1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

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Champagne and Othm· Spa1·kling Wines.

sparkling white varieties ; Messrs. Maire et fils, likewise of Beaune; M. L:tboure-Goutard and Messrs. Geisweiller et fils, of' Nuits; Messrs. Marey and Liger-Belair, of Nuits and Vosne; and M. R egnier, of Dijon. In the department of the Yonne-that is, in Lower Bur– gundy-sparkling wines somewhat alcoholic in character h ave· b een made for the last h alf-century at Tonnerre, where the· Chevalier d'Eon, that enigma of his epoch, was born. The Tonnerre vineyards are of high anti quity, and for sparkling wines the produce of the black a.nd white pineau and the white moriUon varieties of g rape is had recourse t o. The vinta.ging is accomplished with g reat care, and only the juice which flows from the first pressure is employed. This is run off immediately into cask s which are h ermetically closed when the fermentation has subsided. The after-treatment of the wine is. the same as in the Champagne. Sparkling wines are likewise made at Epineuil, a village in the neighbourhood of Tonnerre, ancl a.t Chablis, so famous for its white wines, about ten miles distant_ An effervescing wine known as the Vin d'Arbanne is made at Bar-sur-Aube, some fifty miles north-east of Tonnerre, on the borders of Burgundy, but actually in the province of Cham– pagne, although far beyond the limits to which the famed! viticultural district extends. It was at Bar-sur-Aube where the Bastard de Bourbon, chief of the sanguinary gang of rfcorcheurs– (flayers), was sewn up in a sack and flung over the parapet of the old stone bridge into the river beneath by order of Charles VII. ;. a.nd h ere, too, Madame de la Motte, of Diamond Neckla.ce· notoriety, was married, and in after year s made a parade of the ~ ill-gott en wealth she h ad acquired by successfully fooling that. infatuated libertine the Cardinal Prince de Rohan, until h er osten– tatious display was cut short by h er arrest. This Vin d'Arbanne· i s produced from pineaux and white gamay grapes, which, after being gathered with care at the moment the dew falls, are fo rth-· with pressed. The wine is left on its lees until the following· February, wh en it is r acked and fined, t h e bottling taking: place when the moon is at the full in March .