Chapter 25

[351]Arthur Young’sTravels in France in the Years 1787–9.[352]Sheen’sWine and other fermented Liquors.[353]Amongst other English customers of the firm in 1788, 1789, and 1790 were ‘Milords’ Farnham and Findlater, the latter of whom was supplied with 120 bottles of the vintage of 1788; Manning, of the St. Alban’s Tavern, London, who ordered 130 bottles of vin de Champagne, at 3 livres or 2s.the bottle, to be delivered in the autumn by M. Caurette; Messrs. Felix Calvert & Sylvin, who took two sample bottles at 5s.; and Mr. Lockhart, banker, of 36 Pall Mall, who in 1790 paid 3s.per bottle for 360 bottles of the vintage of 1788. The high rate of exchange in our favour is shown by the 54l.covering this transaction being taken as 1495 livres 7 sols 9 deniers, or about 28 livres per pound sterling.[354]Walker’sThe Original.[355]‘The Fair of Britain’s Isle’ (Convivial Songster, 1807).[356]Diary of Mrs. Colonel St. George, written during her Sojourn amongst the German Courts in 1799 and 1800.[357]Moore’sThe Twopenny Post-bag, 1813.[358]Moore’sParody of a Celebrated Letter.[359]The compound known as ‘the Regent’s Punch’ was made out of 3 bottles of Champagne, 2 of Madeira, 1 of hock, 1 of curaçoa, 1 quart of brandy, 1 pint of rum, and 2 bottles of seltzer-water, flavoured with 4 lbs. bloom raisins, Seville oranges, lemons, white sugar-candy, and diluted with iced green tea instead of water (Tovey’sBritish and Foreign Spirits).[360]Captain Gronow’sReminiscences.[361]Ibid.[362]Prince Puckler Muskau’sLetters.[363]Miss Burney’sMemoirs.[364]Henderson’sHistory of Ancient and Modern Wines, 1824. Henderson, who appears to have visited the Champagne in 1822, remarks of the remainingcrûsof the province: ‘The wines of the neighbouring territories of Mareuil and Dizy are of similar quality to those of Ay, and are often sold as such. Those of Hautvillers, on the other hand, which formerly equalled, if not surpassed, the growths just named, have been declining in repute since the suppression of the monastery, to which the principal vineyard belonged.’[365]Moore’sThe Fudge Family Abroad, 1818.[366]Moore’sThe Sceptic.[367]Moore’sIllustration of a Bore.[368]Moore’sThe Summer Fête, 1831.[369]Ibid.[370]Ibid.[371]Moore’sDiary, June 1819.[372]Lockhart’sLife of Sir Walter Scott.[373]Scott’sDiary, November 15, 1826.[374]Byron’sEnglish Bards and Scotch Reviewers, 1808.[375]Byron’sDon Juan, canto xv. stanza lxv., 1821.[376]Ibid. canto xvi. stanza ix.[377]Ibid. canto xiii. stanzas xxxvii., xxxviii.[378]According to recent statistics issued by the Chamber of Commerce of Reims, the department of the Marne contains 16,500 hectares of vineyards (40,755 acres), of which 2465 hectares are situated in the district of Vitry-le-François; 555 hectares in that of Châlons; 700 in that of Sainte Menehould; 7624 in that of Reims; and 5587 in the Epernay district, where the finest qualities of Champagne are grown. The value of the wine produced annually in these districts exceeds 60,000,000 francs (nearly 2 ½ millions sterling). During the last thirty years, the value of these vineyards has increased fourfold. The ‘population vigneronne’ of the department is 16,093 inhabitants.[379]In the year 1871.[380]The blending of black and white grapes together, although its advantages had been recognised in theMaison Rustiqueof 1574, appears not to have been successfully carried out at Ay till the days of Dom Perignon. ‘Formerly,’ remarks Pluche, ‘it was very difficult to preserve the wine of Ay longer than one year. When the juice of the white grapes, whose quantity was very great in that vineyard, began to assume a yellowish hue, it became predominant, and created a change in all the wine; but ever since the white grapes have been disused, the Marne wines may be easily kept for the space of four or five years’ (Spectacle de la Nature, 1732).[381]From time immemorial the vineyards of Ay and Dizy paid tithes to the Abbey of Hautvillers, the former a sixtieth and the latter an eleventh of their produce. These dues were, by a decree of 1670, levied at the gate of Ay. In 1772, Tirant de Flavigny, a large wine-grower, who farmed, amongst other vineyards, ‘Les Quartiers’ at Hautvillers, insisted on leaving the tithe of grapes at the foot of the vine for collection by the abbey tithe-collectors. The Abbot Alexandre Ange de Talleyrand Périgord refused to accept them, and insisted in turn that the whole of the grapes should either be brought to the gate of Hautvillers or converted into wine in the vineyard, and the eleventh part of this wine handed to his representative. From aprocès verbaldrawn up by the Mayor of Ay, it seems that the inhabitants were willing to pay a monetary commutation, as was the prevailing custom, or to leave the abbot’s share of grapes in the vineyards; but objected to the tithe being taken, usually with considerable delay, on each basket, whereby the remaining grapes were bruised, and the possibility of bright white wine being made from them rendered exceedingly doubtful. It was not till 1787 that it was finally settled that the tithes should be paid in money at the rate of so much per arpent, and it is plain that the abbot’s chief object was to throw as much difficulty as he could in the way of rival makers of fine wines.[382]This curse is alluded to in the following verse from a sixteenth-century ballad written against the men of Ay:‘Tu n’auras ni chien ni chatPour te chanterLibera,Et tu mourras mau-chrétien,Toi qu’a maudit Saint Trézain.’The fountain of St. Tresain, which enjoys the reputation of curing diseases, and in the water of which it is pretended stolen food cannot be cooked, still exists at Mareuil.[383]The yield from the Ay vineyards averages five pièces, or 220 gallons per acre. Arthur Young, writing in 1787, estimated that the arpent (rather more than the acre) produced from two to six pièces of wine, or an average of four pièces, two of which sold for 200 livres, one for 150 livres, and one for 50 livres. He valued the arpent of vines at from 3000 to 6000 livres. Henderson, in hisHistory of Ancient and Modern Wines, says that in 1822 there were a thousand arpents on the hill immediately behind the village of Ay valued at from 10,000 to 12,000 francs the arpent, and that one plot had shortly before fetched 15,000 francs per arpent.[384]In 1873, two years later, the price mounted as high as 1000 francs; while in 1880, owing to the yield being far below an average one and the quality promising to be exceedingly good, the wine was bought up before the grapes were pressed at prices ranging from 1100 to 1400 francs the pièce.[385]In one of these, dated 1243, mention is made of the ‘vinea parva’ belonging to the Abbey of Avenay, and of the ‘vineam Warneri in loco qui dicetur Monswarins,’ perhaps the existing clos Warigny. In another of Philip the Fair, dated 1300, and confirming the abbey in the possession of property purchased from Jeanne de Sapigneul, we read of ‘unam vineam dictam la grant vigne domine Aelidis sitam en Perrelles’ and ‘unam vineam dictam a la Perriere.’ In charters of the fourteenth century vineyards are mentioned at Avenay and Mutigny, under the titles of Les Perches, Haut-Bonnet, Praëlles, Les Foissets, Fond de Bonnet, Berard, Chassant, &c. One sold to the abbey in 1334 by Guillaume de Valenciennes was at a spot then, as now, styled Plantelles. In 1336 the justices at Château-Thierry confirmed the Abbess, Madame Clémence, in the ‘droit de ban vin’—that is, the right of selling her wine before any one else in the territory of Avenay. This was again confirmed in 1344 by the Bailly of Sézanne, who held that she alone had the right of selling during the month after Christmas, the month after Easter, and the month after Pentecost. Amongst other records is one noting the condemnation of Perresson Legris, clerk, of Avenay, who was sentenced in 1460 by the Bailly of Epernay to a fine of 60 sols, for selling his wine during the month after Christmas without permission of the Dames d’Avenay. The charters of the fifteenth century also abound in references to vineyards, or ‘droits de vinage,’ appertaining to the abbey at Les Coutures, Champ Bernard, Auches, Bois de Brousse, Thonnay, &c., in the territory of Avenay, and Les Charmières, Torchamp, Saussaye, &c., at Mutigny.[386]In 1668, an epoch at which the wines of Avenay had acquired a high reputation, the abbey owned 43 arpents of vineland at Avenay, Mutigny, and Mareuil, yielding the preceding year 200 poinçons of wine, the sale of which produced 6000 livres. It also had 13 pressoirs banaux, which were farmed for 50 poinçons of wine, and tithes of wine at Mareuil amounting to 14 poinçons and 460 livres in money, and at Ambonnay amounting to 3 poinçons, the total of 67 poinçons fetching 1206 livres. The valet who looked after the vines had 50 livres per annum, and the cooper who looked after the wines, 40 livres. The total cost of stakes, manure, culture, pruning, wine-making, and casks was 2700 livres per annum. Ten pièces of wine ‘of the best of the abbey, and worth 300 livres,’ were annually given away in caques and bottles to ‘persons of quality and friends of the house, and travellers of condition who pass;’ whilst 120 poinçons, valued at 3000 livres, were consumed at the abbey itself. The abbey was partially destroyed by fire in 1754; and its destruction was completed during the Revolution, at which epoch its vineyards yielded a net revenue of 2500 livres.[387]In addition to Madame de la Marck, who was connected, by the marriage of one of her brothers to a princess of the house of Bourbon, with Henri Quatre, and to whose influence with that monarch the execution of the ‘Traité des Vendanges’ was mainly due, the roll of the Abbesses of Avenay comprises several illustrious personages, amongst them St. Bertha; Bertha II., daughter of the Emperor Lothaire; the ex-Empress Teutberga; Bénédicte de Gonzague, daughter of the Duke de Nevers, and sister of the Princess Palatine, who took such an active part during the troubles of the Fronde; and ladies of the illustrious families of Saulx Tavannes, Craon, Levis, Beauvillers, Brulart de Sillery, Boufflers, &c. M. Louis Paris, in hisHistoire de l’Abbaye d’Avenay, gives some curious instances of the exercise of the ‘haut et basse justice’ possessed by these ladies. In 1587, under the rule of Madame de la Marck, we find the Bailly of Avenay, acting as ‘first magistrate of Madame l’Abbesse,’ sentencing one man and four women ‘to be hung, strangled, and burnt, and the goods belonging to them confiscated to the profit of the Lady Justiciary,’ for the crime of sorcery. In 1645 we find a ‘sentence of the Bailly of Avenay against Simeon Delacoste, accused and convicted of the crime of homicide committed upon the person of Jean Bernier, and for this condemned to be hung and strangled by the executioner on a gallows erected in the public market-place, with confiscation of 300 livres, to be levied on his goods, to the profit of the Lady Justiciary.’ When the criminal could not be caught, as was the case with Nicholas Thimot, vine-grower at Avenay in 1555, the sentence ran that he should ‘be hung in effigy, and his goods confiscated to the profit of Madame.’[388]The following lines, quoted by M. Philibert Milsand in hisProcès poétique touchant les Vins de Bourgogne et de Champagne, may be taken as referring either to the wine or the scenery:‘Si quis in hoc mundo vult vivere corde jocoso,Vadat Cumerias sumere delicias.’[389]In Arthur Young’s time (1787–9) an arpent of vineyard at Hautvillers, valued at 4000 livres, yielded from two to four pièces, or hogsheads, of wine, which sold from 700 to 900 livres the queue (two pièces). This is more than the wine would ordinarily realise to-day, although in years of scarcity it has fetched 700 francs the pièce, and in 1880 as much as 1000 francs.[390]Cazotte, ex-Commissary-General of the Navy and author of theDiable Amoureux, who was guillotined as a Royalist in 1792, had a magnificently fitted mansion at Pierry. He distinguished himself by his opposition to the pretensions of the Abbey of Hautvillers, which in 1775 claimed the right of taking tithes at Pierry not only in the vineyards, but on the wine in the cellars. Cazotte argued that unless the monks chose to take their due proportion of grapes left for them at the foot of each vine, all they were entitled to was a monetary commutation of the tithe; for the wine being usually made of grapes from a dozen different sources, many of them beyond their domain, it would be impossible to ascertain the proportion that was their due. The Parliament of Paris decided, however, that the abbey might take the fortieth of the wine a month after it was barrelled, unless the vine-growers preferred to give them the fortieth part of all the grapes brought to the press. The fact was that the monks really wished to check the practice of mixing grapes from different districts at the press, for fear wine equal to their own should result from this plan, first satisfactorily put in practice by Dom Perignon. Arthur Young mentions that an arpent of vines at Pierry was valued at 2000 livres, half the price the same extent commanded at Hautvillers.[391]M. Armand Bourgeois, in his work onLe Sourdon et sa Vallée, mentions a local tradition to the effect that Saint Remi, who from his will is shown to have owned vinelands of some extent in a part of this district still known as the Evêché, installed a hermit in this said grotto of the Pierre de Saint Mamert to supervise his vineyards.[392]Bertin du Rocheret writes thus in 1744, and adds that the aspect of Avize had at that epoch become entirely changed by the numerous fine ‘maisons de vendange’ erected there.[393]In 1205 Gilbert Belon conferred an annual gift on the Abbey of St. Martin of seven hogsheads ofvinagederived from the vineyards of Oger.[394]‘Je fus jadis de terre vertueuseNez de Virtuz, pais renommé,Où il avait ville très gracieuse,Dont li bon vin sont en maints lieux nommés.’Eustache Deschamps’ poem on the Burning of Vertus.[395]‘Quant vient de si noble racineCome du droit plan de Beaune,Qui ne porte pas couleur jauneMais vermeille, franche, plaisant,Qui fait tout autre odeur taisant,Quand elle est aportée en place.’Deschamps’La Charte des Bons Enfans de Vertus.[396]‘Si vous alez au beneficeMieulx vous vauldra que ung clistère.’—Ibid.[397]In 1880 the Vertus wine realised the remarkably high price of from 1200 to 1400 francs the pièce.[398]St. Evremond’sLetters(London, 1728).[399]St. Simon’sMémoires.[400]Bertin du Rocheret’sMS.extracts from theRegistre des Assemblées du peuple de la ville d’Epernay.[401]Henderson’sHistory of Ancient and Modern Wines.[402]Arthur Young’sTravels in France in 1787–8–9.[403]AnonymousJournal de ce qui s’est passé d’intéressant à Reims en 1814.[404]Dom Chatelain, in hisMS.notes on theHistory of Reims, relates that Henri Quatre, being one day at Sully’s, asked the Minister for some breakfast, and after drinking a glass or two of wine, exclaimed, ‘Ventre Saint Gris, this is a grand wine; it beats mine of Ay and all others. I should like to know where it comes from.’ ‘’Tis my friend Taissy,’ answered Sully, ‘who sends it to me.’ ‘Then I must be introduced to him,’ said the King; which was accordingly done. The wines of Taissy had a high reputation as late as the eighteenth century. They were classed by St. Evremond and Brossette, the commentator of Boileau, amongst the best vintages of the Champagne, and their reputation was maintained by the care bestowed by the Abbé Godinot on the vineyards which he owned here.[405]‘Qu’Horace du Falerne entonne les louanges,Que de son vieux Massique il vante les attraits;Tous ces vins si fameux n’égaleront jamaisDu charmant Sillery les heureuses vendanges!’Translation by Le Monnoye in theRecueil des Poésies Latines et Françaises, &c., Paris, 1712.[406]The wine of Verzenay, like that of Bouzy, owes much of its reputation to the example set in the eighteenth century by the Abbé Godinot, author of theMémoireon the cultivation of the grape and the manufacture of wine in the Champagne, published in 1711. He owned extensive vineyards at Verzenay and Bouzy, and his prolonged investigations as to the species of vines and composts best suited to the district led to a complete revolution in the system of culture and mode of pressing the fruit. Bertin du Rocheret praises ‘the excellent wine of Verzenay’ served at the banquets celebrating the conclusion of the assembly of the Etats de Vitry, held at Châlons in 1744.[407]The value in 1880 of a hectare of vines, equivalent to nearly two and a half acres, was as follows:AtVerzy, Verzenay, and Sillery,35to38,000francs.„Bouzy and Ambonnay,38„40,000„„Ay and Dizy,40„45,000„„Hautvillers,20„22,000„„Pierry,18,000„„Cramant and Avize,38„40,000„„Le Mesnil,22„25,000„[408]This was far from being the first appearance of the pest in this district. From 1779 to 1785 similar ravages drove the vignerons to despair; but the weather during the last-named year suddenly turning wet and cold, just at the epoch of the butterflies emerging from their chrysalids, the evil disappeared as though by enchantment, an event duly acknowledged by parochial rejoicings and religious processions. In 1816 similar ravages took place; and from 1820 to 1830 the pyrale also caused great devastation.In the year 1613, Jehan Pussot, the local chronicler of Reims, notes that a large proportion of the vines were destroyed by ‘a great concourse of worms,’ which attacked those plants which the frost had spared. This would establish that either the pyrale or the cochylis was known to the Champenois viticulturists at the commencement of the seventeenth century.[409]In 1873, in all the higher-class vineyards, as much as two francs and a quarter per kilogramme (11d.per lb.) were paid, being more than treble 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 thespéculateurswho supply thevin brutto the Champagne manufacturers.In 1874 the grapes of the Mountain sold from at 55 to 160 francs the caque, according to the crus; and those of the Côte d’Avize at from 1 f. 25 c. to 2 f. per kilogramme. In 1875, on the other hand, grapes could be obtained at Verzenay, Verzy, Ambonnay, and Bouzy at from 45 to 55 francs the caque; and at Vertus, Le Mesnil, Oger, Grauves, Cramant, and Avize, at from 40 to 70 centimes the kilogramme. By far the highest price secured by the growers for their grapes was in 1880, when the produce of the grand crus of the Mountain fetched as much as 220 f. the caque, equal to nearly 3 f. 60 c. the kilogramme, or about 1s.5d.per lb. It was, as usual, scarcity rather than quality that caused this unprecedented rise in price.[410]M. Mauméné relates in hisTraité du Travail des Vinsthat on one occasion, when, as an experiment, 3000 first-class bottles, which had already been used, were employed anew, only fifteen or sixteen of the whole number resisted the pressure. Moreover, if much broken glass is remelted down and used in the manufacture, the bottles do not turn out well, the second fusion of silicates never having the same cohesion as the first. The glass-works of Sèvres and Bercy, which melt down most of the broken glass collected in Paris, have never been able to supply bottles strong enough for sparkling wines.[411]Loivre is about seven miles from Reims on the road to Laon.[412]It is calculated that wine, the grape sugar in which yields ten per cent of alcohol, according to the average in Champagne, would, if bottled immediately after pressing, produce enough carbonic acid gas to develop a pressure of thirty-two atmospheres. But such a pressure is never developed, as the wine is not bottled directly it leaves the press; besides which no bottle could stand it. From four to six atmospheres insure a lively explosion and a brisk creamy foam. It is necessary, therefore, that fermentation should have been carried on till at least three-fourths of the sugar have been converted into alcohol and carbonic acid gas before the wine is drawn off for bottling, for even the very best bottles burst under a pressure of eight atmospheres.A few words on the origin and development of the effervescent properties of Champagne will not be out of place here. These are due, as already explained, to the presence of a large quantity of carbonic acid gas, the evolution of which has been prevented by the bottling of the wine prior to the end of the alcoholic fermentation. The source of carbonic acid gas exists in all wines, and they may be all rendered sparkling by the same method of treatment. Still, no effervescent wine can compare with the finest growths of the Champagne, for these possess the especial property of retaining a large portion of their sugar during, and even after, fermentation; besides which, the soil imparts a native bouquet that no other wine can match.Carbonic acid gas is one of the two products of the fermentation of grape sugar, the other being alcohol. In wine fermented in casks it rises to the surface, and escapes through the bunghole left open for the purpose. The case is different with wine fermenting in bottles tightly secured by corks. Part of the gas developed rises into the chamber or vacant space left in the bottle, where, mingling with the atmospheric air, it exercises a constantly increasing pressure on the surface of the wine. This pressure at length becomes so strong as to keep all the gas subsequently formed dissolved in the wine itself, which it saturates, as it were, and thereby converts into sparkling wine. Upon the bottle being opened, the gas accumulated in the chamber rushes into the air, producing a slight explosion, or pop, and freeing from pressure the gas which had remained dissolved in the wine, and which in turn escapes in the shape of numberless tiny bubbles, forming the foam so pleasing to the eye on rising to the surface.Sometimes on opening a bottle of Champagne the pop is loud, but the effervescence feeble and transitory; and, on the other hand, there is merely a slight explosion, and yet the wine froths and sparkles vigorously and continuously. The two bottles may contain the same quantity of gas, but in the one there is more in the chamber and less dissolved in the wine, and hence the loud pop and slight sparkle; while in the other the pressure is low, and the explosion consequently slighter, but there is more gas in the wine itself, and the effervescence is proportionately greater and more lasting. In the former case the wine has received the addition of, or has contained from the outset, some matter calculated to diminish its power of dissolving carbonic acid gas, and is unsuitable for making good sparkling wine. The nature of the effervescence is one of the best tests of the quality of the wine. Gas naturally dissolved does not all escape at once on the removal of the pressure, but, on the contrary, about two-thirds of it are retained by the viscidity of the wine. The better and more natural the wine, the more intimately the carbonic acid gas remains dissolved in it, and the finer its bubbles.The form of the glass out of which Champagne is drunk has an influence on its effervescence. The wine sparkles far better in a glass terminating in a point, like the old-fashionedflûte, or the modern goblet or patera, with a hollow stem, than in one with a rounded bottom. The reason is that any point formed around the liquid, as instanced in the pointed bottoms of these glasses, or in the liquid, as may be proved by putting the end of a pointed glass rod into the wine, favours the disengagement of the gas. Powder of any kind presents a number of tiny points, and hence the dropping of a little powdered sugar into Champagne excites effervescence. Porous bodies like bread-crumbs produce the same effect. Even dust has a similar action; and the wine will froth better in a badly-wiped glass than in one perfectly clean, though it would hardly do to put forward such an excuse as this for using dirty goblets.The lively pop of the cork is less esteemed in England than in certain circles in France, where many hosts would be sadly disappointed if the wine they put before their guests did not go off with a loud bang, causing the ladies to scream and the gentlemen to laugh. A brisk foam, too, is absolutely necessary for the prestige of the wine, and ‘grand mousseux’ is a quality much sought after by the general public on the other side of the Channel. It is not rare to meet with wines of a high class in which the removal of the cork produces a loud explosion; but unfortunately the brisk report and sharp but transitory rush of foam are features easily imparted by artificial means. The ordinary white wines of Lorraine and other provinces receive a certain addition of spirit and liqueur, and are then artificially charged with carbonic acid gas obtained from carbonate of lime, chalk, and similar materials, after the fashion in which soda-water is made. These wines, sold as Champagne, eject their corks with a loud pop, but three-fourths of the carbonic acid gas escape at the same time, and the wine soon becomes flat and dead; whereas a naturally sparkling wine of good quality left open for three hours and then recorked will be found fresh and drinkable the next day.Both the explosion and the subsequent effervescence are aided by a high temperature, which assists the development of the gas. Cold has the opposite effect, and iced wine neither pops nor sparkles. It, however, retains, if genuine, the whole of the carbonic acid gas held dissolved, which is not the case with the imitations spoken of.Were it not that the question has been seriously started on more than one occasion, and only solved to the satisfaction of the questioner by a chemico-anatomical explanation, it would hardly be worth while touching upon the supposed hurtfulness of the carbonic acid gas contained in sparkling wines. The fact of accidents frequently occurring in breweries, distilleries, wine-presses, &c., from the accumulation of this gas, to breathe which for a few seconds is mortal, has led some people to wonder how Champagne, whilst containing so large a proportion of it, can be swallowed with impunity. The gas, however, which produces fatal results when inhaled into the lungs, by depriving the blood of the oxygen which it should find there, has in the stomach a beneficial effect, serving to promote digestion. In drinking Champagne it is conveyed direct to this latter region, so that no danger whatever exists, any more than in the mineral waters.—Mainly condensed from E. J. Mauméné’sTraité du Travail des Vins.[413]For a long time the most erroneous ideas as to the cause of such breakage and the means of preventing it prevailed. Tasting, which was most relied on for ascertaining how far fermentation had gone, could not be depended upon with accuracy, though the rule of thumb laid down by some makers was that the time to bottle with the least risk of breakage was when the sweet taste had disappeared, and vinous flavour developed itself. The aerometers subsequently introduced failed to answer the purpose, because the saccharine matter was not the only thing capable of influencing them. The result usually was either the bottling of a must so full of effervescence as to break the bottles, or of wine already completely fermented and incapable of effervescing at all.[414]In some establishments tables made after the same fashion replace the racks, whilst another plan of coaxing the sediment down towards the cork is to stack the bottles at the outset in double rows, with their necks inclining downwards, laths placed between each layer maintaining them in their position. This method effects a great economy of time and space, the bottles requiring on an average only a few days on the racks prior to shipment to thoroughly complete the operation.[415]As the real origin of this system is a matter which has excited no small amount of controversy, and as several claimants to the honour of its discovery have had their names put forward by different writers, the following extracts from a letter from M. Alfred Werlé, of the house founded by Madame Clicquot, may serve to render honour where it is really due: ‘Already, in 1806 (I am unable to speak of an earlier period with absolute certainty), the bottles were placed on tables, like to-day, with their heads downwards; each bottle being taken out of its hole, raised in the air, and shaken with the hand, so as to cause the cream of tartar and the deposit it contained to fall upon the cork, the holes being round, and the bottles placed straight downwards. This lasted till 1818, when a man named Müller, an employé of Madame Clicquot, suggested to her that the bottles should be left in the table whilst being shaken, and that the holes should be cut obliquely, so that the bottles might remain inclined. He maintained that one would thus obtain a wine of far greater limpidity. The trial was made, and every day, with a view of keeping this new process a secret, Müller and Madame Clicquot shut themselves up alone in the cellars, and shook the bottles unperceived. In 1821 Müller was assisted by a workman named Mathieu Binder; and in 1823 or 1824, Madame Clicquot having purchased from M. Morizet acuvéeof wine which was shaken and prepared in this merchant’s cellars, one of his employés named Thomassin became acquainted with the new method, and resolved to practise it; since when it gradually spread, and eventually was generally adopted. M. Werlé senior recollects perfectly well that when he arrived at Madame Clicquot’s in 1821 it was only at her establishment that the bottles were shaken in this manner. The practice of shaking the bottles was a very old one, and no more invented by Müller than by Thomassin; but the former certainly effected great improvements by employing the system of oblique holes, and shaking the bottles in the table and not in the air.’[416]M. Mauméné has pointed out that if a solution of tannin or alum has been added to thecuvéeat the time of fining, the deposit is certain to be granular and non-adherent. But he justly remarks that these solutions, especially the latter, though doing good to the wine, have a precisely opposite effect upon the human stomach that consumes it.

[351]Arthur Young’sTravels in France in the Years 1787–9.

[352]Sheen’sWine and other fermented Liquors.

[353]Amongst other English customers of the firm in 1788, 1789, and 1790 were ‘Milords’ Farnham and Findlater, the latter of whom was supplied with 120 bottles of the vintage of 1788; Manning, of the St. Alban’s Tavern, London, who ordered 130 bottles of vin de Champagne, at 3 livres or 2s.the bottle, to be delivered in the autumn by M. Caurette; Messrs. Felix Calvert & Sylvin, who took two sample bottles at 5s.; and Mr. Lockhart, banker, of 36 Pall Mall, who in 1790 paid 3s.per bottle for 360 bottles of the vintage of 1788. The high rate of exchange in our favour is shown by the 54l.covering this transaction being taken as 1495 livres 7 sols 9 deniers, or about 28 livres per pound sterling.

[354]Walker’sThe Original.

[355]‘The Fair of Britain’s Isle’ (Convivial Songster, 1807).

[356]Diary of Mrs. Colonel St. George, written during her Sojourn amongst the German Courts in 1799 and 1800.

[357]Moore’sThe Twopenny Post-bag, 1813.

[358]Moore’sParody of a Celebrated Letter.

[359]The compound known as ‘the Regent’s Punch’ was made out of 3 bottles of Champagne, 2 of Madeira, 1 of hock, 1 of curaçoa, 1 quart of brandy, 1 pint of rum, and 2 bottles of seltzer-water, flavoured with 4 lbs. bloom raisins, Seville oranges, lemons, white sugar-candy, and diluted with iced green tea instead of water (Tovey’sBritish and Foreign Spirits).

[360]Captain Gronow’sReminiscences.

[361]Ibid.

[362]Prince Puckler Muskau’sLetters.

[363]Miss Burney’sMemoirs.

[364]Henderson’sHistory of Ancient and Modern Wines, 1824. Henderson, who appears to have visited the Champagne in 1822, remarks of the remainingcrûsof the province: ‘The wines of the neighbouring territories of Mareuil and Dizy are of similar quality to those of Ay, and are often sold as such. Those of Hautvillers, on the other hand, which formerly equalled, if not surpassed, the growths just named, have been declining in repute since the suppression of the monastery, to which the principal vineyard belonged.’

[365]Moore’sThe Fudge Family Abroad, 1818.

[366]Moore’sThe Sceptic.

[367]Moore’sIllustration of a Bore.

[368]Moore’sThe Summer Fête, 1831.

[369]Ibid.

[370]Ibid.

[371]Moore’sDiary, June 1819.

[372]Lockhart’sLife of Sir Walter Scott.

[373]Scott’sDiary, November 15, 1826.

[374]Byron’sEnglish Bards and Scotch Reviewers, 1808.

[375]Byron’sDon Juan, canto xv. stanza lxv., 1821.

[376]Ibid. canto xvi. stanza ix.

[377]Ibid. canto xiii. stanzas xxxvii., xxxviii.

[378]According to recent statistics issued by the Chamber of Commerce of Reims, the department of the Marne contains 16,500 hectares of vineyards (40,755 acres), of which 2465 hectares are situated in the district of Vitry-le-François; 555 hectares in that of Châlons; 700 in that of Sainte Menehould; 7624 in that of Reims; and 5587 in the Epernay district, where the finest qualities of Champagne are grown. The value of the wine produced annually in these districts exceeds 60,000,000 francs (nearly 2 ½ millions sterling). During the last thirty years, the value of these vineyards has increased fourfold. The ‘population vigneronne’ of the department is 16,093 inhabitants.

[379]In the year 1871.

[380]The blending of black and white grapes together, although its advantages had been recognised in theMaison Rustiqueof 1574, appears not to have been successfully carried out at Ay till the days of Dom Perignon. ‘Formerly,’ remarks Pluche, ‘it was very difficult to preserve the wine of Ay longer than one year. When the juice of the white grapes, whose quantity was very great in that vineyard, began to assume a yellowish hue, it became predominant, and created a change in all the wine; but ever since the white grapes have been disused, the Marne wines may be easily kept for the space of four or five years’ (Spectacle de la Nature, 1732).

[381]From time immemorial the vineyards of Ay and Dizy paid tithes to the Abbey of Hautvillers, the former a sixtieth and the latter an eleventh of their produce. These dues were, by a decree of 1670, levied at the gate of Ay. In 1772, Tirant de Flavigny, a large wine-grower, who farmed, amongst other vineyards, ‘Les Quartiers’ at Hautvillers, insisted on leaving the tithe of grapes at the foot of the vine for collection by the abbey tithe-collectors. The Abbot Alexandre Ange de Talleyrand Périgord refused to accept them, and insisted in turn that the whole of the grapes should either be brought to the gate of Hautvillers or converted into wine in the vineyard, and the eleventh part of this wine handed to his representative. From aprocès verbaldrawn up by the Mayor of Ay, it seems that the inhabitants were willing to pay a monetary commutation, as was the prevailing custom, or to leave the abbot’s share of grapes in the vineyards; but objected to the tithe being taken, usually with considerable delay, on each basket, whereby the remaining grapes were bruised, and the possibility of bright white wine being made from them rendered exceedingly doubtful. It was not till 1787 that it was finally settled that the tithes should be paid in money at the rate of so much per arpent, and it is plain that the abbot’s chief object was to throw as much difficulty as he could in the way of rival makers of fine wines.

[382]This curse is alluded to in the following verse from a sixteenth-century ballad written against the men of Ay:‘Tu n’auras ni chien ni chatPour te chanterLibera,Et tu mourras mau-chrétien,Toi qu’a maudit Saint Trézain.’The fountain of St. Tresain, which enjoys the reputation of curing diseases, and in the water of which it is pretended stolen food cannot be cooked, still exists at Mareuil.

[382]This curse is alluded to in the following verse from a sixteenth-century ballad written against the men of Ay:

‘Tu n’auras ni chien ni chatPour te chanterLibera,Et tu mourras mau-chrétien,Toi qu’a maudit Saint Trézain.’

‘Tu n’auras ni chien ni chat

Pour te chanterLibera,

Et tu mourras mau-chrétien,

Toi qu’a maudit Saint Trézain.’

The fountain of St. Tresain, which enjoys the reputation of curing diseases, and in the water of which it is pretended stolen food cannot be cooked, still exists at Mareuil.

[383]The yield from the Ay vineyards averages five pièces, or 220 gallons per acre. Arthur Young, writing in 1787, estimated that the arpent (rather more than the acre) produced from two to six pièces of wine, or an average of four pièces, two of which sold for 200 livres, one for 150 livres, and one for 50 livres. He valued the arpent of vines at from 3000 to 6000 livres. Henderson, in hisHistory of Ancient and Modern Wines, says that in 1822 there were a thousand arpents on the hill immediately behind the village of Ay valued at from 10,000 to 12,000 francs the arpent, and that one plot had shortly before fetched 15,000 francs per arpent.

[384]In 1873, two years later, the price mounted as high as 1000 francs; while in 1880, owing to the yield being far below an average one and the quality promising to be exceedingly good, the wine was bought up before the grapes were pressed at prices ranging from 1100 to 1400 francs the pièce.

[385]In one of these, dated 1243, mention is made of the ‘vinea parva’ belonging to the Abbey of Avenay, and of the ‘vineam Warneri in loco qui dicetur Monswarins,’ perhaps the existing clos Warigny. In another of Philip the Fair, dated 1300, and confirming the abbey in the possession of property purchased from Jeanne de Sapigneul, we read of ‘unam vineam dictam la grant vigne domine Aelidis sitam en Perrelles’ and ‘unam vineam dictam a la Perriere.’ In charters of the fourteenth century vineyards are mentioned at Avenay and Mutigny, under the titles of Les Perches, Haut-Bonnet, Praëlles, Les Foissets, Fond de Bonnet, Berard, Chassant, &c. One sold to the abbey in 1334 by Guillaume de Valenciennes was at a spot then, as now, styled Plantelles. In 1336 the justices at Château-Thierry confirmed the Abbess, Madame Clémence, in the ‘droit de ban vin’—that is, the right of selling her wine before any one else in the territory of Avenay. This was again confirmed in 1344 by the Bailly of Sézanne, who held that she alone had the right of selling during the month after Christmas, the month after Easter, and the month after Pentecost. Amongst other records is one noting the condemnation of Perresson Legris, clerk, of Avenay, who was sentenced in 1460 by the Bailly of Epernay to a fine of 60 sols, for selling his wine during the month after Christmas without permission of the Dames d’Avenay. The charters of the fifteenth century also abound in references to vineyards, or ‘droits de vinage,’ appertaining to the abbey at Les Coutures, Champ Bernard, Auches, Bois de Brousse, Thonnay, &c., in the territory of Avenay, and Les Charmières, Torchamp, Saussaye, &c., at Mutigny.

[386]In 1668, an epoch at which the wines of Avenay had acquired a high reputation, the abbey owned 43 arpents of vineland at Avenay, Mutigny, and Mareuil, yielding the preceding year 200 poinçons of wine, the sale of which produced 6000 livres. It also had 13 pressoirs banaux, which were farmed for 50 poinçons of wine, and tithes of wine at Mareuil amounting to 14 poinçons and 460 livres in money, and at Ambonnay amounting to 3 poinçons, the total of 67 poinçons fetching 1206 livres. The valet who looked after the vines had 50 livres per annum, and the cooper who looked after the wines, 40 livres. The total cost of stakes, manure, culture, pruning, wine-making, and casks was 2700 livres per annum. Ten pièces of wine ‘of the best of the abbey, and worth 300 livres,’ were annually given away in caques and bottles to ‘persons of quality and friends of the house, and travellers of condition who pass;’ whilst 120 poinçons, valued at 3000 livres, were consumed at the abbey itself. The abbey was partially destroyed by fire in 1754; and its destruction was completed during the Revolution, at which epoch its vineyards yielded a net revenue of 2500 livres.

[387]In addition to Madame de la Marck, who was connected, by the marriage of one of her brothers to a princess of the house of Bourbon, with Henri Quatre, and to whose influence with that monarch the execution of the ‘Traité des Vendanges’ was mainly due, the roll of the Abbesses of Avenay comprises several illustrious personages, amongst them St. Bertha; Bertha II., daughter of the Emperor Lothaire; the ex-Empress Teutberga; Bénédicte de Gonzague, daughter of the Duke de Nevers, and sister of the Princess Palatine, who took such an active part during the troubles of the Fronde; and ladies of the illustrious families of Saulx Tavannes, Craon, Levis, Beauvillers, Brulart de Sillery, Boufflers, &c. M. Louis Paris, in hisHistoire de l’Abbaye d’Avenay, gives some curious instances of the exercise of the ‘haut et basse justice’ possessed by these ladies. In 1587, under the rule of Madame de la Marck, we find the Bailly of Avenay, acting as ‘first magistrate of Madame l’Abbesse,’ sentencing one man and four women ‘to be hung, strangled, and burnt, and the goods belonging to them confiscated to the profit of the Lady Justiciary,’ for the crime of sorcery. In 1645 we find a ‘sentence of the Bailly of Avenay against Simeon Delacoste, accused and convicted of the crime of homicide committed upon the person of Jean Bernier, and for this condemned to be hung and strangled by the executioner on a gallows erected in the public market-place, with confiscation of 300 livres, to be levied on his goods, to the profit of the Lady Justiciary.’ When the criminal could not be caught, as was the case with Nicholas Thimot, vine-grower at Avenay in 1555, the sentence ran that he should ‘be hung in effigy, and his goods confiscated to the profit of Madame.’

[388]The following lines, quoted by M. Philibert Milsand in hisProcès poétique touchant les Vins de Bourgogne et de Champagne, may be taken as referring either to the wine or the scenery:‘Si quis in hoc mundo vult vivere corde jocoso,Vadat Cumerias sumere delicias.’

[388]The following lines, quoted by M. Philibert Milsand in hisProcès poétique touchant les Vins de Bourgogne et de Champagne, may be taken as referring either to the wine or the scenery:

‘Si quis in hoc mundo vult vivere corde jocoso,Vadat Cumerias sumere delicias.’

‘Si quis in hoc mundo vult vivere corde jocoso,

Vadat Cumerias sumere delicias.’

[389]In Arthur Young’s time (1787–9) an arpent of vineyard at Hautvillers, valued at 4000 livres, yielded from two to four pièces, or hogsheads, of wine, which sold from 700 to 900 livres the queue (two pièces). This is more than the wine would ordinarily realise to-day, although in years of scarcity it has fetched 700 francs the pièce, and in 1880 as much as 1000 francs.

[390]Cazotte, ex-Commissary-General of the Navy and author of theDiable Amoureux, who was guillotined as a Royalist in 1792, had a magnificently fitted mansion at Pierry. He distinguished himself by his opposition to the pretensions of the Abbey of Hautvillers, which in 1775 claimed the right of taking tithes at Pierry not only in the vineyards, but on the wine in the cellars. Cazotte argued that unless the monks chose to take their due proportion of grapes left for them at the foot of each vine, all they were entitled to was a monetary commutation of the tithe; for the wine being usually made of grapes from a dozen different sources, many of them beyond their domain, it would be impossible to ascertain the proportion that was their due. The Parliament of Paris decided, however, that the abbey might take the fortieth of the wine a month after it was barrelled, unless the vine-growers preferred to give them the fortieth part of all the grapes brought to the press. The fact was that the monks really wished to check the practice of mixing grapes from different districts at the press, for fear wine equal to their own should result from this plan, first satisfactorily put in practice by Dom Perignon. Arthur Young mentions that an arpent of vines at Pierry was valued at 2000 livres, half the price the same extent commanded at Hautvillers.

[391]M. Armand Bourgeois, in his work onLe Sourdon et sa Vallée, mentions a local tradition to the effect that Saint Remi, who from his will is shown to have owned vinelands of some extent in a part of this district still known as the Evêché, installed a hermit in this said grotto of the Pierre de Saint Mamert to supervise his vineyards.

[392]Bertin du Rocheret writes thus in 1744, and adds that the aspect of Avize had at that epoch become entirely changed by the numerous fine ‘maisons de vendange’ erected there.

[393]In 1205 Gilbert Belon conferred an annual gift on the Abbey of St. Martin of seven hogsheads ofvinagederived from the vineyards of Oger.

[394]‘Je fus jadis de terre vertueuseNez de Virtuz, pais renommé,Où il avait ville très gracieuse,Dont li bon vin sont en maints lieux nommés.’Eustache Deschamps’ poem on the Burning of Vertus.

[394]

‘Je fus jadis de terre vertueuseNez de Virtuz, pais renommé,Où il avait ville très gracieuse,Dont li bon vin sont en maints lieux nommés.’

‘Je fus jadis de terre vertueuse

Nez de Virtuz, pais renommé,

Où il avait ville très gracieuse,

Dont li bon vin sont en maints lieux nommés.’

Eustache Deschamps’ poem on the Burning of Vertus.

[395]‘Quant vient de si noble racineCome du droit plan de Beaune,Qui ne porte pas couleur jauneMais vermeille, franche, plaisant,Qui fait tout autre odeur taisant,Quand elle est aportée en place.’Deschamps’La Charte des Bons Enfans de Vertus.

[395]

‘Quant vient de si noble racineCome du droit plan de Beaune,Qui ne porte pas couleur jauneMais vermeille, franche, plaisant,Qui fait tout autre odeur taisant,Quand elle est aportée en place.’

‘Quant vient de si noble racine

Come du droit plan de Beaune,

Qui ne porte pas couleur jaune

Mais vermeille, franche, plaisant,

Qui fait tout autre odeur taisant,

Quand elle est aportée en place.’

Deschamps’La Charte des Bons Enfans de Vertus.

[396]‘Si vous alez au beneficeMieulx vous vauldra que ung clistère.’—Ibid.

[396]

‘Si vous alez au beneficeMieulx vous vauldra que ung clistère.’—Ibid.

‘Si vous alez au benefice

Mieulx vous vauldra que ung clistère.’—Ibid.

[397]In 1880 the Vertus wine realised the remarkably high price of from 1200 to 1400 francs the pièce.

[398]St. Evremond’sLetters(London, 1728).

[399]St. Simon’sMémoires.

[400]Bertin du Rocheret’sMS.extracts from theRegistre des Assemblées du peuple de la ville d’Epernay.

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

[402]Arthur Young’sTravels in France in 1787–8–9.

[403]AnonymousJournal de ce qui s’est passé d’intéressant à Reims en 1814.

[404]Dom Chatelain, in hisMS.notes on theHistory of Reims, relates that Henri Quatre, being one day at Sully’s, asked the Minister for some breakfast, and after drinking a glass or two of wine, exclaimed, ‘Ventre Saint Gris, this is a grand wine; it beats mine of Ay and all others. I should like to know where it comes from.’ ‘’Tis my friend Taissy,’ answered Sully, ‘who sends it to me.’ ‘Then I must be introduced to him,’ said the King; which was accordingly done. The wines of Taissy had a high reputation as late as the eighteenth century. They were classed by St. Evremond and Brossette, the commentator of Boileau, amongst the best vintages of the Champagne, and their reputation was maintained by the care bestowed by the Abbé Godinot on the vineyards which he owned here.

[405]‘Qu’Horace du Falerne entonne les louanges,Que de son vieux Massique il vante les attraits;Tous ces vins si fameux n’égaleront jamaisDu charmant Sillery les heureuses vendanges!’Translation by Le Monnoye in theRecueil des Poésies Latines et Françaises, &c., Paris, 1712.

[405]

‘Qu’Horace du Falerne entonne les louanges,Que de son vieux Massique il vante les attraits;Tous ces vins si fameux n’égaleront jamaisDu charmant Sillery les heureuses vendanges!’

‘Qu’Horace du Falerne entonne les louanges,

Que de son vieux Massique il vante les attraits;

Tous ces vins si fameux n’égaleront jamais

Du charmant Sillery les heureuses vendanges!’

Translation by Le Monnoye in theRecueil des Poésies Latines et Françaises, &c., Paris, 1712.

[406]The wine of Verzenay, like that of Bouzy, owes much of its reputation to the example set in the eighteenth century by the Abbé Godinot, author of theMémoireon the cultivation of the grape and the manufacture of wine in the Champagne, published in 1711. He owned extensive vineyards at Verzenay and Bouzy, and his prolonged investigations as to the species of vines and composts best suited to the district led to a complete revolution in the system of culture and mode of pressing the fruit. Bertin du Rocheret praises ‘the excellent wine of Verzenay’ served at the banquets celebrating the conclusion of the assembly of the Etats de Vitry, held at Châlons in 1744.

[407]The value in 1880 of a hectare of vines, equivalent to nearly two and a half acres, was as follows:AtVerzy, Verzenay, and Sillery,35to38,000francs.„Bouzy and Ambonnay,38„40,000„„Ay and Dizy,40„45,000„„Hautvillers,20„22,000„„Pierry,18,000„„Cramant and Avize,38„40,000„„Le Mesnil,22„25,000„

[407]The value in 1880 of a hectare of vines, equivalent to nearly two and a half acres, was as follows:

[408]This was far from being the first appearance of the pest in this district. From 1779 to 1785 similar ravages drove the vignerons to despair; but the weather during the last-named year suddenly turning wet and cold, just at the epoch of the butterflies emerging from their chrysalids, the evil disappeared as though by enchantment, an event duly acknowledged by parochial rejoicings and religious processions. In 1816 similar ravages took place; and from 1820 to 1830 the pyrale also caused great devastation.In the year 1613, Jehan Pussot, the local chronicler of Reims, notes that a large proportion of the vines were destroyed by ‘a great concourse of worms,’ which attacked those plants which the frost had spared. This would establish that either the pyrale or the cochylis was known to the Champenois viticulturists at the commencement of the seventeenth century.

In the year 1613, Jehan Pussot, the local chronicler of Reims, notes that a large proportion of the vines were destroyed by ‘a great concourse of worms,’ which attacked those plants which the frost had spared. This would establish that either the pyrale or the cochylis was known to the Champenois viticulturists at the commencement of the seventeenth century.

[409]In 1873, in all the higher-class vineyards, as much as two francs and a quarter per kilogramme (11d.per lb.) were paid, being more than treble 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 thespéculateurswho supply thevin brutto the Champagne manufacturers.In 1874 the grapes of the Mountain sold from at 55 to 160 francs the caque, according to the crus; and those of the Côte d’Avize at from 1 f. 25 c. to 2 f. per kilogramme. In 1875, on the other hand, grapes could be obtained at Verzenay, Verzy, Ambonnay, and Bouzy at from 45 to 55 francs the caque; and at Vertus, Le Mesnil, Oger, Grauves, Cramant, and Avize, at from 40 to 70 centimes the kilogramme. By far the highest price secured by the growers for their grapes was in 1880, when the produce of the grand crus of the Mountain fetched as much as 220 f. the caque, equal to nearly 3 f. 60 c. the kilogramme, or about 1s.5d.per lb. It was, as usual, scarcity rather than quality that caused this unprecedented rise in price.

In 1874 the grapes of the Mountain sold from at 55 to 160 francs the caque, according to the crus; and those of the Côte d’Avize at from 1 f. 25 c. to 2 f. per kilogramme. In 1875, on the other hand, grapes could be obtained at Verzenay, Verzy, Ambonnay, and Bouzy at from 45 to 55 francs the caque; and at Vertus, Le Mesnil, Oger, Grauves, Cramant, and Avize, at from 40 to 70 centimes the kilogramme. By far the highest price secured by the growers for their grapes was in 1880, when the produce of the grand crus of the Mountain fetched as much as 220 f. the caque, equal to nearly 3 f. 60 c. the kilogramme, or about 1s.5d.per lb. It was, as usual, scarcity rather than quality that caused this unprecedented rise in price.

[410]M. Mauméné relates in hisTraité du Travail des Vinsthat on one occasion, when, as an experiment, 3000 first-class bottles, which had already been used, were employed anew, only fifteen or sixteen of the whole number resisted the pressure. Moreover, if much broken glass is remelted down and used in the manufacture, the bottles do not turn out well, the second fusion of silicates never having the same cohesion as the first. The glass-works of Sèvres and Bercy, which melt down most of the broken glass collected in Paris, have never been able to supply bottles strong enough for sparkling wines.

[411]Loivre is about seven miles from Reims on the road to Laon.

[412]It is calculated that wine, the grape sugar in which yields ten per cent of alcohol, according to the average in Champagne, would, if bottled immediately after pressing, produce enough carbonic acid gas to develop a pressure of thirty-two atmospheres. But such a pressure is never developed, as the wine is not bottled directly it leaves the press; besides which no bottle could stand it. From four to six atmospheres insure a lively explosion and a brisk creamy foam. It is necessary, therefore, that fermentation should have been carried on till at least three-fourths of the sugar have been converted into alcohol and carbonic acid gas before the wine is drawn off for bottling, for even the very best bottles burst under a pressure of eight atmospheres.A few words on the origin and development of the effervescent properties of Champagne will not be out of place here. These are due, as already explained, to the presence of a large quantity of carbonic acid gas, the evolution of which has been prevented by the bottling of the wine prior to the end of the alcoholic fermentation. The source of carbonic acid gas exists in all wines, and they may be all rendered sparkling by the same method of treatment. Still, no effervescent wine can compare with the finest growths of the Champagne, for these possess the especial property of retaining a large portion of their sugar during, and even after, fermentation; besides which, the soil imparts a native bouquet that no other wine can match.Carbonic acid gas is one of the two products of the fermentation of grape sugar, the other being alcohol. In wine fermented in casks it rises to the surface, and escapes through the bunghole left open for the purpose. The case is different with wine fermenting in bottles tightly secured by corks. Part of the gas developed rises into the chamber or vacant space left in the bottle, where, mingling with the atmospheric air, it exercises a constantly increasing pressure on the surface of the wine. This pressure at length becomes so strong as to keep all the gas subsequently formed dissolved in the wine itself, which it saturates, as it were, and thereby converts into sparkling wine. Upon the bottle being opened, the gas accumulated in the chamber rushes into the air, producing a slight explosion, or pop, and freeing from pressure the gas which had remained dissolved in the wine, and which in turn escapes in the shape of numberless tiny bubbles, forming the foam so pleasing to the eye on rising to the surface.Sometimes on opening a bottle of Champagne the pop is loud, but the effervescence feeble and transitory; and, on the other hand, there is merely a slight explosion, and yet the wine froths and sparkles vigorously and continuously. The two bottles may contain the same quantity of gas, but in the one there is more in the chamber and less dissolved in the wine, and hence the loud pop and slight sparkle; while in the other the pressure is low, and the explosion consequently slighter, but there is more gas in the wine itself, and the effervescence is proportionately greater and more lasting. In the former case the wine has received the addition of, or has contained from the outset, some matter calculated to diminish its power of dissolving carbonic acid gas, and is unsuitable for making good sparkling wine. The nature of the effervescence is one of the best tests of the quality of the wine. Gas naturally dissolved does not all escape at once on the removal of the pressure, but, on the contrary, about two-thirds of it are retained by the viscidity of the wine. The better and more natural the wine, the more intimately the carbonic acid gas remains dissolved in it, and the finer its bubbles.The form of the glass out of which Champagne is drunk has an influence on its effervescence. The wine sparkles far better in a glass terminating in a point, like the old-fashionedflûte, or the modern goblet or patera, with a hollow stem, than in one with a rounded bottom. The reason is that any point formed around the liquid, as instanced in the pointed bottoms of these glasses, or in the liquid, as may be proved by putting the end of a pointed glass rod into the wine, favours the disengagement of the gas. Powder of any kind presents a number of tiny points, and hence the dropping of a little powdered sugar into Champagne excites effervescence. Porous bodies like bread-crumbs produce the same effect. Even dust has a similar action; and the wine will froth better in a badly-wiped glass than in one perfectly clean, though it would hardly do to put forward such an excuse as this for using dirty goblets.The lively pop of the cork is less esteemed in England than in certain circles in France, where many hosts would be sadly disappointed if the wine they put before their guests did not go off with a loud bang, causing the ladies to scream and the gentlemen to laugh. A brisk foam, too, is absolutely necessary for the prestige of the wine, and ‘grand mousseux’ is a quality much sought after by the general public on the other side of the Channel. It is not rare to meet with wines of a high class in which the removal of the cork produces a loud explosion; but unfortunately the brisk report and sharp but transitory rush of foam are features easily imparted by artificial means. The ordinary white wines of Lorraine and other provinces receive a certain addition of spirit and liqueur, and are then artificially charged with carbonic acid gas obtained from carbonate of lime, chalk, and similar materials, after the fashion in which soda-water is made. These wines, sold as Champagne, eject their corks with a loud pop, but three-fourths of the carbonic acid gas escape at the same time, and the wine soon becomes flat and dead; whereas a naturally sparkling wine of good quality left open for three hours and then recorked will be found fresh and drinkable the next day.Both the explosion and the subsequent effervescence are aided by a high temperature, which assists the development of the gas. Cold has the opposite effect, and iced wine neither pops nor sparkles. It, however, retains, if genuine, the whole of the carbonic acid gas held dissolved, which is not the case with the imitations spoken of.Were it not that the question has been seriously started on more than one occasion, and only solved to the satisfaction of the questioner by a chemico-anatomical explanation, it would hardly be worth while touching upon the supposed hurtfulness of the carbonic acid gas contained in sparkling wines. The fact of accidents frequently occurring in breweries, distilleries, wine-presses, &c., from the accumulation of this gas, to breathe which for a few seconds is mortal, has led some people to wonder how Champagne, whilst containing so large a proportion of it, can be swallowed with impunity. The gas, however, which produces fatal results when inhaled into the lungs, by depriving the blood of the oxygen which it should find there, has in the stomach a beneficial effect, serving to promote digestion. In drinking Champagne it is conveyed direct to this latter region, so that no danger whatever exists, any more than in the mineral waters.—Mainly condensed from E. J. Mauméné’sTraité du Travail des Vins.

A few words on the origin and development of the effervescent properties of Champagne will not be out of place here. These are due, as already explained, to the presence of a large quantity of carbonic acid gas, the evolution of which has been prevented by the bottling of the wine prior to the end of the alcoholic fermentation. The source of carbonic acid gas exists in all wines, and they may be all rendered sparkling by the same method of treatment. Still, no effervescent wine can compare with the finest growths of the Champagne, for these possess the especial property of retaining a large portion of their sugar during, and even after, fermentation; besides which, the soil imparts a native bouquet that no other wine can match.

Carbonic acid gas is one of the two products of the fermentation of grape sugar, the other being alcohol. In wine fermented in casks it rises to the surface, and escapes through the bunghole left open for the purpose. The case is different with wine fermenting in bottles tightly secured by corks. Part of the gas developed rises into the chamber or vacant space left in the bottle, where, mingling with the atmospheric air, it exercises a constantly increasing pressure on the surface of the wine. This pressure at length becomes so strong as to keep all the gas subsequently formed dissolved in the wine itself, which it saturates, as it were, and thereby converts into sparkling wine. Upon the bottle being opened, the gas accumulated in the chamber rushes into the air, producing a slight explosion, or pop, and freeing from pressure the gas which had remained dissolved in the wine, and which in turn escapes in the shape of numberless tiny bubbles, forming the foam so pleasing to the eye on rising to the surface.

Sometimes on opening a bottle of Champagne the pop is loud, but the effervescence feeble and transitory; and, on the other hand, there is merely a slight explosion, and yet the wine froths and sparkles vigorously and continuously. The two bottles may contain the same quantity of gas, but in the one there is more in the chamber and less dissolved in the wine, and hence the loud pop and slight sparkle; while in the other the pressure is low, and the explosion consequently slighter, but there is more gas in the wine itself, and the effervescence is proportionately greater and more lasting. In the former case the wine has received the addition of, or has contained from the outset, some matter calculated to diminish its power of dissolving carbonic acid gas, and is unsuitable for making good sparkling wine. The nature of the effervescence is one of the best tests of the quality of the wine. Gas naturally dissolved does not all escape at once on the removal of the pressure, but, on the contrary, about two-thirds of it are retained by the viscidity of the wine. The better and more natural the wine, the more intimately the carbonic acid gas remains dissolved in it, and the finer its bubbles.

The form of the glass out of which Champagne is drunk has an influence on its effervescence. The wine sparkles far better in a glass terminating in a point, like the old-fashionedflûte, or the modern goblet or patera, with a hollow stem, than in one with a rounded bottom. The reason is that any point formed around the liquid, as instanced in the pointed bottoms of these glasses, or in the liquid, as may be proved by putting the end of a pointed glass rod into the wine, favours the disengagement of the gas. Powder of any kind presents a number of tiny points, and hence the dropping of a little powdered sugar into Champagne excites effervescence. Porous bodies like bread-crumbs produce the same effect. Even dust has a similar action; and the wine will froth better in a badly-wiped glass than in one perfectly clean, though it would hardly do to put forward such an excuse as this for using dirty goblets.

The lively pop of the cork is less esteemed in England than in certain circles in France, where many hosts would be sadly disappointed if the wine they put before their guests did not go off with a loud bang, causing the ladies to scream and the gentlemen to laugh. A brisk foam, too, is absolutely necessary for the prestige of the wine, and ‘grand mousseux’ is a quality much sought after by the general public on the other side of the Channel. It is not rare to meet with wines of a high class in which the removal of the cork produces a loud explosion; but unfortunately the brisk report and sharp but transitory rush of foam are features easily imparted by artificial means. The ordinary white wines of Lorraine and other provinces receive a certain addition of spirit and liqueur, and are then artificially charged with carbonic acid gas obtained from carbonate of lime, chalk, and similar materials, after the fashion in which soda-water is made. These wines, sold as Champagne, eject their corks with a loud pop, but three-fourths of the carbonic acid gas escape at the same time, and the wine soon becomes flat and dead; whereas a naturally sparkling wine of good quality left open for three hours and then recorked will be found fresh and drinkable the next day.

Both the explosion and the subsequent effervescence are aided by a high temperature, which assists the development of the gas. Cold has the opposite effect, and iced wine neither pops nor sparkles. It, however, retains, if genuine, the whole of the carbonic acid gas held dissolved, which is not the case with the imitations spoken of.

Were it not that the question has been seriously started on more than one occasion, and only solved to the satisfaction of the questioner by a chemico-anatomical explanation, it would hardly be worth while touching upon the supposed hurtfulness of the carbonic acid gas contained in sparkling wines. The fact of accidents frequently occurring in breweries, distilleries, wine-presses, &c., from the accumulation of this gas, to breathe which for a few seconds is mortal, has led some people to wonder how Champagne, whilst containing so large a proportion of it, can be swallowed with impunity. The gas, however, which produces fatal results when inhaled into the lungs, by depriving the blood of the oxygen which it should find there, has in the stomach a beneficial effect, serving to promote digestion. In drinking Champagne it is conveyed direct to this latter region, so that no danger whatever exists, any more than in the mineral waters.—Mainly condensed from E. J. Mauméné’sTraité du Travail des Vins.

[413]For a long time the most erroneous ideas as to the cause of such breakage and the means of preventing it prevailed. Tasting, which was most relied on for ascertaining how far fermentation had gone, could not be depended upon with accuracy, though the rule of thumb laid down by some makers was that the time to bottle with the least risk of breakage was when the sweet taste had disappeared, and vinous flavour developed itself. The aerometers subsequently introduced failed to answer the purpose, because the saccharine matter was not the only thing capable of influencing them. The result usually was either the bottling of a must so full of effervescence as to break the bottles, or of wine already completely fermented and incapable of effervescing at all.

[414]In some establishments tables made after the same fashion replace the racks, whilst another plan of coaxing the sediment down towards the cork is to stack the bottles at the outset in double rows, with their necks inclining downwards, laths placed between each layer maintaining them in their position. This method effects a great economy of time and space, the bottles requiring on an average only a few days on the racks prior to shipment to thoroughly complete the operation.

[415]As the real origin of this system is a matter which has excited no small amount of controversy, and as several claimants to the honour of its discovery have had their names put forward by different writers, the following extracts from a letter from M. Alfred Werlé, of the house founded by Madame Clicquot, may serve to render honour where it is really due: ‘Already, in 1806 (I am unable to speak of an earlier period with absolute certainty), the bottles were placed on tables, like to-day, with their heads downwards; each bottle being taken out of its hole, raised in the air, and shaken with the hand, so as to cause the cream of tartar and the deposit it contained to fall upon the cork, the holes being round, and the bottles placed straight downwards. This lasted till 1818, when a man named Müller, an employé of Madame Clicquot, suggested to her that the bottles should be left in the table whilst being shaken, and that the holes should be cut obliquely, so that the bottles might remain inclined. He maintained that one would thus obtain a wine of far greater limpidity. The trial was made, and every day, with a view of keeping this new process a secret, Müller and Madame Clicquot shut themselves up alone in the cellars, and shook the bottles unperceived. In 1821 Müller was assisted by a workman named Mathieu Binder; and in 1823 or 1824, Madame Clicquot having purchased from M. Morizet acuvéeof wine which was shaken and prepared in this merchant’s cellars, one of his employés named Thomassin became acquainted with the new method, and resolved to practise it; since when it gradually spread, and eventually was generally adopted. M. Werlé senior recollects perfectly well that when he arrived at Madame Clicquot’s in 1821 it was only at her establishment that the bottles were shaken in this manner. The practice of shaking the bottles was a very old one, and no more invented by Müller than by Thomassin; but the former certainly effected great improvements by employing the system of oblique holes, and shaking the bottles in the table and not in the air.’

[416]M. Mauméné has pointed out that if a solution of tannin or alum has been added to thecuvéeat the time of fining, the deposit is certain to be granular and non-adherent. But he justly remarks that these solutions, especially the latter, though doing good to the wine, have a precisely opposite effect upon the human stomach that consumes it.

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