Chapter 22

[91]Max Sutaine’sEssai sur le Vin de Champagne.[92]Dom Guillaume Harlot’sHistoire de Reims.[93]Ibid.[94]Henderson’sHistory of Ancient and Modern Wines.[95]Letter of Dom Grossart to M. Dherbès of Ay. The measurement of the arpent varied from an acre to an acre and a half.[96]Varin’sArchives Administratives de Reims.[97]Pluche’sSpectacle de la Nature.[98]Letter of Dom Grossart to M. Dherbès of Ay.[99]Ibid.[100]Ibid.[101]Bertall’sLa Vigne. Paris, 1878.[102]Mémoire sur la Manière de cultiver la Vigne et de faire le Vin en Champagne.This work is believed to have been written by Jean Godinot, a canon of Reims, born in 1662. Godinot was at the same time a conscientious Churchman, a skilled viticulturist, and a clever merchant, who enriched himself by disposing of the wine from his vineyards at Bouzy, Taissy, and Verzenay, and distributed his gains amongst the poor. He died in 1747, after publishing an enlarged edition of theMémoirein 1722, in which the phrase ‘for the last three years’ becomes ‘the last seven or eight years.’ Godinot’s friend Pluche used theMémoireas the basis for the section ‘Wine’ in hisSpectacle de la Nature.[103]Letter of Dom Grossart to M. Dherbès of Ay.[104]Ibid.[105]Louis Perrier’sMémoire sur le Vin de Champagne.[106]Letter of M. le Pescheur, 1706.[107]Pluche’sSpectacle de la Nature.[108]In Brossette’s notes to his edition of Boileau’s Works of 1716.[109]The inscription above given is an exact transcript from the black-marble slab, and any errors in orthography are due either to the original author or to the mason who incised it.[110]The following account of Dom Perignon and his discoveries is contained in a letter dated 25th October 1821, and addressed from Montier-en-Der, Haute Marne, to M. Dherbès of Ay, by Dom Grossart, the last procureur of the Abbey of Hautvillers. Dom Grossart, who had fled from France during the troublous times of the Revolution, was at the date of the letter in his seventy-fourth year.‘You know, sir, that it was the famous Dom Perignon, who was procureur of Hautvillers for forty-seven years, and who died in 1715, who discovered the secret of making sparkling and non-sparkling white wine, and the means of clearing it without being obliged todépoterthe bottles, as is done by our great wine-merchants rather twice than once, and by us never. Before his time one only knew how to make straw-coloured or gray wine. In bottling wine, instead of corks of cork-wood, only tow was made use of, and this species of stopper was saturated with oil. It was in the marriage of our wines that their goodness consisted; and this Dom Perignon towards the end of his days became blind. He had instructed in his secret of fining the wines (de coller les vins) a certain Brother Philip, who was for fifty years at the head of the wines of Hautvillers, and who was held in such consideration by M. Le Tellier, Archbishop of Reims, that when this brother went to Reims he made him come and sit at table with him. When the vintage drew near, he (Dom Perignon) said to this brother, “Go and bring me some grapes from the Prières, the Côtes-à-bras, the Barillets, the Quartiers, the Clos Sainte Hélène,” &c. Without being told from which vineyard these grapes came, he mentioned it, and added, “the wine of such a vineyard must be married with that of such another,” and never made a mistake. To this Brother Philip succeeded a Brother André Lemaire, who was for nearly forty years at the head of the cellars of Hautvillers, that is to say, until the Revolution.... This brother being very ill, and believing himself on the point of death, confided to me the secret of clarifying the wines, for neither prior nor procureur nor monk ever knew it. I declare to you, sir, that we never did put sugar in our wines; you can attest this when you find yourself in company where it is spoken of.Monsieur Moët, who has become one of thegros bonnetsof Champagne since 1794, when I used to sell him plenty of little baskets, will not tell you that I put sugar in our wines. I make use of it at present upon some white wines which are vintaged in certaincrûsof our wine district. This may have led to the error.‘As it costs much todépoter, I am greatly surprised that no wine-merchant has as yet taken steps to learn the secret of clearing the wine without having todépoterthe bottles when once the wine has been put into them.’[111]Louis Perrier’sMémoire sur le Vin de Champagne.[112]Mémoireof 1718.[113]Ibid. Pluche, in hisSpectacle de la Nature, 1732, also says: ‘If the wine be drawn off towards the end of March, when the sap begins to rise in the vine, it will froth to such a degree as to whiten like milk, to the very bottom of the glass, the moment it is poured out. Wine will sometimes acquire this quality if it be drawn off during the ascent of the sap in August, which makes it evident that the froth is occasioned by the operation of the air and sap, which then act with vigour in the wood of the vine, and likewise in the liquor it produced. This violent ebulition, which is so agreeable to some persons, is thought by connoisseurs to be inconsistent with the goodness of the wine, since the greenest may be made to whiten into a froth, and the most perfect wines seldom discover this quality.’ In an article in theJournal de Verdunof November 1726, the following passage occurs: ‘A wine merchant of Anjou having written some time back to a celebrated magistrate in Champagne, Bertin du Rocheret, begging him to forward the secret of makingvin mousseuxduring the vintage, the magistrate answered, “Thatvin mousseuxwas not made during the vintage; that there was no special soil for it; that the Anjou wines were suitable, since poor wine froths as well as the most excellent, frothing being a property of thin poor wine. That to make wine froth, it was necessary to draw it off as clear as could be done from the lees, if it had not been already racked; to bottle it on a fine clear day in January or February, or in March at the latest; three or four months afterwards the wine will be found effervescent, especially if it has some tartness and a little strength. When the wine works (like the vine) your wine will effervesce more than usual; a taste of vintage and of fermentation will be found in it.” The excellent wines of Ay and our good Champagne wines do not froth, or very slightly; they content themselves with sparkling in the glass.’[114]St. Simon’sMémoires.[115]Ibid.[116]Mémoireof 1718.[117]Ibid.[118]Antony Réal’sCe qu’il y a dans une Bouteille de Vin.[119]Legrand d’Aussy’sVie Privée des Français.[120]‘Là le nombre et l’éclat de cent verres bien netsRépare par les yeux la disette des mets;Et la mousse petillanteD’un vin délicat et fraisD’une fortune brillanteCache à mon souvenir les fragiles attraits.’[121]‘Quant à la muse de St. MaurQue moins de douceur accompagne.Il lui faut du vin de ChampagnePour lui faire prendre l’essor.’[122]‘Alors, grand’ merveille, seraDe voir flûter vin de Champagne.’[123]‘Sur ce rivage emaillé,Où Neuillé borde la Seine,Reviens au vin d’HautvilléMêler les eaux d’Hypocrène.’[124]‘Phébus adonc va se désabuserDe son amour pour la docte fontaine,Et connoîtra que pour bon vers puiserVin champenois vaut mieux qu’eau d’Hippocrène.’[125]The father, Adam Bertin du Rocheret, was born in 1662, and died in 1736; his son, Philippe Valentin, thelieutenant criminelat Epernay, was born in 1693, and died in 1762. Both owned vineyards at Epernay, Ay, and Pierry, and were engaged in the wine-trade, and both left a voluminous mass of correspondence, &c., extracts from which have been given by M. Louis Perrier in hisMémoire sur le Vin de Champagne. The Marshal was an old customer. At the foot of a letter of his of the 20th December 1705, asking for ‘two quartaux of the most excellent vin de Champagne, and a pièce of good for ordinary drinking,’ Bertin has written, ‘I will send you, as soon as the river, which is strongly flooded, becomes navigable, the wine you ask for, and you will be pleased with it; but as the best new wine is not of a quality to be drunk in all its goodness by the spring, I should think that fifty flasks of old wine, the most exquisite in the kingdom that I can furnish you with, together with fifty other good ones, will suit you instead of one of the two caques.’[126]Tocanewas a light wine obtained, like the best Tokay, from the juice allowed to drain from grapes slightly trodden, but not pressed. It had a flavour ofverdeur, which was regarded as one of its chief merits, and would not keep more than six months. Though at one time very popular, and largely produced in Champagne, it is now no longer made. The wine of Ay enjoyed a high reputation astocane.[127]Louis Perrier’sMémoire sur le Vin de Champagne.[128]Letter of Dom Grossart.[129]Louis Perrier’sMémoire sur le Vin de Champagne.[130]Ample details of the systems of viticulture and wine-making pursued in the Champagne at the commencement of the eighteenth century are to be found in the anonymousMémoirepublished in 1718. These are reproduced to a great extent in theSpectacle de la Natureof Noel Antoine Pluche, a native of Reims, who composed this work (published in 1732) for the benefit of the son of Lord Stafford, to whom he was tutor. The Abbé Pluche, after being professor of humanity and rhetoric at the University of Reims, was about to enter into holy orders, but being denounced as an opponent of the Bull Unigenitus, abandoned all ideas of preferment, and devoted himself to private tuition and the composition of his great work, theSpectacle de la Nature. This last is a perfect encyclopædia, in the form of a series of dialogues, recalling those in Mrs. Barbauld’sEvenings at Home, the interlocutors being the Count, the Countess, the Chevalier, and the Prior; and the style may be best judged from the following extracts from the contemporary translation of Mr. Samuel Humphries.In Dialogue XIII. on ‘Vines,’ the Count remarks that, after studying the methods of viticulture followed in different provinces, he ‘could not discover any to be ranked in Competition with those Precautions that have been taken by the Inhabitants of Champaign’ in the production of their wine. By ‘a long Course of Experience’ they had ‘acquired the proper Method of tinging it with the Complexion of a Cherry, or the Eye of a Partridge. They could likewise brighten it into the whitest Hue, or deepen it into a perfect Red.’In the succeeding Dialogue on ‘Wines,’ the Count states that ‘Vines vary in their Qualities. Some are planted in a very light and strong Soil, and they yield a bright and fragrant Wine; others are placed in a more nourishing Tract of Land, and they produce a Wine of a greater Body. The reasonable Combination of these different Fruits will produce an exquisite Liquor, that will have all the Advantages of a sufficient Body, a Delicacy of Flavour, a Fragrancy of Scent, and a Liveliness of Colour, and which may be Kept for several Years without the least Alteration. It was the Knowledge of those Effects that result from intermixing the Grapes of three or four Vines of different Qualities, which improved the celebrated Wines of Sillery, Ai, and Hautvillers to the Perfection they have now acquired. Father Parignon, a Benedictine of Hautvillers on the Marne, was the first who made any successful Attempt to intermix the Grapes of the different Vines in this manner, and the Wine of Perignon d’Hautvillers bore the greatest Estimation amongst us till the Practise of this Method became more extensive.’The Count notes that white wines from white grapes being deficient in strength, and apt to grow yellow and degenerate before the next return of summer, had gone out of repute, except for some medicinal prescriptions, whilst ‘the grey Wine, which has so bright an Eye and resembles the Complexion of Crystal, is produced by the blackest Grapes.’ ‘The Wine of a black Grape may be tinged with any Colour we think proper; those who desire to have it perfectly White have recourse to the following Method. The People employed in the Vintage begin their Labours at an early Hour in the Morning; and when they have selected the finest Grapes, they lay them gently in their Baskets, in order to be carried out of the Vineyard; or they place them in large Panniers, without pressing them in the least or wiping off the dewy Moisture or the azure Dye that covers them. Dews and exhaling Mists greatly contribute to the Whiteness of the Wine. ’Tis customary to cover the Baskets with wet Cloths in a hot Sunshine, because the Liquor will be apt to assume a red Tincture if the Grapes should happen to be heated. These Baskets are then placed on the Backs of such Animals as are of a gentle Nature, and carry their Burdens with an easy Motion to the Cellar, where the Grapes continue covered in a cool Air. When the Warmth of the Sun proves moderate, the Labours of the Vintage are not discontinued till Eleven in the Morning; but a glowing Heat makes it necessary for them to cease at Nine.’Yet even these precautions were liable to fail, since ‘the Heat of the Sun and the Shocks of the Carriages are sometimes so violent, and produce such strong Effects upon the exterior Coat of the Grapes, that the Fluids contained in that Coat, and which are then in Motion, mix themselves with the Juice of the Pulp at the first Pressing; in consequence of which, the Extraction of a Wine perfectly white is rendered impracticable, and its Colour will resemble the Eye of a Partridge, or perhaps some deeper Hue. The Quality of the Wine is still the same; but it must be either entirely White or Red, in order to prove agreeable to the Taste and Mode which now prevail.’The Count describes the two pressings and five cuttings, the latter term derived from the squaring of the mass of grapes with the cutting peel, and the system of ‘glewing’ this wine, ‘the weight of anecu d’or’ of ‘Fish Glew, which the Dutch import amongst us from Archangel,’ being added to eachpièce, with the addition sometimes of a pint of spirits of wine or brandy. He then explains the method practised of drawing off the wine without disturbing the barrels, by the aid of a tube and a gigantic pair of bellows. The vessels were connected by the former, and the wine then driven from one to the other by the pressure of air pumped in by means of the latter. A sulphur-match was burnt in the empty vessels, so that it might ‘receive a Steam of Spirits capable of promoting the natural Fire and bright Complexion of the Liquor.’Noting that the wines should be again ‘glewed’ eight days before they are bottled, Pluche says: ‘The Month of March is the usual Season for glewing the most tender Wines, such as those of Ai, Epernai, Hautvilliers, and Pieri, whose chief Consumption is in France; but this Operation should not be performed on such strong Wines as those of Sillery, Verzenai, and other Mountain Wines of Reims, till they are twelve Months old, at which Time they are capable of supporting themselves for several Years. When these Wines are bottled off before they have exhaled their impetuous Particles, they burst a Number of Bottles, and are less perfect in their Qualities. The proper Method of bottling Wine consists in leaving the Space of a Finger’s Breadth between the Cork and the Liquor, and in binding the Cork down with Packthread; it will also be proper to seal the Mouths of the Bottles with Wax, to prevent Mistakes and Impositions. The Bottles should likewise be reclined on one Side, because if they are placed in an upright Position, the Corks will grow dry in a few Months for want of Moisture, and shrink from their first Dimensions. In Consequence of which a Passage will be opened to the external Air, which will then impart an Acidity to the Wine, and form a white Flower on the Surface, which will be an Evidence of its Corruption.’TheMémoireof 1718 also points out the necessity of leaving a space between the cork and the wine, saying that without this, when the wine began to work at the different seasons of the year, it would break a large number of bottles; and that even despite this precaution large numbers are broken, especially when the wine is a little green. The ordinary bottles for Champagne, styledflacons, or flasks, held ‘apinte de Paris, less half a glass,’ and cost from 12 to 15 francs the hundred; and as wood abounded in the province, several glass-works were established there for their manufacture. As the bottling of the wine, especially in the early years, was mostly to order, many customers had their flasks stamped with their arms, at a cost of about 30 per cent more. The corks—‘solid, even, and not worm-eaten’—cost from 50 to 60 sols per hundred. Wire was as yet quite unknown. The cost of bottling a poinçon of wine in 1712 was: for 200 bottles, 30 livres; 200 corks, 3 livres; 2 baskets and packing, 8 livres; bottling, string, and sealing, 3 livres; total, 44 livres, or say 36 shillings.It would appear from theMémoirethat the pernicious practice of icing still Champagne, already noticed, continued in vogue as regards sparkling wine. The wine was recommended to be taken out of the cellar half an hour before it was intended it should be drunk, and put into a bucket of water with two or three pounds of ice. The bottle had to be previously uncorked, and the cork lightly replaced, otherwise it was believed there was danger of the bottle breaking. A short half an hour in the ice was said to bring out the goodness of the wine. Bertin du Rocheret counselled the use of ice to develop the real merits of a vinous wine of Ay.[131]Max Sutaine’sEssai sur le Vin de Champagne.[132]Mémoiresof 1718 and 1722.[133]Ibid.[134]Max Sutaine’sEssai sur le Vin de Champagne.[135]Mémoireof 1718. The perils to which it was exposed during this transit are pointed at in a letter to the elder Bertin from a customer in Paris in 1689: ‘I thought it better to wait before giving you any news of the wine you sent me until it was fit to drink. I tapped it yesterday, and found it poor. I can hardly believe but that the boatmen did not fall-to upon it whenever they had need, and took great care to fill it up again, for it could not have been fuller than they delivered it.’[136]Pluche’sSpectacle de la Nature, 1732.[137]Mémoireof 1718.[138]Louis Perrier’sMémoire sur le Vin de Champagne. In theMémoireof 1718, Ay, Epernay, Hautvillers, and Cumières are alone classed asVins de Rivière; Pierry, Fleury, Damery, and Venteuil being reckoned only asPetite Rivière; and there being no mention of Avize and the neighbouring vineyards.[139]As at Vertus, where the red wine, so highly esteemed by William III. of England, was replaced by sparkling wine.[140]Max Sutaine’sEssai sur le Vin de Champagne.[141]Ergo vinum Belnense potuum est suavissimus, ita et saluberrimus.[142]An vinum Remense sit omnium saluberrimum.[143]Of Ay, Avenay, and Hautvillers (note of Tallemant’s editor).[144]Tallemant des Réaux’sHistoriettes.[145]Champagne has been accused of producing not only gout, but stone, gravel, and rheumatism. As to the first-named complaint, Bertin du Rocheret disposes of it by noting, in a list compiled by him of all the deaths of any moment at Epernay, from 1644 downwards, the decease, at the age of seventy-five, on January 1, 1733, of Jeanne Maillard, ‘the only person in the district ever attacked by the gout.’ His brother-in-law, Dr. Jacques de Reims, in a letter to Helvetius in 1730, asserts that this complaint is only known by name in the Champagne; and that, as regards the stone, not more than ten people were affected therewith within a radius of ten leagues. He maintained that thenon-mousseuxwhite wine of the Champagne, drunk at maturity and tempered with water, was the best of all beverages for preserving general health; and the eminent Dr. Camille Falconnet held the same opinion. Arthur Young, moreover, furnishes spontaneous testimony with regard to rheumatism. Extolling the sparkling wine of Reims in 1787, he says, ‘I suppose fixed air is good for the rheumatism; I had some writhes of it before I entered Champagne, but thevin mousseuxhas absolutely banished it;’ and on reaching Ove, he regrets that ‘thevin de Champagne, which is forty sous at Reims, is three livres here, and execrably bad; so there is an end of my physic for the rheumatism’ (Travels in France in 1787–9).[146]An vinum Remense Burgundico suavius et salubrius.[147]In his ode entitledVinum Burgundum, the passage aspersing the wines of Reims runs as follows:‘Nam suum Rhemi licet usque BacchumJactitent: æstu petulans jocosoHic quidam fervet cyathis, et auraLimpidus acri.Vellicat nares avidas; venenumAt latet: multos facies fefellit,Hic tamen spargat modico secundamMunere mensam.’The French version, by M. de Bellechaume, entitled an ‘Ode au Vin de Bourgogne,’ and published in hisRecueil des Poésies latines et françaises sur les Vins de Champagne et de Bourgogne, Paris 1712, is as follows:‘Vante, Champagne ambitieuse,L’odeur et l’éclat de ton vin,Dont la sève pernicieuseDans ce brillant cache un venin,Tu dois toute ta gloire en France,A cette agréable apparence,Qui nous attire et nous séduit;Qu’à Beaune ta liqueur soumiseDans les repas ne soit admise,Que sagement avec le fruit.’M. de la Monnoye, himself a Burgundian, has rendered this passage somewhat differently in an edition published the same year at Dijon:‘Jusqu’aux cieux le Champagne élèveDe son vin pétillant la riante liqueur,On sait qu’il brille aux yeux, qu’il chatouille le cœur,Qu’il pique l’odorat d’une agréable sève.Mais craignons un poison couvert,L’aspic est sous les fleurs, que seulement par grâce;Quand Beaune aura primé, Reims occupant la place,Vienne légèrement amuser le dessert.’[148]Campania vindicata; sive laus vini Remensis a poeta Burgundo eleganter quidam, sed immerito culpati.Offerebat civitati Remensi Carolus Coffin. Anno DominiMDCCXII.[149]‘Quantum superbas vitis, humi licetProrepat, anteit fructibus arboresTantum, orbe quæ toto premunturVina super generosioraRemense surgit. Cedite, MassicaCantata Flacco Silleriis; nequeChio remixtum certet audaxCollibus Aïacis Falernum.Cernis micanti concolor ut vitroLatex in auras, gemmeus aspici,Scintellet exultim; utque dulcesNaribus illecebras propinet.Succi latentis proditor halitusUt spuma motu lactea turbidoCrystallinum lætis referreMox oculis properet nitorem.’La Monnoye renders this as follows:‘Autant que, sans porter sa tête dans les cieux,La vigne par son fruit est au-dessus du chêne;Autant, sans affecter une gloire trop vaine,Reims surpasse les vins les plus délicieux.Qu’Horace du Falerne entonne les louangesQue de son vieux Massique il vante les attraits;Tous ces vins fameux n’égaleront jamaisDu charmant Silleri les heureux vendanges.Aussi pur que la verre ou la main l’a versé,Les yeux les plus perçants l’en distinguent à peine;Qu’il est doux de sentir l’ambre de son haleineEt de prévoir le goût par l’odeur annoncé,D’abord à petits bonds une mousse argentineEtincelle, petille et bout de toutes parts,Un éclat plus tranquille offre ensuite aux regardsD’un liquide miroir la glace cristalline.’[150]‘Non hæc malignus quidlibet obstrepatLivor; nocentes dissimulant dolosLeni veneno. Vina certantInguenuos retinere GentisCampana mores. Non stomacho moventÆgro tumultum; non gravidum caputFulagine infestant opacâ.’Bellechaume renders these lines in the Recueil as follows:‘Il n’a point, quoiqu’on insinueDe poison parmi ses douceurs,Et de sa province ingénueLa Champagne a gardé les mœurs.Il n’excite point de tempêteDans les estomacs languissants;Son feu léger monte à la tête,Eveille et réjouit les sens.’La Monnoye gives them thus:‘Taisez-vous envieux dont la langue cruelleVeut qu’ici sous les fleurs se cache le venin;Connaissez la Champagne, et respectez un vinQui des mœurs du climat est l’image fidèle.Non, ce jus qu’à grand tort vous osez outragerDe images fâcheux ne trouble point la tête,Jamais dans l’estomac n’excite de tempête;Il est tendre, il est net, délicat et léger.’[151]‘Ergo ut secundis (parcere nam decetKaro liquori) se comitem addiditMensis renidens Testa; frontem,Arbitra lætitiæ, resolvitAusteriorum. Tune cyathos juvatSiccare molles: tunc hilaris jocosConviva fundit liberales;Tunc procul alterius valere.’Bellechaume has rendered this:‘Sitôt que sur de riches tablesDe ce nectar avec le fruitOn sert les coupes délectables,De joie il s’élève un doux bruit;On voit, même sur le visageDu plus sévère et du plus sage,Un air joyeux et plus serein:Le ris, l’entretien se reveille;Il n’est plus de liqueur pareilleA cet élixir souverain.’La Monnoye’s version is as follows:‘Vers la fin du repas, à l’approche du fruit,(Car on doit ménager une liqueur si fine),Aussitôt que parait la bouteille divine,Des Grâces à l’instant l’aimable chœur la suitParmi les conviés, s’élève un doux murmure;Le plus stoïque alors se deride le front.’[152]That of Utrecht, concluded the following year, 1713.[153]Ad clarissimum virum Guidonem-Crescentium Fagon regi a secretoribus consiliis, archiatrorum comitem; ut suam Burgundo vino prestantiam adversus Campanum vinum asserat.[154]The original lines and the translation, published by Bellechaume the same year in hisRecueil, prove, as do the extracts already quoted from Coffin, that a sparkling wine was meant. The former run thus—‘Hinc inversa scyphis tumet, fremitque;Spumasque agglomerat furore mixtasÆstuans, levis, inquies proterva;’Bellechaume’s translation is as above—‘Enflés du même orgueil tous ses vins bondissantsN’élèvent que des flots écumeux frémissantsLeur liqueur furieuse, inconstante et légèreEtincelle, petille, et bout dans la fougère.’[155]These epigrams and their translation are given anonymously, as follows, in Bellechaume’sRecueil:‘Quid medicos testa implores Burgunda? LaborasNemo velit medicam poscere sanus opem.Cur fugis ad doctum, Burgundica testa, Fagonem?Arte valet multa, sed nimis ægra jaces.’‘A ce que je me persuadeSur la qualité des bons vins,Grenan, ta cause est bien malade,Tu consultes les médecins.Quand on s’adresse au médecinC’est qu’on éprouve une souffrance;Bourgogne, vous n’êtes pas sainPuisqu’il vous faut une ordonnance.’

[91]Max Sutaine’sEssai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[92]Dom Guillaume Harlot’sHistoire de Reims.

[93]Ibid.

[94]Henderson’sHistory of Ancient and Modern Wines.

[95]Letter of Dom Grossart to M. Dherbès of Ay. The measurement of the arpent varied from an acre to an acre and a half.

[96]Varin’sArchives Administratives de Reims.

[97]Pluche’sSpectacle de la Nature.

[98]Letter of Dom Grossart to M. Dherbès of Ay.

[99]Ibid.

[100]Ibid.

[101]Bertall’sLa Vigne. Paris, 1878.

[102]Mémoire sur la Manière de cultiver la Vigne et de faire le Vin en Champagne.This work is believed to have been written by Jean Godinot, a canon of Reims, born in 1662. Godinot was at the same time a conscientious Churchman, a skilled viticulturist, and a clever merchant, who enriched himself by disposing of the wine from his vineyards at Bouzy, Taissy, and Verzenay, and distributed his gains amongst the poor. He died in 1747, after publishing an enlarged edition of theMémoirein 1722, in which the phrase ‘for the last three years’ becomes ‘the last seven or eight years.’ Godinot’s friend Pluche used theMémoireas the basis for the section ‘Wine’ in hisSpectacle de la Nature.

[103]Letter of Dom Grossart to M. Dherbès of Ay.

[104]Ibid.

[105]Louis Perrier’sMémoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[106]Letter of M. le Pescheur, 1706.

[107]Pluche’sSpectacle de la Nature.

[108]In Brossette’s notes to his edition of Boileau’s Works of 1716.

[109]The inscription above given is an exact transcript from the black-marble slab, and any errors in orthography are due either to the original author or to the mason who incised it.

[110]The following account of Dom Perignon and his discoveries is contained in a letter dated 25th October 1821, and addressed from Montier-en-Der, Haute Marne, to M. Dherbès of Ay, by Dom Grossart, the last procureur of the Abbey of Hautvillers. Dom Grossart, who had fled from France during the troublous times of the Revolution, was at the date of the letter in his seventy-fourth year.‘You know, sir, that it was the famous Dom Perignon, who was procureur of Hautvillers for forty-seven years, and who died in 1715, who discovered the secret of making sparkling and non-sparkling white wine, and the means of clearing it without being obliged todépoterthe bottles, as is done by our great wine-merchants rather twice than once, and by us never. Before his time one only knew how to make straw-coloured or gray wine. In bottling wine, instead of corks of cork-wood, only tow was made use of, and this species of stopper was saturated with oil. It was in the marriage of our wines that their goodness consisted; and this Dom Perignon towards the end of his days became blind. He had instructed in his secret of fining the wines (de coller les vins) a certain Brother Philip, who was for fifty years at the head of the wines of Hautvillers, and who was held in such consideration by M. Le Tellier, Archbishop of Reims, that when this brother went to Reims he made him come and sit at table with him. When the vintage drew near, he (Dom Perignon) said to this brother, “Go and bring me some grapes from the Prières, the Côtes-à-bras, the Barillets, the Quartiers, the Clos Sainte Hélène,” &c. Without being told from which vineyard these grapes came, he mentioned it, and added, “the wine of such a vineyard must be married with that of such another,” and never made a mistake. To this Brother Philip succeeded a Brother André Lemaire, who was for nearly forty years at the head of the cellars of Hautvillers, that is to say, until the Revolution.... This brother being very ill, and believing himself on the point of death, confided to me the secret of clarifying the wines, for neither prior nor procureur nor monk ever knew it. I declare to you, sir, that we never did put sugar in our wines; you can attest this when you find yourself in company where it is spoken of.Monsieur Moët, who has become one of thegros bonnetsof Champagne since 1794, when I used to sell him plenty of little baskets, will not tell you that I put sugar in our wines. I make use of it at present upon some white wines which are vintaged in certaincrûsof our wine district. This may have led to the error.‘As it costs much todépoter, I am greatly surprised that no wine-merchant has as yet taken steps to learn the secret of clearing the wine without having todépoterthe bottles when once the wine has been put into them.’

‘You know, sir, that it was the famous Dom Perignon, who was procureur of Hautvillers for forty-seven years, and who died in 1715, who discovered the secret of making sparkling and non-sparkling white wine, and the means of clearing it without being obliged todépoterthe bottles, as is done by our great wine-merchants rather twice than once, and by us never. Before his time one only knew how to make straw-coloured or gray wine. In bottling wine, instead of corks of cork-wood, only tow was made use of, and this species of stopper was saturated with oil. It was in the marriage of our wines that their goodness consisted; and this Dom Perignon towards the end of his days became blind. He had instructed in his secret of fining the wines (de coller les vins) a certain Brother Philip, who was for fifty years at the head of the wines of Hautvillers, and who was held in such consideration by M. Le Tellier, Archbishop of Reims, that when this brother went to Reims he made him come and sit at table with him. When the vintage drew near, he (Dom Perignon) said to this brother, “Go and bring me some grapes from the Prières, the Côtes-à-bras, the Barillets, the Quartiers, the Clos Sainte Hélène,” &c. Without being told from which vineyard these grapes came, he mentioned it, and added, “the wine of such a vineyard must be married with that of such another,” and never made a mistake. To this Brother Philip succeeded a Brother André Lemaire, who was for nearly forty years at the head of the cellars of Hautvillers, that is to say, until the Revolution.... This brother being very ill, and believing himself on the point of death, confided to me the secret of clarifying the wines, for neither prior nor procureur nor monk ever knew it. I declare to you, sir, that we never did put sugar in our wines; you can attest this when you find yourself in company where it is spoken of.

Monsieur Moët, who has become one of thegros bonnetsof Champagne since 1794, when I used to sell him plenty of little baskets, will not tell you that I put sugar in our wines. I make use of it at present upon some white wines which are vintaged in certaincrûsof our wine district. This may have led to the error.

‘As it costs much todépoter, I am greatly surprised that no wine-merchant has as yet taken steps to learn the secret of clearing the wine without having todépoterthe bottles when once the wine has been put into them.’

[111]Louis Perrier’sMémoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[112]Mémoireof 1718.

[113]Ibid. Pluche, in hisSpectacle de la Nature, 1732, also says: ‘If the wine be drawn off towards the end of March, when the sap begins to rise in the vine, it will froth to such a degree as to whiten like milk, to the very bottom of the glass, the moment it is poured out. Wine will sometimes acquire this quality if it be drawn off during the ascent of the sap in August, which makes it evident that the froth is occasioned by the operation of the air and sap, which then act with vigour in the wood of the vine, and likewise in the liquor it produced. This violent ebulition, which is so agreeable to some persons, is thought by connoisseurs to be inconsistent with the goodness of the wine, since the greenest may be made to whiten into a froth, and the most perfect wines seldom discover this quality.’ In an article in theJournal de Verdunof November 1726, the following passage occurs: ‘A wine merchant of Anjou having written some time back to a celebrated magistrate in Champagne, Bertin du Rocheret, begging him to forward the secret of makingvin mousseuxduring the vintage, the magistrate answered, “Thatvin mousseuxwas not made during the vintage; that there was no special soil for it; that the Anjou wines were suitable, since poor wine froths as well as the most excellent, frothing being a property of thin poor wine. That to make wine froth, it was necessary to draw it off as clear as could be done from the lees, if it had not been already racked; to bottle it on a fine clear day in January or February, or in March at the latest; three or four months afterwards the wine will be found effervescent, especially if it has some tartness and a little strength. When the wine works (like the vine) your wine will effervesce more than usual; a taste of vintage and of fermentation will be found in it.” The excellent wines of Ay and our good Champagne wines do not froth, or very slightly; they content themselves with sparkling in the glass.’

[114]St. Simon’sMémoires.

[115]Ibid.

[116]Mémoireof 1718.

[117]Ibid.

[118]Antony Réal’sCe qu’il y a dans une Bouteille de Vin.

[119]Legrand d’Aussy’sVie Privée des Français.

[120]‘Là le nombre et l’éclat de cent verres bien netsRépare par les yeux la disette des mets;Et la mousse petillanteD’un vin délicat et fraisD’une fortune brillanteCache à mon souvenir les fragiles attraits.’

[120]

‘Là le nombre et l’éclat de cent verres bien netsRépare par les yeux la disette des mets;Et la mousse petillanteD’un vin délicat et fraisD’une fortune brillanteCache à mon souvenir les fragiles attraits.’

‘Là le nombre et l’éclat de cent verres bien nets

Répare par les yeux la disette des mets;

Et la mousse petillante

D’un vin délicat et frais

D’une fortune brillante

Cache à mon souvenir les fragiles attraits.’

[121]‘Quant à la muse de St. MaurQue moins de douceur accompagne.Il lui faut du vin de ChampagnePour lui faire prendre l’essor.’

[121]

‘Quant à la muse de St. MaurQue moins de douceur accompagne.Il lui faut du vin de ChampagnePour lui faire prendre l’essor.’

‘Quant à la muse de St. Maur

Que moins de douceur accompagne.

Il lui faut du vin de Champagne

Pour lui faire prendre l’essor.’

[122]‘Alors, grand’ merveille, seraDe voir flûter vin de Champagne.’

[122]

‘Alors, grand’ merveille, seraDe voir flûter vin de Champagne.’

‘Alors, grand’ merveille, sera

De voir flûter vin de Champagne.’

[123]‘Sur ce rivage emaillé,Où Neuillé borde la Seine,Reviens au vin d’HautvilléMêler les eaux d’Hypocrène.’

[123]

‘Sur ce rivage emaillé,Où Neuillé borde la Seine,Reviens au vin d’HautvilléMêler les eaux d’Hypocrène.’

‘Sur ce rivage emaillé,

Où Neuillé borde la Seine,

Reviens au vin d’Hautvillé

Mêler les eaux d’Hypocrène.’

[124]‘Phébus adonc va se désabuserDe son amour pour la docte fontaine,Et connoîtra que pour bon vers puiserVin champenois vaut mieux qu’eau d’Hippocrène.’

[124]

‘Phébus adonc va se désabuserDe son amour pour la docte fontaine,Et connoîtra que pour bon vers puiserVin champenois vaut mieux qu’eau d’Hippocrène.’

‘Phébus adonc va se désabuser

De son amour pour la docte fontaine,

Et connoîtra que pour bon vers puiser

Vin champenois vaut mieux qu’eau d’Hippocrène.’

[125]The father, Adam Bertin du Rocheret, was born in 1662, and died in 1736; his son, Philippe Valentin, thelieutenant criminelat Epernay, was born in 1693, and died in 1762. Both owned vineyards at Epernay, Ay, and Pierry, and were engaged in the wine-trade, and both left a voluminous mass of correspondence, &c., extracts from which have been given by M. Louis Perrier in hisMémoire sur le Vin de Champagne. The Marshal was an old customer. At the foot of a letter of his of the 20th December 1705, asking for ‘two quartaux of the most excellent vin de Champagne, and a pièce of good for ordinary drinking,’ Bertin has written, ‘I will send you, as soon as the river, which is strongly flooded, becomes navigable, the wine you ask for, and you will be pleased with it; but as the best new wine is not of a quality to be drunk in all its goodness by the spring, I should think that fifty flasks of old wine, the most exquisite in the kingdom that I can furnish you with, together with fifty other good ones, will suit you instead of one of the two caques.’

[126]Tocanewas a light wine obtained, like the best Tokay, from the juice allowed to drain from grapes slightly trodden, but not pressed. It had a flavour ofverdeur, which was regarded as one of its chief merits, and would not keep more than six months. Though at one time very popular, and largely produced in Champagne, it is now no longer made. The wine of Ay enjoyed a high reputation astocane.

[127]Louis Perrier’sMémoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[128]Letter of Dom Grossart.

[129]Louis Perrier’sMémoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[130]Ample details of the systems of viticulture and wine-making pursued in the Champagne at the commencement of the eighteenth century are to be found in the anonymousMémoirepublished in 1718. These are reproduced to a great extent in theSpectacle de la Natureof Noel Antoine Pluche, a native of Reims, who composed this work (published in 1732) for the benefit of the son of Lord Stafford, to whom he was tutor. The Abbé Pluche, after being professor of humanity and rhetoric at the University of Reims, was about to enter into holy orders, but being denounced as an opponent of the Bull Unigenitus, abandoned all ideas of preferment, and devoted himself to private tuition and the composition of his great work, theSpectacle de la Nature. This last is a perfect encyclopædia, in the form of a series of dialogues, recalling those in Mrs. Barbauld’sEvenings at Home, the interlocutors being the Count, the Countess, the Chevalier, and the Prior; and the style may be best judged from the following extracts from the contemporary translation of Mr. Samuel Humphries.In Dialogue XIII. on ‘Vines,’ the Count remarks that, after studying the methods of viticulture followed in different provinces, he ‘could not discover any to be ranked in Competition with those Precautions that have been taken by the Inhabitants of Champaign’ in the production of their wine. By ‘a long Course of Experience’ they had ‘acquired the proper Method of tinging it with the Complexion of a Cherry, or the Eye of a Partridge. They could likewise brighten it into the whitest Hue, or deepen it into a perfect Red.’In the succeeding Dialogue on ‘Wines,’ the Count states that ‘Vines vary in their Qualities. Some are planted in a very light and strong Soil, and they yield a bright and fragrant Wine; others are placed in a more nourishing Tract of Land, and they produce a Wine of a greater Body. The reasonable Combination of these different Fruits will produce an exquisite Liquor, that will have all the Advantages of a sufficient Body, a Delicacy of Flavour, a Fragrancy of Scent, and a Liveliness of Colour, and which may be Kept for several Years without the least Alteration. It was the Knowledge of those Effects that result from intermixing the Grapes of three or four Vines of different Qualities, which improved the celebrated Wines of Sillery, Ai, and Hautvillers to the Perfection they have now acquired. Father Parignon, a Benedictine of Hautvillers on the Marne, was the first who made any successful Attempt to intermix the Grapes of the different Vines in this manner, and the Wine of Perignon d’Hautvillers bore the greatest Estimation amongst us till the Practise of this Method became more extensive.’The Count notes that white wines from white grapes being deficient in strength, and apt to grow yellow and degenerate before the next return of summer, had gone out of repute, except for some medicinal prescriptions, whilst ‘the grey Wine, which has so bright an Eye and resembles the Complexion of Crystal, is produced by the blackest Grapes.’ ‘The Wine of a black Grape may be tinged with any Colour we think proper; those who desire to have it perfectly White have recourse to the following Method. The People employed in the Vintage begin their Labours at an early Hour in the Morning; and when they have selected the finest Grapes, they lay them gently in their Baskets, in order to be carried out of the Vineyard; or they place them in large Panniers, without pressing them in the least or wiping off the dewy Moisture or the azure Dye that covers them. Dews and exhaling Mists greatly contribute to the Whiteness of the Wine. ’Tis customary to cover the Baskets with wet Cloths in a hot Sunshine, because the Liquor will be apt to assume a red Tincture if the Grapes should happen to be heated. These Baskets are then placed on the Backs of such Animals as are of a gentle Nature, and carry their Burdens with an easy Motion to the Cellar, where the Grapes continue covered in a cool Air. When the Warmth of the Sun proves moderate, the Labours of the Vintage are not discontinued till Eleven in the Morning; but a glowing Heat makes it necessary for them to cease at Nine.’Yet even these precautions were liable to fail, since ‘the Heat of the Sun and the Shocks of the Carriages are sometimes so violent, and produce such strong Effects upon the exterior Coat of the Grapes, that the Fluids contained in that Coat, and which are then in Motion, mix themselves with the Juice of the Pulp at the first Pressing; in consequence of which, the Extraction of a Wine perfectly white is rendered impracticable, and its Colour will resemble the Eye of a Partridge, or perhaps some deeper Hue. The Quality of the Wine is still the same; but it must be either entirely White or Red, in order to prove agreeable to the Taste and Mode which now prevail.’The Count describes the two pressings and five cuttings, the latter term derived from the squaring of the mass of grapes with the cutting peel, and the system of ‘glewing’ this wine, ‘the weight of anecu d’or’ of ‘Fish Glew, which the Dutch import amongst us from Archangel,’ being added to eachpièce, with the addition sometimes of a pint of spirits of wine or brandy. He then explains the method practised of drawing off the wine without disturbing the barrels, by the aid of a tube and a gigantic pair of bellows. The vessels were connected by the former, and the wine then driven from one to the other by the pressure of air pumped in by means of the latter. A sulphur-match was burnt in the empty vessels, so that it might ‘receive a Steam of Spirits capable of promoting the natural Fire and bright Complexion of the Liquor.’Noting that the wines should be again ‘glewed’ eight days before they are bottled, Pluche says: ‘The Month of March is the usual Season for glewing the most tender Wines, such as those of Ai, Epernai, Hautvilliers, and Pieri, whose chief Consumption is in France; but this Operation should not be performed on such strong Wines as those of Sillery, Verzenai, and other Mountain Wines of Reims, till they are twelve Months old, at which Time they are capable of supporting themselves for several Years. When these Wines are bottled off before they have exhaled their impetuous Particles, they burst a Number of Bottles, and are less perfect in their Qualities. The proper Method of bottling Wine consists in leaving the Space of a Finger’s Breadth between the Cork and the Liquor, and in binding the Cork down with Packthread; it will also be proper to seal the Mouths of the Bottles with Wax, to prevent Mistakes and Impositions. The Bottles should likewise be reclined on one Side, because if they are placed in an upright Position, the Corks will grow dry in a few Months for want of Moisture, and shrink from their first Dimensions. In Consequence of which a Passage will be opened to the external Air, which will then impart an Acidity to the Wine, and form a white Flower on the Surface, which will be an Evidence of its Corruption.’TheMémoireof 1718 also points out the necessity of leaving a space between the cork and the wine, saying that without this, when the wine began to work at the different seasons of the year, it would break a large number of bottles; and that even despite this precaution large numbers are broken, especially when the wine is a little green. The ordinary bottles for Champagne, styledflacons, or flasks, held ‘apinte de Paris, less half a glass,’ and cost from 12 to 15 francs the hundred; and as wood abounded in the province, several glass-works were established there for their manufacture. As the bottling of the wine, especially in the early years, was mostly to order, many customers had their flasks stamped with their arms, at a cost of about 30 per cent more. The corks—‘solid, even, and not worm-eaten’—cost from 50 to 60 sols per hundred. Wire was as yet quite unknown. The cost of bottling a poinçon of wine in 1712 was: for 200 bottles, 30 livres; 200 corks, 3 livres; 2 baskets and packing, 8 livres; bottling, string, and sealing, 3 livres; total, 44 livres, or say 36 shillings.It would appear from theMémoirethat the pernicious practice of icing still Champagne, already noticed, continued in vogue as regards sparkling wine. The wine was recommended to be taken out of the cellar half an hour before it was intended it should be drunk, and put into a bucket of water with two or three pounds of ice. The bottle had to be previously uncorked, and the cork lightly replaced, otherwise it was believed there was danger of the bottle breaking. A short half an hour in the ice was said to bring out the goodness of the wine. Bertin du Rocheret counselled the use of ice to develop the real merits of a vinous wine of Ay.

In Dialogue XIII. on ‘Vines,’ the Count remarks that, after studying the methods of viticulture followed in different provinces, he ‘could not discover any to be ranked in Competition with those Precautions that have been taken by the Inhabitants of Champaign’ in the production of their wine. By ‘a long Course of Experience’ they had ‘acquired the proper Method of tinging it with the Complexion of a Cherry, or the Eye of a Partridge. They could likewise brighten it into the whitest Hue, or deepen it into a perfect Red.’

In the succeeding Dialogue on ‘Wines,’ the Count states that ‘Vines vary in their Qualities. Some are planted in a very light and strong Soil, and they yield a bright and fragrant Wine; others are placed in a more nourishing Tract of Land, and they produce a Wine of a greater Body. The reasonable Combination of these different Fruits will produce an exquisite Liquor, that will have all the Advantages of a sufficient Body, a Delicacy of Flavour, a Fragrancy of Scent, and a Liveliness of Colour, and which may be Kept for several Years without the least Alteration. It was the Knowledge of those Effects that result from intermixing the Grapes of three or four Vines of different Qualities, which improved the celebrated Wines of Sillery, Ai, and Hautvillers to the Perfection they have now acquired. Father Parignon, a Benedictine of Hautvillers on the Marne, was the first who made any successful Attempt to intermix the Grapes of the different Vines in this manner, and the Wine of Perignon d’Hautvillers bore the greatest Estimation amongst us till the Practise of this Method became more extensive.’

The Count notes that white wines from white grapes being deficient in strength, and apt to grow yellow and degenerate before the next return of summer, had gone out of repute, except for some medicinal prescriptions, whilst ‘the grey Wine, which has so bright an Eye and resembles the Complexion of Crystal, is produced by the blackest Grapes.’ ‘The Wine of a black Grape may be tinged with any Colour we think proper; those who desire to have it perfectly White have recourse to the following Method. The People employed in the Vintage begin their Labours at an early Hour in the Morning; and when they have selected the finest Grapes, they lay them gently in their Baskets, in order to be carried out of the Vineyard; or they place them in large Panniers, without pressing them in the least or wiping off the dewy Moisture or the azure Dye that covers them. Dews and exhaling Mists greatly contribute to the Whiteness of the Wine. ’Tis customary to cover the Baskets with wet Cloths in a hot Sunshine, because the Liquor will be apt to assume a red Tincture if the Grapes should happen to be heated. These Baskets are then placed on the Backs of such Animals as are of a gentle Nature, and carry their Burdens with an easy Motion to the Cellar, where the Grapes continue covered in a cool Air. When the Warmth of the Sun proves moderate, the Labours of the Vintage are not discontinued till Eleven in the Morning; but a glowing Heat makes it necessary for them to cease at Nine.’

Yet even these precautions were liable to fail, since ‘the Heat of the Sun and the Shocks of the Carriages are sometimes so violent, and produce such strong Effects upon the exterior Coat of the Grapes, that the Fluids contained in that Coat, and which are then in Motion, mix themselves with the Juice of the Pulp at the first Pressing; in consequence of which, the Extraction of a Wine perfectly white is rendered impracticable, and its Colour will resemble the Eye of a Partridge, or perhaps some deeper Hue. The Quality of the Wine is still the same; but it must be either entirely White or Red, in order to prove agreeable to the Taste and Mode which now prevail.’

The Count describes the two pressings and five cuttings, the latter term derived from the squaring of the mass of grapes with the cutting peel, and the system of ‘glewing’ this wine, ‘the weight of anecu d’or’ of ‘Fish Glew, which the Dutch import amongst us from Archangel,’ being added to eachpièce, with the addition sometimes of a pint of spirits of wine or brandy. He then explains the method practised of drawing off the wine without disturbing the barrels, by the aid of a tube and a gigantic pair of bellows. The vessels were connected by the former, and the wine then driven from one to the other by the pressure of air pumped in by means of the latter. A sulphur-match was burnt in the empty vessels, so that it might ‘receive a Steam of Spirits capable of promoting the natural Fire and bright Complexion of the Liquor.’

Noting that the wines should be again ‘glewed’ eight days before they are bottled, Pluche says: ‘The Month of March is the usual Season for glewing the most tender Wines, such as those of Ai, Epernai, Hautvilliers, and Pieri, whose chief Consumption is in France; but this Operation should not be performed on such strong Wines as those of Sillery, Verzenai, and other Mountain Wines of Reims, till they are twelve Months old, at which Time they are capable of supporting themselves for several Years. When these Wines are bottled off before they have exhaled their impetuous Particles, they burst a Number of Bottles, and are less perfect in their Qualities. The proper Method of bottling Wine consists in leaving the Space of a Finger’s Breadth between the Cork and the Liquor, and in binding the Cork down with Packthread; it will also be proper to seal the Mouths of the Bottles with Wax, to prevent Mistakes and Impositions. The Bottles should likewise be reclined on one Side, because if they are placed in an upright Position, the Corks will grow dry in a few Months for want of Moisture, and shrink from their first Dimensions. In Consequence of which a Passage will be opened to the external Air, which will then impart an Acidity to the Wine, and form a white Flower on the Surface, which will be an Evidence of its Corruption.’

TheMémoireof 1718 also points out the necessity of leaving a space between the cork and the wine, saying that without this, when the wine began to work at the different seasons of the year, it would break a large number of bottles; and that even despite this precaution large numbers are broken, especially when the wine is a little green. The ordinary bottles for Champagne, styledflacons, or flasks, held ‘apinte de Paris, less half a glass,’ and cost from 12 to 15 francs the hundred; and as wood abounded in the province, several glass-works were established there for their manufacture. As the bottling of the wine, especially in the early years, was mostly to order, many customers had their flasks stamped with their arms, at a cost of about 30 per cent more. The corks—‘solid, even, and not worm-eaten’—cost from 50 to 60 sols per hundred. Wire was as yet quite unknown. The cost of bottling a poinçon of wine in 1712 was: for 200 bottles, 30 livres; 200 corks, 3 livres; 2 baskets and packing, 8 livres; bottling, string, and sealing, 3 livres; total, 44 livres, or say 36 shillings.

It would appear from theMémoirethat the pernicious practice of icing still Champagne, already noticed, continued in vogue as regards sparkling wine. The wine was recommended to be taken out of the cellar half an hour before it was intended it should be drunk, and put into a bucket of water with two or three pounds of ice. The bottle had to be previously uncorked, and the cork lightly replaced, otherwise it was believed there was danger of the bottle breaking. A short half an hour in the ice was said to bring out the goodness of the wine. Bertin du Rocheret counselled the use of ice to develop the real merits of a vinous wine of Ay.

[131]Max Sutaine’sEssai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[132]Mémoiresof 1718 and 1722.

[133]Ibid.

[134]Max Sutaine’sEssai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[135]Mémoireof 1718. The perils to which it was exposed during this transit are pointed at in a letter to the elder Bertin from a customer in Paris in 1689: ‘I thought it better to wait before giving you any news of the wine you sent me until it was fit to drink. I tapped it yesterday, and found it poor. I can hardly believe but that the boatmen did not fall-to upon it whenever they had need, and took great care to fill it up again, for it could not have been fuller than they delivered it.’

[136]Pluche’sSpectacle de la Nature, 1732.

[137]Mémoireof 1718.

[138]Louis Perrier’sMémoire sur le Vin de Champagne. In theMémoireof 1718, Ay, Epernay, Hautvillers, and Cumières are alone classed asVins de Rivière; Pierry, Fleury, Damery, and Venteuil being reckoned only asPetite Rivière; and there being no mention of Avize and the neighbouring vineyards.

[139]As at Vertus, where the red wine, so highly esteemed by William III. of England, was replaced by sparkling wine.

[140]Max Sutaine’sEssai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[141]Ergo vinum Belnense potuum est suavissimus, ita et saluberrimus.

[142]An vinum Remense sit omnium saluberrimum.

[143]Of Ay, Avenay, and Hautvillers (note of Tallemant’s editor).

[144]Tallemant des Réaux’sHistoriettes.

[145]Champagne has been accused of producing not only gout, but stone, gravel, and rheumatism. As to the first-named complaint, Bertin du Rocheret disposes of it by noting, in a list compiled by him of all the deaths of any moment at Epernay, from 1644 downwards, the decease, at the age of seventy-five, on January 1, 1733, of Jeanne Maillard, ‘the only person in the district ever attacked by the gout.’ His brother-in-law, Dr. Jacques de Reims, in a letter to Helvetius in 1730, asserts that this complaint is only known by name in the Champagne; and that, as regards the stone, not more than ten people were affected therewith within a radius of ten leagues. He maintained that thenon-mousseuxwhite wine of the Champagne, drunk at maturity and tempered with water, was the best of all beverages for preserving general health; and the eminent Dr. Camille Falconnet held the same opinion. Arthur Young, moreover, furnishes spontaneous testimony with regard to rheumatism. Extolling the sparkling wine of Reims in 1787, he says, ‘I suppose fixed air is good for the rheumatism; I had some writhes of it before I entered Champagne, but thevin mousseuxhas absolutely banished it;’ and on reaching Ove, he regrets that ‘thevin de Champagne, which is forty sous at Reims, is three livres here, and execrably bad; so there is an end of my physic for the rheumatism’ (Travels in France in 1787–9).

[146]An vinum Remense Burgundico suavius et salubrius.

[147]In his ode entitledVinum Burgundum, the passage aspersing the wines of Reims runs as follows:‘Nam suum Rhemi licet usque BacchumJactitent: æstu petulans jocosoHic quidam fervet cyathis, et auraLimpidus acri.Vellicat nares avidas; venenumAt latet: multos facies fefellit,Hic tamen spargat modico secundamMunere mensam.’The French version, by M. de Bellechaume, entitled an ‘Ode au Vin de Bourgogne,’ and published in hisRecueil des Poésies latines et françaises sur les Vins de Champagne et de Bourgogne, Paris 1712, is as follows:‘Vante, Champagne ambitieuse,L’odeur et l’éclat de ton vin,Dont la sève pernicieuseDans ce brillant cache un venin,Tu dois toute ta gloire en France,A cette agréable apparence,Qui nous attire et nous séduit;Qu’à Beaune ta liqueur soumiseDans les repas ne soit admise,Que sagement avec le fruit.’M. de la Monnoye, himself a Burgundian, has rendered this passage somewhat differently in an edition published the same year at Dijon:‘Jusqu’aux cieux le Champagne élèveDe son vin pétillant la riante liqueur,On sait qu’il brille aux yeux, qu’il chatouille le cœur,Qu’il pique l’odorat d’une agréable sève.Mais craignons un poison couvert,L’aspic est sous les fleurs, que seulement par grâce;Quand Beaune aura primé, Reims occupant la place,Vienne légèrement amuser le dessert.’

[147]In his ode entitledVinum Burgundum, the passage aspersing the wines of Reims runs as follows:

‘Nam suum Rhemi licet usque BacchumJactitent: æstu petulans jocosoHic quidam fervet cyathis, et auraLimpidus acri.Vellicat nares avidas; venenumAt latet: multos facies fefellit,Hic tamen spargat modico secundamMunere mensam.’

‘Nam suum Rhemi licet usque BacchumJactitent: æstu petulans jocosoHic quidam fervet cyathis, et auraLimpidus acri.

‘Nam suum Rhemi licet usque Bacchum

Jactitent: æstu petulans jocoso

Hic quidam fervet cyathis, et aura

Limpidus acri.

Vellicat nares avidas; venenumAt latet: multos facies fefellit,Hic tamen spargat modico secundamMunere mensam.’

Vellicat nares avidas; venenum

At latet: multos facies fefellit,

Hic tamen spargat modico secundam

Munere mensam.’

The French version, by M. de Bellechaume, entitled an ‘Ode au Vin de Bourgogne,’ and published in hisRecueil des Poésies latines et françaises sur les Vins de Champagne et de Bourgogne, Paris 1712, is as follows:

‘Vante, Champagne ambitieuse,L’odeur et l’éclat de ton vin,Dont la sève pernicieuseDans ce brillant cache un venin,Tu dois toute ta gloire en France,A cette agréable apparence,Qui nous attire et nous séduit;Qu’à Beaune ta liqueur soumiseDans les repas ne soit admise,Que sagement avec le fruit.’

‘Vante, Champagne ambitieuse,

L’odeur et l’éclat de ton vin,

Dont la sève pernicieuse

Dans ce brillant cache un venin,

Tu dois toute ta gloire en France,

A cette agréable apparence,

Qui nous attire et nous séduit;

Qu’à Beaune ta liqueur soumise

Dans les repas ne soit admise,

Que sagement avec le fruit.’

M. de la Monnoye, himself a Burgundian, has rendered this passage somewhat differently in an edition published the same year at Dijon:

‘Jusqu’aux cieux le Champagne élèveDe son vin pétillant la riante liqueur,On sait qu’il brille aux yeux, qu’il chatouille le cœur,Qu’il pique l’odorat d’une agréable sève.Mais craignons un poison couvert,L’aspic est sous les fleurs, que seulement par grâce;Quand Beaune aura primé, Reims occupant la place,Vienne légèrement amuser le dessert.’

‘Jusqu’aux cieux le Champagne élèveDe son vin pétillant la riante liqueur,On sait qu’il brille aux yeux, qu’il chatouille le cœur,Qu’il pique l’odorat d’une agréable sève.

‘Jusqu’aux cieux le Champagne élève

De son vin pétillant la riante liqueur,

On sait qu’il brille aux yeux, qu’il chatouille le cœur,

Qu’il pique l’odorat d’une agréable sève.

Mais craignons un poison couvert,L’aspic est sous les fleurs, que seulement par grâce;Quand Beaune aura primé, Reims occupant la place,Vienne légèrement amuser le dessert.’

Mais craignons un poison couvert,

L’aspic est sous les fleurs, que seulement par grâce;

Quand Beaune aura primé, Reims occupant la place,

Vienne légèrement amuser le dessert.’

[148]Campania vindicata; sive laus vini Remensis a poeta Burgundo eleganter quidam, sed immerito culpati.Offerebat civitati Remensi Carolus Coffin. Anno DominiMDCCXII.

[149]‘Quantum superbas vitis, humi licetProrepat, anteit fructibus arboresTantum, orbe quæ toto premunturVina super generosioraRemense surgit. Cedite, MassicaCantata Flacco Silleriis; nequeChio remixtum certet audaxCollibus Aïacis Falernum.Cernis micanti concolor ut vitroLatex in auras, gemmeus aspici,Scintellet exultim; utque dulcesNaribus illecebras propinet.Succi latentis proditor halitusUt spuma motu lactea turbidoCrystallinum lætis referreMox oculis properet nitorem.’La Monnoye renders this as follows:‘Autant que, sans porter sa tête dans les cieux,La vigne par son fruit est au-dessus du chêne;Autant, sans affecter une gloire trop vaine,Reims surpasse les vins les plus délicieux.Qu’Horace du Falerne entonne les louangesQue de son vieux Massique il vante les attraits;Tous ces vins fameux n’égaleront jamaisDu charmant Silleri les heureux vendanges.Aussi pur que la verre ou la main l’a versé,Les yeux les plus perçants l’en distinguent à peine;Qu’il est doux de sentir l’ambre de son haleineEt de prévoir le goût par l’odeur annoncé,D’abord à petits bonds une mousse argentineEtincelle, petille et bout de toutes parts,Un éclat plus tranquille offre ensuite aux regardsD’un liquide miroir la glace cristalline.’

[149]

‘Quantum superbas vitis, humi licetProrepat, anteit fructibus arboresTantum, orbe quæ toto premunturVina super generosioraRemense surgit. Cedite, MassicaCantata Flacco Silleriis; nequeChio remixtum certet audaxCollibus Aïacis Falernum.Cernis micanti concolor ut vitroLatex in auras, gemmeus aspici,Scintellet exultim; utque dulcesNaribus illecebras propinet.Succi latentis proditor halitusUt spuma motu lactea turbidoCrystallinum lætis referreMox oculis properet nitorem.’

‘Quantum superbas vitis, humi licetProrepat, anteit fructibus arboresTantum, orbe quæ toto premunturVina super generosiora

‘Quantum superbas vitis, humi licet

Prorepat, anteit fructibus arbores

Tantum, orbe quæ toto premuntur

Vina super generosiora

Remense surgit. Cedite, MassicaCantata Flacco Silleriis; nequeChio remixtum certet audaxCollibus Aïacis Falernum.

Remense surgit. Cedite, Massica

Cantata Flacco Silleriis; neque

Chio remixtum certet audax

Collibus Aïacis Falernum.

Cernis micanti concolor ut vitroLatex in auras, gemmeus aspici,Scintellet exultim; utque dulcesNaribus illecebras propinet.

Cernis micanti concolor ut vitro

Latex in auras, gemmeus aspici,

Scintellet exultim; utque dulces

Naribus illecebras propinet.

Succi latentis proditor halitusUt spuma motu lactea turbidoCrystallinum lætis referreMox oculis properet nitorem.’

Succi latentis proditor halitus

Ut spuma motu lactea turbido

Crystallinum lætis referre

Mox oculis properet nitorem.’

La Monnoye renders this as follows:

‘Autant que, sans porter sa tête dans les cieux,La vigne par son fruit est au-dessus du chêne;Autant, sans affecter une gloire trop vaine,Reims surpasse les vins les plus délicieux.Qu’Horace du Falerne entonne les louangesQue de son vieux Massique il vante les attraits;Tous ces vins fameux n’égaleront jamaisDu charmant Silleri les heureux vendanges.Aussi pur que la verre ou la main l’a versé,Les yeux les plus perçants l’en distinguent à peine;Qu’il est doux de sentir l’ambre de son haleineEt de prévoir le goût par l’odeur annoncé,D’abord à petits bonds une mousse argentineEtincelle, petille et bout de toutes parts,Un éclat plus tranquille offre ensuite aux regardsD’un liquide miroir la glace cristalline.’

‘Autant que, sans porter sa tête dans les cieux,La vigne par son fruit est au-dessus du chêne;Autant, sans affecter une gloire trop vaine,Reims surpasse les vins les plus délicieux.

‘Autant que, sans porter sa tête dans les cieux,

La vigne par son fruit est au-dessus du chêne;

Autant, sans affecter une gloire trop vaine,

Reims surpasse les vins les plus délicieux.

Qu’Horace du Falerne entonne les louangesQue de son vieux Massique il vante les attraits;Tous ces vins fameux n’égaleront jamaisDu charmant Silleri les heureux vendanges.

Qu’Horace du Falerne entonne les louanges

Que de son vieux Massique il vante les attraits;

Tous ces vins fameux n’égaleront jamais

Du charmant Silleri les heureux vendanges.

Aussi pur que la verre ou la main l’a versé,Les yeux les plus perçants l’en distinguent à peine;Qu’il est doux de sentir l’ambre de son haleineEt de prévoir le goût par l’odeur annoncé,

Aussi pur que la verre ou la main l’a versé,

Les yeux les plus perçants l’en distinguent à peine;

Qu’il est doux de sentir l’ambre de son haleine

Et de prévoir le goût par l’odeur annoncé,

D’abord à petits bonds une mousse argentineEtincelle, petille et bout de toutes parts,Un éclat plus tranquille offre ensuite aux regardsD’un liquide miroir la glace cristalline.’

D’abord à petits bonds une mousse argentine

Etincelle, petille et bout de toutes parts,

Un éclat plus tranquille offre ensuite aux regards

D’un liquide miroir la glace cristalline.’

[150]‘Non hæc malignus quidlibet obstrepatLivor; nocentes dissimulant dolosLeni veneno. Vina certantInguenuos retinere GentisCampana mores. Non stomacho moventÆgro tumultum; non gravidum caputFulagine infestant opacâ.’Bellechaume renders these lines in the Recueil as follows:‘Il n’a point, quoiqu’on insinueDe poison parmi ses douceurs,Et de sa province ingénueLa Champagne a gardé les mœurs.Il n’excite point de tempêteDans les estomacs languissants;Son feu léger monte à la tête,Eveille et réjouit les sens.’La Monnoye gives them thus:‘Taisez-vous envieux dont la langue cruelleVeut qu’ici sous les fleurs se cache le venin;Connaissez la Champagne, et respectez un vinQui des mœurs du climat est l’image fidèle.Non, ce jus qu’à grand tort vous osez outragerDe images fâcheux ne trouble point la tête,Jamais dans l’estomac n’excite de tempête;Il est tendre, il est net, délicat et léger.’

[150]

‘Non hæc malignus quidlibet obstrepatLivor; nocentes dissimulant dolosLeni veneno. Vina certantInguenuos retinere GentisCampana mores. Non stomacho moventÆgro tumultum; non gravidum caputFulagine infestant opacâ.’

‘Non hæc malignus quidlibet obstrepatLivor; nocentes dissimulant dolosLeni veneno. Vina certantInguenuos retinere Gentis

‘Non hæc malignus quidlibet obstrepat

Livor; nocentes dissimulant dolos

Leni veneno. Vina certant

Inguenuos retinere Gentis

Campana mores. Non stomacho moventÆgro tumultum; non gravidum caputFulagine infestant opacâ.’

Campana mores. Non stomacho movent

Ægro tumultum; non gravidum caput

Fulagine infestant opacâ.’

Bellechaume renders these lines in the Recueil as follows:

‘Il n’a point, quoiqu’on insinueDe poison parmi ses douceurs,Et de sa province ingénueLa Champagne a gardé les mœurs.Il n’excite point de tempêteDans les estomacs languissants;Son feu léger monte à la tête,Eveille et réjouit les sens.’

‘Il n’a point, quoiqu’on insinue

De poison parmi ses douceurs,

Et de sa province ingénue

La Champagne a gardé les mœurs.

Il n’excite point de tempête

Dans les estomacs languissants;

Son feu léger monte à la tête,

Eveille et réjouit les sens.’

La Monnoye gives them thus:

‘Taisez-vous envieux dont la langue cruelleVeut qu’ici sous les fleurs se cache le venin;Connaissez la Champagne, et respectez un vinQui des mœurs du climat est l’image fidèle.Non, ce jus qu’à grand tort vous osez outragerDe images fâcheux ne trouble point la tête,Jamais dans l’estomac n’excite de tempête;Il est tendre, il est net, délicat et léger.’

‘Taisez-vous envieux dont la langue cruelleVeut qu’ici sous les fleurs se cache le venin;Connaissez la Champagne, et respectez un vinQui des mœurs du climat est l’image fidèle.

‘Taisez-vous envieux dont la langue cruelle

Veut qu’ici sous les fleurs se cache le venin;

Connaissez la Champagne, et respectez un vin

Qui des mœurs du climat est l’image fidèle.

Non, ce jus qu’à grand tort vous osez outragerDe images fâcheux ne trouble point la tête,Jamais dans l’estomac n’excite de tempête;Il est tendre, il est net, délicat et léger.’

Non, ce jus qu’à grand tort vous osez outrager

De images fâcheux ne trouble point la tête,

Jamais dans l’estomac n’excite de tempête;

Il est tendre, il est net, délicat et léger.’

[151]‘Ergo ut secundis (parcere nam decetKaro liquori) se comitem addiditMensis renidens Testa; frontem,Arbitra lætitiæ, resolvitAusteriorum. Tune cyathos juvatSiccare molles: tunc hilaris jocosConviva fundit liberales;Tunc procul alterius valere.’Bellechaume has rendered this:‘Sitôt que sur de riches tablesDe ce nectar avec le fruitOn sert les coupes délectables,De joie il s’élève un doux bruit;On voit, même sur le visageDu plus sévère et du plus sage,Un air joyeux et plus serein:Le ris, l’entretien se reveille;Il n’est plus de liqueur pareilleA cet élixir souverain.’La Monnoye’s version is as follows:‘Vers la fin du repas, à l’approche du fruit,(Car on doit ménager une liqueur si fine),Aussitôt que parait la bouteille divine,Des Grâces à l’instant l’aimable chœur la suitParmi les conviés, s’élève un doux murmure;Le plus stoïque alors se deride le front.’

[151]

‘Ergo ut secundis (parcere nam decetKaro liquori) se comitem addiditMensis renidens Testa; frontem,Arbitra lætitiæ, resolvitAusteriorum. Tune cyathos juvatSiccare molles: tunc hilaris jocosConviva fundit liberales;Tunc procul alterius valere.’

‘Ergo ut secundis (parcere nam decetKaro liquori) se comitem addiditMensis renidens Testa; frontem,Arbitra lætitiæ, resolvit

‘Ergo ut secundis (parcere nam decet

Karo liquori) se comitem addidit

Mensis renidens Testa; frontem,

Arbitra lætitiæ, resolvit

Austeriorum. Tune cyathos juvatSiccare molles: tunc hilaris jocosConviva fundit liberales;Tunc procul alterius valere.’

Austeriorum. Tune cyathos juvat

Siccare molles: tunc hilaris jocos

Conviva fundit liberales;

Tunc procul alterius valere.’

Bellechaume has rendered this:

‘Sitôt que sur de riches tablesDe ce nectar avec le fruitOn sert les coupes délectables,De joie il s’élève un doux bruit;On voit, même sur le visageDu plus sévère et du plus sage,Un air joyeux et plus serein:Le ris, l’entretien se reveille;Il n’est plus de liqueur pareilleA cet élixir souverain.’

‘Sitôt que sur de riches tables

De ce nectar avec le fruit

On sert les coupes délectables,

De joie il s’élève un doux bruit;

On voit, même sur le visage

Du plus sévère et du plus sage,

Un air joyeux et plus serein:

Le ris, l’entretien se reveille;

Il n’est plus de liqueur pareille

A cet élixir souverain.’

La Monnoye’s version is as follows:

‘Vers la fin du repas, à l’approche du fruit,(Car on doit ménager une liqueur si fine),Aussitôt que parait la bouteille divine,Des Grâces à l’instant l’aimable chœur la suitParmi les conviés, s’élève un doux murmure;Le plus stoïque alors se deride le front.’

‘Vers la fin du repas, à l’approche du fruit,(Car on doit ménager une liqueur si fine),Aussitôt que parait la bouteille divine,Des Grâces à l’instant l’aimable chœur la suit

‘Vers la fin du repas, à l’approche du fruit,

(Car on doit ménager une liqueur si fine),

Aussitôt que parait la bouteille divine,

Des Grâces à l’instant l’aimable chœur la suit

Parmi les conviés, s’élève un doux murmure;Le plus stoïque alors se deride le front.’

Parmi les conviés, s’élève un doux murmure;

Le plus stoïque alors se deride le front.’

[152]That of Utrecht, concluded the following year, 1713.

[153]Ad clarissimum virum Guidonem-Crescentium Fagon regi a secretoribus consiliis, archiatrorum comitem; ut suam Burgundo vino prestantiam adversus Campanum vinum asserat.

[154]The original lines and the translation, published by Bellechaume the same year in hisRecueil, prove, as do the extracts already quoted from Coffin, that a sparkling wine was meant. The former run thus—‘Hinc inversa scyphis tumet, fremitque;Spumasque agglomerat furore mixtasÆstuans, levis, inquies proterva;’Bellechaume’s translation is as above—‘Enflés du même orgueil tous ses vins bondissantsN’élèvent que des flots écumeux frémissantsLeur liqueur furieuse, inconstante et légèreEtincelle, petille, et bout dans la fougère.’

‘Hinc inversa scyphis tumet, fremitque;Spumasque agglomerat furore mixtasÆstuans, levis, inquies proterva;’

‘Hinc inversa scyphis tumet, fremitque;

Spumasque agglomerat furore mixtas

Æstuans, levis, inquies proterva;’

Bellechaume’s translation is as above—

‘Enflés du même orgueil tous ses vins bondissantsN’élèvent que des flots écumeux frémissantsLeur liqueur furieuse, inconstante et légèreEtincelle, petille, et bout dans la fougère.’

‘Enflés du même orgueil tous ses vins bondissants

N’élèvent que des flots écumeux frémissants

Leur liqueur furieuse, inconstante et légère

Etincelle, petille, et bout dans la fougère.’

[155]These epigrams and their translation are given anonymously, as follows, in Bellechaume’sRecueil:‘Quid medicos testa implores Burgunda? LaborasNemo velit medicam poscere sanus opem.Cur fugis ad doctum, Burgundica testa, Fagonem?Arte valet multa, sed nimis ægra jaces.’‘A ce que je me persuadeSur la qualité des bons vins,Grenan, ta cause est bien malade,Tu consultes les médecins.Quand on s’adresse au médecinC’est qu’on éprouve une souffrance;Bourgogne, vous n’êtes pas sainPuisqu’il vous faut une ordonnance.’

[155]These epigrams and their translation are given anonymously, as follows, in Bellechaume’sRecueil:

‘Quid medicos testa implores Burgunda? LaborasNemo velit medicam poscere sanus opem.Cur fugis ad doctum, Burgundica testa, Fagonem?Arte valet multa, sed nimis ægra jaces.’

‘Quid medicos testa implores Burgunda? Laboras

Nemo velit medicam poscere sanus opem.

Cur fugis ad doctum, Burgundica testa, Fagonem?

Arte valet multa, sed nimis ægra jaces.’

‘A ce que je me persuadeSur la qualité des bons vins,Grenan, ta cause est bien malade,Tu consultes les médecins.Quand on s’adresse au médecinC’est qu’on éprouve une souffrance;Bourgogne, vous n’êtes pas sainPuisqu’il vous faut une ordonnance.’

‘A ce que je me persuade

Sur la qualité des bons vins,

Grenan, ta cause est bien malade,

Tu consultes les médecins.

Quand on s’adresse au médecin

C’est qu’on éprouve une souffrance;

Bourgogne, vous n’êtes pas sain

Puisqu’il vous faut une ordonnance.’

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