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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: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FACTS ABOUT CHAMPAGNE *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<!-- png 001 --> +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic001.jpg" width = "441" height = "286" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE DISGORGING, LIQUEURING, CORKING, STRINGING, AND WIRING OF CHAMPAGNE +(Frontispiece)</p> + + +<div class = "titlepage"> + +<!-- png 002 --> +<h2>FACTS ABOUT CHAMPAGNE</h2> + +<h6>AND</h6> + +<h3>OTHER SPARKLING WINES,</h3> + +<h5>COLLECTED DURING NUMEROUS VISITS TO THE CHAMPAGNE<br> +AND OTHER VITICULTURAL DISTRICTS OF FRANCE,</h5> +<h6>AND THE PRINCIPAL REMAINING</h6> +<h5>WINE-PRODUCING COUNTRIES OF EUROPE.</h5> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<h6>BY</h6> + +<h4>HENRY VIZETELLY,</h4> + +<h6><i>Chevalier of the Order of Franz Josef.</i><br> +<i>Wine Juror for Great Britain at the Vienna and Paris Exhibitions of +1873 and 1878.</i><br> +<i>Author of “The Wines of the World Characterized and Classed,” +&c.</i></h6> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<h5>WITH ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS,</h5> +<h6>DRAWN BY JULES PELCOQ, W. PRATER, BERTALL, ETC.,<br> +FROM ORIGINAL SKETCHES.</h6> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<h5><span class = "extended">LONDON:<br> +WARD, LOCK, AND CO., SALISBURY SQUARE.</span><br> +1879.</h5> + +</div> + +<div class = "mynote"> + +<h5><a name = "short_toc" id = "short_toc"> +<b>Shorter Table of Contents</b></a><br> +<i>added by transcriber</i></h5> + +<table class = "toc short" summary = "contents"> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td><p><a href = "#contents"> +Table of Contents (full)</a></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapI">I.</a></td> +<td><p>The Origin of Champagne.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapII">II.</a></td> +<td><p>The Vintage in the Champagne. The Vineyards of the +River.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapIII">III.</a></td> +<td><p>The Vineyards of the Mountain.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapIV">IV.</a></td> +<td><p>The Vines of the Champagne and the System of +Cultivation.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapV">V.</a></td> +<td><p>Preparation of Champagne.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapVI">VI.</a></td> +<td><p>The Reims Champagne Establishments.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapVII">VII.</a></td> +<td><p>The Reims Establishments (<i>continued</i>).</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapVIII">VIII.</a></td> +<td><p>The Reims Establishments (<i>continued</i>).</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapIX">IX.</a></td> +<td><p>The Reims Establishments (<i>concluded</i>).</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapX">X.</a></td> +<td><p>Epernay Champagne Establishments.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapXI">XI.</a></td> +<td><p>Champagne Establishments at Ay and Mareuil.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapXII">XII.</a></td> +<td><p>Champagne Establishments at Atize and Rilly.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapXIII">XIII.</a></td> +<td><p>Sparkling Saumur and Sparkling Sauternes.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapXIV">XIV.</a></td> +<td><p>The Sparkling Wines Of Burgundy and the Jura.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapXV">XV.</a></td> +<td><p>The Sparkling Wines of the South of France.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapXVI">XVI.</a></td> +<td><p>The Sparkling Wines of Germany.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapXVII">XVII.</a></td> +<td><p>The Sparkling Wines of Germany (<i>continued</i>).</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapXVIII">XVIII.</a></td> +<td><p>The Sparkling Wines of Austro-Hungary, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, +Russia, &c.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapXIX">XIX.</a></td> +<td><p>The Sparkling Wines of the United States.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "item"><a href = "#chapXX">XX.</a></td> +<td><p>Concluding Facts and Hints.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td><p><a href = "#stats"> +Statistical Table, 1844-1878</a></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td><p><a href = "#recipes"> +Recipes for Wine Cups</a></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td><p><a href = "#brands"> +The Principal Sparkling Wine Brands</a></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +</div> + +<!-- png 003 --> +<!-- png 004 --> + +<p class = "preface"> +<span class = "firstletter">T</span>HIS 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.</p> + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<div class = "page"> + +<!-- png 005 --> + +<h5>Uniform with the present work and the Author’s “Facts About +Sherry,”</h5> + +<h3 class = "extended">FACTS ABOUT PORT</h3> + +<h4>AND MADEIRA,</h4> + +<h4 class = "smallcaps"> +Including Chapters on the Wines Vintaged Around Lisbon<br> +and the Wines of Teneriffe.</h4> + +<h5>Illustrated with 80 Engravings from Original Sketches.</h5> + +</div> + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<!-- png 006 --> + +<h4 class = "extended"><a name = "contents" id = "contents"> +CONTENTS.</a></h4> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<table class = "toc" summary = "full table of contents"> +<tr> +<td class = "number" colspan = "2"> +<span class = "smallroman">PAGE.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead"><a href = "#chapI"> +I.—The Origin of Champagne.</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">9</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead"><a href = "#chapII"> +II.—The Vintage in the Champagne. The Vineyards of the +River.</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number"> +<ins class = "mycorr" title = "‘0’ invisible">20</ins></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<!-- png 007 --> +<p class = "chaphead"> +<a href = "#chapIII">III.—The Vineyards of the Mountain.</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">32</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead"><a href = "#chapIV"> +IV.—The Vines of the Champagne and the System of +Cultivation.</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">42</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead"><a href = "#chapV"> +V.—Preparation of Champagne.</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">48</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead"><a href = "#chapVI"> +VI.—The Reims Champagne Establishments.</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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 +<!-- png 008 --> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">63</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead plain"><a href = "#chapVII"> +<span class = "smallcaps">VII.—The Reims Establishments</span> +(<i>continued</i>).</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">74</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead plain"><a href = "#chapVIII"> +<span class = "smallcaps">VIII.—The Reims Establishments</span> +(<i>continued</i>).</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">86</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead plain"><a href = "#chapIX"> +<span class = "smallcaps">IX.—The Reims Establishments</span> +(<i>concluded</i>).</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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— +<!-- png 009 --> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">93</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead"><a href = "#chapX"> +X.—Epernay Champagne Establishments.</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">101</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead"><a href = "#chapXI"> +XI.—Champagne Establishments at Ay and Mareuil.</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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 +<!-- png 010 --> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">117</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead"><a href = "#chapXII"> +XII.—Champagne Establishments at Atize and Rilly.</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">129</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead"><a href = "#chapXIII"> +XIII.—Sparkling Saumur and Sparkling Sauternes.</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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 +<!-- png 011 --> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">139</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead"><a href = "#chapXIV"> +XIV.—The Sparkling Wines Of Burgundy and the Jura.</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">157</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead"><a href = "#chapXV"> +XV.—The Sparkling Wines of the South of France.</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">165</td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead"><a href = "#chapXVI"> +XVI.—The Sparkling Wines of Germany.</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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 +<!-- png 012 --> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">172</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead plain"><a href = "#chapXVII"> +<span class = "smallcaps">XVII.—The Sparkling Wines of +Germany</span> (<i>continued</i>).</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">183</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead"><a href = "#chapXVIII"> +XVIII.—The Sparkling Wines of Austro-Hungary, Switzerland, Italy, +Spain, Russia, &c.</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">196</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead"><a href = "#chapXIX"> +XIX.—The Sparkling Wines of the United States.</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +Earliest Efforts at Wine-Making in America—Failures to Acclimatise +European Vines—Wines Made by the Swiss Settlers and the Mission +<!-- png 013 --> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">203</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "chaphead"><a href = "#chapXX"> +XX.—Concluding Facts and Hints.</a></p> +<p class = "hanging"> +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</p> +</td> +<td class = "number">212</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "smallcaps"><a href = "#brands"> +The Principal Sparkling Wine Brands</a></p> +</td> +<td class = "number">225</td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class = "maintext"> + +<span class = "pagenum">9</span> +<!-- png 014 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic014.png" width = "355" height = "208" +alt = "FACTS ABOUT CHAMPAGNE" title = "FACTS ABOUT CHAMPAGNE"> + +<h6>AND</h6> + +<h3>OTHER SPARKLING WINES.</h3> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<h4><a name = "chapI" id = "chapI"> +I.—The Origin of Champagne.</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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.</p> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">Strong</span> 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, +<span class = "pagenum">10</span> +<!-- png 015 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>fabliau</i> of the “Bataille des Vins,” how, +when stout Philip Augustus and his chaplain constituted themselves the +earliest known wine-jury, the <i>crûs</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">11</span> +<!-- png 016 --> +barred, to the speedy expulsion of the detested English from the soil of +France.</p> + +<p>The vin d’Ay—<i>vinum Dei</i> 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 +<i>vendangeoir</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>fauve</i> or +yellowish hue, and of the intermediate tint between red and white which +the French call <i>clairet</i>, 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</p> + +<p class = "verse last"> +“None but a clever dialectician<br> +Can hope to become a good physician,<br> +And that logic plays an important part<br> +In the mystery of the healing art,”</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">12</span> +<!-- png 017 --> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">13</span> +<!-- png 018 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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</p> + +<p class = "verse last"> +“To come down among this brotherhood<br> +Dwelling for ever underground,<br> +Silent, contemplative, round and sound,<br> +Each one old and brown with mould,<br> +But filled to the lips with the ardour of youth,<br> +With the latent power and love of truth,<br> +And with virtues fervent and manifold.”</p> + +<p>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 +<i>têtes-à-têtes</i> with the widow of Scarron. It found its chief +patrons +<span class = "pagenum">14</span> +<!-- png 019 --> +however, amongst the bands of gay young roysterers, the future <ins +class = "mycorr" title = "printed without accent"><i>roues</i></ins> 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 +<i>soupers</i> 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 <i>petits soupers</i> 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.</p> + +<p>Why the wine foamed and sparkled was a mystery even to the very +makers themselves; for as yet Baume’s <ins class = "mycorr" title = +"first ‘e’ unreadable">aerometer</ins> 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.</p> + +<!-- png 020 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic020.jpg" width = "442" height = "278" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE VINEYARDS AND ABBEY OF HAUTVILLERS. (p. 14)</p> + +<p>Time and the iconoclasts of the great Revolution have spared but +little of the royal abbey of St. Peter where Dom +<span class = "pagenum">15</span> +<!-- png 022 --> +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.</p> + +<!-- png 021 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic021.jpg" width = "445" height = "284" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MESSRS. CHARLES FARRE & CO., AT HAUTVILLERS. +(p. 15)</p> + +<p>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 +<i>cellier</i>, 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 +<span class = "pagenum">16</span> +<!-- png 023 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic023.png" width = "369" height = "316" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE PORTE DES PRESSOIRS, HAUTVILLERS.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">17</span> +<!-- png 024 --> +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. <ins class = "mycorr" +title = "dieresis missing in original">Moët</ins> 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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic024.png" width = "383" height = "255" +alt = "see text"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">18</span> +<!-- png 025 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">19</span> +<!-- png 026 --> +erected upon the precise spot where the tree stood on which the +snow-white dove had alighted.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic026.png" width = "251" height = "164" +alt = "monk with oversized champagne bottle"> +</p> + +<p>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 <i>pierre à +fusil</i> 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.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">20</span> +<!-- png 027 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic027.png" width = "372" height = "255" +alt = "see text"> +</p> + +<h4><a name = "chapII" id = "chapII"> +II.—The Vintage in the Champagne. The Vineyards of the +River.</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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.</p> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">With</span> +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 +<span class = "pagenum">21</span> +<!-- png 028 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>petit vin de Chierry</i>, 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 <i>vin de société</i>—is derived.</p> + +<p>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 <i>par excellence</i> of +white grapes), which stretches towards the south-east, and +<span class = "pagenum">22</span> +<!-- png 029 --> +includes the vinelands of Cramant, Avize, Oger, Le Mesnil, and Vertus. +The entire vineyard area is upwards of 40,000 acres.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>premier crû</i> 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 <i>vin mousseux</i> of the Champagne.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">23</span> +<!-- png 030 --> +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 +<i>pièces</i> of the peerless wine of Ay, beside the reeking +wine-press.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>commissionaires-en-vins</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">24</span> +<!-- png 031 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<!-- png 032 --> +<!-- png 033 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic032.jpg" width = "447" height = "284" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +A VINTAGE SCENE IN THE CHAMPAGNE. (p. 24)</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">25</span> +<!-- png 034 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>plant vert +doré</i>, and then a moderate proportion of the <i>plant gris</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>We visited the pressoir of the principal producer of <i>vin brut</i> +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 +<span class = "pagenum">26</span> +<!-- png 035 --> +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 <ins class += "mycorr" title = "spacing typical for this text">132lbs.</ins>) 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 <i>spéculateurs</i> who supply the <i>vin brut</i> to the +champagne manufacturers.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>On our way from Ay to Mareuil, along the lengthy Rue de +<span class = "pagenum">27</span> +<!-- png 036 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>vin brut</i> here, inferior +of course to that of Ay, found a ready market at from five to six +hundred francs the pièce.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic037.png" width = "305" height = "284" +alt = "man leading donkey with panniers of grapes"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">28</span> +<!-- png 037 --> +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 “<i>bon Roi Henri</i>” sought relaxation +from the turmoils of war in the society of the fair Anne du +Puy—“<i>sa belle hôtesse</i>,” 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.</p> + +<p>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, +<span class = "pagenum">29</span> +<!-- png 038 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic038.png" width = "368" height = "236" +alt = "see following text"> +</p> + +<p>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. +<span class = "pagenum">30</span> +<!-- png 039 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>premiers crûs</i> 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 <i>cuvée</i>.</p> + +<p>From Cramant the road runs direct to Avize, a large thriving +<span class = "pagenum">31</span> +<!-- png 040 --> +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 <i>premier crû</i>. +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>vin mousseux</i>, it being in the opinion +of some manufacturers especially valuable for binding a <i>cuvée</i> +together. The wine of Vertus ranks among the second-class champagne +crûs.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">32</span> +<!-- png 041 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic041.png" width = "347" height = "384" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +CHATEAU OF SILLERY.</p> + +<h4><a name = "chapIII" id = "chapIII"> +III.—The Vineyards of the Mountain.</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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 <ins class = "mycorr" +title = "dieresis missing in original">Moët</ins> 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.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">33</span> +<!-- png 042 --> +<p><span class = "firstword">The</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">34</span> +<!-- png 043 --> +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 +<i>celery</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>marchande +de vins</i>, 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 +<span class = "pagenum">35</span> +<!-- png 044 --> +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 <i>eau-de-vie</i>, worth about five shillings a gallon, is +distilled.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>serpettes</i>, 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 +<span class = "pagenum">36</span> +<!-- png 045 --> +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 <i>premier crû</i>, 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 +<i>vin brut</i> 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.”</p> + +<!-- png 046 --> +<!-- png 047 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic046.jpg" width = "448" height = "279" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE VINEYARDS OF VERZENAY. (p. 36.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">37</span> +<!-- png 048 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>vinage</i> 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 <i>finesse</i> 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.</p> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">38</span> +<!-- png 049 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">39</span> +<!-- png 052 --> +summit, and a small stone bridge crosses the deep ravine formed by the +swift descending winter torrents.</p> + +<!-- png 050 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic050.jpg" width = "447" height = "259" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE VINEYARDS OF BOUZY. (p. 38.)</p> + +<p>The principal vineyard proprietors at Bouzy, which ranks, of course, +as a <i>premier crû</i>, 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.</p> + +<!-- png 051 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic051.jpg" width = "449" height = "286" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +PRESSING GRAPES AT M. WERLÉ’S VENDANGEOIR AT BOUZY. (p. 39)</p> + +<p>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 +<i>rébêche</i>, and yielding a sort of <i>piquette</i>, given to the +workmen employed at the pressoir to drink.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">40</span> +<!-- png 053 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>vin vif</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">41</span> +<!-- png 054 --> +feet square, of which the huge fireplace occupied fully one-third, and +submitted patiently to our catechizing.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">42</span> +<!-- png 055 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic055.png" width = "379" height = "284" +alt = "man and boy placing vine stakes"> +</p> + +<h4><a name = "chapIV" id = "chapIV"> +IV.—The Vines of the Champagne and the System of +Cultivation.</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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.</p> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">In</span> +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 +<span class = "pagenum">43</span> +<!-- png 056 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">44</span> +<!-- png 057 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic057.png" width = "278" height = "172" +alt = "three vines"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">45</span> +<!-- png 058 --> +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 +<span class = "pagenum">46</span> +<!-- png 059 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic058.png" width = "369" height = "287" +alt = "boy with donkey placing hay around vines"> +</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">47</span> +<!-- png 060 --> +men can fix nearly 11,000 yards of it, or sufficient to roof over +2½ acres of vines, during an ordinary day.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic060.png" width = "283" height = "176" +alt = "stack of vine stakes"> +</p> + +<p>Owing to the system of cultivation by rejuvenescence, and the +constant replenishing of the soil by well-compounded manures, the +Champenois <ins class = "mycorr" +title = "no hyphen in original">winegrowers</ins> +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.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">48</span> +<!-- png 061 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic061.png" width = "233" height = "304" +alt = "see text"> +</p> + +<h4><a name = "chapV" id = "chapV"> +V.—Preparation of Champagne.</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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.</p> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">The</span> +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<a class = "tag" name = "tagA" id = "tagA" +href = "#noteA">A</a> gallons each. Although the bulk of the new-made +<span class = "pagenum">49</span> +<!-- png 062 --> +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 <i>mou</i>—that is, rich in sugar—or +the reverse. In the former case fermentation naturally lasts much longer +than when the wine is <i>vert</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>cuvée</i>. Usually four-fifths of wine from black +grapes are tempered by one-fifth of the juice of white ones. It is +necessary that the +<span class = "pagenum">50</span> +<!-- png 063 --> +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 <i>cuvée</i>. 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 <i>cuvée</i> is +likely eventually to develop.</p> + +<p>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 <i>cuvée</i> 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.</p> + +<p>The <i>cuvée</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">51</span> +<!-- png 064 --> +the place of the natural tannin which has departed from the wine with +its reddish hue at the epoch of its first fermentation.</p> + +<p>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 <i>cuvée</i> 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.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic065-1.png" width = "218" height = "211" +alt = "women washing champagne bottles"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">52</span> +<!-- png 065 --> +are more generally used by preference. After being washed every bottle +is minutely examined to make certain of its perfect purity.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic065-2.png" width = "236" height = "247" +alt = "women examining clean bottles"> +</p> + +<p>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 <i>tirage</i>, 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 +<i>agrafeurs</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">53</span> +<!-- png 066 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>casse</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">54</span> +<!-- png 067 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic067.png" width = "183" height = "269" +alt = "man turning bottle: see text"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">55</span> +<!-- png 068 --> +side of the bottle, and to get rid of which is a delicate and tedious +task. The bottles are placed <i>sur pointe</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">56</span> +<!-- png 069 --> +this stage are accustomed to drink freely of raw spirits, and merely pay +the penalty resulting from over-indulgence.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic069.png" width = "298" height = "291" +alt = "ladies watching man turning table: see text"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">57</span> +<!-- png 070 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic070.jpg" width = "347" height = "360" +alt = "workmen in heavy spectacles: see preceding text"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">58</span> +<!-- png 071 --> +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 +<i>vin brut</i> 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.</p> + +<p>In these subterranean galleries we frequently come upon parties of +workmen engaged in transforming the perfected <i>vin brut</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">59</span> +<!-- png 072 --> +figures in each group is engaged in the important process of +<i>dégorgement</i>, 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 <i>agrafe</i> securing the <ins class = +"mycorr" title = "comma in original: possibly intentional">cork, +Bang</ins> 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 <i>dégorgeur’s</i> 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 <i>dosage</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 “<i>brut</i>” wines receive +no more than from one to three per cent. of liqueur<ins class = "mycorr" +title = "text has comma">.</ins></p> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">60</span> +<!-- png 073 --> +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 +<i>dosage</i> accomplished, the bottle passes to another workman known +as the <i>égaliseur</i>, 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 <i>teinte de Fismes</i>. The <i>égaliseur</i> 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 <i>douches</i> a day or two beforehand. +The <i>ficeleur</i> 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 <i>metteur de fil</i> 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.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic074.png" width = "229" height = "320" +alt = "waiter with champagne bottle"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">61</span> +<!-- png 074 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>petit souper</i> 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 <i>réunions</i>, brings +smiles to the lips of the sternest cynics, softens the most irascible +tempers, and loosens the most taciturn tongues. +<span class = "pagenum">62</span> +<!-- png 075 --> +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. +<span class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic075.png" width = "169" height = "148" +alt = "champagne bottle"> +</span> +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.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">63</span> +<!-- png 076 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic076-1.png" width = "364" height = "136" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +DEVICES FROM THE COMMANDERIE AT REIMS.</p> + +<h4><a name = "chapVI" id = "chapVI"> +VI.—The Reims Champagne Establishments.</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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.</p> + + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic076-2.png" width = "127" height = "161" +alt = "wood carving of drinker and vines"> +</p> + +<p><span class = "firstword">The</span> +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, +<span class = "pagenum">64</span> +<!-- png 077 --> +and packing hundreds of thousands of bottles of champagne destined for +all parts of the civilised world.</p> + +<p>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 <i>ancien régime</i>.</p> + +<!-- png 078 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic078.jpg" width = "275" height = "401" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +MADAME VEUVE CLICQUOT AT EIGHTY YEARS OF AGE.<br> +(<i>From the Painting by Léon Coignet</i>.) (p. 64)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<!-- png 079 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic079.jpg" width = "446" height = "282" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE CLICQUOT-WERLÉ ESTABLISHMENT AT REIMS. (p. 65)</p> + +<p>Half-way down the narrow tortuous Rue du Temple is an ancient +gateway, on which may be traced the half-effaced sculptured heads of +Phœbus and Bacchus. Immediately in front is a +<span class = "pagenum">65</span> +<!-- png 080 --> +green <i>porte-cochère</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">66</span> +<!-- png 081 --> +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 <i>vin +préparé</i> 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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic080.jpg" width = "316" height = "472" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +REMAINS OF THE COMMANDERIE AT REIMS.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">67</span> +<!-- png 082 --> +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.</p> + +<p>After performing the round of the celliers we descend into the +<i>caves</i>, 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 <i>dégorgeur</i> 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.</p> + +<p>In the adjoining cellar of St. Charles are stacks of bottles awaiting +the manipulation of the <i>dégorgeur</i>, 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 +<span class = "pagenum">68</span> +<!-- png 083 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>cuvée</i> +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 <i>cuvée</i> 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 +<i>tirage</i> or bottling of the wine ordinarily commences in the middle +of May, and occupies fully a month.</p> + +<!-- png 084 --> +<!-- png 085 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic085.jpg" width = "446" height = "280" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +RENAISSANCE HOUSE AT REIMS, IN WHICH MADAME CLICQUOT RESIDED. +(p. 69)</p> + +<p>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 <i>genre</i> +picture, “His Highness on a Journey,” and several fine portraits, among +which is one of Madame Clicquot, painted by Léon Coignet, when she was +<span class = "pagenum">69</span> +<!-- png 086 --> +eighty years of age, and another of M. Werlé by the same artist, +regarded as a <i>chef-d’œuvre</i>. 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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic086.png" width = "318" height = "167" +alt = "bas-relief: see following text"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">70</span> +<!-- png 087 --> +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 <i>cap-à-pie</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">71</span> +<!-- png 088 --> +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 <i>porte-cochère</i>—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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>par excellence</i>, 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 <i>sobriquet</i> of King +Clicquot.</p> + +<p>On passing through the large <i>porte-cochère</i> giving entrance to +<span class = "pagenum">72</span> +<!-- png 089 --> +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 <i>vin sur pointe</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>sur-pointe</i>, 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 +<span class = "pagenum">73</span> +<!-- png 090 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>cuvée</i>; 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">74</span> +<!-- png 091 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic091.png" width = "334" height = "283" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +STATUE OF LOUIS XIII. ON THE REIMS HÔTEL DE VILLE</p> + +<h4 class = "plain"><a name = "chapVII" id = "chapVII"> +<span class = "smallcaps"> +VII.—The Reims Establishments</span> (<i>continued</i>).</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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.</p> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">Messrs. G. H. Mumm and Co.</span> +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 +<span class = "pagenum">75</span> +<!-- png 092 --> +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.</p> + +<p>The establishment of Messrs. G. H. Mumm and Co., in the Rue Andrieux, +is of comparatively modern construction. A large +<i>porte-cochère</i> 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 <i>vin brut</i> 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 <i>tirage</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>The <i>cuvée</i>, commonly composed of from two to three thousand +<span class = "pagenum">76</span> +<!-- png 093 --> +casks of wine from various vineyards, with a due proportion of +high-class vintages, is made in a vat holding 4,400 gallons. The +<i>tirage</i> 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 +<i>cuvée</i> 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 <i>agrafes</i> 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.</p> + +<!-- png 094 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic094.jpg" width = "447" height = "288" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE TIRAGE OR BOTTLING OF CHAMPAGNE<br> +<span class = "smallroman">AT THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MESSRS. G. H. +MUMM & CO. (p. 76.)</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">77</span> +<!-- png 096 --> +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.</p> + +<!-- png 095 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic095.jpg" width = "446" height = "289" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +MESSRS. G. H. MUMM & CO.’S VENDANGEOIR AT VERZENAY. (p. 77)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>piou-piou</i>—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.</p> + +<p>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. +<span class = "pagenum">78</span> +<!-- png 097 --> +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.</p> + +<!-- png 098 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic098.jpg" width = "296" height = "421" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE CELLIERS AND CELLARS OF M. GUSTAVE GIBERT.<br> +(<i>Near the Porte de Mars, Reims</i>.) (p. 78.)</p> + +<p>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 +<i>ancien régime</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">79</span> +<!-- png 100 --> +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.</p> + +<!-- png 099 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic099.jpg" width = "444" height = "286" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE PLACE ROYALE AT REIMS,<br> +<span class = "smallroman">SHOWING THE ENTRANCE TO THE CELLARS OF +M. GUSTAVE GIBERT. (p. 79)</span></p> + +<p>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 <i>Vin du Roi</i> 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 “<i>hors +concours</i>,” 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">80</span> +<!-- png 101 --> +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 <i>Quentin Durward</i> will +retain a lively recollection.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">81</span> +<!-- png 102 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic102.png" width = "374" height = "383" +alt = "House of the Musicians: see preceding text"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">82</span> +<!-- png 103 --> +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 <i>cuvée</i>, while adjacent is a room where stocks of +corks and labels, metal foil, and the like are kept.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<!-- png 104 --> +<!-- png 105 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic104.jpg" width = "275" height = "451" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE CELLIER AND CELLARS OF PÉRINET ET FILS AT REIMS. (p. 82)</p> + +<p>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 <i>dégorgeur</i>, +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 +<span class = "pagenum">83</span> +<!-- png 106 --> +are examined every fortnight, when any deficiency is at once +replenished. At Messrs. Périnet et fils’, as at all the first-class +establishments, the <i>vin brut</i> is a <i>mélange</i> comprising the +produce of some of the best vineyards, and has every possible attention +paid to it during its progressive stages of development.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. +<span class = "pagenum">84</span> +<!-- png 107 --> +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.</p> + +<!-- <p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic107.png" width = "" height = "" +alt = "house described in preceding text"> +</p> --> + +<p class = "leftfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic107a.gif" width = "192" height = "153" +alt = ""> +</p> +<p class = "leftfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic107b.gif" width = "369" height = "294" +alt = "house described in accompanying text"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">85</span> +<!-- png 108 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>chef-d’œuvre</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">86</span> +<!-- png 109 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic109.png" width = "255" height = "300" +alt = "man with rack of champagne bottles"> +</p> + +<h4 class = "plain"><a name = "chapVIII" id = "chapVIII"> +<span class = "smallcaps"> +VIII.—The Reims Establishments</span> (<i>continued</i>).</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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.</p> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">Few</span> +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 +<span class = "pagenum">87</span> +<!-- png 112 --> +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.</p> + +<!-- png 110 --> +<!-- png 111 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic111.jpg" width = "451" height = "285" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +M. ERNEST IRROY’S ESTABLISHMENT AT REIMS. (p. 87)</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">88</span> +<!-- png 113 --> +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 +<i>vendangeoirs</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>cuvées</i> 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.</p> + +<!-- png 114 --> +<!-- png 115 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic114.jpg" width = "448" height = "288" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +LABOURERS AT WORK IN M. ERNEST IRROY’S BOUZY VINEYARDS. (p. 88.)</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">89</span> +<!-- png 116 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>vin brut</i>, 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 <i>vin brut</i>, vintage 1865, of which we have just spoken, +and which is still to be met with at London clubs of repute.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">90</span> +<!-- png 117 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<!-- png 118 --> +<!-- png 119 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic119.jpg" width = "452" height = "279" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +MESSRS. FISSE, THIRION & CO.’S ESTABLISHMENT AT REIMS. +(p. 91)</p> + +<p>On entering the courtyard through the iron gate to the right of the +dwelling-houses of the resident partners—flanked by +<span class = "pagenum">91</span> +<!-- png 120 --> +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 <i>sur pointe</i>, bales of corks, and the wicker-baskets and +cases in which the wine is packed.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">92</span> +<!-- png 121 --> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic121.png" width = "146" height = "209" +alt = "lady with champagne glass"> +</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">93</span> +<!-- png 122 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic122.png" width = "353" height = "352" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +OLD HOUSE IN THE RUE DES ANGLAIS, REIMS.</p> + +<h4 class = "plain"><a name = "chapIX" id = "chapIX"> +<span class = "smallcaps"> +IX.—The Reims Establishments</span> (<i>concluded</i>).</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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 <ins class = "mycorr" +title = "final ‘s’ missing in original">Co.’s</ins> +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.</p> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">Nigh</span> +the cathedral of Reims and in the rear of the archiepiscopal palace +there runs a short narrow street known as the Rue +<span class = "pagenum">94</span> +<!-- png 123 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic124.png" width = "376" height = "313" +alt = "ruins"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">95</span> +<!-- png 124 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic125.png" width = "356" height = "355" +alt = "old wall with vines"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">96</span> +<!-- png 125 --> +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. +<span class = "pagenum">97</span> +<!-- png 128 --> +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 <i>cuvée</i>, 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.</p> + +<!-- png 126 --> +<!-- png 127 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic126.jpg" width = "445" height = "289" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE POMMERY ESTABLISHMENT, IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF REIMS. (p. 96)</p> + +<p>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 <i>vin brut</i> repose in their +hundreds of thousands in slanting racks or solid +<span class = "pagenum">98</span> +<!-- png 129 --> +piles, passing leisurely through those stages of development necessary +to fit them for the <i>dégorgeur</i>. 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.</p> + +<table class = "float right" summary = "illustration, see caption"> +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic128.png" width = "213" height = "321" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "caption"> +HEAD OVERSEER AT<br> +POMMERY AND GRENO’S. +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>Madame Pommery made a great mark with her splendid <i>cuvée</i> of +1868, and since this time her brand has become widely popular, the +Pommery Sec especially being highly appreciated by connoisseurs.</p> + +<p>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 <i>crûs</i> of Verzenay, Ay, Cramant, +and Bouzy, while +<span class = "pagenum">99</span> +<!-- png 132 --> +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.</p> + +<!-- png 130 --> +<!-- png 131 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic131.jpg" width = "445" height = "289" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE PACKING HALL OF MESSRS. DE SAINT-MARCEAUX AT REIMS. (p. 99)</p> + +<p>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 <i>sur pointe</i>, or stacks of bottles, in four rows on either +side, with an ample passage down the centre.</p> + +<p>The upper range of cellars comprises two large arched galleries of +considerable breadth, one of which contains wine in wood and wine <i>sur +pointe</i>, while the other is stocked with bottles of wine heads +downward, ready to be delivered into the hands of the +<i>dégorgeur</i>.</p> + +<table class = "float right" summary = "illustration, see caption"> +<!-- printed at chapter end --> +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic133.png" width = "163" height = "283" +alt = "see caption and following text"> +</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "caption"> +BAS-RELIEF NEAR THE<br> +PORTE DIEU-LUMIÈRE. +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>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. +<span class = "pagenum">100</span> +<!-- png 133 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">101</span> +<!-- png 134 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic134.png" width = "291" height = "295" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +JEAN REMI MOET.</p> + +<h4><a name = "chapX" id = "chapX"> +X.—Epernay Champagne Establishments.</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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— +<span class = "pagenum">102</span> +<!-- png 135 --> +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.</p> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">Those</span> +magnates of the champagne trade, <ins class = "mycorr" +title = "text reads ‘Mesrs.’">Messrs.</ins> +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 <i>échevins</i> 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 <i>tailles</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">103</span> +<!-- png 136 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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, <i>bon des douze chez le +Roi</i>, whatever that may mean, at Paris; 120 bottles to Pierre Gabriel +Baudoin, also <i>bon des douze</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>vin de champagne</i> “of good body, +not too charged with liqueur, but of excellent taste, and <i>not at all +sparkling</i>!” while the Chevalier Colebrook, writing from Bath, +requests that 72 bottles of champagne may +<span class = "pagenum">104</span> +<!-- png 137 --> +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 <i>vin de +champagne</i>.” 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 <ins class = "mycorr" +title = "dieresis missing in original">Moëts</ins> +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.</p> + +<!-- png 138 --> +<!-- png 139 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic139.jpg" width = "447" height = "292" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +WASHING BOTTLES AT MESSRS. MOËT & CHANDON’S, EPERNAY. +(p. 105)</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">105</span> +<!-- png 140 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>salle de +rinçage</i>, as it is styled, +<span class = "pagenum">106</span> +<!-- png 141 --> +bottles are stacked in their tens of thousands, and lads furnished with +barrows, known as <i>diables</i>, 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 <i>salle de +tirage</i> or bottling room.</p> + +<!-- png 142 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic142.jpg" width = "445" height = "274" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +MESSRS. MOËT & CHANDON’S VENDANGEOIR AT BOUZY. (p. 106)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<!-- png 143 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic143.jpg" width = "446" height = "295" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +BOTTLING CHAMPAGNE AT MESSRS. MOËT & CHANDON’S, EPERNAY. +(p. 107)</p> + +<p>Extensive as are the vineyards owned by Messrs. Moët and +<span class = "pagenum">107</span> +<!-- png 144 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic145.png" width = "367" height = "314" +alt = "transport of filled bottles: see following text"> +</p> + +<p>Upwards of 200 workpeople are employed in the <i>salle de tirage</i> +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 <i>agrafes</i> the bottles are placed in large flat +baskets called <i>manettes</i>, and wheeled away on tracks, the quarts +being deposited in the cellars by means of lifts, while the pints slide +<span class = "pagenum">108</span> +<!-- png 145 --> +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 +<i>salle de rinçage</i>, washed, dried, filled, corked, wired, lowered +into the cellars and carefully arranged in symmetrical order. This +represents a +<span class = "pagenum">109</span> +<!-- png 146 --> +total of two and a half million bottles during that month alone.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic147.png" width = "321" height = "411" +alt = "portal to cellars: see following text"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">110</span> +<!-- png 147 --> +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 <i>vin brut</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">111</span> +<!-- png 148 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>vin brut</i> rest <i>sur pointe</i>, as many as +600,000 bottles being commonly twisted daily.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">112</span> +<!-- png 149 --> +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.</p> + +<!-- png 150 --> +<!-- png 151 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic150.jpg" width = "447" height = "293" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE PACKING HALL AT MESSRS. MOËT AND CHANDON’S, EPERNAY. (p. 112)</p> + +<p>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, +<span class = "pagenum">113</span> +<!-- png 152 --> +and insist on being supplied in wicker baskets containing fifty bottles +each.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>soirées</i>, +and has its place in hotel <i>cartes</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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, +<span class = "pagenum">114</span> +<!-- png 153 --> +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 <i>cuvée</i> vat, holding no more than 2,200 gallons. In making +their <i>cuvée</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Champagne establishments, combined with the handsome residences of +the manufacturers, line both sides of the long, +<span class = "pagenum">115</span> +<!-- png 156 --> +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.</p> + +<!-- png 154 --> +<!-- png 155 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic155.jpg" width = "446" height = "289" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +COURTYARD OF MESSRS. POL ROGER’S ESTABLISHMENT AT EPERNAY. +(p. 115)</p> + +<p>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, +<span class = "pagenum">116</span> +<!-- png 157 --> +Messrs. Reuss, Lauteren, and Co., have successfully introduced the new +brand.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">117</span> +<!-- png 160 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic160.png" width = "361" height = "346" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE VENDANGEOIR OF HENRI QUATRE.</p> + +<h4><a name = "chapXI" id = "chapXI"> +XI.—Champagne Establishments at Ay and Mareuil.</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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— +<span class = "pagenum">118</span> +<!-- png 161 --> +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. +</p> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">The</span> +historic <i>bourgade</i> 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 <i>porte-cochère</i> +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 +<i>cuvées</i> and bottling being accomplished in an establishment some +little distance off.</p> + +<!-- png 158 --> +<!-- png 159 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic159.jpg" width = "447" height = "267" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +VIEW OF AY FROM THE BANKS OF THE MARNE CANAL. (p. 117.)</p> + +<p>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 <i>cuvées</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">119</span> +<!-- png 164 --> +casks of newly-blended wine a portion of old wine is added separately, +and at the moment of bottling the whole is newly amalgamated.</p> + +<!-- png 162 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic162.jpg" width = "284" height = "441" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +DRAWING OFF THE CUVÉE AT DEUTZ & GELDERMANN’S, AY. (p. 118)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<!-- png 163 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic163.jpg" width = "398" height = "266" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +EXCAVATING DEUTZ & GELDERMANN’S NEW CELLARS, AY. (p. 119)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">120</span> +<!-- png 165 --> +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 <i>ancien régime</i>. +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.</p> + +<!-- png 166 --> +<!-- png 167 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic167.jpg" width = "450" height = "288" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +MESSRS. AYALA & CO.’S ESTABLISHMENT AT AY. (p. 121)</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">121</span> +<!-- png 168 --> +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 <i>cuvée</i>, 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 <i>vin +brut</i>—mostly the fine wine of 1874—which rise +continuously on either side.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic168.png" width = "159" height = "178" +alt = "ornament"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">122</span> +<!-- png 169 --> +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 <i>cuvée</i> is +made and the bottling of the wine accomplished.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">123</span> +<!-- png 170 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>cuvée</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">124</span> +<!-- png 171 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>cuvées</i>. 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.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<!-- sequence reversed --> +<img src = "images/pic172.png" width = "177" height = "300" +alt = "sculpture on church: see adjoining text"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">125</span> +<!-- png 172 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<!-- sequence reversed --> +<img src = "images/pic171.png" width = "275" height = "133" +alt = "detail of decorated capital"> +</p> + +<p>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 <ins class = "mycorr" +title = "text unchanged">garden-plats</ins>, +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, +<span class = "pagenum">126</span> +<!-- png 173 --> +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.</p> + +<!-- png 174 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic174.jpg" width = "447" height = "291" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE MONTEBELLO ESTABLISHMENT AT MAREUIL. (p. 126)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<!-- png 175 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic175.jpg" width = "442" height = "278" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +CHÂTEAU OF MAREUIL, BELONGING TO THE DUKE OF MONTEBELLO. (p. 127.)</p> + +<p>We were met at Mareuil, on the occasion of our visit, by +<span class = "pagenum">127</span> +<!-- png 176 --> +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 <i>cuvée</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In the adjacent château, the gardens of which slope down +<span class = "pagenum">128</span> +<!-- png 177 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>cuvée</i>, 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.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">129</span> +<!-- png 178 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic178.png" width = "234" height = "335" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +DOORWAY OF AVIZE CHURCH.</p> + +<h4><a name = "chapXII" id = "chapXII"> +XII.—Champagne Establishments at Avize and Rilly.</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">130</span> +<!-- png 179 --> + +<p><span class = "firstword">Avize,</span> +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 <i>chemin de fer de +famille</i>, 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.</p> + +<!-- png 180 --> +<!-- png 181 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic181.jpg" width = "429" height = "290" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +MAKING THE CUVÉE AT MESSRS. GIESLER’S, AT AVIZE. (p.131)</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">131</span> +<!-- png 182 --> +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 <i>cuvée</i> 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 <i>cuvées</i> 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. <ins class = +"mycorr" title = "text reads ‘Griesler’">Giesler</ins> add so sparingly +to their light and fragrant wines.</p> + +<p>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 <i>vin brut</i> repose <i>sur pointe</i>, either +in racks or on tables as at the Clicquot-Werlé establishment. This +latter system requires ample space, for as the <i>remueur</i>, 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.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">132</span> +<!-- png 183 --> +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic183.png" width = "339" height = "468" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +PREPARING THE LIQUEUR AT MESSRS. GIESLER’S.</p> + +<p>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 <i>vin +brut</i>, 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 +<span class = "pagenum">133</span> +<!-- png 184 --> +a small cellier partially underground, and the temperature of which is +very cool and equable. The <i>dégorgeurs</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">134</span> +<!-- png 185 --> +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 <i>As You Like It</i>, +and whose gloomy depths and tangled glens shelter to-day not merely +boars but wolves as well.</p> + +<p>In the Champagne it is no longer the fashion</p> + +<p class = "verse last"> +“With javelin’s point a churlish swine to gore,” +</p> + +<p>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 <i>chasseurs</i> +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.</p> + +<!-- png 186 --> +<!-- png 187 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic187.jpg" width = "462" height = "267" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +VINEYARDS OF AVIZE AND CRAMANT FROM THE GARDEN OF M. C. DE CAZANOVE. +(p. 135.)</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">135</span> +<!-- png 188 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>We have already explained that the wines of Avize and Cramant rank as +<i>premiers crûs</i> of the white grape district, and that every +champagne manufacturer of repute mingles one or the other in his +<i>cuvée</i>. 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 +<span class = "pagenum">136</span> +<!-- png 189 --> +undergo the customary minute examination by the <i>éplucheuses</i>, 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 +<i>paniers mannequins</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">137</span> +<!-- png 190 --> +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 <i>Vin Brut</i> 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.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic191.png" width = "109" height = "135" +alt = "cherub with champagne bottle"> +</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<h5>CHAMPAGNE.</h5> + +<p class = "verse"> +<span class = "firstword">Less</span> for thy grace and glory, land of +ours,</p> +<p class = "verse in4"> +Than for thy dolour, dear;<br> +Let the grief go, and here—</p> +<p class = "verse"> +Here’s to thy skies, thy women and thy flowers!<br> +France! take the toast, thy women and thy roses,</p> +<p class = "verse in2"> +France! to thy wine, more wealth unto thy store!</p> +<p class = "verse"> +And let the lips a grievous memory closes</p> +<p class = "verse last in2"> +Smile their proud smile once more!</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +Swarthy Falernian, Massica the Red,</p> +<p class = "verse in4"> +Were ye the nectars poured<br> +At the great gods’ broad board?</p> +<p class = "verse"> +No, poor old wines, all but in name long dead,<br> +Nectar’s Champagne, the sparkling soul of mirth,</p> +<p class = "verse in2"> +That bubbling o’er with laughing gas,<br> +Flashes gay sunbeams in the glass,</p> +<p class = "verse last"> +And like our flag goes proudly round the earth.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">138</span> +<!-- png 191 --> + +<p class = "verse"> +“I am the blood Burgundian sunshine makes;</p> +<p class = "verse in4"> +A fine old feudal knight<br> +Of bluff and boisterous might,</p> +<p class = "verse"> +Whose casque feels—ah, so heavy when one wakes!”<br> +“And I, the dainty Bordeaux, violets’</p> +<p class = "verse in2"> +Perfume, and whose rare rubies gourmets prize.</p> +<p class = "verse"> +My subtile savour gets</p> +<p class = "verse last in2"> +In partridge wings its daintiest allies.”</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +Ah, potent chiefs, Bordeaux and Burgundy.</p> +<p class = "verse in4"> +If we must answer make,<br> +This sober counsel take:</p> +<p class = "verse"> +Messeigneurs, sing your worth less haughtily,<br> +For ’tis Champagne, the sparkling soul of mirth,</p> +<p class = "verse in2"> +That bubbling o’er with laughing gas,<br> +Flashes gay sunbeams in the glass,</p> +<p class = "verse last"> +And like our flag goes proudly round the earth.</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +Aye, ’tis the true, the typic wine of France;</p> +<p class = "verse in2"> +Aye, ’tis our heart that sparkles in our eyes,</p> +<p class = "verse"> +And higher beats for every dire mischance;</p> +<p class = "verse in2"> +It was the wit that made our fathers wise,</p> +<p class = "verse in3"> +That made their valour gallant, gay,</p> +<p class = "verse"> +When plumes were stirr’d by winds of waving swords,<br> +And chivalry’s defiance spoke the words:</p> +<p class = "verse last in4"> +“À vous, Messieurs les Anglais, les premiers!”</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +Let the dull beer-apostle till he’s hoarse</p> +<p class = "verse in4"> +Vent his small spleen and spite,<br> +Fate fill his sleepless night</p> +<p class = "verse"> +With nightmares of invincible remorse!<br> +We sing Champagne, the sparkling soul of mirth,</p> +<p class = "verse in2"> +That bubbling o’er with laughing gas,<br> +Flashes gay sunbeams in the glass,</p> +<p class = "verse last"> +And like our flag goes proudly round the earth.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">139</span> +<!-- png 192 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic192.png" width = "370" height = "377" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +PEASANT WOMEN OF THE ENVIRONS OF SAUMUR.</p> + +<h4><a name = "chapXIII" id = "chapXIII"> +XIII.—Sparkling Saumur and Sparkling Sauternes.</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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 +<span class = "pagenum">140</span> +<!-- png 193 --> +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.</p> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">After</span> +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.</p> + +<!-- png 194 --> +<!-- png 195 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic195.jpg" width = "444" height = "291" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE VINEYARDS OF THE COTEAU DE SAUMUR. (p. 141)</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">141</span> +<!-- png 196 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Eugénie Grandet</i>, the scene of which +is laid at Saumur. To-day, however, +<span class = "pagenum">142</span> +<!-- png 197 --> +only a few of its ancient carved timber houses, quaint overhanging +corner turrets, and fantastically-studded massive oak doors have escaped +demolition.</p> + +<p>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 <i>coiffures</i> in vogue so far back as three and four +centuries ago.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>seilles</i>—small squat buckets with wooden handles—the +contents of which are emptied from time to time into baskets—the +counterpart of the chiffonnier’s <i>hotte</i>, and coated with pitch +inside so as to close all the crevices of the wickerwork—which the +<i>portes-bastes</i> carry slung to their backs. When white wine is +being made from black +<span class = "pagenum">143</span> +<!-- png 198 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>parlements</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">144</span> +<!-- png 199 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>vin préparé</i> 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 <i>Quentin Durward</i>. On +proceeding to Vouvray from Tours we skirt a succession of poplar-fringed +meadows stretching eastward in the direction of Amboise along +<span class = "pagenum">145</span> +<!-- png 200 --> +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 <i>La Comédie Humaine</i>, some forty years +ago, has scarcely changed at the present day.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">146</span> +<!-- png 201 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">147</span> +<!-- png 202 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic202.png" width = "369" height = "245" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +DOLMEN AT BAGNEUX, NEAR SAUMUR.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">148</span> +<!-- png 203 --> +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.</p> + +<p>At the commencement of the present century, in the days when, as +Balzac relates in his <i>Eugénie Grandet</i>, 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 <i>père</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">149</span> +<!-- png 206 --> +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.</p> + +<!-- png 204 --> +<!-- png 205 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic204.jpg" width = "270" height = "399" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE CELLARS OF M. ACKERMAN-LAURANCE AT SAINT-FLORENT.<br> +<span class = "smallroman">LABELLING AND PACKING SPARKLING SAUMUR.<ins +class = "mycorr" title = "parenthesis missing"> (</ins>p. +150.)</span></p> + +<p>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 <i>vin brut</i>, 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 +<i>cuvée</i> 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.</p> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">150</span> +<!-- png 207 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic208.png" width = "359" height = "268" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE CELLARS OF M. LOUIS DUVAU AÎNÉ AT THE CHÂTEAU OF VARRAINS.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">151</span> +<!-- png 208 --> +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 +<span class = "pagenum">152</span> +<!-- png 209 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">153</span> +<!-- png 210 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>sur pointe</i>. 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 +<i>cuvée</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">154</span> +<!-- png 211 --> +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 “<i>à +hauteur d’infamie</i>” as we see them now.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">155</span> +<!-- png 212 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic212.png" width = "292" height = "326" +alt = "woman picking grapes"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<i>cuvée</i>. This colombar grape is simply the semillon—one of +the leading varieties of the Sauternes district—transported to the +Charente. The remarkably cool cellars +<span class = "pagenum">156</span> +<!-- png 213 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic213.png" width = "219" height = "318" +alt = "woman with basket"> +</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">157</span> +<!-- png 214 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic214.png" width = "300" height = "324" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +VINTAGER OF THE CÔTE D’OR</p> + +<h4><a name = "chapXIV" id = "chapXIV"> +XIV.—The Sparkling Wines of Burgundy and the Jura.</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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.</p> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">Sparkling</span> +wines are made to a considerable extent in Burgundy, notably at Beaune, +Nuits, and Dijon, and though as a +<span class = "pagenum">158</span> +<!-- png 215 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic216.png" width = "208" height = "211" +alt = "man with basket of grapes on his back"> +</p> + +<p>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 <i>cordons</i> 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 <i>balonges</i>, 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 <i>mère goutte</i>, or mother drop, is +employed. For the ordinary +<span class = "pagenum">159</span> +<!-- png 216 --> +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.</p> + +<p>A fortnight after the tirage the wine commonly attains the stage +known as <i>grand mousseux</i>, 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 <i>sur pointe</i>, +agitating them daily, together with the disgorging and liqueuring of the +wine, is accomplished precisely as in the Champagne.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">160</span> +<!-- png 217 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>écorcheurs</i> (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.</p> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">161</span> +<!-- png 218 --> +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.</p> + +<p>The red, straw, and yellow wines of the Jura have long had a high +reputation in the East of France, and the <i>vin jaune</i> 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 <ins class = "mycorr" title += "spelling unchanged">doggrel</ins> rhymes in honour of the famous Jura +crû:—</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +“Come, little page, serve us aright,</p> +<p class = "verse in2"> +The crown is often heavy to bear;</p> +<p class = "verse"> +So fill up my goblet large and light</p> +<p class = "verse in2"> +Whenever you find a vacancy there.</p> +<p class = "verse"> +This wine is surely no Christian wight,</p> +<p class = "verse in2"> +And yet you never complaint will hear<br> +That it’s not baptised with water clear.</p> +<p class = "verse in4"> +<span class = "pagenum">162</span> +<!-- png 219 --> +Down my throat I pour<br> +The old Arbois;</p> +<p class = "verse"> +And now, my lords, let us our voices raise,<br> +And sing of Silenus and Bacchus the praise!”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">163</span> +<!-- png 220 --> +savagnin, or white pineau, the melon of Poligny, and the poulsard, +a black variety of grape held locally in much esteem.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic220.png" width = "217" height = "323" +alt = "woman grape-picker leaning against wall"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<i>sapine</i>, where it remains until bubbles are seen escaping through +the <i>chapeau</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">164</span> +<!-- png 221 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">165</span> +<!-- png 222 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic222.png" width = "258" height = "268" +alt = "two men carrying basket"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +CONVEYING GRAPES TO THE PRESS AT SAINT-PÉRAY.</p> + +<h4><a name = "chapXV" id = "chapXV"> +XV.—The Sparkling Wines of the South of France.</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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.</p> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">Sparkling</span> +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 +<span class = "pagenum">166</span> +<!-- png 223 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>We crossed the Rhône over one of its hundred flimsy suspension +bridges, on the majority of which a notice warns you +<span class = "pagenum">167</span> +<!-- png 224 --> +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 <i>premiers pairs +de France</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">168</span> +<!-- png 225 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. +<span class = "pagenum">169</span> +<!-- png 226 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic226.png" width = "250" height = "193" +alt = "grape pickers"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">170</span> +<!-- png 227 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">171</span> +<!-- png 228 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>dégorgement</i> three, if +not as many as four times.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">172</span> +<!-- png 229 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic229.png" width = "328" height = "343" +alt = "see text"> +</p> + +<h4><a name = "chapXVI" id = "chapXVI"> +XVI.—The Sparkling Wines of Germany.</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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.</p> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">The</span> +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 +<span class = "pagenum">173</span> +<!-- png 230 --> +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 <i>goût de terroir</i>—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It is generally asserted that sparkling wines were first manufactured +in Germany more than half a century ago from the +<span class = "pagenum">174</span> +<!-- png 231 --> +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 +<i>chef de cave</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic232.png" width = "361" height = "241" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE AHR VALLEY.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">175</span> +<!-- png 232 --> +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 +<span class = "pagenum">176</span> +<!-- png 233 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">177</span> +<!-- png 234 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<!-- png 236 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic236.jpg" width = "443" height = "283" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +MESSRS. DEINHARD & CO.’S NEW ESTABLISHMENT AT COBLENZ. +(p. 178)</p> + +<p>At Coblenz, the capital of Rhenish Prussia, and one of the strongest +fortresses in the world, the so-called blue Moselle +<span class = "pagenum">178</span> +<!-- png 235 --> +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:—</p> + +<p class = "recipe"> +“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.</p> + +<p class = "verse smallcaps" align = "center"> +Augusta,</p> + +<p class = "verse" align = "center"> +“German Empress and Queen of Prussia.”</p> + +<!-- png 237 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic237.jpg" width = "443" height = "293" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +MESSRS. DEINHARD & CO.’S NEW CELLARS AT COBLENZ. (p. 179.)</p> + +<p>The proximity of the establishment to the Rhine did not allow of the +cellars being excavated to a greater depth than 30 +<span class = "pagenum">179</span> +<!-- png 238 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic238.png" width = "377" height = "227" +alt = "decorated arch: see preceding text"> +</p> + +<p>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, +<span class = "pagenum">180</span> +<!-- png 239 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic240.png" width = "301" height = "320" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +VINEYARDS IN THE AHR VALLEY.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">181</span> +<!-- png 240 --> +Champagne, only a moderate proportion of wine from black grapes enters +into the blend.</p> + +<table class = "float right" summary = "illustration, see caption"> +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic241.png" width = "174" height = "298" +alt = "statue of king: see caption"> +</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "caption"> +ON THE BRIDGE AT<br> +RECH, AHR VALLEY. +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">182</span> +<!-- png 241 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">183</span> +<!-- png 242 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic242.jpg" width = "332" height = "368" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +LIEBENSTEIN AND STERRENBERG.</p> + +<h4 class = "plain"><a name = "chapXVII" id = "chapXVII"> +<span class = "smallcaps"> +XVII.—The Sparkling Wines of Germany</span> +(<i>continued</i>).</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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 +<span class = "pagenum">184</span> +<!-- png 243 --> +M. Oppmann at Wurzburg—The Historic Cellars of the King of +Bavaria beneath the Residenz—The Establishment of F. A. +Siligmüller.</p> + +<!-- <p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic243.png" width = "" height = "" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +STOLZENFELS.</p> --> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic243a.gif" width = "139" height = "85" +alt = ""> +</p> +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic243b.gif" width = "333" height = "260" +alt = "see caption"> +<br> +<span class = "caption"> +STOLZENFELS.</span> +</p> + +<p><span class = "firstword">Ascending</span> +the Rhine from Coblenz—past many an ancient ruined castle, past +restored Stolzenfels, the historic <ins class = "mycorr" +title = "umlaut missing in original">Königs-stuhl</ins>, +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 +<span class = "pagenum">185</span> +<!-- png 246 --> +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.</p> + +<!-- png 244 --> +<!-- png 245 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic245.jpg" width = "402" height = "269" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +MESSRS. EWALD & CO.’S ESTABLISHMENT AT RÜDESHEIM. (p. 185)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">186</span> +<!-- png 247 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<!-- png 248 --> +<!-- png 249 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic248.jpg" width = "442" height = "285" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MATHEUS MÜLLER AT ELTVILLE. (p. 186)</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">187</span> +<!-- png 250 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic250.png" width = "346" height = "137" +alt = "vineyard walls"> +</p> + +<p>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, Œstrich, 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 <i>vin brut</i> it is under no necessity of +<span class = "pagenum">188</span> +<!-- png 251 --> +drawing upon them until they have attained the requisite maturity and +developed all their finer qualities.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<!-- png 252 --> +<!-- png 253 --> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/plates/pic252.jpg" width = "452" height = "284" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +ENTRANCE TO LAUTEREN SOHN’S ESTABLISHMENT, MAYENCE. (p. 188)</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">189</span> +<!-- png 254 --> +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:—</p> + +<p class = "recipe"> +“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">190</span> +<!-- png 255 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">191</span> +<!-- png 256 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic256.png" width = "328" height = "362" +alt = "framed view of lake and town"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +BINGEN.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">192</span> +<!-- png 257 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic257.png" width = "376" height = "269" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE NECKAR AT HEIDELBERG.</p> + +<p>Wurzburg, one of the most antiquated and picturesque of German +cities, is noted for its sparkling Franconian wines vintaged +<span class = "pagenum">193</span> +<!-- png 258 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">194</span> +<!-- png 259 --> +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.</p> + +<table class = "float right" summary = "illustration"> +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic260.png" width = "146" height = "305" +alt = "corner of old house"> +</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "caption"> +AT AHRWEILER. +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>Another sparkling wine establishment was founded at +<span class = "pagenum">195</span> +<!-- png 260 --> +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.</p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">196</span> +<!-- png 261 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic261.png" width = "365" height = "310" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +A SPANISH VINTAGE SCENE.</p> + +<h4><a name = "chapXVIII" id = "chapXVIII"> +XVIII.—The Sparkling Wines of Austro-Hungary, Switzerland, Italy, +Spain, Russia, &c.</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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.</p> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">Sparkling</span> +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 +<span class = "pagenum">197</span> +<!-- png 262 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The wines, which are treated precisely after the system pursued in +the Champagne, are bottled during the months of July +<span class = "pagenum">198</span> +<!-- png 263 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">199</span> +<!-- png 264 --> +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, <ins class = "mycorr" title = +"spelling unchanged">Geñnau</ins>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 +œno-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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">200</span> +<!-- png 265 --> +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 <i>cuvées</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">201</span> +<!-- png 266 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Spain of late years has shown itself equally ambitious with +<span class = "pagenum">202</span> +<!-- png 267 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">203</span> +<!-- png 268 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic268.png" width = "373" height = "318" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +VINTAGE SCENE IN THE UNITED STATES.</p> + +<h4><a name = "chapXIX" id = "chapXIX"> +XIX.—The Sparkling Wines of the United States.</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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.</p> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">From</span> +the earliest period of the colonisation of America the vine appears to +have attracted the attention of the settlers, and +<span class = "pagenum">204</span> +<!-- png 269 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">205</span> +<!-- png 270 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Vitis +labrusca</i>, 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 +<span class = "pagenum">206</span> +<!-- png 271 --> +“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<p class = "verse in2"> +“There grows no vine<br> +By the haunted Rhine,</p> +<p class = "verse"> +By Danube or Guadalquivir,</p> +<p class = "verse in2"> +Nor on island nor cape,<br> +That bears such a grape</p> +<p class = "verse last"> +As grows by the Beautiful River.</p> + +<p class = "verse in2"> +“Very good in its way<br> +Is the Verzenay,</p> +<p class = "verse"> +Or the Sillery, soft and creamy,</p> +<p class = "verse in2"> +But Catawba wine<br> +Has a taste more divine,</p> +<p class = "verse last"> +More dulcet, delicious, and dreamy.”</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">207</span> +<!-- png 272 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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, +<span class = "pagenum">208</span> +<!-- png 273 --> +too, are large, oval, and juicy, and marked by a strong musky aroma.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic273.png" width = "363" height = "249" +alt = "grape mill: see following text"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">209</span> +<!-- png 274 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">210</span> +<!-- png 275 --> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>cuvées</i> 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 <i>vin brut</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">211</span> +<!-- png 276 --> +of the white varieties indicating merely 15° of proof spirit, and the +red ones no more than 17½°.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">212</span> +<!-- png 277 --> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<img src = "images/pic277.png" width = "343" height = "320" +alt = "lady accepting champagne"> +</p> + +<h4><a name = "chapXX" id = "chapXX"> +XX.—Concluding Facts and Hints.</a></h4> + +<p class = "summary"> +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.</p> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">When</span> +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 +<span class = "pagenum">213</span> +<!-- png 278 --> +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 <i>vin brut</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>beau-idéal</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">214</span> +<!-- png 279 --> +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 <i>plats</i>, and not at +dessert, with all kinds of sweets, fruits, and ices, as is almost +invariably the case abroad.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">215</span> +<!-- png 280 --> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">216</span> +<!-- png 281 --> +the <i>vin brut</i>, or when stocks are low and the <i>vin brut</i> is +really scarce, that the price of champagne appears to rise.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, +<span class = "pagenum">217</span> +<!-- png 282 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/pic283-1.png" width = "135" height = "220" +alt = "slider bins: see text"> +</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">218</span> +<!-- png 283 --> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic283-2.png" width = "376" height = "238" +alt = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +WINE-CELLAR FITTED WITH BURROW’S PATENT SLIDER BINS.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">219</span> +<!-- png 284 --> +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.</p> + +<p>From the subjoined table it will be seen that the consumption +<span class = "pagenum">220</span> +<!-- png 285 --> +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.</p> + + +<table class = "stats" summary = "numbers"> +<!-- from page 219 bottom --> +<tr> +<td class = "top smallcaps" colspan = "5"> +<a name = "stats" id = "stats"> +Official Return by the Chamber of Commerce at Reims of The Trade in +Champagne Wines From April, 1844, To April, 1878.</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<th abbr = "Year">Years, from April to April.</th> +<th abbr = "Stocks">Manufacturers’ Stocks.</th> +<th abbr = "Exports">Number of Bottles Exported.</th> +<th abbr = "Sold in France">Number of Bottles sold in France.</th> +<th abbr = "Total bottles">Total number of Bottles Sold.</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1844-45</td> +<td>23,285,218</td> +<td>4,380,214</td> +<td>2,255,438</td> +<td>6,635,652</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1845-46</td> +<td>22,847,971</td> +<td>4,505,308</td> +<td>2,510,605</td> +<td>7,015,913</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1846-47</td> +<td>18,815,367</td> +<td>4,711,915</td> +<td>2,355,366</td> +<td>7,067,281</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1847-48</td> +<td>23,122,994</td> +<td>4,859,625</td> +<td>2,092,571</td> +<td>6,952,196</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1848-49</td> +<td>21,290,185</td> +<td>5,686,484</td> +<td>1,473,966</td> +<td>7,160,450</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1849-50</td> +<td>20,499,192</td> +<td>5,001,044</td> +<td>1,705,735</td> +<td>6,706,779</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1850-51</td> +<td>20,444,915</td> +<td>5,866,971</td> +<td>2,122,569</td> +<td>7,989,540</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1851-52</td> +<td>21,905,479</td> +<td>5,957,552</td> +<td>2,162,880</td> +<td>8,120,432</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1852-53</td> +<td>19,376,967</td> +<td>6,355,574</td> +<td>2,385,217</td> +<td>8,740,790</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1853-54</td> +<td>17,757,769</td> +<td>7,878,320</td> +<td>2,528,719</td> +<td>10,407,039</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1854-55</td> +<td>20,922,959</td> +<td>6,895,773</td> +<td>2,452,743</td> +<td>9,348,516</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1855-56</td> +<td>15,957,141</td> +<td>7,137,001</td> +<td>2,562,039</td> +<td>9,699,040</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1856-57</td> +<td>15,228,294</td> +<td>8,490,198</td> +<td>2,468,818</td> +<td>10,959,016</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1857-58</td> +<td>21,628,778</td> +<td>7,368,310</td> +<td>2,421,454</td> +<td>9,789,764</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1858-59</td> +<td>28,328,251</td> +<td>7,666,633</td> +<td>2,805,416</td> +<td>10,472,049</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1859-60</td> +<td>35,648,124</td> +<td>8,265,395</td> +<td>3,039,621</td> +<td>11,305,016</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1860-61</td> +<td>30,235,260</td> +<td>8,488,223</td> +<td>2,697,508</td> +<td>11,185,731</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1861-62</td> +<td>30,254,291</td> +<td>6,904,915</td> +<td>2,592,875</td> +<td>9,497,790</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1862-63</td> +<td>28,013,189</td> +<td>7,937,836</td> +<td>2,767,371</td> +<td>10,705,207</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1863-64</td> +<td>28,466,975</td> +<td>9,851,138</td> +<td>2,934,996</td> +<td>12,786,134</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1864-65</td> +<td>33,298,672</td> +<td>9,101,441</td> +<td>2,801,626</td> +<td>11,903,067</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1865-66</td> +<td>34,175,429</td> +<td>10,413,455</td> +<td>2,782,777</td> +<td>13,196,132</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1866-67</td> +<td>37,608,716</td> +<td>10,283,886</td> +<td>3,218,343</td> +<td>13,502,229</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1867-68</td> +<td>37,969,219</td> +<td>10,876,585</td> +<td>2,924,268</td> +<td>13,800,853</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1868-69</td> +<td>32,490,881</td> +<td>12,810,194</td> +<td>3,104,496</td> +<td>15,914,690</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1869-70</td> +<td>39,272,562</td> +<td>13,858,839</td> +<td>3,628,461</td> +<td>17,487,300</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1870-71</td> +<td>39,984,003</td> +<td>7,544,323</td> +<td>1,633,941</td> +<td>9,178,264</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1871-72</td> +<td>40,099,243</td> +<td>17,001,124</td> +<td>3,367,537</td> +<td>20,368,661</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1872-73</td> +<td>45,329,490</td> +<td>18,917,779</td> +<td>3,464,059</td> +<td>22,381,838</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1873-74</td> +<td>46,573,974</td> +<td>18,106,310</td> +<td>2,491,759</td> +<td>20,598,069</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1874-75</td> +<td>52,733,674</td> +<td>15,318,345</td> +<td>3,517,182</td> +<td>18,835,527</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1875-76</td> +<td>64,658,767</td> +<td>16,705,719</td> +<td>2,439,762</td> +<td>19,145,481</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1876-77</td> +<td>71,398,726</td> +<td>15,882,964</td> +<td>3,127,991</td> +<td>19,010,955</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1877-78</td> +<td>70,183,863</td> +<td>15,711,651</td> +<td>2,450,983</td> +<td>18,162,634</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>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 +<i>entrée</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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, +<span class = "pagenum">221</span> +<!-- png 286 --> +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 <ins class = "mycorr" +title = "spelling unchanged">gainsayed</ins>. +After the preliminary glowering at each +other, <i>more Britannico</i>, 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 +<i>aplomb</i>, 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 <i>débutantes</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>The hostess brightens, the host coruscates. The young lady +<span class = "pagenum">222</span> +<!-- png 287 --> +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.</p> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<p><a name = "recipes" id = "recipes">A few recipes</a> 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.</p> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">223</span> +<!-- png 288 --> +Soyer’s elaborate recipe for champagne cup for a large party is as +follows:—</p> + +<p class = "recipe"> +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.</p> + +<p>A less potent and pretentious beverage, and better suited for a +summer drink, is the subjoined:—</p> + +<p class = "recipe"> +Dissolve two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar in a quart of Apollinaris +water. Add a wineglass of <ins class = "mycorr" +title = "spelling unchanged">curaçoa</ins>, +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.</p> + +<p>Other recipes are as follows:—</p> + +<p class = "recipe"> +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.</p> + +<p class = "recipe"> +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.</p> + +<p class = "recipe"> +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.</p> + +<p>The following cup for a party of twenty is said to be of Russian +inspiration:—</p> + +<p class = "recipe"> +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 +<ins class = "mycorr" title = "spelling unchanged">curaçoa</ins>, +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.</p> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">224</span> +<!-- png 289 --> +Here is a recipe for a cup made with chablis and sparkling red +burgundy:—</p> + +<p class = "recipe"> +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.</p> + +<p>The following refer to sparkling hock and moselle cups:—</p> + +<p class = "recipe"> +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.</p> + +<p class = "recipe"> +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.</p> + +<p class = "recipe"> +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.</p> + +<p class = "recipe"> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic289.png" width = "163" height = "144" +alt = "champagne cooler holding three bottles"> +</p> + +</div> + +<div class = "brands"> + +<span class = "pagenum">225</span> +<!-- png 291 --> + +<h4><a name = "brands" id = "brands"> +THE PRINCIPAL SPARKLING WINE BRANDS.</a></h4> + +<h5>*<sub>*</sub>* <i>In this list whenever a manufacturer has various +qualities the higher qualities are always placed first.</i></h5> + +<div class = "mynote"> +<p>The book included an <a href = "#errata">errata sheet</a> for the +tables. It is shown here immediately after the tables themselves. The +changes and corrections listed have <i>not</i> been made in the text, +but are noted with <ins class = "edcorr" title = "like this">mouse-hover +popups</ins>.</p> + +<p>For this e-text, the “On side of Corks” column has been omitted from +those groups of wines in which it does not occur.</p> +</div> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<h5><a name = "wine_champagne" id = "wine_champagne"> +<b>CHAMPAGNES.</b></a></h5> + +<table class = "cork" summary = "manufacturers and their brands"> +<tr> +<th abbr = "firms"><p>Firms and Wholesale Agents.</p></th> +<th>Brands.</th> +<th>Qualities.</th> +<th abbr = "corks"><p>On side of Corks.</p></th> +</tr> +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "3"> +<p class = "firm"> +AYALA & CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Ay</span></p> +<p>Ayala, 7, Little Tower Street, London</p> +<p>Rinck & Unger, 50, Park Place, New York</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork291-1.png" width = "62" height = "63" +alt = "AYALA & Co / CHÂTEAU dAY"> +</td> +<td><p>Carte Blanche</p></td> +<td>Extra.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte Noire</p></td> +<td>Première.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork291-2.png" width = "61" height = "62" +alt = "A&Co"> +</td> +<td>Second</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "firm"> +BINET FILS & CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Reims</span></p> +<p>Rutherford & Browne, Old Trinity House, 5, Water Lane, +London.</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork291-3.png" width = "59" height = "59" +alt = "eagle surrounded by text BINET FILS & CO / REIMS"> +</td> +<td>Extra</td> +<td><p>Binet fils & Cie.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td>First<br> +Second</td> +<td> ” ”</td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "firm"> +BOLLINGER, J., <span class = "smallcaps">Ay.</span></p> +<p>L. Mentzendorf, 6, Idol Lane, London.</p> +<p>E. and J. Burke, 40, Beaver Street, New York.</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork291-4.png" width = "59" height = "57" +alt = "upward-shooting star surrounded by text REMAUDIN BOLLINGER & Co."> +</td> +<td><p>Very Dry Extra</p></td> +<td><p>Very Dry Extra quality.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td><td></td>--> +<td><p>Dry Extra</p></td> +<td><p>Dry Extra quality.</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +BRUCH-FOUCHER & CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Mareuil</span></p> +<p>L. Ehrmann, 34, Gt. Tower Street, London.</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork291-5.png" width = "59" height = "62" +alt = "upward-shooting star surrounded by text BRUCH FOUCHER & Co"> +</td> +<td><p>Carte D’Or</p> +First<br> +Second</td> +<td> </td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "firm"> +CLICQUOT-PONSARDIN, <span class = "smallcaps">Veuve, Reims</span> (WERLE +& CO.)</p> +<p>Fenwick, Parrot, & Co., 124, Fenchurch Street, London.</p> +<p>Schmidt Bros., New York.</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork291-6.png" width = "59" height = "60" +alt = "upward-shooting star surrounded by text V. CLICQUOT. P / WERLE"> +</td> +<td>Dry</td> +<td>England.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td>Rich</td> +<td> ”</td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "3"> +<p class = "firm"> +DE CAZANOVE, C., <span class = "smallcaps">Avize</span></p> +<p>J. R. Hunter, 46, Fenchurch Street, London</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork291-7.png" width = "59" height = "60" +alt = "crown surrounded by text CH DE CAZANOVE / AVIZE / marne"> +</td> +<td>Extra</td> +<td> +<p>Extra qualité.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td>First<br> +Second<br> +Third<br> +Fourth</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork291-8.png" width = "61" height = "60" +alt = "crown over text C de C"> +</td> +<td>Fifth</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "2"> +<span class = "pagenum">226</span> +<!-- png 292 --> +<p class = "firm">DEUTZ & GELDERMANN, <span class = +"smallcaps">Ay</span></p> +<p>J. R. Parkington & Co., 21, Crutched Friars, London.</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork292-1.png" width = "60" height = "61" +alt = "upward-shooting star surrounded by text DEUTZ & GELDERMANN"> +</td> +<td><p>Gold Lack (Extra Dry and Dry)</p></td> +<td><p>Gold Lack.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Cabinet (Extra Dry and Dry)</p></td> +<td>Cabinet.</td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +DUCHATEL-OHAUS, <span class = "smallcaps">Reims</span></p> +<p>Woellworth & Co., 70, Mark Lane, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork292-2.png" width = "61" height = "61" +alt = "E DUCHATEL OHAUS / REIMS"> +</td> +<td><p>Carte Blanche (Dry and Rich)</p> +<p>Verzenay (Dry and Rich)</p> +<p>Sillery (Dry and Rich)</p></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "firm"> +DUMINY & CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Ay</span></p> +<p>Mogford, Courtenay, & Co., 16, Mark Lane, London</p> +<p>Anthony Oechs, New Street, New York</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork292-3.png" width = "60" height = "61" +alt = "EXTRA / DUMINY & Co. / AY"> +</td> +<td>Extra</td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<p>Maison fondée en 1814.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork292-4.png" width = "59" height = "59" +alt = "FIRST / DUMINY & Co. / AY"> +</td> +<td>First</td> +<!--<td></td>--> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "6"> +<p class = "firm"> +FARRE, CHARLES, <span class = "smallcaps">Reims</span></p> +<p>Hornblower & Co., 50, Mark Lane, London</p> +<p>Gilmore & Gibson, Baltimore</p> +<p>Mel & Sons, San Francisco</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork292-5.png" width = "60" height = "60" +alt = "Ch. Farre / Cabinet / Reims"> +</td> +<td><p>Cabinet (Grand Vin)</p></td> +<td><p>Cabinet Grand Vin.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork292-6.png" width = "60" height = "63" +alt = "leftward-shooting star surrounded by text Ch. Farre / Reims"> +</td> +<td><p>Carte Blanche</p></td> +<td><p>Carte Blanche.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte Noire</p></td> +<td><p>Carte Noire.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork292-7.png" width = "62" height = "62" +alt = "Sillery Sec / Ch F / Reims"> +</td> +<td><p>Sillery Sec</p></td> +<td><p>Sillery Sec.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork292-8.png" width = "62" height = "61" +alt = "Sillery / Ch. F. / Reims"> +</td> +<td>Sillery</td> +<td>Sillery.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork292-9.png" width = "61" height = "62" +alt = "Ch. F. / AY / Reims"> +</td> +<td><p>Ay Mousseux</p></td> +<td>Ay.</td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "firm"> +<a name = "brand_fisse" id = "brand_fisse"> +FISSE, THIRION, & Co., <span class = +"smallcaps">Reims</span></a></p> +<p>Stallard and Smith, 25, Philpot Lane, London</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork292-10.png" width = "60" height = "61" +alt = "eagle surrounded by text FISSE THIRION & Co. / REIMS"> +</td> +<td><p>Cachet d’Or (Extra Dry and Medium Dry)</p></td> +<td><p>Cachet d’Or.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte Blanche (Dry, Medium Dry, and Rich)</p></td> +<td><p>Carte Blanche.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p class = "sans"><i>See <a href = "#errata">author’s +correction</a>.</i></p></td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork292-11.png" width = "61" height = "62" +alt = "FISSE THIRION & Co. / REIMS"> +</td> +<td><p>Carte Noire (Dry and Medium Dry).</p></td> +<td><p>Carte Noire.</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "4"> +<span class = "pagenum">227</span> +<!-- png 293 --> +<p class = "firm"><a name = "brand_gibert" id = "brand_gibert"> +GIBERT, GUSTAVE, <span class = "smallcaps">Reims</span></a></p> +<p>Cock, Russell, & Co., <ins class = "edcorr" +title = "corrected by author to ‘23, Rood Lane’">63, +Great Tower Street</ins>, London</p> +<p>Hays & Co., 40, Day Street, New York</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork293-1.png" width = "63" height = "63" +alt = "GUSTAVE GIBERT / VIN DU ROI / REIMS"> +</td> +<td><p>Vin du Roi</p></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork293-2.png" width = "63" height = "62" +alt = "upward-shooting star surrounded by text GUSTAVE GIBERT / REIMS"> +</td> +<td>Extra</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork293-3.png" width = "63" height = "63" +alt = "crown surrounded by text GUSTAVE GIBERT / REIMS"> +</td> +<td>First</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork293-4.png" width = "62" height = "62" +alt = "large star surrounded by text GUSTAVE GIBERT / REIMS"> +</td> +<td>Second</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>All these wines are prepared Extra Dry, Dry, or Rich.</p></td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork293-5.png" width = "62" height = "63" +alt = "anchor surrounded by text GUSTAVE GIBERT / REIMS"> +</td> +<td>Third</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "5"> +<p class = "firm"> +GIESLER & CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Avize</span></p> +<p>F. Giesler & Co., 32, Fenchurch Street, London.</p> +<p>Purdy & Nicholas, 43, Beaver Street, New York</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "3"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork293-6.png" width = "55" height = "55" +alt = "anchor above text GIESLER & Co / AVIZE"> +</td> +<td><p>Extra Superior</p></td> +<td><ins class = "edcorr" title = +"text ‘Extra Superior’ added by author"> </ins></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td>India</td> +<td>India.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td>First</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork293-7.png" width = "54" height = "55" +alt = "anchor above text G & Co"> +</td> +<td>Second</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork293-8.png" width = "54" height = "55" +alt = "upward-shooting star surrounded by text G & Co"> +</td> +<td>Third</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +HEIDSIECK & CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Reims.</span></p> +<p>Theodor Satow & Co., 141, Fenchurch Street, London</p> +<p>Schmidt & Peters, 20, Beaver Street, New York</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork293-9.png" width = "53" height = "53" +alt = "upward-shooting star surrounded by text HEIDSIECK & Co / REIMS"> +</td> +<td><p>Dry Monopole.</p> +<p>Monopole (Rich)</p> +<p>Dry Vin Royal</p> +<p>Grand Vin Royal (Rich)</p></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "firm"> +IRROY, ERNEST, <span class = "smallcaps">Reims.</span></p> +<p>Cuddeford & Smith, 66, Mark Lane, London</p> +<p><ins class = "edcorr" +title = "corrected by author to ‘F. O. de Luze’">O. de Saye</ins>, +18, South William Street, New York</p> +<p><ins class = "edcorr" title = "item deleted by author">W. E. Hepp, +101, Gravier Street, New Orleans</ins></p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork293-10.png" width = "60" height = "60" +alt = "ERNEST IRROY / REIMS"> +</td> +<td><p>Carte d’Or, Dry</p></td> +<td><p>Carte d’Or, Sec.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte d’Or</p></td> +<td><p>Carte d’Or.</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "4"> +<span class = "pagenum">228</span> +<!-- png 294 --> +<p class = "firm"> +KRUG & Co., <span class = "smallcaps">Reims</span></p> +<p>Inglis and Cunningham, 60, Mark Lane, London</p> +<p>A. Rocherau & Co., New York</p> +<p>Hillman Bros. & Co., San Francisco</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork294-1.png" width = "59" height = "60" +alt = "crown surrounded by text KRUG & Co / REIMS"> +</td> +<td><p>Carte Blanche</p></td> +<td><p>Carte Blanche, England.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Private Cuvée</p></td> +<td><p>Private Cuvée, England.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork294-2.png" width = "61" height = "59" +alt = "capital A surrounded by text KRUG & Co / REIMS"> +</td> +<td>First</td> +<td>England.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork294-3.png" width = "60" height = "61" +alt = "K & C"> +</td> +<td>Second</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "7"> +<p class = "firm"> +MOËT & CHANDON, <span class = "smallcaps">Epernay</span></p> +<p>Simon & Dale, Old Trinity House, 5, Water Lane, London, Agents +for Great Britain and the Colonies</p> +<p>Renauld, François, & Co., 23, Beaver Street, New York</p> +<p>J. Hope & Co., Montreal</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "6"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork294-4.png" width = "56" height = "55" +alt = "upward-shooting star above text MOET & CHANDON"> +</td> +<td>Brut</td> +<td><p>Imperial, England.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td>Creaming</td> +<td><p>Creaming, England.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Extra Superior</p></td> +<td><p>Extra Superior, England.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Extra Dry Sillery</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>White Dry Sillery</p></td> +<td><p>White Dry, England.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>First Quality</p></td> +<td>England.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork294-5.png" width = "58" height = "59" +alt = "star above text M & C"> +</td> +<td><p>Second Quality</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "4"> +<p class = "firm"> +MONTEBELLO, DUC DE, <span class = "smallcaps">Mareuil-sur-Ay</span></p> +<p>John Hopkins & Co., 26, Crutched Friars, London</p> +<p>Cazade, Crooks, & Reynaud, 25, South William St., N.Y.</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "4"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork294-6.png" width = "63" height = "60" +alt = "crowned arms surrounded by text DUC DE MONTEBELLO"> +</td> +<td><p>Cuvée Extra</p></td> +<td><p>Cuvée Extra.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte Blanche</p></td> +<td>Reserve.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte Bleue</p></td> +<td><p>Cte. Bleue.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte Noire</p></td> +<td><p>Cte. Noire.</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "8"> +<p class = "firm"> +MUMM, G. H., & CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Reims</span></p> +<p>W. J. and T. Welch, 10, Corn Exchange Chambers, Seething Lane, +London</p> +<p>F. de Bary & Co., 41 and 43, Warren Street, New York</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "8"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork294-7.png" width = "61" height = "60" +alt = "eagle surrounded by text G H MUMM & Co / G de BARY"> +</td> +<td><p>Carte Blanche</p></td> +<td><p>Cuvée Extra.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Extra Dry</p></td> +<td><p>Extra Dry.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td>Extra</td> +<td>Extra.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td>First</td> +<td>First.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td colspan = "2"> +<p><i>For America only.</i></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Cordon Rouge</p></td> +<td><p>Cordon Rouge.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Extra Dry</p></td> +<td><p>Extra Dry.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Dry Verzenay</p></td> +<td><p>Dry Verzenay.</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +MUMM, JULES, & CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Reims</span></p> +<p>Jules Mumm & Co., 3 & 4, Mark Lane, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork294-8.png" width = "60" height = "59" +alt = "anchor surrounded by text JULES MUMM & Co"> +</td> +<td> +<p>Extra Dry</p> +Dry</td> +<td> </td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "firm"> +PÉRINET & FILS, <span class = "smallcaps">Reims</span></p> +<p>John Barnett & Son, 36, Mark Lane, London</p> +<p>Wood, Pollard, & Co., Boston, U.S.</p> +<p>Hooper and Donaldson, San Francisco</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork294-9.png" width = "59" height = "59" +alt = "large star surrounded by text PERINET & FILS / REIMS"> +</td> +<td><p>Cuvée Réservée (Extra Dry)</p></td> +<td><p>Cuvée Reservée.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">229</span> +<!-- png 295 --> +<p>White Dry Sillery</p></td> +<td><p>White Dry Sillery.</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "4"> +<p class = "firm"> +PERRIER-JOUËT & CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Epernay</span></p> +<p>A. Boursot & Co., 9, Hart Street, Crutched Friars, London</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork295-1.png" width = "60" height = "59" +alt = "PERRIER & JOUËT / EPERNAY"> +</td> +<td><p>Cuvée de Réserve</p></td> +<td>Extra</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Pale Dry Creaming</p> +First</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork295-2.png" width = "61" height = "60" +alt = "P J & Co. / EPERNAY"> +</td> +<td>Second</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork295-3.png" width = "59" height = "60" +alt = "anchor surrounded by letters A B"> +</td> +<td>Third</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +PIPER, H., & CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Reims</span> (KUNKELMANN +& CO.)</p> +<p>W. Foster Newton & Son, 3, Maiden Lane, E.C., London</p> +<p>John Osborn, Son, & Co., New York and Montreal</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork295-4.png" width = "60" height = "61" +alt = "upward-shooting star surrounded by text H PIPER & Co / REIMS"> +</td> +<td><p>Très-Sec (Extra Dry)</p> +<p>Sec (Very Dry)</p> +<p>Carte Blanche (Rich)</p></td> +<td><p>Kunkelmann & Co.</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "4"> +<p class = "firm"> +PFUNGST FRÈRES & CIE., <span class = "smallcaps">Ay, +Epernay</span></p> +<p>J. L. Pfungst & Co., 23, Crutched Friars, London</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "4"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork295-5.png" width = "60" height = "61" +alt = "small upward-shooting star surrounded by text PFUNGST FRES & Cie / AY EPERNAY"> +</td> +<td><p>Carte d’Or (Dry, Extra Dry, and Brut)</p></td> +<td><p>Carte d’Or.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Sillery Crêmant (Extra Dry and Brut)</p></td> +<td><p>Sillery Crêmant.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte Noire (Dry, Extra Dry, and Brut)</p></td> +<td><p>Carte Noire.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Cordon Blanc (Full, Dry, and Extra Dry)</p></td> +<td><p>Cordon Blanc.</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +POL ROGER & CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Epernay</span></p> +<p>Reuss, Lauteren, & Co., 39, Crutched Friars, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork295-6.png" width = "61" height = "61" +alt = "POL ROGER & CIE / EPERNAY"> +</td> +<td><p>Vin Réservé.</p></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "firm"> +POMMERY, VEUVE, <span class = "smallcaps"><ins class = "mycorr" title = +"‘s’ missing in original">Reims</ins></span> (POMMERY & GRENO)</p> +<p>A. Hubinet, 24, Mark Lane, London</p> +<p>Charles Graef, 65, Broad Street, New York</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork295-7.png" width = "58" height = "59" +alt = "CHAMPAGNE SANS LIQUEUR / NATURE"> +</td> +<td><p>Extra Sec (Vin Brut)</p></td> +<td><p>Veuve Pommery.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork295-8.png" width = "59" height = "59" +alt = "POMMERY & GRENO / REIMS"> +</td> +<td>Sec</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<span class = "pagenum">230</span> +<!-- png 296 --> +<p class = "firm"> +ROEDERER, LOUIS, <span class = "smallcaps">Reims</span></p> +<p>Grainger & Son, 108, Fenchurch Street, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork296-1.png" width = "60" height = "60" +alt = "large upward-shooting star surrounded by text L. ROEDERER"> +</td> +<td><p>Carte Blanche</p></td> +<td><p>Reims, Carte Blanche, G<sup>t</sup>.-Britain.</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "6"> +<p class = "firm"> +ROEDERER, THÉOPHILE, & CO., MAISON FONDÉE EN 1861, <span class = +"smallcaps">Reims</span></p> +<p>Théophile Roederer & Co., 150, Fenchurch Street, London</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "6"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork296-2.png" width = "61" height = "61" +alt = "THEOPHILE ROEDERER & Co. / REIMS / MAISON FONDEE EN 1861"> +</td> +<td><p>Crystal Champagne, Special Cuvée</p></td> +<td><p>Special Cuvée.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Extra Reserve Cuvée</p></td> +<td><p>Reserve Cuvée.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Extra Superior Carte Blanche Dorée</p></td> +<td><p>Carte Blanche Dorée</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Extra Quality Carte Blanche</p></td> +<td><p>Carte Blanche.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>First Quality Carte Noire</p></td> +<td><p>Carte Noire.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td>Verzenay</td> +<td>Verzenay.</td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "firm"> +ROUSSILLON, J., & CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Epernay</span></p> +<p>J. Roussillon & Co., 15, New Broad Street, London</p> +<p>D. St. Amant & Son, 13, South William Street, New York</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork296-3.png" width = "61" height = "59" +alt = "J ROUSSILLON & Cie / EPERNAY"> +</td> +<td><p>First Cuvée</p> +<p>Second Cuvée</p> +<p>Dry Verzenay</p></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Sillery Sec</p></td> +<td><p>1874 Extra Sec.</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +RUINART, PÈRE ET FILS, <span class = "smallcaps">Reims</span></p> +<p>Ruinart, Père et Fils, 22, St. Swithin’s Lane, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork296-4.png" width = "60" height = "60" +alt = "large star surrounded by text RUINART / PÈRE & FILS"> +</td> +<td><p>Carte Anglaise</p> +<p>Dry Pale Crêmant</p> +<p>Extra Dry Sparkling</p> +<p>Carte Blanche First</p></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "5"> +<p class = "firm"><a name = "brand_stmarceaux" id = "brand_stmarceaux"> +DE SAINT-MARCEAUX & CO., <span class = +"smallcaps">Reims</span></a></p> +<p>Groves &, Co., 5, Mark Lane, London</p> +<p>Hermann Batjer & Bro., New York</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "4"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork296-5.png" width = "59" height = "59" +alt = "upward-shooting star surrounded by text ST. MARCEAUX"> +</td> +<td><p>Vin Brut</p></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte d’Or (Extra Dry)</p></td> +<td><p>Very dry.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Bouzy Nonpareil (Dry)</p></td> +<td><p>Vin Sec.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte Blanche (Medium)</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork296-6.png" width = "60" height = "59" +alt = "knight’s head surrounded by text ST. MX. & Co / REIMS"> +</td> +<td><p>Second (Medium)</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr class = "bottomline"> +<td><p class = "sans"><i>See <a href = "#errata">author’s +corrections</a>.</i></p></td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork296-7.png" width = "59" height = "60" +alt = "knight’s head surrounded by text A. DE PAUL / REIMS"> +</td> +<td><p>Third (<i>id.</i>)</p> +<p><i>For America only.</i></p> +<p>Dry Royal</p></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +</table> + +<span class = "pagenum">231</span> +<!-- png 298 --> + +<h5><a name = "wine_sauterne" id = "wine_sauterne"> +<b>SAUMUR AND SAUTERNES.</b></a></h5> + +<table class = "cork" summary = "manufacturers and their brands"> +<tr> +<th abbr = "firms"><p>Firms and Wholesale Agents.</p></th> +<th>Brands.</th> +<th>Qualities.</th> +<th abbr = "corks"><p>On side of Corks.</p></th> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "4"> +<p class = "firm"> +ACKERMAN-LAURANCE, <span class = "smallcaps">St. Florent, +Saumur</span></p> +<p>J. N. Bishop, 41, Crutched Friars, London</p> +<p>Timothy Stevens, 29, Beaver Street, New York</p> +<p>Chapin and Gore, 70, Monroe Street, Chicago</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "4"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork298-1.png" width = "59" height = "60" +alt = "ACKERMAN-LAURANCE"> +</td> +<td><p>Carte d’Or</p></td> +<td><p>Carte d’Or.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte Rose</p></td> +<td><p>Carte Rose.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte Bleue</p></td> +<td><p>Carte Bleue.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte Noire</p></td> +<td><p>Carte Noire.</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +DUVAU, LOUIS, <span class = "smallcaps">Aîné, Château de Varrains, +Saumur</span></p> +<p>Jolivet and Canney, 3, Idol Lane, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork298-2.png" width = "60" height = "60" +alt = "DUVAU"> +</td> +<td><p>Carte d’Or, Extra Superior</p> +<p>Carte d’Argent, Extra</p> +<p>Carte Blanche, Superior</p> +<p>Carte Rose, Ordinary</p></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +LORRAIN, JULES, <span class = "smallcaps">Château De la Côte, Varrains, +near Saumur</span></p> +<p>J. Lorrain, 73, Great Tower Street, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork298-3.png" width = "60" height = "61" +alt = "JULES LORRAIN"> +</td> +<td><p>Carte d’Or</p> +<p>Carte Blanche</p> +<p>Carte Rose</p> +<p>Carte Bleue</p></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "4"> +<p class = "firm"> +ROUSTEAUX, A., <span class = "smallcaps">St. Florent, Saumur</span></p> +<p>Cock, Russell, & Co., 63, Great Tower Street, London</p> +<p>I. H. Smith’s Sons, Peck Slip, New York</p> +<p>Law, Young, & Co., Montreal</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork298-4.png" width = "55" height = "54" +alt = "sword surrounded by text A. ROUSTEAUX"> +</td> +<td>Extra</td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork298-5.png" width = "56" height = "54" +alt = "crown surrounded by text A. ROUSTEAUX"> +</td> +<td>First</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork298-6.png" width = "55" height = "52" +alt = "anchor surrounded by text A. ROUSTEAUX"> +</td> +<td>Second</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork298-7.png" width = "56" height = "53" +alt = "upward-shooting star surrounded by text A. ROUSTEAUX"> +</td> +<td>Third +<p>Sparkling Vouvray, Superior</p> +<p>Sparkling Vouvray</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline bottomline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +NORMANDIN, E., & CO., <span class = +"smallcaps">Châteauneuf-sur-Charente</span></p> +<p>P. A. Maignen, 22, Great Tower Street, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork298-8.png" width = "59" height = "60" +alt = "E. NORMANDIN & Co."> +</td> +<td><p>Sparkling Sauternes (Extra Dry)</p> +<p>Sparkling Sauternes (Dry)</p></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<span class = "pagenum">232</span> +<!-- png 299 --> + +<h5><a name = "wine_burgundy" id = "wine_burgundy"> +<b>BURGUNDIES.</b></a></h5> + +<table class = "cork" summary = "manufacturers and their brands"> +<tr> +<th abbr = "firms"><p>Firms and Wholesale Agents.</p></th> +<th>Brands.</th> +<th>Qualities.</th> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +ANDRÉ & VOILLOT, <span class = "smallcaps">Beaune</span></p> +<p>Cock, Russell, & Co., 63, Great Tower Street, London</p> +<p>P. W. Engs and Sons, 131, Front Street, New York</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork299-1.png" width = "60" height = "61" +alt = "PH. ANDRE & JH. VOILLOT / BEAUNE"> +</td> +<td><p>Romanée (White)</p> +<p>Nuits (do.)</p> +<p>Volnay (do.)</p> +<p>Saint-Péray</p> +<p>Pink and Red Wines</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +LATOUR, LOUIS, <span class = "smallcaps">Beaune</span></p> +<p>Reuss, Lauteren, & Co., 39, Crutched Friars, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork299-2.png" width = "60" height = "60" +alt = "leftward-shooting star surrounded by text LOUIS LATOUR / BEAUNE"> +</td> +<td><p>Romanée (White)</p> +<p>Nuits (do.)</p> +<p>Volnay (do.)</p> +<p>Saint-Péray (do.)</p> +<p>Chambertin (Red)</p> +<p>Nuits (do.)</p> +<p>Volnay (do.)</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline bottomline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +LIGER-BELAIR, COMTE, <span class = "smallcaps">Nuits and +Vôsne</span></p> +<p>Fenwick, Parrot, & Co., 124, Fenchurch Street, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork299-3.png" width = "56" height = "60" +alt = "crown surrounded by text CTE. LIGER-BELAIR / NUITS"> +</td> +<td><p>Carte d’Or (White)</p> +<p>Carte Noire (do.)</p> +<p>Carte Verte (do.)</p> +<p>Carte Noire (Red)</p> +<p>Carte Blanche (do.)</p></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<h5><a name = "wine_moselle" id = "wine_moselle"> +<b>HOCKS AND MOSELLES.</b></a></h5> + +<table class = "cork" summary = "manufacturers and their brands"> +<tr> +<th abbr = "firms"><p>Firms and Wholesale Agents.</p></th> +<th>Brands.</th> +<th>Qualities.</th> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "3"> +<p class = "firm"> +DEINHARD & CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Coblenz</span></p> +<p>Deinhard & Co., 6, Idol Lane, London</p> +<p>H. G. Schmidt & Co., 38, Beaver Street, New York</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork299-4.png" width = "59" height = "59" +alt = "DEINHARD & CO. / COBLENZ"> +</td> +<td>First</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork299-5.png" width = "59" height = "58" +alt = "D & C"> +</td> +<td>Second</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork299-6.png" width = "57" height = "56" +alt = "crown (no text)"> +</td> +<td>Third</td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +EWALD & CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Rudesheim-on-Rhine</span></p> +<p>Simon and Dale, Old Trinity House, 5, Water Lane, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork299-7.png" width = "60" height = "60" +alt = "EWALD & CO / RUDESHEIM"> +</td> +<td><p>Sparkling Hock</p> +<p>Nonpareil (Extra Dry and Dry)</p> +<p>Sparkling Moselle Muscatel Nonp. (Dry)</p> +<p>Sparkling Moselle (Nonp.)</p> +<p>Scharzberg (Dry)</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "2"> +<span class = "pagenum">233</span> +<!-- png 300 --> +<p class = "firm"> +HOCHHEIM ASSOCIATION, <span class = +"smallcaps">Hochheim-on-Maine</span></p> +<p>F. Class & Co., 31, Crutched Friars, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork300-1.png" width = "57" height = "56" +alt = "lion surrounded by text BURGEFF & Co / HOCHHEIM"> +</td> +<td> +<p>Sparkling and Creaming Johannisberg</p> +<p>Hochheim First (White or Red)</p> +<p>Do. Second (do.)</p> +<p>Do. Third (do.)</p> +<p>Do. Fourth (do.)</p> +<p>Hocks and Moselles</p> +Nonpareil<br> +First<br> +Second<br> +Third +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork300-2.png" width = "57" height = "57" +alt = "lion above text B & Co"> +</td> +<td>Fourth</td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +KESSLER, G. C., & CO., <span class = +"smallcaps">Esslingen</span></p> +<p>George Saurmann, 7, Cross Lane, St. Mary-at-Hill, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork300-3.png" width = "61" height = "60" +alt = "upward-shooting star surrounded by text G. C. KESSLER & CO."> +</td> +<td><p>Kaiser Wein</p> +<p>Sparkling Hock</p> +<p>Do. Neckar</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +LAUTEREN, C. SOHN, <span class = "smallcaps">Mayence</span></p> +<p>Reuss, Lauteren, & Co., 39, Crutched Friars, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork300-4.png" width = "58" height = "57" +alt = "CLS."> +</td> +<td><p>Sparkling Johannisberg</p> +<p>Hock No. 1</p> +<p>Do. No. 2</p> +<p>Do. No. 3</p> +<p>Moselle, Dry, No. 1</p> +<p>Do. No. 2</p> +<p>Do. No. 3</p> +<p>Moselle, Muscatel, No. 1</p> +<p>Do. No. 2</p> +<p>Do. No. 3</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "firm"> +MÜLLER, MATHEUS, <span class = "smallcaps">Eltville</span></p> +<p>M. Muller, 15, Philpot Lane, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork300-5.png" width = "60" height = "60" +alt = "large star surrounded by text MATHEUS MÜLLER / ELTVILLE"> +</td> +<td> +<p>Flower of Sparkling Johannisberg</p> +<p>Sparkling Johannisberg</p> +<p>Pearl of the Moselle</p> +<p>Extra Superior Moselle</p> +<span class = "pagenum">234</span> +<!-- png 301 --> +<p>Nonpareil Sparkling Moselle</p> +<p>Nonpareil Sparkling Hock</p> +<p>Fine Sparkling do.</p> +<p>Fine Sparkling Moselle</p> +<p>Sparkling Assmannshäuser, Superior (Red)</p> +<p>Sparkling Assmannshäuser (do.)</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork301-2.png" width = "60" height = "59" +alt = "decorative initials MM surmounted by crown"> +</td> +<td><p>Sparkling Hock (Ordinary)</p> +<p>Sparkling Moselle (do.)</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +OPPMANN, MICHAEL, <span class = "smallcaps">Würzburg</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork301-3.png" width = "59" height = "60" +alt = "banner and stars (no text)"> +</td> +<td><p>Franconia Wine:</p> +Nonpareil +<p>Stein Wine</p> +<p>Blue Label</p> +<p>White Label</p> +<p>Sparkling Moselle, First</p> +<p>Do. do., Second</p> +<p>Do. Hock, First</p> +<p>Do. do., Second</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "firm"> +SILIGMÜLLER, F. A., <span class = "smallcaps">Würzburg</span></p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork301-4.png" width = "60" height = "60" +alt = "upward-shooting star surrounded by text F. A. SILIGMULLER"> +</td> +<td><p>Cabinet<br> +<i>(On side of cork:)</i> Cabinet.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte d’Or</p> +<p>Carte Blanche</p> +<p>Carte Noire</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline bottomline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +STÖCK, JOS, & SÖHNE, <span class = "smallcaps">Creuznach</span></p> +<p>John Barnett & Son, 36, Mark Lane, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork301-5.png" width = "59" height = "60" +alt = "JOS. STOCK & SOHNE / CREUZNACH"> +</td> +<td><p>Johnnnisberg, supr.</p> +<p>Scharzberg, do.</p> +<p>Johannisberg, ordin.</p> +<p>Scharzberg, do.</p> +<p>Hock, superior</p> +<p>Moselle, do.</p> +<p>Hock, ordin.</p> +<p>Moselle, do.</p> +<p>Red Hock, First</p> +<p>Do., Second</p> +<p>Do., Third</p> +<p>Do., Fourth</p></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<span class = "pagenum">235</span> +<!-- png 302 --> + +<h5><a name = "wine_styrian" id = "wine_styrian"> +<b>STYRIAN, HUNGARIAN, AND SWISS WINES.</b></a></h5> + +<table class = "cork" summary = "manufacturers and their brands"> +<tr> +<th abbr = "firms"><p>Firms and Wholesale Agents.</p></th> +<th>Brands.</th> +<th>Qualities.</th> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +KLEINOSCHEG BROTHERS, <span class = "smallcaps">Graz, Styria</span></p> +<p>Davis and Littlewood, 4 and 5, Botolph Lane, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork302-1.png" width = "60" height = "60" +alt = "BRÜDER KLEINOSCHEG / K. K. HOF / LIEFERANTEN"> +</td> +<td><p>Dry Pale Styrian Muscat Champagne.</p> +<p>Dry Pale Styrian Champagne</p> +<p>Sparkling Burgundy (Red)</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +HUBERT & HABERMANN, <span class = "smallcaps">Pressburg, +Hungary</span></p> +<p>C. O. Pattenhausen, 40, Great Tower Street, London</p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork302-2.png" width = "61" height = "62" +alt = "HUBERT & HABERMANN"> +</td> +<td><p>Sparkling White</p> +<p>Sparkling Red (Carlovitz)</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline bottomline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +DE RIEDMATTEN, DE QUAY, & CIE., <span class = "smallcaps">Sion, +Valais, Switzerland</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork302-3.png" width = "60" height = "62" +alt = "clover surrounded by text DE RIEDMATTEN ET DE QUAY / SION"> +</td> +<td><p>Carte Verte, Glacier du Rhône</p> +<p>Carte Blanche, Mont-Blanc</p></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<h5><a name = "wine_american" id = "wine_american"> +<b>AMERICAN WINES.</b></a></h5> + +<table class = "cork" summary = "manufacturers and their brands"> +<tr> +<th abbr = "firms"><p>Firms and Wholesale Agents.</p></th> +<th>Brands.</th> +<th>Qualities.</th> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +KELLEY’S ISLAND WINE CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Kelley’s Island, +Ohio</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork302-4.png" width = "61" height = "60" +alt = "grapes and leaves surrounded by text KELLEY’S ISLAND / WINE CO."> +</td> +<td><p>Island Queen</p> +Nonpareil +<p>Carte Blanche</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +PLEASANT VALLEY WINE CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Hammondsport, +N.Y.</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork302-5.png" width = "61" height = "61" +alt = "PLEASANT VALLEY / WINE / COMPANY"> +</td> +<td><p>Great Western (Dry and Extra Dry)</p> +<p>Carte Blanche</p> +<p>Pleasant Valley</p> +<p>Paris Exposition</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline bottomline"> +<td class = "firms"> +<p class = "firm"> +URBANA WINE CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Hammondsport, N.Y.</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork302-6.png" width = "60" height = "61" +alt = "decorative script UWCo"> +</td> +<td><p>Gold Seal (Extra Dry)</p> +<p>Gold Seal</p> +Imperial +<p>Royal Rose</p></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<!-- png 290 --> + +<p class = "mynote" align = "center"> +<a name = "errata" id = "errata">Author’s Errata</a></p> + +<h5><i>The subjoined corrections are necessary in the following brands +(See pages <a href = "#brand_fisse">226</a> and <a href = +"#brand_gibert">227</a>):—</i></h5> + +<table class = "cork" summary = "manufacturers and their brands"> +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "firm"> +FISSE, THIRION, & Co., <span class = "smallcaps">Reims</span></p> +<p>Stallard and Smith, 25, Philpot Lane, London</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "3"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork290.png" width = "59" height = "60" +alt = "eagle surrounded by text FISSE THIRION & Co. / REIMS"> +</td> +<td><p>Cachet d’Or (Extra Dry and Medium Dry)</p></td> +<td><p>Cachet d’Or.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte Blanche (Dry, Medium Dry, and Rich)</p></td> +<td><p>Carte Blanche.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>N.B.—The brand on the corks is an <i>anchor</i> instead of an +<i>eagle</i>.</td> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte Noire (Dry and Medium Dry).</p></td> +<td><p>Carte Noire.</p></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" colspan = "4"> +<p class = "firm"> +GIBERT, GUSTAVE, <span class = "smallcaps">Reims.</span></p> +<p>Cock, Russell, and Co.’s address is 23, Rood Lane, London.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" colspan = "4"> +<p class = "firm"> +GIESLER & CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Avize.</span></p> +<p>The corks of the firm’s Extra Superior quality wine are branded +“Extra Superior” on the side.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline bottomline"> +<td class = "firms" colspan = "4"> +<p class = "firm"> +IRROY, ERNEST, <span class = "smallcaps">Reims.</span></p> +<p>The New York agent is F. O. de Luze, 18, South William Street, New +York.</p> +<p>W. E. Hepp is no longer M. Irroy’s agent for New Orleans.</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<!-- png 297 --> +<h5>The following are the correct brands of MM. de <a href = +"#brand_stmarceaux">Saint-Marceaux</a> & Co.:—</h5> + +<table class = "cork" summary = "manufacturers and their brands"> +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "firms" rowspan = "5"> +<p class = "firm"> +DE SAINT-MARCEAUX & CO., <span class = "smallcaps">Reims</span></p> +<p>Groves &, Co., 5, Mark Lane, London</p> +<p>Hermann Batjer & Bro., New York</p> +</td> +<td rowspan = "4"> +<img src = "images/corks/cork297-1.png" width = "59" height = "59" +alt = "star surrounded by text St. MARCEAUX"> +</td> +<td> +<p>Vin Brut</p></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte d’Or (Extra Dry)</p></td> +<td><p>Very dry.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Bouzy Nonpareil (Dry)</p></td> +<td><p>Vin Sec.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Carte Blanche (Medium)</p> +<p><i>For America only.</i></p> +<p>Dry Royal</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork297-2.png" width = "60" height = "59" +alt = "knight’s head surrounded by text St. Mx. & Co / REIMS"> +</td> +<td><p>Second (Medium)</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr class = "bottomline"> +<td> </td> +<td> +<img src = "images/corks/cork297-3.png" width = "58" height = "60" +alt = "knight’s head surrounded by text A. DE PAUL / REIMS"> +</td> +<td><p>Third (<i>id.</i>)</p></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +</table> + +</div> + +<div class = "mynote"> + +<p><a name = "noteA" id = "noteA" href = "#tagA">A.</a> +Transcriber’s Note:</p> + +<p>The left edge of page 48 was missing. Most words were supplied from +context; the number “forty-four” (gallons) is mentioned at least four +other places in the text.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/page48.png" width = "435" height = "111" +alt = "page image showing reconstructed text"> +</p> + +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +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-h.htm or 20889-h.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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