Part 5 (1/2)
La Prison de Bonne Semaine-- Mary Queen of Scots at Reims-- Messrs
Pommery and Greno's Offices-- A Fine Collection of Faence-- The Rue des Anglais a forlish Catholics-- Remains of the Old University of Reims-- Ancient Roman Tower and Curious Grotto-- The handsome Castellated Poe Carved Cuvee Tun-- The Descent to the Cellars-- Their Great Extent-- These Lofty Subterranean Chae of the Early Christians and the Protestants-- Madame Pommery's Splendid Cuvee of 1868-- Messrs de St Marceaux and Co's New Establishment in the Avenue de Sillery-- Its Garden-Court and Circular Shaft-- Ani Bottled Wine to the Cellars-- Great Depth and Extent of these Cellars-- Messrs de St Marceaux and Co's Various Wines
Nigh the cathedral of Reims and in the rear of the archiepiscopal palace there runs a short narrow street known as the Rue Vauthier le Noir, and frequently ne The discovery of various pillars and statues, together with a handso soan temple formerly occupied the site The street is supposed to have taken its naaoler, for in mediaeval times here stood ”la prison de bonne semaine”
On the site of this prison a chateau was subsequently built where Mary Queen of Scots is said to have resided in the days when her uncle, Cardinal Charles de Lorraine, was Lord Archbishop of Reims Temple, prison, and palace have alike disappeared, and where they stood there now rises arden a handsome mansion, the residence of Madame Pommery, head of the well-known firm of Pommery and Greno To the left of the courtyard, which is entered through athe sculptured escutcheon of the beautiful and luckless Stuart Queen, while to the right are the offices, with the er's sanctu completely covered with re Rouen, Gien, Palissy, Delft, and majolica, collected in the es around Reims Here ere received by M Vasnier, who at once volunteered to accompany us to the cellars of the firinally carried on business in the Rue Vauthier le Noir, where there are extensive cellars, but their rapidly-increasing connection long since corate beyond the walls of Reims
In close proxilais, so na from the persecutions of our so-called Good Queen Bess, here took up their abode and established a college and a sereat influence in Reims, and one of their number, William Gifford, was even elected archbishop At the end of this street, nigh to Madame Pommery's, there stands an old house with a corner tower and rather handsoed to soy of the cathedral, and subsequently became the ”Bureau General de la Loterie de France,” abolished by the National Convention in 1793
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
The Rue des Anglais conducts into the Rue de l'Universite, where a few remnants of the old University, founded by Cardinal Charles de Lorraine (1538-74), attract attention, notably a conical-capped corner tower, the sculptured ornaments at the base of which have cru tooth of Ti the Boulevard du Temple to the Porte Gerbert, about a mile beyond which there rises up the curious castellated structure in which the Pommery establishment is installed, and whose tall towers command a view of the whole of Reims and its environs As we drive up the Avenue Gerbert we espy on the right an isolated cru Roman tower, a remnant of the days when Rei the capital of Belgic Gaul Close at hand, and alrotto to which an ancient origin is likewise ascribed In another ates of Messrs Poe, and proceeding up a broad drive alight under a Gothic portico at the entrance to the spacious and lofty cellier Iron columns support the roof of this vast hall, at one end of which is the office and tasting-rooraphic apparatus by means of which communication is carried on with the Reims bureaux Stacked up on every side of the cellier, and when eht tiers, are rows upon rows of casks, 4,000 of which contain wine of the last vintage, sufficient for a ne The teulated; the s are high up near the roof, the sun's rays are rigidly excluded, so that a pleasant coolness pervades the aparte tun, capable of containing 5,500 gallons of wine, in which the fir the arms of Reiained by a staircase in a side aisle, runs round this tonneau; and boys stand here when the wine is being blended, and byabove the cask work the paddle-wheels placed inside, thereby securing the coamation of the wine, which has been hoisted up in casks and poured through aare the chains and lifts worked by steam by means of which wine is raised and lowered froht casks, whether full or empty, in the space of a minute
[Illustration: THE POMMERY ESTABLISHMENT, IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF REIMS (p 96)]
[Illustration: HEAD OVERSEER AT POMMERY AND GRENO'S]
At the farther end of the hall a Gothic door, decorated with ornaht of steps 116 in nu to the suite of lofty subterranean chambers where bottles of _vin brut_ repose in their hundreds of thousands in slanting racks or solid piles, passing leisurely through those stages of developether there are thirty large shafts, which were originally quarries, and are now connected by spacious galleries This side of Reims abounds with similar quarries, which are believed to have served as places of refuge for the Protestants at the tiue and after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and it is even conjectured that the early Christians, the followers of St Sixtus and St Sinicus, here hid themselves from their persecutors Since the cellars within the city have no longer sufficed for the storage of the ine trade, these vast subterranean galleries have been successfully utilised by various fir out the water hich the cha tunnels, shore up the cracking arches, and repair the flaws in the chalk with nificent cellars for the storage of chane No less than 60,000 was spent upon theround area is alne can be stored in these capacious vaults
Madareat mark with her splendid _cuvee_ of 1868, and since this time her brand has becohly appreciated by connoisseurs
[Illustration: THE PACKING HALL OF MESSRS DE SAINT-MARCEAUX AT REIMS (p 99)]
On leaving Messrs Pommery's we retrace our steps down the Avenue Gerbert, bordered on either side with rows of plane-trees, until we reach the treeless Avenue de Sillery, where Messrs de Saint Marceaux and Co's new and capacious establish is flanked by two advanced wings inclosing a garden-court, set off with flowers and shrubs, and from the centre of which rises a circular shaft, covered in with glass, ad to the left the wine is received on its arrival froed hundreds of casks replete with the choice _crus_ of Verzenay, Ay, Cramant, and Bouzy, while so are stocked in -hall in the corresponding wing of the establish the bottles with gold and silver headdresses and robing the, and addressing the cases or baskets to Hong-Kong, San Francisco, Yokoha, Berlin, or Paris
The wine in cask, stored in the left-hand wing, after having been duly blended in a vast vat holding over 2,400 gallons, is drawn off into bottles, which are then lowered down a shaft to the second tier of cellars by means of an endless chain, on to which the baskets of bottles are swiftly hooked The work down the shaft, has a leather belt strapped round his waist, byiron coluht of ninety-three broad steps--a depth equal to the height of an ordinary six-storied house--and find no less than four-and-twenty galleries excavated in the chalk, without anyupwards of a alleries varies, but they are of a unifor either a couple of racks ine _sur pointe_, or stacks of bottles, in four rows on either side, with an ae of cellars coalleries of considerable breadth, one of which contains wine in wood and wine _sur pointe_, while the other is stocked with bottles of wine heads doard, ready to be delivered into the hands of the _degorgeur_
MM de St Marceaux and Co have the honour of supplying the King of the Belgians, the President of the French Republic, and several Gerne known as the Royal St Marceaux The same wine is popular in Russia and other parts of Europe, just as the Dry Royal of the firm is much esteemed in the United States The brand of the house most appreciated in this country is its Carte d'Or, a very dry hich, in conjunction with the firne cohbourhood of the Pomne manufacturers have their cellars formed from the abandoned quarries so numerous on this side of the city Of some of these firms we have already spoken, but there remain to be mentioned Messrs Kunklee Goulet, Jules Champion, Theophile Roederer, &c The cellars of the three last-named are immediately outside the Porte Dieu-Lumiere, near which is a house with a curious bas-relief on its face, the subject of which has been a source of much perplexity to local antiquaries
[Illustration: BAS-RELIEF NEAR THE PORTE DIEU-LUMIeRE]
[Illustration: JEAN REMI MOET]
X--EPERNAY CHAMPAGNE ESTABLISHMENTS
Early Records of the Moet Family at Reims and Epernay-- Jean Rene Wines-- Extracts from the Old Account-Books of the Moets-- First Sales of Sparkling Wines-- Sales to England in 1788-- ”Milords” Farnham and Findlater-- Jean Re of Westphalia-- The Firm of Moet and Chandon Constituted-- Their Establish the New Bottles-- The Nu the Cuvee in Vats of 12,000 Gallons-- The Bottling of the Wine by 200 Hands-- A Hundred Thousand Bottles Completed Daily-- 20,000 Francs' worth of Broken Glass in Two Years-- A Subterranean City, with miles of Streets, Cross Roads, Open spaces, Tramways, and Stations-- The Ancient Entrance to these Vaults-- Tablet Commemorative of the Visit of Napoleon I-- Millions of Bottles of Chainal Vaults known as Siberia-- Scene in the Packing Hall-- Messrs Moet and Chandon's Large and Coe-- Annual Fete Given by the Firm-- Their Famous ”Star” Brand-- M Perrier-Jouet, the lucky Grandson of a little Epernay Grocer-- His Offices and Cellars-- His Wine Classed according to its Deserts-- Messrs Roussillon and Co's Establishnition accorded to their Wines-- Their Stock of Old Vintages-- The Extensive Establishe Stock of the Fine 1874 Vintage-- Preparations for the Tirage-- Their Vast Fireproof Cellier and its Admirable Temperature-- Their Lofty and Capacious Cellars of Two Stories
Those ne trade, Messrs Moet and Chandon, whose falobe, and whose half-score ne as there are millions of inhabitants in most of the secondary European states, have their head-quarters at Epernay in a spacious chateau--in that street of chateaux na de la Folie--which is approached through handso in the direction of the River Marne The existing firm dates from the year 1833, but the fainally come from the Low Countries--had already been associated with the chah a century previously If the Moets came frone at a very early date, for the annals of Reims record that in the fifteenth century Jean and Nicolas Moet were _echevins_ of the city A Moet was present in that capacity at the coronation of Charles VII in 1429, when Joan of Arc stood erect by the principal altar of the cathedral with her sacred banner in her hand, and for having contributed to repulse an attelish to prevent the entrance of the Royal party into the city, the Moets were subsequently ennobled by the same monarch
A mural tablet in the church of St Remi records the death of D G
Moet, Grand Prior, in 1554, and nine years later we find Nicol Moet clai exeround of his being a noble An old commercial book preserved in the family archives shows that in the year 1743--at the epoch when the rashness of the Duc de Gra cut to pieces at Dettingen--a descendant of the foregoing, one Claude Louis Nicolas Moet, ned considerable vineyard property in the vicinity of Epernay, decided upon e in the wine trade
It is his son, however, Jean Remi Moet, born in 1758, who may be looked upon as the veritable founder of the present cone wines, which, thanks to his efforts, received a wonderful ies of the Marne being lied few, it spread all over the civilised world