1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

Charnpagne E stablishrnents at .Ay a.nd Marwil.

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Count Alfred F erdinand de l\fontebello, the present manager of the house, and conducted by him over the establishment. In the press-house, to the left of the courtyard, were two of the ponderous presses used in the Champagne, for, like all other large firms, the house makes its own wine. Grapes grown in the Mareuil vineyards arrive here in baskets slung across the hwks of mules, muzzled so that while awaiting their loads they may not devour the fruit withi~ reach. In a cellier adjoining the press-house stands a large vat, capable of holding 50 pieces of wine, with a crane beside if for hauling up t he casks when the ciwee is .made. Here the tirage likewise takes place, and in the range of buildings, roofed with glass, in the rear of the tower, the bottled wine is labelled, capped with foil, and packed in cases for transmission to Paris, England, and other places a.broad. A double flight of steps, decorated with lamps and vases, leads to the handsome offices of the firm, situated on the first floor of the tower, while above is an apartment· with a panelled ~eiling, gracefully decorated with groups of Cupids engaged in the vintage and the various operations which the famous wines 0£ the Mountain and the River undergo during their conversion into champagne. On the ground floor of the tower a low doorway conducts to the spacious cellars, which, owing to. the proximity of the Marne, are all on the same level as well as co·nstructed in masonry. The older vaults, wher e the Marquis de Pange, a former owner of the chateau, stored the wine which he used to sell to the champagne manufacturers, are somewhat low and tortuous compared with the broad and lofty galleries of more recent date, which have been constructed as the growing connec– tion of the firm obliged them to increase their stocks. Spite, however, of numerous additions, portions of their reserves have to be stored in other cellars in Mareuil. Considerable stocks of each of the four qualities of wine supplied by the firm are being got ready for disgorgement, including Cartes Noires and Bleues, with the refined Carte Blanche and the delicate Crcmant, which challenge comparison with brands of the highest repute. In the adjacent chateau, the gardens of which slope clown