That bubbling o’er with laughing gas,
Flashes gay sunbeams in the glass,
And like our flag goes proudly round the earth.
PEASANT WOMEN OF THE ENVIRONS OF SAUMUR.
[ XIII.—Sparkling Saumur and Sparkling Sauternes.]
The Sparkling Wines of the Loire often palmed off as Champagnes—The Finer qualities Improve with Age—Anjou the Cradle of the Plantagenet Kings—Saumur and its Dominating Feudal Château and Antique Hôtel de Ville—Its Sinister Rue des Payens and Steep Tortuous Grande Rue—The Vineyards of the Coteau of Saumur—Abandoned Stone Quarries converted into Dwellings—The Vintage in Progress—Old-fashioned Pressoirs—The Making of the Wine—The Vouvray Vineyards—Balzac’s Picture of La Vallée Coquette—The Village of Vouvray and the Château of Moncontour—Vernou with its Reminiscences of Sully and Pépin-le-Bref—The Vineyards around Saumur—Remarkable Ancient Dolmens—Ackerman-Laurance’s Establishment at Saint-Florent—Their Extensive
Cellars, Ancient and Modern—Treatment of the Newly-Vintaged Wine—The Cuvée—Proportions of Wine from Black and White Grapes—The Bottling and Disgorging of the Wine and Finishing Operations—The Château of Varrains and the Establishment of M. Louis Duvau aîné—His Cellars a succession of Gloomy Galleries—The Disgorging of the Wine accomplished in a Melodramatic-looking Cave—M. Duvau’s Vineyard—His Sparkling Saumur of Various Ages—Marked Superiority of the more Matured Samples—M. Alfred Rousteaux’s Establishments at Saint-Florent and Saint-Cyr—His convenient Celliers and extensive Cellars—Mingling of Wine from the Champagne with the finer Sparkling Saumur—His Vineyard at La Perrière—M. E. Normandin’s Sparkling Sauternes Manufactory at Châteauneuf—Angoulême and its Ancient Fortifications—Vin de Colombar—M. Normandin’s Sparkling Sauternes Cuvée—His Cellars near Châteauneuf—High recognition accorded to the Wine at the Concours Régional d’Angoulême.
After the Champagne Anjou is the French province which ranks next in importance for its production of sparkling wines. Vintaged on the banks of the Loire, these are largely consigned to the English and other markets, labelled Crême de Bouzy, Sillery and Ay Mousseux, Cartes Noires and Blanches, and the like, while their corks are branded with the names of phantom firms, supposed to be located at Reims and Epernay. As a rule these wines come from around Saumur, but they are not necessarily the worse on that account, for the district produces capital sparkling wines, the finer qualities of which improve greatly by being kept for a few years. One curious thing shown to us at Saumur was the album of a manufacturer of sparkling wines containing examples of the many hundred labels ticketed with which his produce had for years past been sold. Not one of these labels assigned to the wines the name of their real maker or their true birthplace, but introduced them under the auspices of mythical dukes and counts, as being manufactured at châteaux which are so many “castles in Spain,” and as coming from Ay, Bouzy, Châlons, Epernay, Reims, and Verzenay, but never by any chance from Saumur.
THE VINEYARDS OF THE COTEAU DE SAUMUR. (p. 141)