1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

17

The Origin of Champagne.

abbot's house, the abbey precincts being bounded on this side by a picturesque gat eway t ower leading t o t he vineyards, and known as the " porte des pressoirs," from its contiguity to t he existing wine-presses. Huge barn-like buildings, stables, and cart– sheds inclose the court on its r emaining sides, and roaming about are numerous live stock, indicating that what remains of the once-famous royal abbey of St. P eter lias degenerated int o an ordinary farm. To-day the abbey buildings and certain of its lands are the property of Messr s. Moet and Cha.ndon , the great champagne manufacturer s of Epernay, who maintain t hem as a farm, keeping some six-and-thirty cows there wit h the object of securing the necessary manure for the numerous vineyards which they own hereabouts. The dilapidat ed cloisters, littered with old c~sks, farm imple– ments, and the like, preserve a,mple traces of their former ar chi-

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tectural character, and, the Louis Quatorze gateway on the northern side of the inclosure still displays above its arch a grandiose carved shield, with surrounding palm-branches and half-obliterated bearings. Vine-leaves and bunches of grapes