Encouraged, no doubt, by the success obtained by Messrs. Normandin & Co. with their sparkling Sauternes, the house of Lermat-Robert & Co., of Bordeaux, introduced a few years ago a sparkling Barsac, samples of which were submitted to the jury at the Paris Exhibition of 1878.
| VINTAGER OF THE CÔTE D’OR. | VINTAGER OF THE JURA. |
II.
THE SPARKLING WINES OF BURGUNDY, THE JURA, AND THE SOUTH OF FRANCE.
Sparkling wines of the Côte d’Or at the Paris Exhibition of 1878—Chambertin, Romanée, and Vougeot—Burgundy wines and vines formerly presents from princes—Vintaging sparkling Burgundies—Their after-treatment in the cellars—Excess of breakage—Similarity of proceeding to that followed in the Champagne—Principal manufacturers of sparkling Burgundies—Sparkling wines of Tonnerre, the birthplace of the Chevalier d’Eon—The Vin d’Arbanne of Bar-sur-Aube—Death there of the Bastard de Bourbon—Madame de la Motte’s ostentatious display and arrest there—Sparkling wines of the Beaujolais—The Mont-Brouilly vineyards—Ancient reputation of the wines of the Jura—The Vin Jaune of Arbois beloved of Henri Quatre—Rhymes by him in its honour—Lons-le-Saulnier—Vineyards yielding the sparkling Jura wines—Their vintaging and subsequent treatment—Their high alcoholic strength and general drawbacks—Sparkling wines of Auvergne, Guienne, Dauphiné, and Languedoc—Sparkling Saint-Péray the Champagne of the South—Valence, with its reminiscences of Pius VI. and Napoleon I.—The ‘Horns of Crussol’ on the banks of the Rhône—Vintage scene at Saint-Péray—The vines and vineyards producing sparkling wine—Manipulation of sparkling Saint-Péray—Its abundance of natural sugar—The cellars of M. de Saint-Prix, and samples of his wines—Sparkling Côte-Rotie, Château-Grillé, and Hermitage—Annual production and principal markets of sparkling Saint-Péray—Clairette de Die—The Porte Rouge of Die Cathedral—How the Die wine is made—The sparkling white and rose-coloured muscatels of Die—Sparkling wines of Vercheny and Lagrasse—Barnave and the royal flight to Varennes—Narbonne formerly a miniature Rome, now noted merely for its wine and honey—Fête of the Black Virgin at Limoux—Preference given to the new wine over the miraculous water—Blanquette of Limoux, and how it is made—Characteristics of this overrated wine.
