The Establishment of Deutz and Geldermann-- Drawing off the Cuvée--
Mode of Excavating Cellars in the Champagne-- The Firm's New
Cellars, Vineyards, and Vendangeoir-- The old Château of Ay and its
Terraced Garden-- The Gambling Propensities of Balthazar Constance
Dangé-Dorçay, a former Owner of the Château-- The Picturesque
Situation and Aspect of Messrs. Ayala's Establishment-- A Promenade
through their Cellars-- M. Duminy's Cellars and Wines-- His new
Model Construction-- The House Founded in 1814-- Messrs. Bollinger's
Establishment-- Their Vineyard of La Grange-- The Tirage in
Progress-- The Fine Cellars of the Firm-- Messrs. Pfungst's frères
and Co.'s Cellars-- Their Dry Champagnes of 1868, '70, '72, and
'74-- The Old Church of Ay and its Decorations of Grapes and
Vineleaves-- The Vendangeoir of Henri Quatre-- The Montebello
Establishment at Mareuil-- The Château formerly the Property of the
Dukes of Orleans-- A Titled Champagne Firm-- The Brilliant Career of
Marshal Lannes-- A Promenade through the Montebello Establishment--
The Press House, the Cuvée Vat, the Packing-Room, the Offices, and
the Cellars-- Portraits and Relics at the Château-- The
Establishment of Bruch-Foucher and Co.-- The handsome Carved
Gigantic Cuvée Tun-- The Cellars and their Lofty Shafts-- The Wines
of the Firm.
The historic _bourgade_ of Ay is within a short walk of the station on
the line of railway connecting Epernay with Reims. The road lies across
the light bridge spanning the Marne canal, the tall trees fringing which
hide for a time the clustering houses; still we catch sight of the
tapering steeple of the antique church rising sharply against the green
vine-covered slopes and the fleecy-clouded summer sky. We soon reach the
Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, and continuing onward in the direction of the
steep hills which shelter the town on the north, come to a
massive-looking corner house in front of the broad _porte-cochère_ of
which some railway carts laden with cases of champagne are standing.
Passing through the gateway we find ourselves in an open court, with a
dwelling-house to the right and a range of buildings in front where the
offices of Messrs. Deutz and Geldermann are installed. This is the
central establishment of the firm, whose Extra Dry "Gold Lack" and
"Cabinet" champagnes have long been favourably known in England. Here
are spacious celliers for disgorging and finishing off the wine, a large
packing-hall, and rooms where bales of corks and other accessories of
the trade are stored, the operations of making the _cuvées_ and bottling
being accomplished in an establishment some little distance off.
[Illustration:
DRAWING OFF THE CUVÉE AT DEUTZ & GELDERMANN'S, AY. (p. 118)]
[Illustration:
EXCAVATING DEUTZ & GELDERMANN'S NEW CELLARS, AY. (p. 119)]
Proceeding thither, we find an elegant château with a charming terraced
garden, lying at the very foot of the vine-clad slopes, and on the
opposite side of the road some large celliers where wine in wood is
stored, and where the _cuvées_ of the firm, consisting usually of
upwards of 50,000 gallons each, are made in a vat of gigantic
proportions, furnished with a raised platform at one end for the
accommodation of the workman who agitates the customary paddles. When
the wine is completely blended it is drawn off into casks disposed for
the purpose in the cellar below, as shown in the accompanying engraving,
and after being fined it rests for about a month to clear itself. To
each of these casks of newly-blended wine a portion of old wine is added
separately, and at the moment of bottling the whole is newly
amalgamated.
Adjoining M. Deutz's château is the principal entrance to the extensive
cellars of the firm, to which, at the time of our visit, considerable
additions were being made. In excavating a gallery the workmen commence
by rounding off the roof, and then proceed to work gradually downwards,
extracting the chalk, whenever practicable, in blocks suitable for
building purposes, which being worth from three to four shillings the
square yard help to reduce the cost of the excavation. When any serious
flaws present themselves in the sides or roof of the galleries, they are
invariably made good with masonry.
This range of cellars now comprises eight long and lofty galleries no
less than 17 feet wide, and the same number of feet in height, and of
the aggregate length of 2,200 yards. These spacious vaults, which run
parallel with each other, and communicate by means of cross passages,
underlie the street, the château, the garden, and the vineyard slopes
beyond, and possess the great advantage of being always dry. They are
capable, we were informed, of containing several million bottles of
champagne in addition to a large quantity of wine in cask.
Messrs. Deutz and Geldermann possess vineyards at Ay, and own a large
vendangeoir at Verzenay, where in good years they usually press 500
pièces of wine. They, moreover, make large purchases of grapes at Bouzy,
Cramant, Le Mesnil, Pierry, &c, and invariably have these pressed under
their own superintendence. Beyond large shipments to England, Messrs.
Deutz and Geldermann transact a considerable business with other
countries, and more especially with Germany, where their brand has been
for years one of the most popular, and is to-day the favourite at
numerous regimental messes and the principal hotels.
The old château of Ay, which dates from the early part of the last
century, belongs to-day to the Count de Mareuil, a member of the firm of
Ayala and Co., one of the leading establishments of the famous
Marne-side crû. Perched half-way up the slope, covered with "golden
plants," which rises in the rear of the village, the château, with its
long façade of windows, commands the valley of the Marne for miles, and
from the stately terraced walk, planted with ancient lime-trees,
geometrically clipped in the fashion of the last century, a splendid
view of the distant vineyards of Avize, Cramant, Epernay, and Chouilly
is obtained. The château formed one of a quartette of seignorial
residences which at the commencement of the present century belonged to
Balthazar Constance Dangé-Dorçay, whose ancestors had been lords of
Chouilly under the _ancien régime_. Dorçay had inherited from an aunt
the châteaux of Ay, Mareuil, Boursault, and Chouilly, together with a
large patrimony in land and money; but a mania for gambling brought him
to utter ruin, and he dispossessed himself of money, lands, and châteaux
in succession, and was reduced, in his old age, to earn a meagre
pittance as a violin-player at the Paris Opera House. The old château of
Boursault, which still exists contiguous to the stately edifice raised
by Mme. Clicquot on the summit of the hill, was risked and lost on a
single game at cards by this pertinacious gamester, whose pressing
pecuniary difficulties compelled him to sell the remaining châteaux one
by one. That of Ay was purchased by M. Froc de la Boulaye, and by him
bequeathed to his cousin the Count de Mareuil, whose granddaughter
became the wife of one of the Messrs. Ayala, and whose son is to-day
their partner.
[Illustration:
MESSRS. AYALA & CO.'S ESTABLISHMENT AT AY. (p. 121)]
The offices of the firm adjoin the château, and rather higher up the
hill is their very complete establishment, picturesquely situated in a
hollow formed by some excavations, with the thickly-planted vine-slopes
rising above its red-tiled roof. The boldly-designed basement, the
ascending sweep conducting to the extensive celliers and the little
centre belfry give a character of originality to the building. Carts
laden with cases of champagne are leaving for the railway station, casks
of wine are being transferred from one part of the establishment to
another, bottles are being got ready for the approaching tirage, and in
the packing department, installed in one of the three celliers into
which the story aboveground is divided, quite an animated scene presents
itself. Iron columns support the roofs of this and its companion
celliers, where the firm make their _cuvée_, and the bottling of the
wine takes place. On descending into the basement beneath, the popping
of corks and the continual clatter of machinery intimate that the
disgorging and re-corking of the wine are being accomplished, and in the
dim light we discern groups of workmen engaged in the final manipulation
which champagne has to undergo, while fresh relays of wine are arriving
from the cellars by the aid of endless chains. There are two stories of
these cellars which, excavated in the chalk, extend under the road and
wind round beneath the château, the more modern galleries being broad,
lofty, and admirably ventilated, and provided with supports of masonry
wherever the instability of the chalk rendered this requisite. After a
lengthened promenade through them we come to the ancient vaults
extending immediately under the grounds of the château, where every
particle of available space is utilised, and some difficulty is found in
passing between the serried piles of bottles of _vin brut_--mostly the
fine wine of 1874--which rise continuously on either side.
[Illustration]
Within a hundred yards of the open space, surrounded by houses of
different epochs and considerable diversity of design, where the Ay
market is weekly held, and in one of the narrow winding streets common
to the town, an escutcheon, with a bunch of grapes for device,
surmounting a lofty gateway, attracts attention. Within, a trim
courtyard, girt round with orange-trees in bright green boxes, and
clipped in orthodox fashion, affords access to the handsome residence
and offices of M. Duminy, well-known in England and America as a shipper
of high-class champagnes, and whose Parisian connection is extensive. On
the right-hand side of the courtyard is the packing-room, and through
the cellars, which have an entrance here, one can reach the celliers in
an adjoining street, where the _cuvée_ is made and the bottling of the
wine accomplished.
M. Duminy's cellars are remarkably old, and consequently of somewhat
irregular construction, being at times rather low and narrow, as well as
on different levels. In addition, however, to these venerable vaults,
packed with wines of 1869, '70, '72, and '74, M. Duminy has various
subterranean adjuncts in other parts of Ay, and is at present engaged in
constructing, at the foot of his vineyards up the mountain slope,
a noble establishment which includes a vast court, upwards of a thousand
square yards in extent, wherein are installed capacious bottle-racks and
bottle-washing machines of the latest improved manufacture. Here are
also handsome and extensive celliers, together with immense underground
cellars, comprising broad and lofty galleries of regular design, the
whole being constructed with a completeness and studied regard for
convenience which bid fair to render this establishment when finished
the model one of the Champagne district.
The house was originally founded so far back as 1814 by
M. Taverne-Richard, who was intimately connected with the principal
vineyard proprietors of the district. In 1842 this gentleman took his
son-in-law, M. Duminy, father of the present proprietor of the
establishment, into partnership, and after the retirement of M. Taverne
he gave a great impetus to the business, and succeeded in introducing
his light and delicate wines into the principal Paris hotels and
restaurants. During its two-thirds of a century of existence the house
has invariably confined itself to first-class wines, taking particular
pride in shipping fully-matured growths. Besides its own large reserve
of these, it holds considerable stocks long since disposed of, and now
merely awaiting the purchasers' orders to be shipped.
A few paces beyond M. Duminy's we come upon an antiquated,
decrepit-looking timber house, with its ancient gable bulging over as
though the tough oak brackets on which it rests were at last grown weary
of supporting their unwieldy burthen. Judging from the quaint carved
devices, this house was doubtless the residence of an individual of some
importance in the days when the principal European potentates had their
commissioners installed at Ay to secure them the finest vintages.
Continuing our walk along the same narrow winding street, we soon reach
the establishment of Messrs. Bollinger, whose house, founded in the year
1829, claims to be the first among the Ay firms who shipped wines to
foreign countries generally, including England, where the brand has long
been held in high repute. Messrs. Bollinger, besides being shippers of
champagne, are extensive vineyard proprietors, owning vinelands at
Bouzy, Verzenay, and Dizy. A vineyard of theirs at the latter place,
known as "La Grange," is said to have formerly belonged to the monks who
founded the abbey of St. Peter at Hautvillers, the legend connected with
which we have already related.
A couple of large gateways offer access to the spacious courtyard of
Messrs. Bollinger's establishment; a handsome dwelling-house standing on
the right, and a small pavilion, in which the offices are installed,
while on the left hand and in the rear of the courtyard rises a range of
buildings of characteristic aspect, appropriated to the business of the
firm. In one of the celliers, which has its open-raftered roof supported
by slim metal columns, we found the tirage going on, the gang of workmen
engaged in it filling, corking, and lowering into the cellars some
20,000 bottles a day. In one corner of the apartment stood the large
_cuvée_ tun--capable of holding some 50 hogsheads--in which the blending
of the wine is effected, and in an adjoining cellier women were briskly
labelling and wrapping up the completed bottles of champagne. The
cellars, constructed some fifty years ago at a cost of nearly £12 the
superficial yard, are faced entirely with stone, and are alike wide and
lofty; this is especially the case with four of the more modern
galleries excavated in 1848, and each 160 feet in length. Besides the
foregoing, Messrs. Bollinger possess other cellars in Ay, where they
store their reserve wines both in bottle and in the wood.
On the northern side of Ay, some little distance from the vineyard owned
by them, the firm of Pfungst frères & Cie. have their cellars, the
entrance to which lies just under the lofty vine-clad ridge. Messrs.
Pfungst frères lay themselves out exclusively for the shipment of
high-class champagnes, and the excellent growths of the Ay district
necessarily form an important element in their carefully-composed
_cuvées_. A considerable portion of their stock consists of reserves of
old wine, and we tasted here a variety of samples of finely-matured
champagnes of 1868 and '70, as well as the vintages of 1872 and '74. All
of these wines were of superior quality, combining delicacy and
fragrance with dryness, the latter being their especial feature. In
addition to their business with England, Messrs. Pfungst frères ship
largely to India and the United States.
[Illustration]
It is on this side of the town that the fine old Gothic church, dating
as far back as the twelfth century, is situated. Many of the mouldings
and the capitals of the columns both inside and outside the building are
covered over with grape-laden vine-branches, and the sculptured figure
of a boy bearing a basket of grapes upon his head surmounts the handsome
Renaissance doorway, seemingly to indicate the honour in which the
vine--the source of all the prosperity of the little town--was held both
by the mediæval and later architects of the edifice. Nigh to the church
stands the old house with its obliterated carved escutcheons, known
traditionally as the Vendangeoir of Henri Quatre. This monarch loved the
wine of the place almost as well as his favourite vintage of Arbois, and
dubbed himself, as we have already mentioned, Seigneur of Ay, whose
inhabitants he sought to gratify by confirming the charter which
centuries before had been granted to the town.
[Illustration]
Within half-an-hour's walk of Ay, in an easterly direction, is the
village of Mareuil, a long straight street of straggling houses, bounded
by trees and garden-plats, with vine-clad hills rising abruptly behind
on the one side, and the Marne canal flowing placidly by on the other.
The archaic church, a mixture of the Romanesque and Early Gothic, stands
at the farther end of the village, and some little distance on this side
of it is a massive-looking eighteenth-century building, spacious enough
to accommodate a regiment of horse, but conventual rather than
barrack-like in aspect, from the paucity of windows looking on to the
road. A broad gateway leads into a spacious courtyard to the left of
which stands a grand château, while on the right there rises an ornate
round tower of three stories, from the gallery on the summit of which a
fine view over the valley of the Marne is obtained. The buildings
inclosing the court on three sides comprise press-houses, celliers, and
packing-rooms, an antiquated sundial marking the hour on the blank space
above the vines that climb beside the entrance gateway. The more ancient
of these tenements formed the vendangeoir of the Dukes of Orleans at the
time they owned the château of Mareuil, purchased in 1830 by the Duke de
Montebello, son of the famous Marshal Lannes, and minister and
ambassador of Louis Philippe and Napoleon III.
The acquisition of this property, to which were attached some important
vineyards, led, several years later, to the duke's founding, in
conjunction with his brothers, the Marquis and General Count de
Montebello, a champagne firm, whose brand speedily acquired a notable
popularity. To-day the business is carried on by their sons and heirs,
for all the original partners in the house have followed their valiant
father to the grave. Struck down by an Austrian cannon-ball in the
zenith of his fame, the career of Marshal Lannes, brief as it was,
furnishes one of the most brilliant pages in French military annals.
Joining the army of Italy as a volunteer in 1796, he was made a colonel
on the battle-field in the gorges of Millesimo, when Augereau's bold
advance opened Piedmont to the French. He fought at Bassano and Lodi,
took part in the assault of Pavia and the siege of Mantua, and at
Arcola, when Napoleon dashed flag in hand upon the bridge, Lannes was
seriously wounded whilst shielding his general from danger. He
afterwards distinguished himself in Egypt, and led the van of the French
army across the Alps, displaying his accustomed bravery both at
Montebello and Marengo. At Austerlitz, where he commanded the right wing
of the army, he greatly contributed to the victory, and at Jena,
Friedland, and Eylau his valour was again conspicuous. Sent to Spain,
he defeated the Spaniards at Tudela, and took part in the operations
against Saragossa. Wounded at the battle of Essling, when the Archduke
Charles inflicted upon Napoleon I. the first serious repulse he had met
with on the field of battle, the valiant Lannes expired a few days
afterwards in the Emperor's arms.
[Illustration:
THE MONTEBELLO ESTABLISHMENT AT MAREUIL. (p. 126)]
[Illustration:
CHÂTEAU OF MAREUIL, BELONGING TO THE DUKE OF MONTEBELLO. (p. 127.)]
We were met at Mareuil, on the occasion of our visit, by Count Alfred
Ferdinand de Montebello, the present manager of the house, and conducted
by him over the establishment. In the press-house, to the left of the
courtyard, were two of the ponderous presses used in the Champagne, for,
like all other large firms, the house makes its own wine. Grapes grown
in the Mareuil vineyards arrive here in baskets slung across the backs
of mules, muzzled so that while awaiting their loads they may not devour
the fruit within reach. In a cellier adjoining the press-house stands a
large vat, capable of holding 50 pièces of wine, with a crane beside it
for hauling up the casks when the _cuvée_ is made. Here the tirage
likewise takes place, and in the range of buildings, roofed with glass,
in the rear of the tower, the bottled wine is labelled, capped with
foil, and packed in cases for transmission to Paris, England, and other
places abroad.
A double flight of steps, decorated with lamps and vases, leads to the
handsome offices of the firm, situated on the first floor of the tower,
while above is an apartment with a panelled ceiling, gracefully
decorated with groups of Cupids engaged in the vintage and the various
operations which the famous wines of the Mountain and the River undergo
during their conversion into champagne. On the ground floor of the tower
a low doorway conducts to the spacious cellars, which, owing to the
proximity of the Marne, are all on the same level as well as constructed
in masonry. The older vaults, where the Marquis de Pange, a former owner
of the château, stored the wine which he used to sell to the champagne
manufacturers, are somewhat low and tortuous compared with the broad and
lofty galleries of more recent date, which have been constructed as the
growing connection of the firm obliged them to increase their stocks.
Spite, however, of numerous additions, portions of their reserves have
to be stored in other cellars in Mareuil. Considerable stocks of each of
the four qualities of wine supplied by the firm are being got ready for
disgorgement, including Cartes Noires and Bleues, with the refined Carte
Blanche and the delicate Crêmant, which challenge comparison with brands
of the highest repute.
In the adjacent château, the gardens of which slope down to the Marne
canal, there are various interesting portraits, with one or two relics
of the distinguished founder of the Montebello family, notably Marshal
Lannes's gold-embroidered velvet saddle trappings, his portrait and that
of Marshal Gerard, as well as one of Napoleon I., by David, with a
handsome clock and candelabra of Egyptian design, a bust of Augustus
Cæsar, and a portrait of the Regent d'Orléans.
Another champagne house of standing at Mareuil is that of Bruch-Foucher
and Co., whose establishment is situated near the village mairie.
Entering by a lofty porte-cochère, we notice on the left hand a spacious
packing-room, where men and women are expeditiously completing some
shipping order, while beyond are the offices, looking on to a terraced
garden whence a pleasant view is gained of the verdant valley of the
Marne. From the packing-room a broad staircase leads to the cellars
beneath, which can also be reached from a venerable range of buildings
on the opposite side of the road, where young wines and old cognac
spirit, used in the preparation of the liqueur, are stored in the wood.
In one of these ancient celliers is a vast tun, capable of containing
nearly 5,000 gallons, carved over with an elaborate device of vineleaves
and bunches of grapes entwined around overflowing cornucopia and bottles
of champagne. This handsome cask, in which the firm make their _cuvée_,
is a worthy rival of the sole antique ornamental tun that still reposes
in the Royal cellars at Wurzburg. In Messrs. Bruch-Foucher and Co.'s
capacious cellars, faced and vaulted with stone, from eight to nine
hundred thousand bottles of wine are stored. The cellars form a single
story, and extend partly under the adjacent vineyard slopes, deriving
light and ventilation from numerous shafts which are occasionally no
less than 150 feet in height. Messrs. Bruch-Foucher and Co., who are
owners of vineyards at Mareuil, ship three qualities of champagne, the
finest being their Carte d'Or and their Monogram Carte Blanche. Their
chief business is with England, Germany, and the United States, where
their brands enjoy considerable repute.
[Illustration:
DOORWAY OF AVIZE CHURCH.]