The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1878-03-15
THE CHAMPAGNE QUESTION.
How the American Wine is Made---oiffersnt
Tastes and Different Nstons--A Low
Estinate Of American Judgment.

by a natural process, and efiervesces
without the aid of artificial means.
Makers of the first sort are rot supposed
to be communicative respecting their
methods of operation. Makers of the
second sort speak freely and enthusiast
ically. We print the substance of a
conversation with one of them:
American champagne" said the
speaker, '' differs essentially from French
champagne only in the quality of the
grapes used in its manufacture. The
foreign grapes are grown on a soil which
has been cultivated for hundreds of years,
while the domestic grapes come from
a fresher and less cultivated soil. The
foreign soil, too, is perhaps naturally
better go that the quality of the grapes
W. ch it produces IS undoubtedly finer
and richer. %evertheless, it is impossible
to predict the amount Of Improvement
in store for American vineyards, the at
tention given to the matter being very
intelligent and perseyering. With this
exception, however--namely, that the
French grapes are now somewhat better
than the American grapes--it may truly
be said that American champagne is the'
equal OF French champagne.
How is American champagne made?"
"By the addition of sugar and car
bonic acid gas to the wine after the first
fermentation. That tells the whole pro-
cess. The wine, say four months old,
comes to US from California in casks,
We put sugar in the bottom of empty
casks; transfer the wine to these casks,
roll the casks 50 as TO dissolve and mix
the sugar, then draw of the wine, i'm
pregnate it with carbonIc acid gas, and
bottle It. Try a glass of it. Not two
persons in every hundred that pass our
doors could distinguish it from French
champagne"
How is French champagne made ?'
'In the manufacture of French cham>
pagns the sugar is added to the bottled
wine instead of to the wine in the cask
The bottled wine is then stored away for
a year or more, and fermentation arises
which produces the effervescence. If we
should keep our home wine bottled for
a year, it would be as effervescent as
foreign wine without the addition Of
artificial gas"
"Why not do so, then ?'
GO Because we want TO save time. By
using artificial gas we get the same result
at once. The expenses Of storage and
the interest on that capital are avoided,
and at the same time our wine has more
csrbonic-acid gas,than French wine, and
is for that reason improved. 1t is not
liable to produce nausea. Carbonic acid
gas, whether obtained by natural or
artificial means, is simply carbonic acid
gas, you know. Our wine is not only
cheaper, but more wholesome. We sell
it at retail for one dollar a quart and
fifty cents pint"
As l understand you, then, sugar is
always used in France, as well as in this
country, in the manufacture of cham
payne"
Certainly it is. was once connected
with the house Of 6. II. Humm 81 Co.,
at Rheims, and I will tell you all about
the subject. The grapes. gathered in
September, are pressed and then put in
yats, where the first fermentation takes
place. In the following May the wine
Is bottled, and laid away for a year or
more, each bottle lying horizontal. At
the end of that time second fermenta-
tion has taken place, and the wine is
sparkling and effervescent. Meanwhile
little sediment has gathered in
each bottle. To remove this the bottle
is placed for a few days in an oblique
position, for another few days in more
oblique position, and 50 on, until the
sediment has gradually worked It's way
to the bottom of the cork. Then the
cork is slowly removed, and the sedi-
ment spurts out with little of the wine.
Before recorking the bottle. certain
amount of HqUeUr, as the French call il.
- We CiAA II sugar SiIu p-lS pOAI6u INTO II,
the usual quantity being ten per centum
of the contents of the bottle. For wine
intended for expectation to Russia twenty
per centum of Fquelr is added-the Rus
slams have sweet tooth Then the bot.
tie is finally corked and is ready for the
market. The best champagne always goes
to England; the next best to
Germany: the next best to Rus
STA; the worst of all to America.
Americans are not considered in Europe
to be good judges Divine, and, therefore,
the great champagne houses in France
reserve for them the poorer grades of
wine. This wine is genuine and I'm.
adultered, of course; but it's quality is
third or fourth rate. How could it be
otherwise when the French manufac.
turers believe that the taste of Americans
is not sufficiently cultivated to enable
them to appreciate the choicest products
of the vintage ?" California produced
last year seven million gallons of wine.
1t is estimated that the yield this year
will be fully eight million gallons.