from The Brewers’ Guardian – Nov. 1883
In the champagne district, the greatest attention, says Consul Frisbie, is paid to the picking of the grapes, the fruit being supported in the left hand so as to prevent the riper grapes from falling, and care being taken not to bruise the fruit in throwing it into the baskets. These baskets, when full, are emptied into larger ones, and minutely examined, in order that all the bruised, rotten, and unripe grapes may be removed. If the grapes are very ripe, wisps of straw are placed in the bottoms of the baskets to prevent jolting and bruising. The picking usually commences with daylight, and the vintagers assert that the grapes gathered at sunrise always produce the best wine, and that by plucking the grapes when the early morning sun is upon them, they are believed to yield much more juice; later in the day, in spite of all precaution, it is impossible to prevent some of the detached grapes from partially fermenting, and this frequently has the effect of imparting a slight excess of colour to the must. The gatherings of one day are pressed the following morning, the operation being effected by means of presses of different kinds; the most ancient being the eliquet, which is largely used at the present day. It is worked by a roller and grinders – large pieces of wood which are placed in layers on the pressed grapes. The grapes are spread over the floor of the press in a compact mass, only the first pressure producing a high-class wine. Before beginning to press, the grapes are weighed, and 400 kilogrammes are allowed for every forty gallons of wine, and this having been obtained, no more is pressed from it for first-class wine. The remainder then consists only of a heap of crushed fruit. The edges of this heap are next cut off in various ways according to the shape of the press, the edges having been
to less pressure than the middle. The grapes thus obtained are then subjected to a second pressure, which produces a juice called first taille, and this operation is repeated to get a second taille, and a third time for the last juice, called redeche, a production which, in the champagne country, is only used for the consumption of the labourers, as is also the case with the produce of the second taille.
When the wine is flowing from the press, the juice is tasted with a wine tester or glycometer, to ascertain its sweet-ness and the amount of sugar it contains. Then, when the wine is drawn off from the press, it is put into tubs or casks, and is left until the impurities, thrown off, have collected on the surface in the shape of a scum, called cotte. As soon as this scum rises to the surface, the casks are filled and vapoured by burning sulphur. This operation, setting free sulphurous acid, tends to whiten the wine and prevent the taste of oak from flavouring it. The casks are then placed in the cellar on supports, usually about eight inches above the ground, care being taken not to fill them quite full, as, when fermentation begins, they would overflow.
A margin of several quarts is therefore left, and the bung is closed with vine leaves and a small tile. After a month has elapsed, and the fermentation subsided, the wine is racked off into other casks by means of copper basins and vessels. With the approach December comes the frost, which makes the wine quite clear; it is at this period that the mixing is performed, an operation which immediately precedes the blending. The mixing consists of bringing together thirty or forty casks of the same growth. The blending, on the other hand, is the mingling of all these wines, with a view to the formation of a large quantity of wine for commercial purposes. It is at the blending time that the tannin is used, in liquid or powder, to anticipate various defects in the wine, such as grease and deposits. These deposits are known in the wine district by the technical names of marques, barnes, culs de poule, and lentilles. It is at this time also that alcohol, in greater or less proportions, is added. The wine merchants find the degree of alcohol by distilling a given quantity of wine, of which they take a third, and mix the result of the distillation with some distilled water, weighing with an alcoholometer, and taking into consideration the degree of temperature. Champagne wines generally have from 11 to 12 per cent of alcohol; but in some very good years, such as 1865 and 1874, as much as 14 per cent. If the year should be a poor one, and the degree of alcohol insufficient, it is remedied by adding a sufficient quantity of spirits of 82° Centigrade, made from the best Cognac brandies. The day after these operations have been completed, the fining is commenced, and this is done with isinglass, prepared beforehand with a slight admixture of tartaric acid. Every cask of white wine receives a slight proportion of this mixture, and is stirred with a stick before and after mixture, this being done with the object of thoroughly mixing the wine and isinglass. The casks are then hermetically sealed, a small hole being drilled in the top of the cask, and closed with three straws of rye or wheat, with the heads on; this admits sufficient air to remove all danger in case of fermentation.
The wine remains in this state for about a fortnight or three weeks. When the wine is ready for bottling, the operation is effected by means of taps with six, eight, or ten spouts. The bottles when filled pass into the hands of the corker – the corking being done with a mallet, and the cork secured. The bottles are then stored in the wine vaults, or left in the cellars, where they are stacked with rods and laths. In the month of July, when the bottling is over, the workmen find employment in removing defective hoops, or replacing them by new ones, and this operation, with the vintage, continue till the time of early frost.
At this time many vineyard proprietors bring what they have bottled up again to the upper cellar, as the cold has the effect of helping the deposit to dry. Others simply change the position of the bottles, removing the leaky and broken ones, and making new piles. It is at this time also that attention is paid to the masque, the name given to the deposit on the side of the bottle, and which must be removed. This is done by means of a machine, which consists of a box, into which are placed two bottles having the deposit in them; by means of a handle a rotary motion is imparted to the bottles, which are further subjected to continued blows from two little hammers. These continued shocks produce a shaking, which is sufficient to detach the adhesive deposit. The removal, by hand, requires more attention. The workman is supplied with an iron implement, and has to be careful to hit the bottles just hard enough to detach the crust. When the bottles are entirely cleared of deposit, they are placed neck downwards, either on tables or on racks, and after being kept for some time in this position, the wine is shaken to make all the deposit fall on the cork. This is an important operation, and great care is taken in the selection of workmen to perform it. It is effected by very slightly lifting the bottles, and gently shaking them in that position. To bring it to a successful issue, requires a month or six weeks, or even more, the bottle being moved every day. When the deposit has altogether settled on the corks, the good bottles are placed in stacks, with their necks downwards, at a sharp angle, to await the time when they are again uncorked. The rest are replaced and worked a second time on the rack.
The uncorking is also a difficult and delicate operation. It is necessary to remove the cork and wiring with the least possible loss of time, the bottle being all the time kept neck downwards. To do this, the workman watches the bubble of air which is in the bottle, and so removes the cork that only the deposit is ejected by the rush of gas. When the froth appears he uses part of it to wash the neck of the bottle, and then inserts a small cork prepared for the purpose, which prevents too great a loss of gas. The bottle then passes into the hands of a man who takes out enough wine to admit the necessary amount of syrup. The wine is now very dry, and would not be drinkable; this dryness is, however, corrected by the addition of what is called the ‘export syrup,” which differs from what is put in at the time of bottling. It is composed of 150 kilogrammes of candied sugar to every 100 litres of wine, and three quarts of alcohol added to increase the strength. As the sugar dissolves the wine becomes thick, and must be filtered to make the liquid perfectly clear.
The bottles, when opened and emptied to a certain depth, are taken to the “mixer.” The mixing consists in putting into each a certain equal quantity of syrup, the precise proportion differing for each country; the bottle is then placed on a revolving table, and as it revolves, all the bottles in turn come to the corker. The second and final corking requires more care than the first. The corks used are made from Spanish cork, soft or strong, hard and full, or red corks, according to the country to which the wine is intended to be sent. They are soaked for a few days in cold water before being used. For the final corking the machine used is often a mallet machine, but others are employed. The cork is put into a tube, pressed, and made to come level with the lower end of the tube, and with a clean sponge the few drops of water which have resulted from the compression of the cork are wiped off, and the bottle is then filled and corked, the cork being driven in to a greater or less extent according to the destination of the wine. The tying up is then proceeded with, oiled string being used. After the string is put on the wire is attached; the kind most in use being galvanised wire. It is at this time that the bottle is shaken once or twice, to mix the syrup thoroughly with the wine. Then the bottles are arranged in piles, always on end, and are left for a month or two.
In conclusion, Consul Frisbie states that to make a good bottle of champagne at least two years of constant work and care are necessary.
Crescent City Brew Talk 