"German Empress and Queen of Prussia."
[Illustration:
MESSRS. DEINHARD & CO.'S NEW ESTABLISHMENT AT COBLENZ. (p. 178)]
[Illustration:
MESSRS. DEINHARD & CO.'S NEW CELLARS AT COBLENZ. (p. 179.)]
The proximity of the establishment to the Rhine did not allow of the
cellars being excavated to a greater depth than 30 feet below the
surface--a mere trifle when compared with the depth of many vaults in
the Champagne. Any lower excavation, however, would have been attended
with danger, and as it is, when the Rhine rose to an unusual height in
March, 1876, the water percolated through the soil and inundated the
lower cellars to a height of 5 feet. Above these vaults is a
corresponding range of buildings of picturesque design and substantial
construction, divided like the cellars into three aisles, each 210 feet
in length and 23 feet broad. One of the arches of the façade looking on
to the courtyard is decorated with a graceful and characteristic
bas-relief, an engraving of which is subjoined.
[Illustration]
The cellars, containing 1,400 stucks, as they are termed, of still
wines--the stuck being equal to 1,500 bottles--present a striking
appearance with their long vistas of vaulted arcades, admirably built of
brick, and illuminated by innumerable gas jets, aided by powerful
reflectors at the extremities of the three aisles. The capacious
elliptical-headed casks, ranged side by side in uninterrupted sequence,
contain the choicest German vintages, including the grand wines of the
Rheingau--Johannisberger, Steinberger, Rudesheimer, Rauenthaler, and the
like; the red growths of Assmannshausen and Walporzheim; Deidesheimers,
with rare bouquets and of tender tonical flavour; Liebfrauenmilch, of
flowery perfume; the finest Moselles from Josefshof and Scharzhofberg,
Brauneberg and Berncastel, with other growths too numerous to mention,
of grand years, and from the best situations.
The sparkling wines stored in separate vaults form to-day an important
item in Messrs. Deinhard's business. In 1843 the firm made their first
cuvée, consisting of less than 10,000 bottles. Four years later their
cuvée amounted to over 50,000 bottles. A falling off was shown during
the revolutionary epoch, and business only recovered its normal
condition in 1851, since which time it has gradually increased as the
wines have grown in favour, until in 1875 the tirage of 1874 vintage
wines exceeded half a million bottles.
Messrs. Deinhard draw their supplies of wine from white grapes, for
conversion into sparkling wines, from the Rhine, the Main, the Moselle,
and the Palatinate, giving preference to the produce of the riesling
grape, as to this the wine is indebted for its natural bouquet. The
proportion of wine from black grapes, mingled with the other wines, is
vintaged by themselves in the Ahr valley and at Ingelheim on the Rhine.
The Ahr, in summer a rippling streamlet and in winter a rushing torrent,
falls into the Rhine about twenty miles below Coblenz. The soil of the
neighbouring hills seems peculiarly adapted for the growth of black
grapes, one of the best of German red wines being produced in the
vineyards adjacent to the village of Walporzheim. In order that the wine
may be as pale as possible, the black grapes are pressed as soon after
gathering as they can be, and only the juice resulting from the first
pressure is reserved, the subsequently extracted must being sold to the
small growers of the neighbourhood. The newly-made wine is brought in
casks to Coblenz, and rests for eight weeks while completing its
fermentation. It is then racked into stucks and double stucks, and is
blended in casks of the latter capacity during the early part of the
following year, great care being taken to preserve the bouquet of the
white grapes, with which view, contrary to the practice followed in the
Champagne, only a moderate proportion of wine from black grapes enters
into the blend.
[Illustration:
VINEYARDS IN THE AHR VALLEY.]
Next comes the fining, and four weeks afterwards the wine is newly
racked. The bottling takes place during May or June, when any deficiency
of natural saccharine in the wine is supplied by the addition of pure
sugar-candy. At Messrs. Deinhard's the wine is bottled at a temperature
of 72° Fahr., and the bottles remain resting on large stone tables until
the fermentation is completed, and the saccharine is converted into
alcohol and carbonic acid gas. This result is commonly obtained in
ordinary hot weather in eight days' time, most of the breakage taking
place during this interval. If on being tested with a manometer the wine
should indicate too high a pressure, it is at once removed to a cool
cellar, consequently the average total breakage rarely exceeds 2¼ per
cent. The wine is now left quiet for at least a year, and if possible
for two years, after which the bottles are placed on stands in the
customary inverted position, and shaken daily for a period of six weeks,
in order to dislodge the sediment and force it against the cork. German
workmen are far less expert at this operation than their fellows in the
Champagne, as few of the former can manage more than their
four-and-twenty thousand bottles per diem. The disgorgement and
liqueuring of the wine is accomplished at Messrs. Deinhard's and other
German establishments in precisely the same fashion as is followed in
the Champagne.
[Illustration:
ON THE BRIDGE AT RECH, AHR VALLEY.]
The dry sparkling hocks we tasted here had the real riesling flavour and
the fine natural perfume common to this grape. In preparing them no
attempt had been made to imitate champagne; but, on the other hand,
every care had been taken to preserve the true hock character with its
distinguishing freshness of taste combined with a lightness which wines
containing liqueur in excess could never have exhibited. The sparkling
moselles, too, depended not on any imparted muscatel flavour and
perfume, but on their own natural bouquet and the flavour they derive
from the schistous soil in which these wines are grown.
[Illustration:
LIEBENSTEIN AND STERRENBERG.]
XVII.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF GERMANY (_continued_).
From Coblenz to Rüdesheim-- Ewald and Co.'s Establishment and its
Pleasant Situation-- Their Fine Vaulted Cellars and Convenient
Accessories-- Their Supplies of Wine drawn from the most favoured
Localities-- The Celebrated Vineyards of the Rheingau-- Eltville and
the extensive Establishment of Matheus Müller-- His Vast Stocks of
Still and Sparkling German Wines-- The Vineyards laid under
contribution for the latter-- M. Müller's Sparkling Johannisberger,
Champagne, and Red Sparkling Assmannshauser-- The Site of
Gutenberg's Birthplace at Mayence occupied by the Offices and
Wine-cellars of Lauteren Sohn-- The Sparkling Wine Establishment of
the Firm, and their Fine Collection of Hocks and Moselles-- The
Hochheim Sparkling Wine Association-- Foundation of the
Establishment-- Its Superior Sparkling Hocks and Moselles-- The
Sparkling Wine Establishments of Stock and Sons at Creuznach in the
Nahe Valley, of Kessler and Co. at Esslingen, on the Neckar, and of
M. Oppmann at Wurzburg-- The Historic Cellars of the King of Bavaria
beneath the Residenz-- The Establishment of F. A. Siligmüller.
[Illustration:
STOLZENFELS.]
Ascending the Rhine from Coblenz--past many an ancient ruined castle,
past restored Stolzenfels, the historic Königs-stuhl, the romantic
Liebenstein and Sterrenberg, the legendary Lurlei, the tribute-exacting
Pfalz, and the old town of Bacharach, famous in the Middle Ages for its
wine mart--we eventually come to Lorch, where the Wisper brook flows
into the Rhine, and the grand wine-producing district known as the
Rheingau begins. A few miles higher up are the vineyards of
Assmannshausen, dominated by the Niederwald, and yielding the finest red
wine in all Germany. Then passing by Bishop Hatto's legendary tower we
emerge from the gorge of the Rhine and soon reach Rüdesheim, crouched at
the foot of lofty terraced vineyards, which, according to doubtful
tradition, were planted with Burgundy and Orleans vines by Charlemagne.
Rüdesheim, like other antiquated little Rhine-side towns, boasts its
ancient castle with its own poetical legend, while many modern houses
have sprung up there of late years, and signs of further development are
apparent on all sides. In the outskirts of the town there are a couple
of sparkling wine establishments, the one nigh the railway station on
the western side belonging to Messrs. Dietrich and Co., while eastwards
on a picturesque slope overlooking the Rhine, and in the midst of
extensive pleasure-grounds, is the establishment of Messrs. Ewald and
Co., who date from the year 1858, and rank to-day amongst the leading
shippers of sparkling hocks and moselles to England.
[Illustration:
MESSRS. EWALD & CO.'S ESTABLISHMENT AT RÜDESHEIM. (p. 185)]
Here are handsome and capacious buildings aboveground, and two floors of
cellars comprising five vaults, each 160 feet in length and 30 feet
broad. The lower vaults, 40 feet from the surface, are arched over and
walled with stone, while the upper ones are faced with brick, both being
floored with concrete and slanting towards the centre to allow of the
wine from bottles that have burst running off. Each range of cellars is
separately ventilated by shafts, generally kept open in winter and
closed in the summer so as to maintain a temperature not exceeding 47°
Fahr. in the lower cellars and under 52° in those above. Moreover, with
the view of conducing to this result the cellars have an ice well
communicating with them.
Late in the spring, when the newly-bottled wine indicates a sufficient
number of atmospheres to insure a satisfactory effervescence, it is
deposited in the lower vaults, the upper ones being devoted to reserve
wines in wood and wines awaiting the process of disgorgement, or
undergoing their daily shaking in order to force the deposit against the
cork. Aboveground there are rooms for storing the liqueur, the corks,
and the packing-cases, and in a spacious apartment, provided with three
lifts for communicating with the cellars beneath, the wine is blended
and bottled, and in due time disgorged and packed. In very warm weather,
however, it is found preferable for the disgorging and its attendant
operations to be performed in the cooler temperature of the cellars.
Messrs. Ewald formerly tested the strength of their bottles with a
manometer before using them, but for some time past they have given up
the practice, feeling convinced that it was productive of more harm than
good. Glass is an amorphous and unelastic substance which, although it
will stand a high pressure once, often succumbs when put to a second
test by the action of the fermenting wine. The firm calculate their
annual breakage at from 2½ to 3 per cent.
Messrs. Ewald being installed almost in the heart or the Rheingau can
readily draw their supplies of wine from the most favoured localities.
Johannisberg is within a few miles of Rüdesheim, and in those years
when, owing to the grapes not having thoroughly ripened, the wine is
only of intermediate value as a still wine, it serves admirably for
conversion into sparkling wine, retaining as it does its powerful
bouquet. Ingelheim, too, noted for its vineyards of black grapes, whose
produce is much sought after for blending with the finer sparkling Rhine
wines, is only a few miles higher up the river, on the opposite bank.
The drier varieties of sparkling hocks and moselles shipped by Messrs.
Ewald to England have the merit of retaining all the fine flavour and
natural perfume of the higher-class growths from which, as a rule, these
wines are prepared.
[Illustration:
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MATHEUS MÜLLER AT ELTVILLE. (p. 186)]
Above Rüdesheim the waters of the Rhine expand, the left bank of the
river, if still lofty, is no longer precipitous, while the right
continues almost flat so soon as the Rochusberg is left behind. Between
here and Eltville all the more celebrated vineyards of the Rheingau are
passed in rapid succession--Geisenheim-Rothenberg, Johannisberg,
Steinberg, Marcobrunn, Kiedrich-Grafenberg, Rauenthal, and others. At
Eltville--the former capital of the Rheingau, and where Gunther, of
Schwarzburg, resigned his crown to Charles IV., and died poisoned, it is
said, by his successful rival--we find one of the most extensive wine
establishments in Germany, that of Matheus Müller, who enjoys a high
reputation in England both for his still and sparkling hocks and
moselles. His stock ordinarily consists of from 800 to 1,000
stuck--equivalent to a quarter of a million gallons--of still Rhine and
Moselle wines, much of it of the best years, and from vineyards of
repute, together with nearly a million bottles of sparkling wines stored
in his cellars at Eltville and on the road to Erbach, the aggregate
length of which is some 3,400 feet. The sparkling wines repose in long
cool vaulted galleries similar to many cellars in the Champagne, while
the still wines are stored in capacious subterranean halls each 100
yards in length.
[Illustration]
For his higher-class sparkling hocks Herr Müller derives his principal
supplies from the Rheingau, partly from his own vineyards at Eltville,
Rauenthal, and Hattenheim, and partly by purchases at Erbach,
Hallgarten, OEstrich, Winkel, Johannisberg, Geisenheim, and Rudesheim;
while for his best sparkling moselles, Berncastel, Graach, Trèves, and
the Saar districts are laid under contribution. The Palatinate growths
of Dürkheim, Deidesheim, Mussbach, Haardt, Rhodt, &c., serve as the
basis for the medium and cheaper sparkling hocks, and for sparkling
moselles of a corresponding character such wines as Zeltinger,
Rachtiger, Erdener, Aldegonder, Winninger, &c., are used. Ingelheim and
Heidesheim furnish the wine from black grapes necessary in a subordinate
degree to all sparkling hocks, and very freely had recourse to when it
is desired to impart a champagne character to the wine, as is commonly
the case when this is intended for consumption in Germany. Herr Müller
invariably presses the black grapes himself, in order that the wine may
be as light in colour as possible. As the house annually lays down large
stocks of _vin brut_ it is under no necessity of drawing upon them until
they have attained the requisite maturity and developed all their finer
qualities.
The dry sparkling hocks and moselles, such as are shipped by Herr Müller
to England and its colonies, receive a large addition of liqueur when
destined for the Russian market. His sparkling Johannisberger and
high-class sparkling moselle from Rheingau and Moselle wines of superior
vintages are of delicate flavour and great softness, and are frequently
shipped without any liqueur whatever. Besides Moussirender Rheinwein of
a champagne character, and largely consumed in Germany and Belgium, Herr
Müller makes a veritable champagne from wine imported by him from the
Champagne district. His shipments also include red sparkling
Assmannshauser--the result of a blend of Assmannshauser, Ingelheimer,
and other red Rhenish wines--aromatic and full-bodied, and dry or
moderately sweet according to the country to which it is intended to be
exported.
[Illustration:
ENTRANCE TO LAUTEREN SOHN'S ESTABLISHMENT, MAYENCE. (p. 188)]
The trade in German sparkling wines has numerous representatives at
Mayence--the sec of St. Boniface, the apostle of the Germans, and the
birthplace of Gutenberg, whose fame is universal. The pioneer of
printing was born in a house at the corner of the Emmerans and Pfandhaus
gasse, the site of which is to-day occupied by the residence of three
members of the firm of C. Lauteren Sohn, established at Mayence so far
back as 1794, and one of the first in Germany to devote itself to the
manufacture of sparkling wines. In 1830 the firm profited by an offer
made to them by a cellarman who had been for many years in the service
of Madame Clicquot at Reims. The Emmerans-gasse, where the chief
establishment of the firm is situated, is in the older quarter of
Mayence--in the midst of a network of intricate winding streets bordered
by picturesque tall gabled houses and edifices of the Spanish type where
ornamental oriel windows with quaint supports, medallions, and
bas-reliefs of varied design continually catch the eye, and saints look
down upon one from almost every corner. Passing under the gateway of the
house where Gutenberg was born, and in the rear of which Lauteren Sohn
have their offices, cooperage, and cellars for still wines, we notice on
our left hand a tablet commemorating the birth of the inventor of
printing in these terms:--
"Gensfleisch House. Family residence of the inventor of the art of
printing, John Gensfleisch of Gutenberg, who in the year 1398 was
here born. Christian Lauteren has dedicated on the site of the
ancient house this memorial to the immortal inventor, Jan. 29, 1825."
Messrs. Lauteren's cellars for sparkling wines extend mainly under an
old monastery, and comprise a succession of large vaulted galleries
connected by narrow passages with arched entrances. Here are stacked
some 800,000 bottles of wine in varying conditions of maturity. Messrs.
Lauteren bottle their wines in August, instead of fully two months
earlier according to the usual practice, in the belief that the system
they pursue is more conducive to perfect effervescence, besides being
attended with less breakage, owing to the newly-bottled wine escaping
the heat of the summer. All the arrangements at this establishment are
very complete. There is a place for everything, and everything is to be
found in its place. Adjoining the courtyard, where new bottles are
stacked beneath open ornamental sheds, are the tasting-room and the
apartment where the operations of disgorging, dosing, and re-corking are
performed. The liqueur added by the firm to their sparkling wines is
kept in bottle from three to five years before being used. In the
tasting-room we were shown a variety of sparkling hocks and moselles,
the former with all the distinguishing characteristics of fine Rhine
wine, the older samples having gained considerably in softness. A dry
Cabinet specimen submitted to us exhibited a fine bouquet and much
delicacy of flavour. The moselles we found particularly interesting,
made as they were of genuine wines from some of the best vineyards of
the Moselle district.
The largest German sparkling wine establishment is at Hochheim, which,
although, situated on the banks of the Main, and several miles distant
from its confluence with the Rhine, has curiously enough supplied us
with a generic name under which we inconsistently class the entire
produce of the Rhine vineyards. Behind the Hochheim railway station
there rises a long low slope, planted from base to summit with vines,
a portion of which are screened on the north by a plain-looking church
and a weather-stained deanery. The vines thus sheltered yield the famous
Dom Dechanei, the finest Hochheimer known. Some short distance off in a
westerly direction are the extensive premises of the Hochheim Sparkling
Wine Association, whose brands are well known in England. The firm of
Burgeff and Co., whose business the association acquired in 1858 and
subsequently considerably extended, was founded in 1837. At this
establishment all the arrangements are of the most perfect character.
The bottles are cleaned by a machine employing ten persons, and turning
out several thousand bottles a day. All the bottles moreover, before
being used, have their strength tested by an ingenious apparatus which
subjects them to three or four times the pressure they are likely to
undergo when filled with wine. Pumps, bottle-washing machine, and the
revolving casks in which the sugar is dissolved for the liqueur, are all
moved by steam, and the association even manufactures the gas used for
lighting up the establishment. We tasted here several sparkling hocks
distinguished by their high flavour and refinement, with sparkling
moselles vintaged in the best localities and equally excellent in
quality.
Sparkling hocks and moselles are made by Messrs. Stock and Sons at
Creuznach, a favourite watering-place in the romantic Nahe valley, noted
for the picturesque porphyry cliffs which occasionally rise
precipitously at the river's edge. Creuznach, where a capital wine is
vintaged, on the southern slopes of the Schlossberg, is at no great
distance from Bingen. Messrs. Stock and Sons' establishment dates from
1862, and their sparkling wines are mainly made from white grapes, only
about one-eighth of white wine from black grapes entering into their
composition. The latter is vintaged at Ingelheim, the grapes being
pressed under the firm's own superintendence, and only the must
resulting from the first squeeze of the press being used. The wine from
riesling grapes is usually from the Rhine, and with it is mingled a
certain quantity of wine vintaged on the Hessian plain. The vintage
generally occurs at the end of October, and the firm remove the new wine
to their cellars at Creuznach early in the ensuing spring, and bottle it
in the May or June following. They make both dry and sweet varieties of
sparkling wines, and their principal markets are England, Germany, the
East and West Indies, the United States, and Australia.
[Illustration:
BINGEN.]
The establishment of G. C. Kessler and Co. at Esslingen--formerly one of
the most important of the free imperial cities, and picturesquely
situated on the Neckar--was founded as far back as 1826, and claims to
be the oldest sparkling wine factory in Germany. The wine employed comes
from vineyards in the vicinity of Heilbronn, and others in the Rheingau
and the Grand Duchy of Baden, and is more or less a blend of the
clevener, traminer, rulander, riesling, and elbling varieties of grape.
The vintage takes place in October, and the bottling of the wine is
effected during the following summer. Messrs. Kessler and Co. treat
their wines after the system pursued at the Clicquot champagne
establishment, in which the founder of the Esslingen house held an
important position for a period of nearly twenty years. The wines are
prepared sweet or dry according to the market they are destined for. The
principal business of the firm is with Germany, but they also export to
England, the United States, the East Indies, and Australia. Their wines
have met with favourable recognition at various exhibitions, notably
that of Paris in 1867, when a silver medal was awarded them; and at
Vienna in 1873, where they received a medal for progress.
[Illustration:
THE NECKAR AT HEIDELBERG.]
Wurzburg, one of the most antiquated and picturesque of German cities,
is noted for its sparkling Franconian wines vintaged partly in the
vineyards that overspread the tall chalk hills which close in around the
quaint old university town. The most famous of these vineyards are the
Leist and the Stein, the first-named sloping downward towards the Main
from the foot of the picturesque Marienberg fort, which, perched on the
summit of a commanding height, dominates the city and forms so
conspicuous an object in all the views of it. The extensive buildings of
the fort not only shield the vines from the winds, but reflect the sun's
rays upon them, thereby materially conducing to the perfect ripening of
the grapes at a much earlier period than is customary. The Stein
vineyard is situated on the opposite side of the Main, and when viewed
from the picturesque bridge, studded with incongruous colossal
statues--such as Joseph and the Virgin Mary in close proximity to
Charlemagne and Pépin--seems to rise up as an immense rampart behind the
city. Here the river acts as a reflector, throwing back the sun's rays
on the lower portions of the slope, where the finest wine is naturally
vintaged. An altogether inferior growth is produced on the hill to the
north, known as the Middle Stein, and also in the Harfe vineyard,
situated in the rear of the latter. The prevalent vines in the Würzburg
district are the riesling, the traminer, the elbling, and the rulander,
or pineau gris.
The first sparkling wine establishment at Würzburg was founded in 1842
by Herr Oppmann, the Royal cellar-master, who died in 1866. The position
held by this individual was one of considerable importance, for the King
of Bavaria is the largest wine-grower in his own dominions, and stores
the produce of his vineyards in the famous cellars extending beneath one
of the wings of the deserted Residenz, erected at an epoch when Würzburg
was subject to episcopal rule. These cellars, vaulted in stone, are on a
vast scale, and possibly unequalled in the world. You descend a broad
flight of steps, flanked by ornamental iron balustrades, and encounter
half-way down a miniature tun, guarded by the Bavarian lions posted in a
niche in the wall. Following your guide with lighted candles, you pass
between rows upon rows of capacious casks filled with the wine last
vintaged, and various wines of recent years; large metal
chandeliers--fantastically adorned with innumerable coloured bottles and
glasses, and designed to light up the cellars on festive occasions--here
and there descending from the arched roof. Eventually you arrive at a
gallery where huge casks are poised on massive wooden frames in double
tiers one above the other. These cellars are said to be capable of
holding upwards of 500 casks, but at the time of our visit there were
scarcely half that number, and only a mere fraction of these were filled
with wine. The cellars no longer contain any of that archaic wine
vintaged in 1546, for which they were formerly celebrated. Indeed, all
the historic vintages, once their boast, were removed some years ago to
Munich and deposited in the Royal cellars there. Of the ancient
ornamental tuns holding their ten thousand gallons each, which the
Würzburg cellars formerly contained, only a single one remains,
constructed in the year 1784. This tun, carved on the front with the
Bavarian arms, is about the dimensions of a fair-sized apartment, and
being no longer filled with wine, a Diogenes of the period might take up
his abode in it with perfect comfort. Herr Michael Oppmann, who has
succeeded to the establishment founded by his father, prepares several
varieties of white sparkling Franconian wine, with two kinds of red, and
also sparkling hocks and moselles. The first-named wines are vintaged in
the best vineyards of Lower Franconia, in the valley of the Main, and
the Baden Oberland, the finer qualities being principally produced from
the black clevener grape, usually vintaged the first or second week in
October. The white grape vintage occurs some fortnight or more later,
and the wine is bottled either late in the spring or during the coming
summer. Its after-manipulation differs in no respect from that pursued
with reference to champagne. Herr Oppmann, whose wines have met with
favourable recognition at various foreign and home Exhibitions, prepares
both sweet and dry varieties. Their chief market is Germany, although
they are exported in fair quantities to Belgium, England, and Northern
Europe.
Another sparkling wine establishment was founded at Würzburg by Herr
F. A. Siligmuller in 1843. The wine from white grapes employed by him is
vintaged partly in his own vineyards on the Stein and the Harfe, and
partly in other Main vineyards, at Randersacker, Escheradorf, &c., the
wine used by him from red grapes coming from the Baden Oberland around
the so-called Kaisers-stuhl--an isolated vine-clad dolerite mountain
bordering the Rhine, and on the verge almost of the Black Forest--and
from the neighbourhood of Offenburg, one of the ancient imperial free
towns, which has lately raised a statue to Sir Francis Drake, "the
introducer," as the inscription says, "of the potato into Europe." The
vintage here, which commences fully a fortnight earlier than around
Würzburg, usually takes place about the beginning of October, and the
wine is bottled in the height of the following summer. Herr
Siligmuller's wines, of which there are four qualities, were awarded a
medal for progress at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873.
[Illustration:
AT AHRWEILER.]
[Illustration:
A SPANISH VINTAGE SCENE.]
XVIII.--THE SPARKLING WINES OF AUSTRO-HUNGARY, SWITZERLAND, ITALY,
SPAIN, RUSSIA, &c.
Sparkling Voslauer-- The Sparkling Wine Manufactories of Graz--
Establishment of Kleinoscheg Brothers-- Vintaging and Treatment of
Styrian Champagnes-- Sparkling Red, Rose, and White Wines of
Hungary-- The Establishment of Hubert and Habermann at Pressburg--
Sparkling Wines of Croatia, Galicia, Bohemia, Moravia, Dalmatia, the
Tyrol, Transylvania, and the Banat-- Neuchâtel Champagne-- Sparkling
Wine Factories at Vevay and Sion-- The Vevay Vineyards--
Establishment of De Riedmatten and De Quay-- Sparkling Muscatel,
Malmsey, Brachetto, Castagnolo, and Lacryma Christi of Italy--
Sparkling Wines of Spain, Greece, Algeria, and Russia-- The Krimski
and Donski Champagnes-- The Latter Chiefly Consumed at the Great
Russian Fairs.
Sparkling wines are made in various parts of Austria and Hungary, and of
late years their produce has been largely on the increase. At Voslau, in
the vicinity of the picturesque and fashionable summer watering-place of
Baden, about twenty miles south of Vienna, Herr R. Schlumberger, one of
my colleagues on the wine jury at the Vienna and Paris Exhibitions of
1873 and '8, makes a white sparkling Voslauer--introduced into England
some years since--from the blue portuguese, the burgundy (the pineau
noir), the rulander (the pineau gris), and the riesling varieties of
grape. It is, however, at Graz, the capital of Styria, picturesquely
situated on the river Mur, and surrounded by lofty mountains, where
sparkling wines are made upon the largest scale and with the most
success. By far the principal manufactory is that of Kleinoscheg
Brothers, founded in the year 1850, at an epoch when the larger Styrian
wine-growers were directing their attention to the general improvement
of their vineyards. The firm gained their knowledge of sparkling wines
by practical experience acquired in the Champagne itself, and to-day
they unquestionably produce some of the best sparkling wines that are
made out of France. They possess extensive vineyards of their own, and
are also large purchasers of wines from the best districts, including
Pettau, Radkersburg, the Picherergebirge, and Luttenberg, the latter
yielding the finest wine which Styria produces, vintaged from the mosler
or furmint--that is, the Tokay variety of grape.
White wine from the clevener grape, understood to be identical with the
pineau noir of Burgundy and the Champagne, and vintaged early in
October, forms the basis of the sparkling wines manufactured by
Kleinoscheg Brothers. The produce of several other grapes, however,
enters in a limited degree into the blend, including the riesling, the
rulander or pineau gris, and the portuguese, the gathering of which is
usually delayed several weeks later, and is sometimes even deferred
until the end of November. The first and second pressings of the black
grapes yield a white must as in the Champagne, while the third and
fourth give a pink wine of which the firm make a speciality.
The wines, which are treated precisely after the system pursued in the
Champagne, are bottled during the months of July and August, and are
made either sweet or dry according to the country they are destined for.
Considerable shipments of the dry pale Styrian champagne take place to
England, where the firm also send a delicate sparkling muscatel and a
sparkling red burgundy, which will favourably compare with the best
sparkling wines of the Côte d'Or. They have also a large market for
their wines in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, and export to
British North America, the East Indies, China, Japan, and Australia.
From the year 1855 up to the present time the firm of Kleinoscheg
Brothers have been awarded no less than sixteen medals for their
sparkling wines at various important home and foreign exhibitions.
At Marburg on the river Drave, in the vicinity of the Bacher Mountains,
which stretch far into Carinthia, and have their lower slopes covered
with vines, Herr F. Auchmann has established a successful sparkling wine
manufactory. The raw wine comes from the vineyards around Marburg and
from Pettau, some ten or twelve miles lower down the Drave. The vintage
commonly lasts from the middle of October until the middle of November.
Black grapes of the clevener and portuguese varieties are pressed as in
the Champagne, so as to yield a white must, with which a certain portion
of white wine from the mosler or furmint grape is subsequently mingled.
The bottling takes place as early as April or May. The wines are
principally consumed in Austria, but are also exported to Russia, Italy,
Egypt, the Danubian Principalities, Australia, &c.
Sparkling wines seem to be made in various parts of Hungary, judging
from the samples sent to the Vienna and Paris Exhibitions from Pesth,
Pressburg, Oedenburg, Pécs, Velencze, and Kolozsvár. Rose-colour wines
are evidently much in favour with the respective manufacturers, several
of whom make sparkling red wines as well, but with none of the success
of their Styrian neighbours. The best Hungarian sparkling wines we have
met with are those of Hubert and Habermann, made at Pressburg, the
former capital of Hungary, where its kings, after being crowned, used to
ride up the Königsberg brandishing the sword of St. Stephen towards the
four points of the compass in token of their determination to defend the
kingdom against all enemies. The white sparkling wines are made
exclusively from white grapes grown in the neighbouring vineyards of
Bösing, Geñnau, and St. Georgen, but the firm make red sparkling wines
as well from the produce of the Ratzersdorf and Wainor vineyards. The
vintage takes place some time in October, and the wines are bottled both
in the spring and autumn, but never until they are fully twelve months
old. With these variations the system pursued with regard to the wines
is the same as is followed in the Champagne. There are several other
sparkling wine manufacturers at Pressburg, and the principal market for
these wines is Austro-Hungary, but shipments of them are made to
England, the United States, India, Roumania, and Servia. The production
of sparkling wine in Hungary is now estimated to amount to one million
bottles annually.
In Croatia Prince Lippe-Schaumburg has established a sparkling
wine manufactory at Slatina, where he produces a so-called
Riesling-Champagner, and it would appear from the collection of
Austro-Hungarian sparkling wines exhibited at Vienna by Herr Bogdan Hoff
of Cracow, that these wines are also made at Melnik, in Bohemia, at
Bisenz in Moravia, at Sebenicodi Maraschino in Dalmatia, at Botzen in
the Tyrol, at Tasnad in Transylvania, and at Weiss-Kirchen in the Banat.
All these wines had been submitted to examination at the Imperial
oeno-chemical laboratory at Klosterneuberg, and one was not surprised to
find that the majority were pronounced to be of too robust a character
for transformation into sparkling wines.
Switzerland long since turned its attention to the manufacture of
sparkling wines, not, however, to meet the requirements of its own
population, but those of the many tourists with well-lined purses who
annually explore its valleys, lakes, and mountains. Neuchâtel champagne
has met with a certain amount of success, and at the present time there
are a couple of establishments devoted to its production, the best known
being that of Bouvier frères. There are, moreover, sparkling wine
manufactories at Vevay in the Vaud Canton, and at Sion in the Valais. In
the Canton of Neuchâtel the best Swiss red wines are produced--notably
Cortaillod and Faverge of a ruby hue and Burgundy-like flavour--and the
sparkling wine manufacturers of the district wisely blend a considerable
proportion of wine from black grapes with that from white when making
their _cuvées_. Vaud, on the other hand, being noted for white wines
bearing some resemblance to certain Rhine growths, it is of these that
sparkling wines are exclusively made at Vevay.
The Vevay vineyards occupy the heights which skirt the Lake of Geneva on
its northern side. The innumerable terraces, steep and difficult of
access to the toiling vine-dresser, on which the vines are planted, are
the result of centuries of patient labour. Here the vine seems to
flourish at an altitude of more than 1,800 feet above the sea level.
To compensate for the deficiency of sunshine the leaves are largely
stripped from the vines so as to expose the fruit, and thereby assist
its ripening.
The sparkling wine factory at Sion, bordering the river Rhône, in the
Canton of the Valais, was established in 1872 by MM. de Riedmatten and
De Quay, who derive their raw wine from vineyards in the immediate
neighbourhood, almost all of which have a southern exposure, and occupy
gentle slopes. The soil chiefly consists of a decomposed limestone
schist, locally termed "brisé." In these vineyards, and more especially
the district known as the Clavaux, some of the best and most alcoholic
wines in Switzerland are produced.
The firm originally experimented with the choicer and more powerful
growths, and, as may be imagined, soon discovered they were not well
adapted for conversion into sparkling wines. To-day they limit
themselves to wines produced from what is known as the "fendant" variety
of grape, said by some to be identical with the German riesling, and by
others to be of the same type as the French chasselas. The vintage in
the Valais is the earliest in Switzerland, taking place in favourable
years at the close of September, but ordinarily in the course of
October. Some fine white candy syrup is added to the wine at the epoch
of bottling, in order to provoke the requisite effervescence, which it
does so effectually that the tirage is obliged to take place some time
between November and May, as at any other period the temperature would
be too high and the bottles would burst. MM. Riedmatten and De Quay have
two varieties of sparkling wine--their Carte Blanche, which goes under
the name of Mont Blanc, and is rather sweet, and their Carte Verte known
as Glacier de Rhône, a drier variety and finding a readier sale.
Of late years, since many improvements have been effected in Italy both
in the cultivation of the vineyards and the vintaging of the wine,
numerous attempts have been made, although on the whole with but
indifferent success, to produce a good sparkling wine. The principal
seat of the manufacture is Asti, where the Societa Unione Enofila make
considerable quantities of a common strong sweet sparkling wine, as well
as a sparkling muscatel. Alessandria, Ancona, Bologna, Castagnolo,
Genoa, Modena, Naples, Palermo, and Treviso also profess to make
sparkling wines, but only in insignificant quantities. Alessandria
produces sparkling malmsey and red sparkling brachetto; and on the
Marquis Della Stufa's estate of Castagnolo a sparkling wine is
manufactured from the currajola variety of grape, one of the best in the
Tuscan vineyards. The vines at Castagnolo are cultivated in accordance
with the French system, and at the vintage all unripe and unsound grapes
are thrown aside. There is an evident flavour of the muscat grape in the
Castagnolo sparkling wine, which has the merit of lightness and of being
well made. The alcoholic strength is equivalent to rather more than 20°
of proof spirit, and the highest quality wine is remarkable for its
excessive dryness in comparison with all other samples of Italian
sparkling wines that we have met with. Naples appears to confine itself
to producing sparkling white lacryma christi, for which, as a curiosity,
there exists a certain demand.
Spain of late years has shown itself equally ambitious with Italy to
achieve distinction in the production of sparkling wines, and at the
Paris Exhibition of 1878 there were samples from the majority of the
wine centres skirting the Mediterranean coast, including Gerona,
Barcelona, Tarragona, and Valencia. Other samples come from Logroño,
in the north of Spain; and years ago sparkling wine used to be made at
Villaviciosa, on the Bay of Biscay. To Paris there were also sent
samples of sparkling orange wine, an agreeable beverage, and
unquestionably preferable to the majority of Spanish sparkling wines
composed of the juice of the grape.
Greek sparkling wines, said to be of very fair quality, are made at
Athens, Corinth, and Tripoliza, and are exported in moderate quantities
to Russia. Algeria, too, is turning its attention to the production of
sparkling wines, but solely for home consumption, and at the Paris
Exhibition there was a sparkling wine from Uruguay, but of execrable
quality.
The sparkling wines of the Crimea and the Don, known in Russia
respectively as Krimski and Donski champagnes, are described as being
superior to much of the wine which passes in England under the name of
champagne. In Russia it is the fashion to speak contemptuously of them,
just as rhubarb and gooseberry champagne is spoken of in England, still
these Crimean and Don products are genuine wines, and, though somewhat
sweet, may be drunk with satisfaction and in moderate quantities with
impunity. One of the best Donski brands is that of Abrahamof, and as
much as six roubles per bottle is demanded for the finer qualities at
Novoi Tscherkash. About a million bottles of the Donski champagne are
exported annually, but the wine finds its principal market at the great
Russian fairs, where almost every important bargain is "wetted" with
sparkling Donski.
[Illustration:
VINTAGE SCENE IN THE UNITED STATES.]