The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1901-08-08
WORKERS IN WINE VAULTS.
They Drink Large Quantities of
Wine, but Are IA Gloomy Lot.

They Drink Lsrge Quantities of
Wine, but Are IA Gloomy Lot.
Even to the nonbibulous there is some
thing novel aud impressive In the spec
tacle Of vast underground world "peo-
Pied with millions of bottles of cham
payne. on the contents of which n fleet
might float. and where thousands of
pounds worth of wine run in the gut
tiers as little regarded as so much wa
ter.
These underground temples of Bae-
ehus" are seen at their best under the
old world town of Epernay or the Ro-
man architecture of Rheims. where the
corridors. hewn out Of the solid rock.
stretch In all directions for miles and
where the floors descend one below an
other, like the different levels of a
mine TO a depth of 40 feet.
Along tlsse miles of corridors are
stacked hundreds of thousands of bot
ties of wine undergoing the processes
of refining and maturing. and n walk
along them may be as fraught with
danger as 10 cross the line of fire in n
battle, for at any moment bottle may
burst and hurl its fragments at you
with something of the force of shrap-
mel
Into these vaults hundreds of work
men disappear at 6 o'clock every morn
ing. only 10 emerge into the upper air
l. hours later. Unfortunately, the con-
ditiOns that are best for the wine are
almost as uncomfortable as one could
conceive for the human population of
the vaults. All the year round, wheth-
er IN the height of summer or the depth
of winter. a uniform temperature of 10
degrees must be maintained, and the
air Is so saturated with moisture that
II runs in riYulets down the walls, and
the screens which separate the cellars
are heavy with 1t.
In the damp. dark corridors behind
these screens are men whose sole duty
II is TO turn the thousands of bottles,
one by one, and give them a slight
shake. so as 10 dislodge any sediment
that has formed. and this process. prob
ably the most m0uotonous and under
the conditions Of cold moisture and
darkness the most dreary that falls to
the lot of workingman. is repeated houf
after hour and day after day for a
whole lifetime.
An expert worker viii turn as many
ms 60 bottles II minute aud maintain
this rate for ten hours a day, handling
$4,000 bottles in a days work. Is 1t
auy wonder that after years OF this
monotonous drudgery these men devel-
op all kinds Of strange moods and fan
ciesI They become gloomy and tact
turn and get The strangest ideas into
their heads. Some of them persist
that the vaults are haunted and pro
fess TO see eyes glarng at them from
obscure corners and figures fitting
past them. possibly the eyes Of men
who have turned bottles before them
aud cannot refrain from revsiting the
hauuts of their earthly days.
But naturally all the work in these
underground worlds of Bacchus is not
Of This luguhrious description. for here
n small army OF men aud girls are en-
gagged in corking. putting on the tin
foil which makes the bottles so pleas
ing to the eye and labelling.
The corking Is done AT the almost
Incredible rate of 100 bottles an hour.
The bottles are handed In rapid sue
cession by a boy TO the "disgorger.
who with marvellous dexterity whisks
ont the eorks. discharging any sedl-
them up with champagne and passes
them on 20 the corkcr. The corklng has
for many years been done by machin-
cry. the machine selling the cork. com
pressing IL 10 the proper Size and push
Ing II into the neck Of the bottle. The
bottles are then ready for the girls,
who put on the finishing touches with
tin foil and labels
As may be expected, these processes,
especially that of disgorging, are not
free from danger. for at this stage n
bottle Of champagne may be as risky
n thing to handle as "A live bomb, and
accidents more or less severe are fairly
common. II is estimated that at
Rheims alone 10000 worth Of cham
payne is wasted every year through
the bursting of bottles.
Although these hundreds and thou
sands Of workmen are allowed a prac-
tically unlimited supply of ordinary
wine. some of them drinking as many
as three bottles a day. it is remark
able that drunkenness is almost I'M
known among them.-Iondon Tlt-Bits.
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