1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

Champagne and Other Sparkling ·Wines.

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mcnt-The Press House, the Cuvee Vat, the Packing-Room, the Offices~ · and the Cellars-Portraits and Relics at the Chateau-The Establishment. of Bruch-Foucher and Co.-The handsome Carved Gigantic Cuvee Tun -The Cellars and their Lofty Shafts-The Wines of the Firm. THE historic bourgade of Ay is within a short walk of the station on the line of railway connecting Epernay with Reims. The road lies across the light bridge spanning the Marne canal,. the tall trees fringing which hide for a time the clustering houses; still we catch sight of the tapering steeple of the· antique church rising sha1·ply against the green vine-covered slopes and the fleecy-clouded summer sky. We soon reach the Place de l'Hotel de Ville, and continuing onward in the direction of the steep hills which shelter the town on the north, come to a massive-looking corner house in front of the broad porte-cochere of which some railway carts lade~ with cases of champagne are standing. Passing through the gateway we find ourselves in an open court, with a dwelling-house to the right and a range of buildina s in front where the offices of Messrs. Deutz and Gelder- o . mann are installed. This is the central establishment of the firm, whose Extra Dry" Gold L ack" and" Cabinet" champagnes. have long been favourably known in England. Here are spacious. celliers for disgorging and :finishing off the wine, a large packing– hall and rooms where bales of corks and other accessories of the ' trade are stored, the operations of making the cuvees and bottling being accomplished in an establishment some little distance off. Proceeding thither, we find an elegant chateau with a charm– ing terraced garden, lying at the very foot of the vine-clad slopes, and on. the opposite side of the road some large celliers where wine in wood is stored, and where the cuvees of the firm, consisting usually of upwards of 50,000 gftllons each, are made in a vat of gigantic proportions: furnished with a raised platform at one end for the accommodat10n of the workman who agitates the customary paddles. When the wine is completely blended it is drawn off into casks disposed for the purpose in the cellar below, as shown in the accompanying engraving, and after being fined it rests for about a month to clear itself. To each of these