Chapter 1

The Project Gutenberg eBook of A History of Champagne, with Notes on the Other Sparkling Wines of France This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: A History of Champagne, with Notes on the Other Sparkling Wines of France Author: Henry Vizetelly Release date: September 24, 2014 [eBook #46953] Most recently updated: October 24, 2024 Language: English Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46953 Credits: Produced by Ann Jury, Reiner Ruf, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF CHAMPAGNE, WITH NOTES ON THE OTHER SPARKLING WINES OF FRANCE *** Transcriber's Note: #################### This e-text is based on the 1882 edition. The original spelling, as well as the use of punctuation and quotation marks, have been retained. The following errors have been corrected: # p. xi: 'Sauturnes' --> 'Sauternes' # p. 52: 'which ne declares' --> 'which he declares' # p. 154: 'its owes' --> 'it owes' # p. 204: 'Bonaporte' --> 'Bonaparte' # p. 220: 'histriographer' --> 'historiographer' # p. 229: 'Reputatiou' --> 'Reputation' # p. 256: 'Saint-Poray' --> 'Saint-Péray' # Footnote 412: 'tho gas' --> 'the gas' The caret symbol (^) characterises subsequent superscript text; [oe] is the symbol for the oe-ligature. [asterism] depicts a corresponding typographical symbol. The following text variations have been marked by special characters: Italic: underscores (_italic_) Bold: equals signs (=bold=) Small caps: forward slashes (/small caps/) Underlined: tildes (~underlined~) [Illustration: A SUPPER UNDER THE REGENCY.] A HISTORY OF CHAMPAGNE WITH NOTES ON THE OTHER SPARKLING WINES OF FRANCE. BY HENRY VIZETELLY, CHEVALIER OF THE ORDER OF FRANZ-JOSEF, AUTHOR OF 'THE WINES OF THE WORLD CHARACTERISED AND CLASSED,' 'FACTS ABOUT PORT AND MADEIRA,' 'FACTS ABOUT CHAMPAGNE AND OTHER SPARKLING WINES,' 'FACTS ABOUT SHERRY,' ETC. [Illustration] ILLUSTRATED WITH 350 ENGRAVINGS. LONDON: _VIZETELLY & CO., 42 CATHERINE STREET, STRAND. SCRIBNER & WELFORD, NEW YORK._ 1882. LONDON: ROBSON AND SONS, PRINTERS, PANCRAS ROAD, N.W. PREFACE. The present is the first instance in which the history of any wine has been traced with the same degree of minuteness as the history of the still and sparkling wines of the Champagne has been traced in the following pages. And not only have the author's investigations extended over a very wide range, as will be seen by the references contained in the footnotes to this volume, but during the past ten years he has paid frequent visits to the Champagne--to its vineyards and vendangeoirs, and to the establishments of the chief manufacturers of sparkling wine, the preparation of which he has witnessed in all its phases. Visits have, moreover, been made to various other localities where sparkling wines are produced, and more or less interesting information gathered regarding the latter. In the pursuit of his researches, the author's position as wine juror at the Vienna and Paris Exhibitions opened up to him many sources of information inaccessible to others less favourably circumstanced, and these his general knowledge of wine, acquired during many years' careful study, enabled him to turn to advantageous account. The numerous illustrations scattered throughout the present volume have been derived from every available source that suggested itself. Ancient /MSS./, early-printed books, pictures and pieces of sculpture, engravings and caricatures, all of greater or less rarity, have been laid under contribution; and in addition, nearly two hundred original sketches have been made under the author's immediate superintendence, with the object of illustrating the principal localities and their more picturesque features, and depicting all matters of interest connected with the growth and manipulation of the various sparkling wines which are here described. In the preparation of this work, and more particularly the historical portions of it, the author has been largely assisted by his nephew, Mr. Montague Vizetelly, to whom he tenders his warmest acknowledgments for the valuable services rendered by him. It should be stated that portions of the volume, relating to the vintaging and manufacture of sparkling wines generally, have been previously published under the title of _Facts about Champagne and other Sparkling Wines_, but they have been subjected to considerable extension and revision before being permitted to reappear in their present form. St. Leonards-on-Sea, February 1882. CONTENTS. /Part I./ I. /Early Renown of the Champagne Wines./ PAGE The vine in Gaul--Domitian's edict to uproot it--Plantation of vineyards under Probus--Early vineyards of the Champagne--Ravages by the Northern tribes repulsed for a time by the Consul Jovinus--St. Remi and the baptism of Clovis--St. Remi's vineyards--Simultaneous progress of Christianity and the cultivation of the vine--The vine a favourite subject of ornament in the churches of the Champagne--The culture of the vine interrupted, only to be renewed with increased ardour--Early distinction between 'Vins de la Rivière' and 'Vins de la Montagne'--A prelate's counsel respecting the proper wine to drink--The Champagne desolated by war--Pope Urban II., a former Canon of Reims Cathedral--His partiality for the wine of Ay--Bequests of vineyards to religious establishments--Critical ecclesiastical topers--The wine of the Champagne causes poets to sing and rejoice--'La Bataille des Vins'--Wines of Auviller and Espernai le Bacheler 1 II. /The Wines of the Champagne from the Fourteenth to the Seventeenth Century./ Coronations at Reims and their attendant banquets--Wine flows profusely at these entertainments--The wine-trade of Reims--Presents of wine from the Reims municipality--Cultivation of the vineyards abandoned after the battle of Poitiers--Octroi levied on wine at Reims--Coronation of Charles V.--Extension of the Champagne vineyards--Abundance of wine--Visit to Reims of the royal sot Wenceslaus of Bohemia--The Etape aux Vins at Reims--Increased consumption of beer during the English occupation of the city--The Maid of Orleans at Reims--The vineyards and wine-trade alike suffer--Louis XI. is crowned at Reims--Fresh taxes upon wine followed by the Mique-Maque revolt--The Rémois the victims of pillaging foes and extortionate defenders--The Champagne vineyards attacked by noxious insects--Coronation of Louis XII.--François Premier, the Emperor Charles V., Bluff King Hal, and Leo the Magnificent all partial to the wine of Ay--Mary Queen of Scots at Reims--State kept by the opulent and libertine Cardinal of Lorraine--Brusquet, the Court Fool--Decrease in the production of wine around Reims--Gifts of wine to newly-crowned monarchs--New restrictions on vine cultivation--The wine of the Champagne crowned at the same time as Louis XIII.--Regulation price for wine established at Reims--Imposts levied on the vineyards by the Frondeurs--The country ravaged around Reims--Sufferings of the peasantry--Presents of wine to Marshal Turenne and Charles II. of England--Perfection of the Champagne wines during the reign of Louis XIV.--St. Evremond's high opinion of them--Other contemporary testimony in their favour--The Archbishop of Reims's niggardly gift to James II. of England--A poet killed by Champagne--Offerings by the Rémois to Louis XIV. on his visit to their city 12 III. /Invention and Development of Sparkling Champagne./ The ancients acquainted with sparkling wines--Tendency of Champagne wines to effervesce noted at an early period--Obscurity enveloping the discovery of what we now know as sparkling Champagne--The Royal Abbey of Hautvillers--Legend of its foundation by St. Nivard and St. Berchier--Its territorial possessions and vineyards--The monks the great viticulturists of the Middle Ages--Dom Perignon--He marries wines differing in character--His discovery of sparkling white wine--He is the first to use corks to bottles--His secret for clearing the wine revealed only to his successors Frère Philippe and Dom Grossart--Result of Dom Perignon's discoveries--The wine of Hautvillers sold at 1000 livres the queue--Dom Perignon's memorial in the Abbey-Church--Wine flavoured with peaches--The effervescence ascribed to drugs, to the period of the moon, and to the action of the sap in the vine--The fame of sparkling wine rapidly spreads--The Vin de Perignon makes its appearance at the Court of the Grand Monarque--Is welcomed by the young courtiers--It figures at the suppers of Anet and Chantilly, and at the orgies of the Temple and the Palais Royal--The rapturous strophes of Chaulieu and Rousseau--Frederick William I. and the Berlin Academicians--Augustus the Strong and the page who pilfered his Champagne--Horror of the old-fashioned _gourmets_ at the innovation--Bertin du Rocheret and the Marshal d'Artagnan--System of wine-making in the Champagne early in the eighteenth century--Bottling of the wine in flasks--Icing Champagne with the corks loosened 34 IV. /The Battle of the Wines./ Temporary check to the popularity of sparkling Champagne--Doctors disagree--The champions of Champagne and Burgundy--Péna and his patient--A young Burgundian student attacks the wine of Reims--The Faculty of Reims in arms--A local Old Parr cited as an example in favour of the wines of the Champagne--Salins of Beaune and Le Pescheur of Reims engage warmly in the dispute--A pelting with pamphlets--Burgundy sounds a war-note--The Sapphics of Benigné Grenan--An asp beneath the flowers--The gauntlet picked up--Carols from a coffin--Champagne extolled as superior to all other wines--It inspires the heart and stirs the brain--The apotheosis of Champagne foam--Burgundy, an invalid, seeks a prescription--Impartially appreciative drinkers of both wines--Bold Burgundian and stout Rémois, each a jolly tippling fellow--Canon Maucroix's parallel between Burgundy and Demosthenes and Champagne and Cicero--Champagne a panacea for gout and stone--Final decision in favour of Champagne by the medical faculty of Paris--Pluche's opinion on the controversy--Champagne a lively wit and Burgundy a solid understanding--Champagne commands double the price of the best Burgundy--Zealots reconciled at table 47 V. /Progress and Popularity of Sparkling Champagne./ Sparkling Champagne intoxicates the Regent d'Orléans and the _roués_ of the Palais Royal--It is drunk by Peter the Great at Reims--A horse trained on Champagne and biscuits--Decree of Louis XV. regarding the transport of Champagne--Wine for the _petits cabinets du Roi_--The _petits soupers_ and Champagne orgies of the royal household--A bibulous royal mistress--The Well-Beloved at Reims--Frederick the Great, George II., Stanislas Leczinski, and Marshal Saxe all drink Champagne--Voltaire sings the praises of the effervescing wine of Ay--The Commander Descartes and Lebatteux extol the charms of sparkling Champagne--Bertin du Rocheret and his balsamic molecules--The Bacchanalian poet Panard chants the inspiring effects of the vintages of the Marne--Marmontel is jointly inspired by Mademoiselle de Navarre and the wine of Avenay--The Abbé de l'Attaignant and his fair hostesses--Breakages of bottles in the manufacturers' cellars--Attempts to obviate them--The early sparkling wines merely _crémant_--_Saute bouchon_ and _demi-mousseux_--Prices of Champagne in the eighteenth century--Preference given to light acid wines for sparkling Champagne--Lingering relics of prejudice against _vin mousseux_--The secret addition of sugar--Originally the wine not cleared in bottle--Its transfer to other bottles necessary--Adoption of the present method of ridding the wine of its deposit--The vine-cultivators the last to profit by the popularity of sparkling Champagne--Marie Antoinette welcomed to Reims--Reception and coronation of Louis XVI. at Reims--'The crown, it hurts me!'--Oppressive dues and tithes of the _ancien régime_--The Fermiers Généraux and their hôtel at Reims--Champagne under the Revolution--Napoleon at Epernay--Champagne included in the equipment of his satraps--The Allies in the Champagne--Drunkenness and pillaging--Appreciation of Champagne by the invading troops--The beneficial results which followed--Universal popularity of Champagne--The wine a favourite with kings and potentates--Its traces to be met with everywhere 57 VI. /Champagne in England./ The strong and foaming wine of the Champagne forbidden his troops by Henry V.--The English carrying off wine when evacuating Reims on the approach of Jeanne Darc--A legend of the siege of Epernay--Henry VIII. and his vineyard at Ay--Louis XIV.'s present of Champagne to Charles II.--The courtiers of the Merry Monarch retain the taste for French wine acquired in exile--St. Evremond makes the Champagne flute the glass of fashion--Still Champagne quaffed by the beaux of the Mall and the rakes of the Mulberry Gardens--It inspires the poets and dramatists of the Restoration--Is drank by James II. and William III.--The advent of sparkling Champagne in England--Farquhar's _Love and a Bottle_--Mockmode the Country Squire and the witty liquor--Champagne the source of wit--Port-wine and war combine against it, but it helps Marlborough's downfall--Coffin's poetical invitation to the English on the return of peace--A fraternity of chemical operators who draw Champagne from an apple--The influence of Champagne in the Augustan age of English literature--Extolled by Gay and Prior--Shenstone's verses at an inn--Renders Vanbrugh's comedies lighter than his edifices--Swift preaches temperance in Champagne to Bolingbroke--Champagne the most fashionable wine of the eighteenth century--Bertin du Rocheret sends it in cask and bottle to the King's wine-merchant--Champagne at Vauxhall in Horace Walpole's day--Old Q. gets Champagne from M. de Puissieux--Lady Mary's Champagne and chicken--Champagne plays its part at masquerades and bacchanalian suppers--Becomes the beverage of the ultra-fashionables above and below stairs--Figures in the comedies of Foote, Garrick, Coleman, and Holcroft--Champagne and real pain--Sir Edward Barry's learned remarks on Champagne--Pitt and Dundas drunk on Jenkinson's Champagne--Fox and the Champagne from Brooks's--Champagne smuggled from Jersey--Grown in England--Experiences of a traveller in the Champagne trade in England at the close of the century--Sillery the favourite wine--Nelson and the 'fair Emma' under the influence of Champagne--The Prince Regent's partiality for Champagne punch--Brummell's Champagne blacking--The Duke of Clarence overcome by Champagne--Curran and Canning on the wine--Henderson's praise of Sillery--Tom Moore's summer fête inspired by Pink Champagne--Scott's Muse dips her wing in Champagne--Byron's sparkling metaphors--A joint-stock poem in praise of Pink Champagne--The wheels of social life in England oiled by Champagne--It flows at public banquets and inaugurations--Plays its part in the City, on the Turf, and in the theatrical world--Imparts a charm to the dinners of Belgravia and the suppers of Bohemia--Champagne the ladies' wine _par excellence_--Its influence as a matrimonial agent--'O the wildfire wine of France!' 83 /Part II./ I. /The Champagne Vinelands--The Vineyards of the River./ The vinelands in the neighbourhood of Epernay--Viticultural area of the Champagne--A visit to the vineyards of 'golden plants'--The Dizy vineyards--Antiquity of the Ay vineyards--St. Tresain and the wine-growers of Ay--The Ay vintage of 1871--The Mareuil vineyards and their produce--Avernay; its vineyards, wines, and ancient abbey--The vineyards of Mutigny and Cumières--Damery and 'la belle hôtesse' of Henri Quatre--Adrienne Lecouvreur and the Maréchal de Saxe's matrimonial schemes--Pilgrimage to Hautvillers--Remains of the Royal Abbey of St. Peter--The ancient church--Its quaint decorations and monuments--The view from the heights of Hautvillers--The abbey vineyards and wine-cellars in the days of Dom Perignon--The vinelands of the Côte d'Epernay--Pierry and its vineyard cellars--The Moussy, Vinay, and Ablois St. Martin vineyards--The Côte d'Avize--Chavot, Monthelon, Grauves, and Cuis--The vineyards of Cramant and Avize, and their light delicate white wines--The Oger and Le Mesnil vineyards--Vertus and its picturesque ancient remains--Its vineyards planted with Burgundy grapes from Beaune--The red wine of Vertus a favourite beverage of William III. of England 117 II. /The Champagne Vinelands--The Vineyards of the Mountain./ The wine of Sillery--Origin of its renown--The Maréchale d'Estrées a successful Marchande de Vin--The Marquis de Sillery the greatest wine-farmer in the Champagne--Cossack appreciation of the Sillery produce--The route from Reims to Sillery--Henri Quatre and the Taissy wines--Failure of the Jacquesson system of vine cultivation--Château of Sillery--Wine-making at M. Fortel's--Sillery sec--The vintage at Verzenay and the vendangeoirs--Renown of the Verzenay wine--The Verzy vineyards--Edward III. at the Abbey of St. Basle--Excursion from Reims to Bouzy--The herring procession at St. Remi--Rilly, Chigny, and Ludes--The Knights Templars' 'pot' of wine--Mailly and the view over the Champagne plains--Wine-making at Mailly--The village in the wood--Château and park of Louvois, Louis le Grand's War Minister--The vineyards of Bouzy--Its church-steeple, and the lottery of the great gold ingot--Pressing grapes at the Werlé vendangeoir--Still red Bouzy--Ambonnay--A pattern peasant vine-proprietor--The Ambonnay vintage--The vineyards of Ville-Dommange and Sacy, Hermonville and St. Thierry--The still red wine of the latter 130 III. /The Vines of the Champagne and the System of Cultivation./ A combination of circumstances essential to the production of good Champagne--Varieties of vines cultivated in the Champagne vineyards--Different classes of vine-proprietors--Cost of cultivation--The soil of the vineyards--Period and system of planting the vines--The operation of 'provenage'--The 'taille' or pruning, the 'bêchage' or digging--Fixing the vine-stakes--Great cost of the latter--Manuring and shortening back the vines--The summer hoeing around the plants--Removal of the stakes after the vintage--Precautions adopted against spring frosts--The Guyot system of roofing the vines with matting--Forms a shelter from rain, hail, and frost, and aids the ripening of the grapes--Various pests that prey upon the Champagne vines--Destruction caused by the Eumolpe, the Chabot, the Bêche, the Cochylus, and the Pyrale--Attempts made to check the ravages of the latter with the electric light 140 IV. /The Vintage in the Champagne./ Period of the Champagne vintage--Vintagers summoned by beat of drum--Early morning the best time for plucking the grapes--Excitement in the neighbouring villages at vintage-time--Vintagers at work--Mules employed to convey the gathered grapes down the steeper slopes--The fruit carefully examined before being taken to the wine-press--Arrival of the grapes at the vendangeoir--They are subjected to three squeezes, and then to the 'rébêche'--The must is pumped into casks and left to ferment--Only a few of the vine-proprietors in the Champagne press their own grapes--The prices the grapes command--Air of jollity throughout the district during the vintage--Every one is interested in it, and profits by it--Vintagers' fête on St. Vincent's-day--Endless philandering between the sturdy sons of toil and the sunburnt daughters of labour 148 V. /The Preparation of Champagne./ The treatment of Champagne after it comes from the wine-press--The racking and blending of the wine--The proportions of red and white vintages composing the 'cuvée'--Deficiency and excess of effervescence--Strength and form of Champagne bottles--The 'tirage' or bottling of the wine--The process of gas-making commences--Details of the origin and development of the effervescent properties of Champagne--The inevitable breakage of bottles which ensues--This remedied by transferring the wine to a lower temperature--The wine stacked in piles--Formation of sediment--Bottles placed 'sur pointe' and daily shaken to detach the deposit--Effect of this occupation on those incessantly engaged in it--The present system originated by a workman of Madame Clicquot's--'Claws' and 'masks'--Champagne cellars--Their construction and aspect--Raw recruits for the 'Regiment de Champagne'--Transforming the 'vin brut' into Champagne--Disgorging and liqueuring the wine--The composition of the liqueur--Variation in the quantity added to suit diverse national tastes--The corking, stringing, wiring, and amalgamating--The wine's agitated existence comes to an end--The bottles have their toilettes made--Champagne sets out on its beneficial pilgrimage round the world 154 VI. /Reims and its Champagne Establishments./ The city of Reims--Its historical associations--The Cathedral--Its western front one of the most splendid conceptions of the thirteenth century--The sovereigns crowned within its walls--Present aspect of the ancient archiepiscopal city--The woollen manufactures and other industries of Reims--The city undermined with the cellars of the great Champagne firms--Reims hotels--Gothic house in the Rue du Bourg St. Denis--Renaissance house in the Rue de Vesle--Church of St. Jacques: its gateway and quaint weathercock--The Rue des Tapissiers and the Chapter Court--The long tapers used at religious processions--The Place des Marchés and its ancient houses--The Hôtel de Ville--Statue of Louis XIII.--The Rues de la Prison and du Temple--Messrs. Werlé & Co., successors to the Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin--Their offices and cellars on the site of a former Commanderie of the Templars--Origin of the celebrity of Madame Clicquot's wines--M. Werlé and his son--Remains of the Commanderie--The forty-five cellars of the Clicquot-Werlé establishment--Our tour of inspection through them--Ingenious dosing machine--An explosion and its consequences--M. Werlé's gallery of paintings--Madame Clicquot's Renaissance house and its picturesque bas-reliefs--The Werlé vineyards and vendangeoirs 168 VII. /Reims and its Champagne Establishments/ (_continued_). The house of Louis Roederer founded by a plodding German named Schreider--The central and other establishments of the firm--Ancient house in the Rue des Elus--The gloomy-looking Rue des Deux Anges and prison-like aspect of its houses--Inside their courts the scene changes--Handsome Renaissance house and garden, a former abode of the canons of the Cathedral--The Place Royale--The Hôtel des Fermes and the statue of the 'wise, virtuous, and magnanimous Louis XV.'--Birthplace of Colbert in the Rue de Cérès--Quaint Adam and Eve gateway in the Rue de l'Arbalète--Heidsieck & Co.'s central establishment in the Rue de Sedan--Their famous 'Monopole' brand--The firm founded in the last century--Their extensive cellars inside and outside Reims--The matured wines shipped by them--The Boulevard du Temple--M. Ernest Irroy's cellars, vineyards, and vendangeoirs--Recognition by the Reims Agricultural Association of his plantations of vines--His wines and their popularity at the best London clubs--Various Champagne firms located in this quarter of Reims--The Rue du Tambour and the famous House of the Musicians--The Counts de la Marck assumed former occupants of the latter--The Brotherhood of Minstrels of Reims--Périnet & Fils' establishment in the Rue St. Hilaire--Their cellars of three stories in solid masonry--Their soft, light, and delicate wines--A rare still Verzenay--The firm's high-class Extra Sec 179 VIII. /Reims and its Champagne Establishments/ (_continued_). La Prison de Bonne Semaine--Mary Queen of Scots at Reims--Messrs. Pommery & Greno's offices--A fine collection of faïence--The Rue des Anglais a former refuge of English Catholics--Remains of the old University of Reims--Ancient tower and grotto--The handsome castellated Pommery establishment--The spacious cellier and huge carved cuvée tuns--The descent to the cellars--Their great extent--These lofty subterranean chambers originally quarries, and subsequently places of refuge of the early Christians and the Protestants--Madame Pommery's splendid cuvées of 1868 and 1874--Messrs. de St. Marceaux & Co.'s new establishment in the Avenue de Sillery--Its garden-court and circular shaft--Animated scene in the large packing hall--Lowering bottled wine to the cellars--Great depth and extent of these cellars--Messrs. de St. Marceaux & Co.'s various wines--The establishment of Veuve Morelle & Co., successors to Max Sutaine--The latter's 'Essai sur le Vin de Champagne'--The Sutaine family formerly of some note at Reims--Morelle & Co.'s cellars well adapted to the development of sparkling wines--The various brands of the house--The Porte Dieu-Lumière 188 IX. /Epernay./ The connection of Epernay with the production of wine of remote date--The town repeatedly burnt and plundered--Hugh the Great carries off all the wine of the neighbourhood--Vineyards belonging to the Abbey of St. Martin in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries--Abbot Gilles orders the demolition of a wine-press which infringes the abbey's feudal rights--Bequests of vineyards in the fifteenth century--Francis I. bestows Epernay on Claude Duke of Guise in 1544--The Eschevins send a present of wine to their new seigneur--Wine levied for the king's camp at Rethel and the strongholds of the province by the Duc de Longueville--Epernay sacked and fired on the approach of Charles V.--The Charles-Fontaine vendangeoir at Avenay--Destruction of the immense pressoirs of the Abbey of St. Martin--The handsome Renaissance entrance to the church of Epernay--Plantation of the 'terre de siége' with vines in 1550--Money and wine levied on Epernay by Condé and the Duke of Guise--Henri Quatre lays siege to Epernay--Death of Maréchal Biron--Desperate battle amongst the vineyards--Triple talent of the 'bon Roy Henri' for drinking, fighting, and love-making--Verses addressed by him to his 'belle hôtesse' Anne du Puy--The Epernay Town Council make gifts of wine to various functionaries to secure their good-will--Presents of wine to Turenne at the coronation of Louis XIV.--Petition to Louvois to withdraw the Epernay garrison that the vintage may be gathered in--The Duke and Duchess of Orleans at Epernay--Louis XIV. partakes of the local vintage at the maison abbatiale on his way to the army of the Rhine--Increased reputation of the wine of Epernay at the end of the seventeenth century--Numerous offerings of it to the Marquis de Puisieux, Governor of the town--The Old Pretender presented at Epernay with twenty-four bottles of the best--Sparkling wine sent to the Marquis de Puisieux at Sillery, and also to his nephew--Further gifts to the Prince de Turenne--The vintage destroyed by frost in 1740--The Epernay slopes at this epoch said to produce the most delicious wine in Europe--Vines planted where houses had formerly stood--The development of the trade in sparkling wine--A 'tirage' of fifty thousand bottles in 1787--Arthur Young drinks Champagne at Epernay at forty sous the bottle--It is surmised that Louis XVI., on his return from Varennes, is inspired by Champagne at Epernay--Napoleon and his family enjoy the hospitality of Jean Remi Moët--King Jerome of Westphalia's true prophecy with regard to the Russians and Champagne--Disgraceful conduct of the Prussians and Russians at Epernay in 1814--The Mayor offers them the free run of his cellars--Charles X., Louis Philippe, and Napoleon III. accept the 'vin d'honneur' at Epernay--The town occupied by German troops during the war of 1870-1 195 X. /The Champagne Establishments of Epernay and Pierry./ Early records of the Moët family at Reims and Epernay--Jean Remi Moët, the founder of the commerce in Champagne wines--Extracts from old account-books of the Moëts--Jean Remi Moët receives the Emperor Napoleon, the Empress Josephine, and the King of Westphalia--The firm of Moët & Chandon constituted--Their establishment in the Rue du Commerce--The delivery and washing of new bottles--The numerous vineyards and vendangeoirs of the firm--Their cuvée made in vats of 12,000 gallons--The bottling of the wine--A subterranean city, with miles of streets, cross-roads, open spaces, tramways, and stations--The ancient entrance to these vaults--Tablet commemorative of the visit of Napoleon I.--The original vaults known as Siberia--Scene in the packing-hall--Messrs. Moët & Chandon's large and complete staff--The famous 'Star' brand of the firm--Perrier-Jouët's château, offices, and cellars--Classification of the wine of the house--The establishment of Messrs. Pol Roger & Co.--Their large stock of the fine 1874 vintage--The preparations for the tirage--Their vast fireproof cellier and its temperature--Their lofty and capacious cellars--Pierry becomes a wine-growing district consequent upon Dom Perignon's discovery--Esteem in which the growths of the Clos St. Pierre were held--Cazotte, author of _Le Diable Amoureux_, and guillotined for planning the escape of Louis XVI. from France, a resident at Pierry--His contest with the Abbot of Hautvillers with reference to the abbey tithes of wine--The Château of Pierry--Its owner demands to have it searched to prove that he is not a forestaller of corn--The vineyards and Champagne establishment of Gé-Dufaut & Co.--The reserves of old wines in the cellars of this firm--Honours secured by them at Vienna and Paris 205 XI. /Some Champagne Establishments at Ay and Mareuil./ The _bourgade_ of Ay and its eighteenth-century château--Gambling propensities of a former owner, Balthazar Constance Dangé-Dorçay-- Appreciation of the Ay vintage by Sigismund of Bohemia, Leo X., Charles V., Francis I., and Henry VIII.--Bertin du Rocheret celebrates this partiality in triolets--Estimation of the Ay wine in the reigns of Charles IX. and Henri III.--Is a favoured drink with the leaders of the League, and with Henri IV., Catherine de Medicis, and the courtiers of that epoch--The 'Vendangeoir d'Henri Quatre' at Ay--The King's pride in his title of Seigneur d'Ay and Gonesse--Dominicus Baudius punningly suggests that the 'Vin d'Ay' should be called 'Vinum Dei'--The merits of the wine sung by poets and extolled by wits--The Ay wine in its palmy days evidently not sparkling--Arthur Young's visit to Ay in 1787--The establishment of Deutz & Geldermann--Drawing off the cuvée there--Mode of excavating cellars in the Champagne--The firm's new cellars, vineyards, and vendangeoir--M. Duminy's cellars and wines--The house founded in 1814--The new model Duminy establishment--Picturesque old house at Ay--Messrs. Pfungst Frères & Co.'s cellars--Their finely-matured dry Champagnes--The old church of Ay and its numerous decorations of grapes and vine-leaves--The sculptured figure above the Renaissance doorway--The Montebello establishment at Mareuil--The château formerly the property of the Dukes of Orleans--A titled Champagne firm--The brilliant career of Marshal Lannes--A promenade through the Montebello establishment--The press-house, the cuvée-vat, the packing-room, the offices, and the cellars--Portraits and relics at the château--The establishment of Bruch-Foucher & Co.--The handsome carved gigantic cuvée-tun--The cellars and their lofty shafts--The wines of the firm 217 XII. /Champagne Establishments at Avize and Rilly./ Avize the centre of the white grape district--Its situation and aspect--The establishment of Giesler & Co.--The tirage and the cuvée--Vin Brut in racks and on tables--The packing-hall, the extensive cellars, and the disgorging cellier--Bottle stores and bottle-washing machines--Messrs. Giesler's wine-presses at Avize and vendangeoir at Bouzy--Their vineyards and their purchases of grapes--Reputation of the Giesler brand--The establishment of M. Charles de Cazanove--A tame young boar--Boar-hunting in the Champagne--M. de Cazanove's commodious cellars and carefully-selected wines--Vineyards owned by him and his family--Reputation of his wines in Paris and their growing popularity in England--Interesting view of the Avize and Cramant vineyards from M. de Cazanove's terraced garden--The vintaging of the white grapes in the Champagne--Roper Frères' establishment at Rilly-la-Montagne--Their cellars penetrated by roots of trees--Some samples of fine old Champagnes--The principal Châlons establishments--Poem on Champagne by M. Amaury de Cazanove 229 XIII. /Sport in the Champagne./ The Champagne forests the resort of the wild-boar--Departure of a hunting-party in the early morning to a boar-hunt--Rousing the boar from his lair--Commencement of the attack--Chasing the boar--His course is checked by a bullet--The dogs rush on in full pursuit--The boar turns and stands at bay--A skilful marksman advances and gives him the _coup de grâce_--Hunting the wild-boar on horseback in the Champagne--An exciting day's sport with M. d'Honnincton's boar-hounds--The 'sonnerie du sanglier' and the 'vue'--The horns sound in chorus 'The boar has taken soil'--The boar leaves the stream, and a spirited chase ensues--Brought to bay, he seeks the water again--Deathly struggle between the boar and a full pack of hounds--The fatal shot is at length fired, and the 'hallali' is sounded--As many as fifteen wild-boars sometimes killed at a single meet--The vagaries of some tame young boars--Hounds of all kinds used for hunting the wild-boar in the Champagne--Damage done by boars to the vineyards and the crops--Varieties of game common to the Champagne 235 /Part III./ I. /Sparkling Saumur and Sparkling Sauternes./ The sparkling wines of the Loire often palmed off as Champagne--The finer qualities improve with age--Anjou the cradle of the Plantagenet kings--Saumur and its dominating feudal Château and antique Hôtel de Ville--Its sinister Rue des Payens and steep tortuous Grande Rue--The vineyards of the Coteau of Saumur--Abandoned stone-quarries converted into dwellings--The vintage in progress--Old-fashioned pressoirs--The making of the wine--Touraine the favourite residence of the earlier French monarchs--After a night's carouse at the epoch of the Renaissance--The Vouvray vineyards--Balzac's picture of La Vallée Coquette--The village of Vouvray and the Château of Moncontour--Vernou, with its reminiscences of Sully and Pépin-le-Bref--The vineyards around Saumur--Remarkable ancient Dolmens--Ackerman-Laurance's establishment at Saint-Florent--Their extensive cellars, ancient and modern--Treatment of the newly-vintaged wine--The cuvée--Proportions of wine from black and white grapes--The bottling and disgorging of the wine and finishing operations--The Château of Varrains and the establishment of M. Louis Duvau aîné--His cellars a succession of gloomy galleries--The disgorging of the wine accomplished in a melodramatic-looking cave--M. Duvau's vineyard--His sparkling Saumur of various ages--Marked superiority of the more matured samples--M. E. Normandin's sparkling Sauternes manufactory at Châteauneuf--Angoulême and its ancient fortifications--Vin de Colombar--M. Normandin's sparkling Sauternes cuvée--His cellars near Châteauneuf--Recognition accorded to the wine at the Concours Régional d'Angoulême 241 II. /The Sparkling Wines of Burgundy, the Jura, and the South of France./ Sparkling wines of the Côte d'Or at the Paris Exhibition of 1878--Chambertin, Romanée, and Vougeot--Burgundy wines and vines formerly presents from princes--Vintaging sparkling Burgundies--Their after-treatment in the cellars--Excess of breakage--Similarity of proceeding to that followed in the Champagne--Principal manufacturers of sparkling Burgundies--Sparkling wines of Tonnerre, the birthplace of the Chevalier d'Eon--The Vin d'Arbanne of Bar-sur-Aube--Death there of the Bastard de Bourbon--Madame de la Motte's ostentatious display and arrest there--Sparkling wines of the Beaujolais--The Mont-Brouilly vineyards--Ancient reputation of the wines of the Jura--The Vin Jaune of Arbois beloved of Henri Quatre--Rhymes by him in its honour--Lons-le-Saulnier--Vineyards yielding the sparkling Jura wines--Their vintaging and subsequent treatment--Their high alcoholic strength and general drawbacks--Sparkling wines of Auvergne, Guienne, Dauphiné, and Languedoc--Sparkling Saint-Péray the Champagne of the South--Valence, with its reminiscences of Pius VI. and Napoleon I.--The 'Horns of Crussol' on the banks of the Rhône--Vintage scene at Saint-Péray--The vines and vineyards producing sparkling wine--Manipulation of sparkling Saint-Péray--Its abundance of natural sugar--The cellars of M. de Saint-Prix, and samples of his wines--Sparkling Côte-Rotie, Château-Grillé, and Hermitage--Annual production and principal markets of sparkling Saint-Péray--Clairette de Die--The Porte Rouge of Die Cathedral--How the Die wine is made--The sparkling white and rose-coloured muscatels of Die--Sparkling wines of Vercheny and Lagrasse--Barnave and the royal flight to Varennes--Narbonne formerly a miniature Rome, now noted merely for its wine and honey--Fête of the Black Virgin at Limoux--Preference given to the new wine over the miraculous water--Blanquette of Limoux, and how it is made--Characteristics of this overrated wine 251 III. /Facts and Notes respecting Sparkling Wines./ Dry and sweet Champagnes--Their sparkling properties--Form of Champagne glasses--Style of sparkling wines consumed in different countries--The colour and alcoholic strength of Champagne--Champagne approved of by the faculty--Its use in nervous derangements--The icing of Champagne--Scarcity of grand vintages in the Champagne--The quality of the wine has little influence on the price--Prices realised by the Ay and Verzenay crus in grand years--Suggestions for laying down Champagnes of grand vintages--The improvement they develop after a few years--The wine of 1874--The proper kind of cellar in which to lay down Champagne--Advantages of Burrow's patent slider wine-bins--Increase in the consumption of Champagne--Tabular statement of stocks, exports, and home consumption from 1844-5 to 1877-8--When to serve Champagne at a dinner-party--Charles Dickens's dictum that its proper place is at a ball--Advantageous effect of Champagne at an ordinary British dinner-party 258 [Illustration] [Illustration: A HISTORY OF CHAMPAGNE] WITH NOTES ON OTHER SPARKLING WINES.