The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-04-21

scription one of the Oldest and most cele-
brated Of the champagne establishments at
Rheims, the house of Pommery and Greno,
and gives an entertaining account of the
manufacture of the wine: .h.srI
"At the gates of Rheims, on the road that
leads to Verzenay, rises vast building of
singular and original architecture, in style
Renaissance, Gothic and Byzantine. This
structure, partly of brick and partly of stone.
has in its aspect 1 know not of gay and
grave, of serious and joyous. Elegant
towers of rose color rise toward the sky with
the manners of cathedral spires 1t is, in
fact, cathedral constr ucted IN honor of the
most jovial of gods, the god Bacchus, and
for the use of the faithful worshipers of this
deity of youth and gayety. This cathedral
is the house of Nine. Pommery, and is
known under the name of Veuve Pommery
ct Greno. Let US make, in passing, an OBJ
servation in honor of the amiable sex which
we men call the weaker; it is that the pros
perity of the champagne industry is due
chiefly to the efforts of the high intelligence
of Two women-two widows-whose hus-
bands, but for them. would never have been
heard Of the Widow Cliquot and the
Widow Pommery"
The bottles destined to hold the wine are
H.
accompan wing their songs with the clinking
sound of the small pieces of glass which are
put in the bottles to aid the water to take out
every particle Of impurity Then the bottles
go to the mireuses-other girls who examine
them carefully, to make sure that no speck
remains which might impure the flavor of the
wine. The nice process of mixing the crude
wine contained in huge watts SO as to produce
the exact favor desired is next described
and then the operation of bottling. After
ward a visit is made to the vast
caverns cut in the chalk rock, where the bot
tied wine undergoes the process of self puri-
fcation. The visitors stop in gloomy gal
lery to notice some men perched upon a sort
of pulpit, who act as if they were printers at
work at their cases, or organists silently
studying the touch of their instruments.
The pulpits are bottle-racks, and the work.
men are giving each bottle slight jerk and
twist to accelerate the deposit of sediment
upon the cork. Every day for two months
the bottles are put through this course OF
gymnastics. Then they are taken out and
submitted to the operation called degorge.
The cork is released and flies out with great
force, carrying with it the sediment deposited
| in the neck of the bottle. The workmen
must be expert or the wine will follow The
I cork. A neighbor of the degorgeur seizes
the bottle and performs the dosage, or dosing
which consists in filling it with strip made
of white wine, brandy and loaf sugar. The
percentage of this sirup added to the wine
varies according to the market to which it is
| to be sent. For Russia, where sweet cham
payne is preferred, the dosage amounts to 10
or IL per cent. for Germany, to 8; for
| England and America, where dry wine is
the favorite, tits barely 2. There now remains
nothing but to cork the bottle anew and put
on its seal and label, wrap it in blue or red
paper, and giveit straw envelope which is to
protect it from the shocks and jars of travel