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
The buildings on the opposite side of the courtyard comprise a
large packing-hall, celliers where the wine is finished off, and
rooms where corks and suchlike things are stored. Here, too, is the
entrance to the cellars, of which there are three tiers, all lofty
and well-ventilated galleries, very regular in their construction,
and faced with either stone or brick. In these extensive vaults are
casks of fine reserved wines for blending with youthful vintages,
and bottles of _vin brut_, built up in solid stacks, that may be
reckoned by their hundreds of thousands. At Messrs. Giesler's the
disgorging of the wine is accomplished in a small cellier partially
underground, and the temperature of which is very cool and equable. The
_dégorgeurs_, isolated from the rest of the workpeople, are carrying
on their operations here by candlelight. So soon as the sediment is
removed, the bottles are raised in baskets to the cellier above, where
the liqueuring, recorking, stringing, and wiring are successively
accomplished. By pursuing this plan the loss sustained by the
disgorgement is believed to be reduced to a minimum.
Extensive as these premises are, they are still insufficient for the
requirements of the firm; and across the road is a spacious building
where new bottles are stored, and the washing of the bottles in
preparation for the tirage takes place. By the aid of the machinery
provided sixteen women, assisted by a couple of men, commonly wash some
fifteen or sixteen thousand bottles in the course of a day. Here, too,
stands one of the two large presses with which, at the epoch of the
vintage, a hundred pièces of wine are pressed every four-and-twenty
hours. The remaining press is installed in a cellier at the farther end
of the garden on the other side of the road. Messrs. Giesler possess
additional presses at their vendangeoir at Bouzy, and during the
vintage have the command of presses at Ay, Verzenay, Vertus, Le Mesnil,
&c.; it being a rule of theirs always to press the grapes within a few
hours after they are gathered, to obviate their becoming bruised by
their own weight and imparting a dark colour to the wine, a contingency
difficult to guard against in seasons when the fruit is over-ripe. The
firm own vineyards at Avize, and have agreements with vine-proprietors
at Ay, Bouzy, Verzenay, and elsewhere, to purchase their crops
regularly every year. Messrs. Giesler's brand has secured its existing
high repute solely through the fine quality of the wines shipped by the
house--wines which are known and appreciated by all real connoisseurs
of Champagne.
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