Part 1 (2/2)

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The dilapidated cloisters, littered with old casks, farm implements, and the like, preserve ample traces of their forateway on the northern side of the inclosure still displays above its arch a grandiose carved shi+eld, with surrounding pals Vine-leaves and bunches of grapes decorate sorotesque mediaeval hted in, entwine themselves around the capitals of others The stalls of the choir are elaborately carved with cherubs'

heads,shi+elds, and free and graceful arabesques of the epoch of the Renaissance In the chancel, close by the altar steps, are a couple of black raphy, the one to Johannes Royer, who died in 1527, and the other setting forth the virtues and ne In the central aisle a si-place of Dom Thedoricus Ruynart--obit 1709--an ancestor of the Rei the tiles hich the side aisles of the church are paved record the deaths of otherthe 17th and 18th centuries Several large pictures grace the walls of the church, theSt

Nivard, Bishop of Rei to some mediaeval architect the site the contemplated abbey of St Peter was to occupy There was a end that about the middle of the 7th century this pair of saints set out in search of a suitable site for the future , the day arm, and St Nivard and St Berchier as yet were simply mortal Weary and faint, they sat them down to rest at a spot identified by tradition with a vineyard at Dizy, belonging to-day to the Messrs Bollinger, but at that period for part of the forest of the Marne St Nivard fell asleep with his head on his companion's lap, and the one in a drea eyes, saw a snohite dove--the saht down the holy oil for the anointh the wood, and finally alight on the stunificant oarded, the site thus h altar of the abbey church being erected upon the precise spot where the tree stood on which the snohite dove had alighted

The celerer of St Peter's found worthy successors, and thenceforward the ne went on steadily increasing, until to-day its production is carried on upon a scale and with an ainator

For good chaush out from the rocks, but is the result of incessant labour, patient skill, minute precaution, and careful observation In the first place, the soil imparts to the natural wine a special quality which it has been found ilobe To the wine of Ay it lends a flavour of peaches, and to that of Avenay the savour of strawberries; the vintage of Hautvillers, though fallen froh estate, is yet marked by an unmistakably nutty taste; while that of Pierry s flint, the well-known _pierre a fusil_ flavour So on the principle that a little leaven leavens the whole lurown in the more favoured vineyards is added in certain proportions to secure certain special characteristics, as well as to maintain a fixed standard of excellence

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II--THE VINTAGE IN THE CHAMPAGNE THE VINEYARDS OF THE RIVER

Ay, the Vineyard of Golden Plants-- Suers by Beat of Drues-- The Pickers at Work-- Sorting the Grapes-- Grapes Gathered at Sunrise the Best-- Varieties of Vines in the Ay Vineyards-- Few of the Growers in the Cha the Grapes in the ”Pressoir” and Drawing off the Must-- Cheerful Glasses Round-- The Vintage at Mareuil-- Bringing in the Grapes on Mules and Donkeys-- The Vineyards of Avenay, Mutigny, and cumieres-- Damery and Adrienne Lecouvreur, Marechal de Saxe, and the obese Anna Ina-- The Vineyards of the Cote d'Epernay-- Boursault and its Chateau-- Pierry and its Vineyard Cellars-- The Clos St Pierre-- Moussy and Vinay-- A Hermit's Cave and a Miraculous Fountain-- Ablois St Martin-- The Cote d'Avize-- The Grand Premier Cru of Craer and Le Mesnil-- The Old Town of Vertus and its Vine-clad Slopes-- Their Red Wine formerly celebrated

With the exception of certain fanethe most picturesque of the more notable vine districts of France Between Paris and Epernay even, the banks of the Marne present a series of scenes of quiet beauty The undulating ground is everywhere cultivated like a garden Handso country houses peep out froes line the river's bank or cli La Ferte-sous-Jouarre, the cradle of the Condes, all the more favoured situations commence to be covered with vines

This is especially the case in the vicinity of Chateau-Thierry--the birthplace of La Fontaine--where the view is shut in on all sides by vine-clad slopes, which the spring frosts seldoladdens the hearts of the peasant proprietors, who find eager purchasers for their produce ane In the same way the _petit vin de Chierry_, dexterously prepared and judiciously ures as ”Fleur de Sillery” or ”Ay Mousseux” In reality it is not until we have passed the ornateyears by the wealthy Veuve Clicquot, by far the shrewdestproducts of Ay and Bouzy of her day, and the eous trees, crown the loftiest height within eyeshot of Epernay, that we find ourselves within that charne--the wine, not merely of princes, as it has been somewhat obsequiously termed, but essentially the _vin de societe_--is derived

The vinelands in the vicinity of Epernay, and consequently near the Marne, are commonly known as the ”Vineyards of the River,” whilst those covering the slopes in the neighbourhood of Reims are termed the ”Vineyards of the Mountain” The Vineyards of the River coht bank of the Marne and enjoying a southern and south-eastern aspect, a which are Ay, Hautvillers, cumieres, Dizy, and Mareuil; secondly, the Cote d'Epernay on the left bank of the river, of which Pierry, Moussy, and Vinay forion _par excellence_ of white grapes), which stretches towards the south-east, and includes the vinelands of Craer, Le Mesnil, and Vertus The entire vineyard area is upwards of 40,000 acres

The Chane vineyards most widely celebrated abroad are those of Ay and Sillery, although the last-nane district Ay, distant only a few minutes by rail from Epernay, is in the i Mareuil and Avenay on the east, and Dizy, Hautvillers, and cumieres on the west

Sillery, on the other hand, lies at the foot of the so-called Mountain of Reims, and within an hour's drive of the old cathedral city

The pleasantest season of the year to visit the Chae When this is about to coers--some of whom come from Sainte Menehould, forty miles distant, while others hail from as far as Lorraine--are summoned at daybreak by beat of drues adjacent to the vineyards, and then and there a price is enerally either a franc and a half, with food consisting of threepaid a franc and a half The rate of wage satisfactorily arranged, the gangs start off to the vineyards, headed by their overseers

It was on one of those occasional sunshi+ny days in the early part of October (1871) when I first visited Ay, the vineyard of golden plants, the unique _premier cru_ of the Wines of the River The road lay between ts of closely-planted poplar-trees reaching alrey church toith its gabled roof, is do vine-clad slopes, which extend from Avenay to Venteuil, some few miles beyond Hautvillers, the cradle, so to speak, of the _vin ne

Everywhere was bustle and excite with the business in hand In these ordinarily quiet little villages the majority of the inhabitants were afoot, the feeble feh the rows of vines half-way up the mountain, basket on ar to and fro between the press-houses and the wine-shops Carts piled up with baskets, or croith peasants from a distance on their way to the vineyards, jostled the low railway trucks laden with bran-new casks, and the sone houses, reduced to clinch their final bargain for a hundred orwine-press

There was a pleasant air of jollity over all, for in the wine-producing districts every one participates in the interest excited by the vintage, which influences the takings of all the artificers and all the tradespeople, bringing grist to the mill of the baker and the bootmaker, as well as to the cafe and the cabaret The various contending interests were singularly satisfied, the vintagers getting their two francs and a half a day, and the men at the pressoirs their three francs and their food The plethoric _co foreheads with satisfaction at having at last secured the full nuh figure it was true, still this was no disadvantage to thearded the s theers, could see at a glance that they were gainers, for, although the crop was no uised anxiety of the agents to secure all the wine they required, prices had gradually crept up until they doubled those of ordinary years, and this with only half the work in the vineyard and at the wine-press to be done

On leaving Dizy the road runs immediately at the base of the vine-clad slopes, broken up by an occasional conical peak detaching itself from the ated hues, in which deep purple, yellow, green, grey, and cri these slopes like a sware ants are a crowd ofthe vines of their luscious-looking fruit The men areneat white caps, or wearing old-fashi+oned unbleached straw-bonnets of the conterapes with scissors or hooked knives, technically termed ”serpettes,” and in soed, decayed, or unripe fruit fro on their arms, the contents of which are fro a deep clothes-basket in shape, nu dispersed about the vineyard for the purpose, and invariably in the shade When filled they are carried by a couple ofwhich dwarf stones carved with initials, and indicating the boundaries of the respective properties, are encountered every eight or ten yards, into such narrow strips are the vineyards divided Large carts with railed open sides are continually passing backwards and forwards to pick these baskets up, and when one of them has secured its load it is driven slowly--in order that the grapespressoir, so extree of the process of charapes are inspected in bulk instead of in detail before being sent to the wine-press The hand-baskets, when filled, are all brought to a particular spot, where their contents are minutely examined by some half-dozen men and women, who pluck off all the bruised, rotten, and unripe berries, and fling them aside into a separate basket In one vineyard we caated round a wicker sieve perched on the top of a large tub by the roadside, ere busy sorting the grapes, pruning away the diseased stalks, and picking off all the doubtful berries, and letting the latter fall through the interstices of the sieve, the sound fruit being deposited in large baskets standing by their side, which, as soon as filled, were conveyed to the pressoir

[Illustration: A VINTAGE SCENE IN THE CHAMPAGNE (p 24)]

The picking ordinarily corapes gathered at sunrise always produce the lightest and rapes when the earlysun is upon them they are believed to yield a fourth more juice Later on in the day, too, spite of all precautions, it is irapes froive a slight excess of colour to theespecially to be avoided--no h-class charapes have to be transported in open baskets for so the road either in carts or on the backs of ht autuently the latter e, and consequently useless for conversion into cha from Dizy to Ay we pass a vineyard called Le Leon, which tradition asserts to be the one whence Pope Leo the Magnificent, the patron of Michael Angelo, Raffaelle, and Da Vinci, drew his supply of Ay wine The village of Ay lies right before us at the foot of the vine-clad slopes, with the tapering spire of its ancient church rising above the neighbouring hills and cutting sharply against the bright blue sky The vineyards, which spread themselves over a calcareous declivity, havevines are those known as golden plants, the fruit of which is of a deep purple colour After these comes the _plant vert dore_, and then a ris_, the latter a white variety, as its narapes is likewisevineyards of Dizy