Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1870-01-27
THE VINEYARDS OF CHAMPAGNE.
Vine Culture, aud Wine Statistics.
Paris Cnrresnondenca of the N Y TmfA

The principal crlGs of champagne are
those of Ay verzenay and Cramant, but
those OF Az are especially remarkable for
their delicacy and flavor. The land on
which these wines are produced is, need
not say expensive. The hectare two and
one-half acres) in the best situations costs
from 25, 900 to 80, 600 francs, CSC, 600, and
and the yearly labor bestowed upon 1t.
amounts to l 500 franks more. The an
nual expense cannot, unfortunately, be
fixed at that sum, for the price of labor is
yearly increasing, owing to the scarcity Of
hands. For this reason an effort is being
made to encourage immigration from Ger
mans. but the United States offering great
er inducements in that quarter If. Is not
very successful. The uenddnge or gather
ing of the grape takes place in favorable
years in the month of September, and IN
ordinary years in the month of October.
In general the early ripening of the fruit is
an indication of good quality in wine.
AS soon as the gr pes are pressed the
wine is placed in tuns containing about two
nectolitres, (forty-four gallons and in
these it undergoes its first fermentation.
After the frosts are over the wine is drawn
from below and charged to other tuns, in
order to free it from the deposit which
forms at the bottom of the vessel during
the fermentation. In the Spring, towards
the month of May. the wine Is placed in
bottles. This period of the year is chosen
for bottling because il precedes fresh
fermentation which always takes place in
the wine, and which it is now desirable
should occur in the bottles. The result of
this fermentation is to impart to the vine
its gaseous and foaming properties. The
saccharine matter contained in champagne
produces the carbonic acid gas which
escapes in such an active form even long
after the bottle is uncorked. The expan-
size force Of this gas determines in the
bottles certain amount of breakage,
which varies according to the temperature
of the place in which the wine is kept and
the quality of the glass. The more the air
circulating in these places becomes heated
the more the gas becomes developed, and
hence the necessity of those vast but WELL
ventilated cellars which are cut in the chalk
of the ridge on which the vines grow.
Formerly the bottles used in the cham
pagae district were all brought from manu-
factories in the north of France. but now
there are severil local establishments of
this kind which supply the greater portion
required. The most precious quality of q
bottle is, / need scarcely say, its solidity
and It's power of resisting the expansive &C
ton OF the gas. Formerly the loss by
breakage Was enormous, frequently amount
ing to five and twenty per cent. of the
quantity of wine produced. 1t is now,
however. controlled to certain extent by
the use of an hydraulic press, under which
the bottles are subjected to pressure of
from fifteen to eighteen atmospheres. Not
outstanding the facilities of testing the
quality of the glass offered by this auxiliary,
good bottles cannot always be procured,
the demand being often greater than the
supply. Thus in the cellars of the house
of Roederer & Co. the breakage this year
has been enormous. When people take
these facts into consideration they will not
be surprised at the high prices which all
good brands of wine bring in the United
States.
The cellars in which champagne is kept
should be good many feet under ground,
hut well ventilated Those excavated in a
chalk soil are the best, more especially if
they are free from infltration, because they
are at once cool and dry.
TIE manufacture of the wine If manu-
factu.e il can be called. is very simple, but
OF the game time requires great care and at
tention. When in the months of Septem-
Der aud October the wines cease to break
the bottles and have become gaseous, there
is found at the bottom of the bottle de-
post which has been determined by the
development of the gas As soon as the
bottle is stirred the wine becomes troubled:
and it can only be used on the express con-
diiion that this sediment be removed
With this view the bottles are placed in an
inclined position, in wooden rests con-
structed for the purpose, the corks being
nd n lo
becomes clear in this position the bottles
are stirred gently one day, and turned the
siehth of the circumference of the bottle |
the day following. A mark chalked on the |
bottom of the bottle serves to guide the |
workman in this operation, which is very |
nice one. By a successive series of these |
in the course of two or three |
months ell the deposit formed in the wine /
is gradnally drawn down tothe neck of the |
bottle and settles on the cork skiilful l
can manipulate in this manner
from 80 600 to 10000 bottles day. \
The wine is now mature. 1t has become
clear and limpid as water from a rocky /
essential condition there |
only remains the operation of extracting
the sediment from the bottle, without sha-
King it or troubling the wine To secure
his result, the bottles are placed one by
)ne In an instrument called the s'disgorg-
IT." and q skillfnl workman starts the cork,
which is driven out by the force of the
,as. and with it all the accumulated de-
,osit. sa
The sugar which has been lost in the fer
nentation is now replaced by small por-
ion of liquid, made, from sugar candy Of
he purest kind melted in the best old
This from beginning to end
3 the only interference attempted with the
Iatural qualities of the wine. and it is only
escorted to to restore an important element
which has departed from it. The bottle is
,ow recorked in anachine, the cord and
Fire Gre attached to it, and the wine. is
eady for packing. tbs Kept, however, for
time, in the cellars before undergoing
his operation in order 10 afford an oppor-
unity for again examining the bottles and II
eplacing the ccrks that may have proved /,
elective Between the time when the 4.
line is first drawn of from the tun, and
aat at which the workmen begin to free
he bottles from the deposit formed In
hem. a period of from two to three -years. j
usually allowed - - - - -. IL
All TIE larue houses of Champagne pos-ls
sss wines of the best crus, bat not in st1fi-s Il
lent quantity to suffice for their require /