1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

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Preparation of OJiampagne.

to the number of atmospheres the wine ma.y indicate. It should be explained that air compressed to half its volume acquires twice its ordinary force, and to a quarter of its volume quadruple this force-hence the. phrase of two, four, or more atmospheres. The exact degree of pressure is readily ascertained by means of a manometer, an i?strument resembling a pressure gauge, with a hollow screw at tl1e base which is driven: through the cork 6£ the bottle. A pressure of 5i atmospheres constitutes what is styled a "grand mousseux," and the wine exhibiting it may be safely conveyed to the coolest subterranean depths, for no doubt need be entertained as to its future effervescent properties. Sh'ould the pressure, however, scarcely exceed 4 atmospheres, it is advisable to keep the wine in a cellier abovegi:ound that it may more rapidly acquire the requisite sparkling qualities. If fewer than 4 atmospheres a.re indicat ed it would be necessary to pour the wine back into the casks again, and add a certain amount of cane sugar to it, but such an eventuality very rarely happens, thanks to the scientific formulas and apparatus which ' enable the degree of pressure the wine will show to be deter– mined beforehand to a nicety. Still mistakes are sometimes made, and there are instances where charcoal fires have had to be lighted in the cellars to encourage the effervescence to develop itself. The bottles are placed in a horizontal position and stacked in • i;ows of varying length and depth, one above the other, to about the height of a man, and with narrow laths between them. Thus thej will spend the summer providing 1 all goes well, but in about three weeks' time the process of gas-making inside the bottles is at its height, and may cause an undue number of them to burst. The glucometer notwithstanding, it is impossible to check a certain amount of breakage, especially when. a hot season has caused the grapes, and consequently the r:;tw wine, to be sweet er than usual. Moreover when once casse or breakage set s in on a large scale, the t emperature of the cellar is raised by the volume of carbonic acid gas let loose, which is not without its effect on the remaining bottles. The only remedy is at once