episode of this siege was the death of Maréchal Biron, the most

devoted of Henri's adherents. On the 27th July the King and Biron were returning on horseback from Damery to the camp. As they advanced up the road leading from Mardeuil to the faubourg of Igny, the wind blew off Henri's hat, adorned with the famous white plume, and Biron, picking it up, jestingly placed it upon his own head. At this moment the white plume unluckily caught the eye of Petit, the master gunner of Epernay, and he at once pointed a cannon at it from the Tour Saint Antoine. 'For the Béarnais!' he exclaimed, as he fired; and the ball carried away the head of the Maréchal, to whom Henri was speaking, and upon whose shoulder the King's hand was actually resting. 'Ah, mordieu, the dog has bitten the Béarnais!' cried the exulting gunner, believing it was the King who had fallen, and alluding to the name of the cannon, which was known as the 'Dog of Orleans,' from its having been captured from the English at the siege of that city, and bearing on its breech the figure of a dog.[437] [Illustration] [Illustration: HENRI QUATRE BEFORE EPERNAY.] The death of Maréchal Biron, and the fact that Henri was devoting quite as much attention to his 'belle hôtesse' at Damery, the fair Présidente Anne du Puy, as he was to the siege, encouraged St. Paul, who commanded at Reims for the League, to despatch a strong body of Walloon pikemen and musketeers to the relief of the beleaguered town. They approached by the hollow road leading from the Faubourg des Ponts Neufs to the slope of the Vignes des Capinets, and passing between the vineyards Dure Epine and Gouttes d'Or. Attacked by the Royalists, they drew up in good order in the latter spot, and prepared to defend themselves with all the stubborn valour of their race, their dense array of pikes bristling amongst the bright green leaves--for it was the close of summer, and the vines were in all the glory of their luxuriant foliage. Vainly for a long time the Royalists assailed them. Attack after attack was repulsed, till the 'golden drops' were turned to drops of gore; and it was not until the white plume of King Henri came dashing on in the forefront of his choicest cavalry that the Walloons were finally broken and routed, after inflicting upon their assailants a far greater loss than they themselves sustained. The vineyard thus baptised in blood was thenceforward known as the Vigne des Sièges.[438] [Illustration] [Illustration] Though data may be lacking to connect the 'bon Roi Henri' directly with the wine of Epernay, there can be no doubt that the sovereign whose triple talent for drinking, fighting, and love-making has been handed down to us in song[439] found a fair opportunity of exercising all three of these attributes during the siege. Of fighting, as we have seen, he had plenty, and, Anacreon-like, he seems to have blended love and wine together.[440] He who, when a new-born babe, had his lips wetted in the old castle of Pau by stout Antoine de Bourbon with a cup of the generous wine of the South, and who gloried in the title of the Sieur d'Ay, was not likely to neglect the nectar vintaged on the slopes around Epernay. And probably the recollection of the raven-haired, black-eyed, bronze-skinned Bernais peasant-girls, whom tradition vows he used to woo when in the first flush of youthful manhood beneath the trellised vines of Jurançon and Gan, served by contrast to heighten the fairer charms of the blonde Anne du Puy, in whose honour he is reported to have sung: 'Morning bright, Thy pure light I rejoice when I see; The fair dove Whom I love So, is rosy like thee. She is fair, None so rare, With a waist matched by none; By my hand It is spanned, And eyes bright as the sun. Wet with new Fallen dew, The rose sparkles less bright; Freer from spot Ermine's not, Nor is lily more white. Fair Dupuis, All agree, On ambrosia is fed; From her lip When I sip Nectar's perfume is shed.'[441] At the outset of the seventeenth century Epernay had its full share in the troubles that marked the early part of the reign of Louis XIII., being taken in turn by Condé, by the Count de Soissons, acting for the malcontent nobles leagued against Richelieu in 1634, and by the King's forces the year following. The peaceful records are, however, plentiful and interesting. In 1631 we find the town council deciding to present 'six caques of white wine, the best that can be found,' to M. de Vignolles, and the same to M. d'Elbenne; and two years later protesting to the 'treasurers of France' their inability to pay 70,000 livres, demanded towards the maintenance of the army, owing to the all but total failure of the wine crop. The council were fully aware of the merits of their vintage, and of the advantages of appealing to the heart by way of the stomach. Six 'feuillettes' of the best wine were ordered to be sent in September 1636 to M. de Vaubecourt, and one to his secretary, 'to retain their good-will towards the town,' and induce the former to use his influence with a committee appointed by the King for repaying loans and advances, and also towards getting rid of the garrison. A little later the Marquis de Senneterre received a queue of wine to withdraw his troops from the town. The Maréchal de Chatillon, M. de Vaubecourt, M. de Belfonds, and the Count d'Estaing were in frequent receipt of such gifts; and it is noteworthy that amongst them figure 'two caques of wine in bottles,' sent to each of the two first at Sainte Ménéhoulde in 1639.[442] [Illustration] The successful efforts of Turenne against his great rival Condé during the wars of the Fronde were encouraged by frequent presents of the wine of Epernay. As the brother of the Duc de Bouillon, to whom the town of Epernay had been given in 1643 in exchange for Sedan, and as the protector of the district against the Spaniards, he received numerous tokens of the citizens' good-will. In September 1652 twelve caques of wine were sent to him, with the result that he at once ordered his soldiers to repair the broken bridge across the Marne. In the following January a chevreuil and two caques, and in June wine, fowls, and game, were presented to him. In June 1654 it was resolved that a deputation should be sent to the coronation of Louis XIV. at Reims, 'to render the homage due to the King,' and to present 'a caque of wine in bottles' to M. de Turenne, which helped no doubt to spread the fame of the Epernay wine amongst the nobility present on that occasion. The same social lever was applied in 1660 to the 'traitant général' of the so-called 'don gratuit' exacted on the occasion of the King's marriage, two feuillettes being proffered in order to get him to reduce the assessment. Representations made to an eschevin of Paris, despatched to Epernay in 1662 to see if there was any store of grain in the town that could be sold to benefit the starving poor of the capital, to the effect that the district was a wine-growing and not a corn country; and the despatch of a deputation in August 1666 to Louvois, to request that the garrison might be withdrawn to allow of the vintage being gathered in--the inhabitants of the surrounding country having fled to avoid sheltering soldiers,--serve to show the importance of the Epernay wine-trade. In 1671, on the passage of the Duke and Duchess of Orleans from Châlons, fruit and sweetmeats were presented to them, and wine to the lords of their suite, at a cost of 211 livres 7 sols; and two years later, Louis XIV. partook of the local vintage during his sojourn at the 'maison abbatiale,' when on his way to the army of the Rhine. Towards the close of this century the wine grew in repute, and was eagerly sought after. In November 1677 two caques were sent to 'a person who enjoys some credit,' and who was willing to accord his protection to the town in the matter of quartering troops upon it; and the following January twelve more caques were despatched to this 'unknown,' who may have been Louvois himself. As to Roger Brulart, Marquis de Puisieux et de Sillery and Governor of Epernay, a joyous companion, if we may credit St. Simon, his appreciation of the local vintage is borne ample testimony to. In 1677 six caques of 'the best' were sent to him by the town council; but by 1691 he must have become used to larger offerings, as in September a letter was addressed to him begging him to be satisfied with the like amount, as 'the inhabitants could not manage more,' and could only promise, with regard to three caques still due, that they would 'make an effort' to supply them the following year. Wise in their generation, they sent at the same time 'twelve bottles of the best wine' to his intendant, and a similar gift to his secretary; but the following year they were forced to write again that it would be impossible to supply the wine promised unless he obtained a permission to levy it.[443] The Old Pretender, or, as he is styled in the local records, 'Jacques Stuart III., roy d'Angleterre,' arrived at Epernay in September 1712, and was presented with 'twenty-four bottles of the best;' whilst the Marquis de Puisieux, who accompanied him, was satisfied with nothing less than a 'carteau,' or quarter-cask. And when the latter announced his intention of paying a visit in the autumn of 1719 to Maître Adam Bertin du Rocheret, conseiller du roy and ex-president of the Grenier-à-sel at Epernay, a resolution was passed to offer him wine on his arrival, and to send 'a hundred _flasks_ of the best' to his château of Sillery. The use of the word 'flaçons' clearly implies that the discoveries of Dom Perignon were being acted upon at Epernay, and that the gift in question was one of sparkling wine. [Illustration: JAMES EDWARD FRANCIS STUART, THE OLD PRETENDER.] In June 1722 the Sieurs Quatresous and Chertemps, despatched to congratulate the marquis's nephew and successor, Louis Philogène Brulart, on his appointment to the governorship of the town and his marriage with Mademoiselle de Souvré, granddaughter of Louvois, took with them a similar offering. At the coronation of Louis XV., in October, deputies were sent to compliment the Prince de Turenne, representative of his father the Duc de Bouillon, seigneur d'Epernay, and to present him with 'game, trout, and other fish,' and 'a basket of a hundred flasks of the best.' In August 1725 the bourgeois were drawn up under arms, and four dozen bottles were got ready, on the passage through the town of the Duke of Orleans, son of the late Regent, on his way to espouse, as the King's proxy, Marie Leczinska. This was, however, a sad year for the wine-growers, for ten months of incessant rain, beginning in April, not only ruined the at first promising crop entirely, but caused floods which wrought some havoc. The terrible hail-storm of 1730, which devastated the vineyards of Reims, fortunately spared those of Epernay; but a frost in October 1740 destroyed the vintage, and led to a dearness of provisions which pressed even on the most well-to-do.[444] For the next three-quarters of a century Epernay continued quietly to profit by the yield of 'the slopes laden with vines producing the most delicious wines in Europe,' to quote the expression of Stapart, who in 1749 notes the importance of the trade in wine carried on, not only with Paris, but with foreign countries; though at the same time complaining of the decreasing size of the town, and the fact of vineyards being planted where houses had formerly stood.[445] The only events of importance were from time to time an unusually good or an uncommonly bad crop, or--as the manufacture of _vin mousseux_ gradually swallowed up that of still wine--a disastrous _casse_, like the memorable one of 1776, varied by an occasional royal visit or so. By 1780, Max Sutaine notes that a single manufacturer would turn out from five to six thousand bottles of sparkling Champagne, and exults over the fact that seven years later an enterprising firm risked a _tirage_ of fifty thousand, though people at the time regarded this as something prodigious, and wondered where an outlet would be found.[446] Very likely a bottle of this identical _tirage_ was 'the excellent _vin mousseux_' with which Arthur Young regaled himself, at a cost of forty sous, on the 7th July of the same year, at that 'very good inn' the Hôtel de Rohan, at Epernay.[447] At this same inn the hapless Louis XVI. stopped to dine on his return from the intercepted flight to Varennes; and when we recall his timid nature, we may fairly surmise that it was Champagne which inspired him, amidst the insults of the mob, to remind the authorities that his ancestor, Henri Quatre, had entered the town in a very different fashion, and by implication to assert that he might yet do the same.[448] The Emperor Napoleon, the Empress Josephine, the King of Westphalia, and the other members of the Bonaparte dynasty, who from time to time visited Epernay and partook of the hospitality of Jean Remi Moët, showed a healthy appreciation of its vintage. Indeed King Jerome, in giving an order for six thousand bottles _premier cru_, remarked with a strange foresight that he would have taken more, only he was afraid that it would be the Russians after all who would come and drink it. Sure enough the eventful year 1814 witnessed the arrival at Epernay of a host of self-invited guests, all equally appreciative of the merits of Champagne, and gifted with an almost unlimited power of consumption, but entertaining insuperable objections to pay for what they consumed. The Prussians and Russians who came hither in February and March misconducted themselves in a very sad manner, burning and pillaging houses, insulting and maltreating the inhabitants, requisitioning all the wine they could lay hands on, and drinking in a manner recalling the Bacchic exploits of Gargantua and Pantagruel. The mayor, Jean Remi Moët, moved by the state of affairs, offered the invaders the free run of his cellars rather than that they should pillage those of others, doubtless under the idea that the reputation his house would thus acquire abroad would soon enable him to retrieve the temporary loss--a proviso happily and amply realised. Beyond the facts that Epernay has profited, and continues to profit, by the ever-increasing development of the taste for sparkling wine; that Charles X., Louis Philippe, and Napoleon III. have successively favoured it with their presence, and accepted the _vin d'honneur_ offered on such occasions; and that during the war of 1870-1 the town, in common with the rest of the province of Champagne, was occupied by the German invading army, there is nothing more to be said respecting its history. [Illustration: THE RUE DU COMMERCE (FAUBOURG DE LA FOLIE), EPERNAY.] [Illustration: THE PACKING-HALL AT MESSRS. MOËT AND CHANDON'S, EPERNAY.] 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. [Illustration] Those magnates of the Champagne trade, Messrs. Moët & Chandon, whose famous 'Star' brand is familiar in every part of the civilised globe, and whose half-score miles of cellars contain as many million bottles of Champagne as there are millions of inhabitants in most of the secondary European States, have their head-quarters at Epernay in a spacious château--in that street of châteaux named the Rue du Commerce, but commonly known as the Faubourg de la Folie--which is approached through handsome iron gates, and has beautiful gardens in the rear extending in the direction of the River Marne. The existing firm dates from the year 1833, but the family of Moët--conjectured to have originally come from the Low Countries--had already been associated with the Champagne wine trade for well-nigh a century previously. If the Moëts came from Holland they must have established themselves in the Champagne at a very early date, for the annals of Reims record that in the fourteenth century Jehan Moët de Mennemont, _escuier_, held a fief at Attigny from the Archbishop Richard Pique, and that in the following century Jean and Nicolas Moët were _échevins_ of the city. A Moët was present in that capacity at the coronation of Charles VII. in 1429, when Joan of Arc stood erect by the principal altar of the cathedral with her sacred banner in her hand; and for having contributed to repulse an attempt on the part of the English to prevent the entrance of the Royal party into the city, the Moëts were subsequently ennobled by the same monarch. A mural tablet in the church of St. Remi records the death of D. G. Moët, Grand Prior, in 1554; and nine years later we find Nicol Moët claiming exemption at Epernay for the payment of _tailles_ on the ground of his being a noble. An old commercial book preserved in the family archives shows that in the year 1743--at the epoch when the rashness of the Duc de Grammont saved the English army under George II. from being cut to pieces at Dettingen--a descendant of the foregoing, one Claude Louis Nicolas Moët, who owned considerable vineyard property in the vicinity of Epernay, decided upon embarking in the wine trade. It is his son, however, Jean Remi Moët, born in 1758, who may be looked upon as the veritable founder of the present commerce in Champagne wines, which, thanks to his efforts, received a wonderful impulse, so that instead of the consumption of the vintages of the Marne being limited as heretofore to the privileged few, it spread all over the civilised world. [Illustration: JEAN REMI MOËT.] At Messrs. Moët & Chandon's we had the opportunity of inspecting some of the old account-books of the firm, and more particularly those recording the transactions of Jean Remi Moët and his father. The first sales of sparkling wine, on May 23d, 1743, comprised 301 bottles of the vintage of 1741 to Pierre Joly, wine-merchant, _bon des douze chez le Roi_, whatever that may mean, at Paris; 120 bottles to Pierre Gabriel Baudoin, also _bon des douze_, at Paris; and a similar quantity to the Sieur Compoin, keeping the 'hotellerie ditte la pestitte Escurie,' Rue du Port-Maillart, at Nantes in Brittany. The entry specifies that the wine for Nantes is to be left at Choisy-le-Roi, and taken by land to Orleans by the carters of that town, who are to be found at the Ecu d'Orléans, Porte St. Michel, Paris, the carriage as far as Choisy being 4 livres 10 deniers (about 4 francs) for the two half-baskets, and to Paris 3 livres 15 deniers the basket. Between 1750 and '60 parcels of wine were despatched to Warsaw, Vienna, Berlin, Königsberg, Dantzig, Stettin, Brussels, and Amsterdam; but one found no mention of any sales to England till the year 1788, when the customers of the firm included 'Milord' Farnham, of London, and Messrs. Felix Calvert & Sylvin, who had a couple of sample-bottles sent to them, for which they were charged five shillings. In the same year Messrs. Carbonnell, Moody, & Walker (predecessors of the well-known existing firm of Carbonnell & Co.) wrote in French for two baskets, of ten dozens each, of _vin de Champagne_ 'of good body, not too charged with liqueur, but of excellent taste, and not at all sparkling.' The Chevalier Colebrook, writing from Bath, also requests that 72 bottles of Champagne may be sent to his friend the Hon. John Butler, Molesworth-street, Dublin, 'who, if contented with the wine, will become a good customer, he being rich, keeping a good house, and receiving many amateurs of _vin de Champagne_.' Shortly afterwards the Chevalier himself receives 50 bottles of still wine, vintage 1783. In 1789 120 bottles of Champagne, vintage 1788, are supplied to 'Milord' Findlater, of London; and in 1790 the customers of the house include Power & Michel, of 44 Lamb-street, London, and Manning, of the St. Alban Tavern, the latter of whom is supplied on March 30th with 130 bottles of Champagne at three livres, or two 'schillings,' per bottle; while a month later Mr. Lockart, banker, of 36 Pall Mall, is debited with 360 bottles, vintage 1788, at three shillings. In this same year M. Moët despatches a traveller to England named Jeanson, and his letters, some two hundred in number, are all preserved in the archives of the house. On the 17th May 1790 he writes from London as follows: 'As yet I have only gone on preparatory and often useless errands. I have distributed samples of which I have no news. Patience is necessary, and I endeavour to provide myself with it. How the taste of this country has changed since ten years ago! Almost everywhere they ask for dry wine, but at the same time require it so vinous and so strong that there is scarcely any other than the wine of Sillery which can satisfy them.... To-morrow I dine five miles from here, at M. Macnamara's. We shall uncork four bottles of our wine, which will probably be all right.' In May 1792 Jean Remi Moët is married, and thenceforward assumes the full management of the house. On December 20 of the year following, when the Reign of Terror was fairly inaugurated, we find the accounts in the ledger opened to this or the other 'citoyen.' The orthodox Republican formula, however, did not long continue, and 'sieur' and 'monsieur' resumed their accustomed places, showing that Jean Remi Moët had no sympathy with the Jacobin faction of the day. In 1805 he became Mayor of Epernay, and between this time and the fall of the Empire received Napoleon several times at his residence, as well as the Empress Josephine and the King of Westphalia. The Emperor, after recapturing Reims from the Allies, came on to Epernay, on which occasion he presented M. Moët with the Cross of the Legion of Honour. In 1830 the latter was arbitrarily dismissed from his mayoralty by Charles X., but was speedily reinstated by Louis Philippe, though he did not retain his office for long, his advanced age compelling him to retire from active life in the course of 1833. At this epoch the firm, which since 1807 had been known as Moët & Co., was remodelled under the style of Moët & Chandon, the two partners being M. Victor Moët, son of the outgoing partner, and M. P. G. Chandon, the descendant of an old ennobled family of the Mâconnais, who had married M. Jean Remi Moët's eldest daughter. The descendants of these gentlemen are to-day (1880) at the head of the business, the partners being, on the one hand, M. Victor Moët-Romont and M. C. J. V. Auban Moët-Romont; and on the other, MM. Paul and Raoul Chandon de Briailles. Facing Messrs. Moët & Chandon's offices at Epernay is a range of comparatively new buildings, with its white façade ornamented with the well-known monogram M. & C., surmounted by the familiar star. It is here that the business of blending and bottling the wine is carried on. Passing through the arched gateway, access is obtained to a spacious courtyard, where carts laden with bottles are being expeditiously lightened of their fragile contents by the busy hands of numerous workmen. Another gateway on the left leads into the spacious bottle-washing room, which from the middle of May until the middle of July presents a scene of extraordinary animation. Bottle-washing apparatus, supplied by a steam-engine with 20,000 gallons of water per diem, are ranged in fifteen rows down the entire length of this hall, and nearly 200 women strive to excel each other in diligence and celerity in their management, a practised hand washing from 900 to 1000 bottles in the course of the day. To the right of this _salle de rinçage_, as it is styled, bottles are stacked in their tens of thousands, and lads furnished with barrows, known as _diables_, hurry to and fro, conveying these to the washers, or removing the clean bottles to the adjacent courtyard, where they are allowed to drain prior to being taken to the _salle de tirage_ or bottling-room. Before, however, the washing of bottles on this gigantic scale commences, the 'marrying' or blending of the wine is accomplished in a vast apartment, 250 feet in length and 100 feet broad, during the early spring. The casks of newly-vintaged wine, which have been stowed away during the winter months in the extensive range of cellars hewn out of the chalk underlying Epernay, where they have slowly fermented, are mixed together in due proportion in huge vats, each holding upwards of 12,000 gallons. Some of this wine is the growth of Messrs. Moët & Chandon's own vineyards, of which they possess as many as 900 acres (giving constant employment to 800 labourers and vinedressers) at Ay, Avenay, Bouzy, Cramant, Champillon, Chouilly, Dizy, Epernay, Grauves, Hautvillers, Le Mesnil, Moussy, Pierry, Saran, St. Martin, Verzy, and Verzenay, and the average annual cost of cultivating which is about £40 per acre. At Ay the firm own 210 acres of vineyards; at Cramant and Chouilly, nearly 180 acres; at Verzy and Verzenay, 120 acres; at Pierry and Grauves, upwards of 100 acres; at Hautvillers, 90 acres; at Le Mesnil, 80 acres; at Epernay, nearly 60 acres; and at Bouzy, 55 acres. Messrs. Moët & Chandon, moreover, possess vendangeoirs, or pressing-houses, at Ay, Bouzy, Cramant, Epernay, Hautvillers, Le Mesnil, Pierry, Saran, and Verzenay, in which the large number of 40 presses are installed. At these vendangeoirs no less than 5450 pièces of fine white wine, sufficient for 1,360,000 bottles of Champagne, are annually made--that is, 1200 pièces at Ay, 1100 at Cramant and Saran, 800 at Verzy and Verzenay, and smaller quantities at the remaining establishments. All these establishments have their celliers and their cellars, together with cottages for the accommodation of the numerous vinedressers in the employment of the firm. [Illustration: WASHING BOTTLES AT MESSRS. MOËT AND CHANDON'S, EPERNAY.] Extensive as are the vineyards owned by Messrs. Moët & Chandon, the yield from them is utterly inadequate to the enormous demand which the great Epernay firm are annually called upon to supply, and large purchases have to be made by their agents from the growers throughout the Champagne. The wine thus secured, as well as that grown by the firm, is duly mixed together in such proportions as will insure lightness with the requisite vinosity, and fragrance combined with effervescence, a thorough amalgamation being effected by stirring up the wine with long poles provided with fan-shaped ends. If the vintage be indifferent in quality, the firm have scores of huge tuns filled with the yield of more favoured seasons to fall back upon to insure any deficiencies of character and flavour being supplied. [Illustration: MESSRS. MOËT AND CHANDON'S VENDANGEOIR AT BOUZY.] The casks of wine to be blended are raised from the cellars, half a dozen at a time, by means of a lift provided with an endless chain, and worked by the steam-engine of which we have already spoken. They are emptied, through traps in the floor of the room above, into the huge vats which, standing upon a raised platform, reach almost to the ceiling. From these vats the fluid is allowed to flow through hose into rows of casks stationed below. Before being bottled the wine reposes for a certain time; is next duly racked and again blended; and is eventually conveyed through silver-plated pipes into oblong reservoirs, each fitted with a dozen syphon-taps, so arranged that directly the bottle slipped on to one of them becomes full the wine ceases to flow. Upwards of 200 workpeople are employed in the _salle de tirage_ at Messrs. Moët & Chandon's, which, while the operation of bottling is going on, presents a scene of bewildering activity. Men and lads are gathered round the syphon-taps, briskly removing the bottles as they become filled, and supplanting them by empty ones. Other lads hasten to transport the filled bottles on trucks to the corkers, whose so-called 'guillotine' machines send the corks home with a sudden thud. The corks being secured with _agrafes_, the bottles are placed in large flat baskets called _manettes_, and wheeled away on trucks, the quarts being deposited in the cellars by means of lifts, while the pints slide down an inclined plane by the aid of an endless chain, which raises the trucks with the empty baskets at the same time the full ones make their descent into the cellars. What with the incessant thud of the corking-machines, the continual rolling of iron-wheeled trucks over the concrete floor, the rattling and creaking of the machinery working the lifts, the occasional sharp report of a bursting bottle, and the loudly-shouted orders of the foremen, who display the national partiality for making a noise to perfection, the din becomes at times all but unbearable. The number of bottles filled in the course of the day naturally varies, still Messrs. Moët & Chandon reckon that during the month of June a daily average of 100,000 are taken in the morning from the stacks in the _salle de rinçage_, washed, dried, filled, corked, wired, lowered into the cellars, and carefully arranged in symmetrical order. This represents a total of two and a half million bottles during that month alone. The bottles on being lowered into the cellars, either by means of the incline or the lifts, are placed in a horizontal position, and, with their uppermost side daubed with white chalk, are stacked in layers from two to half a dozen bottles deep, with narrow oak laths between. The stacks are usually about 6 or 7 feet high, and 100 feet and upwards in length. Whilst the wine is thus reposing in a temperature of about 55° Fahrenheit, fermentation sets in, and the ensuing month is one of much anxiety. Thanks, however, to the care bestowed, Messrs. Moët & Chandon's annual loss from bottles bursting rarely exceeds three per cent, though fifteen was once regarded as a respectable and satisfactory average. The broken glass is a perquisite of the workmen, the money arising from its sale, which at the last distribution amounted to no less than 20,000 francs, being divided amongst them every couple of years. [Illustration: BOTTLING CHAMPAGNE AT MESSRS. MOËT AND CHANDON'S, EPERNAY.] The usual entrance to Messrs. Moët & Chandon's Epernay cellars--which, burrowed out in all directions, are of the aggregate length of nearly seven miles, and have usually between 10,000,000 and 12,000,000 bottles and 20,000 casks of wine stored therein--is through a wide and imposing portal, and down a long and broad flight of steps. It is, however, by the ancient and less imposing entrance, through which more than one crowned head has condescended to pass, that we set forth on our lengthened tour through these intricate underground galleries--this subterranean city, with its miles of streets, cross-roads, open spaces, tramways, and stations devoted solely to Champagne. A gilt inscription on a black-marble tablet testifies that 'on the 26th July 1807, Napoleon the Great, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, honoured commerce by visiting the cellars of Jean Remi Moët, Mayor of Epernay, President of the Canton, and Member of the General Council of the Department,' within three weeks of the signature of the treaty of Tilsit. Passing down the flight of steep slippery steps traversed by the victor of Eylau and Jena, access is gained to the upper range of vaults, brilliantly illuminated by the glare of gas, or dimly lighted by the flickering flame of tallow-candles, upwards of 60,000 lb. of which are annually consumed. Here group after group of the small army of 350 workmen employed in these subterranean galleries are encountered, engaged in the process of transforming the _vin brut_ into Champagne. At Messrs. Moët & Chandon's, the all-important operation of liqueuring the wine is effected by aid of machines of the latest construction, which regulate the quantity administered to the utmost nicety. The corks are branded by being pressed against steel dies heated by gas by women, who can turn out 3000 per day apiece, the quantity of string used to secure them amounting to nearly ten tons in the course of the year. [Illustration: TABLET COMMEMORATIVE OF THE VISIT OF NAPOLEON I.] There is another and a lower depth of cellars to be explored, to which access is gained by trap-holes in the floor--through which the barrels and baskets of wine are raised and lowered--and by flights of steps. From the foot of the latter there extends an endless vista of lofty and spacious passages hewn out of the chalk, the walls of which, smooth as finished masonry, are lined with thousands of casks of raw wine, varied at intervals by gigantic vats. Miles of long, dark-brown, dampish-looking galleries stretch away to the right and left, devoid of the picturesque festoons of fungi which decorate the London Dock vaults, yet exhibiting a sufficient degree of mouldiness to give them an air of respectable antiquity. These multitudinous galleries, lit up by petroleum-lamps, are mostly lined with wine in bottles stacked in compact masses to a height of six or seven feet, only room enough for a single person to pass being left. Millions of bottles are thus arranged, the majority on their side, in huge piles, with tablets hung up against each stack to note its age and quality; and the rest, which are undergoing daily evolutions at the hands of the twister, in racks at various angles of inclination. These cellars contain nearly 11,000 racks, and as many as 600,000 bottles are commonly twisted here daily. [Illustration] The way runs on between regiments of bottles of the same size and shape, save where at intervals pints take the place of quarts; and the visitor, gazing into the black depths of the transverse passages to the right and left, becomes conscious of a feeling that if his guide were suddenly to desert him, he would feel as hopelessly lost as in the catacombs of Rome. There are two galleries, each 650 feet in length, containing about 650,000 bottles, and connected by 32 transverse galleries, with an aggregate length of 4000 feet, in which nearly 1,500,000 bottles are stored. There are, further, eight galleries, each 500 feet in length, and proportionably stocked; also the extensive new vaults, excavated some five or six years back, in the rear of the then existing cellarage, and a considerable number of smaller vaults. The different depths and varying degrees of moisture afford a choice of temperature of which the experienced owners know how to take advantage. The original vaults, wherein more than a century ago the first bottles of Champagne made by the infant firm were stowed away, bear the name of Siberia, on account of their exceeding coldness. This section consists of several roughly-excavated low winding galleries, resembling natural caverns, and affording a striking contrast to the broad, lofty, and regular-shaped corridors of more recent date. When the proper period arrives for the bottles to emerge once more into the upper air, they are conveyed to the packing-room, a spacious hall 180 feet long and 60 feet broad. In front of its three large double doors wagons are drawn up ready to receive their loads. The 70 men and women employed here easily foil, label, wrap, and pack up some 10,000 bottles a day. Cases and baskets are stacked in different parts of this vast hall, at one end of which numerous trusses of straw used in the packing are piled. Seated at tables ranged along one side of the apartment women are busily occupied in pasting on labels or encasing the necks of bottles in gold or silver foil, whilst elsewhere men, seated on three-legged stools in front of smoking caldrons of molten sealing-wax of a deep green hue, are coating the necks of other bottles by plunging them into the boiling fluid. When labelled and decorated with either wax or foil, the bottles pass on to other women, who swathe them in pink tissue-paper and set them aside for the packers, by whom, after being deftly wrapped round with straw, they are consigned to baskets or cases, to secure which last no less than 10,000 lb. of nails are annually used. England and Russia are partial to gold foil, pink paper, and wooden cases holding a dozen or a couple of dozen bottles of the exhilarating fluid, whereas other nations prefer waxed necks, disdain pink paper, and insist on being supplied in wicker baskets containing fifty bottles each. Some idea of the complex character of so vast an establishment as that of Messrs. Moët & Chandon may be gathered from a mere enumeration of their staff, which, in addition to twenty clerks and 350 cellarmen proper, includes numerous agrafe-makers and corkcutters, packers and carters, wheelwrights and saddlers, carpenters, masons, slaters and tilers, tinmen, firemen, needlewomen, &c., while the inventory of objects used by this formidable array of workpeople comprises no fewer than 1500 distinct heads. A medical man attached to the establishment gives gratuitous advice to all those employed, and a chemist dispenses drugs and medicines without charge. While suffering from illness the men receive half-pay, but should they be laid up by an accident met with in the course of their work full salary is invariably awarded to them. As may be supposed, so vast an establishment as this is not without a provision for those past work, and all the old hands receive liberal pensions from the firm upon retiring. It is needless to particularise Messrs. Moët & Chandon's wines, which are familiar to all drinkers of Champagne. Still it may be mentioned that the great Epernay firm, with the view of meeting the requirements of the time, have lately commenced shipping a high-class _vin brut_, or natural Champagne, possessing great vinosity, combined with remarkable delicacy of flavour. To this fine dry wine the name of 'Brut Impérial' has been given by the house. Moët & Chandon's famous 'Star' brand is known in all societies, figures equally at clubs and mess-tables, at garden-parties and picnics, dinners and _soirées_, and has its place in hotel _cartes_ all over the world. One of the best proofs of the wine's universal popularity is found in the circumstance that as many as a thousand visitors from all parts of the world come annually to Epernay and make the tour of Messrs. Moët & Chandon's spacious cellars. A little beyond Messrs. Moët & Chandon's, in the broad Rue du Commerce, we encounter a heavy, ornate, pretentious-looking château, the residence of the late M. Perrier-Jouët, presenting a striking contrast to the almost mean-looking premises opposite, where the business of the firm is carried on. On the left-hand side of a courtyard surrounded by low buildings, which serve as celliers, store-houses, packing-rooms, and the like, are the offices; and from an inner courtyard, where piles of bottles are stacked under open sheds, the cellars themselves are reached. Previous to descending into these we passed through the various buildings, in one of which a party of men were engaged in disgorging and preparing wine for shipment. In another we noticed one of those heavy beam presses for pressing the grapes which the more intelligent manufacturers regard as obsolete, while in a third was the cuvée vat, holding no more than 2200 gallons. In making their cuvée the firm commonly mix one part of old wine to three parts of new. An indifferent vintage, however, necessitates the admixture of a larger proportion of the older growth. The cellars, like all the more ancient ones at Epernay, are somewhat straggling and irregular; still they are remarkably cool, and on the lower floor remarkably damp as well. This, however, would appear to be no disadvantage, as the breakage in them is calculated never to exceed 2-1/2 per cent. The firm have no less than five qualities of wine, and at one of the recent Champagne competitions at London, where the experts engaged had no means of identifying the brands submitted to their judgment, Messrs. Perrier-Jouët's First Quality got classed below a cheaper wine of their neighbours, Messrs. Pol Roger & Co., and very considerably below the Extra Sec of Messrs. Périnet et fils, and inferior even to a wine of De Venoge's, the great Epernay manufacturer of common-class Champagne. Champagne establishments, combined with the handsome residences of the manufacturers, line both sides of the long imposing Rue du Commerce at Epernay. On the left hand is a succession of fine châteaux, commencing with one belonging to M. Auban Moët, whose terraced gardens overlook the valley of the Marne, and command views of the vine-clad heights of Cumières, Hautvillers, Ay, and Mareuil, and the more distant slopes of Ambonnay and Bouzy; while on the other side of the famous Epernay thoroughfare we encounter beyond the establishments of Messrs. Moët & Chandon and Perrier-Jouët the ornate monumental façade which the firm of Piper & Co.--of whom Messrs. Kunkelmann & Co. are to-day the successors--raised some years since above their extensive cellars. In a side street at the farther end of the Rue du Commerce stands a château of red brick, overlooking on the one side an extensive pleasure-garden, and on the other a spacious courtyard, bounded by celliers, stables, and bottle-sheds, all of modern construction and on a most extensive scale. These form the establishment of Messrs. Pol Roger & Co., settled for many years at Epernay, and known throughout the Champagne for their large purchases at the epoch of the vintage. From the knowledge they possess of the best crus, and their relations with the leading vineyard proprietors, they are enabled whenever the wine is good to acquire large stocks of it. Having bottled a considerable quantity of the fine wine of 1874, they resolved to profit by the exceptional quality of this vintage to commence shipping Champagne to England, where their agents, Messrs. Reuss, Lauteren, & Co., have successfully introduced the new brand. Passing through a large open gateway, we enter the vast courtyard of the establishment, which, with arriving and departing carts--the first loaded with wine in cask or with new bottles, and the others with cases of Champagne--presents rather an animated scene. Under a roof projecting from the wall of the vast cellier on the right hand a tribe of 'Sparnaciennes'--as the feminine inhabitants of Epernay are termed--are occupied in washing bottles in readiness for the coming tirage. The surrounding buildings, most substantially constructed, are not destitute of architectural pretensions. The extensive cellier, the area of which is 23,589 square feet, is understood to be the largest single construction of the kind in the Champagne district. Built entirely of iron, stone, and brick, its framework is a perfect marvel of lightness. The roof, consisting of rows of brick arches, is covered above with a layer of Portland cement, in order to keep it cool in summer and protect it against the winter cold, two most desirable objects in connection with the manipulation of Champagne. Here an endless chain of a new pattern enables wine in bottle to be lowered and raised with great rapidity to or from the cellars beneath--lofty and capacious excavations of two stories, the lower one of which is reached by a flight of no less than 170 steps. [Illustration: COURTYARD OF MESSRS. POL ROGER AND CO.'S ESTABLISHMENT AT EPERNAY.] Less than a couple of miles southward of Epernay, on the high-road to Troyes, is the village of Pierry, which, unlike most of the Champagne villages, is one of those happy spots with little or no history. Up to the close of the seventeenth century it was an insignificant hamlet; but at that epoch--when Dom Perignon's discovery gave such an impetus to the viticultural industry of the Marne--the waste land lying around it was broken up and planted with vines, and a number of rich strangers, chiefly from Epernay, built themselves houses and vendangeoirs here, and contributed to the erection of the church. The Benedictines of St.-Pierre-aux-Monts at Châlons, who continued to be the titular seigneurs of Pierry up to the period of the Revolution, were not behindhand in attention to their vines, and during the early part of the eighteenth century the wine vintaged in their Clos St. Pierre, under the fostering care of Brother Jean Oudart--whose renown almost equalled that of Perignon himself--was very highly esteemed.[449] During the eighteenth century Pierry continued to be a favourite residence of well-to-do landowners,[450] and was further embellished by the construction of numerous handsome châteaux, the most interesting, from a historic point of view, being that formerly belonging to Cazotte.[451] It was here that the ex-Commissary General of the navy composed the greater part of his works, and elaborated that futile scheme for the escape of Louis XVI. after Varennes, which was to conduct its author to the scaffold.[452] The visionary dreamer, to whom we owe the _Diable Amoureux_, appears at Pierry in the triple character of a practical viticulturist, a village Hampden withstanding with dauntless breast that little tyrant of the surrounding vineyards--the Abbot of Hautvillers,[453] and a local legislator put forward in the proprietarial interest at the outbreak of that Revolution[454] which he appears to have foreseen, if not to have directly prophesied, as he has been credited with doing.[455] Amongst the most imposing of the remaining Pierry châteaux is the one situate in that part of the village known as Corrigot, and now in the occupation of Messrs. Gé-Dufaut & Co. Its grandiose aspect, various courts, charming garden, fine trees, and clear lake justify this firm in adopting, in combination with an anchor, the title Château de Pierry as the brand of their wine. Prior to the Revolution the château belonged to M. de Papillon de Sannois, a fermier-général of that period. The municipal records of Pierry contain a petition addressed by him to the authorities in 1791, at a time when a panic prevailed respecting the forestallers of corn, begging them to institute a formal search throughout his residence, in order to give the lie to the rumours accusing him of having bought up and stored away a considerable quantity of wheat. The municipality accepted his invitation, and the result was a certificate to the effect that the total amount of wheat and oats stored there only represented three months' consumption for the household. Messrs. Gé-Dufaut & Co. are the owners of vineyards both in Pierry and the neighbouring parts, and for upwards of thirty years the firm have been engaged in preparing and shipping Champagnes. Their cellars, excavated in the mingled stone, chalk, and earth which form the prevailing soil of the district, extend beneath the vineyards belonging to the firm, and are walled and vaulted throughout. The circumstance of their being on one level, slightly below the celliers of the establishment, is a great convenience as regards the various manipulations which the wine has to undergo. Considerable reserves of old wines of the best years are stored in these vaults. The cultivation of the vineyards owned by the firm, and the pressing, maturing, and general cellar management of their wines are under the personal superintendence of the various partners, with a highly satisfactory result, as is proved by the first-class medal secured by the firm at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873, and the gold medal awarded to them at the Paris Exhibition of 1878. Messrs. Gé-Dufaut & Co. ship their wines to Europe, America, and India, and more especially to England, where their dry, natural, and unalcoholised Champagne has acquired a deserved reputation. The firm, moreover, are the officially appointed furnishers of Champagne to the Courts of Italy and Spain. [Illustration: CHÂTEAU OF PIERRY, THE PROPERTY OF MESSRS. GÉ-DUFAUT AND CO.] [Illustration] [Illustration: VIEW OF AY FROM THE BANKS OF THE MARNE CANAL.] 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. [Illustration: FIGURE ABOVE THE DOORWAY OF AY CHURCH.] The historic _bourgade_ of Ay is within a short walk of the station on the line of railway connecting Epernay with Reims. The road lies across the light bridge spanning the Marne canal, the tall trees fringing which hide for a time the clustering houses; still we catch sight of the steeple of the antique church, relieved by a background of vine-covered slopes, and of an eighteenth-century château rising above a mass of foliage. Perched half-way up the slope, covered with 'golden plants,' which rises in the rear of the village, the château, with its long façade of windows, commands the valley of the Marne for miles; and from the stately-terraced walk, planted with ancient lime-trees, geometrically clipped in the fashion of the last century, a splendid view of the distant vineyards of Avize, Cramant, Epernay, and Chouilly is obtained. The château formed one of a quartette of seignorial residences which, at the commencement of the present century, belonged to Balthazar Constance Dangé-Dorçay, whose ancestors had been lords of Chouilly under the _ancien régime_. Dorçay had inherited from an aunt the châteaux of Ay, Mareuil, Boursault, and Chouilly, together with a large patrimony in land and money; but a mania for gambling brought him to utter ruin, and he dispossessed himself of money, lands, and châteaux in succession, and was reduced, in his old age, to earn a meagre pittance as a violin-player at the Paris Opera-house. The old château of Boursault, which still exists contiguous to the stately edifice raised by Madame Clicquot on the summit of the hill, was risked and lost on a single game at cards by this pertinacious gamester, whose pressing pecuniary difficulties compelled him to sell the remaining châteaux one by one. That of Ay was purchased by M. Froc de la Boulaye, and by him bequeathed to his cousin the Count de Mareuil, whose son is to-day a partner in the Champagne house of Ayala & Co. The wine of Ay, from an early date, has found equal favour in the eyes of poets and princes. Eustache Deschamps sang its praises in the fourteenth century, and was echoed a hundred years later by the anonymous author of the _Eglogue sur le Retour de Bacchus_.[456] Sigismund of Bohemia, the betrayer of John Huss, on visiting France in 1410, desired to pass through Ay in order to taste the wine at the place of its production.[457] Leo X., Charles V., Francis III., and our own Henry VIII., each had a house in or near Ay; 'for amongst all the great affairs of state which these princes had to unravel, supplying themselves with this vintage was not the least of their cares.'[458] Malicious tongues have asserted that they were somewhat suspicious of the honesty of the wine-growers of the district, and, in order to secure a genuine article, deemed it needful to have a commissioner or agent resident on the spot, to superintend the making of the wine set apart for their own consumption.[459] Tradition still points out, on the right of the road from Dizy to Ay, a vineyard called Le Léon, as the one whence the Pope derived his wine, though no traces remain of the vendangeoir built by the Emperor in a coppice above Ay during the siege of Epernay in 1544, and still standing in 1727.[460] The president Bertin du Rocheret has celebrated the partiality of a couple of these potentates for the wine of Ay in some triolets addressed to M. de Senécé, and published in the _Mercure_ in 1728: 'Ay produces the best wine-- I call the world to witness this; Though you may for Reims opine, Ay produces the best wine. It ranks the first, and the most fine St. Evremond has said it is. Ay produces the best wine-- I call the world to witness this. Charles the Fifth was well aware Of this--far better than his friend Adrian in the papal chair; Charles the Fifth was well aware Of this, and so, to get his share, Sought in France his days to end. Charles the Fifth was well aware Of this--far better than his friend. Lest some fraud the juice should mix, And his table thus disgrace, He would his own vintage fix, Lest some fraud the juice should mix. Leo, fearing the like tricks, Bought in Ay a pressing-place, Lest some fraud the juice should mix, And his table thus disgrace.'[461] The wine of Ay ranked at the court of Charles IX. as 'a very pleasant and noble wine;'[462] and even that bigoted uprooter of vines and heresy had a vendangeoir in this stronghold of Protestantism,[463] which the Catholics of the Champagne marched against, singing-- 'Parpaillot d'Ay, T'es bien misérable, T'as quitté ton Di Pour servir le diable; Tu n'auras ni chien, ni chat, Pour te chanter Libera, Et tu mourras mau-chrétien, Toi qu'a maudit Saint Trézain.'[464] [Illustration: HENRI III. (From a painting of the period).] In the reign of Henri III. the wines of Ay--'claret and yellowish, subtile, fine, and in taste very pleasing to the palate, ... yet therewithal such wines as the Greeks call Oligophora, and as will not admit the mixture of much water'[465]--were 'eagerly sought after for the use of kings, princes, and great lords.'[466] At a time when the bulk of the vintage of Burgundy was denounced as rough, sour, and harsh; and that of Bordeaux stigmatised as thick and black; and when good and bad years were allowed to have a considerable influence upon the growths of the Isle of France, the Orleannais, and Anjou, it was admitted that 'the wines of Ay do, for the most part, hold the first and principal place, ... and are, in all good and evil years, found better than any others.'[467] The kings and princes of the day made the wines of Ay their ordinary drink.[468] They flowed freely in the scandalous orgies with which the French Heliogabalus and his _mignons_ alternated their pious flagellations and solemn processions, and mantled in the beakers over which the chiefs of the League sat in dark and solemn conclave; they were quaffed by the Béarnais to the bright eyes of the fair De Saulve, and cheered the nightly vigils of Catherine de Medicis and Ruggieri; they sharpened the biting wit of Chicot, and spurred the plotting spirit of Francis of Anjou. Guise and Crillon, Joyeuse and D'Epernon, Mayenne and D'Aubigné made common cause in recognising their merits; Quelus and Maugiron may have quaffed a goblet before setting forth on their fatal journey to the Barrière Saint Antoine; and a cup, filled by the fair hands of the Duchess de Montpensier, may have fired the brain and nerved the arm of the regicide Jacques Clément. [Illustration: OLD HOUSE AT AY, KNOWN AS THE VENDANGEOIR OF HENRI QUATRE.] Henri Quatre boasted the merits of his vineyard at Prepaton, near Vendôme, when he was only King of Navarre,[469] and delighted in the wine of Arbois.[470] At Ay, within a few yards of the church, there is a quaint old timber house traditionally known as the 'vendangeoir d'Henri Quatre,' with obliterated carved escutcheons on the pillars of its doorway. In this dilapidated yet interesting structure we have a mute but certain testimony to the King's appreciation of the wine of Ay, if not a confirmation of the truth of the assertion that Henri was as proud of his title of Seigneur d'Ay as of that of King of France.[471] Giving an audience to the Spanish ambassador, and irritated at the long list of titles appended by the punctilious hidalgo to his royal master's name, he exclaimed: 'You will say to his Highness Philip, King of Spain and the Indies, Castille, Leon, Arragon, Murcia, and the Balearic Isles, that Henri, Sieur of Ay and of Gonesse ...,' being the places producing the best wine and the whitest bread in France.[472] When encamped at Damery, during the siege of Epernay, this favourite beverage, and the smiles of the fair Anne Dudey, Présidente du Puy, helped to relieve the tedium of campaigning; for, as Bertin du Rocheret has sung, 'Our great Henry, king benign, With it cheered his "belle hôtesse." When at Damery he'd dine, Our great Henry, king benign, Chose it for his favourite wine; And for bread, that of Gonesse Our great Henry, king benign, With it cheered his "belle hôtesse."'[473] With the vintage of Ay in such universal esteem, it is scarcely to be wondered at that Dominicus Baudius, professor of eloquence at the University of Leyden and historiographer to the States of the Netherlands, should, in the fulness of his admiration, have declared to his friend the Président du Thou that instead of _vin d'Ay_ it ought to be called _vinum Dei_.[474] Olivier de Serres, the French Tusser, praises this divine liquor.[475] The anonymous author of the _Hercule Guepin_, a poem penned at the commencement of the seventeenth century in honour of the wine of Orleans, is forced to acknowledge the merits of that of Ay;[476] and that indefatigable commentator, the Abbé de Marolles, in a note to his edition of Martial, classes the growths of Ay, Avenay, and Epernay amongst the best that France produced. 'Vive le bon vin d'Ay!' exclaims Guy Patin enthusiastically; and that strange compound of the wit and the philosopher, St. Evremond, has extolled its qualities in prose and verse.[477] 'If you ask me which wine of all others I prefer,' he writes from London to the Count d'Olonne, about 1671, 'without yielding to tastes introduced by people of sham daintiness, I will answer that good wine of Ay is the most natural of all wines, the most healthy, the best purified from all earth smack; of a most exquisite charm, through the peach flavour which is peculiar to it; and is, in my opinion, the finest of all flavours.'[478] It is improbable that the wine of Ay of Francis I., or of Henri Quatre, was _mousseux_, for had it been so history would have mentioned it. In good years the still wine of Ay has a bouquet and perfume sufficient to account for its ancient reputation. Neither was the wine St. Evremond preferred sparkling, though his reference to the taste introduced by sham _gourmets_ points probably to the custom of drinking the wine before its fermentation was completed, or else to the practice of icing it. When once, however, the introduction of _vin mousseux_ added a new charm to the pleasures of the table, the poets who sang the praises of the foaming nectar seem one and all to have celebrated it as the 'pétillant Ay,' and to have chosen, perhaps for euphonistic reasons, that spot as its birthplace.[479] The material results were equally satisfactory; for Arthur Young mentions that when, on July 8, 1787, he visited 'Ay, a village not far out on the road to Reims very famous for its wines,' he was provided with a letter for M. Lasnier, who had 60,000 bottles in his cellar, whilst M. Dorsé had from 30,000 to 40,000.[480] A century ago the foregoing were no doubt considered large stocks, but to-day the very smallest of the Ay firms would think itself poorly provided if its cellars contained under quadruple this quantity. The largest Champagne establishment at Ay is that of Messrs. Deutz & Geldermann, whose extra dry 'Gold Lack' and 'Cabinet' Champagnes have long been favourably known in England, through the energetic exertions of their agents, Messrs. J. R. Parkington & Co., of Crutched Friars. The Ay firm have their offices in a massive-looking corner-house at the further extremity of the town, in the direction of the steep hills sheltering it on the north. This forms their central establishment, and here are spacious celliers for disgorging and finishing off the wine, a large packing-hall, and rooms where bales of corks and other accessories of the trade are stored, the operations of making the cuvées and bottling being accomplished in an establishment some little distance off. On proceeding thither, we find an elegant château with a charming terraced garden, lying at the very foot of the vine-clad slopes, and on the opposite side of the road some large celliers where wine in wood is stored, and where the cuvées of the firm, consisting usually of upwards of 50,000 gallons each, are made in a vat of gigantic proportions, furnished with a raised platform at one end for the accommodation of the workman who agitates the customary paddles. When the wine is completely blended it is drawn off into casks disposed for the purpose in the cellar below, as shown in the accompanying engraving, and after being fined it rests for about a month to clear itself. To each of these casks of newly-blended wine a portion of old wine is added separately, and at the moment of bottling the whole is newly amalgamated. [Illustration: DRAWING OFF THE CUVÉE AT DEUTZ AND GELDERMANN'S, AY.] Adjoining M. Deutz's château is the principal entrance to the extensive cellars of the firm, to which, at our visit in 1877, considerable additions were being made. In excavating these cellars in the chalk a uniform system is pursued. The workmen commence by rounding off the roof of the gallery, and then proceed to work gradually downwards, extracting the chalk, whenever practicable, in blocks suitable for building purposes, which, being worth from three to four shillings the square yard, help to reduce the cost of the excavation. When any serious flaws present themselves in the sides or roof of the galleries, they are invariably made good with masonry. This splendid range of cellars now comprises eight long and lofty galleries no less than seventeen feet wide, and the same number of feet in height, and of the aggregate length of 2200 yards. These spacious vaults, which run parallel with each other, and communicate by means of cross passages, underlie the street, the château, the garden, and the vineyard slopes beyond, and possess the great advantage of being always dry. They are capable, we were informed, of containing several million bottles of Champagne, in addition to a large quantity of wine in cask. Messrs. Deutz & Geldermann possess vineyards at Ay, and own a large vendangeoir at Verzenay, where in good years they usually press 500 pièces of wine. They, moreover, make large purchases of grapes at Bouzy, Cramant, Le Mesnil, Pierry, &c., and invariably have these pressed under their own superintendence. Beyond large shipments to England, where their wine is deservedly held in high estimation, Messrs. Deutz & Geldermann transact a considerable business with other countries, and more especially with Germany, in which country their brand has been for years one of the most popular, while to-day it is the favourite at numerous regimental messes and the principal hotels. Within a hundred yards of the open space, surrounded by houses of different epochs and considerable diversity of design, where the Ay market-hall stands, and in one of those narrow winding streets common to the town, an escutcheon, with a bunch of grapes for device, surmounting a lofty gateway, attracts attention. Beyond, a trim courtyard, girt round with orange-trees in bright green boxes, and clipped in orthodox fashion, affords access to the handsome residence and offices of M. Duminy, well known in England and America as a shipper of high-class Champagnes, and whose Parisian connection is extensive. On the right-hand side of the courtyard is the packing-room; and through the cellars, which have an entrance here, one can reach the celliers in an adjoining street, where the cuvée is made and the bottling of the wine accomplished. [Illustration: THE EXCAVATION OF DEUTZ AND GELDERMANN'S NEW CELLARS AT AY.] M. Duminy's cellars are remarkably old, and consequently of somewhat irregular construction, being at times rather low and narrow, as well as on different levels. In addition, however, to these venerable vaults, packed with wines of 1874 and '78, M. Duminy has a new and extensive establishment on the outskirts of Ay, as well as various subterranean adjuncts in the town itself. This new establishment, which stands under the vineclad slope, and merely a stone's throw from the railway line to Reims, consists of a large ornamental building looking on to a spacious courtyard ordinarily alive with busy workpeople. In addition to the pavilion already erected, it is intended to construct one of similar design, and to connect the two with a monumental tower. The requisite land has already been purchased, the architectural plans are prepared, and the work is now in active progress. [Illustration] Entering the courtyard of which we have spoken, we notice the new offices of the firm on the left hand, and extending along the wall beyond is a long zinc-roofed shed, crowded with baskets filled with newly-purchased Champagne bottles. On the opposite side of the courtyard is a building in which the operation of bottle-washing is carried on. The pavilion in the rear of the courtyard is of somewhat monumental proportions, and is ornamented with dressings of white stone and red brick. Entering through the principal doorway, we find ourselves in a vast cellier, where the packing operations are carried on, and where are a couple of huge tuns in which the cuvées of the house are made. A stone staircase conducts to an upper cellier, where several hundred casks of _vin brut_ are stored, and for the raising or lowering of which lifts are provided at stated distances. In an apartment above this second cellier straw envelopes for bottles and other accessories employed in the trade are kept. [Illustration: M. DUMINY'S NEW ESTABLISHMENT AT AY.] The cellars extend, not merely beneath this large building and the courtyard in front, but run under the adjacent mountain-slope. They comprise four galleries on the same level, vaulted and faced with brick or stone, each gallery being about 500 feet in length and upwards of twelve feet in width and height. Eight transverse passages connect these galleries with each other, and numerous lifts communicate with the cellier and the courtyard above. The galleries that run under the vineyard slope are ventilated by shafts no less than 120 feet in height. M. Duminy has already provided room here for a million bottles of sparkling wine; and it is estimated that, when the establishment is completed, two and a half millions of bottles can be stored here in addition to the stock contained in the old cellars possessed by M. Duminy in the town. During its two-thirds of a century of existence the house has invariably confined itself to first-class wines, taking particular pride in shipping fully-matured growths. Besides its own large reserve of these, it holds considerable stocks long since disposed of, and now merely awaiting the purchasers' orders to be shipped. [Illustration] A few paces beyond M. Duminy's we come upon an antiquated, decrepit-looking timber house, with its ancient gable bulging over as though the tough oak brackets on which it rests were at last grown weary of supporting their unwieldy burden. Judging from the quaint carved devices on the timbers at the lower portions of this building, one may imagine it to have been the residence of an individual of some importance in the days when the principal European potentates had their commissioners installed at Ay to secure them the finest vintages. The house evidently dates back to this or to an earlier epoch. [Illustration: ANCIENT TIMBER HOUSE AT AY.] The cellars of Messrs. Pfungst Frères et Cie. are situated some little distance from the vineyard owned by them at Ay. The firm lay themselves out exclusively for the shipment of high-class Champagne, and the excellent growths of this district necessarily form an important element in their carefully-composed cuvées. A considerable portion of their stock consists of reserves of old wine of grand years; and a variety of samples of finely-matured Champagnes were submitted to our judgment. All of these wines were of superior quality, combining delicacy and fragrance with dryness, the latter being their especial feature. In addition to their business with England, where the brand of the firm is rapidly increasing in popularity among connoisseurs of matured wines, Messrs. Pfungst Frères ship largely to India and the United States. [Illustration: CAPITALS AND MOULDINGS IN AY CHURCH.] On the northern side of the town stands the handsome Gothic church of Ay, dating from about the middle of the fifteenth century. The existing building replaced the edifice erected some two hundred years previously, and traces of which are still to be seen in the present transept. The stone tower, which is in striking contrast with the other portions of the structure, bears the date 1541 on its western face. This tower and the interior of the church were greatly damaged by the fire--traditionally ascribed to lightning--which occurred at the close of the sixteenth century, and the former had to be strengthened by filling up the arched windows and by the addition of buttresses. The bell, whose terrible tocsin used to warn good citizens that the _patrie_ was in danger in the days of the Revolution, when the church was converted into a Temple of Reason, had previously swung in the abbey of Hautvillers, and may have summoned the vintagers to labour as well as the faithful to prayer. From 1867 to 1877 extensive interior repairs and restorations, costing upwards of 6000_l._, greatly transformed the interior of the church. Care was, however, taken to preserve the numerous bits of mediæval and Renaissance sculpture with which both the interior and exterior of the edifice were studded. In many of the ornamental mouldings, as well as the capitals of the columns, grape-laden vine-branches had been freely introduced, as if to indicate the honour in which the vine, the material source of all the prosperity enjoyed by the little town, was held both by mediæval and later architects; and these appear all to have been scrupulously restored. One of the most characteristic decorations of this character is the sculptured figure of a boy bearing a basket of grapes upon his head, which surmounts the handsome Renaissance doorway. [Illustration: MOULDINGS FROM AY CHURCH.] Within half an hour's walk of Ay, in an easterly direction, is the village of Mareuil, a long straight street of straggling houses, bounded by trees and garden-plots, with vine-clad hills rising abruptly behind on the one side, and the Marne canal flowing placidly by on the other. The archaic church, a mixture of the Romanesque and Early Gothic, stands at the farther end of the village, and some little distance on this side of it is a massive-looking eighteenth-century building, spacious enough to accommodate a regiment of horse, but conventual rather than barrack-like in aspect, from the paucity of windows looking on to the road. A broad gateway leads into a spacious courtyard, to the left of which stands a grand château; while on the right there rises an ornate round tower of three stories, from the gallery on the summit of which a fine view over the valley of the Marne is obtained. The buildings, enclosing the court on three sides, comprise press-houses, celliers, and packing-rooms, an antiquated sun-dial marking the hour on the blank space above the vines that climb beside the entrance gateway. The more ancient of these tenements formed the vendangeoir of the Dukes of Orleans at the time they owned the château of Mareuil, purchased in 1830 by the Duke de Montebello, son of the famous Marshal Lannes, and minister and ambassador of Louis Philippe and Napoleon III. The acquisition of this property, to which were attached some important vineyards, led, several years later, to the duke's founding, in conjunction with his brothers, the Marquis and General Count de Montebello, a Champagne firm, whose brand speedily acquired a notable popularity. To-day the business is carried on by their sons and heirs, for all the original partners in the house have followed their valiant father to the grave. Struck down by an Austrian cannon-ball in the zenith of his fame, the career of Marshal Lannes, brief as it was, furnishes one of the most brilliant pages in French military annals. Joining the army of Italy as a volunteer in 1796, he was made a colonel on the battle-field in the gorges of Millesimo, when Augereau's bold advance opened Piedmont to the French. He fought at Bassano and Lodi, took part in the assault of Pavia and the siege of Mantua, and at Arcola, when Napoleon dashed flag in hand upon the bridge, Lannes was seriously wounded whilst shielding his general from danger. He afterwards distinguished himself in Egypt, and led the van of the French army across the Alps, displaying his accustomed bravery both at Montebello and Marengo. At Austerlitz, where he commanded the right wing of the army, he greatly contributed to the victory; and at Jena, Friedland, and Eylau his valour was again conspicuous. Sent to Spain, he defeated the Spaniards at Tudela, and took part in the operations against Saragossa. Wounded at the battle of Essling, when the Archduke Charles inflicted upon Napoleon I. the first serious repulse he had met with on the field of battle, the valiant Lannes expired a few days afterwards in the Emperor's arms. [Illustration: THE MONTEBELLO ESTABLISHMENT AT MAREUIL.] We were met at Mareuil, on the occasion of our visit, by Count Alfred Ferdinand de Montebello, the present manager of the house, and conducted by him over the establishment. In the press-house, to the left of the courtyard, were two of the ponderous presses used in the Champagne, for, like all other large firms, the house makes its own wine. Grapes grown in the Mareuil vineyards arrive here in baskets slung over the backs of mules, muzzled, so that while awaiting their loads they may not devour the fruit within reach. In a cellier adjoining the press-house stands a large vat, capable of holding fifty pièces of wine, with a crane beside it for hauling up the casks when the cuvée is made. Here the tirage likewise takes place; and in the range of buildings roofed with glass, in the rear of the tower, the bottled wine is labelled, capped with foil, and packed in cases for transmission to Paris, England, and other places abroad. A double flight of steps, decorated with lamps and vases, leads to the handsome offices of the firm, situated on the first-floor of the tower; while above is an apartment with a panelled ceiling, gracefully decorated with groups of Cupids engaged in the vintage and the various operations which the famous wines of the Mountain and the River undergo during their conversion into Champagne. On the ground-floor of the tower a low doorway conducts to the spacious cellars, which, owing to the proximity of the Marne, are all on the same level as well as constructed in masonry. The older vaults, where the Marquis de Pange, a former owner of the château, stored the wine which he used to sell to the Champagne manufacturers, are somewhat low and tortuous compared with the broad and lofty galleries of more recent date, which have been constructed as the growing connection of the firm obliged them to increase their stocks. Spite, however, of numerous additions, portions of their reserves have to be stored in other cellars in Mareuil. Considerable stocks of each of the four qualities of wine supplied by the firm are being got ready for disgorgement, including Cartes Noires and Bleues, with the refined Carte Blanche and the delicate Crêmant, which challenge comparison with brands of the highest repute. [Illustration: CHÂTEAU OF MAREUIL, BELONGING TO THE DUKE OF MONTEBELLO.] In the adjacent château, the gardens of which slope down to the Marne canal, there are various interesting portraits, with one or two relics of the distinguished founder of the Montebello family, notably Marshal Lannes's gold-embroidered velvet saddle trappings, his portrait and that of Marshal Gerard, as well as one of Napoleon I., by David, with a handsome clock and candelabra of Egyptian design, a bust of Augustus Cæsar, and a portrait of the Regent d'Orleans. [Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF AVIZE.] 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. [Illustration: DOORWAY OF AVIZE CHURCH.] Avize, situated in the heart of the Champagne white grape district, may be reached from Epernay by road through Pierry and Cramant, or by the Châlons Railway to Oiry Junction, between which station and Romilly there runs a local line, jocularly termed the _chemin de fer de famille_, from the general disregard displayed by the officials for anything approaching to punctuality. Avize can scarcely be styled a town, and yet its growing proportions are beyond those of an ordinary village. It lies pleasantly nestled among the vines, sheltered by bold ridges on the north-west, with the monotonous plains of La Champagne pouilleuse, unsuited to the cultivation of the vine, stretching away eastward in the direction of Châlons. Avize cannot pretend to the same antiquity as its neighbour Vertus, and lacks the many picturesque vestiges of which the latter can boast. Its church dates back only to the fifteenth century, although the principal doorway in the Romanesque style evidently belongs to a much earlier epoch. There is a general air of trim prosperity about the place, and the villagers have that well-to-do appearance common to the inhabitants of the French wine districts. Only at vintage-time, however, are there any particular outdoor signs of activity, although half a score of Champagne firms have their establishments here, giving employment to the bulk of the population, and sending forth their two or three million bottles of the sparkling wine of the Marne annually. [Illustration: MAKING THE CUVÉE AT MESSRS. GIESLER'S, AT AVIZE.] Proceeding along the straight level road leading from the station to the village, we encounter on our right hand the premises of Messrs. Giesler & Co., the reputation of whose brand is universal. When M. Giesler quitted the firm of P. A. Mumm, Giesler, & Co., at Reims, in 1838, he removed to Avize, and founded the present extensive establishment. Entering through a large open gateway, we find ourselves within a spacious courtyard, with a handsome dwelling-house in the rear, and all the signs of a Champagne business of magnitude apparent. A spiral staircase conducts to the counting-house on the first story of a range of buildings on the left hand, the ground floor of which is divided into celliers. Passing through a door by the side of this staircase, we enter a large hall where the operation of bottling the wine is going on. Four tuns, each holding five ordinary pièces of wine, and raised upon large blocks of wood, are standing here, and communicating with them are bottling syphons of the type commonly employed in the Champagne. Messrs. Giesler do not usually consign the newly-bottled wine at once to the cellars, but retain it above-ground for about a fortnight, in order that it may develop its effervescent qualities more perfectly. We find many thousands of these bottles stacked horizontally in the adjoining celliers, in one of which stands the great cuvée tun, wherein some fifty hogsheads of the finest Champagne growths are blended together at one time, two hundred hogsheads being thus mingled daily while the cuvées are in progress. The casks of wine having been hoisted from the cellars to the first floor by a crane, and run on to a trough, their bungs are removed, and the wine flows through an aperture in the floor into the huge tun beneath, its amalgamation being accomplished by the customary fan-shaped appliances, set in motion by the turning of a wheel. In an adjacent room is the machine used for mixing the liqueur which Messrs. Giesler add so sparingly to their light and fragrant wines. There are a couple of floors above these celliers, the uppermost of which is used as a general store, while in the one beneath many thousands of bottles of _vin brut_ repose _sur pointe_, either in racks or on tables, as at the Clicquot-Werlé establishment. This latter system requires ample space, for as the workman who shakes the bottles is only able to use one hand, the operation of dislodging the sediment necessarily occupies a much longer time than is requisite when the bottles rest in racks. The buildings on the opposite side of the courtyard comprise a large packing-hall, celliers where the wine is finished off, and rooms where corks and suchlike things are stored. Here, too, is the entrance to the cellars, of which there are three tiers, all lofty and well-ventilated galleries, very regular in their construction, and faced with either stone or brick. In these extensive vaults are casks of fine reserved wines for blending with youthful vintages, and bottles of _vin brut_, built up in solid stacks, that may be reckoned by their hundreds of thousands. At Messrs. Giesler's the disgorging of the wine is accomplished in a small cellier partially underground, and the temperature of which is very cool and equable. The _dégorgeurs_, isolated from the rest of the workpeople, are carrying on their operations here by candlelight. So soon as the sediment is removed, the bottles are raised in baskets to the cellier above, where the liqueuring, recorking, stringing, and wiring are successively accomplished. By pursuing this plan the loss sustained by the disgorgement is believed to be reduced to a minimum. Extensive as these premises are, they are still insufficient for the requirements of the firm; and across the road is a spacious building where new bottles are stored, and the washing of the bottles in preparation for the tirage takes place. By the aid of the machinery provided sixteen women, assisted by a couple of men, commonly wash some fifteen or sixteen thousand bottles in the course of a day. Here, too, stands one of the two large presses with which, at the epoch of the vintage, a hundred pièces of wine are pressed every four-and-twenty hours. The remaining press is installed in a cellier at the farther end of the garden on the other side of the road. Messrs. Giesler possess additional presses at their vendangeoir at Bouzy, and during the vintage have the command of presses at Ay, Verzenay, Vertus, Le Mesnil, &c.; it being a rule of theirs always to press the grapes within a few hours after they are gathered, to obviate their becoming bruised by their own weight and imparting a dark colour to the wine, a contingency difficult to guard against in seasons when the fruit is over-ripe. The firm own vineyards at Avize, and have agreements with vine-proprietors at Ay, Bouzy, Verzenay, and elsewhere, to purchase their crops regularly every year. Messrs. Giesler's brand has secured its existing high repute solely through the fine quality of the wines shipped by the house--wines which are known and appreciated by all real connoisseurs of Champagne. From Messrs. Giesler's it is merely a short walk to the establishment of M. Charles de Cazanove, situated in the principal street of Avize. On entering the court we encountered a tame young boar engaged in the lively pursuit of chasing some terrified hens; while a trio of boar-hounds, basking on the sunny flagstones, contemplated his proceedings with lazy indifference. Boars abound in the woods hereabouts, and hunting them is a favourite pastime with the residents; and the young boar we had noticed proved to be one of the recent captures of the sons of M. de Cazanove, who are among the warmest partisans of the exciting sport. The house of M. Charles de Cazanove was established in 1843, by its present proprietor, on the foundation of a business which had been in existence since 1811. Compared with the monumental grandeur of some of the great Reims and Epernay establishments, the premises present a simple and modest aspect; nevertheless, they are capacious and commodious, besides which, the growing business of the house has led to the acquisition of additional cellarage in other parts of Avize. More important than all, however, is the quality of the wine with which these cellars are stocked; and, following the rule observed by Champagne firms of the highest repute, it has been a leading principle with M. de Cazanove always to rely upon the choicer growths--those light, delicate, and fragrant wines of the Marne which throw out the true aroma of the flower of the vine. M. de Cazanove, who is distinguished for his knowledge of viticulture, occupies an influential position at Avize, being Vice-President of the Horticultural Society of the Marne, and a member of the committee charged with guarding the Champagne vineyards against the invasion of the phylloxera. His own vines include only those fine varieties to which the crus of the Marne owe their great renown. He possesses an excellent vineyard at Grauves, near Avize; and his mother-in-law, Madame Poultier of Pierry, is one of the principal vine-growers of the district. M. de Cazanove's wines are much appreciated in Paris, where his business is very extensive. His shipments to England are also considerable; but from the circumstance of some of his principal customers importing the wine under special brands of their own, the brand of the house is not so widely known as we should have anticipated. [Illustration: VINEYARDS OF AVIZE AND CRAMANT, FROM THE GARDEN OF M. C. DE CAZANOVE.] From M. de Cazanove's terraced garden in the rear of his establishment a fine view is obtained of one of the most famous viticultural districts of the Champagne, yielding wines of remarkable delicacy and exquisite bouquet. On the left hand rises up the mountain of Avize, its summit fringed with dense woods, where in winter the wild-boar has his lair. In front stretch the long vine-clad slopes of Cramant, with orchards at their base, and the housetops of the village and the spire of the quaint old church just peeping over the brow of the hill. To the right towers the bold forest-crowned height of Saran, with M. Moët's château perched half-way up its north-eastern slope; and fading away in the hazy distance are the monotonous plains of the Champagne. We have already explained that the wines of Avize and Cramant rank as _premiers crus_ of the white grape district, and that every Champagne manufacturer of repute mingles one or the other in his cuvée. The white grapes are usually gathered a fortnight or three weeks later than the black varieties, but in other respects the vintaging of them is the same. The grapes undergo the customary minute examination by the _éplucheuses_, and all unripe, damaged, and rotten berries being thrown aside, the fruit is conveyed with due care to the press-houses in the large baskets known as _paniers mannequins_. The pressing takes place under exactly the same conditions as the pressing of the black grapes; the must, too, is drawn off into hogsheads to ferment, and by the end of the year, when the active fermentation has terminated, the wine is usually clear and limpid. At Rilly-la-Montagne, on the line of railway between Reims and Epernay, Roper Frères & Cie., late of Epernay, have their establishment. Starting from the latter place, we pass Ay and Avenay, and then the little village of Germaine in the midst of the forest, and nigh the summit of the mountain of Reims, with its 'Rendezvous des Chasseurs' in immediate proximity to the station. Finally we arrive at Rilly, which, spite of its isolated situation, has about it that aspect of prosperity common to the more favourable wine districts of France. This is scarcely surprising, when the quality of its wines is taken into consideration. The still red wine of Rilly has long enjoyed a high local reputation, and to-day the Rilly growths are much sought after for conversion into Champagne. White wine of 1874, from black grapes, fetched, we are informed, as much as 600 to 700 francs the pièce; while the finer qualities from white grapes realised from 300 to 400 francs. Messrs. Roper Frères & Cie. are the owners of some productive vineyards situated on the high-road to Chigny and Ludes. The establishment of Roper Frères is adjacent to a handsome modern house standing back from the road in a large and pleasant garden, bounded by vineyards on two of its sides. In the celliers all the conveniences pertaining to a modern Champagne establishment are to be found, while extending beneath the garden are the extensive cellars of the firm, comprising two stories of long and spacious galleries excavated in the chalk, their walls and roofs being supported whenever necessary by masonry. A curious feature about these cellars is that the roots of the larger trees in the garden above have penetrated the roof of the upper story, and hang pendent overhead like innumerable stalactites. Here, after the comparatively new wine of 1874 had been shown to us--including samples of the vin brut or natural Champagne of which the firm make a specialty at a moderate price--some choice old Champagnes were brought forth, including the fine vintages of 1865, 1857, and 1846. The latter wine had of course preserved very little of its effervescence, still its flavour was exceedingly fine, being soft and delicate to a degree. At the Vienna Exhibition of 1873, and the London Exhibition of 1874, the collection of Champagnes exhibited by Roper Frères met with favourable recognition from the international juries. Our tour through the Champagne vineyards and wine-cellars here comes to an end. It is true there are important establishments at Châlons, notably those of the Perriers, Freminet et Fils, Dagonet et Fils, and Jacquard Frères. As, however, any description of these would be little else than a recapitulation of something we have already said, we content ourselves with merely notifying their existence, and close the present chapter with a poem on Champagne, from the pen of M. Amaury de Cazanove of Avize: ODE AU CHAMPAGNE. Pour ta beauté, pour ta gloire, ô Patrie, Nous t'adorons ... surtout pour tes malheurs! Oublions-les.... Avec idolâtrie, Chantons ton ciel, tes femmes et tes fleurs. France, nous chanterons tes femmes et tes roses; France, nous chanterons tes vins, autre trésor; Qu'on voie, ouvrant tes lèvres longtemps closes, Un fier sourire étinceler encor! Nectar qu'aux dieux jadis versait Hébé la blonde! O noir Falerne! ô Massique vermeil! Pauvres vins du vieux temps oubliés à la ronde ... Car le Champagne a fait le tour du monde En conquérant, à nos drapeaux pareil; Il rit, léger, sous la mousse qui tremble, Et semble Dans le cristal un rayon de soleil. 'Je suis le sang des coteaux de Bourgogne!' Dit celui-là baron à parchemin, Grand assommeur qui vous met sans vergogne Son casque au front, si lourd le lendemain.... 'C'est moi l'exquis Bordeaux, je sens la violette; Mes rubis, le gourmet goutte à goutte les boit, Et mon parfum délicat se complète Par ta saveur, aile d'un perdreau froid.' Messeigneurs les Grand Vins, s'il faut qu'on vous réponde; Bordeaux, Bourgogne, écoutez un conseil: Vantez un peu moins fort vos vertus à la ronde.... Car le Champagne a fait le tour du monde En conquérant, à nos drapeaux pareil; Il rit, léger, sous la mousse qui tremble, Et semble Dans le cristal un rayon de soleil. Car le Champagne est le vrai vin de France; C'est notre c[oe]ur pétillant dans nos yeux, Se relevant plus haut sous la souffrance; C'est dans sa fleur l'esprit de nos aïeux; Le souffle de bravoure aimable, qui tressaille Sous le vent de l'épée aux plumes des cimiers; C'est le galant défi de la bataille: 'A vous, Messieurs les Anglais, les premiers!' Certain buveur de bière en vain ricane et gronde; Aux cauchemars de ses nuits sans sommeil Dieu livre ses remords! ... Nous chantons à la ronde Que le Champagne a fait le tour du monde En conquérant, à nos drapeaux pareil; Il rit, léger, sous la mousse qui tremble, Et semble Dans le cristal un rayon de soleil.[481] Avize, 8 Juillet 1877. [Illustration] [Illustration: THE BOAR TAKES SOIL.] 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. The Champagne does not merely comprise vineyards producing some of the finest wine in the world. In parts it is covered by vast and luxuriant forests, where the pleasures of the chase are not lacking to the Champenois, who as a rule are eager in the pursuit of sport. In winter these forests are the resort of wild-boar, who haunt by preference the woods around Reims, journeying thither, it is said, by night from the famous forest of the Ardennes--the scene of Rosalind's wanderings and Touchstone's eccentricities, as set forth in _As You Like It_; and whose gloomy depths and tangled glens shelter not merely boars, but wolves as well. [Illustration] In the villages of the Champagne on a cold winter's morning, with it snowing or blowing, you are frequently awake before daylight by the noise of barking dogs, of horns sounding the departure, and of some vehicle rolling heavily over the stones. A party of sportsmen is proceeding to the meet. Jokes and laughter enliven the journey, but every one becomes silent and serious upon reaching the place of rendezvous, for the object of the gathering is the excitable and perilous boar-hunt. In the Champagne it is no longer the fashion, as in Burgundy, 'With javelin's point a churlish swine to gore.' The more certain rifle is the weapon usually employed, and these arms are now examined and carefully loaded. Meanwhile the reports of the keepers are attentively listened to. They have beaten the wood, each on his own side, accompanied by a bloodhound, and they inform the hunters what they have seen or found. Great experience is necessary to accomplish the _rembuchement_, as this tour of inspection is termed, in a satisfactory manner; and with some it is a veritable science. Eventually, after a discussion among the more experienced ones, it is decided to follow the scent which appears to be freshest; whereupon the dogs are brought up coupled, and let loose upon the trail. The attack now begins. There are always two or three _piqueurs_ who follow the dogs, exciting them with their voices, and making all the noise possible, as long as the game has not been roused from its lair. Meanwhile the marksmen place themselves at the posts indicated by the president of the hunt, the most experienced being assigned the best spots, whilst those whose habit it is never to harm the boar go of their own accord 'up wind'--that is, to bad places--thus causing the animal to 'refuse,' and to pass within range of guns that rarely let him escape unhurt. At first the dogs raise a somewhat distant cry--perhaps one has followed a wrong scent--and some of the huntsmen remark in a low tone to themselves that after all they would have done better to have stopped at home, and turned out of their beds at a less unseasonable hour; then, at least, they would not be standing with frozen feet in the snow, and with colds in the head in perspective. But suddenly there comes a cry of 'Vlô!'--the Champenois expression for designating the boar--'Attention!' 'Look out!' Then the report of a couple of shots, and finally the howling of the pack of dogs. Snow and cold are at once forgotten. Each man grasps his rifle and waits for the boar to pass by. The branches of the underwood creak and break; there is a noise as of a squadron of cavalry dashing into a wood; then, all of a sudden, a black mass is caught sight of approaching. But the boar is a cunning fellow; he has seen the sportsman who is in wait for him, or has scented his presence, and will pass out of range. Now that luck has betrayed the latter, he has to content himself with the _rôle_ of a spectator. So far as one can judge by the barking of the dogs, the boar is directing his course to where an experienced marksman is posted--one who is not about to fire his first difficult shot. Observe him: he is perfectly motionless, for the least movement might betray his presence; his eyes alone dart right and left in quest of the foe. Here comes the boar, passing like a cannon-ball along the line, and there is scarcely time to catch a glimpse of him between the reports of two shots, which succeed each other with the rapidity of lightning. The boar is by no means an animal easy to knock over. The forest roads are never more than ten to fifteen paces broad; and as there are marksmen both on the right and left, it is necessary to reserve your fire until the animal has crossed the road and is plunging again into cover. In addition to this, there are only two spots where a mortal wound can be inflicted upon the boar--either behind the shoulder or in the neck. Hit elsewhere, he will lose but little blood, and the only effect of the wound will be to render him more savage. He will rip up a dog or two, perhaps, and then rush off far away, without showing any further sign of injury. Boars carrying several bullets in their bodies, but rejoicing in capital health, as well as others covered with cicatrices, are frequently killed. Firing too high is a common fault with many marksmen, arising from the fact that in winter the boar's bristles are very long and thick, and that each one stands on end at the sight of an enemy, thus making the animal look much higher on his legs than he really is. But to return to our description of the hunt. The boar has just been hit by one of those rare marksmen, every bullet of whose rifle goes straight to its intended billet. Although struck, the animal continues his onward course, a couple of drops of blood which have tinged the snow with red showing unmistakably that he has not been missed. The dogs who follow him closely hesitate for a minute as they reach the roadway, but the leader has espied the spot where the boar was wounded; he sniffs the blood, and darts off again, followed by the pack, who have full confidence in his discernment. The dogs are torn and wounded by the thorns and briers which continually obstruct their path, for the boar rushes through the thickest and most inaccessible cover, in hopes of retarding the progress of his pursuers; but the hounds divine that their prey is near, and the most tired among them recover all their energy. Suddenly a great silence succeeds the furious yelping and baying of a short time ago. The boar is about to turn at bay. His strength is becoming exhausted, and feeling that he is doomed to die, he has faced round, with his back towards some inaccessible thicket, so as not to be taken in the rear, and confronts his pursuers, determined to die bravely and to sell his life dearly. It is no longer the baying of a pack in full cry that now rends the air, but isolated yelpings and plaintive howlings, such as watch-dogs give vent to when strangers are wandering round the house they protect. Then comes the crowning feat of the hunt, and the most difficult to accomplish. The most intrepid marksman advances towards the dogs, his hunting-knife and rifle alike ready, the former to be made use of should the latter not suffice. He has need of great prudence and great coolness to accomplish his task, for directly the boar hears his approach he will unhesitatingly dash upon him. He must await the animal's onslaught with a firm heart and steady hand, and only fire when sure of his aim. Often, however, the hunter is bothered by the dogs, which surround the boar on all sides, hang on to him from behind, and excite his fury. The position may become critical, and many a sportsman who has counted too much upon his nerve has found himself compelled to climb a tree, whence he has been able to 'bowl over' the enemy, without incurring any danger. It is needless to add that when discovered in this position he has felt very much ashamed at having resorted to such an expedient. In the Champagne the wild boar is almost invariably pursued on foot, the minute subdivision of the land into different holdings and consequent limitation of the right of sport rendering it very difficult to follow the animal on horseback. M. Roederer, it is true, started a pack of hounds in the Forest of Reims; but at his death there were not sufficient lovers of the chase to keep up this style of sport, and every one fell into the habit of knocking over a wild-boar in the same prosaic fashion as a simple rabbit. However, some few years back, a rich landowner from Brittany, the Vicomte d'Honnincton, having had an opportunity of sport in the Champagne, and having seen that large game abounded, installed himself near the fine Forêt de la Traconne, in the neighbourhood of Sézanne, and resumed the chase of the wild-boar on horseback. The great success he met with induced him to take up his quarters in this district, and his pack, composed of a cross between the English staghound and the Artois hound, has become justly famous. In the month of December 1878, an exciting day's sport was had with M. d'Honnincton's boar-hounds. The presence of herds of wild-boar having been noted in the neighbouring woods between Epernay and Montmort, M. d'Honnincton was soon to the fore with his pack, and all the sportsmen for miles around were summoned. The meet was at the Château de la Charmoye, a regular hunters' rendezvous, belonging to the Vicomte de Bouthylliers, and situate in the heart of the woodland. During breakfast one of the huntsmen came to announce that a huge _solitaire_ had passed the night at a short distance from the château. Everything, therefore, promised well for sport. The guests mounted in haste, each one equipped in true French style, with an immense hunting-horn round his body and a light gun or a pistol attached to the saddle. The lively strains of the horn had begun to sound on every side, and the hounds were being uncoupled, when the boar, disturbed by all this noise, majestically traversed the main avenue of the château, and pushed on towards a group of ladies assembled to witness the departure of the sportsmen. A finer start would have been impossible. The hounds dashed towards their prey as soon as they caught sight of him at full cry, and the _sonnerie du sanglier_ and the _vue_ were blazed forth by the horns on every side. The hunt commenced. The greatest difficulty and the object of all was to hinder the boar from plunging into the thick of the forest, where, in the dense cover, he would have gained a considerable advance upon the dogs. Thanks to the activity of the huntsmen, who cut off his retreat on this side, it was possible to drive him towards the plain of Montmort; and from this moment the sport was as fine as can be imagined, it being easy to note the minor details of the hunt even from a distance. The boar made his way with difficulty over the ground saturated by rain, and the eagerness of the hounds increased in proportion as they gained upon him. A broadish rivulet with very steep banks was reached. The boar tried to clear it at a bound, but fell into mid-stream. The sportsmen all came up at this moment, and with their horns began to sound in chorus 'The boar has taken soil;' the hounds plunged in and began to swim after the boar, and the scene became a truly exciting one. At length the boar succeeded in quitting the stream; but frightened by the horsemen whom he saw on the opposite shore, he recrossed it a second and then a third time, amidst the hounds, who were assailing him on every side, and each time met with the same difficulty in ascending the bank. It may be readily understood that he was getting exhausted by his efforts, and began to appear done up. He recovered his vigour, however, and soon gained ground on the hounds. He had still two or three miles to cover in order to regain the forest, and it was necessary at all costs to prevent him from accomplishing this. Then ensued a wild hunt, a mad steeplechase over fields, hedges, brooks, ditches; the horses in several places sank over their hocks, and were covered with foam, but whip and spur restored energy to the least ardent. The boar was gasping, but still kept on, and the steam from his body, which quite surrounded him and caused him to resemble a four-legged demon, could be plainly perceived from a distance. In this style the hunt swept through the little village of Lucy, with all the dogs of the place howling, the women and children shrieking, and the men arming themselves with spades and pitchforks. But the boar not losing courage on this account, and despising these primitive weapons, did not stop, and drew nearer and nearer to the wood. The hounds were getting tired, and the most experienced sportsmen began to despair somewhat of a successful day, when suddenly the beast plunged into a pond situate close to the forest, halted, rolled several times in the mud, and rose completely covered in steam and mire. It is all over: the animal is at bay, and cannot go any further. This is the interesting moment. The boar pulls himself together, feeling that he is to die, and, up to his belly in water, he bravely awaits the pack. With his eye glowing with rage, his bristles erect, he utters grunts of defiance. The fifty dogs throw themselves on to him without a moment's hesitation; but four or five are sent rolling into the middle of the water, never more to rise. The struggle which follows is terrible; the boar's tusks tell at every blow, and the water becomes literally red with blood. At length the foremost sportsmen come up, and it is high time they do. Seven dogs are already lying on their backs, with their legs in the air, and almost all bear marks of the boar's terrible tusks. The first who is ready alights from his steed, and boldly advances into the water; for it would be imprudent to fire at the boar from the edge of the pond, and thereby run the risk of wounding him, and rendering him still more furious, or even of killing one of the dogs, by whom he is surrounded. An interval of solemn silence ensues; the horns only wait for the shot to be fired to sound the _hallali_. The dogs make way in order to let the sportsman advance; the boar draws back a little, and then making a bound recovers all his strength for a rush upon his enemy. Woe to the man who misses him! the boar will give him no quarter. But the sportsman waits for him very quietly, and when he is only two paces from him plants a bullet between his eyes, which lays him dead. The notes of the _hallali_ awake the echoes: never had a hunt been crowned by finer results. The setting sun lighted up the scene, which transpired just below the Château de Montmort, scarcely half a mile off, and the ladies assembled on the terrace of the old château of Sully waved their handkerchiefs in congratulation to the fortunate sportsmen. The foregoing narrative furnishes a good idea of the ordinary method of hunting the wild-boar on horseback in the Champagne, a method which, though offering at times varying details, arising from the size of the animal pursued and the number and strength of the hounds engaged in the chase, presents, on the whole, a general resemblance to the description just given. Some years back boars were far from numerous in the Champagne, hiding themselves, moreover, in inaccessible positions far away in the woods, so that it was necessary to cover a larger extent of ground in order to sight a recent trail. Latterly, however, these animals have multiplied considerably, each sow having seven or eight young ones at a litter, and littering three times a year. In the forests around Reims and Epernay twelve, and even fifteen, boars have been killed during a single hunt. It not unfrequently happens that a herd of fifty, and even a hundred, boars are encountered together, when a veritable massacre often ensues, if the hunting-party only comprises a sufficient number of guns. The victims include at times some sows with young grice, which the hunters frequently try to bring up. One of these little animals, who had been named 'Snow' from having been captured one day when the snow was on the ground, followed his owner about everywhere like the most faithful poodle. His master would often take him into the wood and simulate a hunt with his dogs. Snow, however, possessed vices as well as virtues, and one of his habits was an extremely disagreeable one. Like the rest of his species, he was very fond of rolling himself in the mire, and, on returning home, would proceed to clean himself by rubbing unconcernedly against the dresses of the ladies of the house. One Sunday his master had taken him out for a walk, and as they returned home they passed the church, which the ladies of the locality, arrayed in their richest attire, were just leaving. During his walk Snow had taken two or three mud-baths, and, on meeting the fair devotees of Avize, he thought the occasion a propitious one for cleansing himself. He at once put the idea into practice, employing the silk dresses of the ladies for the purpose. The children who accompanied them were greatly terrified, and rushed shrieking into the adjoining houses, pursued by the gambolling boar, who seemed to greatly enjoy the panic he had caused. As La Fontaine has remarked, 'Rien que la mort n'était capable D'expier son forfait.' So, after such an offence, poor Snow was sentenced to undergo capital punishment, and expiated by death his want of regard for the silk attire of the fair sex. Another boar named 'Scotsman,' and belonging to the same sportsman, was also an amusing fellow. He would stretch himself out in the sun of an afternoon as majestically as the Sultan on his divan, whilst a hen with whom he had contracted a tender friendship kindly relieved him of his parasites. A gentleman of the same district owns two enormous sows, which follow him like greyhounds whenever he rides out. When a friend asks him to step indoors and to refresh or rest himself, he replies: 'I must beg you to excuse me; I have with me _Catherine_ and _Rigolette_, who might inconvenience you.' The friend looks round to see who these interesting young people may be, and his surprise may be imagined when two big swine familiarly place their forepaws upon his shoulders. Several sportsmen of the Champagne possess packs of hounds, and the true boar-hound, the 'dog of black St. Hubert breed,' is really a magnificent animal, with his long pendant ears, his open chest, and broad-backed body. Hounds of the La Vendée and Poitou breeds are also used at boar-hunts. Dogs, though they may be of excellent race, require, however, skilful training before they will hunt the boar. It is necessary they should see several boars killed ere they will venture to tackle this formidable enemy, of which the dog is instinctively afraid. House-dogs, curs, and terriers will at times pursue the boar admirably, and prolong his standing for hours without approaching within range of the beast's tusks, whilst animals of a higher spirit will allow themselves to be ripped up alive, or, if they escape, will not dare to again approach their foe after a first repulse. Since boars became so numerous in the Champagne they have done considerable damage to the crops, a corn or potato field being soon devastated by them. At harvest-time a watch has often to be set for them by night. A few years ago, at the moment of the vintage, people were even compelled to light large fires near the vineyards to scare away these dangerous neighbours. The shooting season in the Champagne extends from the commencement of September till the end of February; but boar-hunting is often prolonged until the first of May, and occasionally _battues_ are organised during the summer. Other four-footed game tenanting the forests of the Champagne are the roe-deer, in tolerable quantity; a few fallow-deer and stags and wolves, which latter are still numerous, spite of the warfare carried on against them. The roe-deer is hunted, like the boar, with hounds; but this easy sport, which does not possess the attraction of danger, is quite neglected when boars are numerous. The forests also give shelter to hares in abundance, martins, wild-cats, and foxes, the latter being rigorously destroyed on account of their depredations. They are stifled by smoke in their holes, or else poisoned or taken in traps. Sportsmen are so numerous in every little village of the Marne, the shooting license only costing five-and-twenty francs, that feathered game has become very rare. The most remarkable specimen is the caimpetière, or small bustard, which exists only in the Champagne and Algeria, and the flesh of which is highly esteemed. Partridges and hares would have entirely disappeared from the plains were it not for the shelter which the vineyards afford them, for woe to him who ventures to shoot among the vines! The vine is as sacred to the Champenois as the mistletoe was to their Gallic forefathers. Great severity is shown in respect to trespassers at the epoch when the vines are sprouting, for each broken bud represents a bunch of grapes, which its owner hoped might realise its weight in gold. [Illustration] [Illustration: THE VINEYARDS OF THE COTEAU DE SAUMUR.]