1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

Champcigne and Other Sparkling Wines.

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Down my throat I pour The old .Arbois; .Ancl now, my lords, let us our voices raise, .Aud sing of Silenus and Bacchus the prnise !"

I n more modern times the Jura, not content with the fame of ·the historic yellow wines of Arbois ancl the deservedly-esteemed straw wines of Ch:lteau-Ch:Uon, has proclucecl large quantities -0£ sparkling wine, the original manufacture of which commenced .a.s far back as a century ago. To-clay the principal seats of the manufacture are at Arbois and Lons-le-Saulnier, the latter town -the capital of the department and one of the most ancient towns of Ftance. Originally founded by the Gauls on the banks of t he V allih·e, in a little valley bordered by lofty hills, which are to-day covered with vines, it was girded round with fortifications by the Romans. Subsequently the Huns and the Vandals pillaged it; then the French ancl the Burgundians repeatedly contested its possession, and it was only definitively acquired by France during the r eign of Louis XIV. Rouget de l'Isle, t he famous author of the " Marseillaise," was born at Lons-le-Saulnier, and here also Marshal Ney assembled ancl harangued his t roop s before marching to join Napoleon, whom h e had promised I1ouis XVIII. to bring back to Paris m an ·iron cage. The vineyards whence the principal supplies for these sparkling wines are derived are grouped at varying distances .around Lons-le-Saulnier at L'Etoile, Quintigny, Salins, Arbois, Bt. Laurent-fa-Roche, and Pupillin, with the Jura chain of mountains rising up gr:mdly on the east. The best vineyards at L'Etoile- which lies some oouple of miles from Lons-le-Saulnier, surrounded by hills, planted from base to summit with vines-a.re L a Vigne Blanche, Montmorin, and Montgenest. At Quintigny, the wines of which are less potent than those of Arbois, and only r etain their effervescent properties for a couple of yeQ.r s, the P aridis, Premelan, and Montmorin vineyards are h eld in most r epute, while at Pupillin, where a soft agreeable wine is vintaged, the principal vineyards are the F aille and the Clos. The vines ·cultivated for the production of sparkling wines are chiefly the