1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

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Champagne ancl Other Sparl•l?:ng Wines.

with rare bouquets anJ of tender tonical flavour; Liebfrauen– milch, of tlowery perfume ; the finest Moselles from J osefshof and Scharzhofberg, Brauneberg and Berncastel, with other growths too numerous to mention, of grand years, and from the best situations. The sparkling wines stored in separate vaults form to-day an important item in ·:rviessr s. Deinbard's business. In 1843 the firm made their first cuvee, consisting of less than 10,000 bottles. F our years later their cuvee amounted to over 50,000 bottles. A falling off was shown during the revolutionary epoch, and busi– ness only recovered its normal condition in 1851, since which time it has gradually increased as the wines have grown in favour, until in 1875 the tirage of 1874 vintage wines exceeded half a million bottles. Messrs. Deinhard draw their supplies of wine from white grapes, for conversion into sparkling wines, from the Rhine, the Main, .the Moselle, and the Palatinate, giving preference to the produce of the riesling grape, as to this the wine is indebted for its natural bouquet. The proportionofwinefromblackgrapes, mingled with the other wines, is vintaged by themselves in the Ahr valley, and at Ingelheim on the Rhine. 1 The Ahr, in summer a rippling streamlet and in winter a rushing torrent, falls into the Rhine about twenty miles below Coblenz. The soil of the neighbouring hills seems peculiarly adapted for the growth of black grapes, one of the best of German red wines being produced in the vineyards adjacent to the village ofWalporzheim. In order that the wine may be as pale as possible, the black grapes are pressed as soon after gathering as they can be, and only the juice resulting from the first pressure is reserved, the subsequently extracted must being sold to the small growers of the neighbourhood. The newly-made wine is brought in casks to Coblenz, and rests for eight WE)eks while completing its fermentation. It is then racked into stiicks and double stiicks, and is blended in casks of the latter capacity during the early part of the following year, great care being taken to preserve the bouquet of the white grapes, with which view, contrary to the practice followed in the