Chapter XVI: Appendix (1)

THE PRINCIPAL CHAMPAGNE AND OTHER FRENCH SPARKLING WINE BRANDS.

[asterism] In this list, whenever a manufacturer has various qualities, the higher qualities are always placed first.

The lowest qualities are omitted altogether.

CHAMPAGNES.

Firms and Wholesale Brands. Qualities. On side of Corks.
Agents.

AYALA & Co., Extra (Dry) Extra.
/Ay/ First (Dry) Première.
Ayala & Co., 59 & Second.
60 Great
Tower-street,
London
Runk & Unger, 50
Park-place,
New York

BINET FILS & Co., Dry Elite Dry Elite.
/Reims/ First First quality.
Rutherford & Browne,
5 Water-lane,
London

BOLLINGER, J., Very Dry Extra Very Dry Extra
/Ay/ quality.
L. Mentzendorf, 6 Dry Extra Dry Extra
Idol-lane, quality.
London
E. & J. Burke,
40 Beaver-street,
New York

BRUCH-FOUCHER & Co., Carte d'Or.
/Mareuil/ First.
L. Ehrmann, 34 Great Second.
Tower-street,
London

CLICQUOT-PONSARDIN, Dry England.
/Vve., Reims/ Rich "
(WERLE & Co.)
Fenwick, Parrot, &
Co., 124
Fenchurch-street,
London
Schmidt Bros., New
York

DE CAZANOVE, C., Vin Monarque Extra.
/Avise/ First.
J. R. Hunter & Co., Second.
46 Fenchurch-street,
London

DEUTZ & GELDERMANN, Gold Lack Gold Lack.
/Ay/ (Extra Dry
J. R. Parkington & and Dry)
Co., Crutched Cabinet (Extra Cabinet.
Friars, London Dry and Dry)

DUCHATEL-OHAUS, Carte Blanche
/Reims/ (Dry and
Woellworth & Co., Rich).
70 Mark-lane, Verzenay (do.).
London Sillery (do.).

DUMINY & Co., Extra Maison fondée en
/Ay/ 1814.
Fickus, Courtenay, & First "
Co., St.
Dunstan's-buildings,
St. Dunstan's-hill,
London
Anthony Oechs, 51
Warren-street, New
York

ERNEST IRROY, Carte d'Or, Carte d'Or, Sec.
/Reims/ Dry
Cuddeford & Smith, Carte d'Or Carte d'Or.
66 Mark-lane,
London
F. O. de Luze & Co.,
18 South
William-street,
New York

FARRE, CHARLES, Cabinet (Grand Cabinet (Grand
/Reims/. Vin) Vin).
Hornblower & Co., Carte Blanche Carte Blanche.
50 Mark-lane, Carte Noire Carte Noire.
London
Gilmor & Gibson,
Baltimore
Mel & Sons, San
Francisco
Hogg, Robinson,
& Co., Melbourne

FISSE, THIRION, & Cachet d'Or Cachet d'Or.
Co., /Reims/ (Extra Dry
Stallard & Smith, and Medium
25 Philpot-lane, Dry)
London Carte Blanche Carte Blanche.
(Dry,
Medium Dry,
and Rich)
Carte Noire Carte Noire.
(Dry and
Medium Dry)

GÉ-DUFAUT & Co., Vin de Réserve.
/Pierry/ Vin de Cabinet.
L. Rosenheim & Sons, Bouzy, 1^{er}
7 Union-court, Cru.
Old Broad-street, Fleur de
London Sillery.

GIBERT, GUSTAVE, Vin du Roi
/Reims/ (Extra Dry,
Cock, Russell, & Co., Dry, or
23 Rood-lane, Rich).
London
Hays & Co., 40 Extra (Extra
Day-street, Dry, Dry,
New York or Rich).

GIESLER & Co., Extra Extra.
/Avize/ Superior
F. Giesler & Co., India India.
32 Fenchurch-street, First.
London
Purdy & Nicholas,
43 Beaver-street Second.
New York

HEIDSIECK & Co., Dry Monopole.
/Reims/. Monopole (Rich).
Theodor Satow & Co., Dry Vin
141 Fenchurch-street, Royal.
London Grand Vin
Schmidt & Peters, Royal (Rich).
20 Beaver-street,
New York

KRUG & Co., Carte Carte Blanche,
/Reims/ Blanche England.
Inglis & Cunningham, Private Private Cuvée,
60 Mark-lane, Cuvée England.
London
A. Rocherau & Co.,
New York

MAX. SUTAINE & Co., Creaming Sillery
/Reims/ (Extra Dry).
(VEUVE MORELLE & Co.)
H. Schultz, 71 Great Creaming Sillery.
Tower-st., London
Knoepfel & Co., 60 Bouzy (Dry).
Liberty-street, Sparkling Sillery.
New York

MOËT & CHANDON, Brut Imperial, England.
/Epernay/ Impérial
Simon & Dale, Creaming Creaming, "
Old Trinity House,
5 Water-lane, Extra Extra
London, Agents for Superior Superior, "
Gt. Britain and Extra Dry White Dry, "
the Colonies Sillery
Renauld, François, White Dry " " , "
& Co., 23 Sillery
Beaver-street, First England.
New York
J. Hope & Co., Second.
Montreal

MONTEBELLO, DUC DE, Cuvée Extra Cuvée Extra.
/Mareuil/ Carte Reserve.
John Hopkins & Co., Blanche
26 Crutched
Friars, London
Coyle & Turner,
31 Lower Ormond
Quay, Dublin

MUMM (G. H.) & Co., Vin Brut
/Reims/ Extra.
W. J. & T. Welch, Carte Carte Blanche.
10 Corn Exchange Blanche
Chambers, Extra Dry Extra Dry.
Seething-lane, Extra Extra Quality.
London
F. de Bary & Co.,
41 Warren-street,
New York

MUMM, JULES, & Co., Extra Dry.
/Reims/ Dry.
J. Mumm & Co., 3
Mark-lane, London

PÉRINET & FILS, Cuvée Réservée Cuvée
/Reims/ (Extra Dry) Réservée.
J. Barnett & Son, White Dry White Dry
36 Mark-lane, Sillery Sillery.
London
Wood, Pollard,
& Co., Boston,
U.S.
Hooper & Donaldson,
San Francisco

PERRIER-JOUËT & Co., Cuvée de Réserve Extra.
/Epernay/. Pale Dry
A. Boursot & Co., Creaming.
9 Hart-st., First.
Crutched Friars,
London

PFUNGST FRÈRES Carte d'Or Carte d'Or.
& Cie., /Ay/, (Dry, Extra
/Epernay/ Dry, & Brut).
J. L. Pfungst & Co., Sillery Crêmant Sillery
23 Crutched (Extra Dry and Crêmant
Friars, London Brut)
Carte Noire Carte Noire.
(Dry,
Extra Dry,
and Brut)
Cordon Blanc Cordon Blanc.
(Full, Dry, &
Extra Dry)

PIPER (H.) & Co., Très-Sec Kunkelmann
/Reims/ (Extra Dry) & Co.
(KUNKELMANN & Co.) Sec (Very " "
Newton & Rivière, Dry)
33 Great Carte Blanche " "
Tower-street, (Rich)
London
John Osborn, Son,
& Co.,
New York

POL ROGER & Co., Vin Réservé.
/Epernay/
Reuss, Lauteren
& Co.,
39 Crutched
Friars, London

POMMERY, VEUVE, Extra Sec Veuve Pommery.
/Reims/ (Vin Brut)
(POMMERY & GRENO)
A. Hubinet,
24 Mark-lane,
London
Charles Graef, Sec.
65 Broad-street,
New York

ROEDERER, LOUIS, Carte Blanche Reims, Carte
/Reims/ Blanche, Gt.
Grainger & Son, 108 Britain.
Fenchurch-street,
London

ROEDERER, THÉOPHILE, Crystal Special
& Co. (Maison Champagne, Cuvée.
fondée en 1864), Special Cuvée
/Reims/ Extra Reserve Reserve Cuvée.
J. Ashburner, Cuvée
Biart, & Co., 150 Carte Blanche, Carte Blanche.
Fenchurch-street, Ex.
London Carte Noire, Carte Noire.
First Verzenay Verzenay.

ROPER FRÈRES & Co., Vin Brut, Vin Brut.
/Rilly-la-Montagne/ or Natural
24 Crutched Champagne
Friars, London First (Extra Dry) Extra Dry.
Do. (Medium Dry) Medium Dry.
Second.
Crême de Bouzy.

RUINART, PÈRE Carte Anglaise.
ET FILS, Dry Pale Crêmant.
/Reims/ Ex. Dry
Ruinart, Père Sparkling.
et Fils, 22 St. Carte Blanche,
Swithin's-lane, First.
London

DE SAINT-MARCEAUX Vin Brut Vin Brut.
& Co., /Reims/ Carte d'Or Very Dry.
(C. ARNOULD (Extra Dry)
& HEIDELBERGER) Bouzy Nonpareil Vin Sec.
Groves & Co., (Dry)
5 Mark-lane, Carte Blanche
London (Medium).
Hermann Bätjer & _For America
Bro., only_.
New York Dry Royal Dry.
Extra Dry Extra Dry.
Second (Medium)

SAUMUR AND SAUTERNES.

_Firms and Wholesale _Brands._ _Qualities._ _On side of Corks._
Agents._

ACKERMAN-LAURANCE, Carte d'Or Carte d'Or.
/St. Florent, Carte Rose Carte Rose.
Saumur/ Carte Bleue Carte Bleue.
J. N. Bishop, Carte Noire Carte Noire.
41 Crutched
Friars,
London
D. McDougall
jun. & Co.,
St. George's-place,
Glasgow

DUVAU, LOUIS, Carte d'Or,
/Aîné, Château Ex. Sup.
de Varrains,/ Carte d'Argent,
near /Saumur/ Ex.
Jolivet & Canney, Carte Blanche,
3 Idol-lane, Sup.
London Carte Rose, Ord.

LORRAIN, JULES, Carte d'Or.
/Château Carte Blanche.
de la Côte, Carte Rose.
Varrains/, Carte Bleue.
near /Saumur/
J. Lorrain,
73 Great Tower-st.,
London

ROUSTEAUX, A., Extra.
/St. Florent,
Saumur/
Cock, Russell,
& Co., 63 Great
Tower-street,
London
I. H. Smith's Sons, First.
Peck Slip,
New York

NORMANDIN (E.) Sparkling Sauternes
& Co., (Extra Dry and Dry).
/Châteauneuf-sur-Charente/
P. A. Maignen, 22 Great Tower-street,
London

BURGUNDIES.

_Firms and Wholesale _Brands._ _Qualities._ _On side of Corks._
Agents._

ANDRÉ & VOILLOT, Romanée (White).
/Beaune/ Nuits (do.).
Cock, Russell, Volnay (do.).
& Co., Saint-Péray.
63 Great Pink and
Tower-street, Red Wines.
London
P. W. Engs &
Sons, 131
Front-street,
New York

LATOUR, LOUIS, Romanée (White).
/Beaune/ Nuits (White
Reuss, Lauteren, and Red).
& Co., Volnay (do.).
39 Crutched Saint-Péray
Friars, London (White).
Chambertin
(Red).

LIGER-BELAIR, Carte d'Or
COMTE, (White).
/Nuits & Carte
Vôsne/ Verte (do.).
Fenwick, Parrot, Carte Noire
& Co., 124 (Red and
Fenchurch-street, White).
London Carte Blanche
(Red).

MOËT AND CHANDON'S

BRUT IMPÉRIAL

DRY CHAMPAGNE.

FACSIMILE OF LABEL.

BRAND ON CORK.

ALSO EXTRA SUPERIOR

WHITE DRY SILLERY

AND

FIRST QUALITY CHAMPAGNES.

CHAMPAGNE.

PÉRINET & FILS,

REIMS.

DEUTZ & GELDERMANN'S

'GOLD LACK.'

================

MORNING POST.

'A Wine for Princes and Senators. The district of Ay has become
probably the most celebrated in the ancient province of Champagne
for its grapes, and among the noted brands of that famed region not
one has gained a greater popularity in this country than that of
Deutz & Geldermann. The Wine of this well-known firm is invariably
met with on every important occasion; and it is noticed that Deutz
& Geldermann's "Gold Lack" was specially selected for the banquet
given by the Royal Naval Club at Portsmouth to H.R.H. the Prince of
Wales; and some proof of its excellence may be gathered from the
fact that this brand was drunk on a former visit of the Prince to
the club two years since. Deutz & Geldermann's "Gold Lack" was one
of the Champagnes supplied at the late Ministerial Whitebait Dinner
at the Trafalgar.'

WORLD.

'Deutz & Geldermann's "Gold Lack" is now being preferred by many
connoisseurs, and we can bear testimony to its excellence of
quality.'

---------------

Deutz & Geldermann's 'Gold Lack' Champagne is shipped Brut, Extra
Dry, and Medium Dry; and may be obtained of all Wine Merchants.

---------------

/Wholesale Agents/:

J. R. PARKINGTON & Co.

24 CRUTCHED FRIARS, LONDON, E.C.

CHAMPAGNE.

DEUX MÉDAILLES D'OR.

CH^{ES.} DE CAZANOVE,

AVIZE (/Champagne/).

================

VIN MONARQUE.

Facsimiles of Medallion

And Label of Extra Quality.

_Wholesale Agents for the United Kingdom, J. R. HUNTER & Co., 46
Fenchurch Street, London._]

ROPER FRÈRES & CO.'S CHAMPAGNE.

---------------

First Quality, Extra Dry at 48/-

First Quality, Medium Dry at 48/-

---------------

_For Luncheons and Wedding Breakfasts, Regimental Messes and Ball
Suppers._

---------------

MORNING POST.

'The great feature of all entertainments, public banquets, &c.,
is ~Champagne~; but the high prices of really good wine naturally
deter many a householder of moderate means from indulging in
this luxury. /Roper Frères & Co/. are shipping ~a first quality
Champagne at =48s.= per dozen~. At this price, it cannot be denied
that the acme of cheapness is arrived at.'

---------------

SPECIAL NOTICE.

_All Wine Merchants can, ~if requested~, supply ROPER FRÈRES &
Co.'s CHAMPAGNE at the above Prices; and the Public are therefore
cautioned not to allow other Brands at similar prices to be
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FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Diodorus.]

[Footnote 2: Idem.]

[Footnote 3: Max Sutaine's _Essai sur le Vin de Champagne_.]

[Footnote 4: This arch is said to have been called after the God of War from the circumstance of a temple dedicated to Mars being in the immediate neighbourhood. The sculptures still remaining under the arcades have reference to the months of the year, to Romulus and Remus, and to Jupiter and Leda. Reims formerly abounded with monuments of the Roman domination. According to M. Brunette, an architect of the city, who made its Roman remains his especial study, a vast and magnificent palace formerly stood nigh the spot now known as the Trois Piliers; while on the right of the road leading to the town were the arenas, together with a temple, among the ruins of which various sculptures, vases, and medals were found, and almost immediately opposite, on the site of the present cemetery, an immense theatre, circus, and xystos for athletic exercises. Then came a vast circular space, in the centre of which arose a grand triumphal arch giving entrance into the city. The road led straight to the Forum,--the Place des Marchés of to-day,--and along it were a basilica, a market, and an exedra, now replaced by the Hôtel de Ville. The Forum, bordered by monumental buildings, was of gigantic proportions, extending on the one side from half way down the Rue Colbert to the Place Royale, and on the other from near the Marché à la Laine, parallel with the Rue de Vesle, up to the middle of the Rue des Elus, where it terminated in a vast amphitheatre used for public competitions.

Other buildings of less importance were situated here and there: the thermæ along the Rue du Cloître; a palace or a temple on the site of the archiepiscopal palace; another temple at the extremity of the Rue Vauthier le Noir, in the ruins of which a bas-relief and some small antique statues were discovered; a third temple in the Rue du Couchant, in which a votive altar was found. Four triumphal arches were erected at the four gates of the town: one dedicated to Mars; another to Ceres, on the same site as the gate of to-day; a third to Bacchus, in the present Rue de l'Université, in front of the Lycée; and the fourth to Venus, in the Rue de Vesle. Outside the walls, following the Rue du Barbâtre, the road was dotted with numerous graves according to the Roman custom; while on the site of the church of St. Remi there arose a temple and a palace, and on that of St. Nicaise a vast edifice which M. Brunette supposed to be the palace of the Consul Jovinus.]

[Footnote 5: Henderson's _History of Ancient and Modern Wines_.]

[Footnote 6: Gibbon's _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_.]

[Footnote 7: Gibbon's _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_.]

[Footnote 8: According to this document, published in Marlot's _Histoire de Reims_, he leaves to Bishop Lupus the vineyard cultivated by the vine-dresser Enias; to his nephew Agricola, the vineyard planted by Mellaricus at Laon, and also the one cultivated by Bebrimodus; to his nephew Agathimerus, a vineyard he had himself planted at Vindonisæ, and kept up by the labour of his own episcopal hands; to Hilaire the deaconess, the vines adjoining her own vineyard, cultivated by Catusio, and also those at Talpusciaco; and to the priests and deacons of Reims, his vineyard in the suburbs of that city, and the vine-dresser Melanius who cultivated it. The will is also noteworthy for its mention of a locality destined to attain a high celebrity in connection with the wine of Champagne, namely, the town of Sparnacus or Epernay, which a lord named Eulogius, condemned to death for high treason in 499 and saved at the bishop's intercession, had bestowed upon his benefactor, and which the latter left in turn to the church of Reims. To this church he also left estates in the Vosges and beyond the Rhine, on condition of furnishing pitch every year to the religious houses founded by himself or his predecessors to mend their wine-vessels, a trace of the old Roman custom of pitching vessels used for storing wine.]

[Footnote 9: Marlot's _Histoire de Reims_.]

[Footnote 10: Henderson's _History of Ancient and Modern Wines_.]

[Footnote 11: Victor Fievet's _Histoire d'Epernay_.]

[Footnote 12: Bertin du Rocheret's _Mélanges_.]

[Footnote 13: Varin's _Archives Administratives de Reims_.]

[Footnote 14: 'Bien met l'argent qui en bon vin l'emploie.' _Poems of Colin Musset_, 1190 to 1220.]

[Footnote 15: Varin's _Archives Administratives de Reims_.]

[Footnote 16: Ibid.]

[Footnote 17: Ibid.]

[Footnote 18: J. Gondry du Jardinet's _Agréable Visite aux Grands Crûs de France_.]

[Footnote 19: 'Chanter me fait bon vin et rejouir.']

[Footnote 20:

'Le vin en tonel, Froit et fort et finandel, Pour boivre à la grant chaleur.']

[Footnote 21: Legrand d'Aussy's _Vie Privée des Français_.]

[Footnote 22:

'Espernai dist et Auviler,
Argenteuil, trop veus aviler
Très-tos les vins de ceste table.
Par Dieu, trop t'es fait conestable.

Nous passons Chaalons et Reims,
Nous ostons la goûte des reins,
Nous estaignons totes les rois.'
]

[Footnote 23:

'Espernai, trop es desloiaus;
Tu n'as droit de parler en cour.'
]

[Footnote 24: The 'vin d'Ausois,' or 'vin d'Aussai' (for it is spelt both ways in the poem), is not, as might be supposed, the wine of Auxois, an ancient district of Burgundy now comprised in the arrondissements of Sémur (Côte d'Or) and Avallon (Yonne), and still enjoying a reputation for its viticultural products. MM. J. B. B. de Roquefort and Gigault de la Bedollière, in their notes on Henri d'Andelys' poem, have clearly identified it with the wine of Alsace, that province having been known under the names in question during the Middle Ages. This explains its connection in the present instance with the Moselle.]

[Footnote 25: An incidental proof that the English taste for strong wine was an early one. As late as the close of the sixteenth century the Bordeaux wines are described in the _Maison Rustique_ as 'thick, black, and strong.']

[Footnote 26: Probably either Aquila in the Abruzzi, or Aquiliea near Friuli.]

[Footnote 27: The 'rouage' was a duty of 2 sous on each cart and 4 sous on each wagon laden with wine purchased by foreign merchants and taken out of the town. It was only one of many dues.]

[Footnote 28: The old livre was about equal to the present franc; the sol was the twentieth part of a livre; and the denier the twelfth part of a sol, or about 1/24_d._ English.]

[Footnote 29: Varin's _Archives Administratives de Reims_.]

[Footnote 30: The Beaune cost 28 livres the tun of two queues; the St. Pourçain, a wine of the Bourbonnais, very highly esteemed in the Middle Ages, 12 livres the queue; and the wine of the district, white and red, 6 to 10 livres the queue of two poinçons. A poinçon, or demi-queue, of Reims was about 48 old English, or 40 imperial, gallons; while the demi-queue of Burgundy was over 45 imperial gallons.]

[Footnote 31: Varin's _Archives Administratives de Reims_.]

[Footnote 32: A few examples of the retail price of wine throughout the century at Reims may here be noted. For instance, a judgment of 1303 provided that all tavern-keepers selling wine at a higher rate than six deniers, or about a farthing per lot, the rate fixed by ancient custom, were to pay a fine of twenty-two sous. The lot or pot, for the two terms are indifferently used, was about the third of an old English gallon, four pots making a septier, and thirty-six septiers a poinçon or demi-queue, equal to about forty-eight gallons. The queue was therefore about ninety-six gallons at Reims, but at Epernay not more than eighty-five gallons. Not only had every district its separate measures,--those of Paris, for instance, differing widely from those of Reims,--but there were actually different measures used in the various lay and ecclesiastical jurisdictions into which Reims was divided.

In the accounts of the Echevinage, wine, chiefly for presents to persons of distinction, makes a continual appearance. In 1335 it is noted that 'the presents of this year were made in wine at 16 deniers and 20 deniers the pot,' or about 2-1/4_d._ English per gallon. In 1337-8 prices ranged from 3/4_d._ to 4-1/2_d._ English per gallon, showing a variety in quality; and in 1345 large quantities were purchased at the first-mentioned rate, five quarts of white wine fetching 2_d._ English. In 1352 from a 1_d._ to 2-1/4_d._ was paid per gallon, and five crowns for two queues. In 1363 the citizens, a hot-headed turbulent lot, who were always squabbling with their spiritual and temporal superior and assailing his officers, when not assaulting each other or pulling their neighbours' houses down, successfully resisted the pretensions of the archbishop to regulate the price of wine when the cheapest was worth 12 deniers per pot, or 1-1/2_d._ per gallon. The dispute continued, and in 1367 a royal commission was issued to the bailli of Vermandois, the king's representative, to inquire into the right of the burghers to sell wine by retail at 16 deniers, as they desired. The report of the bailli was that a queue of old French wine being worth about 20 livres, or 16_s._ 8_d._, and wine of Beaune and other better and stronger wines being sold in the town at higher rates, French wine might be sold as high as 3-1/2d. English per gallon, and Beaune at 4-1/2_d._ The great increase in production, and consequent fall in price, is shown by the wine found in Archbishop Richard Pique's cellar in 1389 being valued, on an average, at only 1_s._ 6_d._ per queue.]

[Footnote 33: Froissart's _Chronicles_.]

[Footnote 34: Idem.]

[Footnote 35: Idem.]

[Footnote 36: What with one kind of assessment being adopted for wine sold wholesale and another for that disposed of by retail, with one class of dues being levied on wine for export and another on that for home consumption, and with the fact of certain duties being in some cases payable by the buyer and in others by the seller, any attempt to summarise this section of the story of the wines of Reims would be impossible. The difficulty is increased when it is remembered that in the Middle Ages Reims was divided into districts, under the separate jurisdictions of the eschevins, the archbishop, the chapter of the cathedral, the Abbeys of St. Remi and St. Nicaise, and the Priory of St. Maurice, in several of which widely varying measures were employed down to the sixteenth century, and between which there were continual squabbles as to the rights of vinage, rouage, tonnieu, &c.]

[Footnote 37: Varin's _Archives Administratives de Reims_.]

[Footnote 38: Froissart's _Chronicles_.]

[Footnote 39: Baron Taylor's _Reims; la Ville de Sacres_.]

[Footnote 40: Amongst the better known are Chamery, where the archbishop had a house, vineyard, and garden, let for 3_s._ per annum, about five _jours_ of vineyard and two _jours_ of very good vineland; Mareuil, whence he drew ten hogsheads of wine annually; Rilly, Verzenay, Sillery, Attigny, &c. The _jour_ cost from 5 to 8 livres per annum for cultivation, and the stakes for the vines 4 sols, or 2_d._, a hundred.]

[Footnote 41: The chapter of the Cathedral, the church of Notre Dame, the abbeys of St. Remi and St. Nicaise, had vineyards or 'droits de vin' at Hermonville, Rounay les Reims, Montigny, Serzy, Villers Aleran, Maineux devant Reims, Mersy, Sapiecourt, Sacy en la Montagne, Flory en la Montagne, Prouilly, Germigny, Saulx, Bremont, Merfaud, Trois Pins, Joucheri sur Vesle, Villers aux Neux, &c.; the last named also possessing a piece of 'vingne gonesse' at 'a place called Mont Valoys in the territory of Reims.']

[Footnote 42: At his château at the Porte Mars were forty-four queues of red and white wine, nineteen of new red and white wine, and four of old wine, valued, on an average, at 36 sols or 1_s._ 6_d._ the queue; at Courville there were fifty queues of new wine (valued at 30 sols the queue), twenty of old wine (worth nothing), and four 'cuves' for wine-making; and at Viellarcy, eighteen tuns of new wine, valued at 60 sols or 2_s._ 6_d._ per tun. To take charge of all these, Jehan le Breton, the defunct prelate's assistant butler, was retained by the executors for half a year, at the wages of 74 sols or 3_s._ 2_d._ At the funeral feast there were consumed three queues of the best wine in the cellars, valued at 2_s._ 7-1/2_d._ per queue, three others at 1_s._ 3_d._, and five pots of Beaune at 1-2/3_d._ English per pot, showing it to have been four times as valuable as native growths.]

[Footnote 43:

'En Picardie sont li bourdeur,
Et en Champagne li buveur....
Telz n'a vaillant un Angevin
Qui chascun jor viant boire vin.'
]

[Footnote 44:

'Champagne est la forme de tout bien
De blé, de vin, de foin, et de litière.'
]

[Footnote 45: Mss. de Rogier, Max Sutaine's _Essai sur le Vin de Champagne_, &c.]

[Footnote 46: This wine, no doubt, came from a considerable distance round, for we find P. de la Place, a mercer of Reims, seeking in 1409 to recover the value of five queues and two poinçons 'of wine from the cru of the town of Espernay, on the river of Esparnay,' delivered at Reims to J. Crohin of Hainault, the origin of the same being certified by S. de Laval, a sworn wine-broker, 'who knows and understands the wines of the country around Reims.']

[Footnote 47: Varin's _Archives Administratives de Reims_.]

[Footnote 48: Max Sutaine's _Essai sur le Vin de Champagne_.]

[Footnote 49: Varin's _Archives Administratives de Reims_. The Hôtel de la Maison Rouge occupies to-day the site of the old hostelry at which the parents of Jeanne Darc were housed.]

[Footnote 50: Varin's _Archives Administratives de Reims_.]

[Footnote 51: The cost of the wine thus presented seems to have averaged from 2-1/4_d._ to 3_d._ per gallon. In 1477 a queue of old wine was valued at no less than 30_s._]

[Footnote 52: The twelve peers of France first appear at the coronation of Philip Augustus. There were six lay peers and six ecclesiastical peers:

Duke of Burgundy.
" Normandy.
" Guienne or Aquitaine.
Count of Toulouse.
" Flanders.
" Champagne.
Archbishop Duke of Reims.
Bishop Duke of Laon.
" " Langres.
Bishop Count of Beauvais.
" " Chalons.
" " Noyon.

As the titles of the lay peers grew extinct, and their fiefs lapsed to the crown, it became customary for them to be represented by some great nobles at the coronations of the kings of France.]

[Footnote 53: The following is the full text of this singular sentence. The injunction at the end, respecting the payment of tithes without fraud, shows that even in a matter like this the Church did not lose sight of its own interests.

'In the name of the Lord, amen. Having seen the prayer or petition on behalf of the inhabitants of Villenauxe, of the diocese of Troyes, made before us, official of Troyes, sitting in judgment upon the _bruhecs_ or _éruches_, or other similar animals, which, according to the evidence of persons worthy of belief and as confirmed by public rumour, have ravaged for a certain number of years, and this year also, the fruit of the vines of this locality, to the great loss of those who inhabit it and of the persons of the neighbourhood,--petition that we warn the above-named animals, and that, using the means at the Church's disposition, we force them to retire from the territory of the said place. Having seen and attentively examined the motives of the prayer or petition above mentioned, and also the answers and allegations furnished in favour of the said _éruches_ or other animals by the councillors chosen by us for that purpose; having heard also on the whole our promoter, and seeing the particular report, furnished at our command by a notary of the said Court of Troyes, on the damage caused by the said animals amongst the vines of the locality of Villenauxe already named; though it would seem that to such damage one can bring no remedy except through the aid of God; however, taking into consideration the humble, frequent, and pressing complaint of the above-mentioned inhabitants; having regard, especially, to the ardour with which, to efface their past great faults, they lately gave, at our invitation, the edifying spectacle of solemn prayers; considering that, as the mercy of God does not drive away the sinners who return to Him with humility, neither should His Church refuse, to those who run to her, succour or consolation,--We, the official above named, no matter how novel the case may be, yielding to the earnestness of these prayers, following in the footsteps of our predecessors presiding at our tribunal, having God before our eyes and full of belief in His mercy and love, after having taken counsel in the proper quarter, we deliver sentence in the following terms:

'In the name and in virtue of the omnipotence of God, of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; of the blessed Mary, mother of our Lord Jesus Christ; of the authority of the holy apostles Peter and Paul; and of that with which we ourselves are invested in this affair, we charge by this act the above-named animals--_bruches_, _éruches_, or of any other name by which they may be called--to retire (under penalty of malediction and anathema, within the six days which follow this warning and in accordance with our sentence) from the vines and from the said locality of Villenauxe, and never more to cause, in time to come, any damage, either in this spot or in any other part of the diocese of Troyes; that if, the six days passed, the said animals have not fully obeyed our command, the seventh day, in virtue of the power and authority above mentioned, we pronounce against them by this writing anathema and malediction! Ordering, however, and formally directing the said inhabitants of Villenauxe, no matter of what rank, class, or condition they may be, so as to merit the better from God, all-powerful dispensator of all good and deliverer from all evil, to be released from such a great plague; ordering and directing them to deliver themselves up in concert to good works and pious prayers; to pay, moreover, the tithe without fraud and according to the custom recognised in the locality; and to abstain with care from blaspheming and all other sins, especially from public scandals.--Signed, /N. Hupperoye/, Secretary.']

[Footnote 54: It has been asserted that the Champagne, and notably the town of Troyes, enjoyed the dubious honour of furnishing fools to the court of France. There is certainly a letter of Charles V. to the notables of Troyes, asking them, 'according to custom,' for a fool to replace one named Grand Jehan de Troyes, whom he had had buried in the church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, and who has been immortalised by Rabelais. But Brusquet was a Provençal; Triboulet, his predecessor, immortalised by Victor Hugo in the 'Roi s'amuse,' a native of Blois; Chicot the Jester, the fool of Henry III., and the favourite hero of Dumas, a Gascon; and Guillaume, his successor, a Norman.]

[Footnote 55: The wine of Reims provided at the coronation of Francis II., in 1559, cost from 11_s._ 8_d._ to 15_s._ 10_d._ per queue of ninety-six gallons, and the Burgundy 16_s._ 8_d._ per queue, which, allowing for the cost of transport, would put them about on an equality. At the coronation of Charles IX., in 1561, Reims wine cost from 23_s._ 4_d._ to 28_s._ _4d._; and at that of Henry III., in 1575, from 45_s._ to 62_s._ 6_d._ per queue,--a sufficient proof of the rapidly-increasing estimation in which the wine was held.]

[Footnote 56: Paulmier's treatise _De Vino et Pomaceo_ (Paris, 1588).]

[Footnote 57: Jehan Pussot's _Mémorial du Temps_.]

[Footnote 58: Ibid. Many details respecting the yield of the vines and vineyards of the Mountain and the River are preserved in this _Mémorial_, which extends from 1569 to 1625, and the author of which was a celebrated builder of Reims. During the last thirty years of the century the vines seem to have suffered greatly from frost and wet. Sometimes the wine was so bad that it was sold, as towards the end of 1579, at 5_s._ 6_d._ the queue; at others it was so scarce that it rose, as at the vintage of 1587, to 126_s._ 8_d._ the queue. At the vintage of 1579 the grapes froze on the vines, and were carried to the press in sacks. At the commencement of the vintage the new wine fetched from 12_s._ to 16_s._ the queue, but it turned out so bad that by Christmas it was sold at 5_s._ 6_d._]

[Footnote 59: _Maison Rustique_ (1574).]

[Footnote 60: Jehan Pussot's _Mémorial du Temps_.]

[Footnote 61: During the first twenty-five years of the century Pussot shows the new wine to have averaged from about 23_s._ to 46_s._ the queue, according to quality. In 1600 and 1611 it was as low as 16_s._, and in 1604 fetched from merely 12_s._ to 32_s._ On the other hand, in 1607, it fetched from 57_s._ to 95_s._, and in 1609 from 79_s._ to 95_s._]

[Footnote 62: Feillet's _La Misère aux temps de la Fronde_.]

[Footnote 63: Dom Guillaume Marlot's _Histoire de Reims_.]

[Footnote 64: Pluche's _Spectacle de la Nature_.]

[Footnote 65: St. Simon's _Mémoires_.]

[Footnote 66: _Mémoire sur la manière de cultiver la vigne et de faire le vin en Champagne._]

[Footnote 67: Lavardin, Bishop of Le Mans, and himself a great _gourmet_, was one day at dinner with St. Evremond, and began to rally the latter on the delicacy of himself and his friends the Marquis de Bois Dauphin and the Comte d'Olonne. 'These gentlemen,' said the prelate, 'in seeking refinement in everything carry it to extremes. They can only eat Normandy veal; their partridges must come from Auvergne, and their rabbits from La Roche Guyon, or from Versin; they are not less particular as to fruit; and as to wine, they can only drink that of the good _coteaux_ of Ay, Hautvillers, and Avenay.' St. Evremond having repeated the story, he, the marquis, and the count were nicknamed 'the three coteaux.' Hence Boileau, in one of his satires, describes an epicurean guest as 'profès dans l'ordre des coteaux.']

[Footnote 68: St. Evremond's Works (London, 1714).]

[Footnote 69: _L'Art de bien traiter ... mis en lumière_, par L. S. R. (Paris, 1674).]

[Footnote 70: Brossette's notes to Boileau's Works (1716). Bertin du Rocheret, in correcting this error in the _Mercure_ of January 1728, points out that neither the family of Colbert nor that of Le Tellier ever owned a single vinestock of the River, and that their holdings on the Mountain were very insignificant.]

[Footnote 71:

'Il n'est cité que je préfère à Reims,
C'est l'ornement et l'honneur de la France;
Car sans conter l'ampoule et les bons vins,
Charmants objets y sont en abondance.' _Les Rémois._
]

[Footnote 72:

'Sur quelle vigne à Reims nous avons hypothèque;
Vingt muids, rangés chez moi, font ma bibliothèque.'

_Le Lutrin_, chant iv. 1674.]

[Footnote 73: St. Simon's _Mémoires_.]

[Footnote 74: Ibid.]

[Footnote 75: Ibid.]

[Footnote 76: Max Sutaine's _Essai sur le Vin de Champagne_, 1845.]

[Footnote 77: Henderson's _History of Ancient and Modern Wines_.]

[Footnote 78: _Æneid_, i. 738.]

[Footnote 79: Henderson's _History of Ancient and Modern Wines_.]

[Footnote 80: Max Sutaine's _Essai sur le Vin de Champagne_.]

[Footnote 81:

--------'Petars de Chaalons,
Qui le ventre enfle et les talons.'
]

[Footnote 82: Louis Perrier's _Mémoire sur le Vin de Champagne_, 1865.]

[Footnote 83: _De Naturali Vinorum Historiâ._ Rome, 1596.]

[Footnote 84: _L'Art de bien traiter_, &c.]

[Footnote 85: _Maison Rustique_, 1574.]

[Footnote 86: Max Sutaine's _Essai sur le Vin de Champagne_.]

[Footnote 87: Pluche's _Spectacle de la Nature_.]

[Footnote 88: Idem and _Maison Rustique_, 1582. M. Louis Perrier, in his _Mémoire sur le Vin de Champagne_, says that the Ay wines yield but little _mousse_.]

[Footnote 89: Max Sutaine's _Essai sur le Vin de Champagne_.]

[Footnote 90: St. Evremond's letter to the Comte d'Olonne, already noticed. In another epistle to Lord Galloway, dated 29th August 1701, he observes: 'As to M. de Puisieux (Roger Brulart, Marquis de Puisieux et de Sillery and Governor of Epernay), in my opinion he acts very wisely in falling in with the bad taste now in fashion as regards Champagne wine, in order the better to sell his own. I could never have thought that the wines of Reims could have been changed into wines of Anjou, from their colour and their harshness (_verdeur_). There ought to be a harshness (_vert_) in the wine of Reims, but a harshness with a colour, which turns into a sprightly tartness (_sêve_) when it is ripe; ... and it is not to be drunk till the end of July.... The wines of Sillery and Roncières used to be kept two years, and they were admirable, but for the first four months they were nothing but verjuice. Let M. de Puisieux make a little barrel (_cuve_) after the fashion in which it was made forty years ago, before this depravity of taste, and send it to you.' St. Evremond's Works, English edition of 1728.]

[Footnote 91: Max Sutaine's _Essai sur le Vin de Champagne_.]

[Footnote 92: Dom Guillaume Harlot's _Histoire de Reims_.]

[Footnote 93: Ibid.]

[Footnote 94: Henderson's _History of Ancient and Modern Wines_.]

[Footnote 95: Letter of Dom Grossart to M. Dherbès of Ay. The measurement of the arpent varied from an acre to an acre and a half.]

[Footnote 96: Varin's _Archives Administratives de Reims_.]

[Footnote 97: Pluche's _Spectacle de la Nature_.]

[Footnote 98: Letter of Dom Grossart to M. Dherbès of Ay.]

[Footnote 99: Ibid.]

[Footnote 100: Ibid.]

[Footnote 101: Bertall's _La Vigne_. Paris, 1878.]

[Footnote 102: _Mémoire sur la Manière de cultiver la Vigne et de faire le Vin en Champagne._ This work is believed to have been written by Jean Godinot, a canon of Reims, born in 1662. Godinot was at the same time a conscientious Churchman, a skilled viticulturist, and a clever merchant, who enriched himself by disposing of the wine from his vineyards at Bouzy, Taissy, and Verzenay, and distributed his gains amongst the poor. He died in 1747, after publishing an enlarged edition of the _Mémoire_ in 1722, in which the phrase 'for the last three years' becomes 'the last seven or eight years.' Godinot's friend Pluche used the _Mémoire_ as the basis for the section 'Wine' in his _Spectacle de la Nature_.]

[Footnote 103: Letter of Dom Grossart to M. Dherbès of Ay.]

[Footnote 104: Ibid.]

[Footnote 105: Louis Perrier's _Mémoire sur le Vin de Champagne_.]

[Footnote 106: Letter of M. le Pescheur, 1706.]

[Footnote 107: Pluche's _Spectacle de la Nature_.]

[Footnote 108: In Brossette's notes to his edition of Boileau's Works of 1716.]

[Footnote 109: The inscription above given is an exact transcript from the black-marble slab, and any errors in orthography are due either to the original author or to the mason who incised it.]

[Footnote 110: The following account of Dom Perignon and his discoveries is contained in a letter dated 25th October 1821, and addressed from Montier-en-Der, Haute Marne, to M. Dherbès of Ay, by Dom Grossart, the last procureur of the Abbey of Hautvillers. Dom Grossart, who had fled from France during the troublous times of the Revolution, was at the date of the letter in his seventy-fourth year.

'You know, sir, that it was the famous Dom Perignon, who was procureur of Hautvillers for forty-seven years, and who died in 1715, who discovered the secret of making sparkling and non-sparkling white wine, and the means of clearing it without being obliged to _dépoter_ the bottles, as is done by our great wine-merchants rather twice than once, and by us never. Before his time one only knew how to make straw-coloured or gray wine. In bottling wine, instead of corks of cork-wood, only tow was made use of, and this species of stopper was saturated with oil. It was in the marriage of our wines that their goodness consisted; and this Dom Perignon towards the end of his days became blind. He had instructed in his secret of fining the wines (_de coller les vins_) a certain Brother Philip, who was for fifty years at the head of the wines of Hautvillers, and who was held in such consideration by M. Le Tellier, Archbishop of Reims, that when this brother went to Reims he made him come and sit at table with him. When the vintage drew near, he (Dom Perignon) said to this brother, "Go and bring me some grapes from the Prières, the Côtes-à-bras, the Barillets, the Quartiers, the Clos Sainte Hélène," &c. Without being told from which vineyard these grapes came, he mentioned it, and added, "the wine of such a vineyard must be married with that of such another," and never made a mistake. To this Brother Philip succeeded a Brother André Lemaire, who was for nearly forty years at the head of the cellars of Hautvillers, that is to say, until the Revolution.... This brother being very ill, and believing himself on the point of death, confided to me the secret of clarifying the wines, for neither prior nor procureur nor monk ever knew it. I declare to you, sir, that we never did put sugar in our wines; you can attest this when you find yourself in company where it is spoken of.

Monsieur Moët, who has become one of the _gros bonnets_ of Champagne since 1794, when I used to sell him plenty of little baskets, will not tell you that I put sugar in our wines. I make use of it at present upon some white wines which are vintaged in certain _crûs_ of our wine district. This may have led to the error.

'As it costs much to _dépoter_, I am greatly surprised that no wine-merchant has as yet taken steps to learn the secret of clearing the wine without having to _dépoter_ the bottles when once the wine has been put into them.']

[Footnote 111: Louis Perrier's _Mémoire sur le Vin de Champagne_.]

[Footnote 112: _Mémoire_ of 1718.]

[Footnote 113: Ibid. Pluche, in his _Spectacle de la Nature_, 1732, also says: 'If the wine be drawn off towards the end of March, when the sap begins to rise in the vine, it will froth to such a degree as to whiten like milk, to the very bottom of the glass, the moment it is poured out. Wine will sometimes acquire this quality if it be drawn off during the ascent of the sap in August, which makes it evident that the froth is occasioned by the operation of the air and sap, which then act with vigour in the wood of the vine, and likewise in the liquor it produced. This violent ebulition, which is so agreeable to some persons, is thought by connoisseurs to be inconsistent with the goodness of the wine, since the greenest may be made to whiten into a froth, and the most perfect wines seldom discover this quality.' In an article in the _Journal de Verdun_ of November 1726, the following passage occurs: 'A wine merchant of Anjou having written some time back to a celebrated magistrate in Champagne, Bertin du Rocheret, begging him to forward the secret of making _vin mousseux_ during the vintage, the magistrate answered, "That _vin mousseux_ was not made during the vintage; that there was no special soil for it; that the Anjou wines were suitable, since poor wine froths as well as the most excellent, frothing being a property of thin poor wine. That to make wine froth, it was necessary to draw it off as clear as could be done from the lees, if it had not been already racked; to bottle it on a fine clear day in January or February, or in March at the latest; three or four months afterwards the wine will be found effervescent, especially if it has some tartness and a little strength. When the wine works (like the vine) your wine will effervesce more than usual; a taste of vintage and of fermentation will be found in it." The excellent wines of Ay and our good Champagne wines do not froth, or very slightly; they content themselves with sparkling in the glass.']

[Footnote 114: St. Simon's _Mémoires_.]

[Footnote 115: Ibid.]

[Footnote 116: _Mémoire_ of 1718.]

[Footnote 117: Ibid.]

[Footnote 118: Antony Réal's _Ce qu'il y a dans une Bouteille de Vin_.]

[Footnote 119: Legrand d'Aussy's _Vie Privée des Français_.]

[Footnote 120:

'Là le nombre et l'éclat de cent verres bien nets
Répare par les yeux la disette des mets;
Et la mousse petillante
D'un vin délicat et frais
D'une fortune brillante
Cache à mon souvenir les fragiles attraits.'
]

[Footnote 121:

'Quant à la muse de St. Maur
Que moins de douceur accompagne.
Il lui faut du vin de Champagne
Pour lui faire prendre l'essor.'
]

[Footnote 122:

'Alors, grand' merveille, sera
De voir flûter vin de Champagne.'
]

[Footnote 123:

'Sur ce rivage emaillé,
Où Neuillé borde la Seine,
Reviens au vin d'Hautvillé
Mêler les eaux d'Hypocrène.'
]

[Footnote 124:

'Phébus adonc va se désabuser
De son amour pour la docte fontaine,
Et connoîtra que pour bon vers puiser
Vin champenois vaut mieux qu'eau d'Hippocrène.'
]

[Footnote 125: The father, Adam Bertin du Rocheret, was born in 1662, and died in 1736; his son, Philippe Valentin, the _lieutenant criminel_ at Epernay, was born in 1693, and died in 1762. Both owned vineyards at Epernay, Ay, and Pierry, and were engaged in the wine-trade, and both left a voluminous mass of correspondence, &c., extracts from which have been given by M. Louis Perrier in his _Mémoire sur le Vin de Champagne_. The Marshal was an old customer. At the foot of a letter of his of the 20th December 1705, asking for 'two quartaux of the most excellent vin de Champagne, and a pièce of good for ordinary drinking,' Bertin has written, 'I will send you, as soon as the river, which is strongly flooded, becomes navigable, the wine you ask for, and you will be pleased with it; but as the best new wine is not of a quality to be drunk in all its goodness by the spring, I should think that fifty flasks of old wine, the most exquisite in the kingdom that I can furnish you with, together with fifty other good ones, will suit you instead of one of the two caques.']

[Footnote 126: _Tocane_ was a light wine obtained, like the best Tokay, from the juice allowed to drain from grapes slightly trodden, but not pressed. It had a flavour of _verdeur_, which was regarded as one of its chief merits, and would not keep more than six months. Though at one time very popular, and largely produced in Champagne, it is now no longer made. The wine of Ay enjoyed a high reputation as _tocane_.]

[Footnote 127: Louis Perrier's _Mémoire sur le Vin de Champagne_.]

[Footnote 128: Letter of Dom Grossart.]

[Footnote 129: Louis Perrier's _Mémoire sur le Vin de Champagne_.]

[Footnote 130: Ample details of the systems of viticulture and wine-making pursued in the Champagne at the commencement of the eighteenth century are to be found in the anonymous _Mémoire_ published in 1718. These are reproduced to a great extent in the _Spectacle de la Nature_ of Noel Antoine Pluche, a native of Reims, who composed this work (published in 1732) for the benefit of the son of Lord Stafford, to whom he was tutor. The Abbé Pluche, after being professor of humanity and rhetoric at the University of Reims, was about to enter into holy orders, but being denounced as an opponent of the Bull Unigenitus, abandoned all ideas of preferment, and devoted himself to private tuition and the composition of his great work, the _Spectacle de la Nature_. This last is a perfect encyclopædia, in the form of a series of dialogues, recalling those in Mrs. Barbauld's _Evenings at Home_, the interlocutors being the Count, the Countess, the Chevalier, and the Prior; and the style may be best judged from the following extracts from the contemporary translation of Mr. Samuel Humphries.

In Dialogue XIII. on 'Vines,' the Count remarks that, after studying the methods of viticulture followed in different provinces, he 'could not discover any to be ranked in Competition with those Precautions that have been taken by the Inhabitants of Champaign' in the production of their wine. By 'a long Course of Experience' they had 'acquired the proper Method of tinging it with the Complexion of a Cherry, or the Eye of a Partridge. They could likewise brighten it into the whitest Hue, or deepen it into a perfect Red.'

In the succeeding Dialogue on 'Wines,' the Count states that 'Vines vary in their Qualities. Some are planted in a very light and strong Soil, and they yield a bright and fragrant Wine; others are placed in a more nourishing Tract of Land, and they produce a Wine of a greater Body. The reasonable Combination of these different Fruits will produce an exquisite Liquor, that will have all the Advantages of a sufficient Body, a Delicacy of Flavour, a Fragrancy of Scent, and a Liveliness of Colour, and which may be Kept for several Years without the least Alteration. It was the Knowledge of those Effects that result from intermixing the Grapes of three or four Vines of different Qualities, which improved the celebrated Wines of Sillery, Ai, and Hautvillers to the Perfection they have now acquired. Father Parignon, a Benedictine of Hautvillers on the Marne, was the first who made any successful Attempt to intermix the Grapes of the different Vines in this manner, and the Wine of Perignon d'Hautvillers bore the greatest Estimation amongst us till the Practise of this Method became more extensive.'

The Count notes that white wines from white grapes being deficient in strength, and apt to grow yellow and degenerate before the next return of summer, had gone out of repute, except for some medicinal prescriptions, whilst 'the grey Wine, which has so bright an Eye and resembles the Complexion of Crystal, is produced by the blackest Grapes.' 'The Wine of a black Grape may be tinged with any Colour we think proper; those who desire to have it perfectly White have recourse to the following Method. The People employed in the Vintage begin their Labours at an early Hour in the Morning; and when they have selected the finest Grapes, they lay them gently in their Baskets, in order to be carried out of the Vineyard; or they place them in large Panniers, without pressing them in the least or wiping off the dewy Moisture or the azure Dye that covers them. Dews and exhaling Mists greatly contribute to the Whiteness of the Wine. 'Tis customary to cover the Baskets with wet Cloths in a hot Sunshine, because the Liquor will be apt to assume a red Tincture if the Grapes should happen to be heated. These Baskets are then placed on the Backs of such Animals as are of a gentle Nature, and carry their Burdens with an easy Motion to the Cellar, where the Grapes continue covered in a cool Air. When the Warmth of the Sun proves moderate, the Labours of the Vintage are not discontinued till Eleven in the Morning; but a glowing Heat makes it necessary for them to cease at Nine.'