XVII.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF GERMANY (continued).

From Coblenz to Rüdesheim-- Ewald and Co.'s Establishment and its Pleasant Situation-- Their Fine Vaulted Cellars and Convenient Accessories-- Their Supplies of Wine drawn from the most favoured Localities-- The Celebrated Vineyards of the Rheingau-- Eltville and the extensive Establishment of Matheus Müller-- His Vast Stocks of Still and Sparkling German Wines-- The Vineyards laid under contribution for the latter-- M. Müller's Sparkling Johannisberger, Champagne, and Red Sparkling Assmannshauser-- The Site of Gutenberg's Birthplace at Mayence occupied by the Offices and Wine-cellars of Lauteren Sohn-- The Sparkling Wine Establishment of the Firm and their Fine Collection of Hocks and Moselles-- The Hochheim Sparkling Wine Association-- Foundation of the Establishment-- Its Superior Sparkling Hocks and Moselles-- The Sparkling Wine Establishments of Stock and Sons at Creuznach in the Nahe Valley, of Kessler and Co. at Esslingen, on the Neckar, and of M. Oppmann at Würzburg-- The Historic Cellars of the King of Bavaria beneath the Residenz-- The Establishment of F. A. Siligmüller 183

XVIII.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF AUSTRO-HUNGARY, SWITZERLAND, ITALY, SPAIN, RUSSIA, &C.

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 196

XIX.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF THE UNITED STATES.

Earliest Efforts at Wine-Making in America-- Failures to Acclimatise European Vines-- Wines Made by the Swiss Settlers and the Mission Fathers-- The Yield of the Mission Vineyards-- The Monster Vine of the Montecito Valley-- The Catawba Vine and its General Cultivation-- Mr. Longworth one of the Founders of American Viticulture-- Fresh Attempts to make Sparkling Wine at Cincinnati-- Existing Sparkling Wine Manufactures there-- Longfellow's Song in Praise of Catawba-- The Kelley Island Wine Company-- Vintaging and Treatment of their Sparkling Wines-- Decrease of Consumption-- The Vineyards of Hammondsport-- Varieties of Grapes used for Sparkling Wines-- The Vintage-- After Treatment of the Wines-- The Pleasant Valley and Urbana Wine Companies and their Various Brands-- Californian Sparkling Wines-- The Buena Vista Vinicultural Society of San Francisco-- Its Early Failures and Eventual Success in Manufacturing Sparkling Wines-- The Vintage in California-- Chinese Vintagers-- How the Wine is Made-- American Spurious Sparkling Wines 203

XX.--CONCLUDING FACTS AND HINTS.

Dry and Sweet Champagnes-- Their Sparkling Properties-- Form of Champagne Glasses-- Style of Sparkling Wines Consumed in Different Countries-- The Colour and Alcoholic Strength of Champagne-- Champagne Approved of by the Faculty-- Its Use in Nervous Derangements-- The Icing of Champagne-- Scarcity of Grand Vintages in the Champagne-- The Quality of the Wine has little influence on the Price-- Prices realised by the Ay and Verzenay Crûs in Grand Years-- Suggestions for laying down Champagnes of Grand Vintages-- The Improvement they Develop after a few Years-- The Wine of 1874-- The proper kind of Cellar to lay down Champagne in-- Advantages of Burrow's Patent Slider Wine Bins-- Increase in the Consumption of Champagne-- Tabular Statement of Stocks, Exports, and Home Consumption from 1844-5 to 1877-8-- When to Serve Champagne at a Dinner Party-- Charles Dickens's dictum that its proper place is at a Ball-- Advantageous Effect of Champagne at an Ordinary British Dinner Party-- Sparkling Wine Cups 212

THE PRINCIPAL SPARKLING WINE BRANDS 225

[Illustrated Text:]

FACTS ABOUT CHAMPAGNE AND OTHER SPARKLING WINES.

I.--THE ORIGIN OF CHAMPAGNE.

The Early Vineyards of the Champagne-- Their Produce esteemed by Popes and Kings, Courtiers and Prelates-- Controversy regarding the rival Merits of the Wines of Burgundy and the Champagne-- Dom Perignon's happy Discovery of Sparkling Wine-- Its Patrons under Louis Quatorze and the Regency-- The Ancient Church and Abbey of Hautvillers-- Farre and Co.'s Champagne Cellars-- The Abbey of St. Peter now a Farm-- Existing Remains of the Monastic Buildings-- The Tombs and Decorations of the Ancient Church-- The Last Resting-Place of Dom Perignon--The Legend of the Holy Dove-- Good Champagne the Result of Labour, Skill, Minute Precaution, and Careful Observation.

Strong men, we know, lived before Agamemnon; and strong wine was made in the fair province of Champagne long before the days of the sagacious Dom Perignon, to whom we are indebted for the sparkling vintage known under the now familiar name. The chalky slopes that border the Marne were early recognised as offering special advantages for the culture of the vine. The priests and monks, whose vows of sobriety certainly did not lessen their appreciation of the good things of this life, and the produce of whose vineyards usually enjoyed a higher reputation than that of their lay neighbours, were clever enough to seize upon the most eligible sites, and quick to spread abroad the fame of their wines. St. Remi, baptiser of Clovis, the first Christian king in France, at the end of the fifth century left by will, to various churches, the vineyards which he owned at Reims and Laon, together with the "vilains" employed in their cultivation. Some three and a half centuries later we find worthy Bishop Pardulus of Laon imitating Paul's advice to Timothy, and urging Archbishop Hincmar to drink of the wines of Epernay and Reims for his stomach's sake. The crusade-preaching Pope, Urban II., who was born among the vineyards of the Champagne, dearly loved the wine of Ay; and his energetic appeals to the princes of Europe to take up arms for the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre may have owed some of their eloquence to his favourite beverage.

The red wine of the Champagne sparkled on the boards of monarchs in the Middle Ages when they sat at meat amidst their mailclad chivalry, and quaffed mighty beakers to the confusion of the Paynim. Henry of Andely has sung in his fabliau of the "Bataille des Vins," how, when stout Philip Augustus and his chaplain constituted themselves the earliest known wine-jury, the crûs of Espernai, Auviler, Chaalons, and Reims were amongst those which found most favour in their eyes, though nearly a couple of centuries elapsed before Eustace Deschamps recorded in verse the rival merits of those of Cumières and Ay. King Wenceslaus of Bohemia, a mighty toper, got so royally drunk day after day upon the vintages of the Champagne, that he forgot all about the treaty with Charles VI., that had formed the pretext of his visit to France, and would probably have lingered, goblet in hand, in the old cathedral city till the day of his death, but for the presentation of a little account for wine consumed, which sobered him to repentance and led to his abrupt departure. Dunois, Lahire, Xaintrailles, and their fellows, when they rode with Joan of Arc to the coronation of Charles VII., drank the same generous fluid, through helmets barred, to the speedy expulsion of the detested English from the soil of France.

The vin d'Ay--vinum Dei as Dominicus Baudoin punningly styled it--was, according to old Paulmier, the ordinary drink of the kings and princes of his day. It fostered bluff King Hal's fits of passion and the tenth Leo's artistic extravagance; consoled Francis I. for the field of Pavia, and solaced his great rival in his retirement at St. Just. All of them had their commissioners at Ay to secure the best wine for their own consumption. Henri Quatre, whose vendangeoir is still shown in the village, held the wine in such honour that he was wont to style himself the Seigneur d'Ay, just as James of Scotland was known as the Gudeman of Ballangeich. When his son, Louis XIII., was crowned, the wines of the Champagne were the only growths allowed to grace the board at the royal banquet. Freely too did they flow at the coronation feast of the Grand Monarque, when the crowd of assembled courtiers, who quaffed them in his honour, hailed them as the finest wines of the day.

But the wines which drew forth all these encomiums were far from resembling the champagne of modern times. They were not, as has been asserted, all as red as burgundy and as flat as port; for at the close of the sixteenth, century some of them were of a fauve or yellowish hue, and of the intermediate tint between red and white which the French call clairet, and which our old writers translate as the "complexion of a cherry" or the "colour of a partridge's eye." But, as a rule, the wines of the Champagne up to this period closely resembled those produced in the adjacent province, where Charles the Bold had once held sway; a resemblance, no doubt, having much to do with the great medical controversy regarding their respective merits which arose in 1652. In that year a young medical student, hard pressed for the subject of his inaugural thesis, and in the firm faith that