1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

The R evrns EsUiblish1nents.

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the former we find ourselves in a court yard of considerable area, with a range of celliers in the r ear and a low building on the left, in which the offices are installed. In the first cellier we encounter cases and baskets of champagne all r eady to be despatched by rail, with women and men busily engaged in labelling and packing other bottles which continue to arrive from the cellars below in baskets secured to an endless chain. Beyond this range of celliers is another courtyard of smaller dimensions whe1:e there ar.e additional celliers in _which wines of recent vintages in casks are stored. The vaults, which are r eached by a winding stone staircase, are spacious, and consist of a series of parallel and uniform galleries hewn in the chalk without either masom·y-supports or facings. Among the solid piles of bottles which here hem us in on all sides are a considerable number of magnums and im– perial pints reserved for particular customers-t he former more especially for certain militarymesses, at which the brand of Binet £.ls and Co. is held in deserved est eem. W e t asted here-in addi– tion to several choice sparkling wines, including a grand vin brut, vintage 1865- a still Ay of the year 1870, and some still Bouzy of 1874. The form.er, a remarkably light and elegant wine, was ah eady in fine condition for drinking, while the latter, which was altogether more vinous, deeper in colour, and fuller in body needed the ripening influence of t ime to bring it to perfection Through their agents, Rutherford, Drury, and Co., Messrs. Binet £.ls and Co. achieved a great success in England with their still Sillery, vintage 1857, and subsequently with their superb creaming vin brut, vintage 1865, of which we have just spoken, .and which is still to be met with at LonJon clubs of r epute. Some ,short distance from and parallel with t he Rue de la Justice is the Rue J acquart, where Me~srs. Charles F arre and Co., of whose establishment at H autviller s we have already spoken, have their offices and cellars. W e enter a large courtyard, where several railway vans are being laden with cases of wine from the packing-hall beyond, and in the t asting-room adjoining find wine being test ed prior to bottling, to ascertain t he amount of sac- G