1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

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Preparation of Cha1npagne.

the place of the natural t annin which has ·departed from the · wine with its reddish hue at the epoch of its first fermentation. . The operation of bottling the wine next ensues, when the ScriptUl'al advice n~t to put new wine into old bottles is rigorously followed. For the tremendous pressure of the gas engendered during the subsequent fermentation of the wine is such that the bottle becomes wea.lrnned and can never be safely trusted again. It is because of t his pressure that the champagne bottle is one of the strongest made, as indicated by its weight, which is almost a couple of pounds. To ensill'e this unusual strength it is necessary that its sides should be of equal thick– ness and the bottom of a uniform solidity throughout, in order that no par ticular expansion may ensue from sudden changes of temperature. The neck must, moreover, be perfectly round and widen gradually towards the shoulder. In addition-and this is of the utmost consequence-the inside ougM to be perfectly smooth, as a rough interior causes the gas to make efforts t o escape, and thus r enders an explosion imminent. The composi– tion • of the glass, too, is not without its importance, as a manufactory established for the production of glass by a new process turned out champagne bottles charged with alkaline sulphurets, and the consequence was that an entire cuvee was ruined by their use, through the reciprocal action of the wine and these sulphurets. The acids of the former disengaged hydrosulphuric acid, and instead of champagne the re~ult was a new species of mineral water. Most of the bottles used for champagnes come from the factories of Loivre (which supplies the largest quantity), F~lem­ bray, Vauxrot, and Quiquengrogne, and cost on the average from 28 to 30 francs the hundred. They are generally t ested by a practised hand, who, by knocking them sharply together, professes to be able to t ell from the sound that they give the substance of the glass and its t emper. The washing of the bottles is invariably performed by women, who at the largei; establishments accomplish it with the aid of machines, some– times provided with a revolving brush, although small glass beads