1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

19

The 01'1:gin of Oharnpagne.

erected upon the precise spot where the tree stood on which the snow-white dove had alighted. The celerer of St. P eter' s found worthy successors, and thence– :forward the manufacture and the popularity of champagne went .on steadily increasing, until to-day its production is carried on upon a S'Cale ftnd with an amount of painstaking care that would astonish its originator. For good champagne does not r ain down from the clouds, or gush out from the rocks, but is the result of · inces~ant labour, patient skill, minute precaution, and careful observation. In the first place, the soil imparts to the natuml wine a special quality which it has been found impossible to imitate in any other quarter of the globe. To the wine of .A.y it lends a flavour of peaches, and to that of .A.venay the savom· of strawberries; the vintage of H autvillers, though fallen from its for~er high estate, is yet marked by an unmist akably nutty tast e ; while that of Pierry smacks of the locally-abounding flint, the well..known pierre a jusil flavour. So on the principle that a little leaven leavens the whole lump, the produce of grapes grown in the more favoured vineyards is added in certain proportions to secure certain special characteristics, as well as to maintain a fixed standard of excellence.

I

I

.. -- ·.

..

~

(·-_-::- , C.'. ." .,_,... ~. .....

)

./