The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-10-10


 Perignon, buried in that little town of Hautviiiers near Epernay, is duly honored annually.
 As our car speeded back again towards Rheims, we listened to q fascinating description of grape gathering description of grape which must be done in c few days at the perfection of the grapes ripeness. Carts rugh the grapes to the enormous press houses - the presses work twenty.your hours q day, and thousands of valuable barrels of juice are carried in the feverish tempo to the establish. ments of the merchants.
 Then comes Fermentation - by winter sweet grape juice has chang ed to wine of champagne--this is tasted, blended in the tremendous vats, the mixture termed "cuveeg"; {; and gpringtime finds the bottling
 5And here we are now at the establishment of good Marquis de Polignac, lie will Do happy to take you into his cellars but first see that hogshead he has holding over 10000 gallons of cuvee--even we here at Rheims like to admire this immense plant, see you later," and Monsieur Budfn turned us over to the gracious Marquis.
 From one human dynamo to afl- other--for the Marquis . would easily be rated as the peppiest cit- izen in any American city -- how energetically he started Us on the trip through his plant where over six hundred people were working, while five hundred more were em- ployed in the various auxiliary plants throughout the district.
 You are now descending over one hundred feet below ground i1- to caves over twelve miles in length, and this maze of galleries represents the work of the Romans who were here for over three hun dred years" explained the Mar quis as the elevator quickly lower cd us into the cellars of tho Pom- mery-Greno. Champagne establish ment.
 What e sight! over thirteen mil. lion bottles of cham pagne in these cellars alone. After the champagne Is bottled up in the factory buiid- ings overhead, 1t is brought down to these cellars and stored about six years--in c temperature un- changing. At the end of the fifth every bottle is shaken every day for six weeks to get the sediment to the cork.
 As we turn Q bend fin c tunnel we come upon Q crew of men working with all the precision of m automobile factory crew. down here like miners underground; what are they doing? Listen. "
 That machine k freezing the top of each of these bottles that have been here over six years, and the sediment freezes to the cork. Watch that trained crew pull those corks and remove the small Ice cake containing the sediment - yes sir-Tthat Is an expert smellei testing the champagne ---- next II another trained worker putting [ small quantity of the same brand or a special Bweetening to replace the loss of the frozen quantity, tho bottle is recorked and quickl, taken back to It's new home in an other dark passaBeway to remair for another year before being brought to daylight and placed or gaie," so related the dynamic Mar
  took just about as long as 1t did tt tell of 1t and how carefully thos' men handled those bottles. NJ bank in the world keeps as care fui q record. And no bank in thu world has q more faithful and sin cere personnel as has these win' cellars. You feel the reycrenct every worker in France has for hii country and the product he ii working on, perhaps Q trihe strong. CT away down here in these coo cellars.
 During the war Rheims was foi four years under bombardment tho front limo trenches only 0 few hundred yards from these cellars The people of Rheims lived here, School was held, everything car. ried on, while thousands of troops came and went. This was to bt the point Of last defense.
 Did the troops take tho bottles Absolutely no! Very, very few were missing when the inventor! was held four five years later Which surely shows that tho French troops knew no temptn' tions, obcyed orders. and certain. iy must have had the defense oi their country uppermost in theiI minds. But perhaps wo forget tha, France knows how to live and that means how to drink-intcliigently "I,ooticggers arc hard for Us te understand and indeed quito shocking when they come here why one group had the audacity tt want to buy one hundred thousand empty bottles, with our corks ant seals on, planning of course whef they got them to the United statei to endeavor to bore q small hol' in tho bottom and fill them wiff bootleg champagne.
 Such nereve to come to us here II Rheims with such c proposition little to do they know or respec the ethics of the men who mak' champagne" and the Marquis hat Ire in his eye.
 So - when the United State acain allows wines to enter. VI may rest assured that Marquis d' Poiignac and all those other i'm gentlemen of the French cham pagne sector, will feel honor bount 10 see that their brands reach thi country direct from their cellera and through agencies that mus