1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

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Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines.

designation of Perinet et fils, and the only English house engaged in the manufacture of champagne, have an establishment which is certainly as perfect as any to be found in Reims. Above– ground are several large store-rooms, where vintage casks and the various utensils common to a champagne establishment are kept, and a capacious cellier, upwards of l EO feet in length, with its roof resting on huge timber s'upport.s. H ere new wine is stored pre- • paratory to being blended and bottled, and in the huge tun, holding nearly 3,~00 gallons, standing at the further end, the firm make their cuvee, while adjacent is a room where stocks ·of cor.ks and labels, metal foil, and the like are kept. There are three stories of cellars-an exceedingly rare thing anywhere in the Champagne-all constructed in solid masonry on a uniform plan-namely" two wide galleries running parallel witli each other and connected by means of transverse passages . Spite of the great depth to which these cellars descend they are perfectly dry; the ventilation, too, is excellent, and their different temperatures render them especially suitable for the storage of champagne, the temperatnre of the lowest cellar being 6° Centigrade (43° Fahrenheit), or one degree Centigrade below the cella r immediately above, which in its turn is two degrees below the upperm0st one of all. The advantage of this is that when the wine develops an excess of effervescence any undue proportion of breakages can be checked by removing the bottles to a lower cellar and consequently into a lower temperature. The first cellars we enter are closely stacked with wine in bottle, which is gradually clearing it elf by the formation of a deposit, while in an adjoining cellar on the same level the operations of disgorging, liqueuring, and corking are going on. Jn the cellars immediately beneath bottles of wine repose in solid stacks ready for the deg01·gewr, while others rest in racks in order that they may undergo their daily shaking. In the lowest celj.ars reserved wine in caslr is stored, as it best retains its natural freshness and purity in . a very cool place. All air is carefully excluded from the casks, any ullage is immediately checked, and as evaporation is continually going on the casks

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