Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-24

z
WINE.
district drink the wine of their own vine
yards as unmixed and fiat. You can buy
it here in Reims considerably cheaper than
the sparkling wine of the great firms which
by the consent of the world is called cham
payne today.
How came it that this wine unlike that
of Bordeaux and Burgundy, almost from
the first escaped from the vineyard and
chateau and found its excellence guaran-
teed by great firms? There are well-known
firms today that date back to 1874 and 100
The man of Reims explained it to me.
Producing Sparkling Wine.
Gas Dom Perignon discovered and as
every child in Reims knows well today
sparkling champagne is produced at its
best only by judicious mixing. Each hill
side of the district has it's particular quail
ties, and the secret is to combine their
products fraternally together In order to
produce grand vim the specialist has
only to take
Ia wine from the white grapes of the
Slopes of the Avize where are situated by
the way the famous 'Coteaux de Cramant'
Inns VINE is noted for its fineness and
freshness Then he takes
~ tol White wine from the black grapes of
Dizy-Magenta, noted for it's vinousness and
mellowness: then
'(c) wine of Az, which has bououet and
go: and. last of all, but not least
I'D Wine of VerZenay, because it has so
delicate perfume. Take notice | saw the
real Verzenay, and not the word upon a
label!
There you have a carte blanche order
LOT grand VIM continued my inform
ant. Suppose some great firm is doing it,
Ihese wines. mixed together in great GUAM
tltles, have been pressed in September and
by December or January they form what is
called a 'cuvee.' To this 'cuvee' club or
brew) V1nosity and body are brought by
the vintages of Bouzy and Verzenay soft
ness and roundness by those of Ay and
DIZZY. and lightness, delicacy and efferyes-
Cramant'
What proportions?'' 1 asked.
Ihey are never absolute. but vary ac-
cord1ng to the firms style of wine and the
taste of the countries for which it is in
tended. An ideal 'cuvee' is composed of
four equal parts of Avize. Bouzy. Ay and
Nerzenay. which vary in their prices from
quarts)'
The Entire Process.
I may as we'll shortly describe the whole
process, as this native showed it to me.
They add to this "cuvee," in order to ia
cllltate the production of foam, some sirup
or cane sugar Then in the spring the
wine is put in bottles. The immense cellars
become crowded. Steam engines work the
bottle rincers. Workmen stand corking in
long lines.
Shortly after this bottlng the second fer
mentation begins to take place; the sugar
added to the "cuvee'' Tor if it be Yin
brut, its own sugar. transform itself into
alcohol and carbonic acid gas and a great
strain is put upon the bottles thereby In
the early days of sparkling wine there was
immense breakage and loss. In I746 one
merchant or Reims lost $3.50 out of 5000
az
its whole seasons bottling. Since 1S36
however, thanks to an invention if has
been possible to determine exactly the
quantity of sugar required by each VARYING
cuyee' to produce a belle mousse or
good foaming; and the breakage is reduced
to some per cent
This fermentation in the bottle producas
after time, deposit which must be re-
moved. For this reason they are stood on
their heads for several months while
workmen shake them gently at Intervals,
so that the deposit may fall to the cork
Then comes the disagreement" intrustad
to experts only. Deity removing the cork
they allow the force of the gas to shoot
out enough wine to clean the bottles neck
of the sediment deposited below the cork
and then, without the loss of an instant.
they stop the Dreaming loss of wine with
strong thumb.
The bottle is now given to the closer"
who sweetens it according to the taste and
style of its class, because "the foam eats
up the sugar, and without the second add
ing of sugar the wine is of such hard
ness that only the extreme find pleasure
in drinking it.
Four Samples.
Here speaks my old vineyard owner of
Rheims, and nine Frenchmen out of ten
agree with him. 1t is needless to say how
ever, that nine Englishmen out of ten and
almost as great a proportion of Americans
declare their taste to be the other way. Go
n the Paris pfficaS Of !,
house and they will produce for you four
sample bottles, as follows:
l. Plain "doux, fairly sweet, Is degrees
of sugar. This is the French taste" for
the home trade and Germany and Russia.
2. American, 4 degrees of sugar 3. En-
glish, 3 to degrees of sugar And 4
nature" or .'brut," no dosing" at all
with old champagne Wine and cane sugar
Being now definitely corked, wired and
labeled the champagne IS left standing on
it's head to age in the bottle and await its
purchaser. Who buys it? Any one who
orders and pays for it-be he French Ger
man, Russian, English or American In
the Paris offices of any great Rheims firm
they will as cheerfully ship you the
French or English taste as the Amer
lean" Quantities of fashionab Bile Partisan
families make a point of drinking the
American either because they have ac-
qured a liking for it or to show that they
who demand the English Germans who
ask for the American" and Americans
who prefer the French taste"
You get what you order. Prices are the
same for all. Here are those of two firms
retail, per quart bottle, delivered in Paris:
Pommery & Greno-Nature, or .'brut,"
S1.90; cachet extra sec, 81 80; carte blanche
extra, $1.10
Theopile Roederer & Co.-Cristal cham
payne, sails; extra reserve cuvee, $1.65;
carte blanche doree, $1.45.
These are real champagnes. You Eeow
them by their firm names and prices. Saey
al not restaurant prices. Add the
toms duty and the ocean freight, ans you
have the same merchandise in New York,
Washington, Chicago and ST Louis.
The Vintage Champagnes.
And now what about the vintage cham
pagnes," which we are told are not sent to
the United States? 1t is true they are not
sent to the United States, but neither are
they sent to Paris. Berlin or St Peters
burg In the old DAYS when the Marechal