known as the 'Sacchometer,' the deficiency is made up by the addition of pure sugar candy. This, however, does not often happen, and is only resorted to when the juice gives unmistakable evidence of its necessity; and it is at this point, when Nature apparently languishes in a measure in her operations, that Art is called in to her assistance, both by the addition of foreign substances, and the intermixing of the produce of different localities. Redding, in his 'History of Modern Wines,' says Mixtures are not often made of the effervescing wines. They generally remain the pure production of the spots the names of which they bear.' So far from this being true, exactly the reverse is the case, for no Champagne wine would be considered even second quality that did not possess delicacy of flavor, a well-defined bouquet, and a certain degree of body. To obtain these requisites it has been found absolutely necessary to commingle the produce of various vineyards, each of them possessing in an eminent degree one of these characteristics, and by this means infuse qualities into the wine artificially which cannot be acquired naturally. To achieve this satisfactorily, the taster of the establishment, who must, of course, possess a fine taste and approved palate, prepares a mixture by taking a certain portion of the juice from the Verzinay district as a basis, to which he adds a portion from the Aij or Bonzy vineyards, and another from those of Mareuil, Avizes, or possibly Epernay, carefully noting the proportion from each. This mixture is then tested and discussed, and if, in his judgment, it lacks delicacy, bouquet, or body, the quality lacking is furnished by the addition of so much of the product of that district possessing the required characteristic necessary to remedy the defect. It will thus be seen that a most important element in a good house is the possession of an accurate and experienced taster, for on his judgment and taste depends the character of an establishment and its brand of wine. The details of the mixture once arranged, a large vat or tun, holding from seventy-five to one hundred casks, is then filled, the same combinations being closely observed in the enlarged proportions, and the contents are thoroughly blended and amalgamated, so that every bottle of that cuvée or lot may be exactly alike. Formerly, and in some large establishments the practice holds good to this day, it was the custom, after ascertaining the proportions of the mixture, to effect the combination in casks containing one hundred and sixty litres, rendering it impossible to get more than two hundred bottles of uniform quality. To remedy this evil the huge tuns used in the Rheingan for equalizing the German wines were introduced, (by the old house of Mumm, Geisler & Co.,) which not only removed the defect, but also, by rendering the other operations more perfect, materially improved the character of the wine. After a proper interval, the wine is drawn from this vat into hogsheads, and thence immediately put into bottles, which are placed away in deep cold cellars, constructed with great care and at heavy expense, expressly to receive them. Early in the spring they undergo the secondary fermentation, which produces the mousse, or sparkling qualities of the wine, and it is at this period that the carbonic acid gas, sometimes proving too powerful, causes the immense destruction of bottles and loss of wine, so large an item in the sum of expenses. Of late years the average has been from twelve to fifteen per cent.; in 1842 it reached the incredible amount of fifty per cent. Having been carefully corked, twined and wired, the bottles are stowed away on their sides, in lots of from one to twenty thousand, for the period of eighteen months, during which time a thick, muddy deposit is precipitated to the lower side of the bottle; they are then placed in horizontal racks, perforated with holes so shaped that, place them in whatever inclination you may desire, they are always secure and firm; and every day a workman, especially charged with that duty, shakes them gently, and at the same moment raises them slightly, until by slow degrees they obtain a perpendicular position, and the sediment finds its way to the neck of the bottle, accumulating on the end of the cork, leaving the wine as clear and as bright as crystal. In this position they can, and sometimes do, remain for years; in fact, they are never removed from it, although such removal would entail no injury to the contents, until it is wanted for export or sale, as the wine will keep without deterioration, if unmixed with sugar, for at least twenty years, but after the sugar has been added it will depreciate sensibly in five or six years. The next operation is that of the dégorgement, or cleansing out of the sediment, which is the most difficult and delicate, as it is the most curious, requiring great skill and precision in the handling, for by this time the wine has become so highly effervescent, that in the hands of the unskillful and uninitiated it would either be made cloudy or every drop would suddenly quit the bottle. The practised dégorgeur, however, takes it carefully from its perpendicular position, and inclining it slightly, with its mouth towards the ground, divests it of the wire and twine, and, with an instrument resembling a brad-awl, quickly displaces the cork, which flies from its resting-place with a sharp report, carrying with it all the deposit, and a small portion of the wine ; seldom as much, however, as is necessary to give place for the liquor which is immediately afterwards added. Up to this moment, the wine generally, with the exception of such assistance as has already been mentioned, remains free from any artificial mixture, but on leaving the table of the dégorgeur, it passes at once into the hands of the mixer, who adds to each bottle, according to the country it is to be sent to, from eight to twenty-two per cent of a liquor composed of crystallized sugar candy of the finest quality, dissolved in wine of a character especially intended for this use, and a certain per centage of very fine old Champagne brandy, for which a fabulous price is paid. For America the allowance of brandy is never over one per cent, whilst for England three and sometimes four is added. For the Parisian consumption one per cent is also the quota, but for Russia and Germany a very spirituous wine is employed instead. As the addition of the liquor is greater than the escape of wine and deposit, the necessary quantity is generally poured out into bottles which are slightly fortified, and sold to the Parisian restaurateurs, who readily retail it, under the name of 'Tisanne,' at four francs the bottle. In defense of this addition of sugar and spirits, it is alleged that it is employed not only to give sweetness and body to the wine, but also that it is absolutely necessary for the purpose of destroying certain dele terious qualities appertaining to it in its natural state, which, unchanged, would render it both disagreeable and unhealthy; in other words, that a certain quantity of sugar is required to correct the malic acid which forms a constituent element of the wine, which, if drank pure, would inevitably cause in the stomach of the imbiber thereof, a sensation painfully reminding him of the belly-ache' of his boyhood. From the mixer the bottle passes to the corker, who, with the aid of a powerful lever, ruduces the cork, which is previously soaked in wine, to about half its original size, and forces it into its place; it is then secured by twine and wire, which gives it the knobby-looking head it possesses when released from its prison by the consumer; and finally, after being tin-foiled or leaded, as the case may be, and labelled, it is packed away in cases or baskets to await orders for shipment. The average day's work of a large establishment is one thousand bottles. The report of the Minister of the Interior states that the annual export of genuine Champagne wine is about thirteen millions of bottles, which are distributed as follows: To Germany, which includes Austria, Prussia, and all the States belonging to the Germanic Confederation, between four and five millions. To America the exportation amounts to very nearly three millions, and to Russia about two millions. In France and Belgium the consumption averages about two millions, while in England the demand is very limited, seldom exceeding half-a-million, leaving about a million and a half for the rest of mankind. The class of wines sent to Russia and Germany, as a general rule, are of the first quality, possessing delicacy of flavor, light body, and highly effervescing, with from eighteen to twenty-two per cent of sugar. In America, which offers no fixed standard of taste, every grade and quality, from the Heidsick, with its eighteen per cent of sweetened liquor, to the 'Grand Vin' of Moet, with its two per cent of brandy a l'Anglaise, are exported, and find admirers and advocates. The general standard of the first-class houses, however, is from fourteen to sixteen per cent, (and an experiment is now being made by the well-known firm of G. H. Mumm & Co., to introduce into this market an article with but a moiety of the usual addition of sugar, approaching, as near as possible, to the French standard, which ranges from eight to twelve per cent.) To England, however, is sent the driest, strongest, and poorest quality of wine, for although an English wine-merchant will assure you that he receives none but wine of the first quality, it is a notorious fact, in the Champagne district, that an order for any thing above the third quality rarely finds its way from London, and as no labels are permitted on wine intended for that market, the manufacturer has no means of designating the true quality to the consumer, who is thus left to the mercy of the dealers, who are, beyond contradiction, as a class, the greatest rogues in Christendom. Of late years it has been the fashion, on the part of would-be wine oracles and pseudo-connoisseurs to talk learnedly and inveigh bitterly against what they are pleased to term 'the extraordinary depreciation in the quality of Champagne wine,' some of them even going so far as to assert they do n't believe there is a single bottle of genuine wine ever reaches our shores,' quoting, in substantiation of their dictum, their recollections of 16 VOL. XLVIII. 6 the celebrated I. C. Champagne,' the famed Cornet brand,' and a host of fancy names' long since dead and passed away,' any of which could be had for fourteen dollars or less. In the dollar sense' of the case, these gentlemen are very nearly right, but they forget that during that same period of time, flour, the staff of life,' to quote that elegant remark of the classic Baggs, 'is n't what it use to was,' and it is vividly within the recollection of many suffering house-keepers, that a shilling loaf of bread, twenty years ago, was esteemed food enough for a growing family, while now it barely suffices to stay the stomach of a sturdy stripling. But that feeling fact certainly does not prove that the Genessee of to-day is inferior to the common brands of other and cheaper times, nor is it a convincing argument that the bakers of yore had more conscience than the modern dough-faces, or still less that Young America is a better feeder than his father; it simply demonstrates that the demand is greater than the supply, and, as an inevitable consequence, prices go up or quality goes down, just as naturally as water finds its level, or that two and two make four. Now, apply the same rule to Champagne wine, and you have the same result, for how is it possible that, with a limited and frequently a diminished supply of the raw material, and a constantly increasing demand for the manufactured article, prices and quality should remain stationary. It certainly can not be supposed that gentlemen engaged in the wine trade are going to invest from one to five hundred thousand dollars of capital, merely for the fun of hearing the corks pop, and as it is impossible for them to export profitably the same article which cost them in 1846 (the most famous vintage on record) at the rate of four sous the bottle, for which they now pay forty sous, and sell it at the same price, it will readily be understood why first-quality wine has appreciated in price, and why fourteen dollars now will not buy the same wine as it did years ago. If gentlemen must have the best article, they have got to pay for it, and, comparing it with every other article of trade or consumption, subject to the same vicissitudes, at eighteen or twenty dollars the dozen, it does not yield as liberal a profit as when sold at the minimum price so pathetically lamented for by the old fogies in question. Ten years ago the connoisseur placed before his cherished gastronomical chums, claret of the premiere cue at fifteen dollars the dozen, brandy of a fabulous age and undoubted purity, at five dollars the gallon, and segars of the choicest brands and most delicious fragrance, at fifty dollars the thousand. Why, then, should he object to pay twenty-five dollars a case for the best Champagne, which the great De Thou so appropriately termed Vinum Dei.' But, at the same time, I would not be understood to say that a very fair wine, good enough for any man's drinking, cannot be had at the stereotyped price of fourteen dollars. On the contrary, there are several brands sent to this market, and held at that price, which have puzzled many excellent judges, even when placed in competition with higher grades; but I do maintain that, under that price, the thing is impossible, and as Champagne is somewhat 'LIKE JEREMIAH's figs, The good are very good, the bad too bad to give the pigs,' the consumer had better err on the right side by buying the very best, as he may rest well assured that neither his friends nor his stomach ever find fault with a wine for being too good. Much more could be said and written on this genial topic, but although the subject is not exhausted, the audience probably are, so we will rest here for the present. COMMODORE STEWART. BY L. J. BATES. THE gale, with fierce wild laughter, sweeps the ocean and the wood, The elements are sounding their war-cry on the main, But the glory of the tempest may never come again. What joy it was to battle with the armies of the storm, Ah! beneath her streaming pennon, with its star-lit field of blue, How they gloried in his bearing in the days of long ago, When the world stood still to listen as his cannon shook the main, But the glory of the tempest may never come again. Ah! thou brave old heart of iron! Time hath touched thy cords with rust, Brave old Ironsides no longer is the monarch of the main, And the glory of the tempest may never come again. Like a dream of many summers, like a tale too often told, In the past your glory slumbers and your fame is growing old; To the lives that are immortal with the bravest and the best, Enter through the open portal, write your deeds among the rest: One more name on Fame's dread records, Death shall strike the golden chain, Grand Rapids, (Mich.,) Nov. 14, 1855. |