1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

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Champagne and Othe1· Sparkling Wines.

piles, passing leisurely through those stages of development necessary to fit them for the degorgeur. Altogether there are thirty large shafts, which were originally quarries, and are now connected by spacious galleries. This side of Reims abounds with similar quarries, which are believed to have served as places of refuge for the Protestants at the time of the League and after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and it is even conjectured that the early Christians, the followers of St. Sixtus and St. Sinicus, here hid themselves from their persecutors. Since the cellars within the city have no longer sufficed for the storage of the immense stocks required through the development of the champagne trade, these vast subterranean galleries have been successfully utilised by various firms. Messrs. Pommery, after pumping out the water with which the chambers were filled, pro– ceeded to excavate the intersecting tunnels, shore up the cracking arches, and repair the flaws in the chalk with masonry, finally - converting these abandoned quarries into magnificent cellars for the storage of champagne. No less than £60,000 was spent upon them and the castellated structure aboveground. The underground area is almost 240,000 square feet, and a million bottles of champagne can be stored in these capacious vaults. Madame Pommery made a great mark with her splendid citvee of 1868, and since this time her brand has become widely popular, the Pommery Sec especially being highly appreciated by connoisseurs. On leaving Messrs. Pommery's we retrace our steps down the Avenue Gerbert, bordered on either side with rows of plane-trees, until we reach thetreelessAvenue de Sillery, whereMessrs.de Saint Marceaux and Oo.'s new and capi ious establishment is installed. The principal block of building is flanked by two advanced wings inclosing a garden-court, set off with flowers and shrubs, and from the centre of which rises a qircular shaft, covered in with glass, admitting light and air to the cellars below. In the building to the left the .wine is received on its arrival from the vineyard, and here are ranged hundreds of casks replete •1 with the choice m·us of Verzenay, Ay, Oramant, and Bouzy, while