The Savannah morning news., 1903-02-21

king and eXhilirating beverage. The
Burgundians were in the meantime en-
gagged in defending their own produce.
and had their poets who hymned the
praise of Beaune. One Grenau of
Burgundy tried to libel champagne in
an utterly mean manner, saying that
it had a subtle poison in its lees, but
he was answered by one Coffin, who
described in his Champagne Vengee"
the glorious elixir of kings" For this
Coffin received four dozen bottles of
red and gray. or straw Colored wine
from the City of Rheims and the fame
of champagne, with its "delicacy."
aroma" and bouquet" was .consid-
cred as settled and unassailable. Bur
gundy, with its famous "tetes de Gu
wees from the select wines, such as
the "noirien" and the "pineau," which
according to French connoiseurs, dete-
riorate i'm crossing the Channel had to
give way before the superior claims
of the sparkling, demi-sparkling and
still wines of Champagne.
1t is not widely known that the best
of these wines are the varieties which
are not abundant i'm that efferVescing
froth which many persons i'm England
regard as the great quality of cham
payne. Effervescence is not everything
and the knowing champagne drinker
always. selects a wine of moderate
froth and sparkle. The Silery, from
the Rheims district has no sparkle at
ALL and in its capacity as a white still
champagne enjoys universal renoWn.
Respecting districts. il is on the banks
of the Marine that the best effervescing
wines are made from the well known
vineyards of the river" This district
is also called the vine ground of
Rheims, and ii is marked out i'm rather
puzzling divisions which include both
river and mountain vines The river
district is on caIcareous decliVity,
the chalk being mingled with stones
in the uppermost soil. and the vines
are closely planted. Ay comes first
on the decliVity, then Mareuil, and
Dizzy, all with splendid red and white
wine. light, delicate and bookkeeping.
Next come the Vinelands of Cumieres
and HaurVilliers. 1t was in this last
mentioned place about nine miles from
Rheims, that Dom Pierre Perignon, the
Benedictine, already referred to, intro
duced the mixing of grapes of various
qualities. and wine was thereby pro-
duced resembling that of the hilly dis
trict of Rheims i'm lightness and dell
cacy, but not capable of being kept
long. In the mountainous or billy
Rheims district are the vinelands of
Bouzy. Ambounay, Verzenay, Sillery,
Mailly and Very.
Here. also there are red wines of fine
quality, those OF Bouzy nearly equal
ing in bouquet the best Burgundy. The
famous Sillery of the district is made
of the blacklist grapes but it appears
that for years past white grapes have
been introduced much to the detri-
ment of the celebrity of the place and
of it's special product. The other cham
payne districts are those of st. Thier-
ry, the valleys of Norrois and Tarde-
nois, and, notably. Epernay, with it's
neighboring vineyard of Pierry, whence
white wines of fine quality come, and
it's Still red and white wines, inferior
to those made on the lands of Rheims,
but nevertheless in good request. Here
at Epernay the black grape is most
cultivated, and some of the lands pro-
duce wine nearly as good as that of
Ay. 1t is unaVailing, however, to speci-
fy all the varieties of wine produced
I'm fertile and fruitful Champagne
Some of them will not stand exporta-
ton, and the best of them are to be
found by all who want them in the
tirst-class hotels and restaurants of
London and Paris.