1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

The Vintage in the Vine?Jards of the River.

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village, lying at the foot of vineyard slopes, where numerous champagne firms have established themselves. I ts prosperity dates from the commencement of the last century, when the Count de Lhery cleared away the remains of its ancient rampar ts, filled up the moat, and planted the ground with vines, the produce of which was found .admirably suited for the sparkling wines then coming into vogue. · To-day the light delicat e wine of Avize is classed, like that of Cramant, as a premier cru. It is the same with the wine of Oger, lying a little to the south, while the neighbouring growths of L e Mesnil hold a slightly inferior rank. The latter village and its grey Gothic church lie under the hill in the midst of vines that almost climb the forest-crowned summit. The stony soil hereabouts is said to be better adapted to the cultivation of white than of black grapes, besides which the wines of LeMesnil are remarkable for their effervescent properties. Vertus forms the southern limit of the Cote d'.A.vize, and the vineyard slopes subsiding at their b ase into a broad expanse of fertile fields, and crested as usual with dense forest, rise up behind the picturesque old town which the English assailed and partly burnt five centuries ago, spite of its fortifications, of which to-day a dilapidated gateway alone remains. The church is ancient and curious, and a few quaint old houses are here and there met with, notably one with a florid Gothic window en– riched with a moulding of grapes and vine-leaves. The vine– yards of Vertus were originally planted with vines from. Burgundy, and in the 14th century yielded a red wine h eld in high repute, while later on the Vertus growths formed the favourite beverage of William III. of England. To-day the growers find it more profitable to make white }nstead of r ed wine from their crops of black grapes, the former commanding a good price for conversion into vin mousseitx, it being in the opinion of some manufacturers especially valuable for binding a ciwee together. The wine of Vertus ranks among the second– class champagne crus.