Part 8 (1/2)

In the rear is the Rue des Payens, whither the last of the Huguenots of this ”metropolis of Protestantis their houses into sosurprised by their Catholic adversaries Adjacent is the steep tortuous Grande Rue, of which Balzac--hiraphic picture in his _Eugenie Grandet_, the scene of which is laid at Saumur To-day, however, only a few of its ancient carved ti corner turrets, and fantastically-studded massive oak doors have escaped demolition

The vineyards of the Coteau de Sau the finest wines, are reached by the road skirting the river, the opposite low banks of which are fringed s and endless rows of poplars, which at the ti tints of autuhts, the summit of which is covered with vines, varied by dense patches of woodland Here, as elsewhere along the banks of the Loire, thethe face of the hill have been turned by the peasants into cosy dwellings by si, of course, the necessary apertures for doors and s Dae reached, has s, and numbers of its houses are picturesquely perched up the sides of the slope The holiday costuhbourhood of Sauly quaint, their elaborate and varied head-dresses being counterparts of _coiffures_ in vogue so far back as three and four centuries ago

Quitting the banks of the river, we ascend a steep tortuous road shut in on either side by high stone walls--for hereabouts all the best vineyards are scrupulously inclosed--and finally reach the suained over what the Saurand valley of the Loire Everywhere around the vintage is going on The vines are planted rather rapes are trained, as a rule, up tall stakes, although some few are trained espalier fashi+on Wo-knives and throw them into the _seilles_--small squat buckets ooden handles--the contents of which are emptied from time to time into baskets--the counterpart of the chiffonnier's _hotte_, and coated with pitch inside so as to close all the crevices of the wickerwork--which the _portes-bastes_ carry slung to their backs

When white wine is being rapes are conveyed in these baskets forthwith to the underground pressoirs in the neighbouring villages before their skins get at all broken in order that the wine rape yielding the best wine in the Saumur district is the breton, said to be the sarand vineyards of the Medoc Other species of black grapes cultivated around Sau a soft and insipid wine of no kind of value, and the liverdun, or large garape in the Maconnais, and the same which in the days of Philippe-le-Hardi the _parle and cultivation of The prevalent white grapes are the large and s of an intermediate size, broad and pyraether These have fine skins, are oblong in shape, and of a transparent yellowish-green hue tinged with red, are very sweet and juicy, and as a rule ripen late As for the small pineau, the bunches are less coolden tint, are finer as well as sweeter in flavour, and ripen soer variety

We noticed as we drove through the villages of Chany and Varrains--the former celebrated for its fine red wines, and more especially its cru of the Clos des Cordeliers--that hardly any of the houses had s looking on to the narrow street, but that all were provided with low openings for shooting the grapes into the cellar where, whenwhite wine, whether frorapes, they are invariably pressed

Each of the houses had its ponderous porte-cochere and low narrow portal leading into the large inclosed yard at its side, and over the high blank walls vines were frequently trained and pleasantly varied their dull grey s just h a kind of tunnel into a reservoir adjacent to the heavy press, which is invariably of wood and of the old-fashi+oned cumbersome type They are forthwith placed beneath the press and usually subjected to five separate squeezes, thewine, while that fro more or less deeply tinted, only serves for table wine The must is at once run off into casks in order that it rape-skins and i matter Active ferht or three weeks according to whether the te of the white grapes takes place about a fortnight later than the black grapes, and is co first of all gathered just as the berries begin to get shrivelled and show syrapes that yield the best wine The second gathering, which follows shortly after the first, includes all the grapes re on the vines, and yields a wine perceptibly inferior in quality The grapes on their arrival at the press-house are generally pressed immediately and the must is run off into tuns to ferment At the commencement these tuns are filled up every three or four days to replace the fer ood at the interval of a week, and then once a fortnight, the bungholes of the casks being securely closed towards the end of the year, by which time the first fermentation is over

It should be noted that the Sau wine manufacturers draw considerable supplies of the white wine required to ihtness and effervescence to their _vin prepare_ from the Vouvray vineyards Vouvray borders the Loire a few miles from the pleasant city of Tours, which awakens sinister recollections of truculent Louis XI, shut up in his fortified castle of Plessis-lez-Tours, around which Scott has thrown the halo of his genius in his novel of _Quentin Durward_ On proceeding to Vouvray froedthe right bank of the Loire; and after a tie of vine-clad heights extending soe of Vouvray Our route lies past the picturesque ruins of the abbey of Marmoutier and the Chateau des Roches--one of the most celebrated castles of the Loire--the nue on which they are perched being converted as usual into houses, e of Rochecorbon, and along a road winding ae, past hamlets, half of whose inhabitants live in these pris hollowed out of the cliff, and finally enter the char Vallee Coquette, hemmed in on all sides with vine-clad slopes Here a picturesque old house, half chateau half homestead, was pointed out to us as a favourite place of sojourn of Balzac, who speaks of this rocky ridge as ”inhabited by a population of vine-dressers, their houses of several stories being hollowed out in the face of the cliff, and connected by dangerous staircases hewn in the soft stone Sreen crest of vines, while the blows of the cooper's hairl trips to her garden over the roofs of these pris, and an old wo rock, supported solely by the thick straggling roots of the ivy which spreads itself over the disjointed stones, leisurely turns her spinning-wheel regardless of her dangerous position” The picture sketched by the author of _La Coed at the present day

At the point where the village of Vouvray cli Cise throws itself into the Loire, and on crossing the bridge that spans the tributary stream we discern on the western horizon, far beyond the verdant islets studding the swollen Loire, the tall campaniles of Tours Cathedral, which seem to rise out of the water like a couple of Venetian towers Vouvray is a trim little place, clustered round about with nuardens The modern chateau of Moncontour here doardens, with, their fantastically-clipped trees and geometric parterres, rise tier above tier up the face of the picturesque height that overlooks the broad fertile valley, with its gardens, cultivated fields, patches of woodland, and wide stretches of green pasture which, fringed s and poplars, border the swollen waters of the Loire Where the river Brenne empties itself into the Cise the Coteau de Vouvray slopes off towards the north, and there rise up the vine-clad heights of Vernou, yielding a sie of Vernou is nestled under the hill, and near the porch of its quaint little church a venerable el been planted by Sully, Henry IV's able Minister Here, too, an ancient wall, pierced with curious arched s, and forarded by popular tradition as belonging to the palace in which Pepin-le-Bref, father of Charlene, lived at Vernou

The cohbourhood of Sauny, besides which all the finest white wines are vintaged hereabouts--in the Perriere, the Poilleux, and the Clos Morain vineyards, and in the Rotissans vineyard at Turquant Wines of very fair quality are also grown on thethe valley of the Thouet, and co, and Breze The whole of this district, by the way, abounds with interesting archaeological re the vineyards of Varrains and Chace we caes of the ancient Celtic population of the valley of the Loire singularly abundant hereabouts Breze, the rand master of the ceremonies--immortalized by the rebuff he received from Mirabeau--boasts a noble chateau on the site of an ancient fortress, in connection hich there are contened for a garrison of 500 or 600 men Beyond the vineyards of Saint-Florent, ard of Saumur and on the banks of the Thouet, is an extensive plateau partially overgroith vines, where may be traced the remains of a Roman camp Moreover, in the southern environs of Sau exclusively white wines, is one of thestructure, perfect in all respects save that one of the four enormous stones which roof it in has been split in two, and requires to be supported, is no less than 65 feet in length, 23 feet in width, and 10 feet high

[Illustration: DOLMEN AT BAGNEUX, NEAR SAUMUR]

At Saint-Florent, the pleasant little suburb of Sau the river Thouet, and sheltered by steep hills forreat facilities for the excavation of extensive cellars, the largestwines has his establishment

Externally this offers but little to strike the eye A couple of pleasant country houses, half hidden by spreading foliage, stand at the two extrearden, beyond which one catches a glis sheltered by the vine-crowned cliff, in which a labyrinth of glooalleries has been hollowed out

Here M Ackerman-Laurance, the extent of whose business ranks hi winelike 10,000 casks and several million bottles of wine

At the commencement of the present century, in the days when, as Balzac relates in his _Eugenie Grandet_, the Belgians bought up entire vintages of Sauely in demand with them for sacramental purposes, the founder of the Saint-Florent house commenced to deal in the ordinary still wines of the district Nearly half a century ago he was led to atte wines, but his efforts to bring the his enterprise when an order for one hundred cases revived his hopes, and led to the foundation of the present vast establishhts along the Loire have beenpurposes, so that every one hereabouts who groine or deals in it has any amount of cellar accoalleries which M Ackerman _pere_ discovered already excavated at Saint-Florent that induced him to settle there in preference to Sauinal vaults were, considerable additional excavations have from time to time been found necessary; and to-day the fir the area of its cellars, which already comprise three principal avenues, each the third of a alleries, the total length of which is several e is that the whole are on the ordinary level

[Illustration: THE CELLARS OF M ACKERMAN-LAURANCE AT SAINT-FLORENT

LABELLING AND PACKING SPARKLING SAUMUR (p 150)]

Ranged against the black uneven walls of the ive access to these labyrinthine corridors are thousands of casks of wine--so the reserve stock of the establishment As may be supposed, a powerful vinous odour permeates these vaults, in which the fu for the best part of a century After passing beneath a massive stone arch which separates the old cellars froalleries are reached, having bottles stacked in their tens of thousands on either side

Overhead the roof is perforated at regular intervals with circular shafts, affording both light and ventilation, and enabling the teulated to a nicety In these lateral and transverse galleries es of preparation are stacked

We have explained that in the Cha wine to purchase considerable quantities of grapes frorowers, and to press these themselves, or have them pressed under their own superintendence At Sau vineyards make their own _vin brut_, the bulk of the wine used for conversion into sparkling wine being purchased frorowers On the newly-expressedat M Ackerman-Laurance's cellars it is allowed to rest until the co year, when half of it is e, and the re with theis accomplished in a couple of colossal vats hewn out of the rock, and coated on the inside with cement Each of these vats is provided with 200 paddles for thoroughlyit off when the aasheads, or 80,000 gallons of wine, almost sufficient for half a million bottles A fourth of this quantity can beis repeated again and again until the last gallon run off is of precisely the sa saurapes to that froenerally at the rate of three or four to one For the inferior qualities rapes is invariably used Only in the wine frorapes is the effervescent principle retained to any particular extent; but, on the other hand, the wine frorapes imparts both quality and vinous character to the blend

The blending having been satisfactorily accomplished, the wine is stored in casks, never perfectly filled, yet with their bungholes tightly closed, and slowly continues its fer fall its lees Three months later it is fined It is rarely kept in the wood for h sometimes the superior qualities remain for a couple of years in cask

Occasionally it is even bottled in the spring following the vintage; still, as a rule, the bottling of sparkling sau suhest as this insures to it a greater degree of effervescence At the tiiven degree by the addition of the finest sugar-candy, and henceforward the wine is subjected to precisely the sane

It is in a broad but sohly-healls of which are black froas--that the processes of disgorging the wine of its sedi up the bottles ine to replace that which gushes out when the disgorging operation is perfor of the bottles, are carried on The one or two adjacent shafts iht, but a couple of resplendent ht fancy to be so eyes, combined with the lamps placed near the people at work, effectually illuminate the spot