1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

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Champagne and Othe:r Spa1·lcling Wines.

alike wide and lofty; this is especially the case with four of the more modern galleries excfl.vated in 1848, and each 160 feet in length. Besides the foregoing, Messrs. Bollinger possess othe1- cellars in A.y, where they store their xeserve wines both in bottle · and in the wood. On the northeTn side of A.y, some little distance from the vineyard owned by them, the firm of Pfungst freres & Cie.. have their cellars, the entrance to which lies just under the lofty vine-clad ridge. Messrs. Pfungst freres lay themselves. out exclusively for the shipment of high-class champagnes, and , th.e excellent growths of the A.y district necessarily form an im– portant element in their carefully-composed ciivees. A. consider– able portion of thefr stock consists of reserves of old wine,.. and we tasted here a variety of samples of finely-matured champagnes of 1868 and '70, as well as the vintages of 1872 and '74. A.11 of these wines were of superior quality, combining-– delicacy and fragrance with dryness, the latter being their especial feature. In addition to their business with England, Messrs. Pfungst freres ship l argely to India and the Unitecl States. It is on this side of the town that the fine old Gothic church, dating as far back as the twelfth century, is situated . Many of' ·-the mouldings and the capitals of the columns both inside ancl

outside the building are covered over with grape-laden vine– branches, and the sculptured figure of a boy bearing a bask et of grapes upon his h ead surmounts the handsome Renais– sance doorway, seemingly to indicate the honour in which the