A History of Champagne, with Notes on the Other Sparkling Wines of FranceVizetelly, Henry
History
A History of Champagne, with Notes on the Other Sparkling Wines of France
Vizetelly, Henry
Champagne (Wine) -- History; Wine and wine making -- France
Messrs. Heidsieck & Co. have a handsome modern establishment in the Rue
Coquebert--a comparatively new quarter of the city, where Champagne
establishments are the rule--the courtyard of which, alive with workmen
at the time of our visit, is broad and spacious, while the surrounding
buildings are light and airy, and the cellars lofty, regular, and well
ventilated. In a large cellier here, where the tuns are ranged side
by side between the rows of iron columns supporting the roof, the
firm make their cuvée. Here, too, the bottling of their wine takes
place, and considerable stocks of high-class reserve wines and more
youthful growths are stored ready for removal when required by the
central establishment. The bulk of Messrs. Heidsieck's reserve wines,
however, repose in the outskirts of Reims, near the Porte Dieu-Lumière,
in one of the numerous abandoned chalk quarries, which of late years
the Champagne manufacturers have discovered are capable of being
transformed into admirable cellars.
In addition to shipping a rich and a dry variety of the Monopole
brand, of which they are sole proprietors, Messrs. Heidsieck export
to this country a rich and a dry Grand Vin Royal. It is, however, to
their famous Monopole wine, and especially to the dry variety, which
must necessarily comprise the finest growths, that the firm owe their
principal celebrity.
Few large manufacturing towns like Reims--which is one of the most
important of those engaged in the woollen manufacture in France--can
boast of such fine promenades and such handsome boulevards as the
capital of the Champagne. As the ancient fortifications of the city
were from time to time razed, their site was levelled and generally
planted with trees, so that the older quarters of Reims are almost
encircled by broad and handsome thoroughfares, separating the city, as
it were, from its outlying suburbs. In or close to the broad Boulevard
du Temple, which takes its name from its proximity to the site of the
ancient Commanderie of the Templars, various Champagne manufacturers,
including M. Louis Roederer, M. Ernest Irroy, and M. Charles
Heidsieck, have their establishments; while but a few paces off, in
the neighbouring Rue Coquebert, are the large and handsome premises of
Messrs. Krug & Co.
[Illustration: M. ERNEST IRROY'S ESTABLISHMENT AT REIMS.]
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