Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines | Page 9

some medi?val architect the site the contemplated abbey of St. Peter was to occupy. There was a monkish legend that about the middle of the 7th century this pair of saints set out in search of a suitable site for the future monastery. The way was long, the day was warm, and St. Nivard and St. Berchier as yet were simply mortal. Weary and faint, they sat them down to rest at a spot identified by tradition with a vineyard at Dizy, belonging to-day to the Messrs. Bollinger, but at that period forming part of the forest of the Marne. St. Nivard fell asleep with his head on his companion's lap, and the one in a dream, and the other with waking eyes, saw a snow-white dove--the same, firm believers in miracles suggested, which had brought down the holy oil for the anointment of Clovis at his coronation at Reims--flutter through the wood, and finally alight on the stump of a tree.
In those superstitious times such a significant omen was not to be disregarded, the site thus miraculously indicated was at once decided upon, the high altar of the abbey church being erected upon the precise spot where the tree stood on which the snow-white dove had alighted.
The celerer of St. Peter's found worthy successors, and thenceforward the manufacture and the popularity of champagne went on steadily increasing, until to-day its production is carried on upon a scale and with an amount of painstaking care that would astonish its originator. For good champagne does not rain down from the clouds, or gush out from the rocks, but is the result of incessant labour, patient skill, minute precaution, and careful observation. In the first place, the soil imparts to the natural wine a special quality which it has been found impossible to imitate in any other quarter of the globe. To the wine of Ay it lends a flavour of peaches, and to that of Avenay the savour of strawberries; the vintage of Hautvillers, though fallen from its former high estate, is yet marked by an unmistakably nutty taste; while that of Pierry smacks of the locally-abounding flint, the well-known pierre à fusil flavour. So on the principle that a little leaven leavens the whole lump, the produce of grapes grown in the more favoured vineyards is added in certain proportions to secure certain special characteristics, as well as to maintain a fixed standard of excellence.
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II.--THE VINTAGE IN THE CHAMPAGNE. THE VINEYARDS OF THE RIVER.
Ay, the Vineyard of Golden Plants-- Summoning the Vintagers by Beat of Drum-- Excitement in the Surrounding Villages-- The Pickers at Work-- Sorting the Grapes-- Grapes Gathered at Sunrise the Best-- Varieties of Vines in the Ay Vineyards-- Few of the Growers in the Champagne Crush their own Grapes-- Squeezing the Grapes in the "Pressoir" and Drawing off the Must-- Cheerful Glasses Round-- The Vintage at Mareuil-- Bringing in the Grapes on Mules and Donkeys-- The Vineyards of Avenay, Mutigny, and Cumières-- Damery and Adrienne Lecouvreur, Maréchal de Saxe, and the obese Anna Iwanowna-- The Vineyards of the C?te d'Epernay-- Boursault and its Chateau-- Pierry and its Vineyard Cellars-- The Clos St. Pierre-- Moussy and Vinay-- A Hermit's Cave and a Miraculous Fountain-- Ablois St. Martin-- The C?te d'Avize-- The Grand Premier Cr? of Cramant-- Avize and its Wines-- The Vineyards of Oger and Le Mesnil-- The Old Town of Vertus and its Vine-clad Slopes-- Their Red Wine formerly celebrated.
With the exception of certain famous vineyards of the Rh?ne, the vinelands of the Champagne may, perhaps, be classed among the most picturesque of the more notable vine districts of France. Between Paris and Epernay even, the banks of the Marne present a series of scenes of quiet beauty. The undulating ground is everywhere cultivated like a garden. Handsome chateaux and charming country houses peep out from amid luxuriant foliage. Picturesque antiquated villages line the river's bank or climb the hill sides, and after leaving La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, the cradle of the Condés, all the more favoured situations commence to be covered with vines.
This is especially the case in the vicinity of Chateau-Thierry--the birthplace of La Fontaine--where the view is shut in on all sides by vine-clad slopes, which the spring frosts seldom spare. Hence merely one good vintage out of four gladdens the hearts of the peasant proprietors, who find eager purchasers for their produce among the lower-class manufacturers of champagne. In the same way the petit vin de Chierry, dexterously prepared and judiciously mingled with other growths, often figures as "Fleur de Sillery" or "Ay Mousseux." In reality it is not until we have passed the ornate modern Gothic chateau of Boursault, erected in her declining years by the wealthy Veuve Clicquot, by far the shrewdest manipulator of the sparkling products of Ay and Bouzy of her