The bottling of the effervescing Champagne wines begins in March, and the fermentation in May. The latter continues all the summer, but is particularly strong in June, during the flowering of the vine; and in August, when the fruit begins to ripen. At these times, the greatest loss in the bursting of bottles takes place, and it is not safe to pass through a cellar without being guarded with a mask of iron wire. It occasionally happens that the workmen who neglect this precaution are sometimes severely, sometimes dangerously, wounded. Among the wines prepared to effervesce—or, to use the technical phrase, for la mousse—there are some which only partake of a slight fermentation. These are the crêmants wines, which drive out the cork with less force, and sparkle in the glass. Their mousse is frothy, and, like the
“Snow-ball on the river,
A moment white, then gone for ever.”
They are said to have the advantage over the Vins grand mousseux, in preserving more vinous qualities and being less sharp. Their price is also higher, for they are sought for by connoisseurs, and cannot be obtained in great quantity. The best red Champagne wines are produced upon the north side of the declivities of the Marne, which are called the Montagnes de Rheims.
The Champagne wine-merchants use the greatest precaution in packing their wines for exportation. The sides of the baskets or cases are lined with pasteboard, and each bottle is enveloped in a sheet of blue or grey paper. Champagne mousseux, exported to the Indies or America, is preserved from the excessive heat by being packed in salt. At the bottom of the case there is a layer of straw, and then a layer of salt, upon which the first row of bottles is placed. Jullien, in his “Manuel du Sommelier,” states that the finest Burgundies thus packed have preserved all their qualities on a voyage to India, and experienced but fourteen degrees of heat in passing under the equator.
I come at length to Claret, and with Francesco Redi, exclaim,—
“Benedetto,
Quel claretto!”
Blessed, indeed, be Bordeaux, the ground that bare it; for it is king of all wines, past, present, and to come! Of this opinion, too, was Lémery, physician to Louis XIV., who thus speaks of it:—“Claret,” says he, “of all others, is generally the best wine for all constitutions; and the reason is, because it contains a sufficient quantity of tartarous parts, that make it less heady and more stomachical than white wine. As for pale wine; it is a middling sort, between the red and white; the same is made of grapes of the same colour, or else by mixing white wine with a little red.”
The Bordeaux wines are generally divided into vins de Médoc, des Graves, des Palus, des Côtes, de Terre forte, and vins d’entre deux Mers; but so much do they differ by the taste, colour, bouquet, durability, and a thousand imperceptible shades, that it would be difficult to give an exact list of the varied and magnificent productions of the Gironde. Commercial men have, however, established two recognised classes, which appear to be tacitly admitted by all parties, and which may serve as a guide to the purchaser. In the first class are ranked Château Margeaux, Château Lafitte, Latour, Haut Brion. The product of these four vintages may be rated at from 400 to 450 tonneaux, the value of which represents a capital of 2400 to 3000 francs per tonneau. When age has developed the qualities of these wines, more particularly in a good vintage, the value is at least doubled. For the last twenty years the Haut Brion seems to be on the wane in public favour, and it sells at a lesser price than one of its three rivals.