1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

Champagne . and Othe?· Sparlcling Wines.

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unbleached straw-bonnets of the contemned coal-scuttle type. They detach the grapes with scissors or hooked knives, tech– nically termed "serpettes," and in some vineyards proceed to remove- all damaged, decayed, or unripe frwt from the bunches before placing them in the baskets hanging on their arms, the con– tents ofwhich are from time to time emptied into a larger basket resembling a deep clothes-basket in shape, numbers of these being dispersed 0 about the vineyard for the purpose, and invariably in the shade. When filled they are carried by a couple of men to the roadside, along which dwarf stones carved with initials, and indicating the boundaries of the r espective properties, are encountered every eight or ten yards, into such narrow strips are the vineyards divided. Large carts with railed open sides are continually passing backwards and forwards to pick these baskets up, and when one of them bas secured its load it is driven slowly-in order that the grapes may not be shaken- to the neighbouring pressoir, so extreme is the care observed throughout every stage of ·the process of champagne i:p.anu– facture. In many of the vineyards the grapes are inspect ed in bulk instead of in detail before being sent to the wine-press. · The hand-baskets, when filled, are all brought to a particular spot, where their contents are minutely examined by some half-dozen men and women, who pluck off all the bruised, rotten, and unripe berries, and fling them aside into a separate basket. In one vineyard we came upon a party of girls, congregated round a wicker sieve p rched on the top of a large tub by the roadside, who were busy sorting the grapes, pruning away the diseased stalks, and picking off all the doubtful berries, and letting the latter fall through the interstices of the sieve, the sound fruit being deposited in large baskets standing by their side, which, as soon as filled, were conveyed to the pressoir. , The picking ordinarily commences with daylight, and the vintagers assert that the grapes gathered at sunrise always pro– duce the lightest and most limpid wine. Moreover by plucking the grapes when the early morning sun is upon them they are