1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

21

The Vintage in the Vineyards of the R iver.

sent a series of scenes of quiet beauty. The undulating ground is everywhere cultivated like a garden. Handsome chateaux and charming country houses peep out from amid luxuriant foliage. Picturesque R.ntiquated villages line the river's bank or climb the hill sides, and after leaving La Ferte-sous-Jouarre, the cradle of the Condcs, all the more favoured situations commence to be covered with vines. This is especially the casei.n the vicinity of Chfi.teau -Thierry– the birthplace of La Fontaine-where the view is shut in on all sides by vine-clad slopes, which the spring frosts seldom spare., H ence merely one good vintage out of foUl" gladdens the hearts of the peasant proprietors, who find eager plll"chasers for their \ produce among the lower-class manufactUl"ers of champagne. Jn the same way the petit vin de Ohierry, dexterously prepared and judiciously mingled with other growths, often :figui·es as "Fleur de Sillery" or "Ay l\fousseux." In reality it is not until we have passed the ornate modern Gothic chitteau of Boursault, erected in her declining years by the wealthy Veuve Clicquot, by far the shrewdest manipulator of the sparkling products of Ay and Bouzy of her day, and the many towers and turrets of which, rising above umbrageous trees, crown the loftiest height within eyesbot .of Epernay, that we find omselves within that charmed circle of vineyards whence champagne-the wine, not merely of princes, as it has been somewhat obsequiously termed, but essentially the vin de societe-is derived. The vinelands in the vicinity of Epernay, and consequently near the Marne, are commonly known as the " Vineyards of the· River," whilst those covering the slopes in the neighbourhood of Reims are termed the "Vineyards of the Mountain." The Vineyards of the River comprise three distinct divisions-first, those lining the right bank of the Marne and enjoying a southern and south-eastern aspect, among which are Ay, Hautvillers, Cumieres, Dizy, and Mareuil; secondly, the Cote d'Epernay 9n the left bank of the river, of which Pierry, Moussy, and Vinav form part; and thirdly', the Cote d'Avize (the region pa1· excellence of white grapes), which stretches towards the south-east, and