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THE FLOWING BOWL
cellar some fifty yards below the level of the
street pavements, with occasionally bottles burst
ing to right and left of you. These cellars are
cut out of the calcareous rock, and were, many of
them, inherited from the Romans; and cham
pagne is such a sensitive, exacting sort of wine
that it must be stored in the very bowels of the
earth, where all is peace and quietude, and where
neither motion nor vibration can reach the
maturing vintages.
At least that is what they tell visitors;
although the only time I have visited champagne
cellars could hardly be called a peaceful experi
ence, owing to the almost continuous bombard
ment of bursting bottles. And it is said that as
a rule at least 10 per cent of the stored wine is
wasted in this way ; whilst in seasons of early
and unusual heat the percentage may rise to as
much as 20, and even 25.
Sparkling champagne—and we are not con
cerned with the still wine—is the result of a
peculiar treatment during fermentation. During
the winter months the wine is racked-oif, and
fined with isinglass ; and in the early spring it is
bottled and tightly corked. In order to collect
the sediment in the necks of the bottles these are
placed at first in a sloping condition, with the
corks downward, for a term.
In the second
year this sediment requires to be disgorged, or
degage-e-A.
This feat can only be learnt by long
practice, and even then there be workmen who
cannot be safely trusted to shift the sediment,
without shifting a too-large proportion of the
wine itself.