Avize the Centre of the White Grape District-- Its Situation and
Aspect-- The Establishment of Giesler and Co.-- The Tirage and the
Cuvée-- Vin Brut in Racks and on Tables-- The Packing-Hall, the
Extensive Cellars, and the Disgorging Cellier-- Bottle Stores and
Bottle-Washing Machines-- Messrs. Giesler's Wine-Presses at Avize
and Vendangeoir at Bouzy-- Their Vineyards and their Purchases of
Grapes-- Reputation of the Giesler Brand-- The Establishment of
M. Charles de Cazanove-- A Tame Young Boar-- Boar-Hunting in the
Champagne-- M. de Cazanove's Commodious Cellars and
Carefully-Selected Wines-- Vineyards Owned by Him and His Family--
Reputation of his Wines in Paris and their Growing Popularity in
England-- Interesting View from M. de Cazanove's Terraced Garden--
The Vintaging of the White Grapes in the Champagne-- Roper frères'
Establishment at Rilly-la-Montagne-- Their Cellars Penetrated by
Roots of Trees-- Some Samples of Fine Old Champagnes-- The Principal
Châlons Establishments-- Poem on Champagne by M. Amaury de Cazanove.
Avize, situated in the heart of the Champagne white grape district, may
be reached from Epernay by road through Pierry and Cramant or by the
Châlons Railway to Oiry Junction, between which station and Romilly
there runs a local line, jocularly termed the _chemin de fer de
famille_, from the general disregard displayed by the officials for
anything approaching to punctuality. Avize can scarcely be styled a
town, and yet its growing proportions are beyond those of an ordinary
village. It lies pleasantly nestled among the vines, sheltered by bold
ridges on the north-west, with the monotonous plains of La Champagne
pouilleuse, unsuited to the cultivation of the vine, stretching away
eastward in the direction of Châlons. Avize cannot pretend to the same
antiquity as its neighbour Vertus, and lacks the many picturesque
vestiges of which the latter can boast. Its church dates back only to
the 15th century, although the principal doorway in the Romanesque style
evidently belongs to a much earlier epoch. There is a general air of
trim prosperity about the place, and the villagers have that well-to-do
appearance common to the inhabitants of the French wine districts. Only
at vintage time, however, are there any particular outdoor signs of
activity, although half a score of champagne firms have their
establishments here, giving employment to the bulk of the population,
and sending forth their two or three million bottles of the sparkling
wine of the Marne annually.
[Illustration:
MAKING THE CUVÉE AT MESSRS. GIESLER'S, AT AVIZE. (p.131)]
Proceeding along the straight level road leading from the station to the
village we encounter on our right hand the premises of Messrs. Giesler
and Co., the reputation of whose brand is universal. When M. Giesler
quitted the firm of P. A. Mumm, Giesler, and Co., at Reims, in 1838,
he removed to Avize and founded the present extensive establishment.
Entering through a large open gateway we find ourselves within a
spacious courtyard with a handsome dwelling-house in the rear, and all
the signs of a champagne business of magnitude apparent. A spiral
staircase conducts to the counting-house on the first story of a range
of buildings on the left hand, the ground floor of which is divided into
celliers. Passing through a door by the side of this staircase we enter
a large hall where the operation of bottling the wine is going on. Four
tuns, each holding five ordinary pièces of wine, and raised upon large
blocks of wood, are standing here, and communicating with them are
bottling syphons of the type commonly employed in the Champagne. Messrs.
Giesler do not usually consign the newly-bottled wine at once to the
cellars, but retain it aboveground for about a fortnight in order that
it may develop its effervescent qualities more perfectly. We find many
thousands of these bottles stacked horizontally in the adjoining
celliers, in one of which stands the great _cuvée_ tun wherein some
fifty hogsheads of the finest Champagne growths are blended together at
one time, two hundred hogsheads being thus mingled daily while the
_cuvées_ are in progress. The casks of wine having been hoisted from the
cellars to the first floor by a crane, and run on to a trough, their
bungs are removed, and the wine flows through an aperture in the floor
into the huge tun beneath, its amalgamation being accomplished by the
customary fan-shaped appliances, set in motion by the turning of a
wheel. In an adjacent room is the machine used for mixing the liqueur
which Messrs. Giesler add so sparingly to their light and fragrant
wines.
There are a couple of floors above these celliers, the uppermost of
which is used as a general store, while in the one beneath many
thousands of bottles of _vin brut_ repose _sur pointe_, either in racks
or on tables as at the Clicquot-Werlé establishment. This latter system
requires ample space, for as the _remueur_, or workman who shakes the
bottles, is only able to use one hand, the operation of dislodging the
sediment necessarily occupies a much longer time than is requisite when
the bottles rest in racks.
[Illustration:
PREPARING THE LIQUEUR AT MESSRS. GIESLER'S.]
The buildings on the opposite side of the courtyard comprise a large
packing-hall, celliers where the wine is finished off, and rooms where
corks and such-like things are stored. Here, too, is the entrance to the
cellars, of which there are three tiers, all lofty and well-ventilated
galleries, very regular in their construction, and faced with either
stone or brick. In these extensive vaults are casks of fine reserved
wines for blending with youthful vintages, and bottles of _vin brut_,
built up in solid stacks, that may be reckoned by their hundreds of
thousands. At Messrs. Giesler's the disgorging of the wine is
accomplished in a small cellier partially underground, and the
temperature of which is very cool and equable. The _dégorgeurs_,
isolated from the rest of the workpeople, are carrying on their
operations here by candlelight. So soon as the sediment is removed the
bottles are raised in baskets to the cellier above, where the
liqueuring, re-corking, stringing, and wiring are successively
accomplished. By pursuing this plan the loss sustained by the
disgorgement is believed to be reduced to a minimum.
Extensive as these premises are they are still insufficient for the
requirements of the firm, and across the road is a spacious building
where new bottles are stored and the washing of the bottles in
preparation for the tirage takes place. By the aid of the machinery
provided, sixteen women, assisted by a couple of men, commonly wash some
fifteen or sixteen thousand bottles in the course of a day. Here, too,
stands one of the two large presses with which at the epoch of the
vintage a hundred pièces of wine are pressed every four-and-twenty
hours. The remaining press is installed in a cellier at the farther end
of the garden on the other side of the road. Messrs. Giesler possess
additional presses at their vendangeoir at Bouzy, and during the vintage
have the command of presses at Ay, Verzenay, Vertus, Le Mesnil, &c., it
being a rule of theirs always to press the grapes within a few hours
after they are gathered to obviate their becoming bruised by their own
weight and imparting a dark colour to the wine, a contingency difficult
to guard against in seasons when the fruit is over-ripe. The firm own
vineyards at Avize, and have agreements with vine-proprietors at Ay,
Bouzy, Verzenay, and elsewhere, to purchase their crops regularly every
year. Messrs. Giesler's brand has secured its existing high repute
solely through the fine quality of the wines shipped by the house--wines
which are known and appreciated by all real connoisseurs of champagne.
From Messrs. Giesler's it is merely a short walk to the establishment of
M. Charles de Cazanove, situated in the principal street of Avize. On
entering the court we encountered a tame young boar engaged in the
lively pursuit of chasing some terrified hens, while a trio of
boarhounds, basking on the sunny flagstones, contemplated his
proceedings with lazy indifference. Boars abound in the woods
hereabouts, and hunting them is a favourite pastime with the residents,
and the young boar we had noticed proved to be one of the recent
captures of the sons of M. de Cazanove, who are among the warmest
partisans of the exciting sport. Many of the boars found in the woods
around Reims journey thither, it is said, by night from the famous
forest of the Ardennes--the scene of Rosalind's wanderings and
Touchstone's eccentricities as set forth in _As You Like It_, and whose
gloomy depths and tangled glens shelter to-day not merely boars but
wolves as well.