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
The Messrs. Werlé own numerous acres of vineyards, comprising the very
finest situations in the well-known districts of Verzenay, Bouzy, Le
Mesnil, and Oger, at all of which places they have vendangeoirs or
pressing-houses of their own. Their establishment at Verzenay contains
seven presses, that at Bouzy eight, at Le Mesnil six, and at Oger two,
in addition to which grapes are pressed under their own supervision at
Ay, Avize, and Cramant in vendangeoirs belonging to their friends.
Since the death of Madame Clicquot the legal style of the firm has been
Werlé and Co., successors to Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin, the mark, of
which M. Werlé and his son are the sole proprietors, still remaining
“Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin,” while the corks of the bottles are branded
with the words “V. Clicquot-P. Werlé,” encircling the figure of a comet.
The style of the wine--light, delicate, elegant, and fragrant--is
familiar to all connoisseurs of champagne. What, however, is not equally
well known is that within the last few years the firm, in obedience to
the prevailing taste, have introduced a perfectly dry wine of
corresponding quality to the richer wine which made the fortune of the
house.
The house of M. Louis Roederer, founded by a plodding German named
Schreider, pursued the sleepy tenor of its way for years, until all at
once it felt prompted to lay siege to the Muscovite connection of La
Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin and secure a market for its wine at Moscow and
St. Petersburg. It next opened up the United States, and finally
introduced its brand into England. The house possesses cellars in
various parts of Reims, and has its offices in one of the oldest
quarters of the city--namely, the Rue des Élus, or ancient Rue des
Juifs, records of which date as far back as 1103. These offices are at
the farther end of a courtyard beyond which is a second court, where
carts being laden with cases of champagne seemed to indicate that some
portion of the shipping business of the house is here carried on.
M. Louis Roederer refused our request for permission to visit his
establishments, so that it is only of their external appearance that
we are able to speak. One of them--the façade of which is rather
imposing, and which has a carved head of Bacchus surmounting the
_porte-cochère_--is situated in the Boulevard du Temple, while the
principal establishment, a picturesque range of buildings of
considerable extent, is in the neighbouring Rue de la Justice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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