Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling WinesVizetelly, Henry
History
Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines
Vizetelly, Henry
Champagne (Wine); Sparkling wines; Wine and wine making
Sparkling Voslauer-- The Sparkling Wine Manufactories of Graz--
Establishment of Kleinoscheg Brothers-- Vintaging and Treatment of
Styrian Champagnes-- Sparkling Red, Rose, and White Wines of
Hungary-- The Establishment of Hubert and Habermann at Pressburg--
Sparkling Wines of Croatia, Galicia, Bohemia, Moravia, Dalmatia, the
Tyrol, Transylvania, and the Banat-- Neuchâtel Champagne-- Sparkling
Wine Factories at Vevay and Sion-- The Vevay Vineyards--
Establishment of De Riedmatten and De Quay-- Sparkling Muscatel,
Malmsey, Brachetto, Castagnolo, and Lacryma Christi of Italy--
Sparkling Wines of Spain, Greece, Algeria, and Russia-- The Krimski
and Donski Champagnes-- The Latter Chiefly Consumed at the Great
Russian Fairs.
Sparkling wines are made in various parts of Austria and Hungary, and of
late years their produce has been largely on the increase. At Voslau, in
the vicinity of the picturesque and fashionable summer watering-place of
Baden, about twenty miles south of Vienna, Herr R. Schlumberger, one of
my colleagues on the wine jury at the Vienna and Paris Exhibitions of
1873 and ’8, makes a white sparkling Voslauer--introduced into England
some years since--from the blue portuguese, the burgundy (the pineau
noir), the rulander (the pineau gris), and the riesling varieties of
grape. It is, however, at Graz, the capital of Styria, picturesquely
situated on the river Mur, and surrounded by lofty mountains, where
sparkling wines are made upon the largest scale and with the most
success. By far the principal manufactory is that of Kleinoscheg
Brothers, founded in the year 1850, at an epoch when the larger Styrian
wine-growers were directing their attention to the general improvement
of their vineyards. The firm gained their knowledge of sparkling wines
by practical experience acquired in the Champagne itself, and to-day
they unquestionably produce some of the best sparkling wines that are
made out of France. They possess extensive vineyards of their own, and
are also large purchasers of wines from the best districts, including
Pettau, Radkersburg, the Picherergebirge, and Luttenberg, the latter
yielding the finest wine which Styria produces, vintaged from the mosler
or furmint--that is, the Tokay variety of grape.
White wine from the clevener grape, understood to be identical with the
pineau noir of Burgundy and the Champagne, and vintaged early in
October, forms the basis of the sparkling wines manufactured by
Kleinoscheg Brothers. The produce of several other grapes, however,
enters in a limited degree into the blend, including the riesling, the
rulander or pineau gris, and the portuguese, the gathering of which is
usually delayed several weeks later, and is sometimes even deferred
until the end of November. The first and second pressings of the black
grapes yield a white must as in the Champagne, while the third and
fourth give a pink wine of which the firm make a speciality.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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