Part 7 (1/2)

[Illustration: DOORWAY OF AVIZE CHURCH]

XII--CHAMPAGNE ESTABLISHMENTS AT AVIZE AND RILLY

Avize the Centre of the White Grape District-- Its Situation and Aspect-- The Establishe and the Cuvee-- Vin Brut in Racks and on Tables-- The Packing-Hall, the Extensive Cellars, and the Disgorging Cellier-- Bottle Stores and Bottle-Washi+ng Machines-- Messrs Giesler's Wine-Presses at Avize and Vendangeoir at Bouzy-- Their Vineyards and their Purchases of Grapes-- Reputation of the Giesler Brand-- The Establish Boar-- Boar-Hunting in the Chane-- M de Cazanove's Commodious Cellars and Carefully-Selected Wines-- Vineyards Owned by Him and His Fa Popularity in England-- Interesting View fro of the White Grapes in the Chane-- Their Cellars Penetrated by Roots of Trees-- Sones-- The Principal Chalons Establishne by M Amaury de Cazanove

Avize, situated in the heart of the Charape district, h Pierry and Cramant or by the Chalons Railway to Oiry Junction, bethich station and Romilly there runs a local line, jocularly terard displayed by the officials for anything approaching to punctuality Avize can scarcely be styled a town, and yet its growing proportions are beyond those of an ordinary village It lies pleasantly nestled aes on the north-west, with the ne pouilleuse, unsuited to the cultivation of the vine, stretching away eastward in the direction of Chalons Avize cannot pretend to the sahbour Vertus, and lacks the es of which the latter can boast Its church dates back only to the 15th century, although the principal doorway in the Ros to a eneral air of triers have that well-to-do appearance common to the inhabitants of the French wine districts Only at vintage tins of activity, although half a score of cha e forth their two or threewine of the Marne annually

[Illustration: MAKING THE CUVeE AT MESSRS GIESLER'S, AT AVIZE (p131)]

Proceeding along the straight level road leading froht hand the premises of Messrs Giesler and Co, the reputation of whose brand is universal When M Giesler quitted the firm of P A Mumm, Giesler, and Co, at Reims, in 1838, he removed to Avize and founded the present extensive establishatee find ourselves within a spacious courtyard with a handsone business of nitude apparent A spiral staircase conducts to the counting-house on the first story of a range of buildings on the left hand, the ground floor of which is divided into celliers Passing through a door by the side of this staircase we enter a large hall where the operation of bottling the wine is going on Four tuns, each holding five ordinary pieces of wine, and raised upon large blocks of wood, are standing here, and co syphons of the type cone Messrs

Giesler do not usually consign the newly-bottled wine at once to the cellars, but retain it aboveground for about a fortnight in order that it may develop its effervescent qualities more perfectly We find many thousands of these bottles stacked horizontally in the adjoining celliers, in one of which stands the great _cuvee_ tun wherein sorowths are blended together at one tiled daily while the _cuvees_ are in progress The casks of wine having been hoisted from the cellars to the first floor by a crane, and run on to a trough, their bungs are reh an aperture in the floor into the huge tun beneath, its a accomplished by the custo of a wheel In an adjacent roo the liqueur which Messrs Giesler add so sparingly to their light and fragrant wines

There are a couple of floors above these celliers, the uppereneral store, while in the one beneath many thousands of bottles of _vin brut_ repose _sur pointe_, either in racks or on tables as at the Clicquot-Werle establishment This latter system requires ample space, for as the _remueur_, or workman who shakes the bottles, is only able to use one hand, the operation of dislodging the sedier time than is requisite when the bottles rest in racks

[Illustration: PREPARING THE LIQUEUR AT MESSRS GIESLER'S]

The buildings on the opposite side of the courtyard co-hall, celliers where the wine is finished off, and roos are stored Here, too, is the entrance to the cellars, of which there are three tiers, all lofty and well-ventilated galleries, very regular in their construction, and faced with either stone or brick In these extensive vaults are casks of fine reserved wines for blending with youthful vintages, and bottles of _vin brut_, built up in solid stacks, that may be reckoned by their hundreds of thousands At Messrs Giesler's the disgorging of the wine is accoround, and the teeurs_, isolated fro on their operations here by candlelight So soon as the sediment is removed the bottles are raised in baskets to the cellier above, where the liqueuring, re-corking, stringing, and wiring are successively accoorgement is believed to be reduced to a minimum

Extensive as these premises are they are still insufficient for the requirements of the fir where new bottles are stored and the washi+ng of the bottles in preparation for the tirage takes place By the aid of the machinery provided, sixteen women, assisted by a couple of men, commonly wash some fifteen or sixteen thousand bottles in the course of a day Here, too, stands one of the two large presses hich at the epoch of the vintage a hundred pieces of wine are pressed every four-and-twenty hours The re press is installed in a cellier at the farther end of the garden on the other side of the road Messrs Giesler possess additional presses at their vendangeoir at Bouzy, and during the vintage have the command of presses at Ay, Verzenay, Vertus, Le Mesnil, &c, it being a rule of theirs always to press the grapes within a few hours after they are gathered to obviate their beco a dark colour to the wine, a contingency difficult to guard against in seasons when the fruit is over-ripe The firreements with vine-proprietors at Ay, Bouzy, Verzenay, and elsewhere, to purchase their crops regularly every year Messrs Giesler's brand has secured its existing high repute solely through the fine quality of the wines shi+pped by the house--wines which are known and appreciated by all real connoisseurs of chane

From Messrs Giesler's it is merely a short walk to the establishment of M Charles de Cazanove, situated in the principal street of Avize On entering the court we encountered a ta so on the sunny flagstones, contes with lazy indifference Boars abound in the woods hereabouts, and hunting the boar we had noticed proved to be one of the recent captures of the sons of M de Cazanove, who are a sport Many of the boars found in the woods around Reiht from the fas and Touchstone's eccentricities as set forth in _As You Like It_, and whose gloolens shelter to-day not ne it is no longer the fashi+on

”With javelin's point a churlish swine to gore,”

nor to hunt the boar on horseback, as is still the case in Burgundy

When the presence of one or hbourhood, a party starts off accos and ar been fors are set to draw him out, while the _chasseurs_ keep on the alert so as not to allow hih their circle alive In this manner a few score of boars are killed every year in the woods round about Reims and Epernay

[Illustration: VINEYARDS OF AVIZE AND CRAMANT FROM THE GARDEN OF M C DE CAZANOVE

(p 135)]

The house of M Charles de Cazanove was established in 1843 by its present proprietor on the foundation of a business which had been in existence since 1811 Coreat Reims and Epernay establishments the premises present a simple and modest aspect, nevertheless they are capacious and co business of the house has led to the acquisition of additional cellarage in other parts of Avize More important than all, however, is the quality of the hich these cellars are stocked, and following the rule observed by cha principle with M de Cazanove always to rely upon the choicer growths--those light, delicate, and fragrant wines of the Marne which throw out the true arouished for his knowledge of viticulture, occupies an influential position at Avize, being Vice-President of the Horticultural Society of the Marne, and a ne vineyards against the invasion of the phylloxera His own vines include only those fine varieties to which the crus of the Marne owe their great renown

He possesses an excellent vineyard at Grauves, near Avize, and his mother-in-law, Madarowers of the district

M de Cazanove's wines are much appreciated in Paris, where his business is very extensive His shi+pland are also considerable, but from the circu the wine under special brands of their own, the brand of the house is not so widely known as we should have expected

Froarden in the rear of his establishment a fine view is obtained of one of thewines of remarkable delicacy and exquisite bouquet On the left hand rises up the ed with dense woods, where in winter the wild boar has his lair

In front stretch the long vine-clad slopes of Cramant, with orchards at their base, and the housetops of the village and the spire of the quaint old church just peeping over the brow of the hill To the right towers the bold forest-crowned height of Saran with M Moet's chateau perched half-way up its north-eastern slope, and fading away in the hazy distance are the ne

We have already explained that the wines of Avize and Crarape district, and that every chales one or the other in his _cuvee_ The white grapes are usually gathered a fortnight or three weeks later than the black varieties, but in other respects the vintaging of theo the customary ed, and rotten berries being thrown aside, the fruit is conveyed with due care to the press-houses in the large baskets known as _panierstakes place under exactly the sarapes; the sheads to ferment, and by the end of the year, when the active fermentation has terminated, the wine is usually clear and line, on the line of railway between Reims and Epernay, Roper freres & Cie, late of Epernay, now have their establish from the latter place we pass Ay and Avenay, and then the little village of Gerh the summit of the mountain of Reims, with its ”Rendezvous des Chasseurs” in immediate proximity to the station Finally we arrive at Rilly, which, spite of its isolated situation, has about it that aspect of prosperity common to the more favourable wine districts of France This is scarcely surprising when the quality of its wines is taken into consideration