 + +XI.--CHAMPAGNE ESTABLISHMENTS AT AY AND MAREUIL. + +The Establishment of Deutz and Geldermann-- Drawing off the + Cuvée-- Mode of Excavating Cellars in the Champagne-- The Firm's + New Cellars, Vineyards, and Vendangeoir-- The old Château of Ay + and its Terraced Garden-- The Gambling Propensities of Balthazar + Constance Dangé-Dorçay, a former Owner of the Château-- The + Picturesque Situation and Aspect of Messrs. Ayala's + Establishment-- A Promenade through their Cellars-- M. Duminy's + Cellars and Wines-- His new Model Construction-- The House + Founded in 1814-- Messrs. Bollinger's Establishment-- Their + Vineyard of La Grange-- The Tirage in Progress-- The Fine + Cellars of the Firm-- Messrs. Pfungst frères and Co.'s Cellars-- + Their Dry Champagnes of 1868, '70, '72, and '74-- The Old Church + of Ay and its Decorations of Grapes and Vineleaves-- The + Vendangeoir of Henri Quatre-- The Montebello Establishment at + Mareuil-- The Château formerly the Property of the Dukes of + Orleans-- A Titled Champagne Firm-- The Brilliant Career of + Marshal Lannes-- A Promenade through the Montebello + Establishment-- The Press House, the Cuvée Vat, the + Packing-Room, the Offices, and the Cellars-- Portraits and + Relics at the Château-- The Establishment of Bruch-Foucher and + Co.-- The handsome Carved Gigantic Cuvée Tun-- The Cellars and + their Lofty Shafts-- The Wines of the Firm 117 + +XII.--CHAMPAGNE ESTABLISHMENTS AT ATIZE AND RILLY. + +Avize the Centre of the White Grape District-- Its Situation and + Aspect-- The Establishment of Giesler and Co.-- The Tirage and + the Cuvée-- Vin Brut in Racks and on Tables-- The Packing-Hall, + the Extensive Cellars, and the Disgorging Cellier-- Bottle + Stores and Bottle-Washing Machines-- Messrs. Giesler's + Wine-Presses at Avize and Vendangeoir at Bouzy-- Their Vineyards + and their Purchases of Grapes-- Reputation of the Giesler + Brand-- The Establishment of M. Charles de Cazanove-- A Tame + Young Boar-- Boar-Hunting in the Champagne-- M. de Cazanove's + Commodious Cellars and Carefully-Selected Wines-- Vineyards + Owned by Him and His Family-- Reputation of his Wines in Paris + and their Growing Popularity in England-- Interesting View from + M. de Cazanove's Terraced Garden-- The Vintaging of the White + Grapes in the Champagne-- Roper frères' Establishment at + Rilly-la-Montague-- Their Cellars Penetrated by Roots of Trees-- + Some Samples of Fine Old Champagnes-- The Principal Châlons + Establishments-- Poem on Champagne by M. Amaury de Cazanove 129 + +XIII.--SPARKLING SAUMUR AND SPARKLING SAUTERNES. + +The Sparkling Wines of the Loire often palmed off as + Champagnes-- The Finer qualities Improve with Age-- Anjou the + Cradle of the Plantagenet Kings-- Saumur and its Dominating + Feudal Château und Antique Hôtel de Ville-- Its Sinister Rue des + Payens and Steep Tortuons Grande Rue-- The Vineyards of the + Coteau of Saumur-- Abandoned Stone Quarries converted into + Dwellings-- The Vintage in Progress-- Old-fashioned Pressoirs-- + The Making of the Wine-- The Vouvray Vineyards-- Balzac's + Picture of La Vallée Coquette-- The Village of Vouvray and the + Château of Moucontour-- Vernou with its Reminiscences of Sully + and Pépin-le-Bref-- The Vineyards around Saumur-- Remarkable + Ancient Dolmens-- Ackerman-Laurance's Establishment at + Saint-Florent-- Their Extensive Cellars, Ancient and Modern-- + Treatment of the Newly-Vintaged Wine-- The Cuvée-- Proportions + of Wine from Black and White Grapes-- The Bottling and + Disgorging of the Wine and Finishing Operations-- The Château of + Varrains and the Establishment of M. Louis Duvau aîné-- His + Cellars a succession of Gloomy Galleries-- The Disgorging of the + Wine accomplished in a Melodramatic-looking Cave-- M. Duvau's + Vineyard-- His Sparkling Saumur of Various Ages-- Marked + Superiority of the more Matured Samples-- M. Alfred Ronsteaux's + Establishments at Saint-Florent and Saint-Cyr-- His convenient + Celliers and extensive Cellars-- Mingling of Wine from the + Champagne with the finer Sparkling Saumur-- His Vineyard at La + Perrière-- M. E. Normandin's Sparkling Sauternes Manufactory at + Châteauneuf-- Angoulême and its Ancient Fortifications-- Vin de + Colombar-- M. Normandin's Sparkling Sauternes Cuvée-- His + Cellars near Châteauneuf-- High recognition accorded to the Wine + at the Concours Régional d'Angoulême 139 + +XIV.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF BURGUNDY AND THE JURA. + +Sparkling Wines of the Côte d'Or at the Paris Exhibition-- + Chambertin, Romanée, and Vougeot-- Burgundy Wines and Vines + formerly the Presents of Princes-- Vintaging Sparkling + Burgundies-- Their After-Treatment in the Cellars-- Excess of + Breakage-- Similarity of Proceeding to that followed in the + Champagne-- Principal Manufacturers of Sparkling Burgundies-- + Sparkling Wines of Tonnerre, the birthplace of the Chevalier + d'Eon-- The Vin d'Arbanne of Bar-sur-Aube-- Death there of the + Bastard de Bourbon-- Madame de la Motto's Ostentatious Display + and Arrest there-- Sparkling Wines of the Beaujolais-- The + Mont-Bronilly Vineyards-- Ancient Reputation of the Wines of the + Jura-- The Vin Jaune of Arbois beloved of Henri Quatre-- Rhymes + by him in its Honour-- Lons-le-Saulnier-- Vineyards yielding the + Sparkling Jura Wines-- Their Vintaging and Subsequent + Treatment-- Their High Alcoholic Strength and General Drawbacks 157 + +XV.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF THE SOUTH OF FRANCE. + +Sparkling Wines of Auvergne, Guienne, Dauphiné, and Languedoc-- + Sparkling Saint-Péray the Champagne of the South-- Valence with + its Reminiscences of Pius VI. and Napoleon I.-- The "Horns of + Crussol" on the Banks of the Rhône-- Vintage Scene at + Saint-Péray-- The Vines and Vineyards Producing Sparkling Wine-- + Manipulation of Sparkling Saint-Péray-- Its Abundance of Natural + Sugar-- The Cellars of M. de Saint-Prix and Samples of his + Wines-- Sparkling Côte-Rotie, Château-Grillé, and Hermitage-- + Annual Production and Principal Markets of Sparkling + Saint-Péray-- Clairette de Die-- The Porte Rouge of Die + Cathedral-- How the Die Wine is Made-- The Sparkling White and + Rose-Coloured Muscatels of Die-- Sparkling Wines of Vercheny and + Lagrasse-- Barnave and the Royal Flight to Varennes-- Narbonne + formerly a Miniature Rome, now Noted merely for its Wine and + Honey-- Fête of the Black Virgin at Limoux-- Preference given to + the New Wine over the Miraculous Water-- Blanquette of Limoux + and How it is Made-- Characteristics of this Overrated Wine 165 + +XVI.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF GERMANY. + +Origin of Sparkling Hock and Moselle-- Sparkling German Wines + First Made on the Neckar-- Heilbronn, and Götz von Berlichingen + of the Iron Hand-- Lauteren of Mayence and Rambs of Trèves turn + their attention to Sparkling Wines-- Change of late years in the + Character of Sparkling Hocks and Moselles-- Difference between + them and Moussirender Rheinwein-- Vintaging of Black and White + Grapes for Sparkling Wine-- The Treatment which German Sparkling + Wines Undergo-- Artificial Flavouring and Perfuming of Sparkling + Moselles-- Fine Natural Bouquet of High-Class Sparkling Hocks-- + Impetus given to the Manufacture of German Sparkling Wines + during the Franco-German War-- Annual Production-- Deinhard and + Co.'s Splendid New Cellars at Coblenz-- The Firm's Collection of + Choice Rhine and Moselle Wines-- Their Trade in German Sparkling + Wines-- Their Sources of Supply-- The Vintaging and + After-Treatment of their Wines-- Characteristics of their + Sparkling Hocks and Moselles 172 + +XVII.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF GERMANY (_continued_). + +From Coblenz to Rüdesheim-- Ewald and Co.'s Establishment and + its Pleasant Situation-- Their Fine Vaulted Cellars and + Convenient Accessories-- Their Supplies of Wine drawn from the + most favoured Localities-- The Celebrated Vineyards of the + Rheingau-- Eltville and the extensive Establishment of Matheus + Müller-- His Vast Stocks of Still and Sparkling German Wines-- + The Vineyards laid under contribution for the latter-- + M. Müller's Sparkling Johannisberger, Champagne, and Red + Sparkling Assmannshauser-- The Site of Gutenberg's Birthplace at + Mayence occupied by the Offices and Wine-cellars of Lauteren + Sohn-- The Sparkling Wine Establishment of the Firm and their + Fine Collection of Hocks and Moselles-- The Hochheim Sparkling + Wine Association-- Foundation of the Establishment-- Its + Superior Sparkling Hocks and Moselles-- The Sparkling Wine + Establishments of Stock and Sons at Creuznach in the Nahe + Valley, of Kessler and Co. at Esslingen, on the Neckar, and of + M. Oppmann at Würzburg-- The Historic Cellars of the King of + Bavaria beneath the Residenz-- The Establishment of F. A. + Siligmüller 183 + +XVIII.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF AUSTRO-HUNGARY, SWITZERLAND, ITALY, + SPAIN, RUSSIA, &C. + +Sparkling Voslauer-- The Sparkling Wine Manufactories of Graz-- + Establishment of Kleinoscheg Brothers-- Vintaging and Treatment + of Styrian Champagnes-- Sparkling Red, Rose, and White Wines of + Hungary-- The Establishment of Hubert and Habermann at + Pressburg-- Sparkling Wines of Croatia, Galicia, Bohemia, + Moravia, Dalmatia, the Tyrol, Transylvania, and the Banat-- + Neuchâtel Champagne-- Sparkling Wine Factories at Vevay and + Sion-- The Vevay Vineyards-- Establishment of De Riedmatten and + De Quay-- Sparkling Muscatel, Malmsey, Brachetto, Castagnolo, + and Lacryma Christi of Italy-- Sparkling Wines of Spain, Greece, + Algeria, and Russia-- The Krimski and Donski Champagnes-- The + Latter Chiefly Consumed at the Great Russian Fairs 196 + +XIX.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF THE UNITED STATES. + +Earliest Efforts at Wine-Making in America-- Failures to + Acclimatise European Vines-- Wines Made by the Swiss Settlers + and the Mission Fathers-- The Yield of the Mission Vineyards-- + The Monster Vine of the Montecito Valley-- The Catawba Vine and + its General Cultivation-- Mr. Longworth one of the Founders of + American Viticulture-- Fresh Attempts to make Sparkling Wine at + Cincinnati-- Existing Sparkling Wine Manufactures there-- + Longfellow's Song in Praise of Catawba-- The Kelley Island Wine + Company-- Vintaging and Treatment of their Sparkling Wines-- + Decrease of Consumption-- The Vineyards of Hammondsport-- + Varieties of Grapes used for Sparkling Wines-- The Vintage-- + After Treatment of the Wines-- The Pleasant Valley and Urbana + Wine Companies and their Various Brands-- Californian Sparkling + Wines-- The Buena Vista Vinicultural Society of San Francisco-- + Its Early Failures and Eventual Success in Manufacturing + Sparkling Wines-- The Vintage in California-- Chinese + Vintagers-- How the Wine is Made-- American Spurious Sparkling + Wines 203 + +XX.--CONCLUDING FACTS AND HINTS. + +Dry and Sweet Champagnes-- Their Sparkling Properties-- Form of + Champagne Glasses-- Style of Sparkling Wines Consumed in + Different Countries-- The Colour and Alcoholic Strength of + Champagne-- Champagne Approved of by the Faculty-- Its Use in + Nervous Derangements-- The Icing of Champagne-- Scarcity of + Grand Vintages in the Champagne-- The Quality of the Wine has + little influence on the Price-- Prices realised by the Ay and + Verzenay Crûs in Grand Years-- Suggestions for laying down + Champagnes of Grand Vintages-- The Improvement they Develop + after a few Years-- The Wine of 1874-- The proper kind of Cellar + to lay down Champagne in-- Advantages of Burrow's Patent Slider + Wine Bins-- Increase in the Consumption of Champagne-- Tabular + Statement of Stocks, Exports, and Home Consumption from 1844-5 + to 1877-8-- When to Serve Champagne at a Dinner Party-- Charles + Dickens's dictum that its proper place is at a Ball-- + Advantageous Effect of Champagne at an Ordinary British Dinner + Party-- Sparkling Wine Cups 212 + +THE PRINCIPAL SPARKLING WINE BRANDS 225 + + + + + [Illustrated Text:] + + FACTS ABOUT CHAMPAGNE + AND + OTHER SPARKLING WINES. + + + + +I.--THE ORIGIN OF CHAMPAGNE. + +The Early Vineyards of the Champagne-- Their Produce esteemed by + Popes and Kings, Courtiers and Prelates-- Controversy regarding the + rival Merits of the Wines of Burgundy and the Champagne-- Dom + Perignon's happy Discovery of Sparkling Wine-- Its Patrons under + Louis Quatorze and the Regency-- The Ancient Church and Abbey of + Hautvillers-- Farre and Co.'s Champagne Cellars-- The Abbey of St. + Peter now a Farm-- Existing Remains of the Monastic Buildings-- The + Tombs and Decorations of the Ancient Church-- The Last Resting-Place + of Dom Perignon--The Legend of the Holy Dove-- Good Champagne the + Result of Labour, Skill, Minute Precaution, and Careful Observation. + + +Strong men, we know, lived before Agamemnon; and strong wine was made in +the fair province of Champagne long before the days of the sagacious Dom +Perignon, to whom we are indebted for the sparkling vintage known under +the now familiar name. The chalky slopes that border the Marne were +early recognised as offering special advantages for the culture of the +vine. The priests and monks, whose vows of sobriety certainly did not +lessen their appreciation of the good things of this life, and the +produce of whose vineyards usually enjoyed a higher reputation than that +of their lay neighbours, were clever enough to seize upon the most +eligible sites, and quick to spread abroad the fame of their wines. St. +Remi, baptiser of Clovis, the first Christian king in France, at the end +of the fifth century left by will, to various churches, the vineyards +which he owned at Reims and Laon, together with the "vilains" employed +in their cultivation. Some three and a half centuries later we find +worthy Bishop Pardulus of Laon imitating Paul's advice to Timothy, and +urging Archbishop Hincmar to drink of the wines of Epernay and Reims for +his stomach's sake. The crusade-preaching Pope, Urban II., who was born +among the vineyards of the Champagne, dearly loved the wine of Ay; and +his energetic appeals to the princes of Europe to take up arms for the +deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre may have owed some of their eloquence +to his favourite beverage. + +The red wine of the Champagne sparkled on the boards of monarchs in the +Middle Ages when they sat at meat amidst their mailclad chivalry, and +quaffed mighty beakers to the confusion of the Paynim. Henry of Andely +has sung in his _fabliau_ of the "Bataille des Vins," how, when stout +Philip Augustus and his chaplain constituted themselves the earliest +known wine-jury, the _crûs_ of Espernai, Auviler, Chaalons, and Reims +were amongst those which found most favour in their eyes, though nearly +a couple of centuries elapsed before Eustace Deschamps recorded in verse +the rival merits of those of Cumières and Ay. King Wenceslaus of +Bohemia, a mighty toper, got so royally drunk day after day upon the +vintages of the Champagne, that he forgot all about the treaty with +Charles VI., that had formed the pretext of his visit to France, and +would probably have lingered, goblet in hand, in the old cathedral city +till the day of his death, but for the presentation of a little account +for wine consumed, which sobered him to repentance and led to his abrupt +departure. Dunois, Lahire, Xaintrailles, and their fellows, when they +rode with Joan of Arc to the coronation of Charles VII., drank the same +generous fluid, through helmets barred, to the speedy expulsion of the +detested English from the soil of France. + +The vin d'Ay--_vinum Dei_ as Dominicus Baudoin punningly styled it--was, +according to old Paulmier, the ordinary drink of the kings and princes +of his day. It fostered bluff King Hal's fits of passion and the tenth +Leo's artistic extravagance; consoled Francis I. for the field of Pavia, +and solaced his great rival in his retirement at St. Just. All of them +had their commissioners at Ay to secure the best wine for their own +consumption. Henri Quatre, whose _vendangeoir_ is still shown in the +village, held the wine in such honour that he was wont to style himself +the Seigneur d'Ay, just as James of Scotland was known as the Gudeman of +Ballangeich. When his son, Louis XIII., was crowned, the wines of the +Champagne were the only growths allowed to grace the board at the royal +banquet. Freely too did they flow at the coronation feast of the Grand +Monarque, when the crowd of assembled courtiers, who quaffed them in his +honour, hailed them as the finest wines of the day. + +But the wines which drew forth all these encomiums were far from +resembling the champagne of modern times. They were not, as has been +asserted, all as red as burgundy and as flat as port; for at the close +of the sixteenth, century some of them were of a _fauve_ or yellowish +hue, and of the intermediate tint between red and white which the French +call _clairet_, and which our old writers translate as the "complexion +of a cherry" or the "colour of a partridge's eye." But, as a rule, the +wines of the Champagne up to this period closely resembled those +produced in the adjacent province, where Charles the Bold had once held +sway; a resemblance, no doubt, having much to do with the great medical +controversy regarding their respective merits which arose in 1652. In +that year a young medical student, hard pressed for the subject of his +inaugural thesis, and in the firm faith that + + "None but a clever dialectician + Can hope to become a good physician, + And that logic plays an important part + In the mystery of the healing art," + +propounded the theory that the wines of Burgundy were preferable to +those of the Champagne, and that the latter were irritating to the +nerves and conducive to gout. The faculty of medicine at Reims naturally +rose in arms at this insolent assertion. They seized their pens and +poured forth a deluge of French and Latin in defence of the wines of +their province, eulogising alike their purity, their brilliancy of +colour, their exquisite flavour and perfume, their great keeping powers, +and, in a word, their general superiority to the Burgundy growths. The +partisans of the latter were equally prompt in rallying in their +defence, and the faculty of medicine of Beaune, having put their learned +periwigs together, enunciated their views and handled their opponents +without mercy. The dispute spread to the entire medical profession, and +the champions went on pelting each other with pamphlets in prose and +tractates in verse, until in 1778--long after the bones of the original +disputants were dust and their lancets rust--the faculty of Paris, to +whom the matter was referred, gave a final and formal decision in favour +of the wines of the Champagne. + +Meanwhile an entirely new kind of wine, which was to carry the name of +the province producing it to the uttermost corners of the earth, had +been introduced. On the picturesque slopes of the Marne, about fifteen +miles from Reims, and some four or five miles from Epernay, stands the +little hamlet of Hautvillers, which, in pre-revolutionary days, was a +mere dependency upon a spacious abbey dedicated to St. Peter. Here the +worthy monks of the order of St. Benedict had lived in peace and +prosperity for several hundred years, carefully cultivating the acres of +vineland extending around the abbey, and religiously exacting a tithe of +all the other wine pressed in their district. The revenue of the +community thus depending in no small degree upon the vintage, it was +natural that the post of "celerer" should be one of importance. It +happened that about the year 1688 this office was conferred upon a +worthy monk named Perignon. Poets and roasters, we know, are born, and +not made; and the monk in question seems to have been a heaven-born +cellarman, with a strong head and a discriminating palate. The wine +exacted from the neighbouring cultivators was of all qualities--good, +bad, and indifferent; and with the spirit of a true Benedictine, Dom +Perignon hit upon the idea of "marrying" the produce of one vineyard +with that of another. He had noted that one kind of soil imparted +fragrance and another generosity, and discovered that a white wine could +be made from the blackest grapes, which would keep good, instead of +turning yellow and degenerating like the wine obtained from white ones. +Moreover, the happy thought occurred to him that a piece of cork was a +much more suitable stopper for a bottle than the flax dipped in oil +which had heretofore served that purpose. + +The white, or, as it was sometimes styled, the grey wine of the +Champagne grew famous, and the manufacture spread throughout the +province, but that of Hautvillers held the predominance. To Dom Perignon +the abbey's well-stocked cellar was a far cheerfuller place than the +cell. Nothing delighted him more than + + "To come down among this brotherhood + Dwelling for ever underground, + Silent, contemplative, round and sound, + Each one old and brown with mould, + But filled to the lips with the ardour of youth, + With the latent power and love of truth, + And with virtues fervent and manifold." + +Ever busy among his vats and presses, barrels and bottles, Perignon +alighted upon a discovery destined to be most important in its results. +He found out the way of making an effervescent wine--a wine that burst +out of the bottle and overflowed the glass, that was twice as dainty to +the taste, and twice as exhilarating in its effects. It was at the close +of the seventeenth century that this discovery was made--when the glory +of the Roi Soleil was on the wane, and with it the splendour of the +Court of Versailles. Louis XIV., for whose especial benefit liqueurs had +been invented, recovered a gleam of his youthful energy as he sipped the +creamy foaming vintage that enlivened his dreary _têtes-à-têtes_ with +the widow of Scarron. It found its chief patrons however, amongst the +bands of gay young roysterers, the future _roues_ of the Regency, whom +the Duc d'Orléans and the Duc de Vendôme had gathered round them, at the +Palais Royal and at Anet. It was at one of the famous _soupers_ d'Anet +that the Marquis de Sillery--who had turned his sword into a +pruning-knife, and applied himself to the cultivation of his paternal +vineyards on the principles inculcated by the celerer of St. +Peter's--first introduced the sparkling wine bearing his name. The +flower-wreathed bottles, which, at a given signal, a dozen of blooming +young damsels scantily draped in the guise of Bacchanals placed upon the +table, were hailed with rapture, and thenceforth sparkling wine was an +indispensable adjunct at all the _petits soupers_ of the period. In the +highest circles the popping of champagne-corks seemed to ring the knell +of sadness, and the victories of Marlborough were in a measure +compensated for by this happy discovery. + +Why the wine foamed and sparkled was a mystery even to the very makers +themselves; for as yet Baume's aerometer was unknown, and the connection +between sugar and carbonic acid undreamt of. The general belief was that +the degree of effervescence depended upon the time of year at which the +wine was bottled, and that the rising of the sap in the vine had +everything to do with it. Certain wiseacres held that it was influenced +by the age of the moon at the time of bottling; whilst others thought +the effervescence could be best secured by the addition of spirit, alum, +and various nastinesses. It was this belief in the use and efficacy of +drugs that led to a temporary reaction against the wine about 1715, in +which year Dom Perignon departed this life. In his latter days he had +grown blind, but his discriminating taste enabled him to discharge his +duties with unabated efficiency to the end. Many of the tall tapering +glasses invented by him have been emptied to the memory of the old +Benedictine, whose remains repose beneath a black marble slab in the +chancel of the archaic abbey church of Hautvillers. + + [Illustration: + THE VINEYARDS AND ABBEY OF HAUTVILLERS. (p. 14)] + + [Illustration: + THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MESSRS. CHARLES FARRE & CO., AT HAUTVILLERS. + (p. 15)] + +Time and the iconoclasts of the great Revolution have spared but little +of the royal abbey of St. Peter where Dom Perignon lighted upon his +happy discovery of the effervescent quality of champagne. The quaint old +church, scraps of which date back to the 12th century, the remnants of +the cloisters, and a couple of ancient gateways, marking the limits of +the abbey precincts, are all that remain to testify to the grandeur of +its past. It was the proud boast of the brotherhood that it had given +nine archbishops to the see of Reims, and two-and-twenty abbots to +various celebrated monasteries, but this pales beside the enduring fame +it has acquired from having been the cradle of the sparkling vintage of +the Champagne. + +It was in the budding springtime when we made our pilgrimage to +Hautvillers across the swollen waters of the Marne at Epernay. Our way +lay for a time along a straight level poplar-bordered road, with verdant +meadows on either hand, then diverged sharply to the left and we +commenced ascending the vine-clad hills, on a narrow plateau of which +the church and abbey remains are picturesquely perched. Vines climb the +undulating slopes to the summit of the plateau, and wooded heights rise +up beyond, affording shelter from the bleak winds sweeping over from the +north. As we near the village of Hautvillers we notice on our left hand +a couple of isolated buildings overlooking a small ravine with their +bright tiled roofs flashing in the sunlight. These prove to be a branch +establishment of Messrs. Charles Farre and Co., a well-known champagne +firm having its head-quarters at Reims. The grassy space beyond, dotted +over with low stone shafts giving light and ventilation to the cellars +beneath, is alive with workmen unloading waggons densely packed with new +champagne bottles, while under a neighbouring shed is a crowd of women +actively engaged in washing the bottles as they are brought to them. The +large apartment aboveground, known as the _cellier_, contains wine in +cask already blended, and to bottle which preparations are now being +made. On descending into the cellars, which, excavated in the chalk and +of regular construction, comprise a series of long, lofty, and +well-ventilated galleries, we find them stocked with bottles of fine +wine reposing in huge compact piles ready for transport to the head +establishment, where they will undergo their final manipulation. The +cellars consist of two stories, the lowermost of which has an iron gate +communicating with the ravine already mentioned. On passing out here and +looking up behind we see the buildings perched some hundred feet above +us, hemmed in on every side with budding vines. + + [Illustration: + THE PORTE DES PRESSOIRS, HAUTVILLERS.] + +The church of Hautvillers and the remains of the neighbouring abbey are +situated at the farther extremity of the village, at the end of its one +long street, named, pertinently enough, the Rue de Bacchus. Passing +through an unpretentious gateway we find ourselves in a spacious +courtyard, bounded by buildings somewhat complex in character. On our +right rises the tower of the church with the remains of the old +cloisters, now walled-in and lighted by small square windows, and +propped up by heavy buttresses. To the left stands the residence of the +bailiff, and beyond it an 18th-century château on the site of the +abbot's house, the abbey precincts being bounded on this side by a +picturesque gateway tower leading to the vineyards, and known as the +"porte des pressoirs," from its contiguity to the existing wine-presses. +Huge barn-like buildings, stables, and cart-sheds inclose the court on +its remaining sides, and roaming about are numerous live stock, +indicating that what remains of the once-famous royal abbey of St. Peter +has degenerated into an ordinary farm. To-day the abbey buildings and +certain of its lands are the property of Messrs. Moët and Chandon, the +great champagne manufacturers of Epernay, who maintain them as a farm, +keeping some six-and-thirty cows there with the object of securing the +necessary manure for the numerous vineyards which they own hereabouts. + + [Illustration] + +The dilapidated cloisters, littered with old casks, farm implements, and +the like, preserve ample traces of their former architectural character, +and the Louis Quatorze gateway on the northern side of the inclosure +still displays above its arch a grandiose carved shield, with +surrounding palm-branches and half-obliterated bearings. Vine-leaves and +bunches of grapes decorate some of the more ancient columns inside the +church, and grotesque mediæval monsters, such as monkish architects +habitually delighted in, entwine themselves around the capitals of +others. The stalls of the choir are elaborately carved with cherubs' +heads, medallions and figures of saints, cupids supporting shields, and +free and graceful arabesques of the epoch of the Renaissance. In the +chancel, close by the altar steps, are a couple of black marble slabs, +with Latin inscriptions of dubious orthography, the one to Johannes +Royer, who died in 1527, and the other setting forth the virtues and +merits of Dom Petrus Perignon, the discoverer of champagne. In the +central aisle a similar slab marks the resting-place of Dom Thedoricus +Ruynart--obit 1709--an ancestor of the Reims Ruinarts, and little square +stones interspersed among the tiles with which the side aisles of the +church are paved record the deaths of other members of the Benedictine +brotherhood during the 17th and 18th centuries. Several large pictures +grace the walls of the church, the most interesting one representing St. +Nivard, Bishop of Reims, and his friend, St. Berchier, designating to +some mediæval architect the site the contemplated abbey of St. Peter was +to occupy. There was a monkish legend that about the middle of the 7th +century this pair of saints set out in search of a suitable site for the +future monastery. The way was long, the day was warm, and St. Nivard and +St. Berchier as yet were simply mortal. Weary and faint, they sat them +down to rest at a spot identified by tradition with a vineyard at Dizy, +belonging to-day to the Messrs. Bollinger, but at that period forming +part of the forest of the Marne. St. Nivard fell asleep with his head on +his companion's lap, and the one in a dream, and the other with waking +eyes, saw a snow-white dove--the same, firm believers in miracles +suggested, which had brought down the holy oil for the anointment of +Clovis at his coronation at Reims--flutter through the wood, and finally +alight on the stump of a tree. + +In those superstitious times such a significant omen was not to be +disregarded, the site thus miraculously indicated was at once decided +upon, the high altar of the abbey church being erected upon the precise +spot where the tree stood on which the snow-white dove had alighted. + +The celerer of St. Peter's found worthy successors, and thenceforward +the manufacture and the popularity of champagne went on steadily +increasing, until to-day its production is carried on upon a scale and +with an amount of painstaking care that would astonish its originator. +For good champagne does not rain down from the clouds, or gush out from +the rocks, but is the result of incessant labour, patient skill, minute +precaution, and careful observation. In the first place, the soil +imparts to the natural wine a special quality which it has been found +impossible to imitate in any other quarter of the globe. To the wine of +Ay it lends a flavour of peaches, and to that of Avenay the savour of +strawberries; the vintage of Hautvillers, though fallen from its former +high estate, is yet marked by an unmistakably nutty taste; while that of +Pierry smacks of the locally-abounding flint, the well-known _pierre à +fusil_ flavour. So on the principle that a little leaven leavens the +whole lump, the produce of grapes grown in the more favoured vineyards +is added in certain proportions to secure certain special +characteristics, as well as to maintain a fixed standard of excellence. + + [Illustration] + + + + + [Illustration] + +II.--THE VINTAGE IN THE CHAMPAGNE. THE VINEYARDS OF THE RIVER. + +Ay, the Vineyard of Golden Plants-- Summoning the Vintagers by Beat + of Drum-- Excitement in the Surrounding Villages-- The Pickers at + Work-- Sorting the Grapes-- Grapes Gathered at Sunrise the Best-- + Varieties of Vines in the Ay Vineyards-- Few of the Growers in the + Champagne Crush their own Grapes-- Squeezing the Grapes in the + "Pressoir" and Drawing off the Must-- Cheerful Glasses Round-- The + Vintage at Mareuil-- Bringing in the Grapes on Mules and Donkeys-- + The Vineyards of Avenay, Mutigny, and Cumières-- Damery and Adrienne + Lecouvreur, Maréchal de Saxe, and the obese Anna Iwanowna-- The + Vineyards of the Côte d'Epernay-- Boursault and its Château-- Pierry + and its Vineyard Cellars-- The Clos St. Pierre-- Moussy and Vinay-- + A Hermit's Cave and a Miraculous Fountain-- Ablois St. Martin-- The + Côte d'Avize-- The Grand Premier Crû of Cramant-- Avize and its + Wines-- The Vineyards of Oger and Le Mesnil-- The Old Town of Vertus + and its Vine-clad Slopes-- Their Red Wine formerly celebrated. + + +With the exception of certain famous vineyards of the Rhône, the +vinelands of the Champagne may, perhaps, be classed among the most +picturesque of the more notable vine districts of France. Between Paris +and Epernay even, the banks of the Marne present a series of scenes of +quiet beauty. The undulating ground is everywhere cultivated like a +garden. Handsome châteaux and charming country houses peep out from amid +luxuriant foliage. Picturesque antiquated villages line the river's bank +or climb the hill sides, and after leaving La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, the +cradle of the Condés, all the more favoured situations commence to be +covered with vines. + +This is especially the case in the vicinity of Château-Thierry--the +birthplace of La Fontaine--where the view is shut in on all sides by +vine-clad slopes, which the spring frosts seldom spare. Hence merely one +good vintage out of four gladdens the hearts of the peasant proprietors, +who find eager purchasers for their produce among the lower-class +manufacturers of champagne. In the same way the _petit vin de Chierry_, +dexterously prepared and judiciously mingled with other growths, often +figures as "Fleur de Sillery" or "Ay Mousseux." In reality it is not +until we have passed the ornate modern Gothic château of Boursault, +erected in her declining years by the wealthy Veuve Clicquot, by far the +shrewdest manipulator of the sparkling products of Ay and Bouzy of her +day, and the many towers and turrets of which, rising above umbrageous +trees, crown the loftiest height within eyeshot of Epernay, that we find +ourselves within that charmed circle of vineyards whence champagne--the +wine, not merely of princes, as it has been somewhat obsequiously +termed, but essentially the _vin de société_--is derived. + +The vinelands in the vicinity of Epernay, and consequently near the +Marne, are commonly known as the "Vineyards of the River," whilst those +covering the slopes in the neighbourhood of Reims are termed the +"Vineyards of the Mountain." The Vineyards of the River comprise three +distinct divisions--first, those lining the right bank of the Marne and +enjoying a southern and south-eastern aspect, among which are Ay, +Hautvillers, Cumières, Dizy, and Mareuil; secondly, the Côte d'Epernay +on the left bank of the river, of which Pierry, Moussy, and Vinay form +part; and thirdly, the Côte d'Avize (the region _par excellence_ of +white grapes), which stretches towards the south-east, and includes the +vinelands of Cramant, Avize, Oger, Le Mesnil, and Vertus. The entire +vineyard area is upwards of 40,000 acres. + +The Champagne vineyards most widely celebrated abroad are those of Ay +and Sillery, although the last-named are really the smallest in the +Champagne district. Ay, distant only a few minutes by rail from Epernay, +is in the immediate centre of the vinelands of the river, having Mareuil +and Avenay on the east, and Dizy, Hautvillers, and Cumières on the west. +Sillery, on the other hand, lies at the foot of the so-called Mountain +of Reims, and within an hour's drive of the old cathedral city. + +The pleasantest season of the year to visit the Champagne is certainly +during the vintage. When this is about to commence, the vintagers--some +of whom come from Sainte Menehould, forty miles distant, while others +hail from as far as Lorraine--are summoned at daybreak by beat of drum +in the market-places of the villages adjacent to the vineyards, and then +and there a price is made for the day's labour. This is generally either +a franc and a half, with food consisting of three meals, or two francs +and a half without food, children being paid a franc and a half. The +rate of wage satisfactorily arranged, the gangs start off to the +vineyards, headed by their overseers. + +It was on one of those occasional sunshiny days in the early part of +October (1871) when I first visited Ay, the vineyard of golden plants, +the unique _premier crû_ of the Wines of the River. The road lay between +two rows of closely-planted poplar-trees reaching almost to the village +of Dizy, whose quaint grey church tower, with its gabled roof, is +dominated by the neighbouring vine-clad slopes, which extend from Avenay +to Venteuil, some few miles beyond Hautvillers, the cradle, so to speak, +of the _vin mousseux_ of the Champagne. + +Everywhere was bustle and excitement; every one was big with the +business in hand. In these ordinarily quiet little villages the majority +of the inhabitants were afoot, the feeble feminine half with the +juveniles threading their way through the rows of vines half-way up the +mountain, basket on arm, while the sturdy masculine portion were mostly +passing to and fro between the press-houses and the wine-shops. Carts +piled up with baskets, or crowded with peasants from a distance on their +way to the vineyards, jostled the low railway trucks laden with bran-new +casks, and the somewhat rickety cabriolets of the agents of the big +champagne houses, reduced to clinch their final bargain for a hundred or +more _pièces_ of the peerless wine of Ay, beside the reeking wine-press. + +There was a pleasant air of jollity over all, for in the wine-producing +districts every one participates in the interest excited by the vintage, +which influences the takings of all the artificers and all the +tradespeople, bringing grist to the mill of the baker and the bootmaker, +as well as to the café and the cabaret. The various contending interests +were singularly satisfied, the vintagers getting their two francs and a +half a day, and the men at the pressoirs their three francs and their +food. The plethoric _commissionaires-en-vins_ wiped their perspiring +foreheads with satisfaction at having at last secured the full number of +hogsheads they had been instructed to buy--at a high figure it was true, +still this was no disadvantage to them, as their commission mounted up +all the higher. And, as regarded the small vine proprietors, even the +thickest-skulled among them, who make all their calculations on their +fingers, could see at a glance that they were gainers, for, although the +crop was no more than half an average one, yet, thanks to the +ill-disguised anxiety of the agents to secure all the wine they +required, prices had gradually crept up until they doubled those of +ordinary years, and this with only half the work in the vineyard and at +the wine-press to be done. + +On leaving Dizy the road runs immediately at the base of the vine-clad +slopes, broken up by an occasional conical peak detaching itself from +the mass, and tinted from base to summit with richly-variegated hues, +in which deep purple, yellow, green, grey, and crimson by turns +predominate. Dotting these slopes like a swarm of huge ants are a crowd +of men, women, and children, intent on stripping the vines of their +luscious-looking fruit. The men are mostly in blue blouses, and the +women in closely-fitting neat white caps, or wearing old-fashioned +unbleached straw-bonnets of the contemned coal-scuttle type. They detach +the grapes with scissors or hooked knives, technically termed +"serpettes," and in some vineyards proceed to remove all damaged, +decayed, or unripe fruit from the bunches before placing them in the +baskets hanging on their arms, the contents of which are from time to +time emptied into a larger basket resembling a deep clothes-basket in +shape, numbers of these being dispersed about the vineyard for the +purpose, and invariably in the shade. When filled they are carried by a +couple of men to the roadside, along which dwarf stones carved with +initials, and indicating the boundaries of the respective properties, +are encountered every eight or ten yards, into such narrow strips are +the vineyards divided. Large carts with railed open sides are +continually passing backwards and forwards to pick these baskets up, and +when one of them has secured its load it is driven slowly--in order that +the grapes may not be shaken--to the neighbouring pressoir, so extreme +is the care observed throughout every stage of the process of champagne +manufacture. + +In many of the vineyards the grapes are inspected in bulk instead of in +detail before being sent to the wine-press. The hand-baskets, when +filled, are all brought to a particular spot, where their contents are +minutely examined by some half-dozen men and women, who pluck off all +the bruised, rotten, and unripe berries, and fling them aside into a +separate basket. In one vineyard we came upon a party of girls, +congregated round a wicker sieve perched on the top of a large tub by +the roadside, who were busy sorting the grapes, pruning away the +diseased stalks, and picking off all the doubtful berries, and letting +the latter fall through the interstices of the sieve, the sound fruit +being deposited in large baskets standing by their side, which, as soon +as filled, were conveyed to the pressoir. + + [Illustration: + A VINTAGE SCENE IN THE CHAMPAGNE. (p. 24)] + +The picking ordinarily commences with daylight, and the vintagers assert +that the grapes gathered at sunrise always produce the lightest and most +limpid wine. Moreover by plucking the grapes when the early morning sun +is upon them they are believed to yield a fourth more juice. Later on in +the day, too, spite of all precautions, it is impossible to prevent some +of the detached grapes from partially fermenting, which frequently +suffices to give a slight excess of colour to the must, a thing +especially to be avoided--no matter how rich and ripe the fruit may +be--in a high-class champagne. When the grapes have to be transported in +open baskets for some distance to the press-house, jolting along the +road either in carts or on the backs of mules, and exposed to the torrid +rays of a bright autumnal sun, the juice expressed from the fruit, +however gently the latter may be squeezed, is occasionally of a positive +purple tinge, and consequently useless for conversion into champagne. + +On the right of the road leading from Dizy to Ay we pass a vineyard +called Le Léon, which tradition asserts to be the one whence Pope Leo +the Magnificent, the patron of Michael Angelo, Raffaelle, and Da Vinci, +drew his supply of Ay wine. The village of Ay lies right before us at +the foot of the vine-clad slopes, with the tapering spire of its ancient +church rising above the neighbouring hills and cutting sharply against +the bright blue sky. The vineyards, which spread themselves over a +calcareous declivity, have mostly a full southern aspect, and the +predominating vines are those known as golden plants, the fruit of which +is of a deep purple colour. After these comes the _plant vert doré_, and +then a moderate proportion of the _plant gris_, the latter a white +variety, as its name implies. A limited quantity of wine from white +grapes is likewise made in the neighbouring vineyards of Dizy. + +We visited the pressoir of the principal producer of _vin brut_ at Ay, +who, although the owner of merely five hectares, or about twelve and a +half acres of vines, expected to make as many as 1,500 pièces of wine +that year, mainly of course from grapes purchased from other growers. +One peculiarity of the Champagne district is that, contrary to the +prevailing practice in the other wine-producing regions of France, where +the owner of even a single acre of vines will crush his grapes himself, +only a limited number of vine-proprietors press their own grapes. The +large champagne houses, possessing vineyards, always have their +pressoirs in the neighbourhood, and other large vine-proprietors will +press the grapes they grow, but the multitude of small cultivators +invariably sell the produce of their vineyards to one or other of the +former at a certain rate, either by weight or else per caque, a measure +estimated to hold sixty kilogrammes (equal to 132lbs.) of grapes. The +price which the fruit fetches varies of course according to the quality +of the vintage and the requirements of the manufacturers. In 1873, in +all the higher-class vineyards, as much as two francs and a quarter per +kilogramme (10d. per lb.) were paid, or between treble and quadruple the +average price. And yet the vintage was a most unsatisfactory one owing +to the deficiency of sun and abundance of wet throughout the summer. The +market, however, was in great need of wine, and the fruit while still +ungathered was bought up at most exorbitant prices by the _spéculateurs_ +who supply the _vin brut_ to the champagne manufacturers. + +Carts laden with grapes were continually arriving at the pressoir, and +after discharging their loads, and having them weighed, kept driving off +for fresh ones. Four powerful presses of recent invention, each worked +by a large fly-wheel requiring four sturdy men to turn it, were in +operation. The grapes were spread over the floor of the press in a +compact mass, and on being subjected to pressure--again and again +repeated, the first squeeze only giving a high-class wine--the must +filtered through a wicker basket into the reservoir beneath, whence, +after remaining a certain time to allow of its ridding itself of the +grosser lees, it is pumped through a gutta-percha tube into the casks. +The wooden stoppers of the bungholes, instead of being fixed tightly in +the apertures, are simply laid over them, and after the lapse of ten or +twelve days fermentation usually commences, and during its progress the +must, which is originally of a pale pink tint, fades to a light straw +colour. The wine usually remains undisturbed until Christmas, when it is +drawn off into fresh casks, and delivered to the purchaser. + +On our way from Ay to Mareuil, along the lengthy Rue de Châlons, we +looked in at the little auberge at the corner of the Boulevard du Sud, +where we found a crowd of coopers and others connected in some way with +the vintage taking their cheerful glasses round. The walls of the room +were appropriately enough decorated with capering bacchanals squeezing +bunches of purple grapes and flourishing their thyrsi about in a very +tipsy fashion. All the talk--and there was an abundance of it--had +reference to the yield of this particular vintage and the high rate the +Ay wine had realised. Eight hundred francs the pièce of two hundred +litres, equal to forty-four gallons, appeared to be the price fixed by +the agents of the great champagne houses, and at this figure the bulk of +the vintage was disposed of before a single grape passed through the +wine-press. + +At Mareuil, which is scarcely more than a mile from Ay, owing to the +steepness of the slopes and to the roads through the vineyards being +impracticable for carts, the grapes were being conveyed to the +press-houses in baskets slung across the backs of mules and donkeys, +who, on account of their known partiality for the ripe fruit, were most +of them muzzled while thus employed. The _vin brut_ here, inferior of +course to that of Ay, found a ready market at from five to six hundred +francs the pièce. + + [Illustration] + +From Mareuil we proceeded to Avenay, a tumbledown little village in the +direction of Reims, and the vineyards of which were of greater repute in +the 13th century than they are to-day. Its best wine, extolled by Saint +Evremond, the epicurean Frenchman, who emigrated to the gay court of +Charles II. at Whitehall to escape a gloomy cell in the Bastille, is +vintaged up the slopes of Mont Hurlé. At Avenay we found the yield had +been little more than the third of an average one, and that the wine +from the first pressure of the grapes had been sold for five hundred +francs the pièce. Here we tasted some very fair still red wine, made +from the same grapes as champagne, remarkably deep in colour, full of +body, and with that slight sweet bitterish flavour characteristic of +certain of the better-class growths of the south of France. On leaving +Avenay we ascended the hills to Mutigny, and wound round thence to +Cumières, on the banks of the Marne, finding the vintage in full +operation all throughout the route. The vineyards of Cumières--classed +as a second crû--join those of Hautvillers on the one side and Damery on +the other--the latter a cosy little river-side village, where the "_bon +Roi Henri_" sought relaxation from the turmoils of war in the society of +the fair Anne du Puy--"_sa belle hôtesse_," as the gallant Béarnais was +wont to style her. Damery too claims to be the birthplace of Adrienne +Lecouvreur, the celebrated actress of the Regency, and mistress of the +Maréchal de Saxe who coaxed her out of her £30,000 of savings to enable +him to prosecute his suit with the obese Anna Iwanowna, niece of Peter +the Great, which, had he only been successful in, would have secured the +future hero of Fontenoy the coveted dukedom of Courland. + +The vineyards of the Côte d'Epernay, south of the Marne, extend eastward +from beyond Boursault, on whose wooded height Madame Clicquot built her +fine château, in which her granddaughter, the Comtesse de Mortemart, +to-day resides. They then follow the course of the river, and after +winding round behind Epernay diverge towards the south-west. The vines +produce only black grapes, and many of the vineyards are of great +antiquity, one at Epernay, known as the Closet, having been bequeathed +under that name six and a half centuries ago to a neighbouring Abbey of +St. Martin. A short drive along the high road leading from Epernay to +Troyes brings us to the village of Pierry cosily nestling amongst groves +of poplars in the valley of the Cubry, with some half-score of châteaux +of the last century belonging to well-to-do wine-growers of the +neighbourhood, screened from the road by umbrageous gardens. Vines mount +the slopes that rise around, the higher summits being crowned with +forest, while here and there some pleasant village shelters itself under +the brow of a lofty hill. Near Pierry many cellars have been excavated +in the chalky soil, to the flints prevalent in which the village is said +to owe its name. + + [Illustration] + +The entrances to these cellars are closed by iron gateways, and on the +skirts of the vineyards we come upon whole rows of them picturesquely +overgrown with ivy. Early in the last century the wine vintaged in the +Clos St. Pierre, belonging to an abbey of this name at Châlons, acquired +a high reputation through the care bestowed upon it by Brother Jean +Oudart, whose renown almost rivalled that of Dom Perignon himself, and +to-day the Pierry vineyards, producing exclusively black grapes, hold a +high rank among the second-class crûs of the Marne. + +Crossing the Sourdon, a little stream which, bubbling up in the midst of +huge rocks in the forest of Epernay, rushes down the hills and mingles +its waters with that of the Cubry, we soon reach Moussy, where the +vineyards, spite of their long pedigree and southern aspect, also rank +as a second crû. Still skirting the vine-clad slopes we come to Vinay, +noted for an ancient grotto--the comfortless abode of some rheumatic +anchorite--and a pretended miraculous spring to which fever-stricken +pilgrims to-day credulously resort. The water may possibly merit its +renown, but the wine here produced is very inferior, due no doubt to the +class of vines, the meunier being the leading variety cultivated. At +Ablois St. Martin, picturesquely perched partway up a slope in the midst +of hills covered with vines and crowned with forest trees, the Côte +d'Epernay ends, and the produce becomes of a choicer character. + +The Côte d'Avize lies to the south-east, so that we have to retrace our +steps to Pierry and follow the road which there branches off, leaving +the vineyards of Chavot, Monthelon, and Grauves, of no particular note, +on our right hand. We pass through Cuis, where the slopes, planted with +both black and white varieties of vines, are extremely abrupt, and +eventually reach Cramant, one of the grand _premiers crûs_ of the +Champagne. From the vineyards around this picturesque little village, +and extending along the somewhat precipitous Côte de Saran--a prominent +object on which is M. Moët's handsome château--there is vintaged a wine +from white grapes especially remarkable for lightness and delicacy and +the richness of its bouquet, and an admixture of which is essential to +every first-class champagne _cuvée_. + +From Cramant the road runs direct to Avize, a large thriving village, +lying at the foot of vineyard slopes, where numerous champagne firms +have established themselves. Its prosperity dates from the commencement +of the last century, when the Count de Lhery cleared away the remains of +its ancient ramparts, filled up the moat, and planted the ground with +vines, the produce of which was found admirably suited for the sparkling +wines then coming into vogue. To-day the light delicate wine of Avize is +classed, like that of Cramant, as a _premier crû_. It is the same with +the wine of Oger, lying a little to the south, while the neighbouring +growths of Le Mesnil hold a slightly inferior rank. The latter village +and its grey Gothic church lie under the hill in the midst of vines that +almost climb the forest-crowned summit. The stony soil hereabouts is +said to be better adapted to the cultivation of white than of black +grapes, besides which the wines of Le Mesnil are remarkable for their +effervescent properties. + +Vertus forms the southern limit of the Côte d'Avize, and the vineyard +slopes subsiding at their base into a broad expanse of fertile fields, +and crested as usual with dense forest, rise up behind the picturesque +old town which the English assailed and partly burnt five centuries ago, +spite of its fortifications, of which to-day a dilapidated gateway alone +remains. The church is ancient and curious, and a few quaint old houses +are here and there met with, notably one with a florid Gothic window +enriched with a moulding of grapes and vine-leaves. The vineyards of +Vertus were originally planted with vines from Burgundy, and in the 14th +century yielded a red wine held in high repute, while later on the +Vertus growths formed the favourite beverage of William III. of England. +To-day the growers find it more profitable to make white instead of red +wine from their crops of black grapes, the former commanding a good +price for conversion into _vin mousseux_, it being in the opinion of +some manufacturers especially valuable for binding a _cuvée_ together. +The wine of Vertus ranks among the second-class champagne crûs. + + + + + [Illustration: + CHATEAU OF SILLERY.] + +III.--THE VINEYARDS OF THE MOUNTAIN. + +The Wine of Sillery-- Origin of its Renown-- The Marechale d'Estrées + a successful Marchande de Vin-- From Reims to Sillery-- Failure of + the Jacquesson Vineyards-- Château of Sillery-- Wine Making at + M. Fortel's-- Sillery sec-- The Vintage and Vendangeoirs at + Verzenay-- The Verzy Vineyards-- Edward III. at the Abbey of St. + Basle-- From Reims to Bouzy-- The Herring Procession at St. Remi-- + Rilly, Chigny, and Ludes-- The Knights Templars' "Pot" of Wine-- + Mailly and the View over the Plains of the Champagne-- Wine Making + at Mailly-- The Village in the Wood-- Village and Château of + Louvois-- Louis le Grand's War Minister-- Bouzy, its Vineyards and + Church Steeple, and the Lottery of the Great Gold Ingot-- MM. + Werlé's and Moët and Chandon's Vendangeoirs-- Pressing the Grapes-- + Still Red Bouzy-- Ambonnay-- A Peasant Proprietor-- The Vineyards of + Ville-Dommange and Sacy, Hermonville, and St. Thierry-- The Still + Red Wine of the latter. + + +The smallest of the Champagne vineyards are those of Sillery, and yet no +wine of the Marne enjoys a greater renown, due originally to the +intelligence and energy of the Maréchale d'Estrées, the clever daughter +of a Jew financier, who brought the wine of Sillery prominently into +notice during the latter half of the seventeenth century. She had +vineyards at Mailly, Verzy, and Verzenay, as well as at Sillery, and +concentrated their produce in the capacious cellars of her château, +afterwards sending it forth with her own guarantee, under the general +name of Sillery, which, like Aaron's serpent, thus swallowed up the +others. The Maréchale's social position enabled her to secure for her +wines the recognition they really merited, added to which she was a keen +woman of business. She also possessed much taste, and whenever she gave +one of her rare entertainments nothing could be more exquisite or more +magnificent. At the same time, she was so sordid that when her daughter, +who was covered with jewels, fell down at a ball, her first cry was, not +like Shylock's, "my daughter," but "my diamonds," as rushing forward she +strove to pick up, not the fallen dancer, but her scattered gems. + +The drive from Reims to Sillery has nothing attractive about it. A long, +straight, level road bordered by trees intersects a broad tract of open +country, skirted on the right by the Petite Montagne of Reims, with +antiquated villages nestled among the dense woodland. After crossing the +Châlons line of railway--near where one of the new forts constructed for +the defence of Reims rises up behind the villages and vineyards of +Cernay and Nogent l'Abbesse--the country becomes more undulating. +Poplars border the broad Marne canal, and a low fringe of foliage marks +the course of the languid river Vesle, on the banks of which is Taissy, +famous in the old days for its wines, great favourites with Sully, and +which almost lured Henri Quatre from his allegiance to the vintages of +Ay and Arbois that he loved so well. + +To the left rises Mont de la Pompelle, where the first Christians of +Reims suffered martyrdom, and where in 1658 the Spaniards under Montal, +when attempting to ravage the vineyards of the district, were repulsed +with terrible slaughter by the Remois militia, led on by Grandpré. +A quarter of a century ago the low ground on our right near Sillery was +planted with vines by M. Jacquesson, the owner of the Sillery estate, +and a large champagne manufacturer at Châlons, who was anxious to +resuscitate the ancient reputation of the domain. Under the advice of +Dr. Guyot, the well-known writer on viticulture, he planted the vines in +deep trenches, which led to the vineyards being punningly termed +Jacquesson's _celery_ beds. To shield the vines from hailstorms +prevalent in the district, and the more dangerous spring frosts, +so fatal to vines planted in low-lying situations, long rolls of +straw-matting were stored close at hand with which to roof them over +when needful. These precautions were scarcely needed, however; the vines +languished through moisture at the roots, and eventually were mostly +rooted up. + +After again crossing the railway, we pass the trim, restored turrets of +the famous château of Sillery, with its gateways, moats, and +drawbridges, flanked by trees and floral parterres. It was here that the +Maréchale d'Estrées carried on her successful business as a _marchande +de vins_, and the pragmatic and pedantic Comtesse de Genlis, governess +of the Orleans princes, spent, as she tells us, the happiest days of her +life. The few thriving vineyards of Sillery cover a gentle eminence +which rises out of the plain, and present on the one side an eastern and +on the other a western aspect. To-day the Vicomte de Brimont and +M. Fortel of Reims, the latter of whom cultivates about forty acres of +vines, yielding ordinarily about 300 hogsheads, are the only +wine-growers at Sillery. Before pressing his grapes--of course for +sparkling wine--M. Fortel has them thrown into a trough, at the bottom +of which are a couple of grooved cylinders, each about eight inches in +diameter, and revolving in contrary directions, the effect of which, +when set in motion, is to disengage the grapes partially from their +stalks. Grapes and stalks are then placed under the press, which is on +the old cyder-press principle, and the must runs into a reservoir +beneath, whence it is pumped into large vats, each holding from 250 to +500 gallons. Here it remains from six to eight hours, and is then run +off into casks, the spigots of which are merely laid lightly over the +holes, and in the course of twelve days the wine begins to ferment. It +now rests until the end of the year, when it is drawn off into new casks +and delivered to the buyer, invariably one or other of the great +champagne houses, who willingly pay an exceptionally high price for it. +The second and third pressures of the grapes yield an inferior wine, and +from the husks and stalks _eau-de-vie_, worth about five shillings a +gallon, is distilled. + +The wine known as Sillery sec is a full, dry, pleasant-flavoured, and +somewhat spirituous amber-coloured wine. Very little of it is made +now-a-days, and most that is comes from the adjacent vineyards of +Verzenay and Mailly, and is principally reserved by the growers for +their own consumption. One of these candidly admitted to me that the old +reputation of the wine had exploded, and that better white Bordeaux and +Burgundy wines were to be obtained for less money. In making dry +Sillery, which locally is esteemed as a valuable tonic, it is essential +that the grapes should be subjected to only slight pressure, while to +have it in perfection it is equally essential that the wine should be +kept for ten years in the wood according to some, and eight years in +bottle according to others, to which circumstance its high price is in +all probability to be attributed. In course of time it forms a deposit, +and has the disadvantage common to all the finer still wines of the +Champagne district of not travelling well. + +Beyond Sillery the vineyards of Verzenay unfold themselves, spreading +over the extensive slopes and stretching to the summit of the steep +height to the right, where a windmill or two is perched. Everywhere the +vintagers are busy detaching the grapes with their little hook-shaped +_serpettes_, the women all wearing projecting, close-fitting bonnets, as +though needlessly careful of their anything but blonde complexions. Long +carts laden with baskets of grapes block the narrow roads, and donkeys, +duly muzzled, with baskets slung across their backs, toil up and down +the steeper slopes. Half way up the principal hill, backed by a dense +wood and furrowed with deep trenches, whence soil has been removed for +manuring the vineyards, is the village of Verzenay, overlooking a +veritable sea of vines. Rising up in front of the old grey cottages, +encompassed by orchards or gardens, are the white walls and long red +roofs of the vendangeoirs belonging to the great champagne houses--Moët +and Chandon, Clicquot, G. H. Mumm, Roederer, Deutz and Geldermann, and +others--all teeming with bustle and excitement, and with the vines +almost reaching to their very doors. Moët and Chandon have as many as +eight presses in full work, and own no less than 120 acres of vines on +the neighbouring slopes, besides the Clos de Romont--in the direction of +Sillery, and yielding a wine of the Sillery type--belonging to M. Moët +Romont. At Messrs. G. H. Mumm's the newly-delivered grapes are either +being weighed and emptied into one of the pressoirs, or else receiving +their first gentle squeeze. Verzenay ranks as a _premier crû_, and for +three years in succession--1872, 3, and 4--its wines fetched a higher +price than either those of Ay or Bouzy. In 1873 the _vin brut_ commanded +the exceptionally large sum of 1,030 francs the hogshead of 44 gallons. +All the inhabitants of Verzenay are vine proprietors, and several +million francs are annually received by them for the produce of their +vineyards from the manufacturers of champagne. The wine of Verzenay, +remarkable for its body and vinosity, has always been held in high +repute, which is more than can be said for the probity of the +inhabitants, for according to an old Champagne saying--"Whenever at +Verzenay 'Stop thief' is cried every one takes to his heels." + +Just over the mountain of Reims is the village of Verzy, the vineyards +of which adjoin those of Verzenay, and are almost exclusively planted +with white grapes, the only instance of the kind to be met with in the +district. In the clos St. Basse, however--taking its name from the abbey +of St. Basle, of which the village was a dependency, and where Edward +III. of England had his head-quarters during the siege of Reims--black +grapes alone are grown, and its produce is almost on a par with the +wines of Verzenay. Southwards of Verzy are the third-class crûs of +Villers-Marmery and Trépail. + + [Illustration: + THE VINEYARDS OF VERZENAY. (p. 36.)] + +On leaving Reims on our excursion to the vineyards of Bouzy we pass the +quaint old church of St. Remi, one of the sights of the Champagne +capital, and notable among other things for its magnificent ancient +stained-glass windows, and the handsome modern tomb of the popular +Remois saint. It was here in the middle ages that that piece of priestly +mummery, the procession of the herrings, used to take place at dusk on +the Wednesday before Easter. Preceded by a cross the canons of the +church marched in double file up the aisles, each trailing a cord after +him, with a herring attached. Every one's object was to tread on the +herring in front of him, and prevent his own herring from being trodden +upon by the canon who followed behind--a difficult enough proceeding +which, if it did not edify, certainly afforded much amusement to the +lookers-on. + +Soon after crossing the canal and the river Vesle we leave the grey +antiquated-looking village of Cormontreuil on our left, and traverse a +wide stretch of cultivated country streaked with patches of woodland. +Occasional windmills dot the distant heights, while villages nestle +among the trees up the mountain sides and in the quiet hollows. Soon a +few vineyards occupying the lower slopes, and thronged by bands of +vintagers, come in sight, and the country too gets more picturesque. We +pass successively on our right hand Rilly, producing a capital red wine, +then Chigny, and afterwards Ludes, all three more or less up the +mountain, with vines in all directions, relieved by a dark background of +forest trees. In the old days the Knights Templars of the Commanderie of +Reims had the right of _vinage_ at Ludes, and exacted their modest "pot" +(about half a gallon) per pièce on all the wine the village produced. On +our left hand is Mailly, the vineyards of which join those of Verzenay, +and yield a wine noted for _finesse_ and bouquet. From the wooded knolls +hereabouts a view is gained of the broad plains of the Champagne, dotted +with white villages and scattered homesteads among the poplars and the +limes, the winding Vesle glittering in the sunlight, and the dark towers +of Notre Dame de Reims, with all their rich Gothic fretwork, rising +majestically above the distant city. + +At one vendangeoir we visited at Mailly between 350 and 400 pièces of +wine were being made at the rate of some thirty pièces during the long +day of twenty hours, five men being engaged in working the old-fashioned +press, closely resembling a cyder press, and applying its pressure +longitudinally. The must was emptied into large vats, holding about 450 +gallons, and remained there for two or three days before being drawn off +into casks. Of the above thirty pièces, twenty resulting from the first +pressure were of the finest quality, four produced by the second +pressure were partly reserved to replace what the first might lose +during fermentation, the residue serving for second-class champagne. The +six pièces which came from the final pressure, after being mixed with +common wine of the district, were converted into champagne of inferior +quality. + +We now cross the mountain, sight Ville-en-Selve--the village in the +wood--among the distant trees, and eventually reach Louvois, whence the +Grand Monarque's domineering war minister derived his marquisate, and +where his château, a plain but capacious edifice, may still be seen +nestled in a picturesque and fertile valley, and surrounded by lordly +pleasure grounds. Soon afterwards the vineyards of Bouzy appear in +sight, with the prosperous-looking little village rising out of the +plain at the foot of the vine-clad slopes stretching to Ambonnay, and +the glittering Marne streaking the hazy distance. The commodious new +church was indebted for its spire, we were told, to the lucky +gainer--who chanced to be a native of Bouzy--of the great gold ingot +lottery prize, value £16,000, drawn some years ago. The Bouzy vineyards +occupy a series of gentle inclines, and have the advantage of a full +southern aspect. The soil, which is of the customary calcareous +formation, has a marked ruddy tinge, indicative of the presence of iron, +to which the wine is in some degree indebted for its distinguishing +characteristics--its delicacy, spirituousness, and pleasant bouquet. +Vintagers are passing slowly in between the vines, and carts laden with +grapes come rolling over the dusty roads. The mountain which rises +behind is scored up its sides and fringed with foliage at its summit, +and a small stone bridge crosses the deep ravine formed by the swift +descending winter torrents. + + [Illustration: + THE VINEYARDS OF BOUZY. (p. 38.)] + + [Illustration: + PRESSING GRAPES AT M. WERLÉ'S VENDANGEOIR AT BOUZY. (p. 39)] + +The principal vineyard proprietors at Bouzy, which ranks, of course, as +a _premier crû_, are M. Werlé, M. Irroy, and Messrs. Moët and Chandon, +the first and last of whom have capacious vendangeoirs here, M. Irroy's +pressing-house being in the neighbouring village of Ambonnay. M. Werlé +possesses at Bouzy from forty to fifty acres of the finest vines, +forming a considerable proportion of the entire vineyard area. At the +Clicquot-Werlé vendangeoir, containing as many as eight presses, about +1,000 pièces of wine are made annually. At the time of our visit, grapes +gathered that morning were in course of delivery, the big basketfuls +being measured off in caques--wooden receptacles, holding two-and-twenty +gallons--while the florid-faced foreman ticked them off with a piece of +chalk on the head of an adjacent cask. + +As soon as the contents of some half-hundred or so of these baskets had +been emptied on to the floor of the press, the grapes undetached from +their stalks were smoothed compactly down, and a moderate pressure was +applied to them by turning a huge wheel, which caused the screw of the +press to act--a gradual squeeze rather than a powerful one, and given +all at once, coaxing out, it was said, the finer qualities of the fruit. +The operation was repeated as many as six times; the yield from the +three first pressures being reserved for conversion into champagne, +while the result of the fourth squeeze would be applied to replenishing +the loss, averaging 7½ per cent., sustained by the must during +fermentation. Whatever comes from the fifth pressure is sold to make an +inferior champagne. The grapes are subsequently well raked about, and +then subjected to a couple of final squeezes, known as the _rébêche_, +and yielding a sort of _piquette_, given to the workmen employed at the +pressoir to drink. + +The small quantity of still red Bouzy wine made by M. Werlé at the same +vendangeoir only claims to be regarded as a wine of especial mark in +good years. The grapes before being placed beneath the press are allowed +to remain in a vat for as many as eight days. The must undergoes a long +fermentation, and after being drawn off into casks is left undisturbed +for a couple of years. In bottle, where, by the way, it invariably +deposits a sediment, which is indeed the case with all the wines of the +Champagne, still or sparkling, it will outlive, we were told, any +Burgundy. + +Still red Bouzy has a marked and agreeable bouquet and a most delicate +flavour, is deliciously smooth to the palate, and to all appearances as +light as a wine of Bordeaux, while in reality it is quite as strong as +Burgundy, to the finer crûs of which it bears a slight resemblance. It +was, I learnt, most susceptible to travelling, a mere journey to Paris +being, it was said, sufficient to sicken it, and impart such a shock to +its delicate constitution that it was unlikely to recover from it. To +attain perfection, this wine, which is what the French term a _vin vif_, +penetrating into the remotest corners of the organ of taste, requires to +be kept a couple of years in wood and half-a-dozen or more years in +bottle. + +From Bouzy it was only a short distance along the base of the vine +slopes to Ambonnay, where there are merely two or three hundred acres of +vines, and where we found the vintage almost over. The village is girt +with fir trees, and surrounded by rising ground fringed with solid belts +or slender strips of foliage. An occasional windmill cuts against the +horizon, which is bounded here and there by scattered trees. Inquiring +for the largest vine proprietor we were directed to an open +porte-cochère, and on entering the large court encountered half-a-dozen +labouring men engaged in various farm occupations. Addressing one whom +we took to be the foreman, he referred us to a wiry little old man, in +shirt-sleeves and sabots, absorbed in the refreshing pursuit of turning +over a big heap of rich manure with a fork. He proved to be M. Oury, the +owner of I forget how many acres of vines, and a remarkably intelligent +peasant, considering what dunderheads the French peasants as a rule are, +who had raised himself to the position of a large vine proprietor. +Doffing his sabots and donning a clean blouse, he conducted us into his +little salon, a freshly-painted apartment about eight feet square, of +which the huge fireplace occupied fully one-third, and submitted +patiently to our catechizing. + +At Ambonnay, as at Bouzy, they had that year, M. Oury said, only half an +average crop; the caque of grapes had, moreover, sold for exactly the +same price at both places, and the wine had realised about 800 francs +the pièce. Each hectare (2½ acres) of vines had yielded 45 caques of +grapes, weighing some 2¾ tons, which produced 6½ pièces, equal to 286 +gallons of wine, or at the rate of 110 gallons per acre. Here the grapes +were pressed four times, the yield from the second pressure being used +principally to make good the loss which the first sustained during its +fermentation. As the squeezes given were powerful ones, all the best +qualities of the grapes were by this time extracted, and the yield from +the third and fourth pressures would not command more than 80 francs the +pièce. The vintagers who came from a distance received either a franc +and a half per day and their food, consisting of three meals, or two +francs and a half without food, the children being paid thirty sous. +M. Oury further informed us that every year vineyards came into the +market, and found ready purchasers at from fifteen to twenty thousand +francs the hectare, equal to an average price of £300 the acre. Owing to +the properties being divided into such infinitesimal portions, they were +rarely bought up by the large champagne houses, who preferred not to be +embarrassed with the cultivation of such tiny plots, but to buy the +produce from their owners. + +There are other vineyards of lesser note in the neighbourhood of Reims +producing very fair wines which enter more or less into the composition +of champagne. Noticeable among these are Ville-Dommange and Sacy, +south-west of Reims, and Hermonville and St. Thierry--where the Black +Prince took up his quarters during the siege of Reims--north-west of the +city. The still red wine of St. Thierry, which recalls the growths of +the Médoc by its tannin, and those of the Côte d'Or by its vinosity, is +to-day almost a thing of the past, it being found here as elsewhere more +profitable to press the grapes for sparkling in preference to still +wine. + + + + [Illustration] + +IV.--THE VINES OF THE CHAMPAGNE AND THE SYSTEM OF CULTIVATION. + +The Vines chiefly of the Pineau Variety-- The Plant doré of Ay, the + Plant vert doré, the Plant gris, and the Epinette-- The Soil of the + Vineyards-- Close Mode of Plantation-- The Operation of Provinage-- + The Stems of the Vines never more than Three Years Old-- Fixing the + Stakes to the Vines-- Manuring and General Cultivation-- Spring + Frosts in the Champagne-- Various Modes of Protecting the Vines + against them-- Dr. Guyot's System-- The Parasites that Prey upon the + Vines. + + +In the Champagne the old rule holds good--poor soil, rich product; grand +wine in moderate quantity. Four descriptions of vines are chiefly +cultivated, three of them yielding black grapes, and all belonging to +the Pineau variety, from which the grand Burgundy wines are produced, +and so styled from the clusters taking the conical form of the pine. The +first is the franc pineau, the plant doré of Ay, producing small round +grapes, with thickish skins of a bluish black tint, and sweet and +refined in flavour. The next is the plant vert doré, more robust and +more productive than the former, but yielding a less generous wine, and +the berries of which are dark and oval, very thin skinned and remarkably +sweet and juicy. The third variety is the plant gris, or burot, as it is +styled in the Côte d'Or, a somewhat delicate vine, whose fruit has a +brownish tinge, and yields a light and perfumed wine. The remaining +species is a white grape known as the épinette, a variety of the pineau +blanc, and supposed by some to be identical with the chardonnet of +Burgundy, which yields the famous wine of Montrachet. It is met with all +along the Côte d'Avize, notably at Cramant, the delicate and elegant +wine of which ranks immediately after that of Ay and Verzenay. The +épinette is a prolific bearer, and its round transparent golden berries, +which hang in no very compact clusters, are both juicy and sweet. It +ripens, however, much later than either of the black varieties. + +There are several other species of vines cultivated in the Champagne +vineyards, notably the common meunier, or miller, bearing black grapes, +and prevalent in the valley of Epernay, and which takes its name from +the circumstance of the young leaves appearing to have been sprinkled +with flour. There are also the black and white gouais, the meslier, +a prolific white variety yielding a wine of fair quality, the black and +white gamais, the leading grape in the Mâconnais, and chiefly found in +the Vertus vineyards, together with the tourlon, the marmot, and half a +score of others. + +The soil of the Champagne vineyards is chalk, with a mixture of silica +and light clay, combined with a varying proportion of oxide of iron. The +vines are almost invariably planted on rising ground, the lower slopes +which usually escape the spring frosts producing the best wines. The new +vines are placed very close together, there often being as many as six +within a square yard. When two or three years old they are ready for the +operation of provinage universally practised in the Champagne, and which +consists in burying in a trench, from 6 to 8 inches deep, dug on one +side of the plant, the two lowest buds of the two principal shoots, left +when the vine was pruned for this especial purpose. The shoots thus laid +underground are dressed with a light manure, and in course of time take +root and form new vines, which bear during their second year. This +operation is performed in the spring, and is annually repeated until the +vine is five years old, the plants thus being in a state of continual +progression, a system which accounts for the juvenescent aspect of the +Champagne vineyards, where none of the wood of the vines showing +aboveground is more than three years old. When the vine has attained its +fifth year it is allowed to rest for a couple of years, and then the +pruning is resumed, the shoots being dispersed in any direction +throughout the vineyard. The plants remain in this condition +henceforward, merely requiring to be renewed from time to time by +judicious provining. + + [Illustration] + +The vines are supported by stakes, when of oak costing sixty francs the +thousand; and as in the Champagne a close system of plantation is +followed, no less than 24,000 stakes are required on every acre of land, +making the cost per acre of propping up the vines upwards of £57, or +double what it is in the Médoc and quadruple what it is in Burgundy. +These stakes are set up in the spring of the year by men or women, the +former of whom force them into the ground by pressing against them with +their chest, which is protected with a shield of stout leather. The +women use a mallet, or have recourse to a special appliance, in working +which the foot plays the principal part. The latter method is the least +fatiguing, and in some localities is practised by the men. An expert +labourer will set up as many as 5,000 of these stakes in the course of +the day. After the vines have been hoed around their roots they are +secured to the stakes, and the tops are broken off at a shoot to prevent +them from growing above the regulation height, which is ordinarily from +30 to 33 inches. They are liberally manured with a kind of compost +formed of the loose friable soil dug out from the sides of the mountain, +and of supposed volcanic origin, mixed with animal and vegetable refuse. +The vines are shortened back while in flower, and in the course of the +summer the ground is hoed a second and a third time, the object being, +first, to destroy the superficial roots of the vines and force the +plants to live solely on their deep roots; and, secondly, to remove all +pernicious weeds from round about them. After the third hoeing, which +takes place in the middle of August, the vines are left to themselves +until the period of the vintage. When this is over the stakes supporting +the vines are pulled up and stacked in compact masses, with their ends +out of the ground, the vine, which is left curled up in a heap, +remaining undisturbed until the winter, when the earth around it is +loosened. In the month of February it is pruned and sunk into the earth, +as already described, so as to leave only the new wood aboveground. +Owing to the vines being planted so closely together they starve one +another, and numbers of them perish. When this is the case, or the stems +get broken during the vintage, their places are filled up by provining. + + [Illustration] + +The vignerons of the Champagne regard the numerous stakes which support +the vines as affording some protection against the white frosts of the +spring. To guard against the dreaded effects of these frosts, which +invariably occur between early dawn and sunrise, and the loss arising +from which is estimated to amount annually to 25 per cent. some of the +cultivators place heaps of hay, faggots, dead leaves, &c., about twenty +yards apart, taking care to keep them moderately damp. When a frost is +feared the heaps on the side of the vineyard whence the wind blows are +set light to, whereupon the dense smoke which rises spreads horizontally +over the vines, producing the same result as an actual cloud, +intercepting the rays of the sun, warming the atmosphere, and converting +the frost into dew. Among other methods adopted to shield the vines from +frosts is the joining of branches of broom together in the form of a +fan, and afterwards fastening them to the end of a pole, which is placed +obliquely in the ground, so that the fan may incline over the vine and +protect it from the sun's rays. A single labourer can plant, it is said, +as many as eight thousand of these fans in the ground in the course of a +long day. + +Dr. Guyot's system of roofing the vines with straw matting, to protect +them alike against frost and hailstorms, is very generally followed in +low situations in the Champagne, the value of the wine admitting of so +considerable an expense being incurred. This matting, which is about a +foot and a half in width, and in rolls of great length, is fastened +either with twine or wire to the vine stakes, and it is estimated that +half-a-dozen men can fix nearly 11,000 yards of it, or sufficient to +roof over 2½ acres of vines, during an ordinary day. + +Owing to the system of cultivation by rejuvenescence, and the constant +replenishing of the soil by well-compounded manures, the Champenois +winegrowers entertain great hopes that their vineyards will escape the +ravages of the phylloxera vastatrix. According to Dr. Plonquet of Ay +they are already the prey of no less than fifteen varieties of insects, +which feed upon the leaves, stalks, roots, or fruit of the vines. +Between 1850 and 1860 the vineyards of Ay were devastated by the pyrale, +a species of caterpillar, which feeds on the young leaves and shoots +until the vine is left completely bare. The insect eventually becomes +transformed into a small white butterfly, and deposits its eggs either +in the crevices of the stakes or in the stalks of the vine. All the +efforts made to rid the vineyards of this scourge proved ineffectual +until the wet and cold weather of 1860 put a stop to the insect's +ravages. More recently it has been discovered that its attacks can be +checked by sulphurous acid. + + [Illustration] + + + + + [Illustration] + +V.--PREPARATION OF CHAMPAGNE. + +Treatment of Champagne after it comes from the Wine-Press-- Racking + and Blending of the Wine-- Deficiency and Excess of Effervescence-- + Strength and Form of Champagne Bottles-- The "Tirage" or Bottling of + the Wine-- The Process of Gas-making commences-- Inevitable Breakage + follows-- Wine Stacked in Piles-- Formation of Sediment-- Bottles + placed "sur pointe" and Daily Shaken-- Effect of this occupation on + those incessantly engaged in it-- "Claws" and "Masks"-- Champagne + Cellars-- Their Construction and Aspect-- Transforming the "vin + brut" into Champagne-- Disgorging and Liqueuring the Wine-- The + Corking, Stringing, Wiring, and Amalgamating-- The Wine's Agitated + Existence comes to an End-- The Bottles have their Toilettes made-- + Champagne sets out on its beneficial Pilgrimage. + + +The special characteristic of champagne is that its manufacture only +just commences where that of other wines ordinarily ends. The must flows +direct from the press into capacious reservoirs, whence it is drawn off +into large vats, and after being allowed to clear, is transferred to +casks holding some forty-four gallons each. Although the bulk of the +new-made wine is left to repose at the vendangeoirs until the +commencement of the following year, still when the vintage is over +numbers of long narrow carts laden with casks of it are to be seen +rolling along the dusty highways leading to those towns and villages in +the Marne where the manufacture of champagne is carried on. Chief +amongst these is the cathedral city of Reims, after which comes the +rising town of Epernay, stretching to the very verge of the river, then +Ay, nestled between the vine-clad slopes and the Marne canal, with the +neighbouring village of Mareuil, and finally Avize, in the centre of the +white grape district southwards of Epernay. Châlons, owing to its +distance from the vineyards, would scarcely draw its supply of wine +until the new year. The first fermentation lasts from a fortnight to a +month, according as to whether the wine be _mou_--that is, rich in +sugar--or the reverse. In the former case fermentation naturally lasts +much longer than when the wine is _vert_ or green. This active +fermentation is converted into latent fermentation by transferring the +wine to a cooler cellar, as it is essential it should retain a large +proportion of its natural saccharine to ensure its future effervescence. +The casks have previously been completely filled, and their bungholes +tightly stopped, a necessary precaution to guard the wine from absorbing +oxygen, the effect of which would be to turn it yellow and cause it to +lose some of its lightness and perfume. After being racked and fined, +the produce of the different vineyards is now ready for mixing together +in accordance with the traditional theories of the various +manufacturers, and should the vintage have been an indifferent one a +certain proportion of old reserved wine of a good year enters into the +blend. + +The mixing is usually effected in gigantic vats holding at times as many +as 12,000 gallons each, and having fan-shaped appliances inside, which, +on being worked by handles, ensure a complete amalgamation of the wine. +This process of marrying wine on a gigantic scale is technically known +as making the _cuvée_. Usually four-fifths of wine from black grapes are +tempered by one-fifth of the juice of white ones. It is necessary that +the first should comprise a more or less powerful dash of the finer +growths both of the Mountain of Reims and of the River, while, as +regards the latter, one or other of the delicate vintages of the Côte +d'Avize is essential to the perfect _cuvée_. The aim is to combine and +develop the special qualities of the respective crûs, body and vinosity +being secured by the red vintages of Bouzy and Verzenay, softness and +roundness by those of Ay and Dizy, and lightness, delicacy, and +effervescence by the white growths of Avize and Cramant. The proportions +are never absolute, but vary according to the manufacturer's style of +wine and the taste of the countries which form his principal markets. +The wine at this period being imperfectly fermented and crude, the +reader may imagine the delicacy and discrimination of palate requisite +to judge of the flavour, finesse, and bouquet which the _cuvée_ is +likely eventually to develop. + +These, however, are not the only matters to be considered. There is, +above everything, the effervescence, which depends upon the quantity of +carbonic acid gas the wine contains, and this, in turn, upon the amount +of its natural saccharine. If the gas be present in excess, there will +be a shattering of bottles and a flooding of cellars; and if there be a +paucity the corks will refuse to pop, and the wine to sparkle aright in +the glass. Therefore the amount of saccharine in the _cuvée_ has to be +accurately ascertained by means of a glucometer; and if it fails to +reach the required standard, the deficiency is made up by the addition +of the purest sugar-candy. If, on the other hand, there be an excess of +saccharine, the only thing to be done is to defer the final blending and +bottling until the superfluous saccharine matter has been absorbed by +fermentation in the cask. + +The _cuvée_ completed, the blended wine, now resembling in taste and +colour an ordinary acrid white wine, and giving to the uninitiated +palate no promise of the exquisite delicacy and aroma it is destined to +develop, is drawn off again into casks for further treatment. This +comprises fining with some gelatinous substance, and, as a precaution +against ropiness and other maladies, liquid tannin is at the same time +frequently added to supply the place of the natural tannin which has +departed from the wine with its reddish hue at the epoch of its first +fermentation. + +The operation of bottling the wine next ensues, when the Scriptural +advice not to put new wine into old bottles is rigorously followed. For +the tremendous pressure of the gas engendered during the subsequent +fermentation of the wine is such that the bottle becomes weakened and +can never be safely trusted again. It is because of this pressure that +the champagne bottle is one of the strongest made, as indicated by its +weight, which is almost a couple of pounds. To ensure this unusual +strength it is necessary that its sides should be of equal thickness and +the bottom of a uniform solidity throughout, in order that no particular +expansion may ensue from sudden changes of temperature. The neck must, +moreover, be perfectly round and widen gradually towards the shoulder. +In addition--and this is of the utmost consequence--the inside ought to +be perfectly smooth, as a rough interior causes the gas to make efforts +to escape, and thus renders an explosion imminent. The composition of +the glass, too, is not without its importance, as a manufactory +established for the production of glass by a new process turned out +champagne bottles charged with alkaline sulphurets, and the consequence +was that an entire _cuvée_ was ruined by their use, through the +reciprocal action of the wine and these sulphurets. The acids of the +former disengaged hydrosulphuric acid, and instead of champagne the +result was a new species of mineral water. + +Most of the bottles used for champagnes come from the factories of +Loivre (which supplies the largest quantity), Folembray, Vauxrot, and +Quiquengrogne, and cost on the average from 28 to 30 francs the hundred. +They are generally tested by a practised hand, who, by knocking them +sharply together, professes to be able to tell from the sound that they +give the substance of the glass and its temper. The washing of the +bottles is invariably performed by women, who at the larger +establishments accomplish it with the aid of machines, sometimes +provided with a revolving brush, although small glass beads are more +generally used by preference. After being washed every bottle is +minutely examined to make certain of its perfect purity. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +With the different champagne houses the mode of bottling the wine, which +may take place any time between April and August, varies in some +measure, still the _tirage_, as this operation is called, is ordinarily +effected as follows:--The wine is emptied from the casks into vats or +tuns of varying capacity, whence it flows through pipes into oblong +reservoirs, each provided with a row of syphon taps, on to which the +bottles are slipped, and from which the wine ceases to flow directly the +bottles become filled. Men or lads remove the full bottles, replacing +them by empty ones, while other hands convey them to the corkers, whose +guillotine machines are incessantly in motion; next the _agrafeurs_ +secure the corks by means of an iron staple, termed an agrafe; and then +the bottles are conveyed either to a capacious apartment aboveground, +known as a cellier, or to a cool cellar, according to the number of +atmospheres the wine may indicate. It should be explained that air +compressed to half its volume acquires twice its ordinary force, and to +a quarter of its volume quadruple this force--hence the phrase of two, +four, or more atmospheres. The exact degree of pressure is readily +ascertained by means of a manometer, an instrument resembling a pressure +gauge, with a hollow screw at the base which is driven through the cork +of the bottle. A pressure of 5¾ atmospheres constitutes what is styled a +"grand mousseux," and the wine exhibiting it may be safely conveyed to +the coolest subterranean depths, for no doubt need be entertained as to +its future effervescent properties. Should the pressure, however, +scarcely exceed 4 atmospheres, it is advisable to keep the wine in a +cellier aboveground that it may more rapidly acquire the requisite +sparkling qualities. If fewer than 4 atmospheres are indicated it would +be necessary to pour the wine back into the casks again, and add a +certain amount of cane sugar to it, but such an eventuality very rarely +happens, thanks to the scientific formulas and apparatus which enable +the degree of pressure the wine will show to be determined beforehand to +a nicety. Still mistakes are sometimes made, and there are instances +where charcoal fires have had to be lighted in the cellars to encourage +the effervescence to develop itself. + +The bottles are placed in a horizontal position and stacked in rows of +varying length and depth, one above the other, to about the height of a +man, and with narrow laths between them. Thus they will spend the summer +providing all goes well, but in about three weeks' time the process of +gas-making inside the bottles is at its height, and may cause an undue +number of them to burst. The glucometer notwithstanding, it is +impossible to check a certain amount of breakage, especially when a hot +season has caused the grapes, and consequently the raw wine, to be +sweeter than usual. Moreover when once _casse_ or breakage sets in on a +large scale, the temperature of the cellar is raised by the volume of +carbonic acid gas let loose, which is not without its effect on the +remaining bottles. The only remedy is at once to remove the wine to a +lower temperature when this is practicable. A manufacturer of the +pre-scientific days of the last century relates how one year, when the +wine was rich and strong, he only preserved 120 out of 6,000 bottles; +and it is not long since that 120,000 out of 200,000 were destroyed in +the cellars of a well-known champagne firm. Over-knowing purchasers +still affect to select a wine which has exploded in the largest +proportion as being well up to the mark as regards its effervescence, +and profess to make inquiries as to its performances in this direction. + +It is evident that in spite of the teachings of science the bursting of +champagne bottles has not yet been reduced to a minimum, for whereas in +some cellars it averages 7 and 8 per cent., in others it rarely exceeds +2½ or 3. In the month of October, the first and severest breakage being +over, the newly-bottled wine is definitively stacked in the cellars in +piles from two to half-a-dozen bottles deep, from six to seven feet +high, and frequently a hundred feet or upwards in length. Usually the +bottles remain in their horizontal position for about eighteen or twenty +months, though some firms, who pride themselves upon shipping perfectly +matured wines, leave them thus for double this space of time. All this +while the temperature to which the wine is exposed is, as far as +practicable, carefully regulated; for the risk of breakage, though +greatly diminished, is never entirely at an end. + + [Illustration] + +By this time the fermentation is over, but in the interval, commencing +from a few days after the bottling of the wine, a loose dark-brown +sediment has been forming which has now settled on the lower side of the +bottle, and to get rid of which is a delicate and tedious task. The +bottles are placed _sur pointe_, as it is termed--that is to say, +slantingly in racks with their necks downwards, the inclination being +increased from time to time to one more abrupt. The object of this +change in their position is to cause the sediment to leave the side of +the bottle where it has gathered; it afterwards becomes necessary to +twist and turn it, and coagulate it, as it were, until it forms a kind +of muddy ball, and eventually to get it well down into the neck of the +bottle, so that it may be finally expelled with a bang when the +temporary cork is removed and the proper one adjusted. To accomplish +this the bottles are sharply turned in one direction every day for at +least a month or six weeks, the time being indefinitely extended until +the sediment shows a disposition to settle near the cork. The younger +the wine the longer the period necessary for the bottles to be shaken, +new wine often requiring as much as three months. Only a thoroughly +practised hand can give the right amount of revolution and the requisite +degree of slope; and in some of the cellars that we visited men were +pointed out to us who had acquired such dexterity as to be able at a +pinch to shake with their two hands as many as 50,000 bottles in a +single day. + +Some of these men have spent thirty or forty years of their lives +engaged in this perpetual task. Fancy being entombed all alone day after +day in vaults which are invariably dark and gloomy, and often cold and +dank, and being obliged to twist sixty to seventy of these bottles every +minute throughout the day of twelve hours. Why the treadmill and the +crank with their periodical respites must be pastime compared to this +maddeningly monotonous occupation, which combines hard labour, with the +wrist at any rate, with next to solitary confinement. One can understand +these men becoming gloomy and taciturn, and affirming that they +sometimes see devils hovering over the bottle-racks and frantically +shaking the bottles beside them, or else grinning at them as they pursue +their humdrum task. Still it may be taken for granted that the men who +reach this stage are accustomed to drink freely of raw spirits, and +merely pay the penalty resulting from over-indulgence. + + [Illustration] + +In former times the bottles used to be placed with their heads downwards +on tables pierced with holes, from which they had to be removed and +agitated. In 1818, however, a man named Muller, in the employment of +Madame Clicquot, suggested that the bottles should remain in the tables +whilst being shaken, and further that the holes should be cut obliquely +so that the bottles might recline at varying angles. His suggestions +were privately adopted by Madame Clicquot, but eventually the improved +plan got wind, and the system now prevails throughout the Champagne. +When the bottles have gone through their regular course of shaking they +are examined before a lighted candle to ascertain whether the deposit +has fallen and the wine become perfectly clear. Sometimes it happens +that, twist these men never so wisely, the deposit refuses to stir, and +takes the shape of a bunch of thread technically called a "claw," or an +adherent mass styled a "mask." When this is the case an attempt is made +to start it by tapping the part to which it adheres with a piece of +iron, the result being frequently the sudden explosion of the bottle. As +a precaution, therefore, the workman protects his face with a wire-mask +or gigantic wire spectacles, which give to him a ghoul-like aspect. + + [Illustration] + +The cellars of the champagne manufacturers are very varied in character. +The wine that has been grown on the chalky hills undergoes development +in vaults burrowed out of the calcareous strata underlying the entire +district. In excavating these cellars the sides and roofs are frequently +worked smooth and regular as finished masonry. The larger ones are +composed of a number of spacious and lofty galleries, sometimes parallel +with each other, but often ramifying in various directions, and +evidently constructed on no definite plan. They are of one, two, and, in +rare instances, of three stories, and now and then consist of a series +of parallel galleries communicating with each other, lined with masonry, +and with their stone walls and vaulted roofs resembling the crypt of +some conventual building. Others of ancient date are less regular in +their form, being merely so many narrow low winding corridors, varied, +perhaps, by recesses hewn roughly out of the chalk, and resembling the +brigands' cave of the melodrama, while a certain number of the larger +cellars at Reims are simply abandoned quarries, the broad and lofty +arches of which are suggestive of the nave and aisles of some Gothic +church. In these varied vaults, lighted by solitary lamps in front of +metal reflectors, or by the flickering tallow candles which we carry in +our hands, we pass rows of casks filled with last year's vintage or +reserved wine of former years, and piles after piles of bottles of _vin +brut_ in seemingly endless sequence--squares, so to speak, of raw +champagne recruits awaiting their turn to be thoroughly drilled and +disciplined. These are varied by bottles reposing necks downwards in +racks at different degrees of inclination according to the progress +their education has attained. Reports caused by exploding bottles now +and then assail the ear, and as the echo dies away it becomes mingled +with the rush of the escaping wine, cascading down the pile and finding +its way across the sloping sides of the floor to the narrow gutter in +the centre. The dampness of the floor and the shattered fragments of +glass strewn about show the frequency of this kind of accident. The +spilt wine, which flows along the gutter into reservoirs, is usually +thrown away, though there is a story current to the effect that the head +of one Epernay firm cooks nearly everything consumed in his house in the +fluid thus let loose in his cellars. + +In these subterranean galleries we frequently come upon parties of +workmen engaged in transforming the perfected _vin brut_ into champagne. +Viewed at a distance while occupied in their monotonous task, they +present in the semi-obscurity a series of picturesque Rembrandt-like +studies. One of the end figures in each group is engaged in the +important process of _dégorgement_, which is performed when the deposit, +of which we have already spoken, has satisfactorily settled in the neck +of the bottle. Baskets full of bottles with their necks downwards are +placed beside the operator, who stands before an apparatus resembling a +cask divided vertically down the middle. This nimble-figured manipulator +seizes a bottle, holds it for a moment before the light to test the +clearness of the wine and the subsidence of the deposit; brings it, +still neck downwards, over a small tub at the bottom of the apparatus +already mentioned; and with a jerk of the steel hook which he holds in +his right hand loosens the _agrafe_ securing the cork, Bang goes the +latter, and with it flies out the sediment and a small glassful or so of +wine, further flow being checked by the workman's finger, which also +serves to remove any sediment yet remaining in the bottle's neck. Like +many other clever tricks, this looks very easy when adroitly performed, +though a novice would probably empty the bottle by the time he had +discovered that the cork was out. Occasionally a bottle bursts in the +_dégorgeur's_ hand, and his face is sometimes scarred from such +explosions. The sediment removed, he slips a temporary cork into the +bottle, and the wine is ready for the important operation of the +_dosage_, upon the nature and amount of which the character of the +perfected wine, whether it be dry or sweet, light or strong, very much +depends. + +Different manufacturers have different recipes, more or less complex in +character, and varying with the quality of the wine and the country for +which it is intended; but the genuine liqueur consists of nothing but +old wine of the best quality, to which a certain amount of sugar-candy +and perhaps a dash of the finest cognac spirit has been added. The +saccharine addition varies according to the market for which the wine is +destined: thus the high-class English buyer demands a dry champagne, the +Russian a wine sweet and strong as "ladies' grog," and the Frenchman and +German a sweet light wine. To the extra-dry champagnes a modicum dose is +added, while the so-called "_brut_" wines receive no more than from one +to three per cent. of liqueur. + +In some establishments the dose is administered with a tin can or ladle; +but more generally an ingenious machine of pure silver and glass which +regulates the percentage of liqueur to a nicety is employed. The +_dosage_ accomplished, the bottle passes to another workman known as the +_égaliseur_, who fills it up with pure wine. Should a pink champagne be +required, the wine thus added will be red, although manufacturers of +questionable reputation sometimes employ the solution known as _teinte +de Fismes_. The _égaliseur_ in turn hands the bottle to the corker, who +places it under a machine furnished with a pair of claws, which compress +the cork to a size sufficiently small to allow it to enter the neck of +the bottle, and a suspended weight, which in falling drives it home. +These corks, which are principally obtained from Catalonia and +Andalucia, cost more than twopence each, and are delivered in huge sacks +resembling hop-pockets. Before they are used they have been either +boiled in wine, soaked in a solution of tartar, or else steamed by the +cork merchants, both to prevent their imparting a bad flavour to the +wine and to hinder any leakage. They are commonly handed warm to the +corker, who dips them into a small vessel of wine before making use of +them. Some firms, however, prepare their corks by subjecting them to +cold water _douches_ a day or two beforehand. The _ficeleur_ receives +the bottle from the corker, and with a twist of the fingers secures the +cork with string, at the same time rounding its hitherto flat top. The +_metteur de fil_ next affixes the wire with like celerity; and then the +final operation is performed by a workman seizing a couple of bottles by +the neck and whirling them round his head, as though engaged in the +Indian-club exercise, in order to secure a perfect amalgamation of the +wine and the liqueur. + +The final manipulation accomplished, the agitated course of existence +through which the wine has been passing of late comes to an end, and the +bottles are conveyed to another part of the establishment, where they +repose for several days, or even weeks, in order that the mutual action +of the wine and the liqueur upon each other may be complete. When the +time arrives for despatching them they are confided to feminine hands to +have their dainty toilettes made, and are tastefully labelled and either +capsuled, or else have their corks and necks imbedded in sealing-wax, or +swathed in gold or silver foil, whereby they are rendered presentable at +the best-appointed tables. + + [Illustration] + +Thus completed champagne sets out on its beneficial pilgrimage to +promote the spread of mirth and lightheartedness, to drive away dull +care and foment good-fellowship, to comfort the sick and cheer the +sound. Wherever civilisation penetrates, champagne sooner or later is +sure to follow; and if Queen Victoria's morning drum beats round the +world, its beat is certain to be echoed before the day is over by the +popping of champagne-corks. Now-a-days the exhilarating wine graces not +merely princely but middle-class dinner-tables, and is the needful +adjunct at every _petit souper_ in all the gayer capitals of the world. +It gives a flush to beauty at garden-parties and picnics, sustains the +energies of the votaries of Terpsichore until the hour of dawn, and +imparts to many a young gallant the necessary courage to declare his +passion. It enlivens the dullest of _réunions_, brings smiles to the +lips of the sternest cynics, softens the most irascible tempers, and +loosens the most taciturn tongues. The grim Berliner and the gay +Viennese both acknowledge its enlivening influence. It sparkles in +crystal goblets in the great capital of the North, and the Moslem wipes +its creamy foam from his beard beneath the very shadow of the mosque of +St. Sophia; for the Prophet has only forbidden the use of wine, and of a +surety--Allah be praised!--this strangely-sparkling delicious liquor, +which gives to the true believer a foretaste of the joys of Paradise, +cannot be wine. At the diamond-fields of South Africa and the diggings +of Australia the brawny miner who has hit upon a big bit of crystallised +carbon, or a nugget of virgin ore, strolls to the "saloon" and shouts +for champagne. The mild Hindoo imbibes it quietly, but approvingly, as +he watches the evolutions of the Nautch girls, and his partiality for it +has already enriched the Anglo-Bengalee vocabulary and London slang with +the word "simkin." It is transported on camel-backs across the deserts +of Central Asia, and in frail canoes up the mighty Amazon. The +two-sworded Daimio calls for it in the tea-gardens of Yokohama, and the +New Yorker, when not rinsing his stomach by libations of iced-water, +imbibes it freely at Delmonico's. Wherever civilised man has set his +foot--at the base of the Pyramids and at the summit of the Cordilleras, +in the mangrove swamps of Ashantee and the gulches of the Great Lone +Land, in the wilds of the Amoor and on the desert isles of the +Pacific--he has left traces of his presence in the shape of the empty +bottles that were once full of the sparkling vintage of the Champagne. + + [Illustration] + + + + + [Illustration: + DEVICES FROM THE COMMANDERIE AT REIMS.] + +VI.--THE REIMS CHAMPAGNE ESTABLISHMENTS. + +Messrs. Werlé and Co., successors to the Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin-- + Their Offices and Cellars on the site of a Former Commanderie of the + Templars-- Origin of the Celebrity of Madame Clicquot's Wines-- + M. Werlé and his Son-- The Forty-five Cellars of the Clicquot-Werlé + Establishment-- Our Tour of Inspection-- Ingenious Liqueuring + Machine-- An Explosion and its Consequences-- M. Werlé's Gallery of + Paintings-- Madame Clicquot's Renaissance House and its Picturesque + Bas-reliefs-- The Werlé Vineyards and Vendangeoirs-- M. Louis + Roederer's Establishment-- Heidsieck and Co. and their Famous + "Monopole" Brand-- The Firm Founded in the Last Century-- Their + various Establishments Inside and Outside Reims-- The Matured Wines + Shipped by them. + + + [Illustration] + +The cellars of the great champagne manufacturers of Reims are scattered +in all directions over the historical old city. They undermine its +narrowest and most insignificant streets, its broad and handsome +boulevards, and on the eastern side extend to its more distant +outskirts. Messrs. Werlé and Co., the successors of the famous Veuve +Clicquot-Ponsardin, have their offices and cellars on the site of a +former Commanderie of the Templars in an ancient quarter of the city, +and strangers passing by the spot would scarcely imagine that under +their feet hundreds of busy hands are incessantly at work, disgorging, +dosing, shaking, corking, storing, wiring, labelling, capsuling, waxing, +tinfoiling, and packing hundreds of thousands of bottles of champagne +destined for all parts of the civilised world. + +The house of Clicquot, established in the year 1798 by the husband of La +Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin, who died in 1866, in her 89th year, was +indebted for much of the celebrity of its wine to the lucky accident of +the Russians occupying Reims in 1814 and 1815, and freely requisitioning +the sweet champagne stored in the widow's capacious cellars. Madame +Clicquot's wines were slightly known in Russia prior to this date, but +the officers of the invading army, on their return home, proclaimed +their merits throughout the length and breadth of the Muscovite Empire, +and the fortune of the house was made. Madame Clicquot, as every one +knows, amassed enormous wealth, and succeeded in marrying both her +daughter and granddaughter to counts of the _ancien régime_. + +The present head of the firm is M. Werlé, who comes of an old Lorraine +family although born in the ancient free imperial town of Wetzlar on the +Lahn, where Goethe lays the scene of his "Sorrows of Werther," the +leading incidents of which really occurred here. M. Werlé entered the +establishment, which he has done so much to raise to its existing +position, so far back as the year 1821. His care and skill, exercised +over more than half a century, have largely contributed to obtain for +the Clicquot brand that high repute which it enjoys to-day all over the +world. M. Werlé, who has long been naturalised in France, was for many +years Mayor of Reims and President of its Chamber of Commerce, as well +as one of the deputies of the Marne to the Corps Législatif. He enjoys +the reputation of being the richest man in Reims, and, like his late +partner, Madame Clicquot, he has also succeeded in securing brilliant +alliances for his children, his son, M. Alfred Werlé, having married the +daughter of the Duc de Montebello, while his daughter espoused the son +of M. Magne, Minister of Finance under the Second Empire. + + [Illustration: + MADAME VEUVE CLICQUOT AT EIGHTY YEARS OF AGE. + (_From the Painting by Léon Coignet_.) (p. 64)] + + [Illustration: + THE CLICQUOT-WERLÉ ESTABLISHMENT AT REIMS. (p. 65)] + +Half-way down the narrow tortuous Rue du Temple is an ancient gateway, +on which may be traced the half-effaced sculptured heads of Phoebus and +Bacchus. Immediately in front is a green _porte-cochère_ forming the +entrance to the Clicquot-Werlé establishment, and conducting to a +spacious trim-kept courtyard, set off with a few trees, with some +extensive stabling and cart-sheds on the left, and on the right hand the +entrance to the cellars. Facing us is an unpretending-looking edifice, +where the firm has its counting-houses, with a little corner tower +surmounted by a characteristic weathercock consisting of a figure of +Bacchus seated astride a cask beneath a vine-branch, and holding up a +bottle in one hand and a goblet in the other. The old Remish Commanderie +of the Knights Templars existed until the epoch of the Great Revolution, +and to-day a few fragments of the ancient buildings remain adjacent to +the "celliers" of the establishment, which are reached through a pair of +folding-doors and down a flight of stone steps, and whence, after being +furnished with lighted candles, we set out on our tour of inspection, +entering first of all the vast cellar of St. Paul, where the thousands +of bottles requiring to be daily shaken are reposing necks downwards on +the large perforated tables which crowd the apartment. It is a +peculiarity of the Clicquot-Werlé establishment that each of the +cellars--forty-five in number, and the smallest a vast apartment--has +its special name. In the adjoining cellar of St. Matthew other bottles +are similarly arranged, and here wine in cask is likewise stored. We +pass rows of huge tuns, each holding its twelve or thirteen hundred +gallons of fine reserved wine designed for blending with more youthful +growths; next are threading our way between seemingly endless piles of +hogsheads filled with later vintages, and anon are passing smaller casks +containing the syrup with which the _vin préparé_ is dosed. At intervals +we come upon some square opening in the floor through which bottles of +wine are being hauled up from the cellars beneath in readiness to +receive their requisite adornment before being packed in baskets or +cases according to the country to which they are destined to be +despatched. To Russia the Clicquot champagne is sent in cases containing +sixty bottles, while the cases for China contain as many as double that +number. + + [Illustration: + REMAINS OF THE COMMANDERIE AT REIMS.] + +The ample cellarage which the house possesses has enabled M. Werlé to +make many experiments which firms with less space at their command would +find it difficult to carry out on the same satisfactory scale. Such, for +instance, is the system of racks in which the bottles repose while the +wine undergoes its diurnal shaking. Instead of these racks being, as +they commonly are, at almost upright angles, they are perfectly +horizontal, which, in M. Werlé's opinion, offers a material advantage, +inasmuch as the bottles are all in readiness for disgorging at the same +time instead of the lower ones being ready before those above, as is the +case when the ancient system is followed, owing to the uppermost bottles +getting less shaken than the others. + +After performing the round of the celliers we descend into the _caves_, +a complete labyrinth of gloomy underground corridors excavated in the +bed of chalk which underlies the city, and roofed and walled with solid +masonry, more or less blackened by age. In one of these cellars we catch +sight of rows of work-people engaged in the operation of dosing, +corking, securing, and shaking the bottles of wine which have just left +the hands of the _dégorgeur_ by the dim light of half-a-dozen tallow +candles. The latest invention for liqueuring the wine is being employed. +Formerly, to prevent the carbonic acid gas escaping from the bottles +while the process of liqueuring was going on, it was necessary to press +a gutta-percha ball connected with the machine, in order to force the +escaping gas back. The new machine, however, renders this unnecessary, +the gas by its own power and composition forcing itself back into the +wine. + +In the adjoining cellar of St. Charles are stacks of bottles awaiting +the manipulation of the _dégorgeur_, while in that of St. Ferdinand men +are engaged in examining other bottles before lighted candles to make +certain that the sediment is thoroughly dislodged and the wine perfectly +clear before the disgorgement is effected. Here, too, the corking, +wiring, and stringing of the newly-disgorged wine are going on. Another +flight of steps leads to the second tier of cellars, where the moisture +trickles down the dank dingy walls, and save the dim light thrown out by +the candles we carried, and by some other far-off flickering taper stuck +in a cleft stick to direct the workmen, who with dexterous turns of +their wrists give a twist to the bottles, all is darkness. On every side +bottles are reposing in various attitudes, the majority in huge square +piles on their sides, others in racks slightly tilted, others, again, +almost standing on their heads, while some, which through over-inflation +have come to grief, litter the floor and crunch beneath our feet. +Tablets are hung against each stack of wine indicating its age, and from +time to time a bottle is held up before the light to show us how the +sediment commences to form, or explain how it eventually works its way +down the neck of the bottle, and finally settles on the cork. Suddenly +we are startled by a loud report resembling a pistol-shot, which +reverberates through the vaulted chamber, as a bottle close at hand +explodes, dashing out its heavy bottom as neatly as though it had been +cut by a diamond, and dislocating the necks and pounding in the sides of +its immediate neighbours. The wine trickles down, and eventually finds +its way along the sloping sides of the slippery floor to the narrow +gutter in the centre. + +Ventilating shafts pass from one tier of cellars to the other, enabling +the temperature in a certain measure to be regulated, and thereby +obviate an excess of breakage. M. Werlé estimates that the loss in this +respect during the first eighteen months of a _cuvée_ amounts to 7 per +cent., but subsequently is considerably less. In 1862 one champagne +manufacturer lost as much as 45 per cent. of his wine by breakages. The +Clicquot _cuvée_ is made in the cave of St. William, where 120 hogsheads +of wine are hauled up by means of a crane and discharged into the vat +daily as long as the operation lasts. The _tirage_ or bottling of the +wine ordinarily commences in the middle of May, and occupies fully a +month. + + [Illustration: + RENAISSANCE HOUSE AT REIMS, IN WHICH MADAME CLICQUOT RESIDED. (p. 69)] + +M. Werlé's private residence is close to the establishment in the Rue du +Temple, and here he has collected a small gallery of high-class modern +paintings by French and other artists, including Meissonnier's +"Card-players," Delaroche's "Beatrice Cenci on her way to Execution," +Fleury's "Charles V. picking up the brush of Titian," various works by +the brothers Scheffer, Knaus's highly-characteristic _genre_ picture, +"His Highness on a Journey," and several fine portraits, among which is +one of Madame Clicquot, painted by Léon Coignet, when she was eighty +years of age, and another of M. Werlé by the same artist, regarded as a +_chef-d'oeuvre_. Before her father's death Madame Clicquot used to reside +in the Rue de Marc, some short distance from the cellars in which her +whole existence centered, in a handsome Renaissance house, said to have +had some connection with the row of palaces that at one time lined the +neighbouring and then fashionable Rue du Tambour. This, however, is +extremely doubtful. A number of interesting and well-preserved +bas-reliefs decorate one of the façades of the house looking on to the +court. The figures are of the period of François Premier and his son +Henri II., who inaugurated his reign with a comforting edict for the +Protestants, ordaining that blasphemers were to have their tongues +pierced with red-hot irons, and heretics to be burnt alive, and who had +the ill-luck to lose his eye and life through a lance-thrust of the +Comte de Montgomerie, captain of his Scotch guards, whilst jousting with +him at a tournament held in honour of the marriage of his daughter +Isabelle with the gloomy widower of Queen Mary of England, of sanguinary +fame. + + [Illustration] + +The first of these bas-reliefs represents two soldiers of the Swiss +guard, the next a Turk and a Slav tilting at each other, and then comes +a scroll entwined round a thistle, and inscribed with this enigmatical +motto: "Giane le sur ou rien." In the third bas-relief a couple of +passionate Italians are winding up a gambling dispute with a +hand-to-hand combat, in the course of which table, cards, and dice have +got cantered over; the fourth presenting us with two French knights, +armed _cap-à-pie_, engaged in a tourney; while in the fifth and last a +couple of German lansquenets essay their gladiatorial skill with their +long and dangerous weapons. Several years back a tablet was discovered +in one of the cellars of the house, inscribed "Ci-gist vénérable +religieux maîstre Pierre Derclé, docteur en théologie, jadis prieur de +céans. Priez Dieu pour luy. 1486," which would almost indicate that the +house had originally a religious character, although the warlike spirit +of the bas-reliefs decorating it renders any such supposition with +regard to the existing building untenable. + +The Messrs. Werlé own numerous acres of vineyards, comprising the very +finest situations in the well-known districts of Verzenay, Bouzy, Le +Mesnil, and Oger, at all of which places they have vendangeoirs or +pressing-houses of their own. Their establishment at Verzenay contains +seven presses, that at Bouzy eight, at Le Mesnil six, and at Oger two, +in addition to which grapes are pressed under their own supervision at +Ay, Avize, and Cramant in vendangeoirs belonging to their friends. + +Since the death of Madame Clicquot the legal style of the firm has been +Werlé and Co., successors to Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin, the mark, of +which M. Werlé and his son are the sole proprietors, still remaining +"Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin," while the corks of the bottles are branded +with the words "V. Clicquot-P. Werlé," encircling the figure of a comet. +The style of the wine--light, delicate, elegant, and fragrant--is +familiar to all connoisseurs of champagne. What, however, is not equally +well known is that within the last few years the firm, in obedience to +the prevailing taste, have introduced a perfectly dry wine of +corresponding quality to the richer wine which made the fortune of the +house. + +The house of M. Louis Roederer, founded by a plodding German named +Schreider, pursued the sleepy tenor of its way for years, until all at +once it felt prompted to lay siege to the Muscovite connection of La +Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin and secure a market for its wine at Moscow and +St. Petersburg. It next opened up the United States, and finally +introduced its brand into England. The house possesses cellars in +various parts of Reims, and has its offices in one of the oldest +quarters of the city--namely, the Rue des Élus, or ancient Rue des +Juifs, records of which date as far back as 1103. These offices are at +the farther end of a courtyard beyond which is a second court, where +carts being laden with cases of champagne seemed to indicate that some +portion of the shipping business of the house is here carried on. +M. Louis Roederer refused our request for permission to visit his +establishments, so that it is only of their external appearance that +we are able to speak. One of them--the façade of which is rather +imposing, and which has a carved head of Bacchus surmounting the +_porte-cochère_--is situated in the Boulevard du Temple, while the +principal establishment, a picturesque range of buildings of +considerable extent, is in the neighbouring Rue de la Justice. + +The old-established firm of Heidsieck and Co., which has secured a +reputation in both hemispheres for its famous Monopole and Dry Monopole +brands, has its cellars scattered about Reims, the central ones, where +the wine is prepared and packed, being situated in the narrow winding +Rue Sedan, at no great distance from the Clicquot-Werlé establishment. +The original firm dates back to 1785, when France was struggling with +those financial difficulties that a few years later culminated in that +great social upheaving which kept Europe in a state of turmoil for more +than a quarter of a century. Among the archives of the firm is a patent, +bearing the signature of the Minister of the Prussian Royal Household, +appointing Heidsieck and Co. purveyors of champagne to Friedrich William +III. The champagne-drinking Hohenzollern _par excellence_, however, was +the son and successor of the preceding, who, from habitual +over-indulgence in the exhilarating sparkling beverage during the last +few years of his reign, acquired the _sobriquet_ of King Clicquot. + +On passing through the large _porte-cochère_ giving entrance to Messrs. +Heidsieck's principal establishment, one finds oneself in a small +courtyard with the surrounding buildings overgrown with ivy and +venerable vines. On the left is a dwelling-house enriched with elaborate +mouldings and cornices, and at the farther end of the court is the +entrance to the cellars, surmounted by a sun-dial bearing the date 1829. +The latter, however, is no criterion of the age of the buildings +themselves, as these were occupied by the firm at its foundation, +towards the close of the last century. We are first conducted into an +antiquated-looking low cellier, the roof of which is sustained with rude +timber supports, and here bottles of wine are being labelled and packed, +although this is but a mere adjunct to the adjacent spacious +packing-room provided with its loading platform and communicating +directly with the public road. At the time of our visit this hall was +gaily decorated with flags and inscriptions, the day before having been +the fête of St. Jean, when the firm entertain the people in their employ +with a banquet and a ball, at which the choicest wine of the house +liberally flows. From the packing-room we descend into the cellars, +which, like all the more ancient vaults in Reims, have been constructed +on no regular plan. Here we thread our way between piles after piles of +bottles, many of which having passed through the hands of the disgorger +are awaiting their customary adornment. The lower tier of cellars is +mostly stored with _vin sur pointe_, and bottles with their necks +downwards are encountered in endless monotony along a score or more of +long galleries. The only variation in our lengthened promenade is when +we come upon some solitary workman engaged in his monotonous task of +shaking his 30,000 or 40,000 bottles per diem. + +The disgorging at Messrs. Heidsieck's takes place, in accordance with +the good old rule, in the cellars underground, where we noticed large +stocks of wine three and five years old, the former in the first stage +of _sur-pointe_, and the latter awaiting shipment. It is a speciality of +the house to ship only matured wine, which is necessarily of a higher +character than the ordinary youthful growths, for a few years have a +wonderful influence in developing the finer qualities of champagne. At +the time of our visit, in the spring of 1877, when the English market +was being glutted with the crude, full-bodied wine of 1874, Messrs. +Heidsieck were continuing to ship wines of 1870 and 1872, beautifully +rounded by keeping and of fine flavour and great delicacy of perfume, +and of which the firm estimated they had fully a year's consumption +still on hand. + +Messrs. Heidsieck and Co. have a handsome modern establishment in the +Rue Coquebert--a comparatively new quarter of the city where champagne +establishments are the rule--the courtyard of which, alive with workmen +at the time of our visit, is broad and spacious, while the surrounding +buildings are light and airy, and the cellars lofty, regular, and well +ventilated. In a large cellier here, where the tuns are ranged side by +side between the rows of iron columns supporting the roof, the firm make +their _cuvée_; here too the bottling of their wine takes place, and +considerable stocks of high-class reserve wines and more youthful +growths are stored ready for removal when required by the central +establishment. The bulk of Messrs. Heidsieck's reserve wines, however, +repose in the outskirts of Reims, near the Porte Dieu-Lumière, in one of +the numerous abandoned chalk quarries, which of late years the champagne +manufacturers have discovered are capable of being transformed into +admirable cellars. + +In addition to shipping a rich and a dry variety of the Monopole brand, +of which they are sole proprietors, Messrs. Heidsieck export to this +country a rich and a dry Grand Vin Royal. It is, however, to their +famous Monopole wine, and especially to the dry variety, which must +necessarily comprise the finest growths, that the firm owe their +principal celebrity. + + + + + [Illustration: + STATUE OF LOUIS XIII. ON THE REIMS HÔTEL DE VILLE] + +VII.--THE REIMS ESTABLISHMENTS (_continued_). + +The Firm of G. H. Mumm and Co.-- Their Large Shipments to the United + States-- Their Establishments in the Rue Andrieux and the Rue + Coquebert-- Bottle-Washing with Glass Beads-- The Cuvée and the + Tirage-- G. H. Mumm and Co.'s Vendangeoirs at Verzenay-- Their + Various Wines-- The Gate of Mars-- The Establishment of M. Gustave + Gibert on the Site of the Château des Archevêques-- His Cellars in + the Vaults of St. Peter's Abbey and beneath the old Hôtel des Fermes + in the Place Royale-- Louis XV. and Jean Baptiste Colbert-- + M. Gibert's Wines-- Jules Mumm and Co., and Ruinart père et fils-- + House of the Musicians-- The Counts de la Marck-- The Brotherhood of + Minstrels of Reims-- Establishment of Périnet et fils-- Their + Cellars of Three Stories in Solid Masonry-- Their Soft, Light, and + Delicate Wines-- A Rare Still Verzenay-- M. Duchâtel-Ohaus's + Establishment and Renaissance House-- His Cellars in the Cour St. + Jacques and Outside the Porte Dieu-Lumière. + + +Messrs. G. H. Mumm and Co. have their chief establishment in the Rue +Andrieux, in an open quarter of the city, facing the garden attached to +the premises of M. Werlé, and only a short distance from the grand +triumphal arch known as the Gate of Mars, by far the most important +Roman remain of which the Champagne can boast. The head of the firm, +Mr. G. H. Mumm, is the grandson of the well-known P. A. Mumm, the large +shipper of hocks and moselles, and is the only surviving partner in the +champagne house of Mumm and Co., established at Reims in 1825, and +joined by Mr. G. H. Mumm so far back as the year 1838. The firm not only +ship their wine largely to England, but head the list of shipments to +the United States, where their brand is held in high repute, with nearly +half a million bottles, being more than twice the quantity shipped by +M. Louis Roederer--who comes third on the list in question--and a fourth +of the entire shipments of champagne to the United States. + +The establishment of Messrs. G. H. Mumm and Co., in the Rue Andrieux, is +of comparatively modern construction. A large _porte-cochère_ conducts +to a spacious courtyard, bordered with sheds, beneath which huge stacks +of new bottles are piled and having a pleasant garden lying beyond. On +the left is a large vaulted cellier, where the operations of disgorging, +liqueuring, and corking the wine are performed, and which communicates +with the vast adjoining packing department. From this cellier entrance +is gained to the cellars beneath, containing a million bottles of _vin +brut_ in various stages of development. This forms, however, merely a +portion of the firm's stock, they having another three millions of +bottles stored in the cellars of their establishment in the Rue +Coquebert, where a scene of great animation presented itself at the time +of our visit, several scores of women being engaged in washing bottles +for the _tirage_, which, although it was early in May, had already +commenced. The bottles, filled with water, and containing a certain +quantity of glass beads in lieu of the customary shot, which frequently +leave minute particles of lead--deleterious alike to health and the +flavour of the wine--adhering to the inside surface of the glass, are +placed horizontally in a frame, and by means of four turns of a handle +are made to perform sixty-four rapid revolutions. The beads are then +transferred to other bottles, which are subjected in their turn to the +same revolving process. + +The _cuvée_, commonly composed of from two to three thousand casks of +wine from various vineyards, with a due proportion of high-class +vintages, is made in a vat holding 4,400 gallons. The _tirage_ or +bottling is effected by means of two large tuns placed side by side, and +holding twelve hogsheads of wine each. Pipes from these tuns communicate +with a couple of small reservoirs, each of them provided with +half-a-dozen self-acting syphon taps, by means of which a like number of +bottles are simultaneously filled. Only one set of these taps are set +running at a time, as while the wine is being drawn off from one tun the +other is being refilled from the casks containing the _cuvée_ by means +of a pump and leathern hose, which empties a cask in little more than a +couple of minutes. Three gangs of eight men each can fill, cork, and +secure with _agrafes_ from 35,000 to 40,000 bottles during the day. The +labour is performed partly by men regularly employed by the house and +partly by hands engaged for the purpose, who work, however, under the +constant inspection of overseers appointed by the firm. + +At Messrs. G. H. Mumm's the champagne destined for shipment has the +heads of the corks submerged in a kind of varnish, with the object of +protecting them from the ravages of insects, and preventing the string +and wire from becoming mouldy for several years. In damp weather, when +this varnish takes a long time to dry, after the bottles have been +placed in a rack with their heads downwards to allow of any superfluous +varnish draining from the corks, the latter are subjected to a moderate +heat in a machine pierced with sufficient holes to contain 500 bottles, +and provided with a warming apparatus in the centre. Here the bottles +remain for about twenty minutes. + + [Illustration: + THE TIRAGE OR BOTTLING OF CHAMPAGNE + AT THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MESSRS. G. H. MUMM & CO. (p. 76.)] + + [Illustration: + MESSRS. G. H. MUMM & CO.'S VENDANGEOIR AT VERZENAY. (p. 77)] + +Messrs. G. H. Mumm and Co. have a capacious vendangeoir at Verzenay, +near the entrance to the village when approaching it from Reims. The +building contains four presses, three of which are worked with large +fly-wheels requiring several men to turn them, while the fourth acts +with a screw applied by means of a long pole. At the vintage 3,600 +kilogrammes, or nearly 8,000lbs., of grapes are put under each press, +a quantity sufficient to yield eight to ten hogsheads of wine of +forty-four gallons each, suitable for sparkling wine, besides three or +four hogsheads of inferior wine given to the workmen to drink. The +pressing commences daily at six in the morning, and lasts until +midnight; yet the firm are often constrained to keep their grapes in the +baskets under a cool shed for a period of two days. This cannot, +however, be done when they are very ripe, as the colouring matter from +the skins would become extracted and give a dark and objectionable tint +to the wine. + +Messrs. G. H. Mumm and Co. ship four descriptions of champagne--Carte +Blanche, a pale, delicate, fragrant wine of great softness and refined +flavour; a perfectly dry variety of the foregoing, known as their Extra +Dry; also an Extra Quality and a First Quality--both high-class wines, +though somewhat lower in price than the two preceding. + +Within a few minutes' walk of Messrs. G. H. Mumm's--past the imposing +Gate of Mars, in the midst of lawns, parterres, and gravel-walks, where +coquettish nursemaids and their charges stroll, accompanied by the +proverbial _piou-piou_--is the principal establishment of M. Gustave +Gibert, whose house claims to-day half a century of existence. On this +spot formerly stood the feudal castle of the Archbishops of Reims, +demolished nearly three centuries ago. By whom this stronghold was +erected is somewhat uncertain. The local chronicles state that a château +was built at Reims by Suelf, son of Hincmar, in 922, and restored by +Archbishop Henri de France two and a half centuries later. War or other +causes, however, seems to have rendered the speedy rebuilding of this +castle necessary, as a new Château des Archevêques appears to have been +erected at Reims by Henri de Braine between 1228 and 1230. The +circumstance of the Archbishops of Reims being dukes and peers as well +as primates of the capital of the Champagne accounts for their +preference for a fortified place of residence at this turbulent epoch. + +On the investiture of a new archbishop it was the custom for him to +proceed in great pomp from the château to the church of Saint Remi, with +a large armed guard and a splendid retinue of ecclesiastical, civil, and +military dignitaries escorting him. The pride of the newly-created "duke +and peer" having been thus gratified, the "prelate" had to humble +himself, and on the morrow walked barefooted from the church of St. Remi +to the cathedral. After the religious wars the château was surrendered +to Henri IV., and in 1595 the Remois, anxious to be rid of so formidable +a fortress, which, whether held by king or archbishop, was calculated to +enforce a state of passive obedience galling to their pride, purchased +from the king the privilege to demolish it for the sum of 8,000 crowns. +Tradition asserts that the Remish Bastille was destroyed in a single +day, but this is exceedingly improbable. Its ruins certainly were not +cleared away until the close of the century. + +When the old fortress was razed to the ground its extensive vaults were +not interfered with, but many long years afterwards were transformed +into admirable cellars for the storage of champagne. Above them are two +stories of capacious celliers where the wine is blended, bottled, and +packed, the vaults themselves comprising two tiers of cellars which +contain wine both in cask and bottle. M. Gibert's remaining stocks are +stored in the ancient vaults of the abbey of St. Peter, in the heart of +the city, and in the roomy cellars which underlie the old Hôtel des +Fermes in the Place Royale, where in the days of the _ancien régime_ the +farmers-general of the province used to receive its revenues. On the +pediment of this edifice is a bas-relief with Mercury, the god of +commerce, seated beside a nymph and surrounded by children engaged with +the vintage and with bales of wool, and evidently intended to symbolise +the staple trades of the capital of the Champagne. A bronze statue rises +in the centre of the Place which from its Roman costume and martial +bearing might be taken for some hero of antiquity did not the +inscription on the pedestal apprise us that it is intended for the +"wise, virtuous, and magnanimous Louis XV.," a misuse of terms which has +caused a transatlantic Republican to characterise the monument as a +brazen lie. Leading out of the Place Royale is the Rue de Cérès, in +which there is a modernised 16th-century house claiming to be the +birthplace of Jean Baptiste Colbert, son of a Reims wool-merchant, and +the famous minister who did so much to consolidate the finances which +the royal voluptuary, masquerading at Reims in Roman garb, afterwards +made such dreadful havoc of. + + [Illustration: + THE CELLIERS AND CELLARS OF M. GUSTAVE GIBERT. + (_Near the Porte de Mars, Reims_.) (p. 78.)] + + [Illustration: + THE PLACE ROYALE AT REIMS, + SHOWING THE ENTRANCE TO THE CELLARS OF M. GUSTAVE GIBERT. (p. 79)] + +M. Gustave Gibert possesses pressing-houses at Ay and Bouzy, and has +moreover at both these places accommodation for large reserve stocks of +wine in wood. As all the wines which he sends into the market are +vintaged by himself, he can ensure their being of uniform high quality. +His _Vin du Roi_ is notable for perfume, delicacy, perfect +effervescence, and that fine flavour of the grape which characterises +the grand wines of the Champagne. It is a great favourite with the King +of Sweden and Norway, and the labels on the bottles bear his name and +arms. M. Gibert's brand has acquired a high reputation in the North of +Europe, and having of late years been introduced into England, is +rapidly making its way there. The merits of the wines have been again +and again publicly recognised, no less than ten medals having been +successively awarded M. Gibert at the Exhibitions of Toulouse in 1858, +Bordeaux in 1859, Besançon in 1860, Metz and Nantes in 1861, London in +1862, Bayonne and Linz in 1864, and Oporto and Dublin in 1865. This long +list of awards has led to the wines being placed "_hors concours_," +nevertheless M. Gibert continues to submit them to competition whenever +any Exhibition of importance takes place. The wines are shipped to +England, Germany, Russia, and Northern Europe, Spain and Portugal, +Calcutta, Java, Melbourne, and Hong-Kong, besides being largely in +request for the Paris market. + +On quitting M. Gibert's central establishment we proceed along the +winding, ill-paved Rue de Mars, past the premises of Messrs. Jules Mumm +and Co., an offshoot from the once famous firm of P. A. Mumm and Co., to +the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, in one corner of which stands a massive +and somewhat pretentious-looking house, dating back to the time of Louis +Quatorze. Here are the offices of Ruinart père et fils, who claim to +rank as the oldest existing house in the Champagne. The head of the +firm, the Vicomte de Brimont, is a collateral descendant of the Dom +Ruinart, whose remains repose nigh to those of the illustrious Dom +Perignon in the abbey church of Hautvillers. From the Place de l'Hôtel +de Ville we proceed through the narrow Rue du Tambour, originally a +Roman thoroughfare, and during the Middle Ages the locality where the +nobility of Reims principally had their abodes. Half-way up this street, +in the direction of the Place des Marchés, stands the famous House of +the Musicians, one of the most interesting architectural relics of which +the capital of the Champagne can boast. It evidently dates from the +early part of the fourteenth century, but by whom it was erected is +unknown. Some ascribe it to the Knights Templars, others to the Counts +of Champagne, while others suppose it to have been the residence of the +famous Counts de la Marck, who in later times diverged into three +separate branches, the first furnishing Dukes of Cleves and Julich to +Germany and Dukes of Nevers and Counts of Eu to France, while the second +became Dukes of Bouillon and Princes of Sedan, titles which passed to +the Turennes when Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, +married the surviving heiress of the house. The third branch comprised +the Barons of Lumain, allied to the Hohenzollerns. Their most famous +member slew Louis de Bourbon, Archbishop of Liège, and flung his body +into the Meuse, and subsequently became celebrated as the Wild Boar of +the Ardennes, of whom all readers of _Quentin Durward_ will retain a +lively recollection. + +To return, however, to the House of the Musicians. A probable conjecture +ascribes the origin of the quaint mediæval structure to the Brotherhood +of Minstrels of Reims, who in the thirteenth century enjoyed a +considerable reputation, not merely in the Champagne, but throughout the +North of France. The house takes its present name from five seated +statues of musicians, larger than life-size, occupying the Gothic niches +between the first-floor windows, and resting upon brackets ornamented +with grotesque heads. It is thought that the partially-damaged figure on +the left-hand side was originally playing a drum and a species of +clarionet. The next one evidently has the remnants of a harp in his +raised hands. The third or central figure is supposed merely to have +held a hawk upon his wrist; whilst the fourth seeks to extract harmony +from a dilapidated bagpipe; and the fifth, with crossed legs, strums +complacently away upon the fiddle. The ground floor of the quaint old +tenement is to-day an oil and colour shop, the front of which is covered +with chequers in all the tints of the rainbow. + + [Illustration] + +Leading from the Rue du Tambour is the Rue de la Belle Image, thus named +from a handsome statuette of the Virgin which formerly decorated a +corner niche; and beyond is the Rue St. Hilaire, where Messrs. Barnett +et fils, trading under the designation of Périnet et fils, and the only +English house engaged in the manufacture of champagne, have an +establishment which is certainly as perfect as any to be found in Reims. +Aboveground are several large store-rooms, where vintage casks and the +various utensils common to a champagne establishment are kept, and a +capacious cellier, upwards of 150 feet in length, with its roof resting +on huge timber supports. Here new wine is stored preparatory to being +blended and bottled, and in the huge tun, holding nearly 3,000 gallons, +standing at the further end, the firm make their _cuvée_, while adjacent +is a room where stocks of corks and labels, metal foil, and the like are +kept. + +There are three stories of cellars--an exceedingly rare thing anywhere +in the Champagne--all constructed in solid masonry on a uniform +plan--namely, two wide galleries running parallel with each other and +connected by means of transverse passages. Spite of the great depth to +which these cellars descend they are perfectly dry; the ventilation, +too, is excellent, and their different temperatures render them +especially suitable for the storage of champagne, the temperature of the +lowest cellar being 6° Centigrade (43° Fahrenheit), or one degree +Centigrade below the cellar immediately above, which, in its turn is two +degrees below the uppermost one of all. The advantage of this is that +when the wine develops an excess of effervescence any undue proportion +of breakages can be checked by removing the bottles to a lower cellar +and consequently into a lower temperature. + + [Illustration: + THE CELLIER AND CELLARS OF PÉRINET ET FILS AT REIMS. (p. 82)] + +The first cellars we enter are closely stacked with wine in bottle, +which is gradually clearing itself by the formation of a deposit, while +in an adjoining cellar on the same level the operations of disgorging, +liqueuring, and corking are going on. In the cellars immediately beneath +bottles of wine repose in solid stacks ready for the _dégorgeur_, while +others rest in racks in order that they may undergo their daily shaking. +In the lowest cellars reserved wine in cask is stored, as it best +retains its natural freshness and purity in a very cool place. All air +is carefully excluded from the casks, any ullage is immediately checked, +and as evaporation is continually going on the casks are examined every +fortnight, when any deficiency is at once replenished. At Messrs. +Périnet et fils', as at all the first-class establishments, the _vin +brut_ is a _mélange_ comprising the produce of some of the best +vineyards, and has every possible attention paid to it during its +progressive stages of development. + +Champagnes of different years were here shown to us, all of them soft, +light, and delicate, and with that fine flavour and full perfume which +the best growths of the Marne alone exhibit. Among several curiosities +submitted to us was a still Verzenay of the year 1857, one of the most +delicate red wines it was ever our fortune to taste. Light in body, rich +in colour, of a singularly novel and refined flavour, and with a +magnificent yet indefinable bouquet, the wine was in every respect +perfect. Not only was the year of the vintage a grand one, but the wine +must have been made with the greatest possible care and from the most +perfect grapes for so delicate a growth to have retained its flavour in +such perfection, and preserved its brilliant ruby colour for such a +length of time. + +From the samples shown to us of Périnet et fils' champagne, we were +prepared to find that at some recent tastings in London, the particulars +of which have been made public, their Extra Sec took the first place at +each of the three severe competitions to which it was subjected. + +M. Duchâtel-Ohaus's central establishment is in the Rue des Deux Anges, +one of the most ancient streets of Reims, running from the Rue des Élus +to the Rue de Vesle, and having every window secured by iron gratings, +and every door thickly studded with huge nails. These prison-like +façades succeed each other in gloomy monotony along either side of the +way, the portion of M. Duchâtel-Ohaus's residence which faces the street +being no exception to the general rule. Once within its court, however, +and quite a different scene presents itself. Before us is a pleasant +little flower-garden with a small but charming Renaissance house looking +on to it, the windows ornamented with elaborate mouldings, and +surmounted by graceful sculptured heads, while at one corner rises a +tower with a sun-dial displayed on its front. Here and in an adjoining +house the canons of the Cathedral were accustomed to reside in the days +when four-fifths of Reims belonged to the Church. + + [Illustration] + +From the garden we enter a capacious cellier where the blending and +bottling of the wine takes place, and in the neighbouring packing-room +encounter a score of workpeople filling, securing, and branding a number +of cases about to be despatched by rail. From the cellier we pass to the +cellars situated immediately underneath, and which, capacious though +they are, do not suffice for M. Duchâtel's stock, portions of which are +stored in some ancient vaults near the market-place, and in the Rue de +Vesle behind the church of St. Jacques. This church, originally built at +the close of the twelfth century, is hemmed in on all sides by old +houses, above which rises its tapering steeple surmounted by a medieval +weathercock in the form of an angel. A life-size statue of the patron +saint decorates the Gothic gateway leading to the church, from which a +troop of Remish urchins in the charge of some Frères de la Doctrine +Chrétienne emerge as we pass by. + +The Cour St. Jacques, where M. Duchâtel's cellars are situated, may be +reached by passing through the church, the interior of which presents a +curious jumble of architectural styles from early Gothic to late +Renaissance. One noteworthy object of art which it contains is a +life-size crucifix carved by Pierre Jacques, a Remish sculptor of the +days of the Good King Henri, and from an anatomical point of view a +perfect _chef-d'oeuvre_. The cellars we have come to inspect are two +stories deep, and comprise numerous ancient cavernous compartments, such +as are found in all the older quarters of Reims, and usually in the +vicinity of some church, convent, or clerical abode. It has been +suggested that they were either crypts for sacred retirement and prayer, +dungeons for the punishment of recreant brethren, or tombs for the dead; +but it is far more probable that in the majority of instances they +served then as now simply for the storage of the choice vintages of the +Marne, for we all know the monks of old were tipplers of no ordinary +capacity, who usually contrived to secure the best that the district +provided. These vaults of M. Duchâtel's, in which a considerable stock +of the fine wine of 1874 is stored, are from two to three centuries old, +and probably belonged to the curés of St. Jacques. They are of +considerable extent, are well ventilated, and are walled and roofed with +stone. M. Duchâtel's remaining stock reposes in some new +cellars--certain transformed chalk quarries outside the Porte +Dieu-Lumière, comprising broad lofty galleries and vast circular +chambers--fifty feet or so in height and well lighted from above. + +At M. Duchâtel-Ohaus's we tasted a variety of fine samples of his brand, +including a beautiful wine of 1868 and an almost equally good one of +1870, with some of the excellent vintage of 1874, which was then being +prepared for shipment. + + + + + [Illustration] + +VIII.--THE REIMS ESTABLISHMENTS (_continued_). + +M. Ernest Irroy's Cellars, Vineyards, and Vendangeoirs-- Recognition + by the Reims Agricultural Association of his Plantations of Vines-- + His Wines and their Popularity at the best London Clubs-- Messrs. + Binet fils and Co.'s Establishment-- Wines Sold by the Firm to + Shippers-- Their Cellars-- Samples of Fine Still Ay and Bouzy-- + Their Still Sillery, Vintage 1857, and their Creaming Vin Brut, + Vintage 1865-- The Offices and Cellars of Messrs. Charles Farre and + Co.-- Testing the Wine before Bottling-- A Promenade between Bottles + in Piles and Racks-- Repute in which these Wines are held in England + and on the Continent-- The New Establishment of Fisse, Thirion, and + Co. in the Place de Betheny-- Its Construction exclusively in Stone, + Brick, and Iron-- The Vast Celliers of Two Stories-- Bottling the + Wine by the Aid of Machinery-- The Cool and Lofty Cellars-- + Ingenious Method of Securing the Corks, rendering the Uncorking + exceedingly simple-- The Wines Shipped by the Firm. + + +Few large manufacturing towns like Reims--one of the most important of +those engaged in the woollen manufacture in France--can boast of such +fine promenades and such handsome boulevards as the capital of the +Champagne. As the ancient fortifications of the city were from time to +time razed, their site was levelled and generally planted with trees, +so that the older quarters of Reims are almost encircled by broad and +handsome thoroughfares, separating the city, as it were, from its +outlying suburbs. In or close to the broad Boulevard du Temple, which +takes its name from its proximity to the site of the ancient Commanderie +of the Templars, various champagne manufacturers, including M. Louis +Roederer, M. Ernest Irroy, and M. Charles Heidsieck, have their +establishments, while but a few paces off, in the neighbouring Rue +Coquebert, are the large and handsome premises of Messrs. Krug and Co. + + [Illustration: + M. ERNEST IRROY'S ESTABLISHMENT AT REIMS. (p. 87)] + +The offices of M. Ernest Irroy, who is known in Reims not merely as a +large champagne grower and shipper, but also as a distinguished amateur +of the fine arts, taking a leading part in originating local exhibitions +and the like, are attached to his private residence, a handsome mansion +flanked by a large and charming garden in the Boulevard du Temple. The +laying out of this sylvan oasis is due to M. Vadré, the head gardener of +the city of Paris, who contributed so largely to the picturesque +embellishment of the Bois de Boulogne. M. Irroy's establishment, which +comprises a considerable range of buildings grouped around two +courtyards, is immediately adjacent, although its principal entrance is +in the Rue de la Justice. The vast celliers, covering an area of upwards +of 3,000 square yards, and either stocked with wine in cask or used for +packing and similar purposes, afford the requisite space for carrying on +a most extensive business. The cellars beneath comprise three stories, +two of which are solidly roofed and lined with masonry, while the +lowermost one is excavated in the chalk. They are admirably constructed +on a symmetrical plan, and their total surface is very little short of +7,000 square yards. Spite of the great depth to which these cellars +descend they are perfectly dry, the ventilation is good, and their +temperature moreover is remarkably cool, one result of which is that +M. Irroy's loss from breakage never exceeds four per cent. per annum. +M. Irroy holds a high position as a vineyard-proprietor in the +Champagne, his vines covering an area of nearly 86 acres. At Mareuil and +Avenay he owns some twenty-five acres, at Verzenay and Verzy about +fifteen, and at Ambonnay and Bouzy forty-six acres. His father and his +uncle, whose properties he inherited or purchased, commenced some thirty +years ago to plant vines on certain slopes of Bouzy possessing a +southern aspect, and he has followed their example with such success +both at Bouzy and Ambonnay that in 1873 the Reims Agricultural +Association conferred upon him a silver-gilt medal for his plantations +of vines. M. Irroy owns _vendangeoirs_ at Verzenay, Avenay, and +Ambonnay; and at Bouzy, where his largest vineyards are, he has built +some excellent cottages for his labourers. He has also constructed a +substantial bridge over the ravine which, formed by winter torrents from +the hills, intersects the principal vineyard slopes of Bouzy. + +M. Ernest Irroy's wines, prepared with scrupulous care and rare +intelligence, have been known in England for some years past, and are +steadily increasing in popularity. They are emphatically connoisseurs' +wines. The best West-end clubs, such as White's, Arthur's, the old +Carlton, and the like, lay down the _cuvées_ of this house in good years +as they lay down their vintage ports and finer clarets, and drink them, +not in a crude state, but when they are in perfection--that is, in five +to ten years' time. M. Irroy exports to the British colonies and to the +United States the same fine wines which he ships to England. + + [Illustration: + LABOURERS AT WORK IN M. ERNEST IRROY'S BOUZY VINEYARDS. (p. 88.)] + +From M. Irroy's we proceeded to Messrs. Binet fils and Co., whose +establishment in the Rue de la Justice is separated from that of +M. Irroy merely by a narrow path, and occupies the opposite side of the +way to the principal establishment of M. Louis Roederer. The firm of +Binet fils and Co. was founded many years ago, but for a long time they +sold their wines principally to other shippers on the Reims and Epernay +markets, where their cuvées were held in high repute, and only of recent +years have they applied themselves to the shipping trade. Their +establishment has two entrances, one in the Rue de la Justice, and the +other in the Boulevard du Champ de Mars. On passing through the former +we find ourselves in a courtyard of considerable area, with a range of +celliers in the rear and a low building on the left, in which the +offices are installed. In the first cellier we encounter cases and +baskets of champagne all ready to be despatched by rail, with women and +men busily engaged in labelling and packing other bottles which continue +to arrive from the cellars below in baskets secured to an endless chain. +Beyond this range of celliers is another courtyard of smaller dimensions +where there are additional celliers in which wines of recent vintages in +casks are stored. + +The vaults, which are reached by a winding stone staircase, are +spacious, and consist of a series of parallel and uniform galleries hewn +in the chalk without either masonry supports or facings. Among the solid +piles of bottles which here hem us in on all sides are a considerable +number of magnums and imperial pints reserved for particular +customers--the former more especially for certain military messes, at +which the brand of Binet fils and Co. is held in deserved esteem. We +tasted here--in addition to several choice sparkling wines, including a +grand _vin brut_, vintage 1865--a still Ay of the year 1870, and some +still Bouzy of 1874. The former, a remarkably light and elegant wine, +was already in fine condition for drinking, while the latter, which was +altogether more vinous, deeper in colour, and fuller in body needed the +ripening influence of time to bring it to perfection. Through their +agents, Rutherford, Drury, and Co., Messrs. Binet fils and Co. achieved +a great success in England with their still Sillery, vintage 1857, and +subsequently with their superb creaming _vin brut_, vintage 1865, of +which we have just spoken, and which is still to be met with at London +clubs of repute. + +Some short distance from and parallel with the Rue de la Justice is the +Rue Jacquart, where Messrs. Charles Farre and Co., of whose +establishment at Hautvillers we have already spoken, have their offices +and cellars. We enter a large courtyard, where several railway vans are +being laden with cases of wine from the packing-hall beyond, and in the +tasting-room adjoining find wine being tested prior to bottling, to +ascertain the amount of saccharine it contains. This was accomplished by +reducing a certain quantity of wine by boiling down to one-sixth, when +the saccharometer should indicate 13° of sugar to ensure each bottle +containing the requisite quantity of compressed carbonic acid gas. + +Messrs. Farre's cellars, comprising eighteen parallel galleries disposed +in two stories, are both lofty and commodious, and are mainly of recent +construction, the upper ones being solidly walled with masonry, while +those below are simply excavated in the chalk. Here, as elsewhere, one +performed a lengthened promenade between piles after piles of bottles of +the finer vintages and a seemingly endless succession of racks, at which +workmen were engaged in dislodging the sediment in the wine by the dim +light of a tallow candle. It was here that we were assured the more +experienced of these men were capable, when working with both hands, of +shaking the enormous number of 50,000 bottles a day, or at the rate of +seventy to the minute. + +The fine wines of Messrs. Charles Farre and Co. have long enjoyed a +well-deserved celebrity, and at the Paris Exhibition of 1855 the firm +secured the highest medal awarded to champagnes. The high repute in +which the brand is held on the Continent is evidenced by the fact that +the Prussian and other courts are consumers of Messrs. Farre's wines. +The firm not only number England, Germany, Austria, Russia, and Northern +Europe, and, as a matter of course, France, among their customers, but +also several of the British colonies and North and South America as +well. + +The new establishment of Messrs. Fisse, Thirion, and Co., in the +erection of which they have largely profited by their experience and the +various resources of modern science, is situated in the Place de +Betheny, in the vicinity of the railway goods station and the local +shooting range, largely resorted to at certain seasons of the year, when +the crack shots of the Champagne capital compete with distinguished +amateurs from different parts of France and the other side of the +Channel. + + [Illustration: + MESSRS. FISSE, THIRION & CO.'S ESTABLISHMENT AT REIMS. (p. 91)] + +On entering the courtyard through the iron gate to the right of the +dwelling-houses of the resident partners--flanked by gardens brilliant +with flowers and foliage--we first reach the offices and tasting-rooms, +and then the entrance to the cellars. A speciality of this important +pile of building is that everything employed in its construction is of +stone, brick, or iron, wood having been rigorously excluded from it. +In the rear of the courtyard, which presents that aspect of animation +common to flourishing establishments in the Champagne, is the principal +cellier, with a small building in front, where a steam-pump for pumping +up water from the chalk is installed, while at right angles with the +cellier are the stables and bottle-sheds. The large cellier, which is 20 +feet high and 80 feet broad, will be no less than 260 feet in length +when completed. It contains two stories, the floors of both of which are +cemented, the lower story being roofed with small brick arches connected +by iron girders, and the upper one with tiles resting on iron supports. +The cement keeps the temperature remarkably cool in the lower cellier +where wine in cask is stored, the upper cellier being appropriated to +wine in racks _sur pointe_, bales of corks, and the wicker-baskets and +cases in which the wine is packed. + +The preparation of the wines in cask and the bottling take place in the +lower of the two celliers, a mere lad being enabled, by the aid of the +mechanism provided, to bottle from six to eight thousand bottles a day. +A single workman can cork about 4,500 bottles, which a second workman +secures with metal agrafes before they are lowered into the cellars. The +latter are of two stories, each being divided into three long parallel +galleries 20 feet high and 23 feet wide, vaulted with stone and floored +with cement. Bordering the endless stacks of bottles are small gutters, +into which the wine flows from the exploded bottles. Lofty, well +ventilated, and beautifully cool, the temperature invariably ranging +from 45° to 47° Fahrenheit, these capitally-constructed cellars combine +all that is required for a champagne establishment of the first class. +The breakage has never exceeded 3 per cent., whereas in some old cellars +which the firm formerly occupied in the centre of the city, their +breakage on one occasion amounted to ten times this quantity. + +At Fisse, Thirion, and Co.'s, after the wine has been disgorged and +liqueured, the corks are secured neither with string nor wire, but a +special metal fastener is employed for the purpose. This consists of a +triple-branched agrafe, provided with a kind of hinge. A tiny toy +needle-gun suspended to the agrafe is pulled outwards and turned over +the top of the bottle, whereupon the fastening becomes instantly +disengaged, and anything like trouble, uncleanliness, or annoyance is +entirely avoided. The operation is so easy that a mere child can open a +bottle of champagne, secured by this patent fastener, as easily and +rapidly as a grown-up man. + +The firm of Fisse, Thirion, and Co. succeeded that of Fisse, Fraiquin, +and Co.--established originally at Reims in 1821--in 1864, when the +brand of the house was already well known on the Continent, more +especially in Belgium and Holland. Since that time the wines have been +largely introduced into England and the United States, and the firm, who +have secured medals at many of the recent exhibitions, to-day have +agents in the English and Dutch Indies and the various European +settlements in China. Several descriptions of wine are shipped by the +house, the finest being their dry Cuvée Reservèe and their fragrant +soft-tasting Cachet d'Or. + + [Illustration] + + + + + [Illustration: + OLD HOUSE IN THE RUE DES ANGLAIS, REIMS.] + +IX.--THE REIMS ESTABLISHMENTS (_concluded_). + +La Prison de Bonne Semaine-- Mary Queen of Scots at Reims-- Messrs. + Pommery and Greno's Offices-- A Fine Collection of Faïence-- The Rue + des Anglais a former Refuge of English Catholics-- Remains of the + Old University of Reims-- Ancient Roman Tower and Curious Grotto-- + The handsome Castellated Pommery Establishment-- The Spacious + Cellier and Huge Carved Cuvée Tun-- The Descent to the Cellars-- + Their Great Extent-- These Lofty Subterranean Chambers Originally + Quarries-- Ancient Places of Refuge of the Early Christians and the + Protestants-- Madame Pommery's Splendid Cuvée of 1868-- Messrs. de + St. Marceaux and Co.'s New Establishment in the Avenue de Sillery-- + Its Garden-Court and Circular Shaft-- Animated Scene in the Large + Packing Hall-- Lowering Bottled Wine to the Cellars-- Great Depth + and Extent of these Cellars-- Messrs. de St. Marceaux and Co.'s + Various Wines. + + +Nigh the cathedral of Reims and in the rear of the archiepiscopal palace +there runs a short narrow street known as the Rue Vauthier le Noir, and +frequently mentioned in old works relating to the capital of the +Champagne. The discovery of various pillars and statues, together with a +handsome Gallo-Roman altar, whilst digging some foundations in 1837, +points to the fact that a Pagan temple formerly occupied the site. The +street is supposed to have taken its name, however, from some celebrated +gaoler, for in mediæval times here stood "la prison de bonne semaine." +On the site of this prison a château was subsequently built where Mary +Queen of Scots is said to have resided in the days when her uncle, +Cardinal Charles de Lorraine, was Lord Archbishop of Reims. Temple, +prison, and palace have alike disappeared, and where they stood there +now rises midway between court and garden a handsome mansion, the +residence of Madame Pommery, head of the well-known firm of Pommery and +Greno. To the left of the courtyard, which is entered through a +monumental gateway, are some old buildings bearing the sculptured +escutcheon of the beautiful and luckless Stuart Queen, while to the +right are the offices, with the manager's sanctum, replete with artistic +curiosities, the walls being completely covered with remarkable +specimens of faïence, including Rouen, Gien, Palissy, Delft, and +majolica, collected in the majority of instances by Madame Pommery in +the villages around Reims. Here we were received by M. Vasnier, who at +once volunteered to accompany us to the cellars of the firm outside the +city. Messrs. Pommery and Greno originally carried on business in the +Rue Vauthier le Noir, where there are extensive cellars, but their +rapidly-increasing connection long since compelled them to emigrate +beyond the walls of Reims. + +In close proximity to the Rue Vauthier le Noir is the Rue des Anglais, +so named from the English Catholic refugees who, flying from the +persecutions of our so-called Good Queen Bess, here took up their abode +and established a college and a seminary. They rapidly acquired great +influence in Reims, and one of their number, William Gifford, was even +elected archbishop. At the end of this street, nigh to Madame Pommery's, +there stands an old house with a corner tower and rather handsome +Renaissance window, which formerly belonged to some of the clergy of the +cathedral, and subsequently became the "Bureau Général de la Loterie de +France," abolished by the National Convention in 1793. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +The Rue des Anglais conducts into the Rue de l'Université, where a few +remnants of the old University, founded by Cardinal Charles de Lorraine +(1538-74), attract attention, notably a conical-capped corner tower, the +sculptured ornaments at the base of which have crumbled into dust +beneath the corroding tooth of Time. From the Rue de l'Université our +way lies along the Boulevard du Temple to the Porte Gerbert, about a +mile beyond which there rises up the curious castellated structure in +which the Pommery establishment is installed, and whose tall towers +command a view of the whole of Reims and its environs. As we drive up +the Avenue Gerbert we espy on the right an isolated crumbling Roman +tower, a remnant of the days when Reims disputed with Trèves the honour +of being the capital of Belgic Gaul. Close at hand, and almost under the +walls of the old fortifications, is a grotto to which an ancient origin +is likewise ascribed. In another minute we reach the open iron gates of +Messrs. Pommery's establishment, flanked by a picturesque porter's +lodge, and proceeding up a broad drive alight under a Gothic portico at +the entrance to the spacious and lofty cellier. Iron columns support the +roof of this vast hall, at one end of which is the office and +tasting-room, provided with a telegraphic apparatus by means of which +communication is carried on with the Reims bureaux. Stacked up on every +side of the cellier, and when empty often in eight tiers, are rows upon +rows of casks, 4,000 of which contain wine of the last vintage, +sufficient for a million bottles of champagne. The temperature of this +hall is carefully regulated; the windows are high up near the roof, the +sun's rays are rigidly excluded, so that a pleasant coolness pervades +the apartment. On the left-hand side stands the huge tun, capable of +containing 5,500 gallons of wine, in which the firm make their _cuvée_, +with the monogram P and G, surmounting the arms of Reims, carved on its +head. A platform, access to which is gained by a staircase in a side +aisle, runs round this tonneau; and boys stand here when the wine is +being blended, and by means of a handle protruding above the cask work +the paddle-wheels placed inside, thereby securing the complete +amalgamation of the wine, which has been hoisted up in casks and poured +through a metal trough into the tonneau. Adjoining are the chains and +lifts worked by steam by means of which wine is raised and lowered from +and to the cellars beneath, one lift raising or lowering eight casks, +whether full or empty, in the space of a minute. + + [Illustration: + THE POMMERY ESTABLISHMENT, IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF REIMS. (p. 96)] + + [Illustration: + HEAD OVERSEER AT POMMERY AND GRENO'S.] + +At the farther end of the hall a Gothic door, decorated with ornamental +ironwork, leads to the long broad flight of steps 116 in number and +nearly twelve feet in width, conducting to the suite of lofty +subterranean chambers where bottles of _vin brut_ repose in their +hundreds of thousands in slanting racks or solid piles, passing +leisurely through those stages of development necessary to fit them for +the _dégorgeur_. Altogether there are thirty large shafts, which were +originally quarries, and are now connected by spacious galleries. This +side of Reims abounds with similar quarries, which are believed to have +served as places of refuge for the Protestants at the time of the League +and after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and it is even +conjectured that the early Christians, the followers of St. Sixtus and +St. Sinicus, here hid themselves from their persecutors. Since the +cellars within the city have no longer sufficed for the storage of the +immense stocks required through the development of the champagne trade, +these vast subterranean galleries have been successfully utilised by +various firms. Messrs. Pommery, after pumping out the water with which +the chambers were filled, proceeded to excavate the intersecting +tunnels, shore up the cracking arches, and repair the flaws in the chalk +with masonry, finally converting these abandoned quarries into +magnificent cellars for the storage of champagne. No less than £60,000 +was spent upon them and the castellated structure aboveground. The +underground area is almost 240,000 square feet, and a million bottles of +champagne can be stored in these capacious vaults. + +Madame Pommery made a great mark with her splendid _cuvée_ of 1868, and +since this time her brand has become widely popular, the Pommery Sec +especially being highly appreciated by connoisseurs. + + [Illustration: + THE PACKING HALL OF MESSRS. DE SAINT-MARCEAUX AT REIMS. (p. 99)] + +On leaving Messrs. Pommery's we retrace our steps down the Avenue +Gerbert, bordered on either side with rows of plane-trees, until we +reach the treeless Avenue de Sillery, where Messrs. de Saint Marceaux +and Co.'s new and capacious establishment is installed. The principal +block of building is flanked by two advanced wings inclosing a +garden-court, set off with flowers and shrubs, and from the centre of +which rises a circular shaft, covered in with glass, admitting light and +air to the cellars below. In the building to the left the wine is +received on its arrival from the vineyard, and here are ranged hundreds +of casks replete with the choice _crûs_ of Verzenay, Ay, Cramant, and +Bouzy, while some thousands of bottles ready for labelling are stocked +in massive piles at the end of the packing-hall in the corresponding +wing of the establishment. Here, too, a tribe of workpeople are arraying +the bottles with gold and silver headdresses and robing them in pink +paper, while others are filling, securing, marking, and addressing the +cases or baskets to Hong-Kong, San Francisco, Yokohama, Bombay, London, +New York, St. Petersburg, Berlin, or Paris. + +The wine in cask, stored in the left-hand wing, after having been duly +blended in a vast vat holding over 2,400 gallons, is drawn off into +bottles, which are then lowered down a shaft to the second tier of +cellars by means of an endless chain, on to which the baskets of bottles +are swiftly hooked. The workman engaged in this duty, in order to +prevent his falling down the shaft, has a leather belt strapped round +his waist, by means of which he is secured to an adjoining iron column. +We descend into the lower cellars down a flight of ninety-three broad +steps--a depth equal to the height of an ordinary six-storied house--and +find no less than four-and-twenty galleries excavated in the chalk, +without any masonry supports, and containing upwards of a million +bottles of champagne. The length of these galleries varies, but they are +of a uniform breadth, allowing either a couple of racks with wine _sur +pointe_, or stacks of bottles, in four rows on either side, with an +ample passage down the centre. + +The upper range of cellars comprises two large arched galleries of +considerable breadth, one of which contains wine in wood and wine _sur +pointe_, while the other is stocked with bottles of wine heads downward, +ready to be delivered into the hands of the _dégorgeur_. + +MM. de St. Marceaux and Co. have the honour of supplying the King of the +Belgians, the President of the French Republic, and several German +potentates, with an exceedingly delicate champagne known as the Royal +St. Marceaux. The same wine is popular in Russia and other parts of +Europe, just as the Dry Royal of the firm is much esteemed in the United +States. The brand of the house most appreciated in this country is its +Carte d'Or, a very dry wine which, in conjunction with the firm's Extra +Quality, secured the first place at a recent champagne competition in +England. + +In the neighbourhood of the Pommery and de St. Marceaux establishments +numerous other champagne manufacturers have their cellars formed from +the abandoned quarries so numerous on this side of the city. Of some of +these firms we have already spoken, but there remain to be mentioned +Messrs. Kunklemann and Co., Ruinart père et fils, George Goulet, Jules +Champion, Théophile Roederer, &c. The cellars of the three last-named +are immediately outside the Porte Dieu-Lumière, near which is a house +with a curious bas-relief on its face, the subject of which has been a +source of much perplexity to local antiquaries. + + [Illustration: + BAS-RELIEF NEAR THE PORTE DIEU-LUMIÈRE.] + + + + + [Illustration: + JEAN REMI MOET.] + +X.--EPERNAY CHAMPAGNE ESTABLISHMENTS. + +Early Records of the Moët Family at Reims and Epernay-- Jean Remi + Moët Founder of the Commerce in Champagne Wines-- Extracts from the + Old Account-Books of the Moëts-- First Sales of Sparkling Wines-- + Sales to England in 1788-- "Milords" Farnham and Findlater-- Jean + Remi Moët receives the Emperor Napoleon, Josephine, and the King of + Westphalia-- The Firm of Moët and Chandon Constituted-- Their + Establishment in the Rue du Commerce-- Delivering and Washing the + New Bottles-- The Numerous Vineyards and Vendangeoirs of the Firm-- + Making the Cuvée in Vats of 12,000 Gallons-- The Bottling of the + Wine by 200 Hands-- A Hundred Thousand Bottles Completed Daily-- + 20,000 Francs' worth of Broken Glass in Two Years-- A Subterranean + City, with miles of Streets, Cross Roads, Open Spaces, Tramways, and + Stations-- The Ancient Entrance to these Vaults-- Tablet + Commemorative of the Visit of Napoleon I.-- Millions of Bottles of + Champagne in Piles and Racks-- The Original Vaults known as + Siberia-- Scene in the Packing Hall-- Messrs. Moët and Chandon's + Large and Complete Staff-- Provision for Illness and Old Age-- + Annual Fête Given by the Firm-- Their Famous "Star" Brand-- + M. Perrier-Jouët, the lucky Grandson of a little Epernay Grocer-- + His Offices and Cellars-- His Wine Classed according to its + Deserts-- Messrs. Roussillon and Co.'s Establishment-- The + Recognition accorded to their Wines-- Their Stock of Old Vintages-- + The Extensive Establishment of Messrs. Pol Roger and Co.-- Their + Large Stock of the Fine 1874 Vintage-- Preparations for the Tirage-- + Their Vast Fireproof Cellier and its Admirable Temperature-- Their + Lofty and Capacious Cellars of Two Stories. + + +Those magnates of the champagne trade, Messrs. Moët and Chandon, whose +famous "star" brand is familiar in every part of the civilised globe, +and whose half-score miles of cellars contain as many million bottles of +champagne as there are millions of inhabitants in most of the secondary +European states, have their head-quarters at Epernay in a spacious +château--in that street of châteaux named the Rue du Commerce, but +commonly known as the Faubourg de la Folie--which is approached through +handsome iron gates, and has beautiful gardens in the rear extending in +the direction of the River Marne. The existing firm dates from the year +1833, but the family of Moët--conjectured to have originally come from +the Low Countries--had already been associated with the champagne wine +trade for well-nigh a century previously. If the Moëts came from Holland +they must have established themselves in the Champagne at a very early +date, for the annals of Reims record that in the fifteenth century Jean +and Nicolas Moët were _échevins_ of the city. A Moët was present in that +capacity at the coronation of Charles VII. in 1429, when Joan of Arc +stood erect by the principal altar of the cathedral with her sacred +banner in her hand, and for having contributed to repulse an attempt on +the part of the English to prevent the entrance of the Royal party into +the city, the Moëts were subsequently ennobled by the same monarch. +A mural tablet in the church of St. Remi records the death of D. G. +Moët, Grand Prior, in 1554, and nine years later we find Nicol Moët +claiming exemption at Epernay from the payment of _tailles_ on the +ground of his being a noble. An old commercial book preserved in the +family archives shows that in the year 1743--at the epoch when the +rashness of the Duc de Grammont saved the English army under George II. +from being cut to pieces at Dettingen--a descendant of the foregoing, +one Claude Louis Nicolas Moët, who owned considerable vineyard property +in the vicinity of Epernay, decided upon embarking in the wine trade. +It is his son, however, Jean Remi Moët, born in 1758, who may be looked +upon as the veritable founder of the present commerce in Champagne +wines, which, thanks to his efforts, received a wonderful impulse, so +that instead of the consumption of the vintages of the Marne being +limited as heretofore to the privileged few, it spread all over the +civilised world. + +At Messrs. Moët and Chandon's we had the opportunity of inspecting some +of the old account-books of the firm, and more particularly those +recording the transactions of Jean Remi Moët and his father. The first +sales of sparkling wine, on May 23rd, 1743, comprised 301 bottles of the +vintage of 1741 to Pierre Joly, wine-merchant, _bon des douze chez le +Roi_, whatever that may mean, at Paris; 120 bottles to Pierre Gabriel +Baudoin, also _bon des douze_, at Paris; and a similar quantity to the +Sieur Compoin, keeping the "hotellerie ditte la pestitte Escurie," Rue +du Port Maillart, at Nantes in Brittany. The entry specifies that the +wine for Nantes is to be left at Choisy-le-Roi, and taken by land to +Orleans by the carters of that town, who are to be found at the Ecu +d'Orléans, Porte St. Michel, Paris, the carriage as far as Choisy being +4 livres 10 deniers (about 4 francs) for the two half-baskets, and to +Paris 3 livres 15 deniers the basket. + +Between 1750 and '60, parcels of wine were despatched to Warsaw, Vienna, +Berlin, Königsberg, Dantzig, Stettin, Brussels, and Amsterdam; but one +found no mention of any sales to England till the year 1788, when the +customers of the firm included "Milord" Farnham, of London, and Messrs. +Felix Calvert and Sylvin, who had a couple of sample bottles sent to +them, for which they were charged five shillings. In the same year +Messrs. Carbonnell, Moody, and Walker (predecessors of the well-known +existing firm of Carbonnell and Co.) wrote in French for two baskets, +of ten dozens each, of _vin de champagne_ "of good body, not too charged +with liqueur, but of excellent taste, and _not at all sparkling_!" while +the Chevalier Colebrook, writing from Bath, requests that 72 bottles of +champagne may be sent to his friend the Hon. John Butler, Molesworth +Street, Dublin, "who if contented with the wine will become a good +customer, he being rich, keeping a good house, and receiving many +amateurs of _vin de champagne_." Shortly afterwards the chevalier +himself receives 50 bottles of still wine, vintage 1783. In 1789 120 +bottles of champagne, vintage 1788, are supplied to "Milord" Findlater, +of London--an ancestor, no doubt, of the wine-merchants of the same name +carrying on business to-day, and whom the Moëts in their simplicity +dubbed a "Milord"--and in 1790 the customers of the house include Power +and Michel, of 44, Lamb Street, London, and Manning, of the St. Alban +Tavern, the latter of whom is supplied on March 30th with 130 bottles of +champagne at three livres, or two "schillings," per bottle; while a +month later Mr. Lockart, banker, of 36, Pall Mall, is debited with 360 +bottles, vintage 1788, at three shillings. + + [Illustration: + WASHING BOTTLES AT MESSRS. MOËT & CHANDON'S, EPERNAY. (p. 105)] + +In this same year M. Moët despatches a traveller to England named +Jeanson, and his letters, some two hundred in number, are all preserved +in the archives of the house. On the 17th May, 1790, he writes from +London as follows:--"As yet I have only gone on preparatory and often +useless errands. I have distributed samples of which I have no news. +Patience is necessary, and I endeavour to provide myself with it. How +the taste of this country has changed since ten years ago! Almost +everywhere they ask for dry wine, but at the same time require it so +vinous and so strong that there is scarcely any other than the wine of +Sillery which can satisfy them.... To-morrow I dine five miles from +here, at M. Macnamara's. We shall uncork four bottles of our wine, which +will probably be all right." In May, 1792, Jean Remi Moët is married, +and thenceforward assumes the full management of the house. On December +20 of the year following, when the Reign of Terror was fairly +inaugurated, we find the accounts in the ledger opened to this or the +other "citoyen." The orthodox Republican formula, however, did not long +continue, and "sieur" and "monsieur" resumed their accustomed places, +showing that Jean Remi Moët had no sympathy with the Jacobin faction of +the day. In 1805 he became Mayor of Epernay, and between this time and +the fall of the Empire received Napoleon several times at his residence, +as well as the Empress Josephine and the King of Westphalia. The +Emperor, after recapturing Reims from the Allies, came on to Epernay, +on which occasion he presented M. Moët with the cross of the Legion of +Honour. In 1830 the latter was arbitrarily dismissed from his mayoralty +by Charles X., but was speedily reinstated by Louis Philippe, though he +did not retain his office for long, his advanced age compelling him to +retire from active life in the course of 1833. At this epoch the firm, +which, since 1807 had been known as Moët and Co., was remodelled under +the style of Moët and Chandon, the two partners being M. Victor Moët, +son of the outgoing partner, and M. P. G. Chandon, the descendant of an +old ennobled family of the Mâconnais, who had married M. Jean Remi +Moët's eldest daughter. The descendants of these gentlemen are to-day at +the head of the business, the partners being on the one hand M. Victor +Moët-Romont and M. C. J. V. Auban Moët-Romont; and on the other, MM. +Paul and Raoul Chandon de Briailles. + +Facing Messrs. Moët and Chandon's offices at Epernay is a range of +comparatively new buildings, with its white façade ornamented with the +well-known monogram M. and C., surmounted by the familiar star. It is +here that the business of blending and bottling the wine is carried on. +Passing through the arched gateway access is obtained to a spacious +courtyard, where carts laden with bottles are being expeditiously +lightened of their fragile contents by the busy hands of numerous +workmen. Another gateway on the left leads into the spacious +bottle-washing room, which from the middle of May until the middle of +July presents a scene of extraordinary animation. Bottle-washing +apparatus, supplied by a steam-engine with 20,000 gallons of water per +diem, are ranged in fifteen rows down the entire length of this hall, +and nearly 200 women strive to excel each other in diligence and +celerity in their management, a practised hand washing from 900 to 1,000 +bottles in the course of the day. To the right of this _salle de +rinçage_, as it is styled, bottles are stacked in their tens of +thousands, and lads furnished with barrows, known as _diables_, hurry to +and fro, conveying these to the washers, or removing the clean bottles +to the adjacent courtyard, where they are allowed to drain, prior to +being taken to the _salle de tirage_ or bottling room. + +Before, however, the washing of bottles on this gigantic scale +commences, the "marrying" or blending of the wine is accomplished in a +vast apartment, 250 feet in length and 100 feet broad, during the early +spring. The casks of newly-vintaged wine which have been stowed away +during the winter months, in the extensive range of cellars hewn out of +the chalk underlying Epernay, where they have slowly fermented, are +mixed together in due proportions in huge vats, each holding upwards of +12,000 gallons. Some of this wine is the growth of Messrs. Moët and +Chandon's own vineyards, of which they possess as many as 900 acres +(giving constant employment to 800 labourers and vinedressers) at Ay, +Avenay, Bouzy, Cramant, Champillon, Chouilly, Dizy, Epernay, Grauves, +Hautvillers, Le Mesnil, Moussy, Pierry, Saran, St. Martin, Verzy, and +Verzenay, and the average annual cost of cultivating which is about £40 +per acre. At Ay the firm own 210 acres of vineyards; at Cramant and +Chouilly, nearly 180 acres; at Verzy and Verzenay, 120 acres; at Pierry +and Grauves, upwards of 100 acres; at Hautvillers, 90 acres; at Le +Mesnil, 80 acres; at Epernay, nearly 60 acres; and at Bouzy, 55 acres. +Messrs. Moët and Chandon, moreover, possess vendangeoirs, or +pressing-houses, at Ay, Bouzy, Cramant, Epernay, Hautvillers, Le Mesnil, +Pierry, Saran, and Verzenay, in which the large number of 40 presses are +installed. At these vendangeoirs no less than 5,450 pièces of fine white +wine, sufficient for 1,360,000 bottles of champagne, are annually +made--that is, 1,200 pièces at Ay, 1,100 at Cramant and Saran, 800 at +Verzy and Verzenay, and smaller quantities at the remaining +establishments. All these establishments have their celliers and their +cellars, together with cottages for the accommodation of the numerous +vinedressers in the employment of the firm. + + [Illustration: + MESSRS. MOËT & CHANDON'S VENDANGEOIR AT BOUZY. (p. 106)] + + [Illustration: + BOTTLING CHAMPAGNE AT MESSRS. MOËT & CHANDON'S, EPERNAY. (p. 107)] + +Extensive as are the vineyards owned by Messrs. Moët and Chandon, the +yield from them is utterly inadequate to the enormous demand which the +great Epernay firm are annually called upon to supply, and large +purchases have to be made by their agents from the growers throughout +the Champagne. The wine thus secured, as well as that grown by the firm, +is duly mixed together in such proportions as will ensure lightness with +the requisite vinosity, and fragrance combined with effervescence, +a thorough amalgamation being effected by stirring up the wine with long +poles provided with fan-shaped ends. If the vintage be indifferent in +quality the firm have scores of huge tuns filled with the yield of more +favoured seasons to fall back upon to ensure any deficiencies of +character and flavour being supplied. + +The casks of wine to be blended are raised from the cellars, half a +dozen at a time, by means of a lift provided with an endless chain, and +worked by the steam-engine of which we have already spoken. They are +emptied, through traps in the floor of the room above, into the huge +vats which, standing upon a raised platform, reach almost to the +ceiling. From these vats the fluid is allowed to flow through hose into +rows of casks stationed below. Before being bottled the wine reposes for +a certain time, is next duly racked and again blended, and is eventually +conveyed through silver-plated pipes into oblong reservoirs, each fitted +with a dozen syphon-taps, so arranged that directly the bottle slipped +on to one of them becomes full the wine ceases to flow. + + [Illustration] + +Upwards of 200 workpeople are employed in the _salle de tirage_ at +Messrs. Moët and Chandon's, which, while the operation of bottling is +going on, presents a scene of bewildering activity. Men and lads are +gathered round the syphon-taps briskly removing the bottles as they +become filled, and supplanting them by empty ones. Other lads hasten to +transport the filled bottles on trucks to the corkers, whose so-called +"guillotine" machines send the corks home with a sudden thud. The corks +being secured with _agrafes_ the bottles are placed in large flat +baskets called _manettes_, and wheeled away on tracks, the quarts being +deposited in the cellars by means of lifts, while the pints slide down +an inclined plane by the aid of an endless chain, which raises the +trucks with the empty baskets at the same time the full ones make their +descent into the cellars. What with the incessant thud of the corking +machines, the continual rolling of iron-wheeled trucks over the concrete +floor, the rattling and creaking of the machinery working the lifts, the +occasional sharp report of a bursting bottle, and the loudly-shouted +orders of the foremen, who display the national partiality for making a +noise to perfection, the din becomes at times all but unbearable. The +number of bottles filled in the course of the day naturally varies, +still Messrs. Moët and Chandon reckon that during the month of June a +daily average of 100,000 are taken in the morning from the stacks in the +_salle de rinçage_, washed, dried, filled, corked, wired, lowered into +the cellars and carefully arranged in symmetrical order. This represents +a total of two and a half million bottles during that month alone. + +The bottles on being lowered into the cellars, either by means of the +incline or the lifts, are placed in a horizontal position, and with +their uppermost side daubed with white chalk, are stacked in layers from +two to half-a-dozen bottles deep with narrow oak laths between. The +stacks are usually about six or seven feet high and 100 feet and upwards +in length. Whilst the wine is thus reposing in a temperature of about +55° Fahrenheit, fermentation sets in, and the ensuing month is one of +much anxiety. Thanks, however, to the care bestowed, Messrs. Moët and +Chandon's annual loss from bottles bursting rarely exceeds three per +cent., though fifteen was once regarded as a respectable and +satisfactory average. The broken glass is a perquisite of the workmen, +the money arising from its sale, which at the last distribution amounted +to no less than 20,000 francs, being divided amongst them every couple +of years. + + [Illustration] + +The usual entrance to Messrs. Moët and Chandon's Epernay cellars--which, +burrowed out in all directions, are of the aggregate length of nearly +seven miles, and have usually between 11,000,000 and 12,000,000 bottles +and 25,000 casks of wine stored therein--is through a wide and imposing +portal, and down a long and broad flight of steps. It is, however, by +the ancient and less imposing entrance, through which more than one +crowned head has condescended to pass, that we set forth on our +lengthened tour through these intricate underground galleries--this +subterranean city with its miles of streets, crossroads, open spaces, +tramways, and stations devoted solely to champagne. A gilt inscription +on a black marble tablet testifies that "on the 26th July, 1807, +Napoleon the Great, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, and Protector +of the Confederation of the Rhine, honoured commerce by visiting the +cellars of Jean Rémi Moët, Mayor of Epernay, President of the Canton, +and Member of the General Council of the Department," within three weeks +of the signature of the treaty of Tilsit. Passing down the flight of +steep slippery steps traversed by the victor of Eylau and Jena, access +is gained to the upper range of vaults, brilliantly illuminated by the +glare of gas, or dimly lighted by the flickering flame of +tallow-candles, upwards of 60,000lbs. of which are annually consumed. +Here group after group of the small army of 350 workmen employed in +these subterranean galleries are encountered engaged in the process of +transforming the _vin brut_ into champagne. At Messrs. Moët and +Chandon's the all-important operation of liqueuring the wine is effected +by aid of machines of the latest construction, which regulate the +quantity administered to the utmost nicety. The corks are branded by +being pressed against steel dies heated by gas, by women who can turn +out 3,000 per day apiece, the quantity of string used to secure them +amounting to nearly ten tons in the course of the year. + +There is another and a lower depth of cellars to be explored to which +access is gained by trapholes in the floor--through which the barrels +and baskets of wine are raised and lowered--and by flights of steps. +From the foot of the latter there extends an endless vista of lofty and +spacious passages hewn out of the chalk, the walls of which, smooth as +finished masonry, are lined with thousands of casks of raw wine, varied +at intervals by gigantic vats. Miles of long, dark-brown, +dampish-looking galleries stretch away to the right and left, and though +devoid of the picturesque festoons of fungi which decorate the London +Dock vaults, exhibit a sufficient degree of mouldiness to give them an +air of respectable antiquity. These multitudinous galleries, lit up by +petroleum-lamps, are mostly lined with wine in bottles stacked in +compact masses to a height of six or seven feet, only room enough for a +single person to pass being left. Millions of bottles are thus arranged, +the majority on their sides, in huge piles, with tablets hung up against +each stack to note its age and quality; and the rest, which are +undergoing daily evolutions at the hands of the twister, at various +angles of inclination. In these cellars there are nearly 11,000 racks in +which the bottles of _vin brut_ rest _sur pointe_, as many as 600,000 +bottles being commonly twisted daily. + +The way runs on between regiments of bottles of the same size and shape, +save where at intervals pints take the place of quarts; and the visitor, +gazing into the black depths of the transverse passages to the right and +left, becomes conscious of a feeling that if his guide were suddenly to +desert him he would feel as hopelessly lost as in the catacombs of Rome. +There are two galleries, each 650 feet in length, containing about +650,000 bottles, and connected by 32 transverse galleries, with an +aggregate length of 4,000 feet, in which nearly 1,500,000 bottles are +stored. There are, further, eight galleries, each 500 feet in length, +and proportionably stocked; also the extensive new vaults, excavated +some five or six years back, in the rear of the then-existing cellarage, +and a considerable number of smaller vaults. The different depths and +varying degrees of moisture afford a choice of temperature of which the +experienced owners know how to take advantage. The original vaults, +wherein more than a century ago the first bottles of champagne made by +the infant firm were stowed away, bear the name of Siberia, on account +of their exceeding coldness. This section consists of several +roughly-excavated low winding galleries, resembling natural caverns, and +affording a striking contrast to the broad, lofty, and regular-shaped +corridors of more recent date. + +When the proper period arrives for the bottles to emerge once more into +the upper air they are conveyed to the packing-room, a spacious hall 180 +feet long and 60 feet broad. In front of its three large double doors +waggons are drawn up ready to receive their loads. The seventy men and +women employed here easily foil, label, wrap, and pack up some 10,000 +bottles a day. Cases and baskets are stacked in different parts of this +vast hall, at one end of which numerous trusses of straw used in the +packing are piled. Seated at tables ranged along one side of the +apartment women are busily occupied in pasting on labels or encasing the +necks of bottles in gold or silver foil, whilst elsewhere men, seated on +three-legged stools in front of smoking caldrons of molten sealing-wax +of a deep green hue, are coating the necks of other bottles by plunging +them into the boiling fluid. When labelled and decorated with either wax +or foil the bottles pass on to other women, who swathe them in pink +tissue-paper and set them aside for the packers, by whom, after being +deftly wrapped round with straw, they are consigned to baskets or cases, +to secure which last no less than 10,000lbs. of nails are annually used. +England and Russia are partial to gold foil, pink paper, and wooden +cases holding a dozen or a couple of dozen bottles of the exhilarating +fluid, whereas other nations prefer waxed necks, disdain pink paper, and +insist on being supplied in wicker baskets containing fifty bottles +each. + + [Illustration: + THE PACKING HALL AT MESSRS. MOËT AND CHANDON'S, EPERNAY. (p. 112)] + +Some idea of the complex character of so vast an establishment as that +of Messrs. Moët and Chandon may be gathered from a mere enumeration of +their staff, which, in addition to twenty clerks and 350 cellarmen +proper, includes numerous agrafe-makers and corkcutters, packers and +carters, wheelwrights and saddlers, carpenters, masons, slaters and +tilers, tinmen, firemen, needlewomen, &c., while the inventory of +objects used by this formidable array of workpeople comprises no fewer +than 1,500 distinct heads. A medical man attached to the establishment +gives gratuitous advice to all those employed, and a chemist dispenses +drugs and medicines without charge. While suffering from illness the men +receive half-pay, but should they be laid up by an accident met with in +the course of their work full salary is invariably awarded to them. As +may be supposed, so vast an establishment as this is not without a +provision for those past work, and all the old hands receive liberal +pensions from the firm upon retiring. Every year Messrs. Moët and +Chandon give a banquet or a ball to the people in their employ--usually +after the bottling of the wine is completed--when the hall in which the +entertainment takes place is handsomely decorated and illuminated with +myriads of coloured lamps. + +It is needless to particularise Messrs. Moët and Chandon's wines, which +are familiar to all drinkers of champagne. Their famous "star" brand is +known in all societies, figures equally at clubs and mess-tables, at +garden parties and picnics, dinners and _soirées_, and has its place in +hotel _cartes_ all over the world. One of the best proofs of the wine's +universal popularity is found in the circumstance that as many as 1,000 +visitors from all parts of the world come annually to Epernay and make +the tour of Messrs. Moët and Chandon's spacious cellars. + +A little beyond Messrs. Moët and Chandon's, in the broad Rue du +Commerce, we encounter a heavy, ornate, pretentious-looking château, the +residence of M. Perrier-Jouët, which presents a striking contrast to the +almost mean-looking premises opposite, where the business of the firm is +carried on. M. Perrier-Jouët is the fortunate grandson of the Sieur +Perrier Fissier, a little Epernay grocer, who some eighty years or so +ago used to supply corks, candles, and string to the firm of Moët and +Co., and who, when the profits arising from this connection warranted +his doing so, discarded his grocer's sleeves and apron and blossomed +forth as a competitor in the champagne trade. Perrier-Jouët and Co.'s +offices are situated on the left-hand side of a courtyard surrounded by +low buildings, which serve as celliers, store-houses, packing-rooms, and +the like. From an inner courtyard where piles of bottles are stacked +under open sheds, the cellars themselves are reached. Previous to +descending into these we passed through the various buildings, in one of +which a party of men were engaged in disgorging and preparing wine for +shipment. In another we noticed one of those heavy beam presses for +pressing the grapes which the more intelligent manufacturers regard as +obsolete, while in a third was the _cuvée_ vat, holding no more than +2,200 gallons. In making their _cuvée_ the firm commonly mix one part of +old wine to three parts of new. An indifferent vintage, however, +necessitates the admixture of a larger proportion of the older growth. +The cellars, like all the more ancient ones at Epernay, are somewhat +straggling and irregular, still they are remarkably cool, and on the +lower floor remarkably damp as well. This, however, would appear to be +no disadvantage, as the breakage in them is calculated never to exceed +2½ per cent. + +The firm have no less than five qualities of champagne, and at one of +the recent champagne competitions at London, where the experts engaged +had no means of identifying the brands submitted to their judgment, +Messrs. Perrier-Jouët's First Quality got classed below a cheaper wine +of their neighbours Messrs. Pol Roger and Co., and very considerably +below the Extra Sec of Messrs. Périnet et fils, and inferior even to a +wine of De Venoge's, the great Epernay manufacturer of common class +champagnes. + + [Illustration: + COURTYARD OF MESSRS. POL ROGER'S ESTABLISHMENT AT EPERNAY. (p. 115)] + +Champagne establishments, combined with the handsome residences of the +manufacturers, line both sides of the long, imposing Rue du Commerce at +Epernay. On the left hand is a succession of fine châteaux, commencing +with one belonging to M. Auban Moët, whose terraced gardens overlook the +valley of the Marne, and command views of the vine-clad heights of +Cumières, Hautvillers, Ay, and Mareuil, and the more distant slopes of +Ambonnay and Bouzy, while on the other side of the famous Epernay +thoroughfare we encounter beyond the establishments of Messrs. Moët and +Chandon and Perrier-Jouët the ornate monumental façade which the firm of +Piper and Co.--of whom Messrs. Kunkelmann and Co. are to-day the +successors--raised some years since above their extensive cellars. +A little in the rear of the Rue du Commerce is the well-ordered +establishment of Messrs. Roussillon and Co., the extension of whose +business of late has necessitated their removal to these capacious +premises. The wines of the firm enjoy a high reputation in England, +France, and Russia, and have secured favourable recognition at the +Paris, Philadelphia, and other Exhibitions. Their stock includes +considerable quantities of the older vintages, it being a rule of the +house never to ship crude young wines. It is on their dry varieties that +Messrs. Roussillon and Co. especially pride themselves, and some of the +fine wine of 1874 that was here shown to us was as remarkable for its +delicacy as for its fragrance. + +In a side street at the farther end of the Rue du Commerce stands a +château of red brick, overlooking on the one side an extensive +pleasure-garden, and on the other a spacious courtyard, bounded by +celliers, stables, and bottle-sheds, all of modern construction and on a +most extensive scale. These form the establishment of Messrs. Pol Roger +and Co., settled for many years at Epernay, and known throughout the +Champagne for their large purchases at the epoch of the vintage. From +the knowledge they possess of the best crûs, and their relations with +the leading vineyard proprietors, they are enabled whenever the wine is +good to acquire large stocks of it. Having bottled a considerable +quantity of the fine wine of 1874, they resolved to profit by the +exceptional quality of this vintage to commence shipping champagne to +England, where their agents, Messrs. Reuss, Lauteren, and Co., have +successfully introduced the new brand. + +Passing through a large open gateway we enter the vast courtyard of the +establishment, which, with arriving and departing carts--the first +loaded with wine in cask or with new bottles, and the others with cases +of champagne--presents rather an animated scene. Under a roof projecting +from the wall of the vast cellier on the right hand a tribe of +"Sparnaciennes"--as the feminine inhabitants of Epernay are termed--are +occupied in washing bottles in readiness for the coming tirage. The +surrounding buildings, most substantially constructed, are not destitute +of architectural pretensions. + +The extensive cellier, the area of which is 23,589 square feet, is +understood to be the largest single construction of the kind in the +Champagne district. Built entirely of iron, stone and brick, its +framework is a perfect marvel of lightness. The roof, consisting of rows +of brick arches, is covered above with a layer of Portland cement, in +order to keep it cool in summer and protect it against the winter cold, +two most desirable objects in connection with the manipulation of +champagne. Here an endless chain of a new pattern enables wine in bottle +to be lowered and raised with great rapidity to or from the cellars +beneath--lofty and capacious excavations of two stories, the lowest of +which is reached by a flight of no less than 170 steps. + +Epernay, unlike Reims, has little of general interest to attract the +stranger. Frequently besieged and pillaged during the Middle Ages, and +burnt to the ground by the dauphin, son of François I., the town, +although of some note as far back as the time of Clovis, exhibits to-day +no evidence whatever of its great antiquity. The thoroughfare termed the +Rempart de la Tour Biron recalls a memorable incident which transpired +during the siege of the town by Henri IV. While the king was +reconnoitring the defences a cannon-ball aimed at his waving white plume +took off the head of the Maréchal Biron at the moment Henri's hand was +resting familiarly on the maréchal's shoulder. Strange to say, the king +himself escaped unhurt. + + [Illustration: + VIEW OF AY FROM THE BANKS OF THE MARNE CANAL. (p. 117.)] + + + + + [Illustration: + THE VENDANGEOIR OF HENRI QUATRE.] + +XI.--CHAMPAGNE ESTABLISHMENTS AT AY AND MAREUIL. + +The Establishment of Deutz and Geldermann-- Drawing off the Cuvée-- + Mode of Excavating Cellars in the Champagne-- The Firm's New + Cellars, Vineyards, and Vendangeoir-- The old Château of Ay and its + Terraced Garden-- The Gambling Propensities of Balthazar Constance + Dangé-Dorçay, a former Owner of the Château-- The Picturesque + Situation and Aspect of Messrs. Ayala's Establishment-- A Promenade + through their Cellars-- M. Duminy's Cellars and Wines-- His new + Model Construction-- The House Founded in 1814-- Messrs. Bollinger's + Establishment-- Their Vineyard of La Grange-- The Tirage in + Progress-- The Fine Cellars of the Firm-- Messrs. Pfungst's frères + and Co.'s Cellars-- Their Dry Champagnes of 1868, '70, '72, and + '74-- The Old Church of Ay and its Decorations of Grapes and + Vineleaves-- The Vendangeoir of Henri Quatre-- The Montebello + Establishment at Mareuil-- The Château formerly the Property of the + Dukes of Orleans-- A Titled Champagne Firm-- The Brilliant Career of + Marshal Lannes-- A Promenade through the Montebello Establishment-- + The Press House, the Cuvée Vat, the Packing-Room, the Offices, and + the Cellars-- Portraits and Relics at the Château-- The + Establishment of Bruch-Foucher and Co.-- The handsome Carved + Gigantic Cuvée Tun-- The Cellars and their Lofty Shafts-- The Wines + of the Firm. + + +The historic _bourgade_ of Ay is within a short walk of the station on +the line of railway connecting Epernay with Reims. The road lies across +the light bridge spanning the Marne canal, the tall trees fringing which +hide for a time the clustering houses; still we catch sight of the +tapering steeple of the antique church rising sharply against the green +vine-covered slopes and the fleecy-clouded summer sky. We soon reach the +Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, and continuing onward in the direction of the +steep hills which shelter the town on the north, come to a +massive-looking corner house in front of the broad _porte-cochère_ of +which some railway carts laden with cases of champagne are standing. +Passing through the gateway we find ourselves in an open court, with a +dwelling-house to the right and a range of buildings in front where the +offices of Messrs. Deutz and Geldermann are installed. This is the +central establishment of the firm, whose Extra Dry "Gold Lack" and +"Cabinet" champagnes have long been favourably known in England. Here +are spacious celliers for disgorging and finishing off the wine, a large +packing-hall, and rooms where bales of corks and other accessories of +the trade are stored, the operations of making the _cuvées_ and bottling +being accomplished in an establishment some little distance off. + + [Illustration: + DRAWING OFF THE CUVÉE AT DEUTZ & GELDERMANN'S, AY. (p. 118)] + + [Illustration: + EXCAVATING DEUTZ & GELDERMANN'S NEW CELLARS, AY. (p. 119)] + +Proceeding thither, we find an elegant château with a charming terraced +garden, lying at the very foot of the vine-clad slopes, and on the +opposite side of the road some large celliers where wine in wood is +stored, and where the _cuvées_ of the firm, consisting usually of +upwards of 50,000 gallons each, are made in a vat of gigantic +proportions, furnished with a raised platform at one end for the +accommodation of the workman who agitates the customary paddles. When +the wine is completely blended it is drawn off into casks disposed for +the purpose in the cellar below, as shown in the accompanying engraving, +and after being fined it rests for about a month to clear itself. To +each of these casks of newly-blended wine a portion of old wine is added +separately, and at the moment of bottling the whole is newly +amalgamated. + +Adjoining M. Deutz's château is the principal entrance to the extensive +cellars of the firm, to which, at the time of our visit, considerable +additions were being made. In excavating a gallery the workmen commence +by rounding off the roof, and then proceed to work gradually downwards, +extracting the chalk, whenever practicable, in blocks suitable for +building purposes, which being worth from three to four shillings the +square yard help to reduce the cost of the excavation. When any serious +flaws present themselves in the sides or roof of the galleries, they are +invariably made good with masonry. + +This range of cellars now comprises eight long and lofty galleries no +less than 17 feet wide, and the same number of feet in height, and of +the aggregate length of 2,200 yards. These spacious vaults, which run +parallel with each other, and communicate by means of cross passages, +underlie the street, the château, the garden, and the vineyard slopes +beyond, and possess the great advantage of being always dry. They are +capable, we were informed, of containing several million bottles of +champagne in addition to a large quantity of wine in cask. + +Messrs. Deutz and Geldermann possess vineyards at Ay, and own a large +vendangeoir at Verzenay, where in good years they usually press 500 +pièces of wine. They, moreover, make large purchases of grapes at Bouzy, +Cramant, Le Mesnil, Pierry, &c, and invariably have these pressed under +their own superintendence. Beyond large shipments to England, Messrs. +Deutz and Geldermann transact a considerable business with other +countries, and more especially with Germany, where their brand has been +for years one of the most popular, and is to-day the favourite at +numerous regimental messes and the principal hotels. + +The old château of Ay, which dates from the early part of the last +century, belongs to-day to the Count de Mareuil, a member of the firm of +Ayala and Co., one of the leading establishments of the famous +Marne-side crû. Perched half-way up the slope, covered with "golden +plants," which rises in the rear of the village, the château, with its +long façade of windows, commands the valley of the Marne for miles, and +from the stately terraced walk, planted with ancient lime-trees, +geometrically clipped in the fashion of the last century, a splendid +view of the distant vineyards of Avize, Cramant, Epernay, and Chouilly +is obtained. The château formed one of a quartette of seignorial +residences which at the commencement of the present century belonged to +Balthazar Constance Dangé-Dorçay, whose ancestors had been lords of +Chouilly under the _ancien régime_. Dorçay had inherited from an aunt +the châteaux of Ay, Mareuil, Boursault, and Chouilly, together with a +large patrimony in land and money; but a mania for gambling brought him +to utter ruin, and he dispossessed himself of money, lands, and châteaux +in succession, and was reduced, in his old age, to earn a meagre +pittance as a violin-player at the Paris Opera House. The old château of +Boursault, which still exists contiguous to the stately edifice raised +by Mme. Clicquot on the summit of the hill, was risked and lost on a +single game at cards by this pertinacious gamester, whose pressing +pecuniary difficulties compelled him to sell the remaining châteaux one +by one. That of Ay was purchased by M. Froc de la Boulaye, and by him +bequeathed to his cousin the Count de Mareuil, whose granddaughter +became the wife of one of the Messrs. Ayala, and whose son is to-day +their partner. + + [Illustration: + MESSRS. AYALA & CO.'S ESTABLISHMENT AT AY. (p. 121)] + +The offices of the firm adjoin the château, and rather higher up the +hill is their very complete establishment, picturesquely situated in a +hollow formed by some excavations, with the thickly-planted vine-slopes +rising above its red-tiled roof. The boldly-designed basement, the +ascending sweep conducting to the extensive celliers and the little +centre belfry give a character of originality to the building. Carts +laden with cases of champagne are leaving for the railway station, casks +of wine are being transferred from one part of the establishment to +another, bottles are being got ready for the approaching tirage, and in +the packing department, installed in one of the three celliers into +which the story aboveground is divided, quite an animated scene presents +itself. Iron columns support the roofs of this and its companion +celliers, where the firm make their _cuvée_, and the bottling of the +wine takes place. On descending into the basement beneath, the popping +of corks and the continual clatter of machinery intimate that the +disgorging and re-corking of the wine are being accomplished, and in the +dim light we discern groups of workmen engaged in the final manipulation +which champagne has to undergo, while fresh relays of wine are arriving +from the cellars by the aid of endless chains. There are two stories of +these cellars which, excavated in the chalk, extend under the road and +wind round beneath the château, the more modern galleries being broad, +lofty, and admirably ventilated, and provided with supports of masonry +wherever the instability of the chalk rendered this requisite. After a +lengthened promenade through them we come to the ancient vaults +extending immediately under the grounds of the château, where every +particle of available space is utilised, and some difficulty is found in +passing between the serried piles of bottles of _vin brut_--mostly the +fine wine of 1874--which rise continuously on either side. + + [Illustration] + +Within a hundred yards of the open space, surrounded by houses of +different epochs and considerable diversity of design, where the Ay +market is weekly held, and in one of the narrow winding streets common +to the town, an escutcheon, with a bunch of grapes for device, +surmounting a lofty gateway, attracts attention. Within, a trim +courtyard, girt round with orange-trees in bright green boxes, and +clipped in orthodox fashion, affords access to the handsome residence +and offices of M. Duminy, well-known in England and America as a shipper +of high-class champagnes, and whose Parisian connection is extensive. On +the right-hand side of the courtyard is the packing-room, and through +the cellars, which have an entrance here, one can reach the celliers in +an adjoining street, where the _cuvée_ is made and the bottling of the +wine accomplished. + +M. Duminy's cellars are remarkably old, and consequently of somewhat +irregular construction, being at times rather low and narrow, as well as +on different levels. In addition, however, to these venerable vaults, +packed with wines of 1869, '70, '72, and '74, M. Duminy has various +subterranean adjuncts in other parts of Ay, and is at present engaged in +constructing, at the foot of his vineyards up the mountain slope, +a noble establishment which includes a vast court, upwards of a thousand +square yards in extent, wherein are installed capacious bottle-racks and +bottle-washing machines of the latest improved manufacture. Here are +also handsome and extensive celliers, together with immense underground +cellars, comprising broad and lofty galleries of regular design, the +whole being constructed with a completeness and studied regard for +convenience which bid fair to render this establishment when finished +the model one of the Champagne district. + +The house was originally founded so far back as 1814 by +M. Taverne-Richard, who was intimately connected with the principal +vineyard proprietors of the district. In 1842 this gentleman took his +son-in-law, M. Duminy, father of the present proprietor of the +establishment, into partnership, and after the retirement of M. Taverne +he gave a great impetus to the business, and succeeded in introducing +his light and delicate wines into the principal Paris hotels and +restaurants. During its two-thirds of a century of existence the house +has invariably confined itself to first-class wines, taking particular +pride in shipping fully-matured growths. Besides its own large reserve +of these, it holds considerable stocks long since disposed of, and now +merely awaiting the purchasers' orders to be shipped. + +A few paces beyond M. Duminy's we come upon an antiquated, +decrepit-looking timber house, with its ancient gable bulging over as +though the tough oak brackets on which it rests were at last grown weary +of supporting their unwieldy burthen. Judging from the quaint carved +devices, this house was doubtless the residence of an individual of some +importance in the days when the principal European potentates had their +commissioners installed at Ay to secure them the finest vintages. +Continuing our walk along the same narrow winding street, we soon reach +the establishment of Messrs. Bollinger, whose house, founded in the year +1829, claims to be the first among the Ay firms who shipped wines to +foreign countries generally, including England, where the brand has long +been held in high repute. Messrs. Bollinger, besides being shippers of +champagne, are extensive vineyard proprietors, owning vinelands at +Bouzy, Verzenay, and Dizy. A vineyard of theirs at the latter place, +known as "La Grange," is said to have formerly belonged to the monks who +founded the abbey of St. Peter at Hautvillers, the legend connected with +which we have already related. + +A couple of large gateways offer access to the spacious courtyard of +Messrs. Bollinger's establishment; a handsome dwelling-house standing on +the right, and a small pavilion, in which the offices are installed, +while on the left hand and in the rear of the courtyard rises a range of +buildings of characteristic aspect, appropriated to the business of the +firm. In one of the celliers, which has its open-raftered roof supported +by slim metal columns, we found the tirage going on, the gang of workmen +engaged in it filling, corking, and lowering into the cellars some +20,000 bottles a day. In one corner of the apartment stood the large +_cuvée_ tun--capable of holding some 50 hogsheads--in which the blending +of the wine is effected, and in an adjoining cellier women were briskly +labelling and wrapping up the completed bottles of champagne. The +cellars, constructed some fifty years ago at a cost of nearly £12 the +superficial yard, are faced entirely with stone, and are alike wide and +lofty; this is especially the case with four of the more modern +galleries excavated in 1848, and each 160 feet in length. Besides the +foregoing, Messrs. Bollinger possess other cellars in Ay, where they +store their reserve wines both in bottle and in the wood. + +On the northern side of Ay, some little distance from the vineyard owned +by them, the firm of Pfungst frères & Cie. have their cellars, the +entrance to which lies just under the lofty vine-clad ridge. Messrs. +Pfungst frères lay themselves out exclusively for the shipment of +high-class champagnes, and the excellent growths of the Ay district +necessarily form an important element in their carefully-composed +_cuvées_. A considerable portion of their stock consists of reserves of +old wine, and we tasted here a variety of samples of finely-matured +champagnes of 1868 and '70, as well as the vintages of 1872 and '74. All +of these wines were of superior quality, combining delicacy and +fragrance with dryness, the latter being their especial feature. In +addition to their business with England, Messrs. Pfungst frères ship +largely to India and the United States. + + [Illustration] + +It is on this side of the town that the fine old Gothic church, dating +as far back as the twelfth century, is situated. Many of the mouldings +and the capitals of the columns both inside and outside the building are +covered over with grape-laden vine-branches, and the sculptured figure +of a boy bearing a basket of grapes upon his head surmounts the handsome +Renaissance doorway, seemingly to indicate the honour in which the +vine--the source of all the prosperity of the little town--was held both +by the mediæval and later architects of the edifice. Nigh to the church +stands the old house with its obliterated carved escutcheons, known +traditionally as the Vendangeoir of Henri Quatre. This monarch loved the +wine of the place almost as well as his favourite vintage of Arbois, and +dubbed himself, as we have already mentioned, Seigneur of Ay, whose +inhabitants he sought to gratify by confirming the charter which +centuries before had been granted to the town. + + [Illustration] + +Within half-an-hour's walk of Ay, in an easterly direction, is the +village of Mareuil, a long straight street of straggling houses, bounded +by trees and garden-plats, with vine-clad hills rising abruptly behind +on the one side, and the Marne canal flowing placidly by on the other. +The archaic church, a mixture of the Romanesque and Early Gothic, stands +at the farther end of the village, and some little distance on this side +of it is a massive-looking eighteenth-century building, spacious enough +to accommodate a regiment of horse, but conventual rather than +barrack-like in aspect, from the paucity of windows looking on to the +road. A broad gateway leads into a spacious courtyard to the left of +which stands a grand château, while on the right there rises an ornate +round tower of three stories, from the gallery on the summit of which a +fine view over the valley of the Marne is obtained. The buildings +inclosing the court on three sides comprise press-houses, celliers, and +packing-rooms, an antiquated sundial marking the hour on the blank space +above the vines that climb beside the entrance gateway. The more ancient +of these tenements formed the vendangeoir of the Dukes of Orleans at the +time they owned the château of Mareuil, purchased in 1830 by the Duke de +Montebello, son of the famous Marshal Lannes, and minister and +ambassador of Louis Philippe and Napoleon III. + +The acquisition of this property, to which were attached some important +vineyards, led, several years later, to the duke's founding, in +conjunction with his brothers, the Marquis and General Count de +Montebello, a champagne firm, whose brand speedily acquired a notable +popularity. To-day the business is carried on by their sons and heirs, +for all the original partners in the house have followed their valiant +father to the grave. Struck down by an Austrian cannon-ball in the +zenith of his fame, the career of Marshal Lannes, brief as it was, +furnishes one of the most brilliant pages in French military annals. +Joining the army of Italy as a volunteer in 1796, he was made a colonel +on the battle-field in the gorges of Millesimo, when Augereau's bold +advance opened Piedmont to the French. He fought at Bassano and Lodi, +took part in the assault of Pavia and the siege of Mantua, and at +Arcola, when Napoleon dashed flag in hand upon the bridge, Lannes was +seriously wounded whilst shielding his general from danger. He +afterwards distinguished himself in Egypt, and led the van of the French +army across the Alps, displaying his accustomed bravery both at +Montebello and Marengo. At Austerlitz, where he commanded the right wing +of the army, he greatly contributed to the victory, and at Jena, +Friedland, and Eylau his valour was again conspicuous. Sent to Spain, +he defeated the Spaniards at Tudela, and took part in the operations +against Saragossa. Wounded at the battle of Essling, when the Archduke +Charles inflicted upon Napoleon I. the first serious repulse he had met +with on the field of battle, the valiant Lannes expired a few days +afterwards in the Emperor's arms. + + [Illustration: + THE MONTEBELLO ESTABLISHMENT AT MAREUIL. (p. 126)] + + [Illustration: + CHÂTEAU OF MAREUIL, BELONGING TO THE DUKE OF MONTEBELLO. (p. 127.)] + +We were met at Mareuil, on the occasion of our visit, by Count Alfred +Ferdinand de Montebello, the present manager of the house, and conducted +by him over the establishment. In the press-house, to the left of the +courtyard, were two of the ponderous presses used in the Champagne, for, +like all other large firms, the house makes its own wine. Grapes grown +in the Mareuil vineyards arrive here in baskets slung across the backs +of mules, muzzled so that while awaiting their loads they may not devour +the fruit within reach. In a cellier adjoining the press-house stands a +large vat, capable of holding 50 pièces of wine, with a crane beside it +for hauling up the casks when the _cuvée_ is made. Here the tirage +likewise takes place, and in the range of buildings, roofed with glass, +in the rear of the tower, the bottled wine is labelled, capped with +foil, and packed in cases for transmission to Paris, England, and other +places abroad. + +A double flight of steps, decorated with lamps and vases, leads to the +handsome offices of the firm, situated on the first floor of the tower, +while above is an apartment with a panelled ceiling, gracefully +decorated with groups of Cupids engaged in the vintage and the various +operations which the famous wines of the Mountain and the River undergo +during their conversion into champagne. On the ground floor of the tower +a low doorway conducts to the spacious cellars, which, owing to the +proximity of the Marne, are all on the same level as well as constructed +in masonry. The older vaults, where the Marquis de Pange, a former owner +of the château, stored the wine which he used to sell to the champagne +manufacturers, are somewhat low and tortuous compared with the broad and +lofty galleries of more recent date, which have been constructed as the +growing connection of the firm obliged them to increase their stocks. +Spite, however, of numerous additions, portions of their reserves have +to be stored in other cellars in Mareuil. Considerable stocks of each of +the four qualities of wine supplied by the firm are being got ready for +disgorgement, including Cartes Noires and Bleues, with the refined Carte +Blanche and the delicate Crêmant, which challenge comparison with brands +of the highest repute. + +In the adjacent château, the gardens of which slope down to the Marne +canal, there are various interesting portraits, with one or two relics +of the distinguished founder of the Montebello family, notably Marshal +Lannes's gold-embroidered velvet saddle trappings, his portrait and that +of Marshal Gerard, as well as one of Napoleon I., by David, with a +handsome clock and candelabra of Egyptian design, a bust of Augustus +Cæsar, and a portrait of the Regent d'Orléans. + +Another champagne house of standing at Mareuil is that of Bruch-Foucher +and Co., whose establishment is situated near the village mairie. +Entering by a lofty porte-cochère, we notice on the left hand a spacious +packing-room, where men and women are expeditiously completing some +shipping order, while beyond are the offices, looking on to a terraced +garden whence a pleasant view is gained of the verdant valley of the +Marne. From the packing-room a broad staircase leads to the cellars +beneath, which can also be reached from a venerable range of buildings +on the opposite side of the road, where young wines and old cognac +spirit, used in the preparation of the liqueur, are stored in the wood. + +In one of these ancient celliers is a vast tun, capable of containing +nearly 5,000 gallons, carved over with an elaborate device of vineleaves +and bunches of grapes entwined around overflowing cornucopia and bottles +of champagne. This handsome cask, in which the firm make their _cuvée_, +is a worthy rival of the sole antique ornamental tun that still reposes +in the Royal cellars at Wurzburg. In Messrs. Bruch-Foucher and Co.'s +capacious cellars, faced and vaulted with stone, from eight to nine +hundred thousand bottles of wine are stored. The cellars form a single +story, and extend partly under the adjacent vineyard slopes, deriving +light and ventilation from numerous shafts which are occasionally no +less than 150 feet in height. Messrs. Bruch-Foucher and Co., who are +owners of vineyards at Mareuil, ship three qualities of champagne, the +finest being their Carte d'Or and their Monogram Carte Blanche. Their +chief business is with England, Germany, and the United States, where +their brands enjoy considerable repute. + + + + + [Illustration: + DOORWAY OF AVIZE CHURCH.] + +XII.--CHAMPAGNE ESTABLISHMENTS AT AVIZE AND RILLY. + +Avize the Centre of the White Grape District-- Its Situation and + Aspect-- The Establishment of Giesler and Co.-- The Tirage and the + Cuvée-- Vin Brut in Racks and on Tables-- The Packing-Hall, the + Extensive Cellars, and the Disgorging Cellier-- Bottle Stores and + Bottle-Washing Machines-- Messrs. Giesler's Wine-Presses at Avize + and Vendangeoir at Bouzy-- Their Vineyards and their Purchases of + Grapes-- Reputation of the Giesler Brand-- The Establishment of + M. Charles de Cazanove-- A Tame Young Boar-- Boar-Hunting in the + Champagne-- M. de Cazanove's Commodious Cellars and + Carefully-Selected Wines-- Vineyards Owned by Him and His Family-- + Reputation of his Wines in Paris and their Growing Popularity in + England-- Interesting View from M. de Cazanove's Terraced Garden-- + The Vintaging of the White Grapes in the Champagne-- Roper frères' + Establishment at Rilly-la-Montagne-- Their Cellars Penetrated by + Roots of Trees-- Some Samples of Fine Old Champagnes-- The Principal + Châlons Establishments-- Poem on Champagne by M. Amaury de Cazanove. + + +Avize, situated in the heart of the Champagne white grape district, may +be reached from Epernay by road through Pierry and Cramant or by the +Châlons Railway to Oiry Junction, between which station and Romilly +there runs a local line, jocularly termed the _chemin de fer de +famille_, from the general disregard displayed by the officials for +anything approaching to punctuality. Avize can scarcely be styled a +town, and yet its growing proportions are beyond those of an ordinary +village. It lies pleasantly nestled among the vines, sheltered by bold +ridges on the north-west, with the monotonous plains of La Champagne +pouilleuse, unsuited to the cultivation of the vine, stretching away +eastward in the direction of Châlons. Avize cannot pretend to the same +antiquity as its neighbour Vertus, and lacks the many picturesque +vestiges of which the latter can boast. Its church dates back only to +the 15th century, although the principal doorway in the Romanesque style +evidently belongs to a much earlier epoch. There is a general air of +trim prosperity about the place, and the villagers have that well-to-do +appearance common to the inhabitants of the French wine districts. Only +at vintage time, however, are there any particular outdoor signs of +activity, although half a score of champagne firms have their +establishments here, giving employment to the bulk of the population, +and sending forth their two or three million bottles of the sparkling +wine of the Marne annually. + + [Illustration: + MAKING THE CUVÉE AT MESSRS. GIESLER'S, AT AVIZE. (p.131)] + +Proceeding along the straight level road leading from the station to the +village we encounter on our right hand the premises of Messrs. Giesler +and Co., the reputation of whose brand is universal. When M. Giesler +quitted the firm of P. A. Mumm, Giesler, and Co., at Reims, in 1838, +he removed to Avize and founded the present extensive establishment. +Entering through a large open gateway we find ourselves within a +spacious courtyard with a handsome dwelling-house in the rear, and all +the signs of a champagne business of magnitude apparent. A spiral +staircase conducts to the counting-house on the first story of a range +of buildings on the left hand, the ground floor of which is divided into +celliers. Passing through a door by the side of this staircase we enter +a large hall where the operation of bottling the wine is going on. Four +tuns, each holding five ordinary pièces of wine, and raised upon large +blocks of wood, are standing here, and communicating with them are +bottling syphons of the type commonly employed in the Champagne. Messrs. +Giesler do not usually consign the newly-bottled wine at once to the +cellars, but retain it aboveground for about a fortnight in order that +it may develop its effervescent qualities more perfectly. We find many +thousands of these bottles stacked horizontally in the adjoining +celliers, in one of which stands the great _cuvée_ tun wherein some +fifty hogsheads of the finest Champagne growths are blended together at +one time, two hundred hogsheads being thus mingled daily while the +_cuvées_ are in progress. The casks of wine having been hoisted from the +cellars to the first floor by a crane, and run on to a trough, their +bungs are removed, and the wine flows through an aperture in the floor +into the huge tun beneath, its amalgamation being accomplished by the +customary fan-shaped appliances, set in motion by the turning of a +wheel. In an adjacent room is the machine used for mixing the liqueur +which Messrs. Giesler add so sparingly to their light and fragrant +wines. + +There are a couple of floors above these celliers, the uppermost of +which is used as a general store, while in the one beneath many +thousands of bottles of _vin brut_ repose _sur pointe_, either in racks +or on tables as at the Clicquot-Werlé establishment. This latter system +requires ample space, for as the _remueur_, or workman who shakes the +bottles, is only able to use one hand, the operation of dislodging the +sediment necessarily occupies a much longer time than is requisite when +the bottles rest in racks. + + [Illustration: + PREPARING THE LIQUEUR AT MESSRS. GIESLER'S.] + +The buildings on the opposite side of the courtyard comprise a large +packing-hall, celliers where the wine is finished off, and rooms where +corks and such-like things are stored. Here, too, is the entrance to the +cellars, of which there are three tiers, all lofty and well-ventilated +galleries, very regular in their construction, and faced with either +stone or brick. In these extensive vaults are casks of fine reserved +wines for blending with youthful vintages, and bottles of _vin brut_, +built up in solid stacks, that may be reckoned by their hundreds of +thousands. At Messrs. Giesler's the disgorging of the wine is +accomplished in a small cellier partially underground, and the +temperature of which is very cool and equable. The _dégorgeurs_, +isolated from the rest of the workpeople, are carrying on their +operations here by candlelight. So soon as the sediment is removed the +bottles are raised in baskets to the cellier above, where the +liqueuring, re-corking, stringing, and wiring are successively +accomplished. By pursuing this plan the loss sustained by the +disgorgement is believed to be reduced to a minimum. + +Extensive as these premises are they are still insufficient for the +requirements of the firm, and across the road is a spacious building +where new bottles are stored and the washing of the bottles in +preparation for the tirage takes place. By the aid of the machinery +provided, sixteen women, assisted by a couple of men, commonly wash some +fifteen or sixteen thousand bottles in the course of a day. Here, too, +stands one of the two large presses with which at the epoch of the +vintage a hundred pièces of wine are pressed every four-and-twenty +hours. The remaining press is installed in a cellier at the farther end +of the garden on the other side of the road. Messrs. Giesler possess +additional presses at their vendangeoir at Bouzy, and during the vintage +have the command of presses at Ay, Verzenay, Vertus, Le Mesnil, &c., it +being a rule of theirs always to press the grapes within a few hours +after they are gathered to obviate their becoming bruised by their own +weight and imparting a dark colour to the wine, a contingency difficult +to guard against in seasons when the fruit is over-ripe. The firm own +vineyards at Avize, and have agreements with vine-proprietors at Ay, +Bouzy, Verzenay, and elsewhere, to purchase their crops regularly every +year. Messrs. Giesler's brand has secured its existing high repute +solely through the fine quality of the wines shipped by the house--wines +which are known and appreciated by all real connoisseurs of champagne. + +From Messrs. Giesler's it is merely a short walk to the establishment of +M. Charles de Cazanove, situated in the principal street of Avize. On +entering the court we encountered a tame young boar engaged in the +lively pursuit of chasing some terrified hens, while a trio of +boarhounds, basking on the sunny flagstones, contemplated his +proceedings with lazy indifference. Boars abound in the woods +hereabouts, and hunting them is a favourite pastime with the residents, +and the young boar we had noticed proved to be one of the recent +captures of the sons of M. de Cazanove, who are among the warmest +partisans of the exciting sport. Many of the boars found in the woods +around Reims journey thither, it is said, by night from the famous +forest of the Ardennes--the scene of Rosalind's wanderings and +Touchstone's eccentricities as set forth in _As You Like It_, and whose +gloomy depths and tangled glens shelter to-day not merely boars but +wolves as well. + +In the Champagne it is no longer the fashion + + "With javelin's point a churlish swine to gore," + +nor to hunt the boar on horseback, as is still the case in Burgundy. +When the presence of one or more of these animals is signalled in the +neighbourhood, a party starts off accompanied by dogs and armed with +double-barrelled rifles. A circle having been formed round the boar's +lair the dogs are set to draw him out, while the _chasseurs_ keep on the +alert so as not to allow him to escape through their circle alive. In +this manner a few score of boars are killed every year in the woods +round about Reims and Epernay. + + [Illustration: + VINEYARDS OF AVIZE AND CRAMANT FROM THE GARDEN OF M. C. DE CAZANOVE. + (p. 135.)] + +The house of M. Charles de Cazanove was established in 1843 by its +present proprietor on the foundation of a business which had been in +existence since 1811. Compared with the monumental grandeur of some of +the great Reims and Epernay establishments the premises present a simple +and modest aspect, nevertheless they are capacious and commodious, +besides which the growing business of the house has led to the +acquisition of additional cellarage in other parts of Avize. More +important than all, however, is the quality of the wine with which these +cellars are stocked, and following the rule observed by champagne firms +of the highest repute, it has been a leading principle with M. de +Cazanove always to rely upon the choicer growths--those light, delicate, +and fragrant wines of the Marne which throw out the true aroma of the +flower of the vine. M. de Cazanove, who is distinguished for his +knowledge of viticulture, occupies an influential position at Avize, +being Vice-President of the Horticultural Society of the Marne, and a +member of the committee charged with guarding the Champagne vineyards +against the invasion of the phylloxera. His own vines include only those +fine varieties to which the crûs of the Marne owe their great renown. +He possesses an excellent vineyard at Grauves, near Avize, and his +mother-in-law, Madame Poultier, of Pierry, is one of the principal +vine-growers of the district. + +M. de Cazanove's wines are much appreciated in Paris, where his business +is very extensive. His shipments to England are also considerable, but +from the circumstance of some of his principal customers importing the +wine under special brands of their own, the brand of the house is not so +widely known as we should have expected. + +From M. de Cazanove's terraced garden in the rear of his establishment a +fine view is obtained of one of the most famous viticultural districts +of the Champagne, yielding wines of remarkable delicacy and exquisite +bouquet. On the left hand rises up the mountain of Avize, its summit +fringed with dense woods, where in winter the wild boar has his lair. +In front stretch the long vine-clad slopes of Cramant, with orchards at +their base, and the housetops of the village and the spire of the quaint +old church just peeping over the brow of the hill. To the right towers +the bold forest-crowned height of Saran with M. Moët's château perched +half-way up its north-eastern slope, and fading away in the hazy +distance are the monotonous plains of the Champagne. + +We have already explained that the wines of Avize and Cramant rank as +_premiers crûs_ of the white grape district, and that every champagne +manufacturer of repute mingles one or the other in his _cuvée_. The +white grapes are usually gathered a fortnight or three weeks later than +the black varieties, but in other respects the vintaging of them is the +same. The grapes undergo the customary minute examination by the +_éplucheuses_, and all unripe, damaged, and rotten berries being thrown +aside, the fruit is conveyed with due care to the press-houses in the +large baskets known as _paniers mannequins_. The pressing takes place +under exactly the same conditions as the pressing of the black grapes; +the must, too, is drawn off into hogsheads to ferment, and by the end of +the year, when the active fermentation has terminated, the wine is +usually clear and limpid. + +At Rilly-la-Montagne, on the line of railway between Reims and Epernay, +Roper frères & Cie., late of Epernay, now have their establishment. +Starting from the latter place we pass Ay and Avenay, and then the +little village of Germaine in the midst of the forest, and nigh the +summit of the mountain of Reims, with its "Rendezvous des Chasseurs" in +immediate proximity to the station. Finally we arrive at Rilly, which, +spite of its isolated situation, has about it that aspect of prosperity +common to the more favourable wine districts of France. This is scarcely +surprising when the quality of its wines is taken into consideration. +The still red wine of Rilly has long enjoyed a high local reputation, +and to-day the Rilly growths are much sought after for conversion into +champagne. White wine of 1874 from black grapes fetched, we were +informed, as much as from 600 to 700 francs the pièce, while the finer +qualities from white grapes realised from 300 to 400 francs. Messrs. +Roper frères & Cie. are the owners of some productive vineyards situated +on the high road to Chigny and Ludes. + +The establishment of Roper frères is adjacent to a handsome modern house +standing back from the road in a large and pleasant garden, bounded by +vineyards on two of its sides. In the celliers all the conveniences +pertaining to a modern champagne establishment are to be found, while +extending beneath the garden are the extensive cellars of the firm, +comprising two stories of long and spacious galleries excavated in the +chalk, their walls and roofs being supported whenever necessary by +masonry. A curious feature about these cellars is that the roots of the +larger trees in the garden above have penetrated through the roof of the +upper story and hang pendent overhead like innumerable stalactites. Here +after the comparatively new wine of 1874 had been shown to us--including +samples of the _Vin Brut_ or natural champagne of which the firm make a +speciality at a moderate price--some choice old champagnes were brought +forth, including the fine vintages of 1865, 1857, and 1846. The latter +wine had of course preserved very little of its effervescence, still its +flavour was exceedingly fine, being soft and delicate to a degree. At +the Vienna Exhibition of 1873 and the London Exhibition of 1874 the +collection of champagnes exhibited by Roper frères met with favourable +recognition from the international juries. + +Our tour through the Champagne vineyards and wine-cellars here comes to +an end. It is true there are important establishments at Châlons, +notably those of Jacquesson et fils, the Perriers, Freminet et fils, and +Jacquard frères, the cellars of the first-named being, perhaps, +unrivalled in the Champagne. As, however, any description of these +establishments would be little else than a recapitulation of something +we have already said, we content ourselves with merely notifying their +existence, and bring our Facts about Champagne to a close with the +translation of a poem from the pen of M. Amaury de Cazanove of Avize:-- + +CHAMPAGNE. + + Less for thy grace and glory, land of ours, + Than for thy dolour, dear; + Let the grief go, and here-- + Here's to thy skies, thy women and thy flowers! + France! take the toast, thy women and thy roses, + France! to thy wine, more wealth unto thy store! + And let the lips a grievous memory closes + Smile their proud smile once more! + + Swarthy Falernian, Massica the Red, + Were ye the nectars poured + At the great gods' broad board? + No, poor old wines, all but in name long dead, + Nectar's Champagne, the sparkling soul of mirth, + That bubbling o'er with laughing gas, + Flashes gay sunbeams in the glass, + And like our flag goes proudly round the earth. + + "I am the blood Burgundian sunshine makes; + A fine old feudal knight + Of bluff and boisterous might, + Whose casque feels--ah, so heavy when one wakes!" + "And I, the dainty Bordeaux, violets' + Perfume, and whose rare rubies gourmets prize. + My subtile savour gets + In partridge wings its daintiest allies." + + Ah, potent chiefs, Bordeaux and Burgundy. + If we must answer make, + This sober counsel take: + Messeigneurs, sing your worth less haughtily, + For 'tis Champagne, the sparkling soul of mirth, + That bubbling o'er with laughing gas, + Flashes gay sunbeams in the glass, + And like our flag goes proudly round the earth. + + Aye, 'tis the true, the typic wine of France; + Aye, 'tis our heart that sparkles in our eyes, + And higher beats for every dire mischance; + It was the wit that made our fathers wise, + That made their valour gallant, gay, + When plumes were stirr'd by winds of waving swords, + And chivalry's defiance spoke the words: + "À vous, Messieurs les Anglais, les premiers!" + + Let the dull beer-apostle till he's hoarse + Vent his small spleen and spite, + Fate fill his sleepless night + With nightmares of invincible remorse! + We sing Champagne, the sparkling soul of mirth, + That bubbling o'er with laughing gas, + Flashes gay sunbeams in the glass, + And like our flag goes proudly round the earth. + + [Illustration] + + + + + [Illustration: + PEASANT WOMEN OF THE ENVIRONS OF SAUMUR.] + +XIII.--SPARKLING SAUMUR AND SPARKLING SAUTERNES. + +The Sparkling Wines of the Loire often palmed off as Champagnes-- + The Finer qualities Improve with Age-- Anjou the Cradle of the + Plantagenet Kings-- Saumur and its Dominating Feudal Château and + Antique Hôtel de Ville-- Its Sinister Rue des Payens and Steep + Tortuous Grande Rue-- The Vineyards of the Coteau of Saumur-- + Abandoned Stone Quarries converted into Dwellings-- The Vintage in + Progress-- Old-fashioned Pressoirs-- The Making of the Wine-- The + Vouvray Vineyards-- Balzac's Picture of La Vallée Coquette-- The + Village of Vouvray and the Château of Moncontour-- Vernou with its + Reminiscences of Sully and Pépin-le-Bref-- The Vineyards around + Saumur-- Remarkable Ancient Dolmens-- Ackerman-Laurance's + Establishment at Saint-Florent-- Their Extensive Cellars, Ancient + and Modern-- Treatment of the Newly-Vintaged Wine-- The Cuvée-- + Proportions of Wine from Black and White Grapes-- The Bottling and + Disgorging of the Wine and Finishing Operations-- The Château of + Varrains and the Establishment of M. Louis Duvau aîné-- His Cellars + a succession of Gloomy Galleries-- The Disgorging of the Wine + accomplished in a Melodramatic-looking Cave-- M. Duvau's Vineyard-- + His Sparkling Saumur of Various Ages-- Marked Superiority of the + more Matured Samples-- M. Alfred Rousteaux's Establishments at + Saint-Florent and Saint-Cyr-- His convenient Celliers and extensive + Cellars-- Mingling of Wine from the Champagne with the finer + Sparkling Saumur-- His Vineyard at La Perrière-- M. E. Normandin's + Sparkling Sauternes Manufactory at Châteauneuf-- Angoulême and its + Ancient Fortifications-- Vin de Colombar-- M. Normandin's Sparkling + Sauternes Cuvée-- His Cellars near Châteauneuf-- High recognition + accorded to the Wine at the Concours Régional d'Angoulême. + + +After the Champagne Anjou is the French province which ranks next in +importance for its production of sparkling wines. Vintaged on the banks +of the Loire, these are largely consigned to the English and other +markets, labelled Crême de Bouzy, Sillery and Ay Mousseux, Cartes Noires +and Blanches, and the like, while their corks are branded with the names +of phantom firms, supposed to be located at Reims and Epernay. As a rule +these wines come from around Saumur, but they are not necessarily the +worse on that account, for the district produces capital sparkling +wines, the finer qualities of which improve greatly by being kept for a +few years. One curious thing shown to us at Saumur was the album of a +manufacturer of sparkling wines containing examples of the many hundred +labels ticketed with which his produce had for years past been sold. Not +one of these labels assigned to the wines the name of their real maker +or their true birthplace, but introduced them under the auspices of +mythical dukes and counts, as being manufactured at châteaux which are +so many "castles in Spain," and as coming from Ay, Bouzy, Châlons, +Epernay, Reims, and Verzenay, but never by any chance from Saumur. + + [Illustration: + THE VINEYARDS OF THE COTEAU DE SAUMUR. (p. 141)] + +Being produced from robuster growths than the sparkling wines of the +Department of the Marne, sparkling saumur will always lack that +excessive lightness which is the crowning grace of fine champagne, still +it has only to be kept for a few years instead of being drunk shortly +after its arrival from the wine-merchant for its quality to become +greatly improved and its intrinsic value to be considerably enhanced. We +have drunk sparkling saumur that had been in bottle for nearly twenty +years, and found the wine not only remarkably delicate, but, singular to +say, with plenty of effervescence. + +To an Englishman Anjou is one of the most interesting of the ancient +provinces of France. It was the cradle of the Plantagenet Kings, and +only ten miles from Saumur still repose the bones of Henry, the first +Plantagenet, and Richard of the Lion Heart, in the so-called Cimetière +des Rois of the historic abbey of Fontevrault. The famous vineyards of +the Coteau de Saumur, eastward of the town and bordering the Loire, +extend as far as here, and include the communes of Dampierre, Souzay, +Varrains, Chacé, Parnay, Turquant, and Montsoreau, the last-named within +three miles of Fontevrault, and chiefly remarkable through its seigneur +of ill-fame, Jean de Chambes, who instigated his wife to lure Boissy +d'Amboise to an assignation in order that he might more surely poignard +him. Saumur is picturesquely placed at the foot of this bold range of +heights near where the little river Thouet runs into the broad and rapid +Loire. A massive-looking old château perched on the summit of an +isolated crag stands out grandly against the clear sky and dominates the +town, the older houses of which crouch at the foot of the lofty hill and +climb its steepest sides. The restored antique Hôtel de Ville, in the +pointed style, with its elegant windows, graceful belfry, and florid +wrought-iron balconies, stands back from the quay bordering the Loire. +In the rear is the Rue des Payens, whither the last of the Huguenots of +this "metropolis of Protestantism," as it was formerly styled, retired, +converting their houses into so many fortresses to guard against being +surprised by their Catholic adversaries. Adjacent is the steep tortuous +Grande Rue, of which Balzac--himself a Tourangeau--has given such a +graphic picture in his _Eugénie Grandet_, the scene of which is laid at +Saumur. To-day, however, only a few of its ancient carved timber houses, +quaint overhanging corner turrets, and fantastically-studded massive oak +doors have escaped demolition. + +The vineyards of the Coteau de Saumur, yielding the finest wines, are +reached by the road skirting the river, the opposite low banks of which +are fringed with willows and endless rows of poplars, which at the time +of our visit were already golden with the fading tints of autumn. +Numerous fantastic windmills crown the heights, the summit of which is +covered with vines, varied by dense patches of woodland. Here, as +elsewhere along the banks of the Loire, the many abandoned quarries +along the face of the hill have been turned by the peasants into cosy +dwellings by simply walling-up the entrances while leaving, of course, +the necessary apertures for doors and windows. Dampierre, the first +village reached, has many of these cave-dwellings, and numbers of its +houses are picturesquely perched up the sides of the slope. The holiday +costumes of the peasant women encountered in the neighbourhood of Saumur +are exceedingly quaint, their elaborate and varied head-dresses being +counterparts of _coiffures_ in vogue so far back as three and four +centuries ago. + +Quitting the banks of the river, we ascend a steep tortuous road shut in +on either side by high stone walls--for hereabouts all the best +vineyards are scrupulously inclosed--and finally reach the summit of the +heights, whence a view is gained over what the Saumurois proudly style +the grand valley of the Loire. Everywhere around the vintage is going +on. The vines are planted rather more than a yard apart, and those +yielding black grapes are trained, as a rule, up tall stakes, although +some few are trained espalier fashion. Women dexterously detach the +bunches with pruning-knives and throw them into the _seilles_--small +squat buckets with wooden handles--the contents of which are emptied +from time to time into baskets--the counterpart of the chiffonnier's +_hotte_, and coated with pitch inside so as to close all the crevices of +the wickerwork--which the _portes-bastes_ carry slung to their backs. +When white wine is being made from black grapes for sparkling saumur the +grapes are conveyed in these baskets forthwith to the underground +pressoirs in the neighbouring villages before their skins get at all +broken in order that the wine may be as pale as possible in colour. + +The black grape yielding the best wine in the Saumur district is the +breton, said to be the same as the carbinet-sauvignon, the leading +variety in the grand vineyards of the Médoc. Other species of black +grapes cultivated around Saumur are the varennes, yielding a soft and +insipid wine of no kind of value, and the liverdun, or large gamay, the +prevalent grape in the Mâconnais, and the same which in the days of +Philippe-le-Hardi the _parlements_ of Metz and Dijon interdicted the +planting and cultivation of. The prevalent white grapes are the large +and small pineau blanc, the bunches of the former being of an +intermediate size, broad and pyramidal in shape, and with the berries +close together. These have fine skins, are oblong in shape, and of a +transparent yellowish-green hue tinged with red, are very sweet and +juicy, and as a rule ripen late. As for the small pineau, the bunches +are less compact, the berries are round and of a golden tint, are finer +as well as sweeter in flavour, and ripen somewhat earlier than the fruit +of the larger variety. + +We noticed as we drove through the villages of Champigny and +Varrains--the former celebrated for its fine red wines, and more +especially its crû of the Clos des Cordeliers--that hardly any of the +houses had windows looking on to the narrow street, but that all were +provided with low openings for shooting the grapes into the cellar +where, when making red wine, they are trodden, but when making white +wine, whether from black or white grapes, they are invariably pressed. +Each of the houses had its ponderous porte-cochère and low narrow portal +leading into the large inclosed yard at its side, and over the high +blank walls vines were frequently trained and pleasantly varied their +dull grey monotony. + +The grapes on being shot into the openings just mentioned fall through a +kind of tunnel into a reservoir adjacent to the heavy press, which is +invariably of wood and of the old-fashioned cumbersome type. They are +forthwith placed beneath the press and usually subjected to five +separate squeezes, the must from the first three being reserved for +sparkling wine, while that from the two latter, owing to its being more +or less deeply tinted, only serves for table wine. The must is at once +run off into casks in order that it may not ferment on the grape-skins +and imbibe any portion of their colouring matter. Active fermentation +speedily sets in and lasts for a fortnight or three weeks according to +whether the temperature chances to be high or low. + +The vintaging of the white grapes takes place about a fortnight later +than the black grapes, and is commonly a compound operation, the best +and ripest bunches being first of all gathered just as the berries begin +to get shrivelled and show symptoms of approaching rottenness. It is +these selected grapes that yield the best wine. The second gathering, +which follows shortly after the first, includes all the grapes remaining +on the vines, and yields a wine perceptibly inferior in quality. The +grapes on their arrival at the press-house are generally pressed +immediately and the must is run off into tuns to ferment. At the +commencement these tuns are filled up every three or four days to +replace the fermenting must which has flowed over; afterwards any waste +is made good at the interval of a week, and then once a fortnight, the +bungholes of the casks being securely closed towards the end of the +year, by which time the first fermentation is over. + +It should be noted that the Saumur sparkling wine manufacturers draw +considerable supplies of the white wine required to impart lightness and +effervescence to their _vin préparé_ from the Vouvray vineyards. Vouvray +borders the Loire a few miles from the pleasant city of Tours, which +awakens sinister recollections of truculent Louis XI., shut up in his +fortified castle of Plessis-lez-Tours, around which Scott has thrown the +halo of his genius in his novel of _Quentin Durward_. On proceeding to +Vouvray from Tours we skirt a succession of poplar-fringed meadows +stretching eastward in the direction of Amboise along the right bank of +the Loire; and after a time a curve in the river discloses to view a +range of vine-clad heights extending some distance beyond the village of +Vouvray. Our route lies past the picturesque ruins of the abbey of +Marmoûtier and the Château des Roches--one of the most celebrated +castles of the Loire--the numerous excavations in the soft limestone +ridge on which they are perched being converted as usual into houses, +magazines, and wine-cellars. We proceed through the village of +Rochecorbon, and along a road winding among the spurs of the Vouvray +range, past hamlets, half of whose inhabitants live in these primitive +dwellings hollowed out of the cliff, and finally enter the charming +Vallée Coquette, hemmed in on all sides with vine-clad slopes. Here a +picturesque old house, half château half homestead, was pointed out to +us as a favourite place of sojourn of Balzac, who speaks of this rocky +ridge as "inhabited by a population of vine-dressers, their houses of +several stories being hollowed out in the face of the cliff, and +connected by dangerous staircases hewn in the soft stone. Smoke curls +from most of the chimneys which peep above the green crest of vines, +while the blows of the cooper's hammer resound in several of the +cellars. A young girl trips to her garden over the roofs of these +primitive dwellings, and an old woman, tranquilly seated on a ledge of +projecting rock, supported solely by the thick straggling roots of the +ivy which spreads itself over the disjointed stones, leisurely turns her +spinning-wheel regardless of her dangerous position." The picture +sketched by the author of _La Comédie Humaine_, some forty years ago, +has scarcely changed at the present day. + +At the point where the village of Vouvray climbs half-way up the +vine-crested ridge the rapid-winding Cise throws itself into the Loire, +and on crossing the bridge that spans the tributary stream we discern on +the western horizon, far beyond the verdant islets studding the swollen +Loire, the tall campaniles of Tours Cathedral, which seem to rise out of +the water like a couple of Venetian towers. Vouvray is a trim little +place, clustered round about with numerous pleasant villas in the midst +of charming gardens. The modern château of Moncontour here dominates the +slope, and its terraced gardens, with, their fantastically-clipped trees +and geometric parterres, rise tier above tier up the face of the +picturesque height that overlooks the broad fertile valley, with its +gardens, cultivated fields, patches of woodland, and wide stretches of +green pasture which, fringed with willows and poplars, border the +swollen waters of the Loire. Where the river Brenne empties itself into +the Cise the Coteau de Vouvray slopes off towards the north, and there +rise up the vine-clad heights of Vernou, yielding a similar but inferior +wine to that of Vouvray. The village of Vernou is nestled under the +hill, and near the porch of its quaint little church a venerable elm +tree is pointed out as having been planted by Sully, Henry IV.'s able +Minister. Here, too, an ancient wall, pierced with curious arched +windows, and forming part of a modern building, is regarded by popular +tradition as belonging to the palace in which Pépin-le-Bref, father of +Charlemagne, lived at Vernou. + +The communes of Dampierre, Souzay, and Parnay, in the neighbourhood of +Saumur, produce still red wines rivalling those of Champigny, besides +which all the finest white wines are vintaged hereabouts--in the +Perrière, the Poilleux, and the Clos Morain vineyards, and in the +Rotissans vineyard at Turquant. Wines of very fair quality are also +grown on the more favourable slopes extending southwards along the +valley of the Thouet, and comprised in the communes of Varrains, Chacé, +St. Cyr-en-Bourg, and Brézé. The whole of this district, by the way, +abounds with interesting archæological remains. While visiting the +vineyards of Varrains and Chacé we came upon a couple of +dolmens--vestiges of the ancient Celtic population of the valley of the +Loire singularly abundant hereabouts. Brézé, the marquisate of which +formerly belonged to Louis XVI.'s famous grand master of the +ceremonies--immortalized by the rebuff he received from Mirabeau--boasts +a noble château on the site of an ancient fortress, in connection with +which there are contemporary excavations in the neighbouring limestone, +designed for a garrison of 500 or 600 men. Beyond the vineyards of +Saint-Florent, westward of Saumur and on the banks of the Thouet, is an +extensive plateau partially overgrown with vines, where may be traced +the remains of a Roman camp. Moreover, in the southern environs of +Saumur, in the midst of vineyards producing exclusively white wines, +is one of the most remarkable dolmens known. This imposing structure, +perfect in all respects save that one of the four enormous stones which +roof it in has been split in two, and requires to be supported, is no +less than 65 feet in length, 23 feet in width, and 10 feet high. + + [Illustration: + DOLMEN AT BAGNEUX, NEAR SAUMUR.] + +At Saint-Florent, the pleasant little suburb of Saumur, skirting the +river Thouet, and sheltered by steep hills formed of soft limestone, +offering great facilities for the excavation of extensive cellars, the +largest manufacturer of Saumur sparkling wines has his establishment. +Externally this offers but little to strike the eye. A couple of +pleasant country houses, half hidden by spreading foliage, stand at the +two extremities of a spacious and well-kept garden, beyond which one +catches a glimpse of some outbuildings sheltered by the vine-crowned +cliff, in which a labyrinth of gloomy galleries has been hollowed out. +Here M. Ackerman-Laurance, the extent of whose business ranks him as +second among the sparkling wine manufacturers of the world, stores +something like 10,000 casks and several million bottles of wine. + +At the commencement of the present century, in the days when, as Balzac +relates in his _Eugénie Grandet_, the Belgians bought up entire vintages +of Saumur wine, then largely in demand with them for sacramental +purposes, the founder of the Saint-Florent house commenced to deal in +the ordinary still wines of the district. Nearly half a century ago he +was led to attempt the manufacture of sparkling wines, but his efforts +to bring them into notice failed, and he was on the point of abandoning +his enterprise when an order for one hundred cases revived his hopes, +and led to the foundation of the present vast establishment. As already +mentioned, for many miles all the heights along the Loire have been more +or less excavated for stone for building purposes, so that every one +hereabouts who grows wine or deals in it has any amount of cellar +accommodation ready to hand. It was the vast extent of the galleries +which M. Ackerman _père_ discovered already excavated at Saint-Florent +that induced him to settle there in preference to Saumur. Extensive, +however, as the original vaults were, considerable additional +excavations have from time to time been found necessary; and to-day the +firm is still further increasing the area of its cellars, which already +comprise three principal avenues, each the third of a mile long, and no +fewer than sixty transverse galleries, the total length of which is +several miles. One great advantage is that the whole are on the ordinary +level. + + [Illustration: + THE CELLARS OF M. ACKERMAN-LAURANCE AT SAINT-FLORENT. + LABELLING AND PACKING SPARKLING SAUMUR. (p. 150.)] + +Ranged against the black uneven walls of the more tortuous ancient +vaults which give access to these labyrinthine corridors are thousands +of casks of wine--some in single rows, others in triple tiers--forming +the reserve stock of the establishment. As may be supposed, a powerful +vinous odour permeates these vaults, in which the fumes of wine have +been accumulating for the best part of a century. After passing beneath +a massive stone arch which separates the old cellars from the new, +a series of broad and regularly-proportioned galleries are reached, +having bottles stacked in their tens of thousands on either side. +Overhead the roof is perforated at regular intervals with circular +shafts, affording both light and ventilation, and enabling the +temperature to be regulated to a nicety. In these lateral and transverse +galleries millions of bottles of wine in various stages of preparation +are stacked. + +We have explained that in the Champagne it is the custom for the +manufacturers of sparkling wine to purchase considerable quantities of +grapes from the surrounding growers, and to press these themselves, or +have them pressed under their own superintendence. At Saumur only those +firms possessing vineyards make their own _vin brut_, the bulk of the +wine used for conversion into sparkling wine being purchased from the +neighbouring growers. On the newly-expressed must arriving at +M. Ackerman-Laurance's cellars it is allowed to rest until the +commencement of the ensuing year, when half of it is mixed with wine in +stock belonging to last year's vintage, and the remaining half is +reserved for mingling with the must of the ensuing vintage. The blending +is accomplished in a couple of colossal vats hewn out of the rock, and +coated on the inside with cement. Each of these vats is provided with +200 paddles for thoroughly mixing the wine, and with five pipes for +drawing it off when the amalgamation is complete. Usually the _cuvée_ +will embrace 1,600 hogsheads, or 80,000 gallons of wine, almost +sufficient for half a million bottles. A fourth of this quantity can be +mixed in each vat at a single operation, and this mixing is repeated +again and again until the last gallon run off is of precisely the same +type as the first. For the finer qualities of sparkling saumur the +proportion of wine from the black grapes to that from white is generally +at the rate of three or four to one. For the inferior qualities more +wine from white than from black grapes is invariably used. Only in the +wine from white grapes is the effervescent principle retained to any +particular extent; but, on the other hand, the wine from black grapes +imparts both quality and vinous character to the blend. + +The blending having been satisfactorily accomplished, the wine is stored +in casks, never perfectly filled, yet with their bungholes tightly +closed, and slowly continues its fermentation, eating up its sugar, +purging itself, and letting fall its lees. Three months later it is +fined. It is rarely kept in the wood for more than a year, though +sometimes the superior qualities remain for a couple of years in cask. +Occasionally it is even bottled in the spring following the vintage; +still, as a rule, the bottling of sparkling saumur takes place during +the ensuing summer months, when the temperature is at the highest as +this insures to it a greater degree of effervescence. At the time of +bottling its saccharine strength is raised to a given degree by the +addition of the finest sugar-candy, and henceforward the wine is +subjected to precisely the same treatment as is pursued with regard to +champagne. + +It is in a broad but sombre gallery of the more ancient vaults--the +roughly-hewn walls of which are black from the combined action of +alcohol and carbonic acid gas--that the processes of disgorging the wine +of its sediment, adding the syrup, filling up the bottles with wine to +replace that which gushes out when the disgorging operation is +performed, together with the re-corking, stringing, and wiring of the +bottles, are carried on. The one or two adjacent shafts impart very +little light, but a couple of resplendent metal reflectors, which at a +distance one might fancy to be some dragon's flaming eyes, combined with +the lamps placed near the people at work, effectually illuminate the +spot. + + [Illustration: + THE CELLARS OF M. LOUIS DUVAU AÎNÉ AT THE CHÂTEAU OF VARRAINS.] + +Another considerable manufacturer of sparkling saumur is M. Louis Duvau +aîné, owner of the château of Varrains, in the village of the same name, +at no great distance from the Coteau de Saumur. His cellars adjoin the +château, a picturesque but somewhat neglected structure of the last +century, with sculptured medallions in high relief above the lower +windows, and florid vases surmounting the mansards in the roof. In front +is a large rambling court shaded with acacia and lime trees, and +surrounded by outbuildings, prominent among which is a picturesque +dovecote, massive at the base as a martello tower, and having an elegant +open stone lantern springing from its bell-shaped roof. The cellars are +entered down a steep incline under a low stone arch, the masonry above +which is overgrown with ivy in large clusters and straggling creeping +plants. We soon come upon a deep recess to the right, wherein stands a +unique cumbersome screw-press, needing ten or a dozen men to work the +unwieldy capstan which sets the juice flowing from the crushed grapes +into the adjacent shallow trough. On our left hand are a couple of +ancient reservoirs, formed out of huge blocks of stone, with the +entrance to a long vaulted cellar filled with wine in cask. We advance +slowly in the uncertain light along a succession of gloomy galleries +with moisture oozing from their blackened walls and roofs, picking our +way between bottles of wine stacked in huge square piles and rows of +casks ranged in tiers. Suddenly a broad flood of light shooting down a +lofty shaft throws a Rembrandtish effect across a spacious and most +melodramatic-looking cave, roughly hewn out of the rock, and towards +which seven dimly-lighted galleries converge. On all sides a scene of +bustling animation presents itself. From one gallery men keep arriving +with baskets of wine ready for the disgorger; while along another +bottles of wine duly dosed with syrup are being borne off to be +decorated with metal foil and their distinctive labels. Groups of +workmen are busily engaged disgorging, dosing, and re-corking the +newly-arrived bottles of wine; corks fly out with a succession of loud +reports suggestive of the irregular fire of a party of skirmishers; +a fizzing, spurting, and spluttering of the wine next ensues, and is +followed by the incessant clicking of the various apparatus employed in +the corking and wiring of the bottles. + +Gradual inclines conduct to the two lower tiers of galleries, for the +cellars of M. Duvau consist of as many as three stories. Down below +there is naturally less light, and the temperature, too, is sensibly +colder. Advantage is taken of this latter circumstance to remove the +newly-bottled wine to these lower vaults whenever an excessive +development of carbonic acid threatens the bursting of an undue +proportion of bottles, a casualty which among the Saumur sparkling wine +manufacturers ranges far higher than with the manufacturers of +champagne. For the economy of time and labour a lift, raised and lowered +by means of a capstan worked by horses, is employed to transfer the +bottles of wine from one tier of cellars to another. + +The demand for sparkling saumur is evidently on the increase, for +M. Duvau, at the time of our visit, was excavating extensive additional +cellarage. The subsoil at Varrains being largely composed of marl, which +is much softer than the tufa of the Saint-Florent coteau, necessitated +the roofs of the new galleries being worked in a particular form in +order to avoid having recourse to either brickwork or masonry. Tons of +this excavated marl were being spread over the soil of M. Duvau's +vineyard in the rear of the château, greatly, it was said, to the +benefit of the vines, whose grapes were all of the black variety; +indeed, scarcely any wine is vintaged from white grapes in the commune +of Varrains. + +At M. Duvau's we went through a complete scale of sparkling saumurs, +commencing with the younger and less matured samples, and ascending step +by step to wines a dozen and more years old. Every year seemed to +produce an improvement in the wine, the older varieties gaining greatly +in delicacy and softening very perceptibly in flavour. + +Another sparkling saumur manufacturer of note is M. Alfred Rousteaux, +to-day the sole proprietor of the well-known brand of Morlet and +Rousteaux, a firm established for many years at Saint-Florent. +M. Rousteaux's cellars here are excavated in the tufa cliff which rises +behind the little suburban village, and are all on one level. The +galleries, though somewhat winding and irregular, are broad and roomy, +and in them about 400,000 bottles of wine undergoing the necessary +treatment are piled up in stacks or placed _sur pointe_. The original +firm had only been in existence a few years when they found that their +Saint-Florent establishment was inadequate to the requirements of a +largely-increasing business, and they started the branch establishment +of La Perrière at Saint-Cyr, near Tours, but on the opposite bank of the +Loire. Here are a handsome residence and gardens, a spacious court, and +convenient celliers where the bottling of the wine is effected, together +with extensive and well-constructed cellars in which a like quantity of +wine to that contained in the cellars at Saint-Florent is stored. With +his finer sparkling wines M. Rousteaux mixes a certain proportion of +wine from the Champagne district, and thus secures a degree of lightness +unattainable when the _cuvée_ is exclusively composed of Saumur +vintages. At La Perrière M. Rousteaux has a vineyard of upwards of sixty +acres, yielding the best wine of the district, which is noted, by the +way, for its excellent growths. Hereabouts a succession of vineyard +slopes stretch from one to another of the many historic châteaux along +this portion of the Loire, the romantic associations of which render the +Touraine one of the most interesting provinces of France. Near Tours +besides the vineyards of Saint-Cyr are those of Joué and Saint-Avertin; +the two last situate on the opposite bank of the Cher, where the little +town of Joué, perched on the summit of a hill in the midst of vineyards, +looks over a vast plain known by the country people as the Landes de +Charlemagne, the scene, according to local tradition, of Charles +Martel's great victory over the Saracens. The Saint-Avertin vineyards +extend towards the east, stretching almost to the forest of Larçay, on +the borders of the Cher, where Paul Louis Courier, the famous vigneron +pamphleteer of the Restoration, noted alike for his raillery, wit, and +satire, fell beneath the balls of an assassin. A noticeable crû in the +neighbourhood of Tours is that of Cinq Mars, the ruined château of which +survives as a memorial of the vengeance of Cardinal Richelieu, who, +after having sent its owner to the scaffold, commanded its massive walls +and towers to be razed "_à hauteur d'infamie_" as we see them now. + +Finding that sparkling wines were being made in most of the +wine-producing districts of France, where the growths were sufficiently +light and of the requisite quality, Messrs. E. Normandin and Co. +conceived the idea of laying the famous Bordeaux district under +contribution for a similar purpose, and, aided by a staff of experienced +workmen from Epernay, they have succeeded in producing a sparkling +sauternes. Sauternes, as is well known, is one of the finest of white +wines, soft, delicate, and of beautiful flavour, and its transformation +into a sparkling wine has been very successfully accomplished. Messrs. +Normandin's head-quarters are in the thriving little town of +Châteauneuf, in the pleasant valley of the Charente, and within fifteen +miles of Angoulême, a famous old French town, encompassed by ancient +ramparts and crumbling corner towers, and which, dominated by the lofty +belfry of its restored semi-Byzantine cathedral, rising in a series of +open arcades, spreads itself picturesquely out along a precipitous +height, watered at its base by the rivers Anguienne and Charente. +Between Angoulême and Châteauneuf vineyard plots dotted over with walnut +trees, or simple rows of vines divided by strips of ripening maize, and +broken up at intervals by bright green pastures, line both banks of the +river Charente. The surrounding country is undulating and picturesque. +Poplars and elms fringe the roadsides, divide the larger fields and +vineyards, and screen the cosy-looking red-roofed farmhouses, which +present to the eyes of the passing tourist a succession of pictures of +quiet rural prosperity. + + [Illustration] + +Châteauneuf communicates with the Sauternes district by rail, so that +supplies of wine from there are readily obtainable. Vin de +Colombar--a famous white growth which English and Dutch cruisers used to +ascend the Charente to obtain cargoes of when the Jerez wines were shut +out from England by the Spanish War of Succession--vintaged principally +at Montignac-le-Coq, also enters largely into Messrs. Normandin and +Co.'s sparkling sauternes _cuvée_. This colombar grape is simply the +semillon--one of the leading varieties of the Sauternes +district--transported to the Charente. The remarkably cool cellars where +the firm store their wine, whether in wood or bottle, have been formed +from some vast subterranean galleries whence centuries ago stone was +quarried, and which are situated about a quarter of an hour's drive from +Châteauneuf, in the midst of vineyards and cornfields. The wine is +invariably bottled in a cellier at the head establishment, but it is in +these cellars where it goes through the course of careful treatment +similar to that pursued with regard to champagne. + + [Illustration] + +In order that the delicate flavour of the wine may be preserved the +liqueur is prepared with the finest old sauternes, without any addition +of spirit, and the dose is administered with the most improved modern +appliance, constructed of silver, and provided with crystal taps. At the +Concours Régional d'Angoulême of 1877, the jury, after recording that +they had satisfied themselves by the aid of a chemical analysis that the +samples of sparkling sauternes submitted to their judgment were free +from any foreign ingredient, awarded to Messrs. Normandin and Co. the +only gold medal given in the Group of Alimentary Products. + +Encouraged, no doubt, by the success obtained by Messrs. Normandin and +Co. with their sparkling sauternes, the house of Lermat-Robert and Co., +of Bordeaux, have recently introduced a sparkling barsac, samples of +which were submitted to the jury at the Paris Exhibition of 1878. + + + + + [Illustration: + VINTAGER OF THE CÔTE D'OR] + +XIV.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF BURGUNDY AND THE JURA. + +Sparkling Wines of the Côte d'Or at the Paris Exhibition-- + Chambertin, Romanée, and Vougeot-- Burgundy Wines and Vines formerly + the Presents of Princes-- Vintaging Sparkling Burgundies-- Their + After-Treatment in the Cellars-- Excess of Breakage-- Similarity of + Proceeding to that followed in the Champagne-- Principal + Manufacturers of Sparkling Burgundies-- Sparkling Wines of Tonnerre, + the birthplace of the Chevalier d'Eon-- The Vin d'Arbanne of + Bar-sur-Aube-- Death there of the Bastard de Bourbon-- Madame de la + Motte's Ostentatious Display and Arrest there-- Sparkling Wines of + the Beaujolais-- The Mont-Brouilly Vineyards-- Ancient Reputation of + the Wines of the Jura-- The Vin Jaune of Arbois beloved of Henri + Quatre-- Rhymes by him in its Honour-- Lons-le-Saulnier-- Vineyards + yielding the Sparkling Jura Wines-- Their Vintaging and Subsequent + Treatment-- Their High Alcoholic Strength and General Drawbacks. + + +Sparkling wines are made to a considerable extent in Burgundy, notably +at Beaune, Nuits, and Dijon, and though as a rule heavier and more +potent than the subtile and delicate-flavoured wines of the Marne, still +some of the higher qualities, both of the red and white varieties, +exhibit a degree of refinement which those familiar only with the +commoner kinds can scarcely form an idea of. At the Paris Exhibition of +1878 we tasted, among a large collection of the sparkling wines of the +Côte d'Or, samples of Chambertin, Romanée, and Vougeot of the highest +order. Although red wines, they had the merit of being deficient in that +body which forms such an objectionable feature in sparkling wines of a +deep shade of colour. M. Regnier, the exhibitor of sparkling red +vougeot, sent, moreover, a white sparkling wine from the species of +grape known locally as the clos blanc de Vougeot. These wines, as well +as the Chambertin, came from the Côte de Nuits, the growths of which are +generally considered of too vigorous a type for successful conversion +into sparkling wine, preference being usually given to the produce of +the Côte de Beaune. Among the sparkling burgundies from the last-named +district were samples from Savigny, Chassagne, and Meursault, all famous +for their fine white wines. + +Burgundy ranks as one of the oldest viticultural regions of Central +Europe, and for centuries its wines have been held in the highest +renown. In the Middle Ages both the wines and vines of this favoured +province passed as presents from one royal personage to another, just as +grand _cordons_ are exchanged between them now-a-days. The fabrication +of sparkling wine, however, dates no further back than some sixty years +or so. The system of procedure is much the same as in the Champagne, +and, as there, the wine is mainly the produce of the pineau noir and +pineau blanc varieties of grape. At the vintage, in order to avoid +bruising the ripened fruit and to guard against premature fermentation, +the grapes are conveyed to the pressoirs in baskets instead of the large +oval vats termed _balonges_, common to the district. They are placed +beneath the press as soon as possible, and for superior sparkling wines +only the juice resulting from the first pressure and known as the _mère +goutte_, or mother drop, is employed. For the ordinary wines that +expressed at the second squeezing of the fruit is mingled with the +other. The must is at once run off into casks which have been previously +sulphured to check, in a measure, the ardour of the first fermentation +and lighten the colour of the newly-made wine. Towards the end of +October, when this first fermentation is over, the wine is removed to +the cellars, or to some other cool place, and in December it is racked +into other casks. In the April following it is again racked to insure +its being perfectly clear at the epoch of bottling in the month of May. +The sulphuring of the original casks having had the effect of slightly +checking the fermentation and retaining a certain amount of saccharine +in the wine, it is only on exceptional occasions that the latter is +artificially sweetened previous to being bottled. + + [Illustration] + +A fortnight after the tirage the wine commonly attains the stage known +as _grand mousseux_, and by the end of September the breakage will have +amounted to between 5 and 8 per cent., which necessitates the taking +down the stacks of bottles and piling them up anew. The wine as a rule +remains in the cellars for fully a couple of years from the time of +bottling until it is shipped. Posing the bottles _sur pointe_, agitating +them daily, together with the disgorging and liqueuring of the wine, is +accomplished precisely as in the Champagne. + +Among the principal manufacturers of sparkling burgundies are Messrs. +André and Voillot, of Beaune, whose sparkling white Romanée, Nuits, and +Volnay are well and favourably known in England; M. Louis Latour, also +of Beaune, and equally noted for his sparkling red Volnay, Nuits, and +Chambertin, as for his sparkling white varieties; Messrs. Maire et fils, +likewise of Beaune; M. Labouré-Goutard and Messrs. Geisweiller et fils, +of Nuits; Messrs. Marey and Liger-Belair, of Nuits and Vôsne; and +M. Regnier, of Dijon. + +In the department of the Yonne--that is, in Lower Burgundy--sparkling +wines somewhat alcoholic in character have been made for the last +half-century at Tonnerre, where the Chevalier d'Eon, that enigma of his +epoch, was born. The Tonnerre vineyards are of high antiquity, and for +sparkling wines the produce of the black and white pineau and the white +morillon varieties of grape is had recourse to. The vintaging is +accomplished with great care, and only the juice which flows from the +first pressure is employed. This is run off immediately into casks which +are hermetically closed when the fermentation has subsided. The +after-treatment of the wine is the same as in the Champagne. Sparkling +wines are likewise made at Epineuil, a village in the neighbourhood of +Tonnerre, and at Chablis, so famous for its white wines, about ten miles +distant. + +An effervescing wine known as the Vin d'Arbanne is made at Bar-sur-Aube, +some fifty miles north-east of Tonnerre, on the borders of Burgundy, but +actually in the province of Champagne, although far beyond the limits to +which the famed viticultural district extends. It was at Bar-sur-Aube +where the Bastard de Bourbon, chief of the sanguinary gang of +_écorcheurs_ (flayers), was sewn up in a sack and flung over the parapet +of the old stone bridge into the river beneath by order of Charles VII.; +and here, too, Madame de la Motte, of Diamond Necklace notoriety, was +married, and in after years made a parade of the ill-gotten wealth she +had acquired by successfully fooling that infatuated libertine the +Cardinal Prince de Rohan, until her ostentatious display was cut short +by her arrest. This Vin d'Arbanne is produced from pineaux and white +gamay grapes, which, after being gathered with care at the moment the +dew falls, are forthwith pressed. The wine is left on its lees until the +following February, when it is racked and fined, the bottling taking +place when the moon is at the full in March. + +Red and white sparkling wines are made to a small extent at Saint-Lager, +in the Beaujolais, from wine vintaged in the Mont-Brouilly vineyards, +one of the best known of the Beaujolais crûs. Mont-Brouilly is a lofty +hill near the village of Cercie, and is covered from base to summit on +all its sides with vines of the gamay species, rarely trained at all, +but left to trail along the ground at their own sweet will. At the +vintage, as we witnessed it, men and women--young, middle-aged, and +old--accompanied by troops of children, were roaming all over the slopes +dexterously nipping off the bunches of grapes with their thumb and +finger nails and flinging them into the little wooden tubs with which +they were provided. The pressing of the grapes and the after-treatment +of the wine destined to become sparkling are the same in the Beaujolais +as in Upper and Lower Burgundy. + +The red, straw, and yellow wines of the Jura have long had a high +reputation in the East of France, and the _vin jaune_ of Arbois, an +ancient fortified town on the banks of the Cuisance, besieged and sacked +in turn by Charles of Amboise, Henri IV., and Louis XIV., was one of the +favourite beverages of the tippling Béarnais who styled himself Seigneur +of Ay and Gonesse, and who acquired his liking for it while sojourning +during the siege of Arbois at the old Château des Arsures. In one of +Henri Quatre's letters to his minister Sully we find him observing, +"I send you two bottles of Vin d'Arbois, for I know you do not detest +it." A couple of other bottles of the same wine are said to have +cemented the king's reconciliation with Mayenne, the leader of the +League, and the lover of La Belle Gabrielle is moreover credited with +having composed at his mistress's table some doggrel rhymes in honour of +the famous Jura crû:-- + + "Come, little page, serve us aright, + The crown is often heavy to bear; + So fill up my goblet large and light + Whenever you find a vacancy there. + This wine is surely no Christian wight, + And yet you never complaint will hear + That it's not baptised with water clear. + Down my throat I pour + The old Arbois; + And now, my lords, let us our voices raise, + And sing of Silenus and Bacchus the praise!" + +In more modern times the Jura, not content with the fame of the historic +yellow wines of Arbois and the deservedly-esteemed straw wines of +Château-Châlon, has produced large quantities of sparkling wine, the +original manufacture of which commenced as far back as a century ago. +To-day the principal seats of the manufacture are at Arbois and +Lons-le-Saulnier, the latter town the capital of the department and one +of the most ancient towns of France. Originally founded by the Gauls on +the banks of the Vallière, in a little valley bordered by lofty hills, +which are to-day covered with vines, it was girded round with +fortifications by the Romans. Subsequently the Huns and the Vandals +pillaged it; then the French and the Burgundians repeatedly contested +its possession, and it was only definitively acquired by France during +the reign of Louis XIV. Rouget de l'Isle, the famous author of the +"Marseillaise," was born at Lons-le-Saulnier, and here also Marshal Ney +assembled and harangued his troops before marching to join Napoleon, +whom he had promised Louis XVIII. to bring back to Paris in an iron +cage. + +The vineyards whence the principal supplies for these sparkling wines +are derived are grouped at varying distances around Lons-le-Saulnier at +L'Etoile, Quintigny, Salins, Arbois, St. Laurent-la-Roche, and Pupillin, +with the Jura chain of mountains rising up grandly on the east. The best +vineyards at L'Etoile--which lies some couple of miles from +Lons-le-Saulnier, surrounded by hills, planted from base to summit with +vines--are La Vigne Blanche, Montmorin, and Montgenest. At Quintigny, +the wines of which are less potent than those of Arbois, and only retain +their effervescent properties for a couple of years, the Paridis, +Prémelan, and Montmorin vineyards are held in most repute, while at +Pupillin, where a soft agreeable wine is vintaged, the principal +vineyards are the Faille and the Clos. The vine cultivated for the +production of sparkling wines are chiefly the savagnin, or white pineau, +the melon of Poligny, and the poulsard, a black variety of grape held +locally in much esteem. + + [Illustration] + +At the vintage, which commences towards the end of October and lasts +until the middle of the following month, all the rotten or unripe grapes +are carefully set aside and the sound ones only submitted to the action +of a screw-press. After the must has flowed for about half-an-hour the +grapes are newly collected under the press and the screw again applied. +The produce of this double operation is poured into a vat termed a +_sapine_, where it remains until bubbles are seen escaping through the +_chapeau_ that forms on the surface of the liquid. The must is then +drawn off--sometimes after being fined--into casks, which the majority +of wine-growers previously impregnate with the fumes of sulphur. When in +cask the wine is treated in one of two ways; either the casks are kept +constantly filled to the bunghole, causing the foam which rises to the +surface during the fermentation to flow over, and thereby leave the wine +comparatively clear, or else the casks are not completely filled, in +which case the wine requires to be racked several times before it is in +a condition for fining. This latter operation is effected about the +commencement of February, and a second fining follows if the first one +fails to render the wine perfectly clear. At the tirage, which +invariably takes place in April, the Jura wines rarely require any +addition of sugar to insure an ample effervescence. After bottling they +are treated in exactly the same manner as the vintages of the Marne are +treated by the great champagne manufacturers. In addition to white +sparkling wine a pink variety, with natural effervescent properties, is +made by mixing with the savagnin and melon grapes a certain proportion +of the poulsard species, from which the best red wines of the Jura are +produced. + +One of the principal sparkling wine establishments at Lons-le-Saulnier +is that of M. Auguste Devaux, founded in the year 1860. He manufactures +both sweet and dry wines, which are sold largely in France and elsewhere +on the Continent, and have lately been introduced into England. Their +alcoholic strength is equivalent to from 25° to 26° of proof spirit, +being largely above the dry sparkling wines of the Champagne, which the +Jura manufacturers regard as a positive advantage rather than an obvious +drawback. M. Devaux's principal brand is the Fleur de l'Etoile, of +which, he has white, pink, and amber-coloured varieties, quoted by him +at merely three francs the bottle for the grand years. + +Besides being too spirituous, the sparkling wines of the Jura are +deficient in refinement and delicacy. The commoner kinds, indeed, +frequently have a pronounced unpleasant flavour, due to the nature of +the soil, to careless vinification, or to the inferior quality of +liqueur with which the wines have been dosed. Out of some fifty samples +of all ages and varieties which in my capacity of juror I tasted at the +Paris Exhibition I cannot call to mind one that a real connoisseur of +sparkling wines would care to admit to his table. + + + + + [Illustration: + CONVEYING GRAPES TO THE PRESS AT SAINT-PÉRAY.] + +XV.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF THE SOUTH OF FRANCE. + +Sparkling Wines of Auvergne, Guienne, Dauphiné, and Languedoc-- + Sparkling Saint-Péray the Champagne of the South-- Valence with its + Reminiscences of Pius VI. and Napoleon I.-- The "Horns of Crussol" + on the Banks of the Rhône-- Vintage Scene at Saint-Péray-- The Vines + and Vineyards Producing Sparkling Wine-- Manipulation of Sparkling + Saint-Péray-- Its Abundance of Natural Sugar-- The Cellars of M. de + Saint-Prix and Samples of his Wines-- Sparkling Côte-Rotie, + Château-Grille, and Hermitage-- Annual Production and Principal + Markets of Sparkling Saint-Péray-- Clairette de Die-- The Porte + Rouge of Die Cathedral-- How the Die Wine is Made-- The Sparkling + White and Rose-Coloured Muscatels of Die-- Sparkling Wines of + Vercheny and Lagrasse-- Barnave and the Royal Flight to Varennes-- + Narbonne formerly a Miniature Rome, now Noted merely for its Wine + and Honey-- Fête of the Black Virgin at Limoux-- Preference given to + the New Wine over the Miraculous Water-- Blanquette of Limoux and + How it is Made-- Characteristics of this Overrated Wine. + + +Sparkling wines are made after a fashion in several of the southern +provinces of France--in Auvergne, at Clermont-Ferrand, under the shadow +of the lofty Puy de Dôme; in Guienne, at Astaffort, the scene of a +bloody engagement during the Wars of Religion in which the Protestant +army was cut to pieces when about to cross the Garonne; at Nérac, where +frail Marguerite de Valois kept her dissolute Court, and Catherine de +Médicis brought her flying squadron of fascinating maids of honour to +gain over the Huguenot leaders to the Catholic cause; and at Cahors, the +Divina, or divine fountain of the Celts, and the birthplace of Pope John +XXII., of Clement Marot, the early French poet, and of Léon Gambetta; in +Dauphiné, at Die, Saint-Chef, Saint-Péray, and Largentière, so named +after some abandoned silver mines, and where the vines are cultivated +against low walls rising in a series of terraces from the base to the +summit of the lofty hills; and in Languedoc, at Brioude, where St. +Vincent, the patron saint of the vinedressers, suffered martyrdom, and +where it is the practice to expose the must of the future sparkling wine +for several nights to the dew in order to rid it of its reddish colour; +also at Linardie, and, more southward still, at Limoux, whence comes the +well-known effervescing Blanquette. + +Principal among the foregoing is the excellent wine of Saint-Péray, +commonly characterised as the champagne of the South of France. The +Saint-Péray vineyards border the Rhône some ten miles below the +Hermitage coteau--the vines of which are to-day well-nigh destroyed by +the phylloxera--but are on the opposite bank of the river. Our visit to +Saint-Péray was made from Valence, in which dull southern city we had +loitered in order to glance at the vast Hôtel du Gouvernement--where +octogenarian Pius VI., after being spirited away a prisoner from Rome +and hurried over the Alps in a litter by order of the French Directory, +drew his last breath while silently gazing across the rushing river at +the view he so much admired--and to discover the house in the Grande +Rue, numbered 4, in an attic of which history records that Napoleon I., +when a sub-lieutenant of artillery in garrison at Valence, resided, and +which he quitted owing three and a-half francs to his pastrycook. + +We crossed the Rhône over one of its hundred flimsy suspension bridges, +on the majority of which a notice warns you neither to smoke nor run, +and were soon skirting the base of a lofty, bare, precipitous rock, with +the "horns of Crussol," as the peasants term two tall pointed gables of +a ruined feudal château, perched at the dizzy edge, and having a +perpendicular fall of some five or six hundred feet below. The château, +which formerly belonged to the Dukes of Uzès, recognised by virtue of +the extent of their domains as _premiers pairs de France_, was not +originally erected in close proximity to any such formidable precipice. +The crag on which it stands had, it seems, been blasted from time to +time for the sake of the stone, until on one unlucky occasion when too +heavy a charge of powder was employed, the entire side of the rock, +together with a considerable portion of the château itself, were sent +flying into the air. The authorities, professing to regard what remained +of the edifice as an historical monument of the Middle Ages, hereupon +stepped in and prohibited the quarry being worked for the future. + +Passing beneath the cliff, one wound round to the left and dived into a +picturesque wooded dell at the entrance to a mountain pass, then crossed +the rocky bed of a dried-up stream and drove along an avenue of +mulberry-trees, which in a few minutes conducted us to Saint-Péray, +where one found the vintage in full operation. Carts laden with tubs +filled with white and purple grapes, around which wasps without number +swarmed, were arriving from all points of the environs and crowding the +narrow streets. Any quantity of grapes were seemingly to be had for the +asking, for all the pretty girls in the place were gorging themselves +with the luscious-looking fruit. In the coopers' yards bran-new casks +were ranged in rows in readiness for the newly-made wine, and through +open doorways, and in all manner of dim recesses, one caught sight of +sturdy men energetically trampling the gushing grapes under their bare +feet, and of huge creaking wine-presses reeking with the purple juice. +It was chiefly common red wine, of an excellent flavour, however, that +was being made in these nooks and corners, the sparkling white wine, +known as Saint-Péray, being manufactured in larger establishments, and +on more scientific principles. It is from a white species of grape known +as the petite and grosse rousette--the same which yields the white +Hermitage--that the champagne of the south is produced, and the +vineyards where they are cultivated occupy all the more favourable +slopes immediately outside the village, the most noted being the +Coteau-Gaillard, Solignaes, Thioulet, and Hungary. + +Although there is a close similarity between the manufacture of +champagne and the effervescing wine of Saint-Péray, there are still one +or two noteworthy variations. For a wine to be sparkling it is requisite +that it should ferment in the bottle, a result obtained by bottling it +while it contains a certain undeveloped proportion of alcohol and +carbonic acid, represented by so much sugar, of which they are the +component parts. This ingredient has frequently to be added to the +Champagne wines to render them sparkling, but the wine of Saint-Péray in +its natural state contains so much sugar that any addition would be +deleterious. This excess of saccharine enables the manufacturer to +dispense with some of the operations necessary to the fabrication of +champagne, which, after fermenting in the cask, requires a second +fermentation to be provoked in the bottle, whereas the Saint-Péray wine +ferments only once, being bottled immediately it comes from the +wine-press. + +The deposit in the wine after being impelled towards the neck of the +bottle is got rid of by following the same system as is pursued in the +Champagne, but no liqueur whatever is subsequently added to the wine. On +the other hand, it is a common practice to reduce the over-sweetness of +sparkling Saint-Péray in years when the grapes are more than usually +ripe by mixing with it some old dry white wine. + +At Saint-Péray we visited the cellars of M. de Saint-Prix, one of the +principal wine-growers of the district. The samples of effervescing wine +which he produced for us to taste were of a pale golden colour, of a +slightly nutty flavour, and with a decided suggestion of the spirituous +essence known to be concentrated in the wine, one glass of which will go +quite as far towards elevating a person as three glasses of champagne. +Keeping the wine for a few years is said materially to improve its +quality, to the sacrifice, however, of its effervescent properties. +M. de Saint-Prix informed us that he manufactured every year a certain +quantity of sparkling Côte-Rotie, Château-Grillé, and Hermitage. The +principal markets for the Saint-Péray sparkling wines--the production of +which falls considerably short of a million bottles per annum--are +England, Germany, Russia, Holland, and Belgium. + + [Illustration] + +The other side of the Rhône is fruitful in minor sparkling wines, chief +amongst which is the so-called Clairette de Die, made at the town of +that name, a place of some splendour, as existing antiquities show, in +the days of the Roman dominion in Gaul. Later on, Die was the scene of +constant struggles for supremacy between its counts and bishops, one of +the latter having been massacred by the populace in front of the +cathedral doorway--ever since known by the sinister appellation of the +Porte Rouge--and Catholics and Huguenots alike devastated the town in +the troublesome times of the Reform. Clairette de Die is made +principally from the blanquette or malvoisie variety of grape, which, +after the stalks have been removed, is both trodden with the feet and +pressed. The must is run off immediately into casks, and four-and-twenty +hours later it is racked into other casks, a similar operation being +performed every two or three days for the period of a couple of months, +when the fermentation having subsided the wine is fined and usually +bottled in the following March. Newly-made Clairette de Die is a sweet +sparkling wine, but it loses its natural effervescence after a couple of +years, unless it has been treated in the same manner as champagne, which +is rarely the case. The wine enjoys a reputation altogether beyond its +merits. + +In addition to the well-known Clairette, some of the wine-growers of Die +make sparkling white and rose-coloured muscatels of superior quality, +which retain their effervescent properties for several years. +A sparkling wine is also made some ten miles from Die, on the road to +Saillans, in a district bounded on the one side by the waters of the +Drôme, and on the other by strange mountains with helmet-shaped crests. +The centre of production is a locality called Vercheny, composed of +several hamlets, one of which, named Le Temple, was the original home of +the family of Barnave. The impressionable young deputy to the National +Assembly formed one of the trio sent to bring back the French royal +family from Varennes after their flight from Paris. It will be +remembered how, under the influence of Marie Antoinette and Madame +Elizabeth, Barnave became transformed during the journey into a faithful +partisan of their unhappy cause, and that he eventually paid the penalty +of his devotion with his life. + +In the extreme south of France, and almost under the shadow of the +Pyrenees, a sparkling wine of some repute is made at a place called +Lagrasse, about five-and-twenty miles westward of Narbonne, the +once-famous Mediterranean city, the maritime rival of Marseilles, and in +its palmy days, prior to the Christian era, a miniature Rome, with its +capitol, its curia, its decemvirs, its consuls, its prætors, its +questors, its censors, and its ediles, and which boasted of being the +birthplace of three Roman Emperors. To-day Narbonne has to content +itself with the humble renown derived from its delicious honey and its +characterless full-bodied red wines. Limoux, so celebrated for its +Blanquette, lies a long way farther to the west, behind the Corbières +range of mountains that join on to the Pyrenees, and the jagged peaks, +deep barren gorges, and scarred sides of which have been witness of many +a desperate struggle during the century and a half when they formed the +boundary between France and Spain. + +We arrived at Limoux just too late for the famous fête of the Black +Virgin, which lasts three weeks, and attracts crowds of southern +pilgrims to the chapel of Our Lady of Marseilles, perched on a little +hill some short distance from the town, with a fountain half-way up it, +whose water issues drop by drop, and has the credit of possessing +unheard-of virtues. The majority of pilgrims, however, exhibit a decided +preference for the new-made wine over the miraculous water, and for +one-and-twenty days something like a carnival of inebriety prevails at +Limoux. + +Blanquette de Limoux derives its name from the species of grape it is +produced from, and which we believe to be identical with the malvoisie, +or malmsey. Its long-shaped berries grow in huge bunches, and dry +readily on the stalks. The fruit is gathered as tenderly as possible, +care being taken that it shall not be in the slightest degree bruised, +after which it is spread out upon a floor to admit of the sugar it +contains becoming perfect. The bad grapes having been carefully picked +out, and the pips extracted from the remaining fruit, the latter is now +trodden, when the must, after being filtered through a strainer, is +placed in casks, where it remains fermenting for about a week, during +which time any overflow is daily replenished by other must reserved for +the purpose. The wine is again clarified and placed in fresh casks with +the bungholes only lightly closed until all sensible fermentation has +ceased, when they are securely fastened up. The bottling takes place in +the month of March, and the wine is subsequently treated much after the +same fashion as sparkling Saint-Péray, excepting that it is generally +found necessary to repeat the operation of _dégorgement_ three, if not +as many as four times. + +Blanquette de Limoux is a pale white wine, the saccharine properties of +which have become completely transformed into carbonic acid gas and +alcohol. It is, consequently, both dry and spirituous, deficient in +delicacy, and altogether proves a great disappointment. At its best it +may, perhaps, rank with sparkling Saint-Péray, but unquestionably not +with any average champagne. + + + + + [Illustration] + +XVI.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF GERMANY. + +Origin of Sparkling Hock and Moselle-- Sparkling German Wines First + Made on the Neckar-- Heilbronn, and Gotz von Berlichingen of the + Iron Hand-- Lauteren of Mayence and Rambs of Trèves turn their + attention to Sparkling Wines-- Change of late years in the Character + of Sparkling Hocks and Moselles-- Difference between them and + Moussirender Rheinwein-- Vintaging of Black and White Grapes for + Sparkling Wine-- The Treatment which German Sparkling Wines + Undergo-- Artificial Flavouring and Perfuming of Sparkling + Moselles-- Fine Natural Bouquet of High Class Sparkling Hocks-- + Impetus given to the Manufacture of German Sparkling Wines during + the Franco-German War-- Annual Production-- Deinhard and Co.'s + Splendid New Cellars at Coblenz-- The Firm's Collection of Choice + Rhine and Moselle Wines-- Their Trade in German Sparkling Wines-- + Their Sources of Supply-- The Vintaging and After-Treatment of their + Wines-- Characteristics of their Sparkling Hocks and Moselles. + + +The reader is by this time aware that sparkling wines are not indebted +for their effervescent properties to any particular variety of vine or +quality of soil, although some species of grapes yield a wine possessing +a higher degree of effervescence than others. Any wine, in fact, can be +rendered sparkling, although only wines of a certain lightness of body +and which are at the same time delicate and clean to the taste--being +devoid of anything approaching to a _goût de terroir_--are really suited +to the purpose. Given a wine containing sufficient saccharine, either +natural or applied, and duly regulate its temperature, and it is easy +enough to render it sparkling. The Germans discovered this long ago when +they first transformed the acidulous wines of the Rhine into what we +term sparkling hocks. + +The rise of this industry dates from the epoch of the final downfall of +Napoleon I., when the officers of the armies of occupation acquired more +than a passing liking for the exhilarating products of Clicquot and +Moët, carrying it, in fact, home with them, and so disseminating a taste +for the sparkling wines of France throughout the North of Europe. In +Germany the wealthy few only were able to indulge in it, and the +consumption was for a long time exceedingly limited. When, however, +after many years of peace, riches began to accumulate, some shrewd men +set themselves to ascertain whether the German wines could not be +rendered sparkling like the French. This was satisfactorily and speedily +settled in the affirmative; but the great difficulty was to find the +requisite capital for the large preliminary investment necessary to the +establishment of a manufactory of sparkling wine on even a moderate +scale, and from which no return could be counted on for the first three +years. Eventually this was overcome; but the new wines, being in the +first instance altogether different in character from champagne, found +but little favour in the country of their production. It was different, +however, in England, where they speedily succeeded in establishing +themselves under the designations of sparkling hock and sparkling +moselle, and from this time forward they have retained their position in +the English market. + +It is generally asserted that sparkling wines were first manufactured in +Germany more than half a century ago from the inferior Neckar grape both +at Esslingen and Heilbronn--the latter rendered memorable by the +exploits of Götz von Berlichingen, whose iron hand distributed blows +which effectually "cured headache, toothache, and every other human +malady." Subsequently, towards 1830, a former _chef de cave_ at Madame +Clicquot's establishment at Reims came to Herr Lauteren, of Mayence, and +suggested to him to engage in the manufacture of sparkling Rhine wines, +a proposal which the latter soon afterwards profited by; and eight years +later Herr Rambs, of Trèves, vineyard proprietor and wine-merchant, +aided by a French cellarman, made the earliest attempt to manufacture +sparkling moselles, their first trials in this direction resulting in a +breakage amounting to fifty per cent. + +For some years the great anxiety of manufacturers of sparkling hocks was +to render their wines as much as possible like champagne, which was only +to be accomplished by disguising their true flavour and dosing them +largely with syrup. In this form they satisfied, and indeed still +satisfy, their German and Russian consumers; but of late years England +has set the example of a decided preference for the drier kinds of +sparkling wines, the result being that the character of the wines +destined for the English market has undergone a complete change. + + [Illustration: + THE AHR VALLEY.] + +Next to its sweetness the principal difference between German champagne, +or Moussirender Rheinwein as it is usually called, for Continental +consumption, and sparkling hocks designed for the English and other +markets, consists in the former being made principally from black +grapes, pressed immediately they are gathered and not allowed to ferment +in their skins, while the latter are made almost exclusively from white +grapes. The vineyards yielding the black grapes used for these sparkling +wines are mainly situated at Ingelheim, midway between Bingen and +Mayence, and in the Ahr valley, between Coblenz and Cologne. At the +black grape vintage, which precedes the gathering of the white varieties +by some three or four weeks, the fruit is conveyed to the press in high +tubs, carried on men's backs, and holding about 40lbs. apiece. The old +wooden presses are mostly employed, although of late small transportable +presses with iron screws, and of French manufacture, are coming into +use. In order that the wine may be pale in colour, the grapes, which, +like those of the Champagne, are of the pineau variety, are pressed as +soon as possible after the gathering; the pressure applied is, moreover, +rapid and not too strong, and the must is separated forthwith from the +skins and stalks. On the other hand, the white grapes used in the making +of German sparkling wine, and which are almost exclusively of the +far-famed riesling species, are treated precisely as when making still +Rhine wine--that is, they are crushed in the vineyards by means of +grape-mills, and afterwards pressed in the usual way. The must for +sparkling wines, whether from black or white grapes, is run at once into +casks to ferment. If possible it is conveyed in large casks known as +stucks--immediately after the pressing, and before fermentation +begins--to the manufacturer's cellars in town; but if this cannot be +accomplished it remains in the cellars of the district until the first +fermentation is over, which is in December or January. It is then racked +off its lees, and the produce of black and white grapes is blended +together, only a small proportion of the former entering into the +composition of true sparkling hock, which should retain in a marked +degree the subtile and fragrant perfume of the riesling grape. + +The process pursued in the manufacture of sparkling hocks is the same as +that followed with regard to champagnes. The quantity of grape sugar +generated in these Northern German latitudes being far from large, both +hocks and moselles invariably need a small addition of saccharine, +previous to their being put into bottle, to insure the requisite +effervescence, whereas in the Champagne the practice of adding sugar +with this object is not the uniform rule. After the wine is bottled it +remains in a cool cellar for eighteen months or a couple of years, being +constantly shaken during this period, in the same way as champagne, in +order to force the sediment to deposit itself near to the cork. By this +time the added as well as the natural sugar contained in the wine has +become converted into alcohol and carbonic acid; and after the sediment +has been expelled from the bottle the operation of dosing, or +flavouring, the wine takes place. + +Sparkling hocks intended both for the German and Russian markets are +frequently almost cloying in their sweetness, as much as one-fifth of +syrup being often added to four-fifths of wine. The sparkling moselles, +too, for Russia, and not unfrequently for England also, are largely +dosed with the preparation of elder-flowers, which imparts to them their +well-known muscatel flavour and perfume. The manufacturers say they are +doing their best to abandon this absurd practice of artificially +perfuming sparkling moselles; but many of their customers, and +especially those in the English provinces, stipulate for the scented +varieties, possibly from an erroneous belief in their superiority. +Effervescing Rhine wines of the highest class have a marked and refined +flavour, together with a very decided natural bouquet. Moreover, they +retain their effervescent properties for a considerable time after being +uncorked, and appear to the taste as light, if not precisely as +delicate, as the finer champagnes, although in reality such is not the +case; for all sparkling hocks possess greater body than even the +heaviest champagnes, and cannot, therefore, be drunk with equal freedom. + +Great impetus was given to the manufacture of German sparkling wines +during the war of 1870, when the Champagne was in a measure closed to +the outside world. At this epoch the less scrupulous manufacturers, +instigated by dishonest speculators, boldly forged both the brands on +the corks and the labels on the bottles of the great Reims and Epernay +firms, and sent forth sparkling wines of their own production to the +four quarters of the globe as veritable champagnes of the highest class. +The respectable houses acted more honestly, and, as it turned out, with +better policy, for by maintaining their own labels and brands they +extended the market for their produce, causing German sparkling wines to +be introduced under their true names into places where they had never +penetrated before, the result being a considerable increase in the +annual demand, even after the stores of the champagne manufacturers were +again open to all the world. + +Owing to this increased demand, and the deficient supply of suitable +Rhine wines at a moderate price, the manufacturers of sparkling hocks +are reduced to buy much of their raw wine at a distance, and are to-day +large purchasers of the growths of the Palatinate, which are less +delicate than the vintages of the Rheingau, besides being deficient in +that fine aroma which distinguishes genuine hock. A leading manufacturer +computes that between four-and-a-half and five million bottles of +sparkling wine are made annually in Germany, where there are no fewer +than fifty manufacturing establishments. The principal market is Great +Britain, which consumes some two millions of bottles annually; a million +bottles are drunk at home; while the remainder is divided among the +North of Europe, the United States, India, Australia, China, and Japan. +The cheapness of these wines is, no doubt, largely in their favour. + +At Coblenz, the capital of Rhenish Prussia, and one of the strongest +fortresses in the world, the so-called blue Moselle mingles its waters +with those of the Rhine, and hence the original Roman name of +Confluentia. With so favourable a situation it is not surprising that +the city should be the abode of several important firms trading in the +wines of the two rivers. At the head of these is the well-known house of +Deinhard and Co., dealing extensively both in the magnificent still +vintages of the Rheingau and the Moselle, and the higher-class sparkling +wines of these districts. In the resident partner, Herr Julius Wegeler, +I was pleased to meet again my courteous colleague of the Wine Jury of +the Vienna Exhibition, and accompanied by him I went over their +establishment on the Clemens Platz--one of the most perfect and +admirably appointed in Germany. The firm was founded in 1798 by Herr +F. Deinhard, who in 1806, when Coblenz was in the hands of the French, +secured a ninety-nine years' lease of some cellars under an old convent +at the low rental of 30 francs per annum, and to-day this curious +document exists amongst the archives of the firm. Rents of wine-cellars +were low enough in those days of uncertainty and peril, when commerce +was at a standstill and Europe gazed panic-stricken on the course of +warlike events; nevertheless, for such a trifle as 30 francs a year of +course no very extensive entrepôt could have been rented. To-day Messrs. +Deinhard's new cellars on the Clemens Platz alone cover an area of +nearly 43,000 square feet, besides which they have several other vaults +stored with wine in various quarters of the city, the whole giving +employment to upwards of eighty workmen and a score of coopers. Their +Clemens Platz establishment was only completed in the autumn of 1875, +when it was formally inaugurated in presence of the Empress Augusta, who +left behind her the following graceful memento of her visit:-- + + "In grateful attachment to Coblenz, in full appreciation of a work + which does honour to the town and to the firm, I wish continued + prosperity to both. + + AUGUSTA, + + "German Empress and Queen of Prussia." + + [Illustration: + MESSRS. DEINHARD & CO.'S NEW ESTABLISHMENT AT COBLENZ. (p. 178)] + + [Illustration: + MESSRS. DEINHARD & CO.'S NEW CELLARS AT COBLENZ. (p. 179.)] + +The proximity of the establishment to the Rhine did not allow of the +cellars being excavated to a greater depth than 30 feet below the +surface--a mere trifle when compared with the depth of many vaults in +the Champagne. Any lower excavation, however, would have been attended +with danger, and as it is, when the Rhine rose to an unusual height in +March, 1876, the water percolated through the soil and inundated the +lower cellars to a height of 5 feet. Above these vaults is a +corresponding range of buildings of picturesque design and substantial +construction, divided like the cellars into three aisles, each 210 feet +in length and 23 feet broad. One of the arches of the façade looking on +to the courtyard is decorated with a graceful and characteristic +bas-relief, an engraving of which is subjoined. + + [Illustration] + +The cellars, containing 1,400 stucks, as they are termed, of still +wines--the stuck being equal to 1,500 bottles--present a striking +appearance with their long vistas of vaulted arcades, admirably built of +brick, and illuminated by innumerable gas jets, aided by powerful +reflectors at the extremities of the three aisles. The capacious +elliptical-headed casks, ranged side by side in uninterrupted sequence, +contain the choicest German vintages, including the grand wines of the +Rheingau--Johannisberger, Steinberger, Rudesheimer, Rauenthaler, and the +like; the red growths of Assmannshausen and Walporzheim; Deidesheimers, +with rare bouquets and of tender tonical flavour; Liebfrauenmilch, of +flowery perfume; the finest Moselles from Josefshof and Scharzhofberg, +Brauneberg and Berncastel, with other growths too numerous to mention, +of grand years, and from the best situations. + +The sparkling wines stored in separate vaults form to-day an important +item in Messrs. Deinhard's business. In 1843 the firm made their first +cuvée, consisting of less than 10,000 bottles. Four years later their +cuvée amounted to over 50,000 bottles. A falling off was shown during +the revolutionary epoch, and business only recovered its normal +condition in 1851, since which time it has gradually increased as the +wines have grown in favour, until in 1875 the tirage of 1874 vintage +wines exceeded half a million bottles. + +Messrs. Deinhard draw their supplies of wine from white grapes, for +conversion into sparkling wines, from the Rhine, the Main, the Moselle, +and the Palatinate, giving preference to the produce of the riesling +grape, as to this the wine is indebted for its natural bouquet. The +proportion of wine from black grapes, mingled with the other wines, is +vintaged by themselves in the Ahr valley and at Ingelheim on the Rhine. +The Ahr, in summer a rippling streamlet and in winter a rushing torrent, +falls into the Rhine about twenty miles below Coblenz. The soil of the +neighbouring hills seems peculiarly adapted for the growth of black +grapes, one of the best of German red wines being produced in the +vineyards adjacent to the village of Walporzheim. In order that the wine +may be as pale as possible, the black grapes are pressed as soon after +gathering as they can be, and only the juice resulting from the first +pressure is reserved, the subsequently extracted must being sold to the +small growers of the neighbourhood. The newly-made wine is brought in +casks to Coblenz, and rests for eight weeks while completing its +fermentation. It is then racked into stucks and double stucks, and is +blended in casks of the latter capacity during the early part of the +following year, great care being taken to preserve the bouquet of the +white grapes, with which view, contrary to the practice followed in the +Champagne, only a moderate proportion of wine from black grapes enters +into the blend. + + [Illustration: + VINEYARDS IN THE AHR VALLEY.] + +Next comes the fining, and four weeks afterwards the wine is newly +racked. The bottling takes place during May or June, when any deficiency +of natural saccharine in the wine is supplied by the addition of pure +sugar-candy. At Messrs. Deinhard's the wine is bottled at a temperature +of 72° Fahr., and the bottles remain resting on large stone tables until +the fermentation is completed, and the saccharine is converted into +alcohol and carbonic acid gas. This result is commonly obtained in +ordinary hot weather in eight days' time, most of the breakage taking +place during this interval. If on being tested with a manometer the wine +should indicate too high a pressure, it is at once removed to a cool +cellar, consequently the average total breakage rarely exceeds 2¼ per +cent. The wine is now left quiet for at least a year, and if possible +for two years, after which the bottles are placed on stands in the +customary inverted position, and shaken daily for a period of six weeks, +in order to dislodge the sediment and force it against the cork. German +workmen are far less expert at this operation than their fellows in the +Champagne, as few of the former can manage more than their +four-and-twenty thousand bottles per diem. The disgorgement and +liqueuring of the wine is accomplished at Messrs. Deinhard's and other +German establishments in precisely the same fashion as is followed in +the Champagne. + + [Illustration: + ON THE BRIDGE AT RECH, AHR VALLEY.] + +The dry sparkling hocks we tasted here had the real riesling flavour and +the fine natural perfume common to this grape. In preparing them no +attempt had been made to imitate champagne; but, on the other hand, +every care had been taken to preserve the true hock character with its +distinguishing freshness of taste combined with a lightness which wines +containing liqueur in excess could never have exhibited. The sparkling +moselles, too, depended not on any imparted muscatel flavour and +perfume, but on their own natural bouquet and the flavour they derive +from the schistous soil in which these wines are grown. + + + + + [Illustration: + LIEBENSTEIN AND STERRENBERG.] + +XVII.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF GERMANY (_continued_). + +From Coblenz to Rüdesheim-- Ewald and Co.'s Establishment and its + Pleasant Situation-- Their Fine Vaulted Cellars and Convenient + Accessories-- Their Supplies of Wine drawn from the most favoured + Localities-- The Celebrated Vineyards of the Rheingau-- Eltville and + the extensive Establishment of Matheus Müller-- His Vast Stocks of + Still and Sparkling German Wines-- The Vineyards laid under + contribution for the latter-- M. Müller's Sparkling Johannisberger, + Champagne, and Red Sparkling Assmannshauser-- The Site of + Gutenberg's Birthplace at Mayence occupied by the Offices and + Wine-cellars of Lauteren Sohn-- The Sparkling Wine Establishment of + the Firm, and their Fine Collection of Hocks and Moselles-- The + Hochheim Sparkling Wine Association-- Foundation of the + Establishment-- Its Superior Sparkling Hocks and Moselles-- The + Sparkling Wine Establishments of Stock and Sons at Creuznach in the + Nahe Valley, of Kessler and Co. at Esslingen, on the Neckar, and of + M. Oppmann at Wurzburg-- The Historic Cellars of the King of Bavaria + beneath the Residenz-- The Establishment of F. A. Siligmüller. + + + [Illustration: + STOLZENFELS.] + +Ascending the Rhine from Coblenz--past many an ancient ruined castle, +past restored Stolzenfels, the historic Königs-stuhl, the romantic +Liebenstein and Sterrenberg, the legendary Lurlei, the tribute-exacting +Pfalz, and the old town of Bacharach, famous in the Middle Ages for its +wine mart--we eventually come to Lorch, where the Wisper brook flows +into the Rhine, and the grand wine-producing district known as the +Rheingau begins. A few miles higher up are the vineyards of +Assmannshausen, dominated by the Niederwald, and yielding the finest red +wine in all Germany. Then passing by Bishop Hatto's legendary tower we +emerge from the gorge of the Rhine and soon reach Rüdesheim, crouched at +the foot of lofty terraced vineyards, which, according to doubtful +tradition, were planted with Burgundy and Orleans vines by Charlemagne. +Rüdesheim, like other antiquated little Rhine-side towns, boasts its +ancient castle with its own poetical legend, while many modern houses +have sprung up there of late years, and signs of further development are +apparent on all sides. In the outskirts of the town there are a couple +of sparkling wine establishments, the one nigh the railway station on +the western side belonging to Messrs. Dietrich and Co., while eastwards +on a picturesque slope overlooking the Rhine, and in the midst of +extensive pleasure-grounds, is the establishment of Messrs. Ewald and +Co., who date from the year 1858, and rank to-day amongst the leading +shippers of sparkling hocks and moselles to England. + + [Illustration: + MESSRS. EWALD & CO.'S ESTABLISHMENT AT RÜDESHEIM. (p. 185)] + +Here are handsome and capacious buildings aboveground, and two floors of +cellars comprising five vaults, each 160 feet in length and 30 feet +broad. The lower vaults, 40 feet from the surface, are arched over and +walled with stone, while the upper ones are faced with brick, both being +floored with concrete and slanting towards the centre to allow of the +wine from bottles that have burst running off. Each range of cellars is +separately ventilated by shafts, generally kept open in winter and +closed in the summer so as to maintain a temperature not exceeding 47° +Fahr. in the lower cellars and under 52° in those above. Moreover, with +the view of conducing to this result the cellars have an ice well +communicating with them. + +Late in the spring, when the newly-bottled wine indicates a sufficient +number of atmospheres to insure a satisfactory effervescence, it is +deposited in the lower vaults, the upper ones being devoted to reserve +wines in wood and wines awaiting the process of disgorgement, or +undergoing their daily shaking in order to force the deposit against the +cork. Aboveground there are rooms for storing the liqueur, the corks, +and the packing-cases, and in a spacious apartment, provided with three +lifts for communicating with the cellars beneath, the wine is blended +and bottled, and in due time disgorged and packed. In very warm weather, +however, it is found preferable for the disgorging and its attendant +operations to be performed in the cooler temperature of the cellars. +Messrs. Ewald formerly tested the strength of their bottles with a +manometer before using them, but for some time past they have given up +the practice, feeling convinced that it was productive of more harm than +good. Glass is an amorphous and unelastic substance which, although it +will stand a high pressure once, often succumbs when put to a second +test by the action of the fermenting wine. The firm calculate their +annual breakage at from 2½ to 3 per cent. + +Messrs. Ewald being installed almost in the heart or the Rheingau can +readily draw their supplies of wine from the most favoured localities. +Johannisberg is within a few miles of Rüdesheim, and in those years +when, owing to the grapes not having thoroughly ripened, the wine is +only of intermediate value as a still wine, it serves admirably for +conversion into sparkling wine, retaining as it does its powerful +bouquet. Ingelheim, too, noted for its vineyards of black grapes, whose +produce is much sought after for blending with the finer sparkling Rhine +wines, is only a few miles higher up the river, on the opposite bank. +The drier varieties of sparkling hocks and moselles shipped by Messrs. +Ewald to England have the merit of retaining all the fine flavour and +natural perfume of the higher-class growths from which, as a rule, these +wines are prepared. + + [Illustration: + THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MATHEUS MÜLLER AT ELTVILLE. (p. 186)] + +Above Rüdesheim the waters of the Rhine expand, the left bank of the +river, if still lofty, is no longer precipitous, while the right +continues almost flat so soon as the Rochusberg is left behind. Between +here and Eltville all the more celebrated vineyards of the Rheingau are +passed in rapid succession--Geisenheim-Rothenberg, Johannisberg, +Steinberg, Marcobrunn, Kiedrich-Grafenberg, Rauenthal, and others. At +Eltville--the former capital of the Rheingau, and where Gunther, of +Schwarzburg, resigned his crown to Charles IV., and died poisoned, it is +said, by his successful rival--we find one of the most extensive wine +establishments in Germany, that of Matheus Müller, who enjoys a high +reputation in England both for his still and sparkling hocks and +moselles. His stock ordinarily consists of from 800 to 1,000 +stuck--equivalent to a quarter of a million gallons--of still Rhine and +Moselle wines, much of it of the best years, and from vineyards of +repute, together with nearly a million bottles of sparkling wines stored +in his cellars at Eltville and on the road to Erbach, the aggregate +length of which is some 3,400 feet. The sparkling wines repose in long +cool vaulted galleries similar to many cellars in the Champagne, while +the still wines are stored in capacious subterranean halls each 100 +yards in length. + + [Illustration] + +For his higher-class sparkling hocks Herr Müller derives his principal +supplies from the Rheingau, partly from his own vineyards at Eltville, +Rauenthal, and Hattenheim, and partly by purchases at Erbach, +Hallgarten, OEstrich, Winkel, Johannisberg, Geisenheim, and Rudesheim; +while for his best sparkling moselles, Berncastel, Graach, Trèves, and +the Saar districts are laid under contribution. The Palatinate growths +of Dürkheim, Deidesheim, Mussbach, Haardt, Rhodt, &c., serve as the +basis for the medium and cheaper sparkling hocks, and for sparkling +moselles of a corresponding character such wines as Zeltinger, +Rachtiger, Erdener, Aldegonder, Winninger, &c., are used. Ingelheim and +Heidesheim furnish the wine from black grapes necessary in a subordinate +degree to all sparkling hocks, and very freely had recourse to when it +is desired to impart a champagne character to the wine, as is commonly +the case when this is intended for consumption in Germany. Herr Müller +invariably presses the black grapes himself, in order that the wine may +be as light in colour as possible. As the house annually lays down large +stocks of _vin brut_ it is under no necessity of drawing upon them until +they have attained the requisite maturity and developed all their finer +qualities. + +The dry sparkling hocks and moselles, such as are shipped by Herr Müller +to England and its colonies, receive a large addition of liqueur when +destined for the Russian market. His sparkling Johannisberger and +high-class sparkling moselle from Rheingau and Moselle wines of superior +vintages are of delicate flavour and great softness, and are frequently +shipped without any liqueur whatever. Besides Moussirender Rheinwein of +a champagne character, and largely consumed in Germany and Belgium, Herr +Müller makes a veritable champagne from wine imported by him from the +Champagne district. His shipments also include red sparkling +Assmannshauser--the result of a blend of Assmannshauser, Ingelheimer, +and other red Rhenish wines--aromatic and full-bodied, and dry or +moderately sweet according to the country to which it is intended to be +exported. + + [Illustration: + ENTRANCE TO LAUTEREN SOHN'S ESTABLISHMENT, MAYENCE. (p. 188)] + +The trade in German sparkling wines has numerous representatives at +Mayence--the sec of St. Boniface, the apostle of the Germans, and the +birthplace of Gutenberg, whose fame is universal. The pioneer of +printing was born in a house at the corner of the Emmerans and Pfandhaus +gasse, the site of which is to-day occupied by the residence of three +members of the firm of C. Lauteren Sohn, established at Mayence so far +back as 1794, and one of the first in Germany to devote itself to the +manufacture of sparkling wines. In 1830 the firm profited by an offer +made to them by a cellarman who had been for many years in the service +of Madame Clicquot at Reims. The Emmerans-gasse, where the chief +establishment of the firm is situated, is in the older quarter of +Mayence--in the midst of a network of intricate winding streets bordered +by picturesque tall gabled houses and edifices of the Spanish type where +ornamental oriel windows with quaint supports, medallions, and +bas-reliefs of varied design continually catch the eye, and saints look +down upon one from almost every corner. Passing under the gateway of the +house where Gutenberg was born, and in the rear of which Lauteren Sohn +have their offices, cooperage, and cellars for still wines, we notice on +our left hand a tablet commemorating the birth of the inventor of +printing in these terms:-- + + "Gensfleisch House. Family residence of the inventor of the art of + printing, John Gensfleisch of Gutenberg, who in the year 1398 was + here born. Christian Lauteren has dedicated on the site of the + ancient house this memorial to the immortal inventor, Jan. 29, 1825." + +Messrs. Lauteren's cellars for sparkling wines extend mainly under an +old monastery, and comprise a succession of large vaulted galleries +connected by narrow passages with arched entrances. Here are stacked +some 800,000 bottles of wine in varying conditions of maturity. Messrs. +Lauteren bottle their wines in August, instead of fully two months +earlier according to the usual practice, in the belief that the system +they pursue is more conducive to perfect effervescence, besides being +attended with less breakage, owing to the newly-bottled wine escaping +the heat of the summer. All the arrangements at this establishment are +very complete. There is a place for everything, and everything is to be +found in its place. Adjoining the courtyard, where new bottles are +stacked beneath open ornamental sheds, are the tasting-room and the +apartment where the operations of disgorging, dosing, and re-corking are +performed. The liqueur added by the firm to their sparkling wines is +kept in bottle from three to five years before being used. In the +tasting-room we were shown a variety of sparkling hocks and moselles, +the former with all the distinguishing characteristics of fine Rhine +wine, the older samples having gained considerably in softness. A dry +Cabinet specimen submitted to us exhibited a fine bouquet and much +delicacy of flavour. The moselles we found particularly interesting, +made as they were of genuine wines from some of the best vineyards of +the Moselle district. + +The largest German sparkling wine establishment is at Hochheim, which, +although, situated on the banks of the Main, and several miles distant +from its confluence with the Rhine, has curiously enough supplied us +with a generic name under which we inconsistently class the entire +produce of the Rhine vineyards. Behind the Hochheim railway station +there rises a long low slope, planted from base to summit with vines, +a portion of which are screened on the north by a plain-looking church +and a weather-stained deanery. The vines thus sheltered yield the famous +Dom Dechanei, the finest Hochheimer known. Some short distance off in a +westerly direction are the extensive premises of the Hochheim Sparkling +Wine Association, whose brands are well known in England. The firm of +Burgeff and Co., whose business the association acquired in 1858 and +subsequently considerably extended, was founded in 1837. At this +establishment all the arrangements are of the most perfect character. +The bottles are cleaned by a machine employing ten persons, and turning +out several thousand bottles a day. All the bottles moreover, before +being used, have their strength tested by an ingenious apparatus which +subjects them to three or four times the pressure they are likely to +undergo when filled with wine. Pumps, bottle-washing machine, and the +revolving casks in which the sugar is dissolved for the liqueur, are all +moved by steam, and the association even manufactures the gas used for +lighting up the establishment. We tasted here several sparkling hocks +distinguished by their high flavour and refinement, with sparkling +moselles vintaged in the best localities and equally excellent in +quality. + +Sparkling hocks and moselles are made by Messrs. Stock and Sons at +Creuznach, a favourite watering-place in the romantic Nahe valley, noted +for the picturesque porphyry cliffs which occasionally rise +precipitously at the river's edge. Creuznach, where a capital wine is +vintaged, on the southern slopes of the Schlossberg, is at no great +distance from Bingen. Messrs. Stock and Sons' establishment dates from +1862, and their sparkling wines are mainly made from white grapes, only +about one-eighth of white wine from black grapes entering into their +composition. The latter is vintaged at Ingelheim, the grapes being +pressed under the firm's own superintendence, and only the must +resulting from the first squeeze of the press being used. The wine from +riesling grapes is usually from the Rhine, and with it is mingled a +certain quantity of wine vintaged on the Hessian plain. The vintage +generally occurs at the end of October, and the firm remove the new wine +to their cellars at Creuznach early in the ensuing spring, and bottle it +in the May or June following. They make both dry and sweet varieties of +sparkling wines, and their principal markets are England, Germany, the +East and West Indies, the United States, and Australia. + + [Illustration: + BINGEN.] + +The establishment of G. C. Kessler and Co. at Esslingen--formerly one of +the most important of the free imperial cities, and picturesquely +situated on the Neckar--was founded as far back as 1826, and claims to +be the oldest sparkling wine factory in Germany. The wine employed comes +from vineyards in the vicinity of Heilbronn, and others in the Rheingau +and the Grand Duchy of Baden, and is more or less a blend of the +clevener, traminer, rulander, riesling, and elbling varieties of grape. +The vintage takes place in October, and the bottling of the wine is +effected during the following summer. Messrs. Kessler and Co. treat +their wines after the system pursued at the Clicquot champagne +establishment, in which the founder of the Esslingen house held an +important position for a period of nearly twenty years. The wines are +prepared sweet or dry according to the market they are destined for. The +principal business of the firm is with Germany, but they also export to +England, the United States, the East Indies, and Australia. Their wines +have met with favourable recognition at various exhibitions, notably +that of Paris in 1867, when a silver medal was awarded them; and at +Vienna in 1873, where they received a medal for progress. + + [Illustration: + THE NECKAR AT HEIDELBERG.] + +Wurzburg, one of the most antiquated and picturesque of German cities, +is noted for its sparkling Franconian wines vintaged partly in the +vineyards that overspread the tall chalk hills which close in around the +quaint old university town. The most famous of these vineyards are the +Leist and the Stein, the first-named sloping downward towards the Main +from the foot of the picturesque Marienberg fort, which, perched on the +summit of a commanding height, dominates the city and forms so +conspicuous an object in all the views of it. The extensive buildings of +the fort not only shield the vines from the winds, but reflect the sun's +rays upon them, thereby materially conducing to the perfect ripening of +the grapes at a much earlier period than is customary. The Stein +vineyard is situated on the opposite side of the Main, and when viewed +from the picturesque bridge, studded with incongruous colossal +statues--such as Joseph and the Virgin Mary in close proximity to +Charlemagne and Pépin--seems to rise up as an immense rampart behind the +city. Here the river acts as a reflector, throwing back the sun's rays +on the lower portions of the slope, where the finest wine is naturally +vintaged. An altogether inferior growth is produced on the hill to the +north, known as the Middle Stein, and also in the Harfe vineyard, +situated in the rear of the latter. The prevalent vines in the Würzburg +district are the riesling, the traminer, the elbling, and the rulander, +or pineau gris. + +The first sparkling wine establishment at Würzburg was founded in 1842 +by Herr Oppmann, the Royal cellar-master, who died in 1866. The position +held by this individual was one of considerable importance, for the King +of Bavaria is the largest wine-grower in his own dominions, and stores +the produce of his vineyards in the famous cellars extending beneath one +of the wings of the deserted Residenz, erected at an epoch when Würzburg +was subject to episcopal rule. These cellars, vaulted in stone, are on a +vast scale, and possibly unequalled in the world. You descend a broad +flight of steps, flanked by ornamental iron balustrades, and encounter +half-way down a miniature tun, guarded by the Bavarian lions posted in a +niche in the wall. Following your guide with lighted candles, you pass +between rows upon rows of capacious casks filled with the wine last +vintaged, and various wines of recent years; large metal +chandeliers--fantastically adorned with innumerable coloured bottles and +glasses, and designed to light up the cellars on festive occasions--here +and there descending from the arched roof. Eventually you arrive at a +gallery where huge casks are poised on massive wooden frames in double +tiers one above the other. These cellars are said to be capable of +holding upwards of 500 casks, but at the time of our visit there were +scarcely half that number, and only a mere fraction of these were filled +with wine. The cellars no longer contain any of that archaic wine +vintaged in 1546, for which they were formerly celebrated. Indeed, all +the historic vintages, once their boast, were removed some years ago to +Munich and deposited in the Royal cellars there. Of the ancient +ornamental tuns holding their ten thousand gallons each, which the +Würzburg cellars formerly contained, only a single one remains, +constructed in the year 1784. This tun, carved on the front with the +Bavarian arms, is about the dimensions of a fair-sized apartment, and +being no longer filled with wine, a Diogenes of the period might take up +his abode in it with perfect comfort. Herr Michael Oppmann, who has +succeeded to the establishment founded by his father, prepares several +varieties of white sparkling Franconian wine, with two kinds of red, and +also sparkling hocks and moselles. The first-named wines are vintaged in +the best vineyards of Lower Franconia, in the valley of the Main, and +the Baden Oberland, the finer qualities being principally produced from +the black clevener grape, usually vintaged the first or second week in +October. The white grape vintage occurs some fortnight or more later, +and the wine is bottled either late in the spring or during the coming +summer. Its after-manipulation differs in no respect from that pursued +with reference to champagne. Herr Oppmann, whose wines have met with +favourable recognition at various foreign and home Exhibitions, prepares +both sweet and dry varieties. Their chief market is Germany, although +they are exported in fair quantities to Belgium, England, and Northern +Europe. + +Another sparkling wine establishment was founded at Würzburg by Herr +F. A. Siligmuller in 1843. The wine from white grapes employed by him is +vintaged partly in his own vineyards on the Stein and the Harfe, and +partly in other Main vineyards, at Randersacker, Escheradorf, &c., the +wine used by him from red grapes coming from the Baden Oberland around +the so-called Kaisers-stuhl--an isolated vine-clad dolerite mountain +bordering the Rhine, and on the verge almost of the Black Forest--and +from the neighbourhood of Offenburg, one of the ancient imperial free +towns, which has lately raised a statue to Sir Francis Drake, "the +introducer," as the inscription says, "of the potato into Europe." The +vintage here, which commences fully a fortnight earlier than around +Würzburg, usually takes place about the beginning of October, and the +wine is bottled in the height of the following summer. Herr +Siligmuller's wines, of which there are four qualities, were awarded a +medal for progress at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873. + + [Illustration: + AT AHRWEILER.] + + + + + [Illustration: + A SPANISH VINTAGE SCENE.] + +XVIII.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF AUSTRO-HUNGARY, SWITZERLAND, ITALY, +SPAIN, RUSSIA, &c. + +Sparkling Voslauer-- The Sparkling Wine Manufactories of Graz-- + Establishment of Kleinoscheg Brothers-- Vintaging and Treatment of + Styrian Champagnes-- Sparkling Red, Rose, and White Wines of + Hungary-- The Establishment of Hubert and Habermann at Pressburg-- + Sparkling Wines of Croatia, Galicia, Bohemia, Moravia, Dalmatia, the + Tyrol, Transylvania, and the Banat-- Neuchâtel Champagne-- Sparkling + Wine Factories at Vevay and Sion-- The Vevay Vineyards-- + Establishment of De Riedmatten and De Quay-- Sparkling Muscatel, + Malmsey, Brachetto, Castagnolo, and Lacryma Christi of Italy-- + Sparkling Wines of Spain, Greece, Algeria, and Russia-- The Krimski + and Donski Champagnes-- The Latter Chiefly Consumed at the Great + Russian Fairs. + + +Sparkling wines are made in various parts of Austria and Hungary, and of +late years their produce has been largely on the increase. At Voslau, in +the vicinity of the picturesque and fashionable summer watering-place of +Baden, about twenty miles south of Vienna, Herr R. Schlumberger, one of +my colleagues on the wine jury at the Vienna and Paris Exhibitions of +1873 and '8, makes a white sparkling Voslauer--introduced into England +some years since--from the blue portuguese, the burgundy (the pineau +noir), the rulander (the pineau gris), and the riesling varieties of +grape. It is, however, at Graz, the capital of Styria, picturesquely +situated on the river Mur, and surrounded by lofty mountains, where +sparkling wines are made upon the largest scale and with the most +success. By far the principal manufactory is that of Kleinoscheg +Brothers, founded in the year 1850, at an epoch when the larger Styrian +wine-growers were directing their attention to the general improvement +of their vineyards. The firm gained their knowledge of sparkling wines +by practical experience acquired in the Champagne itself, and to-day +they unquestionably produce some of the best sparkling wines that are +made out of France. They possess extensive vineyards of their own, and +are also large purchasers of wines from the best districts, including +Pettau, Radkersburg, the Picherergebirge, and Luttenberg, the latter +yielding the finest wine which Styria produces, vintaged from the mosler +or furmint--that is, the Tokay variety of grape. + +White wine from the clevener grape, understood to be identical with the +pineau noir of Burgundy and the Champagne, and vintaged early in +October, forms the basis of the sparkling wines manufactured by +Kleinoscheg Brothers. The produce of several other grapes, however, +enters in a limited degree into the blend, including the riesling, the +rulander or pineau gris, and the portuguese, the gathering of which is +usually delayed several weeks later, and is sometimes even deferred +until the end of November. The first and second pressings of the black +grapes yield a white must as in the Champagne, while the third and +fourth give a pink wine of which the firm make a speciality. + +The wines, which are treated precisely after the system pursued in the +Champagne, are bottled during the months of July and August, and are +made either sweet or dry according to the country they are destined for. +Considerable shipments of the dry pale Styrian champagne take place to +England, where the firm also send a delicate sparkling muscatel and a +sparkling red burgundy, which will favourably compare with the best +sparkling wines of the Côte d'Or. They have also a large market for +their wines in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, and export to +British North America, the East Indies, China, Japan, and Australia. +From the year 1855 up to the present time the firm of Kleinoscheg +Brothers have been awarded no less than sixteen medals for their +sparkling wines at various important home and foreign exhibitions. + +At Marburg on the river Drave, in the vicinity of the Bacher Mountains, +which stretch far into Carinthia, and have their lower slopes covered +with vines, Herr F. Auchmann has established a successful sparkling wine +manufactory. The raw wine comes from the vineyards around Marburg and +from Pettau, some ten or twelve miles lower down the Drave. The vintage +commonly lasts from the middle of October until the middle of November. +Black grapes of the clevener and portuguese varieties are pressed as in +the Champagne, so as to yield a white must, with which a certain portion +of white wine from the mosler or furmint grape is subsequently mingled. +The bottling takes place as early as April or May. The wines are +principally consumed in Austria, but are also exported to Russia, Italy, +Egypt, the Danubian Principalities, Australia, &c. + +Sparkling wines seem to be made in various parts of Hungary, judging +from the samples sent to the Vienna and Paris Exhibitions from Pesth, +Pressburg, Oedenburg, Pécs, Velencze, and Kolozsvár. Rose-colour wines +are evidently much in favour with the respective manufacturers, several +of whom make sparkling red wines as well, but with none of the success +of their Styrian neighbours. The best Hungarian sparkling wines we have +met with are those of Hubert and Habermann, made at Pressburg, the +former capital of Hungary, where its kings, after being crowned, used to +ride up the Königsberg brandishing the sword of St. Stephen towards the +four points of the compass in token of their determination to defend the +kingdom against all enemies. The white sparkling wines are made +exclusively from white grapes grown in the neighbouring vineyards of +Bösing, Geñnau, and St. Georgen, but the firm make red sparkling wines +as well from the produce of the Ratzersdorf and Wainor vineyards. The +vintage takes place some time in October, and the wines are bottled both +in the spring and autumn, but never until they are fully twelve months +old. With these variations the system pursued with regard to the wines +is the same as is followed in the Champagne. There are several other +sparkling wine manufacturers at Pressburg, and the principal market for +these wines is Austro-Hungary, but shipments of them are made to +England, the United States, India, Roumania, and Servia. The production +of sparkling wine in Hungary is now estimated to amount to one million +bottles annually. + +In Croatia Prince Lippe-Schaumburg has established a sparkling +wine manufactory at Slatina, where he produces a so-called +Riesling-Champagner, and it would appear from the collection of +Austro-Hungarian sparkling wines exhibited at Vienna by Herr Bogdan Hoff +of Cracow, that these wines are also made at Melnik, in Bohemia, at +Bisenz in Moravia, at Sebenicodi Maraschino in Dalmatia, at Botzen in +the Tyrol, at Tasnad in Transylvania, and at Weiss-Kirchen in the Banat. +All these wines had been submitted to examination at the Imperial +oeno-chemical laboratory at Klosterneuberg, and one was not surprised to +find that the majority were pronounced to be of too robust a character +for transformation into sparkling wines. + +Switzerland long since turned its attention to the manufacture of +sparkling wines, not, however, to meet the requirements of its own +population, but those of the many tourists with well-lined purses who +annually explore its valleys, lakes, and mountains. Neuchâtel champagne +has met with a certain amount of success, and at the present time there +are a couple of establishments devoted to its production, the best known +being that of Bouvier frères. There are, moreover, sparkling wine +manufactories at Vevay in the Vaud Canton, and at Sion in the Valais. In +the Canton of Neuchâtel the best Swiss red wines are produced--notably +Cortaillod and Faverge of a ruby hue and Burgundy-like flavour--and the +sparkling wine manufacturers of the district wisely blend a considerable +proportion of wine from black grapes with that from white when making +their _cuvées_. Vaud, on the other hand, being noted for white wines +bearing some resemblance to certain Rhine growths, it is of these that +sparkling wines are exclusively made at Vevay. + +The Vevay vineyards occupy the heights which skirt the Lake of Geneva on +its northern side. The innumerable terraces, steep and difficult of +access to the toiling vine-dresser, on which the vines are planted, are +the result of centuries of patient labour. Here the vine seems to +flourish at an altitude of more than 1,800 feet above the sea level. +To compensate for the deficiency of sunshine the leaves are largely +stripped from the vines so as to expose the fruit, and thereby assist +its ripening. + +The sparkling wine factory at Sion, bordering the river Rhône, in the +Canton of the Valais, was established in 1872 by MM. de Riedmatten and +De Quay, who derive their raw wine from vineyards in the immediate +neighbourhood, almost all of which have a southern exposure, and occupy +gentle slopes. The soil chiefly consists of a decomposed limestone +schist, locally termed "brisé." In these vineyards, and more especially +the district known as the Clavaux, some of the best and most alcoholic +wines in Switzerland are produced. + +The firm originally experimented with the choicer and more powerful +growths, and, as may be imagined, soon discovered they were not well +adapted for conversion into sparkling wines. To-day they limit +themselves to wines produced from what is known as the "fendant" variety +of grape, said by some to be identical with the German riesling, and by +others to be of the same type as the French chasselas. The vintage in +the Valais is the earliest in Switzerland, taking place in favourable +years at the close of September, but ordinarily in the course of +October. Some fine white candy syrup is added to the wine at the epoch +of bottling, in order to provoke the requisite effervescence, which it +does so effectually that the tirage is obliged to take place some time +between November and May, as at any other period the temperature would +be too high and the bottles would burst. MM. Riedmatten and De Quay have +two varieties of sparkling wine--their Carte Blanche, which goes under +the name of Mont Blanc, and is rather sweet, and their Carte Verte known +as Glacier de Rhône, a drier variety and finding a readier sale. + +Of late years, since many improvements have been effected in Italy both +in the cultivation of the vineyards and the vintaging of the wine, +numerous attempts have been made, although on the whole with but +indifferent success, to produce a good sparkling wine. The principal +seat of the manufacture is Asti, where the Societa Unione Enofila make +considerable quantities of a common strong sweet sparkling wine, as well +as a sparkling muscatel. Alessandria, Ancona, Bologna, Castagnolo, +Genoa, Modena, Naples, Palermo, and Treviso also profess to make +sparkling wines, but only in insignificant quantities. Alessandria +produces sparkling malmsey and red sparkling brachetto; and on the +Marquis Della Stufa's estate of Castagnolo a sparkling wine is +manufactured from the currajola variety of grape, one of the best in the +Tuscan vineyards. The vines at Castagnolo are cultivated in accordance +with the French system, and at the vintage all unripe and unsound grapes +are thrown aside. There is an evident flavour of the muscat grape in the +Castagnolo sparkling wine, which has the merit of lightness and of being +well made. The alcoholic strength is equivalent to rather more than 20° +of proof spirit, and the highest quality wine is remarkable for its +excessive dryness in comparison with all other samples of Italian +sparkling wines that we have met with. Naples appears to confine itself +to producing sparkling white lacryma christi, for which, as a curiosity, +there exists a certain demand. + +Spain of late years has shown itself equally ambitious with Italy to +achieve distinction in the production of sparkling wines, and at the +Paris Exhibition of 1878 there were samples from the majority of the +wine centres skirting the Mediterranean coast, including Gerona, +Barcelona, Tarragona, and Valencia. Other samples come from Logroño, +in the north of Spain; and years ago sparkling wine used to be made at +Villaviciosa, on the Bay of Biscay. To Paris there were also sent +samples of sparkling orange wine, an agreeable beverage, and +unquestionably preferable to the majority of Spanish sparkling wines +composed of the juice of the grape. + +Greek sparkling wines, said to be of very fair quality, are made at +Athens, Corinth, and Tripoliza, and are exported in moderate quantities +to Russia. Algeria, too, is turning its attention to the production of +sparkling wines, but solely for home consumption, and at the Paris +Exhibition there was a sparkling wine from Uruguay, but of execrable +quality. + +The sparkling wines of the Crimea and the Don, known in Russia +respectively as Krimski and Donski champagnes, are described as being +superior to much of the wine which passes in England under the name of +champagne. In Russia it is the fashion to speak contemptuously of them, +just as rhubarb and gooseberry champagne is spoken of in England, still +these Crimean and Don products are genuine wines, and, though somewhat +sweet, may be drunk with satisfaction and in moderate quantities with +impunity. One of the best Donski brands is that of Abrahamof, and as +much as six roubles per bottle is demanded for the finer qualities at +Novoi Tscherkash. About a million bottles of the Donski champagne are +exported annually, but the wine finds its principal market at the great +Russian fairs, where almost every important bargain is "wetted" with +sparkling Donski. + + + + + [Illustration: + VINTAGE SCENE IN THE UNITED STATES.] + +XIX.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF THE UNITED STATES. + +Earliest Efforts at Wine-Making in America-- Failures to Acclimatise + European Vines-- Wines Made by the Swiss Settlers and the Mission + Fathers-- The Yield of the Mission Vineyards-- The Monster Vine of + the Montecito Valley-- The Catawba Vine and its General + Cultivation-- Mr. Longworth one of the Founders of American + Viticulture-- Fresh Attempts to make Sparkling Wine at Cincinnati-- + Existing Sparkling Wine Manufactures there-- Longfellow's Song in + Praise of Catawba-- The Kelley Island Wine Company-- Vintaging and + Treatment of their Sparkling Wines-- Decrease of Consumption-- The + Vineyards of Hammondsport-- Varieties of Grapes used for Sparkling + Wines-- The Vintage-- After-Treatment of the Wines-- The Pleasant + Valley and Urbana Wine Companies and their Various Brands-- + Californian Sparkling Wines-- The Buena Vista Vinicultural Society + of San Francisco-- Its Early Failures and Eventual Success in + Manufacturing Sparkling Wines-- The Vintage in California-- Chinese + Vintagers-- How the Wine is Made-- American Spurious Sparkling + Wines. + + +From the earliest period of the colonisation of America the vine appears +to have attracted the attention of the settlers, and it is said that as +early as 1564 wine was made from the native grape in Florida. The first +attempts to establish a regular vineyard date, however, from 1620, and +would seem to have been made in Virginia with European vines, the +prospects having become sufficiently encouraging in 1630 for the +colonists to send for French vine-dressers to tend their plants. The +latter were subsequently accused of ruining the vines by their bad +treatment, but most likely this was an error, it having since been made +evident that European vines cannot be successfully cultivated east of +the Rocky Mountains, where the phylloxera vastatrix prevails. It was in +vain that William Penn made repeated attempts to acclimatise European +vines in Pennsylvania, that the Swiss emigrants--vine-growers from the +Lake of Geneva--made similar trials, they having expended ten thousand +dollars to no purpose. In vain, in Jessamine county, Kentucky, Pierre +Legaud laboured in the environs of Philadelphia, and Lakanal, the member +of the French Convention, experimented in Tennessee, Ohio, and Alabama; +all their efforts to introduce the Old World vines proved futile. The +attempts that were made by Swiss settlers at Vevay, in Indiana, with the +indigenous plants were more successful, and after a time they managed to +produce some palatable wine from the Schuylkill muscatel. + +Towards the latter part of the 18th century the Mission Fathers had +succeeded in planting vineyards in California. It is known that in 1771 +the vine was cultivated there, and the San Gabriel Mission in the county +of Los Angeles, some 300 miles S.E. of San Francisco, is said to have +possessed the first vineyard. A prevalent belief is, that the vines were +from roots or cuttings obtained from either Spain or Mexico, but it is +also conjectured that they were some of the wild varieties known to be +scattered over the country, while a third theory suggests that as +attempts to make wine from the wild grapes would most likely have proved +a failure, the Fathers planted the seeds of raisins which had come from +Spain. The culture must have progressed rapidly, if, as stated, there +were planted at San Gabriel in a single spring no fewer than 40,000 +vines. These mission vines were mainly of two sorts, the one yielding a +white grape with a musky flavour, and the other a dark blue fruit. The +latter was the favourite, doubtless from its produce bearing some +resemblance to the red wines of Old Castile. + +From San Gabriel the planting of the vine extended from mission to +mission until each owned its patch of vineland. At the time of the +arrival of the Americans in 1846 the smallest of these was five acres in +extent, and others as many as thirty acres, and it is calculated the +average yield was from 700 to 1,000 gallons of wine per acre. This was +owing first to the exceeding richness of the soil, and secondly to its +being well irrigated. If the celebrated mission vine grown on one of the +sunny slopes overlooking the lovely Montecito valley near Santa Barbara +on the blue Pacific had many fellows in the Fathers' vineyards, the +above estimate can hardly be an exaggerated one. The stem of this vine, +which is four feet four inches in circumference at the ground, rises +eight feet before branching out. The branches, under which the country +people are fond of dancing, and which are supported by fifty-two +trellises, extend over more than 5,000 square feet. This monster vine +produces annually from five to six tons of grapes, and one year it +yielded no fewer than 7,000 bunches, each from one to four pounds in +weight. It is irrigated by water from the hot springs, situated a few +miles distant, and is believed to be from half to three-quarters of a +century old. + +Viticulture and vinification languished in the United States until +attention was called in 1826 to the catawba vine by Major Adlum, +of Georgetown, near Washington, who thought that by so doing he was +conferring a greater benefit on his country than if he had liquidated +its national debt. This vine, which is derived from the wild _Vitis +labrusca_, was first planted on an extensive scale by Nicholas +Longworth, justly looked upon as one of the founders of American +viticulture, and gradually supplanted all others, remaining for many +years the principal plant cultivated along the banks of the Ohio--the +so-called "Rhine of America"--until, ceaselessly attacked by rot, +mildew, and leaf-blight, it was found necessary in many places to +supplant it by more robust varieties. + +Mr. Longworth, about the year 1837, among his numerous experiments at +Cincinnati, included that of making sparkling wines from the catawba, +isabella, and other varieties of grapes, and to-day there are several +manufactories of sparkling catawba and other wines in the capital of +Ohio--the self-named "Queen city," which its detractors have jocularly +dubbed Porcopolis on account of the immense trade done there in smoked +and salted pork. The chief sparkling wine establishments at Cincinnati +are those of Messrs. Werk and Sons, whose sparkling catawba obtained a +medal for progress at the Vienna Exhibition in 1873, and who have, +moreover, largely experimented with ives' and virginia seedlings, +delaware and other grapes, in making effervescent wines, though only +with doubtful success. Another Cincinnati firm is that of Messrs. George +Bogen and Co., whose sparkling wines also met with recognition at +Vienna. + +The reader will remember Longfellow's well-known song extolling catawba +wine, which, with more than a poet's licence, he ranks above the best of +the Old World vintages:-- + + "There grows no vine + By the haunted Rhine, + By Danube or Guadalquivir, + Nor on island nor cape, + That bears such a grape + As grows by the Beautiful River. + + "Very good in its way + Is the Verzenay, + Or the Sillery, soft and creamy, + But Catawba wine + Has a taste more divine, + More dulcet, delicious, and dreamy." + +On Kelley's Island, Erie county, also in the State of Ohio, a wine +company, established in 1866, and trading principally in still wines, +makes sparkling wines upon a considerable scale exclusively from the +catawba variety of grape, which is cultivated in its highest perfection +both on the islands of Lake Erie and along a narrow slip of territory +not two miles long bordering the southern shore of the lake, and also in +the vicinity of Lake Keuka, near Hammondsport, N.Y. The Kelley Island +Wine Company, as it is styled, presses the grapes between the middle of +October and the end of November, and bottles from about the 20th May +until the commencement of July in the year following. Its brands are +Island Queen, Nonpareil, and Carte Blanche. Ninety-five per cent. of the +wines are dry, and the tendency of the market is in favour of a still +drier article. Shipments are principally confined to the United States, +the great centre of the trade being St. Louis, on the Mississippi, which +has its own sparkling wine establishments, and to-day disputes with +Chicago the title of Queen of the West. The company keep some 100,000 +bottles of sparkling wines in stock, and possess facilities for bottling +five times that quantity whenever the demand might warrant such a step +being taken. Of recent years, however, economy has been the rule in +American society, and the market for native sparkling wines at any rate +is to-day a reduced one. + +At Hammondsport, south of Lake Keuka--in other words, Crooked Lake--and +in the State of New York, the establishments of the Pleasant Valley and +Urbana wine companies, devoting their attention to both still and +sparkling wines, are installed. The region, which enthusiastic writers +now term the Champagne of America, was colonised in 1793, and vines of +the catawba and isabella varieties were first planted for the purpose of +making wine in 1854. At the present time there are about 8,000 acres +under cultivation with all the better species of vines. The produce from +black and white grapes is mingled for the sparkling wines of the +district. Of the former but two kinds are considered suitable, the +concord and the isabella, both being varieties of the indigenous +labrusca, or so-called foxy-flavoured grape. The concord is a hardy and +productive plant, producing large and compact bunches of large round +sweet grapes, yielding a wine of the obnoxious foxy flavour. The +isabella is an equally hardy and productive variety, and its bunches are +of good size, although not compact. Its berries, too, are large, oval, +and juicy, and marked by a strong musky aroma. + +Of the white, or rather pale-coloured grapes--for their hue is usually a +reddish one--used for sparkling wines, the principal is the catawba, +also of the labrusca variety. The branches are large and tolerably +compact; the berries, too, are above the medium size, and have a rich +vinous and pronounced musky flavour. Other so-called white species of +grapes are the diana and the iona, both, of them seedlings of the +catawba; the delaware, the bunches of which are rather small but +compact, the berries round, extremely juicy and fresh-tasting, but sweet +and aromatic, the wine produced from which is noted for its fragrant +bouquet; and, lastly, the walter, a variety obtained by crossing the +delaware with the diana. The bunches and berries of the walter are of +medium size; the flavour, like that of the delaware, is sweet and +aromatic; and the grape is, moreover, remarkable for its agreeable +bouquet. + + [Illustration] + +The vintage usually commences about the end of September or the +commencement of October, and the grapes, after being carefully sorted, +are run through a small mill, which breaks the skins, and admits of the +juice running the more readily out when the fruit is placed beneath the +press. The latter is worked with a metal screw, and the must is +conducted through pipes or hose to casks holding from two to four +thousand gallons each, in which it ferments. During the following May +the wine is carefully blended, and the operation of bottling commences +and lasts for about two or three months. The newly-bottled wine is at +first stored in a warm place in order to start the fermentation again, +and when the bottles commence to burst it is removed to the subterranean +vaults, where it remains stacked in a horizontal fashion until the time +arrives to force the sediment down upon the corks. This is accomplished +precisely as in the Champagne, the subsequent disgorging and liqueuring +being also effected according to the orthodox French system. Altogether +a couple of years elapse between the epoch of bottling and shipment, and +during this interval each bottle is handled upwards of two hundred +times. + +The Pleasant Valley Wine Company, established in 1860 for the commerce +of still wines, in which it continues to do an extensive business, +commenced five years later to make sparkling wines. It grows its own +grapes and consumes annually about 1,500 tons of fruit, bottling from +200,000 to 300,000 bottles of sparkling wine in the course of the year. +Its brands are the Great Western, of which there is a dry and an extra +dry variety, the Carte Blanche, and the Pleasant Valley. Even the extra +dry variety of the first-named wine tastes sweet in comparison with a +moderately dry champagne, in addition to which its flavour, though +agreeable, is certainly too pronounced for a sparkling wine of high +quality. The wines, which secured a medal for progress at the Vienna +Exhibition of 1873, are sold in every city in the United States, and the +company also does a small but increasing trade with England and South +America. + +The Urbana Wine Company, also established at Hammondsport at the same +epoch as its rival, deals, like the latter, in still wines as well. It +has three brands--the Gold Seal, of which there is an extra dry variety, +the Imperial, and the Royal Rose. At Vienna a diploma of merit was +awarded to these wines, for which a considerable market is found +throughout the United States and in the West Indies and South America. +The Urbana Wine Company produces excellent sparkling wines of singular +lightness and of delicate though distinctive flavour. In our judgment +the drier varieties are greatly to be preferred. The prices of all the +American sparkling wines are certainly high, being almost equivalent to +the price of first-class champagnes taken at Reims and Epernay. + +In California the manufacture of sparkling wines is carried on with +considerable success, and at the Vienna Exhibition the Buena Vista +Vinicultural Society of San Francisco was awarded a medal for progress +for the excellent samples it sent there. The society was originally +organised by Colonel Haraszthy, the pioneer in recent times of +Californian viticulture. It commenced manufacturing sparkling wines with +the assistance of experienced workmen from Epernay and Ay; but the +endeavours, extending over some three or four years, were attended with +but indifferent success, very few _cuvées_ proving of fair quality, +whilst with the majority the wine had to be emptied from the bottles and +distilled into brandy. The son of Colonel Haraszthy subsequently +succeeded, in conjunction with Mr. Isidor Landsberger, of San Francisco, +in discovering the cause of these failures, and for ten years past the +wine has been constantly improving in quality owing to the increased use +of foreign grapes, which yield a _vin brut_ with a delicate bouquet and +flavour approaching in character to the finer champagnes. The wine is +perfectly pure, no flavouring extracts or spirit being employed in the +composition of the liqueur, which, is composed merely of sugar-candy +dissolved in fine old wine. A French connoisseur pronounces sparkling +Sonoma to be the best of American sparkling wines, "clean and fresh, +tasting, with the flavour of a middle-class Ay growth, as well as +remarkably light and delicate, and possessed of considerable +effervescence." The Sonoma valley vineyards produce the lightest wines +of all the Californian growths, some of the white varieties indicating +merely 15° of proof spirit, and the red ones no more than 17½°. + +The vintage takes place towards the end of October, and the grapes are +gathered by Chinamen, who will each pick his 12 to 14 cwt. of grapes a +day for the wage of a dollar. Light wooden boxes are used for holding +the grapes, which are stripped from their stalks on their arrival at the +press-house, and then partially crushed by a couple of revolving +rollers. An inclined platform beneath receives them, and after the +expressed juice has been run off into cask they are removed to the +press, and the must subsequently extracted is added to that forced out +by the rollers. When white wine is being made from black grapes the +pressure is less continuous, and the must is of course separated at once +from the skins. The fermentation, which is violent for some ten or +twelve hours, ceases in about a fortnight, providing a temperature of +from 70° to 75° Fahr. is maintained in the vaults. The wine is racked at +the new year, and again before the blending and bottling of it in the +spring. + +The Californian sparkling wines not only find a market in the eastern +States, but are sent across the Pacific to the Sandwich Islands, Japan, +China, and even to wine-producing Australia, which has not yet succeeded +in producing sparkling wines of its own. + +The manufacture of spurious sparkling wines is carried on to some extent +in the United States. The raw wine is cleared by fining it with albumen +or gelatine and with alum; the latter substance imparting to it great +brilliancy. After being dosed with a flavoured syrup the wine is charged +like soda-water with carbonic acid gas by placing the bottles under a +fountain, and as this gas is derived from marble dust and sulphuric +acid, it is liable to be impregnated with both lead and copper, which +have the effect of disorganising alike the wine and the consumers of +it--nausea, headache, and other ills resulting from drinking sparkling +wines made under such conditions. + + + + + [Illustration] + +XX.--CONCLUDING FACTS AND HINTS. + +Dry and Sweet Champagnes-- Their Sparkling Properties-- Form of + Champagne Glasses-- Style of Sparkling Wines Consumed in Different + Countries-- The Colour and Alcoholic Strength of Champagne-- + Champagne Approved of by the Faculty-- Its Use in Nervous + Derangements-- The Icing of Champagne-- Scarcity of Grand Vintages + in the Champagne-- The Quality of the Wine has little influence on + the Price-- Prices realised by the Ay and Verzenay Crûs in Grand + Years-- Suggestions for Laying down Champagnes of Grand Vintages-- + The Improvement they Develop after a few Years-- The Wine of 1874-- + The proper kind of Cellar to lay down Champagne in-- Advantages of + Burrow's Patent Slider Wine Bins-- Increase in the Consumption of + Champagne-- Tabular Statement of Stocks, Exports, and Home + Consumption from 1844-5 to 1877-8-- When to Serve Champagne at a + Dinner Party-- Charles Dickens's dictum that its proper place is at + a Ball-- Advantageous Effect of Champagne at an ordinary British + Dinner Party-- Sparkling Wine Cups. + + +When selecting a sparkling wine one fact should be borne in mind--that +just as, according to Sam Weller, it is the seasoning which makes the +pie mutton, beef, or veal, so it is the liqueur which renders the wine +dry or sweet, light or strong. A really palatable dry champagne, +emitting the fragrant bouquet which distinguishes all wines of fine +quality, free from added spirit, is obliged to be made of the very best +_vin brut_, to which necessarily an exceedingly small percentage of +liqueur will be added. On the other hand, a sweet champagne can be +produced from the most ordinary raw wine--the Yankees even claim to have +evolved it from petroleum--as the amount of liqueur it receives +completely masks its original character and flavour. This excess of +syrup, it should be remarked, contributes materially to the wine's +explosive force and temporary effervescence, but shortly after the +bottle has been uncorked the wine becomes disagreeably flat. A fine dry +wine, indebted as it is for its sparkling properties to the natural +sweetness of the grape, does not exhibit the same sudden turbulent +effervescence. It continues to sparkle, however, for a long time after +being poured into the glass owing to the carbonic acid having been +absorbed by the wine itself instead of being accumulated in the vacant +space between the liquid and the cork, as is the case with wines that +have been highly liqueured. Even when its carbonic acid gas is exhausted +a good champagne will preserve its fine flavour, which the effervescence +will have assisted to conceal. Champagne, it should be noted, sparkles +best in tall tapering glasses; still these have their disadvantages, +promoting as they do an excess of froth when the wine is poured into +them, and almost preventing any bouquet which the wine possesses from +being recognised. + +Manufacturers of champagne and other sparkling wines prepare them dry or +sweet, light or strong, according to the markets for which they are +designed. The sweet wines go to Russia and Germany, the sweet-toothed +Muscovite regarding M. Louis Roederer's syrupy product as the +_beau-idéal_ of champagne, and the Germans demanding wines with 20 or +more per cent. of liqueur, or nearly quadruple the quantity that is +contained in the average champagnes shipped to England. France consumes +light and moderately sweet wines; the United States gives a preference +to the intermediate qualities; China, India, and other hot countries +stipulate for light dry wines; while the very strong ones go to +Australia, the Cape, and other places where gold and diamonds and +such-like trifles are from time to time "prospected." Not merely the +driest but the very best wines of the best manufacturers, and commanding +of course the highest prices, are invariably reserved for the English +market. Foreigners cannot understand the marked preference shown in +England for exceedingly dry sparkling wines. They do not consider that +as a rule they are drunk during dinner with the _plats_, and not at +dessert, with all kinds of sweets, fruits, and ices, as is almost +invariably the case abroad. + +Good champagne is usually of a pale straw colour, but with nothing of a +yellow tinge about it. When its tint is pinkish this is owing to a +portion of the colouring matter having been extracted from the skins of +the grapes--a contingency which every pains are taken to avoid, +although, since the success achieved by the wine of 1874, slightly pink +wines are likely to be the fashion. The positive pink or rose-coloured +champagnes, such as were in fashion some thirty years ago, are simply +tinted with a small quantity of deep red wine. The alcoholic strength of +the drier wines ranges from 18° of proof spirit upwards, or slightly +above the ordinary Bordeaux, and under all the better-class Rhine wines. +Champagnes when loaded with a highly alcoholized liqueur will, however, +at times mark 30 degrees of proof spirit. The lighter and drier the +sparkling wine the more wholesome it is, the saccharine element in +conjunction with alcohol being not only difficult of digestion, but +generally detrimental to health. + +The faculty are agreed that fine dry champagnes are among the safest +wines that can be partaken of. Any intoxicating effects are rapid but +exceedingly transient, and arise from the alcohol suspended in the +carbonic acid being applied rapidly and extensively to the surface of +the stomach. "Champagne," said Curran, "simply gives a runaway rap at a +man's head." Dr. Druitt, equally distinguished by his studies upon wine +and his standing as a physician, pronounces good champagne to be "a true +stimulant to body and mind alike, rapid, volatile, transitory, and +harmless. Amongst the maladies which are benefited by it," remarks he, +"is the true neuralgia, intermitting fits of excruciating pain running +along certain nerves, without inflammation of the affected part, often a +consequence of malaria, or of some other low and exhausting causes. To +enumerate the cases in which champagne is of service would be to give a +whole nosology. Who does not know the misery, the helplessness of that +abominable ailment, influenza, whether a severe cold or the genuine +epidemic? Let the faculty dispute about the best remedy if they please; +but a sensible man with a bottle of champagne will beat them all. +Moreover, whenever there is pain, with exhaustion and lowness, then +Dr. Champagne should be had up. There is something excitant in the wine; +doubly so in the sparkling wine, which the moment it touches the lips +sends an electric telegram of comfort to every remote nerve. Nothing +comforts and rests the stomach better, or is a greater antidote to +nausea." + +Champagne of fine quality should never be mixed with ice or iced water; +neither should it be iced to the extent champagnes ordinarily are, for, +in the first place, the natural lightness of the wine is such as not to +admit of its being diluted without utterly spoiling it, and in the next, +excessive cold destroys alike the fragrant bouquet of the wine and its +delicate vinous flavour. Really good champagne should not be iced below +a temperature of 50° Fahr., whereas exceedingly sweet wines will bear +icing down almost to freezing point, and be rendered more palatable by +the process. The above remarks apply to all kinds of sparkling wine. + +In the Champagne what may be termed a really grand vintage commonly +occurs only once, and never more than twice, in ten years. During the +same period, however, there will generally be one or two other tolerably +good vintages. In grand years the crop, besides being of superior +quality, is usually abundant, and as a consequence the price of the raw +wine is scarcely higher than usual. Apparently from this circumstance +the sparkling wine of grand vintages does not command an enhanced value, +as is the case with other fine wines. It is only when speculators +recklessly outbid each other for the grapes or the _vin brut_, or when +stocks are low and the _vin brut_ is really scarce, that the price of +champagne appears to rise. + +That superior quality does not involve enhanced price is proved by the +amounts paid for the Ay and Verzenay crûs in years of grand vintages. +During the present century these appear to have been 1802, '06, '11, +'18, '22, '25, '34, '42, '46, '57, '65, '68, and '74--that is, thirteen +grand vintages in nearly eighty years. Other good vintages, although not +equal to the foregoing, occurred in the years 1815, '32, '39, '52, '54, +'58, '62, '64, and '70. Confining ourselves to the grand years, we find +that the Ay wine of 1834, owing to the crop being plentiful as well as +good, only realised from 110 to 140 francs the pièce of 44 gallons, +although for two years previously this had fetched from 150 to 200 +francs. In 1842 the price ranged from 120 to 150 francs, whereas the +vastly inferior wine of the year before had commanded from 210 to 275 +francs. In 1846, the crop being a small one, the price of the wine rose, +and in 1857 the pièce fetched as much as from 480 to 500 francs, still +this was merely a trifle higher than it had realised the two preceding +years. In 1865 the price was 380 to 400 francs, and in 1868 about the +same, whereas the indifferent vintages of 1871, '72, and '73 realised +from 500 to 1,000 francs the pièce. It was very similar with the wine of +Verzenay. In 1834 the price of the pièce ranged from 280 to 325 francs, +or about the average of the three preceding years. In 1846, the crop +being scarce, the price rose considerably, while in 1857, when the crop +was plentiful, it fell to 500 francs, or from 5 to 20 per cent. below +that of the two previous years, when the yield was both inferior and +less abundant. In 1865 the price rose 33 per cent. above that of the +year before; still, although Verzenay wine of 1865 and 1868 fetched from +420 to 450 francs the pièce, and that of 1874 as much as 900 francs, the +greatly inferior vintages of 1872-73 commanded 900 and 1,030 francs the +pièce. + +Consumers of champagne, if wise, would profit by the circumstance that +quality has not the effect of causing a rise in prices, and if they were +bent upon drinking their favourite wine in perfection, as one meets with +it at the dinner-tables of the principal manufacturers, who only put old +wine of grand vintages before their guests, they would lay down +champagnes of good years in the same way as the choicer vintages of +port, burgundy, and bordeaux are laid down. Champagne of 1874 was a wine +of this description, with all its finer vinous qualities well developed, +and consequently needing age to attain not merely the roundness but the +refinement of flavour pertaining to a high-class sparkling wine. Instead +of being drunk a few months after it was shipped in the spring and +summer of 1877, as was the fate of much of the wine in question, it +needed being kept for three years at the very least to become even +moderately round and perfect. In the Champagne one had many +opportunities of tasting the grander vintages that had arrived at ten, +twelve, or fifteen years of age, and had thereby attained supreme +excellence. It is true their effervescence had moderated materially, but +their bouquet and flavour were perfect, and their softness and delicacy +something marvellous. + +A great wine like that of 1874 will go on improving for ten years, +providing it is only laid down under proper conditions. These are, +first, an exceedingly cool but perfectly dry cellar, the temperature of +which should be as low as from 50° to 55° Fahr., or even lower if this +is practicable. The cellar, too, should be neither over dark nor light, +scrupulously clean, and sufficiently well ventilated for the air to be +continuously pure. It is requisite that the bottles should rest on their +sides to prevent the corks shrinking, and thus allowing both the +carbonic acid and the wine itself to escape. For laying down champagne +or any kind of sparkling wine an iron wine-bin is by far the best. +I much prefer the patent "slider" bins made by Messrs. W. and J. Burrow, +of Malvern, they being better adapted to the purpose than any other I am +acquainted with. In these the bottles rest on horizontal parallel bars +of wrought-iron, securely riveted into strong wrought-iron uprights, +both at the back and in front. The bins can be obtained of any +size--that is, to hold as few as two or as many as forty dozen--and they +can be had furnished with lattice doors, secured by a lock. One great +advantage is that with them there is no waste of space, for individual +compartments can be at once refilled with fresh bottles after the other +bottles have been removed. These "slider" bins are especially adapted +for laying down champagne, as they admit of the air circulating freely +around the bottles, thus conducing to the preservation of the metal foil +round their necks, and keeping the temperature of the wine both cool and +equable. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration: + WINE-CELLAR FITTED WITH BURROW'S PATENT SLIDER BINS.] + +When binning the wine the bottles are held by their necks and slid into +their places with such ease and safety that a child might be entrusted +with the work. The bottles can be withdrawn from the bin with equal or +even greater facility. Breakage is avoided from each bottle having an +independent bearing, which prevents the upper bottles from either +falling or weighing down upon those below, and thereby crashing +together. The larger engraving shows a wine-cellar fitted up entirely +with. Burrow's patent "slider" wine-bins, while the smaller represents a +bin adapted to laying down twenty dozens of champagne, and the +dimensions of which are merely 5 feet 8 inches by 3 feet. + +Official Return by the Chamber of Commerce at Reims of The Trade in +Champagne Wines From April, 1844, To April, 1878. + + Number of Number of Total number + Years, from Manufacturers' Bottles Bottles sold of Bottles + April to April. Stocks. Exported. in France. Sold. + + 1844-45 23,285,218 4,380,214 2,255,438 6,635,652 + 1845-46 22,847,971 4,505,308 2,510,605 7,015,913 + 1846-47 18,815,367 4,711,915 2,355,366 7,067,281 + 1847-48 23,122,994 4,859,625 2,092,571 6,952,196 + 1848-49 21,290,185 5,686,484 1,473,966 7,160,450 + 1849-50 20,499,192 5,001,044 1,705,735 6,706,779 + 1850-51 20,444,915 5,866,971 2,122,569 7,989,540 + 1851-52 21,905,479 5,957,552 2,162,880 8,120,432 + 1852-53 19,376,967 6,355,574 2,385,217 8,740,790 + 1853-54 17,757,769 7,878,320 2,528,719 10,407,039 + 1854-55 20,922,959 6,895,773 2,452,743 9,348,516 + 1855-56 15,957,141 7,137,001 2,562,039 9,699,040 + 1856-57 15,228,294 8,490,198 2,468,818 10,959,016 + 1857-58 21,628,778 7,368,310 2,421,454 9,789,764 + 1858-59 28,328,251 7,666,633 2,805,416 10,472,049 + 1859-60 35,648,124 8,265,395 3,039,621 11,305,016 + 1860-61 30,235,260 8,488,223 2,697,508 11,185,731 + 1861-62 30,254,291 6,904,915 2,592,875 9,497,790 + 1862-63 28,013,189 7,937,836 2,767,371 10,705,207 + 1863-64 28,466,975 9,851,138 2,934,996 12,786,134 + 1864-65 33,298,672 9,101,441 2,801,626 11,903,067 + 1865-66 34,175,429 10,413,455 2,782,777 13,196,132 + 1866-67 37,608,716 10,283,886 3,218,343 13,502,229 + 1867-68 37,969,219 10,876,585 2,924,268 13,800,853 + 1868-69 32,490,881 12,810,194 3,104,496 15,914,690 + 1869-70 39,272,562 13,858,839 3,628,461 17,487,300 + 1870-71 39,984,003 7,544,323 1,633,941 9,178,264 + 1871-72 40,099,243 17,001,124 3,367,537 20,368,661 + 1872-73 45,329,490 18,917,779 3,464,059 22,381,838 + 1873-74 46,573,974 18,106,310 2,491,759 20,598,069 + 1874-75 52,733,674 15,318,345 3,517,182 18,835,527 + 1875-76 64,658,767 16,705,719 2,439,762 19,145,481 + 1876-77 71,398,726 15,882,964 3,127,991 19,010,955 + 1877-78 70,183,863 15,711,651 2,450,983 18,162,634 + +From the subjoined table it will be seen that the consumption of +champagne has almost trebled since the year 1844-5, a period of little +more than thirty years. Another curious fact to note is the immense +increase in the exports of the wine during the three years following the +Franco-German war, when naturally both the exports and home consumption +of champagne fell off very considerably. No reliable information is +available as to the actual quantity of champagne consumed yearly in +England, but this may be taken in round numbers at about four millions +of bottles. The consumption of the wine in the United States varies from +rather more than a million and a half to nearly two million bottles +annually. + +Distinguished gourmets are scarcely agreed as to the proper moment +when champagne should be introduced at the dinner-table. Dyspeptic +Mr. Walker, of "The Original," laid it down that champagne ought to be +introduced very early at the banquet, without any regard whatever to the +viands it may chance to accompany. "Give champagne," he says, "at the +beginning of dinner, as its exhilarating qualities serve to start the +guests, after which they will seldom flag. No other wine produces an +equal effect in increasing the success of a party--it invariably turns +the balance to the favourable side. When champagne goes rightly nothing +can well go wrong." These precepts are sound enough, still all +dinner-parties are not necessarily glacial, and the guests are not +invariably mutes. Before champagne can be properly introduced at a +formal dinner the conventional glass of sherry or madeira should +supplement the soup, a white French or a Rhine wine accompany the fish, +and a single glass of bordeaux prepare the way with the first _entrée_ +for the sparkling wine, which, for the first round or two, should be +served, briskly and liberally. A wine introduced thus early at the +repast should of course be dry, or, at any rate, moderately so. + +We certainly do not approve of Mr. Charles Dickens's dictum that +champagne's proper place is not at the dinner-table, but solely at a +ball. "A cavalier," he said, "may appropriately offer at propitious +intervals a glass now and then to his danceress. There it takes its +fitting rank and position amongst feathers, gauzes, lace, embroidery, +ribbons, white satin, shoes, and eau-de-Cologne, for champagne is simply +one of the elegant extras of life." This is all very well, still the +advantageous effect of sparkling wine at an ordinary British +dinner-party, composed as it frequently is of people pitchforked +together in accordance with the exigencies of the hostess's +visiting-list, cannot be gainsayed. After the preliminary glowering at +each other, _more Britannico_, in the drawing-room, everybody regards it +as a relief to be summoned to the repast, which, however, commences as +chillily as the soup and as stolidly as the salmon. The soul of the +hostess is heavy with the anxiety of prospective dishes, the brow of the +host is clouded with the reflection that our rulers are bent upon +dragging us into war. Placed between a young lady just out and a dowager +of grimly Gorgonesque aspect, you hesitate how to open a conversation. +Your first attempts, like those of the Russian batteries on the Danube, +are singularly ineffectual, only eliciting a dropping fire of +monosyllables. You envy the placidly languid young gentleman opposite, +limp as his fast-fading camellia, and seated next to Belle Breloques, +who is certain, in racing parlance, to make the running for him. But +even that damsel seems preoccupied with her fan, and, despite her +_aplomb_, hesitates to break the icy silence. The two City friends of +the host are lost in mute speculation as to the future price of indigo +or Ionian Bank shares, while their wives seem to be mentally summarising +the exact cost of each other's toilettes. Their daughters, or somebody +else's daughters, are desperately jerking out monosyllabic responses to +feeble remarks concerning the weather, lawn tennis, operatic +_débutantes_, the gravel in the Row, the ill-health of the Princess, and +kindred topics from a couple of F.O. men. Little Snapshot, the wit, on +the other side of the Gorgon, has tried to lead up to a story, but has +found himself, as it were, frozen in the bud. When lo! the butler softly +sibillates in your ear the magic word "champagne," and as it flows, +creaming and frothing, into your glass, a change comes over the spirit +of your vision. + +The hostess brightens, the host coruscates. The young lady on your right +suddenly develops into a charming girl, with becoming appreciation of +your pet topics and an astounding aptness for repartee. The Gorgon +thaws, and implores Mr. Snapshot, whose jests are popping as briskly as +the corks, not to be so dreadfully funny, or he will positively kill +her. Belle Breloques can always talk, and now her tongue rattles faster +than ever, till the languid one arouses himself like a giant refreshed, +and gives her as good as he gets. The City men expatiate in cabalistic +language on the merits of some mysterious speculation, the prospective +returns from which increase with each fresh bottle. One of their wives +is discussing the E.C.U. and the S.S.C. with a hitherto silent curate, +and the other is jabbering botany to a red-faced warrior. The juniors +are in full swing, and ripples of silvery laughter rise in accompaniment +to the beaded bubbles all round the table. And all this is due to +champagne, that great unloosener not merely of tongues but of +purse-strings, as is well known to the secretaries of those charitable +institutions which set the wine flowing earliest at their anniversary +dinners. + + * * * * * + +A few recipes for sparkling wine cups gathered from various sources will +conclude our work. Not having personally tested these we leave the +responsibility of them to their respective authors--Soyer, Tovey, +Terrington ("Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks"), &c.--premising that it is +the merest folly to use a high-class champagne or a fine sparkling hock +for a beverage of this description. Sparkling saumur, or the +newly-introduced sparkling sauternes, and the cheaper hocks and +moselles, will do equally well at a greatly reduced cost. In all cases, +too, the kind of liqueur, the amount of sugar, and the flavouring with +borage, verbena, pine-apple, or cucumber, may be varied to suit +individual tastes. For soda or seltzer water we have invariably +substituted Apollinaris, which is far better adapted for effervescent +drinks of this description by reason of its purity and softness, its +freedom from any distinct flavour, and above all its powerful natural +effervescence. + +Soyer's elaborate recipe for champagne cup for a large party is as +follows:-- + + Prepare three ounces of oleo-saccharine by rubbing some lumps of + sugar against the outside of a lemon or Seville orange and scraping + away the sugar as it absorbs the essential oil contained in the rind + of the fruit. Put the oleo-saccharine with the juice of four lemons + in a vessel, add a quart bottle of Apollinaris water (Soyer says + soda-water, but Apollinaris is certainly preferable), and stir well + together until the sugar is dissolved. Then pour in one quart of + syrup of orgeat and whip the mixture up well with an egg whisk in + order to whiten it. Next add a pint of cognac brandy, a quarter of a + pint of Jamaica rum and half a pint of maraschino; strain the whole + into a bowl, adding plenty of pounded ice if the weather is warm, + and pour in three bottles of champagne, stirring the mixture well + with the ladle while doing so in order to render the cup creamy and + mellow. + +A less potent and pretentious beverage, and better suited for a summer +drink, is the subjoined:-- + + Dissolve two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar in a quart of + Apollinaris water. Add a wineglass of curaçoa, a sprig of green + borage or a couple of slices of cucumber with the juice and fine + shavings of the outside peel of a lemon, and a pound of bruised ice. + After the whole has been well stirred pour in the champagne and + serve. + +Other recipes are as follows:-- + + Prepare an ounce of oleo-saccharine, add to it a large wineglass of + maraschino, a liqueur glass of cognac, and the juice of half a + lemon. Mix well together, and add several slices of pine-apple, and + a large lump or two of ice. On to this pour first a large bottle of + Apollinaris water, and next a bottle of sparkling wine. + + Mix with the contents of a bottle of chablis or sauternes a liqueur + glass of chartreuse and a tablespoonful or two of powdered loaf + sugar. When the latter is dissolved throw in a pound and a half of + pounded ice and a sprig of borage. Pour over these a quart of + Apollinaris water and a bottle of sparkling saumur. For the chablis + or sauternes half a bottle of light claret may be substituted. + + To a gill of good pale sherry add a liqueur glass of maraschino and + a few lumps of sugar which have been well rubbed over the rind of a + Seville orange, the juice of which is also to be added to the + mixture. After the sugar is dissolved throw in a sprig of borage or + a slice or two of cucumber and some pounded ice. Then add a quart + bottle of Apollinaris water and a bottle of champagne or some other + sparkling wine. + +The following cup for a party of twenty is said to be of Russian +inspiration:-- + + Pour on to some sprigs of borage or a few slices of cucumber a pint + of sherry and half a pint of brandy, then rub off the fine outside + peel of a lemon with a few lumps of sugar, and add these with the + strained juice of the lemon and of three oranges. Pour into the + mixture half a pint of curaçoa, a wineglass of noyau, a couple of + bottles of German seltzer-water, three bottles of soda-water, and + three bottles of champagne. Sweeten and ice to taste. + +Here is a recipe for a cup made with chablis and sparkling red +burgundy:-- + + With a bottle of chablis mix a liqueur-glass of chartreuse and then + dissolve in it some powdered sugar. Add two pounds of ice in largish + lumps, a slice or two of cucumber, and a sprig of lemon-scented + verbena, or substitute for these a few slices of pine-apple. Pour in + a quart bottle of Apollinaris water, mix well together, and add a + bottle of sparkling burgundy just before serving. + +The following refer to sparkling hock and moselle cups:-- + + To a bottle of sparkling hock add a quarter of a pint of lemon water + ice and a liqueur glass of pine-apple syrup. After mixing them add a + slice of cucumber, a lump or two of ice, and a bottle of Apollinaris + water. + + Add to the strained juice of a couple of lemons an ounce and a half + or more of powdered loaf sugar and a wineglass of maraschino. Mix + well, and pour in a couple of bottles of iced sparkling hock and a + large bottle of iced Apollinaris water. + + Dissolve a couple of ounces of sugar in a gill of dry sherry, add + the thin peel of half an orange, a few slices of pine-apple, + peaches, or apricots, with some pounded ice, and then pour in a + bottle of sparkling moselle and a bottle of Apollinaris water. + + With half a pint of lemon water ice mix a bottle of iced sparkling + moselle, add a few drops of elder-flower water and a bottle of iced + Apollinaris water. Instead of the lemon ice half the quantity of + pine-apple ice may be used with the juice of half a lemon, and the + elder-flower water may be dispensed with. + + [Illustration] + + + + +THE PRINCIPAL SPARKLING WINE BRANDS. + +*** _In this list whenever a manufacturer has various qualities the +higher qualities are always placed first._ + + [Transcriber's Note: + + In the original text the tables were laid out in four columns: + _Firms and Wholesale Agents._ + _Brands._ [Impress of Cork Design] + _Qualities._ + _On side of Corks._ + For this e-text, the table has been changed to a list format, with + the columns represented by levels of indentation. The "Brands" are + indicated by the bracketed word [Cork]; the "Side of Cork" text--if + any--is given in the same line as its associated Quality. + + The book included an errata sheet for the tables. It is shown here + immediately after the tables themselves. The changes and corrections + listed have _not_ been made in the text.] + + ++CHAMPAGNES.+ + + _Firms and Wholesale Agents._ + _Brands._ + _Qualities._ / _On side of Corks._ + + AYALA & CO., Ay + Ayala, 7, Little Tower Street, London + Rinck & Unger, 50, Park Place, New York + [Cork] + Carte Blanche / Extra. + Carte Noire / Première. + [Cork] + Second + + BINET FILS & CO., Reims + Rutherford & Browne, Old Trinity House, 5, Water Lane, London. + [Cork] + Extra + First + Second / Binet fils & Cie. [_all varieties_] + + BOLLINGER, J., Ay + L. Mentzendorf, 6, Idol Lane, London. + E. and J. Burke, 40, Beaver Street, New York. + [Cork] + Very Dry Extra / Very Dry Extra quality. + Dry Extra / Dry Extra quality. + + BRUCH-FOUCHER & CO., Mareuil + L. Ehrmann, 34, Gt. Tower Street, London. + [Cork] + Carte D'Or + First + Second + + CLICQUOT-PONSARDIN, Veuve, Reims (WERLE & CO.) + Fenwick, Parrot, & Co., 124, Fenchurch Street, London. + Schmidt Bros., New York. + [Cork] + Dry + Rich / England. [_both varieties_] + + DE CAZANOVE, C., Avize + J. R. Hunter, 46, Fenchurch Street, London + [Cork] + Extra / Extra qualité. + First + Second + Third + Fourth + [Cork] + Fifth + + DEUTZ & GELDERMANN, Ay + J. R. Parkington & Co., 21, Crutched Friars, London. + [Cork] + Gold Lack (Extra Dry and Dry) / Gold Lack. + Cabinet (Extra Dry and Dry) / Cabinet. + + DUCHATEL-OHAUS, Reims + Woellworth & Co., 70, Mark Lane, London + [Cork] + Carte Blanche (Dry and Rich) + Verzenay (Dry and Rich) + Sillery (Dry and Rich) + + DUMINY & CO., Ay + Mogford, Courtenay, & Co., 16, Mark Lane, London + Anthony Oechs, New Street, New York + [Cork] + Extra / Maison fondée en 1814. [_both brands_] + [Cork] + First / Maison fondée en 1814. [_both brands_] + + FARRE, CHARLES, Reims + Hornblower & Co., 50, Mark Lane, London + Gilmore & Gibson, Baltimore + Mel & Sons, San Francisco + [Cork] + Cabinet (Grand Vin) / Cabinet Grand Vin. + [Cork] + Carte Blanche / Carte Blanche. + Carte Noire / Carte Noire. + [Cork] + Sillery Sec / Sillery Sec. + [Cork] + Sillery / Sillery. + [Cork] + Ay Mousseux / Ay. + + FISSE, THIRION, & Co., Reims + Stallard and Smith, 25, Philpot Lane, London + [Cork] + Cachet d'Or (Extra Dry and Medium Dry) / Cachet d'Or. + Carte Blanche (Dry, Medium Dry, and Rich) / Carte Blanche. + [Cork] + Carte Noire (Dry and Medium Dry). / Carte Noire. + + GIBERT, GUSTAVE, Reims + Cock, Russell, & Co., 63, Great Tower Street, London + Hays & Co., 40, Day Street, New York + [Cork] + Vin du Roi + [Cork] + Extra + [Cork] + First + [Cork] + Second + [Cork] + Third + All these wines are prepared Extra Dry, Dry, or Rich. + + GIESLER & CO., Avize + F. Giesler & Co., 32, Fenchurch Street, London. + Purdy & Nicholas, 43, Beaver Street, New York + [Cork] + Extra Superior + India / India. + First + [Cork] + Second + [Cork] + Third + + HEIDSIECK & CO., Reims. + Theodor Satow & Co., 141, Fenchurch Street, London + Schmidt & Peters, 20, Beaver Street, New York + [Cork] + Dry Monopole. + Monopole (Rich) + Dry Vin Royal + Grand Vin Royal (Rich) + + IRROY, ERNEST, Reims. + Cuddeford & Smith, 66, Mark Lane, London + O. de Saye, 18, South William Street, New York + W. E. Hepp, 101, Gravier Street, New Orleans + [Cork] + Carte d'Or, Dry / Carte d'Or, Sec. + Carte d'Or / Carte d'Or. + + KRUG & Co., Reims + Inglis and Cunningham, 60, Mark Lane, London + A. Rocherau & Co., New York + Hillman Bros. & Co., San Francisco + [Cork] + Carte Blanche / Carte Blanche, England. + Private Cuvée / Private Cuvée, England. + [Cork] + First / England. + [Cork] + Second + + MOËT & CHANDON, Epernay + Simon & Dale, Old Trinity House, 5, Water Lane, London, Agents + for Great Britain and the Colonies + Renauld, François, & Co., 23, Beaver Street, New York + J. Hope & Co., Montreal + [Cork] + Brut / Imperial, England. + Creaming / Creaming, England. + Extra Superior / Extra Superior, England. + Extra Dry Sillery + White Dry Sillery / White Dry, England. + [Cork] + First Quality / England. + Second Quality + + MONTEBELLO, DUC DE, Mareuil-sur-Ay + John Hopkins & Co., 26, Crutched Friars, London + Cazade, Crooks, & Reynaud, 25, South William St., N.Y. + [Cork] + Cuvée Extra / Cuvée Extra. + Carte Blanche / Reserve. + Carte Bleue / Cte. Bleue. + Carte Noire / Cte. Noire. + + MUMM, G. H., & CO., Reims + W. J. and T. Welch, 10, Corn Exchange Chambers, Seething Lane, London + F. de Bary & Co., 41 and 43, Warren Street, New York + [Cork] + Carte Blanche / Cuvée Extra. + Extra Dry / Extra Dry. + Extra / Extra. + First / First. + _For America only._ + Cordon Rouge / Cordon Rouge. + Extra Dry / Extra Dry. + Dry Verzenay / Dry Verzenay. + + MUMM, JULES, & CO., Reims + Jules Mumm & Co., 3 & 4, Mark Lane, London + [Cork] + Extra Dry + Dry + + PÉRINET & FILS, Reims + John Barnett & Son, 36, Mark Lane, London + Wood, Pollard, & Co., Boston, U.S. + Hooper and Donaldson, San Francisco + [Cork] + Cuvée Réservée (Extra Dry) / Cuvée Reservée. + White Dry Sillery / White Dry Sillery. + + PERRIER-JOUËT & CO., Epernay + A. Boursot & Co., 9, Hart Street, Crutched Friars, London + [Cork] + Cuvée de Réserve / Extra + Pale Dry Creaming + First + [Cork] + Second + [Cork] + Third + + PIPER, H., & CO., Reims (KUNKELMANN & CO.) + W. Foster Newton & Son, 3, Maiden Lane, E.C., London + John Osborn, Son, & Co., New York and Montreal + [Cork] + Très-Sec (Extra Dry) / Kunkelmann & Co. [_all varieties_] + Sec (Very Dry) + Carte Blanche (Rich) + + PFUNGST FRÈRES & CIE., Ay, Epernay + J. L. Pfungst & Co., 23, Crutched Friars, London + [Cork] + Carte d'Or (Dry, Extra Dry, and Brut) / Carte d'Or. + Sillery Crêmant (Extra Dry and Brut) / Sillery Crêmant. + Carte Noire (Dry, Extra Dry, and Brut) / Carte Noire. + Cordon Blanc (Full, Dry, and Extra Dry) / Cordon Blanc. + + POL ROGER & CO., Epernay + Reuss, Lauteren, & Co., 39, Crutched Friars, London + [Cork] + Vin Réservé. + + POMMERY, VEUVE, Reims (POMMERY & GRENO) + A. Hubinet, 24, Mark Lane, London + Charles Graef, 65, Broad Street, New York + [Cork] + Extra Sec (Vin Brut) / Veuve Pommery. + [Cork] + Sec + + ROEDERER, LOUIS, Reims + Grainger & Son, 108, Fenchurch Street, London + [Cork] + Carte Blanche / Reims, Carte Blanche, Gt.-Britain. + + ROEDERER, THÉOPHILE, & CO., MAISON FONDÉE EN 1861, Reims + Théophile Roederer & Co., 150, Fenchurch Street, London + [Cork] + Crystal Champagne, Special Cuvée / Special Cuvée. + Extra Reserve / Cuvée / Reserve Cuvée. + Extra Superior Carte Blanche Dorée / Carte Blanche Dorée + Extra Quality Carte Blanche / Carte Blanche. + First Quality Carte Noire / Carte Noire. + Verzenay / Verzenay. + + ROUSSILLON, J., & CO., Epernay + J. Roussillon & Co., 15, New Broad Street, London + D. St. Amant & Son, 13, South William Street, New York + [Cork] + First Cuvée + Second Cuvée + Dry Verzenay + Sillery Sec / 1874 Extra Sec. + + + RUINART, PÈRE ET FILS, Reims + Ruinart, Père et Fils, 22, St. Swithin's Lane, London + [Cork] + Carte Anglaise + Dry Pale Crêmant + Extra Dry Sparkling + Carte Blanche First + + DE SAINT-MARCEAUX & CO., Reims + Groves &, Co., 5, Mark Lane, London + Hermann Batjer & Bro., New York + [Cork] + Vin Brut + Carte d'Or (Extra Dry) / Very dry. + Bouzy Nonpareil (Dry) / Vin Sec. + Carte Blanche (Medium) + [Cork] + Second (Medium) + [Cork] + Third (_id._) + _For America only._ + Dry Royal + + ++SAUMUR AND SAUTERNES.+ + + _Firms and Wholesale Agents._ + _Brands._ + _Qualities._ / _On side of Corks._ + + ACKERMAN-LAURANCE, St. Florent, Saumur + J. N. Bishop, 41, Crutched Friars, London + Timothy Stevens, 29, Beaver Street, New York + Chapin and Gore, 70, Monroe Street, Chicago + [Cork] + Carte d'Or / Carte d'Or. + Carte Rose / Carte Rose. + Carte Bleue / Carte Bleue. + Carte Noire / Carte Noire. + + DUVAU, LOUIS, Aîné, Château de Varrains, Saumur + Jolivet and Canney, 3, Idol Lane, London + [Cork] + Carte d'Or, Extra Superior + Carte d'Argent, Extra + Carte Blanche, Superior + Carte Rose, Ordinary + + LORRAIN, JULES, Château De la Côte, Varrains, near Saumur + J. Lorrain, 73, Great Tower Street, London + [Cork] + Carte d'Or + Carte Blanche + Carte Rose + Carte Bleue + + ROUSTEAUX, A., St. Florent, Saumur + Cock, Russell, & Co., 63, Great Tower Street, London + I. H. Smith's Sons, Peck Slip, New York + Law, Young, & Co., Montreal + [Cork] + Extra + [Cork] + First + [Cork] + Second + [Cork] + Third + Sparkling Vouvray, Superior + Sparkling Vouvray + + NORMANDIN, E., & CO., Châteauneuf-sur-Charente + P. A. Maignen, 22, Great Tower Street, London + [Cork] + Sparkling Sauternes (Extra Dry) + Sparkling Sauternes (Dry) + + ++BURGUNDIES.+ + + _Firms and Wholesale Agents._ + _Brands._ + _Qualities._ / _On side of Corks._ + + ANDRÉ & VOILLOT, Beaune + Cock, Russell, & Co., 63, Great Tower Street, London + P. W. Engs and Sons, 131, Front Street, New York + [Cork] + Romanée (White) + Nuits (do.) + Volnay (do.) + Saint-Péray + Pink and Red Wines + + LATOUR, LOUIS, Beaune + Reuss, Lauteren, & Co., 39, Crutched Friars, London + [Cork] + Romanée (White) + Nuits (do.) + Volnay (do.) + Saint-Péray (do.) + Chambertin (Red) + Nuits (do.) + Volnay (do.) + + LIGER-BELAIR, COMTE, Nuits and Vôsne + Fenwick, Parrot, & Co., 124, Fenchurch Street, London + [Cork] + Carte d'Or (White) + Carte Noire (do.) + Carte Verte (do.) + Carte Noire (Red) + Carte Blanche (do.) + + ++HOCKS AND MOSELLES.+ + + _Firms and Wholesale Agents._ + _Brands._ + _Qualities._ / _On side of Corks._ + + DEINHARD & CO., Coblenz + Deinhard & Co., 6, Idol Lane, London + H. G. Schmidt & Co., 38, Beaver Street, New York + [Cork] + First + [Cork] + Second + [Cork] + Third + + EWALD & CO., Rudesheim-on-Rhine + Simon and Dale, Old Trinity House, 5, Water Lane, London + [Cork] + Sparkling Hock + Nonpareil (Extra Dry and Dry) + Sparkling Moselle Muscatel Nonp. (Dry) + Sparkling Moselle (Nonp.) + Scharzberg (Dry) + + HOCHHEIM ASSOCIATION, Hochheim-on-Maine + F. Class & Co., 31, Crutched Friars, London + [Cork] + Sparkling and Creaming Johannisberg + Hochheim First (White or Red) + Do. Second (do.) + Do. Third (do.) + Do. Fourth (do.) + Hocks and Moselles + Nonpareil + First + Second + Third + [Cork] + Fourth + + KESSLER, G. C., & CO., Esslingen + George Saurmann, 7, Cross Lane, St. Mary-at-Hill, London + [Cork] + Kaiser Wein + Sparkling Hock + Do. Neckar + + LAUTEREN, C. SOHN, Mayence + Reuss, Lauteren, & Co., 39, Crutched Friars, London + [Cork] + Sparkling Johannisberg + Hock No. 1 + Do. No. 2 + Do. No. 3 + Moselle, Dry, No. 1 + Do. No. 2 + Do. No. 3 + Moselle, Muscatel, No. 1 + Do. No. 2 + Do. No. 3 + + MÜLLER, MATHEUS, Eltville + M. Muller, 15, Philpot Lane, London + [Cork] + Flower of Sparkling Johannisberg + Sparkling Johannisberg + Pearl of the Moselle + Extra Superior Moselle + Nonpareil Sparkling Moselle + Nonpareil Sparkling Hock + Fine Sparkling do. + Fine Sparkling Moselle + Sparkling Assmannshäuser, Superior (Red) + Sparkling Assmannshäuser (do.) + [Cork] + Sparkling Hock (Ordinary) + Sparkling Moselle (do.) + + OPPMANN, MICHAEL, Würzburg + [Cork] + Franconia Wine: + Nonpareil + Stein Wine + Blue Label + White Label + Sparkling Moselle, First + Do. do., Second + Do. Hock, First + Do. do., Second + + SILIGMÜLLER, F. A., Würzburg + [Cork] + Cabinet / Cabinet. + Carte d'Or + Carte Blanche + Carte Noire + + STÖCK, JOS, & SÖHNE, Creuznach + John Barnett & Son, 36, Mark Lane, London + [Cork] + Johnnnisberg, supr. + Scharzberg, do. + Johannisberg, ordin. + Scharzberg, do. + Hock, superior + Moselle, do. + Hock, ordin. + Moselle, do. + Red Hock, First + Do., Second + Do., Third + Do., Fourth + + ++STYRIAN, HUNGARIAN, AND SWISS WINES.+ + + _Firms and Wholesale Agents._ + _Brands._ + _Qualities._ / _On side of Corks._ + + KLEINOSCHEG BROTHERS, Graz, Styria + Davis and Littlewood, 4 and 5, Botolph Lane, London + [Cork] + Dry Pale Styrian Muscat Champagne. + Dry Pale Styrian Champagne + Sparkling Burgundy (Red) + + HUBERT & HABERMANN, Pressburg, Hungary + C. O. Pattenhausen, 40, Great Tower Street, London + [Cork] + Sparkling White + Sparkling Red (Carlovitz) + + DE RIEDMATTEN, DE QUAY, & CIE., Sion, Valais, Switzerland + [Cork] + Carte Verte, Glacier du Rhône + Carte Blanche, Mont-Blanc + + ++AMERICAN WINES.+ + + _Firms and Wholesale Agents._ + _Brands._ + _Qualities._ / _On side of Corks._ + + KELLEY'S ISLAND WINE CO., Kelley's Island, Ohio + [Cork] + Island Queen + Nonpareil + Carte Blanche + + PLEASANT VALLEY WINE CO., Hammondsport, N.Y. + [Cork] + Great Western (Dry and Extra Dry) + Carte Blanche + Pleasant Valley + Paris Exposition + + URBANA WINE CO., Hammondsport, N.Y. + [Cork] + Gold Seal (Extra Dry) + Gold Seal + Imperial + Royal Rose + + * * * * * + + [Author's errata sheet, first part] + +_The subjoined corrections are necessary in the following brands +(See pages 226 and 227):--_ + + FISSE, THIRION, & Co., Reims + Stallard and Smith, 25, Philpot Lane, London + [Cork] + Cachet d'Or. (Extra Dry and Medium Dry) / Cachet d'Or. + Carte Blanche. (Dry, Medium Dry, and Rich) / Carte Blanche. + Carte Noire. (Dry and Medium Dry). / Carte Noire. + N.B.--The brand on the corks is an _anchor_ instead of an _eagle_. + + GIBERT, GUSTAVE, Reims. + Cock, Russell, and Co.'s address is 23, Rood Lane, London. + + GIESLER & CO., Avize. + The corks of the firm's Extra Superior quality wine are branded + "Extra Superior" on the side. + + IRROY, ERNEST, Reims. + The New York agent is F. O. de Luze, 18, South William Street, + New York. + W. E. Hepp is no longer M. Irroy's agent for New Orleans. + + * * * * * + + [Author's errata sheet, second part] + + The following are the correct brands of MM. de Saint-Marceaux & Co.:-- + + DE SAINT-MARCEAUX & CO., Reims + Groves & Co., 5, Mark Lane, London + Hermann Bätjer & Bro., New York + [Cork] + Vin Brut + Carte d'Or (Extra Dry) / Very dry. + Bouzy Nonpareil (Dry) / Vin Sec. + Carte Blanche (Medium) + _For America only._ + Dry Royal + [Cork] + Second (Medium) + [Cork] + Third (_id._) + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + +Errata: + +Missing or incorrect punctuation in the List of Brands has been silently +regularized. + +Expressions such as "132lbs." were consistently printed without space. + +A number of words were printed both with and without umlaut. These have +generally been left unchanged: + Wurzburg / Würzburg + Rudesheim / Rüdesheim + Muller / Müller (also Siligmüller / -muller) +Three occurrences of "Moët" were printed without dieresis. It has been +silently supplied. + + +Table of Contents: +II.--THE VINTAGE IN THE CHAMPAGNE. ... 20 + _last digit of page number invisible_ +the future _roues_ of the Regency + _accent on "roués" missing in original_ +Baume's aerometer + _first "e" in "aerometer" illegible_ +the Champenois winegrowers + _printed at midline without usual hyphen_ +Chapter V, first page _through_ "... the bulk of the new-made" + _left edge of text missing:_ + manu/[fac]ture only just... (_at line break_) + [en]ds. + [res]ervoirs ... + [bei]ng allowed ... + [for]ty-four gallons ... (_number supplied from other passages_) +loosens the _agrafe_ securing the cork, Bang goes the latter + _comma in original may be intentional_ +from one to three per cent. of liqueur. + _text has comma for period_ +St. Marceaux and Co.'s New Establishment + _text reads "Co.'"_ +Those magnates of the champagne trade, Messrs. Moët and Chandon + _text reads "Mesrs."_ +Messrs. Moët and Chandon give a banquet or a ball + _period (full stop) invisible_ +resting familiarly on the maréchal's shoulder + _period (full stop) invisible_ +bounded by trees and garden-plats + _text unchanged: probably correct_ +the liqueur which Messrs. Giesler add so sparingly + _text reads "Griesler"_ +[Illustration: +THE CELLARS OF M. ACKERMAN-LAURANCE AT SAINT-FLORENT. +LABELLING AND PACKING SPARKLING SAUMUR. (p. 150.)] + _opening parenthesis missing_ +having composed at his mistress's table some doggrel rhymes + _spelling unchanged_ +restored Stolzenfels, the historic Königs-stuhl + _text reads "Konigs-stuhl"_ +vineyards of Bösing, Geñnau, and St. Georgen + _spelling unchanged_ +Societa Unione Enofila + _accent missing in original_ +cannot be gainsayed. + _spelling unchanged_ +curaçoa + _spelling unchanged (two occurrences)_ + +_List of Brands_POMMERY, VEUVE, Reims + _final "s" missing_ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Facts About Champagne and Other +Sparkling Wines, by Henry Vizetelly + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FACTS ABOUT CHAMPAGNE *** + +***** This file should be named 20889-8.txt or 20889-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/8/8/20889/ + +Produced by Louise Hope and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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