1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book

CHAMPAGNE

mentioned that a Champagne cork should always be in actual contact with the Wine, so that when storing the bottle must always be placed upon its side. Having now learnt something of the particular manner in which Champagne is produced, let us discover how we can be absolutely certain that the wine we buy is really genuine. This is necessary on account of the fact that many attempts have been made from time to time to market wines which one might be led to assume are legitimate Champagnes, whereas in actual fact they are sparkling wines, possibly prepared in the same manner as true Cham pagne, but outside the recognised Champagne district. It must be explained that French law is particularly strict on this point, even to the extent of insisting that no Champagne Wine can be exported from the Rheims district in barrel without losing its legal right to the name " Champagne." As a consequence the only wine in the world which can rightly claim the appellation " Champagne " is that actually bottled in the legal Champagne district, from grapes gathered within that same confines. Every bottle containing genuine Champagne wine must further bear the word " Champagne " upon the label in large type, and also upon that portion of the cork which is inside the neck of the bottle. As has already been mentioned, attempts have been made by many producers of sparkling wines to get round these precise requirements, by using upon their labels such terms as " Vins Champagnises." By an act of 1927, the use of this particular phrase was made illegal. Unfortunately the peculiar shape and ' dressing ' of a Champagne bottle is not protected in any way by law, so that this provides an easy means for the unscrupulous imitator. Another even more subtle form of imitation is that sometimes practised by manufacturers whose

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