Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-03
TRICKS IN wINE-MAKING.
How Champagne and the Other French
VinOus Products are PrOduced-"OId
Rye" Transformed Into the Best
COgnac.


How Champagne and the Other French
VinOus Products are PrOduced-"OId
Rye" Transformed Into the Best
COgnac.
Hartford Times.
OF all countries which go largely into
wine-making France is foremost, and
owing to the abundance and variety pro-
duced, through the variety Of soil and eli
mate, it has been called the vineyard of
the earth. About seven-eighths of the
territory is wine-bearing, and, next to the
ordinary business of agriculture, it is the
most valuable branch of industry. 1t gives
employment to 100000 persons. The
quantity of wine annually produced is
2,OOO,OOO,OOO gallons, and this is worth
S35O,OOO,OOO. These wines differ widely
one from another and each has fame Of
its own. OF them all the products of the
champagne country are the best known
and most widely distributed. This has
always been considered as bearing off the
palm: it has always been the favorite
wine of the crowned heads, as well as of
other historical persOnages.
The province of Champagne is divided
into five departments, but 1T is only in the
Department Of Marine that the champagne
of commerce is made. And Marine is SUBJ
divided into five departments, of which
Rheims and Epernay are the true centre
of the manufacture. So when we see
Rheims and 'Epernay'' on the bottles
we know Just where they come from; and.
for still clearer picture, it may be stated
that the vineyards of Rheims are situated
around the slopes Of a wooded mountain,
while those Of Epernay occupy an I'M
dulating plain. The vintage be-
subjected to three pressures, and the
juice being collected into large watts,
it is allowed to stand twelve or eighteen
hours, till the sediment is deposited. 1t
is then drawn off into barrels and left
to ferment. BY December, the wine being
clear, it is again drawn into watts, and
as the perfect article is made from the
products of several different vineyards,
the operation of mixing begins. After
this is accomplished it is again drawn in
to the barrels and allowed to stand till
spring. 1t is then bottled and carried
INTO the cellars and laid on its side, and
the secondary fermentation begins. 1t
lasts through the summer, and during this
time there is often so much bursting
among the bottles that the loss
sometimes amounts 10 twenty-five per
cent. After the fermentation and break
age cease, the bottles are Overhauled, and
those that are whole restacked, After
resting eighteen months they are taken
out and shaken, WhereupOn any little sed-
iment there may be comes to the top, and
the cork being taken out, the frOth that
pushes up brings the sediment with it, go
that it can be removed.
One thing more, and the wine is ready
for market. Into each bottle is introduced
a little melted rock candy, mixed with a
trifiing quantity of brandy. The quantity
of sweetness introduced depends on the
country to which the wine is to be sent.
Russia requires least, and England and
the United States most. The bottles are
now rec0rked, the air excluded by means
Of tinf0il, or wax, and the champagne,
now three'Or four years old, is ready for
use. Twenty-Five millions of bottles are
annually Dutup, Oue-siXth of which comes
to the United States.
Next in Importance comes the wines of
the GmOnde. The capital Of this depart
ment is Bordeaux; hence the wines are
often called by that name. The Gironde
is divided into five wine-prOducing dis
trictS. of which MedOc is the most ceie-
brated. II is a long, narrow plain, contain
ing 100000 acres of vineyards. Eight
million gallons Of wine are annually pro-
duced. These wines are all red, and are
what are called clarets. One-fOurth of
them are the exquisite high class wines,
such as Chateau MargauX, Chateau La
fitte, and Chateau LatOur. These COM
mand an enormous price, even in France.
Comparatively little pure MedOc reaches
this country, as the popular taste in
America likes it reinforced with spiritU-
Gus strength. The amount of mixing that
goes on at Bordeaux is prOdigiOus. Her
export is twelve times as much as the en-
tire growth of MedOc, and One-half Ofthese
are bought as genuine, without a mis-
giving.
Another Of the famous wines exhibited
here is the Hermitage. The vineyards
which produce this wine lie on the south
slope of hill near the town of Tain, on
the RhOne, in the old province Of Dauph-
my. 1t is called Hermitage because of a
hermit who took up his abode there in the
thirteenth century and planted the vines
for an interesting occupation. The slope
being sOutherly, the sun shines on the
vines all day long, and brings the fruit to
marvellous perfection. The vines are in
three vineyards, and as the perfect wine
results only from mixture of the product
of the three, the proprietOrs must hold
property in each.
The Burgundy wines are grown on a
series of low hills about SO miles in length.
Along their slopes, and extending a mile
or so out on the plains at their feet, lie
the vineyards which produce the ''yellOw
| Burgundy" The district of the Sauternes
produces the celebrated Chateau Yquem,
which is esteemed almost too precious to
use. 1t looks like bottled sunshine.
The department OF Charente is rich in
vineyards. All of the wine is used for
distillation, Immediately after fermenta-
! ton. The town of COgnac is the centre of
the manufacture, hence the name Is
usually applied to these brandies, which
| are the best in the world.
/ 1t is of some little interest to know the
/ general average Of alcohol in wine. From
I 1000 gallons of wine they get, on distilla-
ton, from 100 to $50 gallons of brandy,
President Jefferson said intoXicatiOn
would never prevail where wine was
cheap; that it was only the DEAFNESS OF
that that set men to work evOking the
/ ''tiery demons out of sugar cane, rye,
corn, other grains, etc. But, having once
evoked the demon, he masters them and
they can't shake him off. 1t is like Sin.
bad and the Old Man of the Sea. So, il
the world demands brandy, OF course the
vineyards VIII be turned into it.
1t is said that immense quantities oil
"Old Rye travel over to Cognac, and
come back transformed into the best
French brandy.