The Savannah morning news., 1903-02-21
ALL ABOUT CHAMPAGNE.
HINTS FOR THOSE WHO WOULD
APPRECIATE 1T.
How the French Make il and How
All Nations Drink it-FOlNIOre and


From the New York Times
AT this festal season, when many
English lovers of good wine are no
doubt thinking of the famous cham
payne of 1892, 1898, 1898, and also of the
ports, now we'll crusted, of 1853 and
1864, vine growers and their skillful as
sistants are busy down in the Rheims
and Epernay districts with the fresh,
new vintage from the black and white
grapes gathered in October, 1902. To-
ward Christmas the Chanpenois are
engaged in ''racking" their wines
that is to say, in drawing off the sedi-
ment or lees, the fermentation of the
must in casks, produced by pressing
the grapes having been completed. The
"racking," or soutirage, by which the
clear liquor is separated from the lees,
takes place in dry or frosty weather.
Later on the wine will be racked a sec
ond time, and fined or clarified with
isinglaSS, tannini alum and sugar
candy, to destroy the fatty deposit call
ed ''masQue." Then there will be a
third racking and refining in March,
and finally bottling takes place on a
very GldDOIdtG etiIu COIupttCdlCu SSdlSS
of which the ordinary champagne
drinker has no notion. We disdain a
champagne bottle after it has been
emptied. 1t has a mournful and de-
jected look, and is quickly removed
from sight. 1t has fulfilled its purpose,
has given US its bottled sunshine, and
is no longer wanted. That bottle, new
ertheless, has been carefully selected.
1t has been a survival of the fittest,"
for I'D 70 a M
trials before it was found worthy to
enshrine the "foaming" COR creamy"
grape juice. 1t had to be of thick
glass, devoid of air bubbles or stony
foreign substances, without too long
or too narrow a neck, or any malfor-
nation likely to effect the production
or retention of effervescence. Bottles
deemed unworthy for the serious cell
larng of champagne are condemned to
hold red wine, and this is a fate to
which many of the selected one also
come after they have fulfilled their
functions on the sideboards of the
wealthy.
The process of fermentation in bottle,
caused by earbonic acid gas, gives
good deal of trouble to the champagne
manufacturers, and their best workmen
are engaged in watching it. A current
of fresh air win make the wine effer-
vesce furously, and sometimes it will
not effervesce at all without the inter-
mingling of the product of another vine
yard such as that of Avize. for in
stance, noted for white grapes. The
furious effervescence causes breakage,
but this costs less to the owner than
the addition of other grapes. In Sep
TENDER of the second year the breakage
ceases, and in October the bottles are
taken down. the sediment is "disgorg-
ed" and a liqueur of sugar-candy and
brandy is added to the clarified wine,
which. of itself. is acid. Then the
champagne, finally corked and wired,
is ready to be sent out to all parts of
the world. 1t must not be considered,
however, that this description of the
fabrication of champagne deals with
every detail. 1t would be impossible
for any person not in the line-that is
to say. not connected with the great
firms of Rheims and Epernay, and not
conversant, in consequence, with the
inner working of the cellars of such
firms-to give a thoroughly accurate ac-
count of the process or processes by
which champag ne is made ready for
the market. These processes differ, in
some respects, according .tos the. district,
and many schemes devised atsRheins
are not always capable of application
at Epernay. What has been said how
ever, will give as good a. general idea
of the fabrication of champagne as any
that can be found in books on the sub
ject.
French and English customs are
different in the matter of drinking
champagne as in nearly everything
else. In England people start a din
ner with champagne, drink it through
all the courses, and wind up with port
or claret at dessert. No French gour-
met would think of doing this. He
prefers a light Bordeaux or even vim
ordinaire, and with water in it. too, for
his heavier feeding, and then at dessert
may finish with a sweet or "demi-
sec" champagne or some other special
wine The people who go the pace
drink champagne as a rule for show,
but you will never see them taking it
with heavy food. That is left to the
English. the Germans, the Russians.
and the Americans. A good deal of
"demi-sec" champagne is absorbed by
French jewellers during the eve of
Christmas and also on the occasion of
the New Year, but these merryma kers
take it after they have washed down
their dinners or ,suppers with a less
costly and a more serviceable wine
than that which comes from the far
famed cellars of Rheims and Epernay.
Champagne will remain forever in
France a festive or gala wine, to be
used on special occasions, and 70 be
sipped not thrown down the throat.
ike beer or tossed of like a dram OF
a draught or ignobly used to faclli-
tate the descent OF food.
Among the most favorite cham