American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-12-28
About Champagne.

| CHAMPAGNE-and the observation ap-
plies equally TO the finest as to inferior
brands-is, contrary to common belief,
unlike other grand wines, never the pro-
duction of Il single vineyard nor even of
| one species of grape. but the result of the
melange of many. Moreover, year after
year, as its consumption increases. and
the time-honored vinelands of Ay, BOuZy,
| AmbOnnay, VerZenay, Mailly. Very,
Cramant, and AviZe, from which all fine
chaDpagnes were formerly exclusively
made, have been found inadequate to the
demands which both hemispheres annu-
| ally make upon the manufacturers of
! Reims and Epernay, vineyards of inferior
rank, whose produce was heretofore re-
| gartled as unsuited to the composition of
so delicate wine as champagne, are laid
under contribution, and have their def
| ciencies of boquet. vinosity, and saccha-
rine essence supplied by artificial means.
| The result is, that the high price which
even the ordinary uu, de pays commands,
with the view to its conversion into infe-
rlOr sparkling wine, excludes it entirely
from local consumption, and the middle
| and laborinS classes are reduced to sup
ply its place by the strong, cheap wines
| of the South.
Another popularity of the champagne
district is, that, contrary to the prevailing
practice in the other wine producing re-
SiOns of France, where the owner of even
| Il single acre of vines will tread his grapes
| himself, only limited number of propri-
etors crush their own grapes. The prin-
clpal champagne houses, who possess nu-
merOus vineyards of their own scattered
around Reims and Epernay, have pres
sOirs'' in the neighborhOOd of them all,
and other large vine proprietOrs will press
their own grapes; the multitude, hOwev-
er, of small cultivators invariably sell the
produce of their whey ards to one or an
9th
caque, a measure estimated to hold sixty
| kilogrammes equal to 1872 English
pounds) of grapes. Further, it may be re-
| marked that no manufacturer of cham
payne If the slightest note, although he
may produce simply one quality of wine,
| confines himself to a wine of a single
type.
He makes his wine dry, sweet or strong,
according to the market for which it is
designed. ClicquOt champagne, which
still retains its old reputation, when it
found its principal market in Russia, of a
sweet wine, which it still is when pre-
pared for the Russian or French markets,
is always at its driest when intended for
English consumption. 1t is the same with
the rest of the well-knOwn brands. The
strong, sweet wines go to Russia and Ger
many, and the intermediate ones to the
United States, while the lighter are con-
sumed principally in France, the dry and
moderately strong wines go to England,
the lighter ones to China. the East Indies,
and hot countries generally, and the very
strong ones to Australia and California,
and all those districts were gold and dia-
mOnds and such like trifles are from time
TO time prospected.'' The very best
wines of the best manufacturers, and
commanding of course the highest prices,
namely, from seven to eight francs the
bottle, delivered at the railway stations OF
Epernay or Reims. are invariably reserv-
ed Tor the English market, tor dry cham
payne of passable flavor can only be pro-
duced from choice raw wine, whereas
sweet champagnes can be made of almost
anything, the excess of added saccharine
matter utterly masking their original char
acter.
Champagne is the result of compound
of the juice of both black and white
grapes, fOur-fifths of the former being
generally mixed with One-fifth of the lat
ter. and a certain percentage of sugar and
spirit. 1t is from the black grapes that
the wine derives its solid pinous qualities,
and these are principally OF the Pinot va
rety. so styled because its clusters take
the cOnical form of the pine. being the
same from which all the grand red Bur-
gundy wines are produced, and which,
yielding but Il moderate crop. gives a
wine of great strength, combined with eX-
treme delicacy of flavor. Besides the
foregoing, IneTe are the GlOrlIIOn nO1r.
producing a light, agreeable wine, and the
Pin t girls, cultivated in some of the Yer
zenay vineyards, which yields light and
perfumed wine. OF the white grapes, to
which champagne is principally indebted
for its effervescing qualities, the most no
ted are the plant vert-doree, locally term
ed the ''gOlden plant of Ay," and the
Morillon blanc varieties, the latter being
not merely sweet and perfumed, but very
Muscat blanc, the sweetest and most per-
fuIned of all, producing wine of consid-
cradle body, and with a very pronounced
flavor of the fruit.-IHe Pail Mall Gazette.