1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

185

The Sparlcbi'fl{J Wines of Germany.

lege~d, while many modern houses have sprung up there of late years, and signs of further de.velopment are a.pparent on all sides. In the outskirts of the town there are a couple ?f sparkling wine establishments, the one nigh the railway station on the western side belongi~g to Messrs. Dietrich and Co., while eastwards on a picturesque slope overlooking . ~he R_hine, and in the midst of extensive pleasure-gromids, is the esta.blishment of Messrs. Ewald and Co., who date from .iJie year 1858, and rank to-day amongst the leading shippers of sparkling hocks and moselles to England. · Here are handsome and capacious buildings aboveground, and two floors of cellars comprising five :vaults, each 160 feet in length and 30 feet broad. The lower vaults, 40 feet from the surface, are ·arched over and walled with stone, while the upper ones are faced with brick, ,both being floored with concrete and slanting towards the centre to allow of the wine from bottles that have burst running off. Each range of cellars is separately ventilated by shafts, generally kept open in winter and closed in the summer so as to maintain a temperature not exceeding 4?° Fahr. in the l ower cellars and under 52° in those above. Moreover, with the >iew of conducing to this result the cellars have an ice-well communicating with them. Late in the spring, when the newly-bottled wine indicates a sufficient number of atmospheres to insure a satisfactory effervescence, it is deposited in the lower vaults, the upper ones being devoted to reserve wines in wood and wines awaiting the process of disgorgement, or under going their daily shaking in order to force the deposit against the cork. Aboveground there are rooms for storing the liqueur, the corks, and the packing– cases, and in a spacious apartment, prnvided with three lifts for communicating with the cellars beneath, the wine is blended and bottled, and in due time disgorged and packed. In very warm weather, however, it is found preferable for the disgorging and its attendant operations to be performed in the cooler temperature of the cellars. Messrs. Ewald formerly t ested the strength of their bottles with a manometer before N