Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines Part 6

Some idea of the complex character of so vast an establishment as that of Messrs. Moet and Chandon may be gathered from a mere enumeration of their staff, which, in addition to twenty clerks and 350 cellarmen proper, includes numerous agrafe-makers and corkcutters, packers and carters, wheelwrights and saddlers, carpenters, masons, slaters and tilers, tinmen, firemen, needlewomen, &c., while the inventory of objects used by this formidable array of workpeople comprises no fewer than 1,500 distinct heads. A medical man attached to the establishment gives gratuitous advice to all those employed, and a chemist dispenses drugs and medicines without charge. While suffering from illness the men receive half-pay, but should they be laid up by an accident met with in the course of their work full salary is invariably awarded to them. As may be supposed, so vast an establishment as this is not without a provision for those past work, and all the old hands receive liberal pensions from the firm upon retiring. Every year Messrs. Moet and Chandon give a banquet or a ball to the people in their employ--usually after the bottling of the wine is completed--when the hall in which the entertainment takes place is handsomely decorated and illuminated with myriads of coloured lamps.

It is needless to particularise Messrs. Moet and Chandon's wines, which are familiar to all drinkers of champagne. Their famous "star" brand is known in all societies, figures equally at clubs and mess-tables, at garden parties and picnics, dinners and _soirees_, and has its place in hotel _cartes_ all over the world. One of the best proofs of the wine's universal popularity is found in the circ.u.mstance that as many as 1,000 visitors from all parts of the world come annually to Epernay and make the tour of Messrs. Moet and Chandon's s.p.a.cious cellars.

A little beyond Messrs. Moet and Chandon's, in the broad Rue du Commerce, we encounter a heavy, ornate, pretentious-looking chateau, the residence of M. Perrier-Jouet, which presents a striking contrast to the almost mean-looking premises opposite, where the business of the firm is carried on. M. Perrier-Jouet is the fortunate grandson of the Sieur Perrier Fissier, a little Epernay grocer, who some eighty years or so ago used to supply corks, candles, and string to the firm of Moet and Co., and who, when the profits arising from this connection warranted his doing so, discarded his grocer's sleeves and ap.r.o.n and blossomed forth as a compet.i.tor in the champagne trade. Perrier-Jouet and Co.'s offices are situated on the left-hand side of a courtyard surrounded by low buildings, which serve as celliers, store-houses, packing-rooms, and the like. From an inner courtyard where piles of bottles are stacked under open sheds, the cellars themselves are reached. Previous to descending into these we pa.s.sed through the various buildings, in one of which a party of men were engaged in disgorging and preparing wine for s.h.i.+pment. In another we noticed one of those heavy beam presses for pressing the grapes which the more intelligent manufacturers regard as obsolete, while in a third was the _cuvee_ vat, holding no more than 2,200 gallons. In making their _cuvee_ the firm commonly mix one part of old wine to three parts of new. An indifferent vintage, however, necessitates the admixture of a larger proportion of the older growth.

The cellars, like all the more ancient ones at Epernay, are somewhat straggling and irregular, still they are remarkably cool, and on the lower floor remarkably damp as well. This, however, would appear to be no disadvantage, as the breakage in them is calculated never to exceed 2 per cent.

The firm have no less than five qualities of champagne, and at one of the recent champagne compet.i.tions at London, where the experts engaged had no means of identifying the brands submitted to their judgment, Messrs. Perrier-Jouet's First Quality got cla.s.sed below a cheaper wine of their neighbours Messrs. Pol Roger and Co., and very considerably below the Extra Sec of Messrs. Perinet et fils, and inferior even to a wine of De Venoge's, the great Epernay manufacturer of common cla.s.s champagnes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COURTYARD OF MESSRS. POL ROGER'S ESTABLISHMENT AT EPERNAY. (p. 115)]

Champagne establishments, combined with the handsome residences of the manufacturers, line both sides of the long, imposing Rue du Commerce at Epernay. On the left hand is a succession of fine chateaux, commencing with one belonging to M. Auban Moet, whose terraced gardens overlook the valley of the Marne, and command views of the vine-clad heights of c.u.mieres, Hautvillers, Ay, and Mareuil, and the more distant slopes of Ambonnay and Bouzy, while on the other side of the famous Epernay thoroughfare we encounter beyond the establishments of Messrs. Moet and Chandon and Perrier-Jouet the ornate monumental facade which the firm of Piper and Co.--of whom Messrs. Kunkelmann and Co. are to-day the successors--raised some years since above their extensive cellars.

A little in the rear of the Rue du Commerce is the well-ordered establishment of Messrs. Roussillon and Co., the extension of whose business of late has necessitated their removal to these capacious premises. The wines of the firm enjoy a high reputation in England, France, and Russia, and have secured favourable recognition at the Paris, Philadelphia, and other Exhibitions. Their stock includes considerable quant.i.ties of the older vintages, it being a rule of the house never to s.h.i.+p crude young wines. It is on their dry varieties that Messrs. Roussillon and Co. especially pride themselves, and some of the fine wine of 1874 that was here shown to us was as remarkable for its delicacy as for its fragrance.

In a side street at the farther end of the Rue du Commerce stands a chateau of red brick, overlooking on the one side an extensive pleasure-garden, and on the other a s.p.a.cious courtyard, bounded by celliers, stables, and bottle-sheds, all of modern construction and on a most extensive scale. These form the establishment of Messrs. Pol Roger and Co., settled for many years at Epernay, and known throughout the Champagne for their large purchases at the epoch of the vintage. From the knowledge they possess of the best crus, and their relations with the leading vineyard proprietors, they are enabled whenever the wine is good to acquire large stocks of it. Having bottled a considerable quant.i.ty of the fine wine of 1874, they resolved to profit by the exceptional quality of this vintage to commence s.h.i.+pping champagne to England, where their agents, Messrs. Reuss, Lauteren, and Co., have successfully introduced the new brand.

Pa.s.sing through a large open gateway we enter the vast courtyard of the establishment, which, with arriving and departing carts--the first loaded with wine in cask or with new bottles, and the others with cases of champagne--presents rather an animated scene. Under a roof projecting from the wall of the vast cellier on the right hand a tribe of "Sparnaciennes"--as the feminine inhabitants of Epernay are termed--are occupied in was.h.i.+ng bottles in readiness for the coming tirage. The surrounding buildings, most substantially constructed, are not dest.i.tute of architectural pretensions.

The extensive cellier, the area of which is 23,589 square feet, is understood to be the largest single construction of the kind in the Champagne district. Built entirely of iron, stone and brick, its framework is a perfect marvel of lightness. The roof, consisting of rows of brick arches, is covered above with a layer of Portland cement, in order to keep it cool in summer and protect it against the winter cold, two most desirable objects in connection with the manipulation of champagne. Here an endless chain of a new pattern enables wine in bottle to be lowered and raised with great rapidity to or from the cellars beneath--lofty and capacious excavations of two stories, the lowest of which is reached by a flight of no less than 170 steps.

Epernay, unlike Reims, has little of general interest to attract the stranger. Frequently besieged and pillaged during the Middle Ages, and burnt to the ground by the dauphin, son of Francois I., the town, although of some note as far back as the time of Clovis, exhibits to-day no evidence whatever of its great antiquity. The thoroughfare termed the Rempart de la Tour Biron recalls a memorable incident which transpired during the siege of the town by Henri IV. While the king was reconnoitring the defences a cannon-ball aimed at his waving white plume took off the head of the Marechal Biron at the moment Henri's hand was resting familiarly on the marechal's shoulder. Strange to say, the king himself escaped unhurt.

[Ill.u.s.tration: VIEW OF AY FROM THE BANKS OF THE MARNE Ca.n.a.l. (p. 117.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE VENDANGEOIR OF HENRI QUATRE.]

XI.--CHAMPAGNE ESTABLISHMENTS AT AY AND MAREUIL.

The Establishment of Deutz and Geldermann-- Drawing off the Cuvee-- Mode of Excavating Cellars in the Champagne-- The Firm's New Cellars, Vineyards, and Vendangeoir-- The old Chateau of Ay and its Terraced Garden-- The Gambling Propensities of Balthazar Constance Dange-Dorcay, a former Owner of the Chateau-- The Picturesque Situation and Aspect of Messrs. Ayala's Establishment-- A Promenade through their Cellars-- M. Duminy's Cellars and Wines-- His new Model Construction-- The House Founded in 1814-- Messrs. Bollinger's Establishment-- Their Vineyard of La Grange-- The Tirage in Progress-- The Fine Cellars of the Firm-- Messrs. Pfungst's freres and Co.'s Cellars-- Their Dry Champagnes of 1868, '70, '72, and '74-- The Old Church of Ay and its Decorations of Grapes and Vineleaves-- The Vendangeoir of Henri Quatre-- The Montebello Establishment at Mareuil-- The Chateau formerly the Property of the Dukes of Orleans-- A t.i.tled Champagne Firm-- The Brilliant Career of Marshal Lannes-- A Promenade through the Montebello Establishment-- The Press House, the Cuvee Vat, the Packing-Room, the Offices, and the Cellars-- Portraits and Relics at the Chateau-- The Establishment of Bruch-Foucher and Co.-- The handsome Carved Gigantic Cuvee Tun-- The Cellars and their Lofty Shafts-- The Wines of the Firm.

The historic _bourgade_ of Ay is within a short walk of the station on the line of railway connecting Epernay with Reims. The road lies across the light bridge spanning the Marne ca.n.a.l, the tall trees fringing which hide for a time the cl.u.s.tering houses; still we catch sight of the tapering steeple of the antique church rising sharply against the green vine-covered slopes and the fleecy-clouded summer sky. We soon reach the Place de l'Hotel de Ville, and continuing onward in the direction of the steep hills which shelter the town on the north, come to a ma.s.sive-looking corner house in front of the broad _porte-cochere_ of which some railway carts laden with cases of champagne are standing.

Pa.s.sing through the gateway we find ourselves in an open court, with a dwelling-house to the right and a range of buildings in front where the offices of Messrs. Deutz and Geldermann are installed. This is the central establishment of the firm, whose Extra Dry "Gold Lack" and "Cabinet" champagnes have long been favourably known in England. Here are s.p.a.cious celliers for disgorging and finis.h.i.+ng off the wine, a large packing-hall, and rooms where bales of corks and other accessories of the trade are stored, the operations of making the _cuvees_ and bottling being accomplished in an establishment some little distance off.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DRAWING OFF THE CUVeE AT DEUTZ & GELDERMANN'S, AY. (p. 118)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: EXCAVATING DEUTZ & GELDERMANN'S NEW CELLARS, AY. (p. 119)]

Proceeding thither, we find an elegant chateau with a charming terraced garden, lying at the very foot of the vine-clad slopes, and on the opposite side of the road some large celliers where wine in wood is stored, and where the _cuvees_ of the firm, consisting usually of upwards of 50,000 gallons each, are made in a vat of gigantic proportions, furnished with a raised platform at one end for the accommodation of the workman who agitates the customary paddles. When the wine is completely blended it is drawn off into casks disposed for the purpose in the cellar below, as shown in the accompanying engraving, and after being fined it rests for about a month to clear itself. To each of these casks of newly-blended wine a portion of old wine is added separately, and at the moment of bottling the whole is newly amalgamated.

Adjoining M. Deutz's chateau is the princ.i.p.al entrance to the extensive cellars of the firm, to which, at the time of our visit, considerable additions were being made. In excavating a gallery the workmen commence by rounding off the roof, and then proceed to work gradually downwards, extracting the chalk, whenever practicable, in blocks suitable for building purposes, which being worth from three to four s.h.i.+llings the square yard help to reduce the cost of the excavation. When any serious flaws present themselves in the sides or roof of the galleries, they are invariably made good with masonry.

This range of cellars now comprises eight long and lofty galleries no less than 17 feet wide, and the same number of feet in height, and of the aggregate length of 2,200 yards. These s.p.a.cious vaults, which run parallel with each other, and communicate by means of cross pa.s.sages, underlie the street, the chateau, the garden, and the vineyard slopes beyond, and possess the great advantage of being always dry. They are capable, we were informed, of containing several million bottles of champagne in addition to a large quant.i.ty of wine in cask.

Messrs. Deutz and Geldermann possess vineyards at Ay, and own a large vendangeoir at Verzenay, where in good years they usually press 500 pieces of wine. They, moreover, make large purchases of grapes at Bouzy, Cramant, Le Mesnil, Pierry, &c, and invariably have these pressed under their own superintendence. Beyond large s.h.i.+pments to England, Messrs.

Deutz and Geldermann transact a considerable business with other countries, and more especially with Germany, where their brand has been for years one of the most popular, and is to-day the favourite at numerous regimental messes and the princ.i.p.al hotels.

The old chateau of Ay, which dates from the early part of the last century, belongs to-day to the Count de Mareuil, a member of the firm of Ayala and Co., one of the leading establishments of the famous Marne-side cru. Perched half-way up the slope, covered with "golden plants," which rises in the rear of the village, the chateau, with its long facade of windows, commands the valley of the Marne for miles, and from the stately terraced walk, planted with ancient lime-trees, geometrically clipped in the fas.h.i.+on of the last century, a splendid view of the distant vineyards of Avize, Cramant, Epernay, and Chouilly is obtained. The chateau formed one of a quartette of seignorial residences which at the commencement of the present century belonged to Balthazar Constance Dange-Dorcay, whose ancestors had been lords of Chouilly under the _ancien regime_. Dorcay had inherited from an aunt the chateaux of Ay, Mareuil, Boursault, and Chouilly, together with a large patrimony in land and money; but a mania for gambling brought him to utter ruin, and he dispossessed himself of money, lands, and chateaux in succession, and was reduced, in his old age, to earn a meagre pittance as a violin-player at the Paris Opera House. The old chateau of Boursault, which still exists contiguous to the stately edifice raised by Mme. Clicquot on the summit of the hill, was risked and lost on a single game at cards by this pertinacious gamester, whose pressing pecuniary difficulties compelled him to sell the remaining chateaux one by one. That of Ay was purchased by M. Froc de la Boulaye, and by him bequeathed to his cousin the Count de Mareuil, whose granddaughter became the wife of one of the Messrs. Ayala, and whose son is to-day their partner.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MESSRS. AYALA & CO.'S ESTABLISHMENT AT AY. (p. 121)]

The offices of the firm adjoin the chateau, and rather higher up the hill is their very complete establishment, picturesquely situated in a hollow formed by some excavations, with the thickly-planted vine-slopes rising above its red-tiled roof. The boldly-designed bas.e.m.e.nt, the ascending sweep conducting to the extensive celliers and the little centre belfry give a character of originality to the building. Carts laden with cases of champagne are leaving for the railway station, casks of wine are being transferred from one part of the establishment to another, bottles are being got ready for the approaching tirage, and in the packing department, installed in one of the three celliers into which the story aboveground is divided, quite an animated scene presents itself. Iron columns support the roofs of this and its companion celliers, where the firm make their _cuvee_, and the bottling of the wine takes place. On descending into the bas.e.m.e.nt beneath, the popping of corks and the continual clatter of machinery intimate that the disgorging and re-corking of the wine are being accomplished, and in the dim light we discern groups of workmen engaged in the final manipulation which champagne has to undergo, while fresh relays of wine are arriving from the cellars by the aid of endless chains. There are two stories of these cellars which, excavated in the chalk, extend under the road and wind round beneath the chateau, the more modern galleries being broad, lofty, and admirably ventilated, and provided with supports of masonry wherever the instability of the chalk rendered this requisite. After a lengthened promenade through them we come to the ancient vaults extending immediately under the grounds of the chateau, where every particle of available s.p.a.ce is utilised, and some difficulty is found in pa.s.sing between the serried piles of bottles of _vin brut_--mostly the fine wine of 1874--which rise continuously on either side.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Within a hundred yards of the open s.p.a.ce, surrounded by houses of different epochs and considerable diversity of design, where the Ay market is weekly held, and in one of the narrow winding streets common to the town, an escutcheon, with a bunch of grapes for device, surmounting a lofty gateway, attracts attention. Within, a trim courtyard, girt round with orange-trees in bright green boxes, and clipped in orthodox fas.h.i.+on, affords access to the handsome residence and offices of M. Duminy, well-known in England and America as a s.h.i.+pper of high-cla.s.s champagnes, and whose Parisian connection is extensive. On the right-hand side of the courtyard is the packing-room, and through the cellars, which have an entrance here, one can reach the celliers in an adjoining street, where the _cuvee_ is made and the bottling of the wine accomplished.

M. Duminy's cellars are remarkably old, and consequently of somewhat irregular construction, being at times rather low and narrow, as well as on different levels. In addition, however, to these venerable vaults, packed with wines of 1869, '70, '72, and '74, M. Duminy has various subterranean adjuncts in other parts of Ay, and is at present engaged in constructing, at the foot of his vineyards up the mountain slope, a n.o.ble establishment which includes a vast court, upwards of a thousand square yards in extent, wherein are installed capacious bottle-racks and bottle-was.h.i.+ng machines of the latest improved manufacture. Here are also handsome and extensive celliers, together with immense underground cellars, comprising broad and lofty galleries of regular design, the whole being constructed with a completeness and studied regard for convenience which bid fair to render this establishment when finished the model one of the Champagne district.

The house was originally founded so far back as 1814 by M. Taverne-Richard, who was intimately connected with the princ.i.p.al vineyard proprietors of the district. In 1842 this gentleman took his son-in-law, M. Duminy, father of the present proprietor of the establishment, into partners.h.i.+p, and after the retirement of M. Taverne he gave a great impetus to the business, and succeeded in introducing his light and delicate wines into the princ.i.p.al Paris hotels and restaurants. During its two-thirds of a century of existence the house has invariably confined itself to first-cla.s.s wines, taking particular pride in s.h.i.+pping fully-matured growths. Besides its own large reserve of these, it holds considerable stocks long since disposed of, and now merely awaiting the purchasers' orders to be s.h.i.+pped.

A few paces beyond M. Duminy's we come upon an antiquated, decrepit-looking timber house, with its ancient gable bulging over as though the tough oak brackets on which it rests were at last grown weary of supporting their unwieldy burthen. Judging from the quaint carved devices, this house was doubtless the residence of an individual of some importance in the days when the princ.i.p.al European potentates had their commissioners installed at Ay to secure them the finest vintages.

Continuing our walk along the same narrow winding street, we soon reach the establishment of Messrs. Bollinger, whose house, founded in the year 1829, claims to be the first among the Ay firms who s.h.i.+pped wines to foreign countries generally, including England, where the brand has long been held in high repute. Messrs. Bollinger, besides being s.h.i.+ppers of champagne, are extensive vineyard proprietors, owning vinelands at Bouzy, Verzenay, and Dizy. A vineyard of theirs at the latter place, known as "La Grange," is said to have formerly belonged to the monks who founded the abbey of St. Peter at Hautvillers, the legend connected with which we have already related.

A couple of large gateways offer access to the s.p.a.cious courtyard of Messrs. Bollinger's establishment; a handsome dwelling-house standing on the right, and a small pavilion, in which the offices are installed, while on the left hand and in the rear of the courtyard rises a range of buildings of characteristic aspect, appropriated to the business of the firm. In one of the celliers, which has its open-raftered roof supported by slim metal columns, we found the tirage going on, the gang of workmen engaged in it filling, corking, and lowering into the cellars some 20,000 bottles a day. In one corner of the apartment stood the large _cuvee_ tun--capable of holding some 50 hogsheads--in which the blending of the wine is effected, and in an adjoining cellier women were briskly labelling and wrapping up the completed bottles of champagne. The cellars, constructed some fifty years ago at a cost of nearly 12 the superficial yard, are faced entirely with stone, and are alike wide and lofty; this is especially the case with four of the more modern galleries excavated in 1848, and each 160 feet in length. Besides the foregoing, Messrs. Bollinger possess other cellars in Ay, where they store their reserve wines both in bottle and in the wood.

On the northern side of Ay, some little distance from the vineyard owned by them, the firm of Pfungst freres & Cie. have their cellars, the entrance to which lies just under the lofty vine-clad ridge. Messrs.

Pfungst freres lay themselves out exclusively for the s.h.i.+pment of high-cla.s.s champagnes, and the excellent growths of the Ay district necessarily form an important element in their carefully-composed _cuvees_. A considerable portion of their stock consists of reserves of old wine, and we tasted here a variety of samples of finely-matured champagnes of 1868 and '70, as well as the vintages of 1872 and '74. 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, Messrs. Pfungst freres s.h.i.+p largely to India and the United States.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

It is on this side of the town that the fine old Gothic church, dating as far back as the twelfth century, is situated. Many of the mouldings and the capitals of the columns both inside and outside the building are covered over with grape-laden vine-branches, and the sculptured figure of a boy bearing a basket of grapes upon his head surmounts the handsome Renaissance doorway, seemingly to indicate the honour in which the vine--the source of all the prosperity of the little town--was held both by the mediaeval and later architects of the edifice. Nigh to the church stands the old house with its obliterated carved escutcheons, known traditionally as the Vendangeoir of Henri Quatre. This monarch loved the wine of the place almost as well as his favourite vintage of Arbois, and dubbed himself, as we have already mentioned, Seigneur of Ay, whose inhabitants he sought to gratify by confirming the charter which centuries before had been granted to the town.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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-plats, with vine-clad hills rising abruptly behind on the one side, and the Marne ca.n.a.l 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 ma.s.sive-looking eighteenth-century building, s.p.a.cious 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 s.p.a.cious courtyard to the left of which stands a grand chateau, 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 inclosing the court on three sides comprise press-houses, celliers, and packing-rooms, an antiquated sundial marking the hour on the blank s.p.a.ce 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 chateau of Mareuil, purchased in 1830 by the Duke de Montebello, son of the famous Marshal Lannes, and minister and amba.s.sador 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 Ba.s.sano and Lodi, took part in the a.s.sault of Pavia and the siege of Mantua, and at Arcola, when Napoleon dashed flag in hand upon the bridge, Lannes was seriously wounded whilst s.h.i.+elding 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE MONTEBELLO ESTABLISHMENT AT MAREUIL. (p. 126)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHaTEAU OF MAREUIL, BELONGING TO THE DUKE OF MONTEBELLO. (p. 127.)]

We were met at Mareuil, on the occasion of our visit, by Count Alfred Ferdinand de Montebello, the present manager of the house, and conducted by him over the establishment. In the press-house, to the left of the courtyard, were two of the ponderous presses used in the Champagne, for, like all other large firms, the house makes its own wine. Grapes grown in the Mareuil vineyards arrive here in baskets slung across the backs of mules, muzzled so that while awaiting their loads they may not devour the fruit within reach. In a cellier adjoining the press-house stands a large vat, capable of holding 50 pieces of wine, with a crane beside it for hauling up the casks when the _cuvee_ is made. Here the tirage likewise takes place, and in the range of buildings, roofed with gla.s.s, in the rear of the tower, the bottled wine is labelled, capped with foil, and packed in cases for transmission to Paris, England, and other places abroad.

A double flight of steps, decorated with lamps and vases, leads to the handsome offices of the firm, situated on the first floor of the tower, while above is an apartment with a panelled ceiling, gracefully decorated with groups of Cupids engaged in the vintage and the various operations which the famous wines of the Mountain and the River undergo during their conversion into champagne. On the ground floor of the tower a low doorway conducts to the s.p.a.cious cellars, which, owing to the proximity of the Marne, are all on the same level as well as constructed in masonry. The older vaults, where the Marquis de Pange, a former owner of the chateau, stored the wine which he used to sell to the champagne manufacturers, are somewhat low and tortuous compared with the broad and lofty galleries of more recent date, which have been constructed as the growing connection of the firm obliged them to increase their stocks.

Spite, however, of numerous additions, portions of their reserves have to be stored in other cellars in Mareuil. Considerable stocks of each of the four qualities of wine supplied by the firm are being got ready for disgorgement, including Cartes Noires and Bleues, with the refined Carte Blanche and the delicate Cremant, which challenge comparison with brands of the highest repute.

In the adjacent chateau, the gardens of which slope down to the Marne ca.n.a.l, there are various interesting portraits, with one or two relics of the distinguished founder of the Montebello family, notably Marshal Lannes's gold-embroidered velvet saddle trappings, his portrait and that of Marshal Gerard, as well as one of Napoleon I., by David, with a handsome clock and candelabra of Egyptian design, a bust of Augustus Caesar, and a portrait of the Regent d'Orleans.

Another champagne house of standing at Mareuil is that of Bruch-Foucher and Co., whose establishment is situated near the village mairie.

Entering by a lofty porte-cochere, we notice on the left hand a s.p.a.cious packing-room, where men and women are expeditiously completing some s.h.i.+pping order, while beyond are the offices, looking on to a terraced garden whence a pleasant view is gained of the verdant valley of the Marne. From the packing-room a broad staircase leads to the cellars beneath, which can also be reached from a venerable range of buildings on the opposite side of the road, where young wines and old cognac spirit, used in the preparation of the liqueur, are stored in the wood.

In one of these ancient celliers is a vast tun, capable of containing nearly 5,000 gallons, carved over with an elaborate device of vineleaves and bunches of grapes entwined around overflowing cornucopia and bottles of champagne. This handsome cask, in which the firm make their _cuvee_, is a worthy rival of the sole antique ornamental tun that still reposes in the Royal cellars at Wurzburg. In Messrs. Bruch-Foucher and Co.'s capacious cellars, faced and vaulted with stone, from eight to nine hundred thousand bottles of wine are stored. The cellars form a single story, and extend partly under the adjacent vineyard slopes, deriving light and ventilation from numerous shafts which are occasionally no less than 150 feet in height. Messrs. Bruch-Foucher and Co., who are owners of vineyards at Mareuil, s.h.i.+p three qualities of champagne, the finest being their Carte d'Or and their Monogram Carte Blanche. Their chief business is with England, Germany, and the United States, where their brands enjoy considerable repute.