The cellars of Messrs. Pfungst Frères et Cie. are situated some little distance from the vineyard owned by them at Ay. The firm lay themselves out exclusively for the shipment of high-class Champagne, and the excellent growths of this district necessarily form an important element in their carefully-composed cuvées. A considerable portion of their stock consists of reserves of old wine of grand years; and a variety of samples of finely-matured Champagnes were submitted to our judgment. All of these wines were of superior quality, combining delicacy and fragrance with dryness, the latter being their especial feature. In addition to their business with England, where the brand of the firm is rapidly increasing in popularity among connoisseurs of matured wines, Messrs. Pfungst Frères ship largely to India and the United States.
CAPITALS AND MOULDINGS IN AY CHURCH.
On the northern side of the town stands the handsome Gothic church of Ay, dating from about the middle of the fifteenth century. The existing building replaced the edifice erected some two hundred years previously, and traces of which are still to be seen in the present transept. The stone tower, which is in striking contrast with the other portions of the structure, bears the date 1541 on its western face. This tower and the interior of the church were greatly damaged by the fire—traditionally ascribed to lightning—which occurred at the close of the sixteenth century, and the former had to be strengthened by filling up the arched windows and by the addition of buttresses. The bell, whose terrible tocsin used to warn good citizens that the patrie was in danger in the days of the Revolution, when the church was converted into a Temple of Reason, had previously swung in the abbey of Hautvillers, and may have summoned the vintagers to labour as well as the faithful to prayer. From 1867 to 1877 extensive interior repairs and restorations, costing upwards of 6000 l., greatly transformed the interior of the church. Care was, however, taken to preserve the numerous bits of mediæval and Renaissance sculpture with which both the interior and exterior of the edifice were studded. In many of the ornamental mouldings, as well as the capitals of the columns, grape-laden vine-branches had been freely introduced, as if to indicate the honour in which the vine, the material source of all the prosperity enjoyed by the little town, was held both by mediæval and later architects; and these appear all to have been scrupulously restored. One of the most characteristic decorations of this character is the sculptured figure of a boy bearing a basket of grapes upon his head, which surmounts the handsome Renaissance doorway.
MOULDINGS FROM AY CHURCH.
Within half an hour’s walk of Ay, in an easterly direction, is the village of Mareuil, a long straight street of straggling houses, bounded by trees and garden-plots, with vine-clad hills rising abruptly behind on the one side, and the Marne canal flowing placidly by on the other. The archaic church, a mixture of the Romanesque and Early Gothic, stands at the farther end of the village, and some little distance on this side of it is a massive-looking eighteenth-century building, spacious enough to accommodate a regiment of horse, but conventual rather than barrack-like in aspect, from the paucity of windows looking on to the road. A broad gateway leads into a spacious courtyard, to the left of which stands a grand château; while on the right there rises an ornate round tower of three stories, from the gallery on the summit of which a fine view over the valley of the Marne is obtained. The buildings, enclosing the court on three sides, comprise press-houses, celliers, and packing-rooms, an antiquated sun-dial marking the hour on the blank space above the vines that climb beside the entrance gateway. The more ancient of these tenements formed the vendangeoir of the Dukes of Orleans at the time they owned the château of Mareuil, purchased in 1830 by the Duke de Montebello, son of the famous Marshal Lannes, and minister and ambassador of Louis Philippe and Napoleon III.
The acquisition of this property, to which were attached some important vineyards, led, several years later, to the duke’s founding, in conjunction with his brothers, the Marquis and General Count de Montebello, a Champagne firm, whose brand speedily acquired a notable popularity. To-day the business is carried on by their sons and heirs, for all the original partners in the house have followed their valiant father to the grave. Struck down by an Austrian cannon-ball in the zenith of his fame, the career of Marshal Lannes, brief as it was, furnishes one of the most brilliant pages in French military annals. Joining the army of Italy as a volunteer in 1796, he was made a colonel on the battle-field in the gorges of Millesimo, when Augereau’s bold advance opened Piedmont to the French. He fought at Bassano and Lodi, took part in the assault of Pavia and the siege of Mantua, and at Arcola, when Napoleon dashed flag in hand upon the bridge, Lannes was seriously wounded whilst shielding his general from danger. He afterwards distinguished himself in Egypt, and led the van of the French army across the Alps, displaying his accustomed bravery both at Montebello and Marengo. At Austerlitz, where he commanded the right wing of the army, he greatly contributed to the victory; and at Jena, Friedland, and Eylau his valour was again conspicuous. Sent to Spain, he defeated the Spaniards at Tudela, and took part in the operations against Saragossa. Wounded at the battle of Essling, when the Archduke Charles inflicted upon Napoleon I. the first serious repulse he had met with on the field of battle, the valiant Lannes expired a few days afterwards in the Emperor’s arms.