Year: 1876

London Saturday Review


1t is not, of course, to be expected thai


the finest champagne should be given or
ordinary occasions; this would be g
throwing of pearls to people who had nc
time or opportunity to judge their lustre
properly. Indeed, when one considers
the labor and skill employed in the max
ing of the finest champagne, one is apt to
think that, according to a French fash
ion, they should be dunk only after din.
ner, when it is possible to give compare
lively uninterrupted consideration to
their merits. The grapes from which
champagne is made are almost entirely
the black and white Burguudy-twO-
thirds of the black, roughly speaking, be-
ing used to one third Of the white in the
making of sparkling champagne.


Very fine champagne can be made only
| from the black grapes that are grown in
certain favored districts, such as Ay /;
but the wine made from white grapes
only is, though it gives fine flavor, de-
fcient in body, and would be too light
and acid if used alone. In the cham
pagne country the process of cutting and
pairing the grapes is simple enough, as
the grapes, being of good substance, do
not require the very delicate handling
found necessary in other districts. The
branches are carefully inspected, and,
when all unripe and rotten berries have
been removed, they are put under the
press a powerful machine worked by
hand, and made, with the exception of
an iron screw, entirely of wood. 1t may
be pleasant news to some champagne
drinkers that the treading out of the
grapes by barefooted or leather shoed
men and women, practiced in sCme dis
tricts, is not here employed. After the
pressing the wine is put into large vat,
where it is allowed to ferment for from
twelve to eighteen hours, after which it
is drawn off into casks, where a second
fermentation takes place.


Up to this time the wine is pure fer
mented juice of the grape, but, if bottled
in this condition, the wine would be still,
and to give it the required sparkle the
addition OF sugar is necessary. The nee
essary amount of this element is deter
mined by means of an instrument which
discovers the quantity of saccharine orig
inally contained in the wine, the quantity
lost i'll the fermentation, and conse-
quently the amount which has to he
added. 1t will be seen that the use of
this instrument requires great expert





for the finest wines is composed of the
purest white cane candy dissolved in fine
old wine reserved for the purpose, while
for the commoner wines coarse sugar and
spirits are used. After the preparation
of the wine in casks, brilliancy is given
to it by the process of fining" with
pure isinglass, and after that it is ready
for bOttling about the month of May af-
ter the vintage. 1t is slowed away in
deep cellars in stacks of from ten to thir-
ty thousand bottles, from any part of
which stacks a single bottle can be re-
moved at any time for examination
without disturbance to the pile in which
it is laid.


Although the wine is perfectly bright
when bottled, it soon throws down a sed-
iment which must be removed before the
wine goes into the market. In order to eff
feet this the bottles have to remain in a
horizontal position for a year or more
when it has been ascertained by care
full examination of the bottles that
this has taken place, they are put in
wooden racks with the necks slightly de-
pressed, so that the sediment slides
toward the ccrks, and each bottle is gent
ly agitated at stated intervals by prac-
ticed hands, who, it issaid, can, after some
experience, shake several thousand bot
ties a day. With every shake the mouths
of the bottles become more depressed,
until they stand nearly on one end,
when the sediment is settled in the neck
of the bottle close to the base of the cork.


In this position the bottles remain un-
til the wine has to be prepared for con
by the process Ofgetting rid of
the sediment, or, to use the technical |
term, "disgorging" This is done by a |
skilled workman, who takes each bottle, |
and with a special instrument strips OF |
the iron clip which holds down the cork, !
when the pressure of the fermenting wine |
forces out the cork and with 1t the sedl-
ment. The wine is allowed for second |
or two to froth over in oIder to cleanse |
the neck of the bottle of all impurities; |
the bottle is then placed on frame un- |
der an upright stopper, which checks all
further waste of gas or wine. Wine III |
this state is termed brut, and is abso-
IuteIy dry and sugarless to the taste |
there are some people who have, and |
some who affect, taste for champagne |
in this condition which only the wines |
of the finest vintages can support. 1t is |
therefore necessary for general purposes
to add to the wines in bottle at this point |



the quantity of which is determined by |
various circumstances, chief among |
which are the quality of the wine itself
and the quality of the market to which
it is destined.


1t is gratifying to know that the least
of saccharine is used for the |
English market, and that therefore finer
champagne is, as a rule, to be found in
England than elsewhere. While three
per centum of saccharine is used for the |
first and from eight to ten for the second
quality of champagne sent to England,
eighteen to twenty per centum is needed
to catch the taste of German, American
and even French champagne drinkers.
1t is obvious that fine wine disguised /
with this amount of sirup has no chance
of ascertaining its true merit, and 1T is
that the purveyors of champagne
should pay some attention to this fact. |
And it is therefore fair to conclude that |
be who wishes to possess the finest |
champagne had better look for it in |
the English rather than in any other |
market.