1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

Champagne wnd Other SparHing Wines.

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_ Av1zE, situated in the heart of the Champagne white grape district, may be reached from Epernay by r oad through Pierry and Cramant or by the Chalons Railway t o Oiry Junction, b etween which station and Romilly there runs a local line,. jocularly t ermed the chemin de f m· de f wmille, from the general disregard displayed by the official s for anything approaching to punctuality. Avize can scarcely be styled a town, and yet its growing proportions are beyond those of an ordinary village.. It lies pleasantly nestled among the vines, sheltered by bold ridges on the north-west, with the monotonous plains of La Champagne pouilleuse, unsuited to .the · cultivation of the vine,. stretching away eastward in the direction of Chalons. A.vize cannot pretend to the same antiquity as its neighbour Vertus,. and lacks the many picturesque vestiges of which the latter can boast. Its church dates back only to the 15th centmy, although the principal doorway in the Romanesque style evidently belongs. to a much earlier epoch. There is a general air of trim prosperity about the place, and the villager s have that well-to-do appearance common to the inhabitants of the French wine district s. Only ::Lt vintage time, however, ar e there any particular outdoor signs. of activity, although half a score of champagne firms have their· establishments h ere, giving employment to the bulk of the population, and sending forth their t wo or three million bottles. of the sparkling wine of the Marne annually. Proceeding along the straight level road leading from the· .station to the villa,ge we encounter on our right hand the premises of Messrs. Giesler and Co., the r eputation of whose· brand is universal. When l\L Biesler quitted the firm or· ' P. A. Mumm, Giesler , and Co., at R eims, in 1838, he removed to Avize an~ founded the present extensive establishment.. Entering through a large open gateway we :find ourselves. within a spa.cious courtyard with a handsome dwelling-house in the r ear, and all the signs of a champagne business of magnitude apparent. A spiral staircase conducts to the counting-house on the first story of a range of buildings on the left hand, the ground floor of which is divided into celliers. P assing through