in the wines. When the grapes have attained the proper degree of
ripeness, or rather over-ripeness, they are gathered with the greatest
care, the berries being frequently cut off from the branches singly,
and sorted according to their appearance. The grapes are then not
crushed, but are immediately pressed, and the juice alone is subjected
to fermentation. As a rule, three wines are made in the principal
vineyards in three successive periods. The first wine, which is
termed the vin de tête, is generally the sweetest and finest, the next
(called the milieu) being somewhat drier and the last (vin de queue)
being the least valuable. For some markets these wines are shipped
separately, for others they are blended according to the prevalent
taste. The musts from which the Sauternes wines are made are so
concentrated that only a part of the sugar is transformed into
alcohol, an appreciable portion remaining unfermented. These
wines, therefore, require very careful handling in order to prevent
undesirable secondary fermentations taking place at a later period.
They are subjected to frequent racking, the casks into which they are
racked being more highly sulphured than is the case with red wines.
This is necessary, not only to prevent fermentation recommencing,
but also in order to preserve the light golden colour of the wine,
which, if brought into contact with an excess of air, rapidly assumes
an unsightly brown shade.
The Sauternes generally are full-bodied wines, very luscious and yet delicate; they possess a special seve, or, in other words, that special taste which, while it remains in the mouth, leaves the palate perfectly fresh. The finer growths of the Sauternes are classified in much the same way as the red wines of the Médoc. There are two main growths, the wines being as follows:—
| Classification of Sauternes | |
| Grand First Growth. | |
| Château | Yquem, Sauternes. |
| First Growths. | |
| Château | La Tour Blanche, Bommes. |
| „ | Peyraguey, Bommes. |
| „ | Vigneau, Bommes. |
| „ | Suduiraud, Preignac. |
| „ | Coutet, Barsac. |
| „ | Climens, Barsac. |
| „ | Bayle (Guiraud), Sauternes. |
| „ | Rieussec, Fargues. |
| „ | Rabaud, Bommes. |
| Second Growths. | |
| Château | Mirat, Barsac. |
| „ | Doisy, Barsac. |
| „ | Peyxotto, Bommes. |
| „ | d'Arche, Sauternes. |
| „ | Filhot, Sauternes. |
| „ | Broustet-Nérac, Barsac. |
| „ | Caillou, Barsac. |
| „ | Suau, Barsac. |
| „ | Malle, Preignac. |
| „ | Romer, Preignac. |
| „ | Lamothe, Sauternes. |
The production of the Sauternes vineyards is, as a rule, smaller than that of the chief red growths, and in consequence of this, and that the district is a relatively small one, the prices of the finer growths are often very high.
The Côtes district consists of the slopes rising from the lower marshy regions to the east of the Garonne and the Dordogne respectively. St Emillion. The best of the Côtes wines are grown in the St Emilion region. This region consists of the commune of St Emilion, together with the four surrounding communes. It produces wines of a decidedly bigger type than those of the Médoc, and is frequently called the Burgundy of the Bordeaux district. The classification of the St Emilion wines is very complicated, but in principle is similar to that of the Médoc wines. Among the better known wines of the first growths are the following: Château Ausone, Château Belair, Château Clos Fourtet, Château Pavie, Château Coutet, Château Cheval-Blanc, Château Figeac. The Château Ausone is of peculiar interest, inasmuch as it is here that the poet Ausonius possessed a magnificent villa and cultivated a vineyard (A.D. 300).
Palus and Entre-deux-Mers.—The above wines are grown in the marshy regions in the immediate neighbourhood of the Garonne and Dordogne. They produce useful but rather rough wines. The Entre-deux-Mers district forms a peninsula between the Garonne and Dordogne, comprising the arrondissements of La Réole, the south of Libourne and the east of Bordeaux. This district produces both red and white wines, but their character is not comparable to that of the Médoc or of the Côtes. They are generally employed for local consumption and blending.
The sparkling wine known to us as champagne takes its name from the former province which is now replaced by the departments of Champagne. Marne, Haute-Marne, Aube and Ardennes. The best wines, however, are grown almost exclusively in the Marne district. The cultivation of the vine in the Champagne is of very ancient date. It appears that both red and white wines were produced there in the reign of the Roman emperor, Probus (in the 3rd century A.D.), and according to Victor Rendu the queue of wine was already worth 19 livres in the time of Francis II., and had, in 1694, attained to the value of 1000 livres. It was at about the latter date that sparkling or effervescent wine was first made, for, according to M. Perrier, a publication of the year 1718 refers to the fact that wine of this description had then been known for some twenty years. The actual discovery of this type of wine is ascribed to Dom Pérignon, a monk who managed the cellars of the abbey of Haut Villers from 1670 to 1715. It appears also that it was this same Dom Pérignon who first used cork as a material for closing wine bottles. Up till then such primitive means as pads of hemp or cloth steeped in oil had been employed. It is very likely that the discovery of the utility of cork for stoppering led to the invention of effervescent wine, the most plausible explanation being that Dom Pérignon closed some bottles filled with partially fermented wine, with the new material, and on opening them later observed the effects produced by the confined carbonic acid gas. The art of making the wine was kept secret for some time, and many mysterious fables were circulated concerning it; inter alia it was believed that the Evil One had a hand in its manufacture. It does not appear, however, to have become popular or consumed on a large scale until the end of the 18th century.
The district producing the finest champagne is divided into two distinct regions, popularly known as the river and the mountain respectively. The former consists of the vineyards situated on or in the neighbourhood of the banks of the Marne. The principal vineyards in the valley, on the right bank of the river, are those at Ay, Dizy, Hautvillers and Mareuil; on the left bank, on the slopes of Epernay and parallel with the river, those at Pierry and Moussy; in the district towards the south-east, on the slopes of Avize, those of Avize, Cramant, Vertus and Mesnil. The chief vineyards in the “mountain” district are at Versy, Verzenay, Sillery, Rilly and Bouzy.
The soil in the champagne district consists on the slopes largely of chalk and in the plain of alluvial soil. It is interspersed with some clay and sand. The chief red vines of the champagne district are the Plant-doré, Franc-Pineau and the Plant vert doré. The Plant gris, or Meunier, yields grapes of a somewhat inferior quality. The chief white vine is the Pineau, also known as Chardonay. The best qualities of wine are made almost exclusively from the black grapes. For this reason it is necessary that the process of collection, separation and pressing should proceed as quickly as possible at vintage time in order that the juice may not, through incipient fermentation, dissolve any of the colouring matter from the skins. For the same reason the grapes are collected in baskets in order to avoid excessive pressure, and are transported in these to the press house. As there is no preliminary crushing, the presses used for extracting the juice have to be of a powerful character. As a rule, three qualities of wine are made from one batch of grapes, the first pressing yielding the best quality, whilst the second and third are relatively inferior. After the must has been allowed to rest for some hours in order to effect a partial clearing, it is drawn off into barrels and fermented in the latter. The first racking and fining takes place about December. The wine is allowed to rest for a further short period, and if not bright is again racked and fined. It is then ready for bottling, but previous to this operation it is necessary to ascertain whether the wine contains sufficient remanent sugar to develop the “gas” necessary for effervescence. If this is not the case, sugar is added, generally in the form of fine cane or candied sugar. The bottles employed have to be of very fine quality, as the pressure which they have to stand may be as much as 7 to 8 atmospheres or more. Formerly the loss through breakage was very great, but the art of making and selecting these bottles has greatly improved, and the loss now amounts to little more than 5%, whereas formerly 25% and even 30% was not an uncommon figure. In the spring-time, shortly after bottling, the rise in temperature produces a secondary fermentation, and this converts the sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid. This fermentation proceeds throughout the summer months, and in the meantime a sediment which adheres to the side of the bottle is gradually formed. The bottles, which up till now have been in a horizontal position, are then, in order to prepare them for the next process, namely, that known as disgorging, placed in a slanting position, neck downwards, and are daily shaken very slightly, so that by degrees the sediment works its way on to the cork. This process, which takes several weeks, is a very delicate one, and requires much skill on the part of the workman. When the whole of the sediment is on the cork, the iron clip, with which the latter is kept in position, is removed for a moment, and the force of the wine ejects the sediment and cork simultaneously. This operation also requires much skill in order to avoid an excessive escape of wine. An ingenious modification has of modern times been introduced, which consists in freezing part of the contents of the neck of the bottle. The cork may then be withdrawn and the sediment removed without any wine being lost.
