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
That superior quality does not involve enhanced price is proved by the
amounts paid for the Ay and Verzenay crûs in years of grand vintages.
During the present century these appear to have been 1802, ’06, ’11,
’18, ’22, ’25, ’34, ’42, ’46, ’57, ’65, ’68, and ’74--that is, thirteen
grand vintages in nearly eighty years. Other good vintages, although not
equal to the foregoing, occurred in the years 1815, ’32, ’39, ’52, ’54,
’58, ’62, ’64, and ’70. Confining ourselves to the grand years, we find
that the Ay wine of 1834, owing to the crop being plentiful as well as
good, only realised from 110 to 140 francs the pièce of 44 gallons,
although for two years previously this had fetched from 150 to 200
francs. In 1842 the price ranged from 120 to 150 francs, whereas the
vastly inferior wine of the year before had commanded from 210 to 275
francs. In 1846, the crop being a small one, the price of the wine rose,
and in 1857 the pièce fetched as much as from 480 to 500 francs, still
this was merely a trifle higher than it had realised the two preceding
years. In 1865 the price was 380 to 400 francs, and in 1868 about the
same, whereas the indifferent vintages of 1871, ’72, and ’73 realised
from 500 to 1,000 francs the pièce. It was very similar with the wine of
Verzenay. In 1834 the price of the pièce ranged from 280 to 325 francs,
or about the average of the three preceding years. In 1846, the crop
being scarce, the price rose considerably, while in 1857, when the crop
was plentiful, it fell to 500 francs, or from 5 to 20 per cent. below
that of the two previous years, when the yield was both inferior and
less abundant. In 1865 the price rose 33 per cent. above that of the
year before; still, although Verzenay wine of 1865 and 1868 fetched from
420 to 450 francs the pièce, and that of 1874 as much as 900 francs, the
greatly inferior vintages of 1872-73 commanded 900 and 1,030 francs the
pièce.
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