1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

The Sparkling Wines of Bwrgimdy and the Jm·a. 163

savagnin, or white pineau, the melon of P oligny, and the poul– sarc1, a bl ack variety of grape hel d locally in much esteem. At the vintage, which

commences towards the end of October and lasts until the middle of the following n10nth, all the rott011 or unTipe grapes are carefully set aside and t.h ound ones only sub– mitted to the action of a scre'\\-press. After the must has flowed for about half-an-hour the grapes ::i.re n ewly collected under the press and the screw _a.gain applied. The pr o– duce of this double opera-

~ ' ~ -n~~t';'fi ' · tiQn is poured into a vat U ;m t ermecl a sapine, where it '~ _t_ r}t_: ~ remains u~til bubbles are ~~~ seen escaprng through the '

chapeaii thn.t forms on the surface of the liquid.

The must is then drawn off-sometimes after being fined-into -0asks, which the majority of wine-growers previously impregnate with the fumes of sulphur. When in cask the wine is treat ed in one of two ways ; either the casks are k ept constantly filled to the bunghole, causing the foam which r ises to the surface during the f ermentation to flow over, and thereby l eave the wine comparatively clear, or else the casks are not -completely filled, in which case the wine r equires to be racked .several times before it is in a condition for fining . This latter -operation i s effected about the commencement of F ebruary, and a second fining follows if the first one fails to r ender the wine perfectly clear. At the tirage, which invariably takes place in I I