1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

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Ohamvpagne ancl Other Sparkling Wines. ---=--------------------- militia, led on by Grandpre. A quarter of a century ago the low ground on our right near Sillery was planted with vines by M. Jacquesson, the owner of the Sillery estate, and a large cham– pagne manufacturer at Chalons, wh o was anxious t o resuscitate the ancient reputation of the domain. Under the advice of Dr. Guyot, the well-known writer on viticult ure, he planted the vines in deep trenches, which led to the vineyards being pun– ningly termed Jacquesson's celery beds. To sh ield the vines from hailstorms prevalent in the district, and the more dangerous spring frosts, so fatal to vines planted in low-lying sit uation'S, long rolls of straw-matting were stored close at band with which to roof them over when needful. These precautions were scarcely needed, however; the vines languished through moist ure at the roots, and eventually were mostly rooted up. After again crossing the r ailway, we pass the t rim, r est ored tun-ets of the famous chateau of Sillery, with its gateways, moats, and drawbridges, flanked by trees and floral parterres. It was here that the Marechale d'Estrees carried on her successful busi– ness as a maJJ·chande de vins, and the pragmatic and pedant ic Comtesse de Genlis, governess of t he Orleans princes, spent, as she tells us, the happiest days of her life. The few thriving vineyards of Sillery cover a gentle eminence which rises out of the plain, and present on the one side an eastern and on the other a western aspec~. To-day the Vicomte de Brimont and M. F ortel of ~eims, the latter of whom cultivates about forty acres of vines, yielding ordinarily about 300 hogsheads, are the only wine– growers at Sillery. Before pressing his grapes- of course for sparkling wine-M. Fortel has them thrown into a t rough, at the bottom of which are a couple of grooved cylinder s, each about eight inches in diameter , and revolving in cont rary directions, t he effect of which, when set in motion, is t o disengage the grapes partially from their stalks. Grapes and stalks are then placed under the press, which is on the old cyder-press principle, and the must runs into a reservoir beneath, whence it is pumped into large vats, each holding from 250 to 500 gallons. H ere it r emains from six t o eight hours, and is t hen run off int o casks, the spigot s