The offices of the firm adjoin the château, and rather higher up the hill is their very complete establishment, picturesquely situated in a hollow formed by some excavations, with the thickly-planted vine-slopes rising above its red-tiled roof. The boldly-designed basement, the ascending sweep conducting to the extensive celliers and the little centre belfry give a character of originality to the building. Carts laden with cases of champagne are leaving for the railway station, casks of wine are being transferred from one part of the establishment to another, bottles are being got ready for the approaching tirage, and in the packing department, installed in one of the three celliers into which the story aboveground is divided, quite an animated scene presents itself. Iron columns support the roofs of this and its companion celliers, where the firm make their _cuvée_, and the bottling of the wine takes place. On descending into the basement beneath, the popping of corks and the continual clatter of machinery intimate that the disgorging and re-corking of the wine are being accomplished, and in the dim light we discern groups of workmen engaged in the final manipulation which champagne has to undergo, while fresh relays of wine are arriving from the cellars by the aid of endless chains. There are two stories of these cellars which, excavated in the chalk, extend under the road and wind round beneath the château, the more modern galleries being broad, lofty, and admirably ventilated, and provided with supports of masonry wherever the instability of the chalk rendered this requisite. After a lengthened promenade through them we come to the ancient vaults extending immediately under the grounds of the château, where every particle of available space is utilised, and some difficulty is found in passing between the serried piles of bottles of _vin brut_--mostly the fine wine of 1874--which rise continuously on either side. [Illustration] Within a hundred yards of the open space, surrounded by houses of different epochs and considerable diversity of design, where the Ay market is weekly held, and in one of the narrow winding streets common to the town, an escutcheon, with a bunch of grapes for device, surmounting a lofty gateway, attracts attention. Within, a trim courtyard, girt round with orange-trees in bright green boxes, and clipped in orthodox fashion, affords access to the handsome residence and offices of M. Duminy, well-known in England and America as a shipper of high-class champagnes, and whose Parisian connection is extensive. On the right-hand side of the courtyard is the packing-room, and through the cellars, which have an entrance here, one can reach the celliers in an adjoining street, where the _cuvée_ is made and the bottling of the wine accomplished.