5 / 244
Claret.
5
gas,
that
no
one can
enter
farther
than
the
doorway.
There
the
listener
may
hear
strange
bubblings
solemnly
echoing
in
the
cool
and
dark
hall,
and
which
proclaim
that
a
great
change
is
taking
place,
—
that
these
vats
of
mawkish,
sweet,
juice
are
being
con-
verted
into
noble
and
generous
wine.
There
is
some-
thing
wonderful
in
this
mysterious
change.
Nature
will
have
no
intrusion
during
her
mystic
opera
tions.
The
atmosphere
around
and
near
the
vats
would
be
death
to
any
who
should
venture
near,
fenced
in,
as
the
vats
are,
during
the
grand
trans-
mutation
by
a
halo
of
stifling
carbonic
gas.
The
French
are
generally
considered
the
best
vine-cultivators
in
the
world.
The
process
of
wine-
treading
is
pursued
very
generally
in
France,
being
considered
superior,
in
many
vine
districts,
to
the
employment
of
mechanical
squeezing.
But
this
last
process
is
used
for
expressing
the
juice
of
the
grape
for
the
sparkling
wines
of
Champagne,
and
it is
also
the
case
in
Germany.
The
wines
known
in
France
as
Vins
de
Bordeaux,
are
with
us
classed
under
the
general
name
of
Claret,
a
name
signifying
that
it
is
a
mixed
wine
of a
clear
red
colour,
“
Claret,
sweet
as
the
lips
we
press,
In
sparkling
fancy,
as
we
drain
the
bowl.”