The Press.
London, England, 1857-03-07 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

Seeing a very high chimney below, on the water side, and
a large Wilding annexed, I asked Mullot whether it was a
papentnill. In reply, I learned this was a very remarkable
manufactory established of late years by a M. Fournier, in
whose hands the whole of the barge traffic on the Canal
de l'Ourcq is held, and constant communication maintained
hereby with Paris; not only for all such merchandise as is
transportable generally by this most useful watercourse;
but for the produce, in particular, of the mill just nrentiemed,
which is exclusively occupied in drying and compressing
vegetables. By means of a twenty-four horse-power
engine, the hydraulic pressure is brought to bear upon
tons of cabbages, carrots, turnips, spinach, beans, peas,
artichokes, onions, and other such garden stuff, partially
macerated, till they assume the consistency and receive
the shape of oil sake. These tablets of concentrated vege-
table matter are then thoroughly dried, and admit of being
kept in store for a considerable period. When used, they
are subjected to the action of boiling water, and begin to
expand, and resume the colour and consistency of fresh
herbs ; and the quantity shipped off to the Crimea, about the
period of my visit, was enormous. A cake of the size of a
man's hand makes potage.for eight persons.

But these artificial substitutes aro only toler-
able counterfeits, and they are too often em-
ployed in French restaurants. The effect of
staleness is rarely calculated by their com-
pounders. Omelettes made of musty eggs
may be disguised with apricot jam and other
condiments, but they are precursors of black
draughts, and—but let us hear our reverend
author on champagne. And first of the famous
Meet :

I made a point of paying my respects to the cellars of
M. Moet, whose name I had so often seen making such
rapid aerial ascents at the extremity of his released corks ;
and after exploring the subterranean saloons and cloisters,
sacred to Bacchus and bottles, it would be interesting to
see how this great embellisher and " whip" of our social
feasts was himself lodged; and where, while nestling in
his own palatial home, he had thrown open the gates of
another, equally luxurious and extensive, to Napoleon 1.,
who was lodged in it on the eve of the battle of Montmirail,
and of the defeat of Blucher, in 1814.
M. Moet's splendid residence is situate on one side of
the principal street of Epernay ; and exactly opposite to it is
its counterpart, which forty-three years ago received the
then Emperor of France and all his suite. Both mansions
are the reflex of the soil they stand upon ; for they are one
white. No model in biscuit or Bristol cardboard could be
more destitute of colour: but this is the prevalent taste in
France, and the exteriors, at least, look clean and whole-
some. I counted in M. Moet's own special flower-garden
upwards of ninety orange-trees, surrounding the piece of
water between the greenhouse and courtyard; the latter
area reminding me of that in front of the Euston-square
Hotel.

And next of the great millionaire, Madame
Clicquot :

Madame Clicquot's Château de Bourceau, opposite to
Damery, is literally a castle in the air; for it stands on the
extreme summit of a considerable eminence, rising so
abruptly fr..m the line of rail, and elevated at such a per-
pendicular height, as to require no little outstretching of
the head and shoulders from a carriage window to gain a
view of it. The style of this costly edifice of brilliant
white stone is imitative of some of the most ornate speci•
mens of the middle ages, castellated and turreted con
amore; and the natives admire it as a first•rate sample of
modern building; but it is painfully new (being but five
years of age), and parvenu ; and requires the " toning
down" of, at least, two centuries. Through the telescope
in this lady millionaire's drawing•room she may espy the
hills of Dormans, and Haut Villiers, the ruins of Château
Chiltillon, and the ripening clusters of thrice famous Ai ;
a name far tco familiar to the lovers of Trine mouaseuz to
need particularisation or eulogium here. Madame lives in
a very atmosphere of vineyards, and thereout bath sucked
no em ill advantage in a bibulous and lovemaking genera-
tion ; for her fortune is estimated to be quadruple of M.
Moet's, and her daughters are the wives of wealthy men of
title. " Wine, wine, wine, rosy wine !" is the genius loci ;
and if all the hedge timber we saw between Port a Hinson
and Epernay had been cork•trees, it would only have been
in keeping with the general features and prestige of the
neighbourhood.
The account of the stock of Moet's wines, and
of the cellars, is very curious. Hero are
statistics that must stagger the teetotallers :

The cellarmen on M. Moet's premises were extremely
civil and obliging. He employs about two hundred work.
people all through the year, of which number thirty are
boys, and twelve women. These women do the whole work
of tinfoiling the corks after the final wire-fastening; and
wrap up the bottles in paper, as we see them when we open
the cases. One of the chief overlookers took a lighted
candle, and placed another in my hand, and proceeded to
conduct me, at my request, through the principal cellars,
which are about fifty feet below the level of the street. He
said the stock in hand was regularly kept up to a total of
three millions of bottles (upwards of five thousand pipes) ;
portioned off into growths of various years and qualities.
The wine is corked in the following way :

Not far from the Grand Berceau was a high vaulted
chamber, containing seven vast tars which held from two
thousand three hundred, to three thousand one hundred
gallons, one with another. These are kept filled every year
till bottling time. Alongside of these monster casks were
eight men occupied in the operation of corking. The cork
being taken out of hot water, for which a little steaming
apparatus is kept close at hand, comes to the " chewier "
(or iron•framed machine for driving it into the bottle)

231

in a very soft and supple state. It is exactly two inches
long and one and a quarter in diameter, and in less than s
second of time after it is submitted to the grip and squeeze
of the chantier and its mallet, it descends into the neck of
the bottle, and is ready for the string and first wiring. The
men I saw on this occasion were engaged on these three
operations alone ; for the tinfoil and wrapper would not
be in requisition till the last corking and wiring had takes
place.

We have seen soda-water in a manufactory
corked with inconceivable rapidity, and the
operation is more difficult. The " shaking "
of the wine in the cellar may give a hint to
private persons respecting home-made wines :
The man whom I found here was going his rounds to
give each of the bcales under his charge a smart drake
from left to right and back again. This he did by an in-
conceivably rapid action of his right wrist, after which be
replaced the bottle ; marking it wi white, and raising it
a little higher than when he drew it out. This was to be
done twice a day for four, five, or six weeks, accordingly as
the sediment might be found passing from the sides to the
neck of the bottle ; for, once deposited there, the " dis-
gorging" process would become necessary • that is, the
string would be cut and the cork expelled, and a couple of
glasses of liquor be permitted to escape with it, carrying off
the said deposit, on the riddance of which the bottle is
dexterously raised by the hand of the disgorger, and pre.
vented discharging any more liquor; but is filled, immedi-
ately, to the full extent of the quantity just released, from
a bottle of pure wine standing alongside. This operation
takes place three times, at least, before the liquor is fit for
final sweetening, corking, stringing. tinfoiling and paper-
ing. I witnessed the shaking on this occasion, as I have
just said, at Epernay; and the remaining processes at
Rheims.

The manner in which this shake is given 'is very peen.
liar. The bottle being twelve inches and a half in circum-
ference keeps the four fingers and thumb in full stretch,
when grasping it at its extreme broad end ; and if the
shaker were to agitate his elbow in the movement, as I did
mine, when I tried to imitate him, he would find his arm
disable) before he had handled fifty. The vibration is
produced by the wrist exclusively ; and fifteen thousand
are thus treated in the course of nine horns.

A French winegrower gave the author the
following information :
" You never drink this wine entire," said Monsieur L.
" Your nation rejects it in that pure and primitive forte in
which it is drunk in France and many other countries.
The Russians consume enormous supplies of it ; and they,
of all the Northeners (and you know what intense cold is
felt in Russia), drink it without the slightest admixture of
brandy. Whereas, to forty gallons of pure champagne
wine, we are obliged, by the requisitions of the British
agents, to add, at least, five (but more frequently from ten
to twelve) gallons of brandy; while for German orders we
infuse half a gallon only in that quantity. We consider
the true wine spoilt by this mixture ; but the English palate
demands it, not only in champagne, but in other wines
likewise. Here, for instance, is a letter from Duff Gordon,
in which he guarantees to me the delivery of a certain
quantity of sherry from Cadiz, without any of the admixture
usually introduced, is a matter of course, into the sherries
sent to England. All our champagne wine is sweetened
artificially ; but that is indispensable, as the unsweetened
juice of the grape would find no purchaser."
The fact about the champagne being brandied
is well known. Tho author describes all the
sweetening processes. but we prefer to quote
the prices current of the wine at Rheims :

per bottle.
A. d.

Grand Vin Cremant (first class creaming
Champagne)
Sparkling Verzenay (finest growth of
Rheims)

Fleur Bouzy 3 8
Sparkling Bouzy 3 3
Fleur Sillery

Sillery ( first quality)
Sparkling Ai
Pink Champagne 2 9
The cost of a cue of three dozen of Verzenay (bottles,
case, packing, and cartage to the railway inclusive), would
be charged to a buyer in Rheims, seven pounds four
shillings. It would be delivered at London-bridge Station
for ten pounds fcur shillings; the duty being paid in that
sum. Thus the total cost would amount to sixty-eight
shillings the dozen.
And further on let us hear his reverence in.
raptures :

" And now," said mine host, " let me offer you some of
the best wine we have to boast of at Rheims."

The string and wire were instantly cut, and away went
the cork on its aerial travels. Our glasses overflowed with
the creamy stream, and my lips with compliments en its
unsurpassable excellence immediately afterwards. It was.
indeed, beautiful wine. When all the eulogium which
such a creditable sample elicited had been exhausted, and
the sober certainty alone remained of having lived

thus to clasp perfection,
the announcement was quietly made of the bottle, just
emptied, being the identical one from which I had en-
deavoured, in vain, to drink a quarter of a glassful two
hours previously !
It had not been iced, but placed, after my first introduc-
tion to it, in a very cold vault, which sent it to table suts•
ciently chilled, while the thermometer outdoors indicated
eightyfive degrees of heat.
This was a pleasant mode of illustration. The syrup
renders the wine palatable ; the body, the peculiar flavour
of the grape, the effervescence and general good condition