LIQUEURING CHAMPAGNE.

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champagne houses this is the only adulteration which the wine undergoes; and, were it not for the liqueur, few-those not excepted, who talk about liking it very dry—would care to drink champagne.

Canning seems to have disliked dry champagne, for it is told of him that he used to say that any sane person who affected to prefer dry champagne,―lied.'

It may be overdone as well as underdone; and, as in most things, the difficulty is to attain the juste milieu, no rule can be laid down; for some qualities require more than others; and this is the case when one year has well ripened the grapes, and another has left them green and harsh. Generally about 12 or 13 per cent. is enough, but some houses add even 15, 16, or more. Supposing the vin brut to be the same, the distinguishing character belonging to certain houses arises almost entirely from their liqueur, and how they apply it. Some have it perfectly pure and white, with a very slight addition of brandy or colour; others add a good deal of brandy, and also of colour, giving the appearance of body, and the various shades of 'amber,' 'partridge-eye,' &c.; others consider that their liqueur is improved by being boiled.

Liqueur is very much improved by being kept for many years, as this softens and mellows it, but there is the great risk that, if quite pale, and desired to be kept so, it will, in time, imbibe a certain degree of colour, if allowed to remain in a cask. I have lately seen a striking instance of this, not only altering the appearance, but even the taste and flavour of a

favourite cuvée. The grower in whose cellar it happened, has, in consequence, resolved to keep his pale liqueurs in bottle, or in glass vessels, in future. Let anyone, however, who can appreciate and distinguish pure from brandied, and coloured champagne, compare one, with liqueur, neither brandied nor coloured, against the other; and he will immediately perceive in the former, a fine delicate bouquet, with purity of taste, while there is in the other, coarseness both of taste and flavour, and a frequent want of brilliancy, if long in bottle.

Till lately, champagne was considered thin and poor, unless altered from its natural state; and the only kind in vogue was such as no man in Champagne, and few anywhere else, except in England, would drink. For liqueuring, there has lately been a beautiful little machine invented, by which each bottle receives a certain quantity only. It possesses the further advantage of a very slight escape of gas, in comparison with the process by hand.

The bottle now passes to the récouleur, whose duty it is to fill up to the proper height. It then comes to the fifth, the boucheur, or corker. The sixth, the ficeleur, or stringer, fastens down the cork by string. The seventh, the ficeleur au fil de fer, performs a similar operation with wire. The eighth, usually a woman, places the silver or gold foil over the cork and neck; and the ninth wraps the bottle in paper, when it is ready for packing.

Tin foil, of various colours, has now almost entirely

superseded the old-fashioned cement over the cork and neck. Of the two, the dipping in cement is the most useful, but it is objectionable on account of its becoming soft, and sticking to the hand. The only real safeguard is a good cork.

The illustration, at page 318, of the various operations in a champagne establishment, taken from life, will assist in making my descriptions intelligible.

Every house has its own brand, or mark. The corks used for keeping the wine in the cellar for ripening and sale, are much cheaper than those by which they are replaced when it is sold, and sent off, branded usually with the name of the grower or merchant, but often of the purchaser, who may prefer having his own name. Before despatching, it is desirable to keep the wine for a couple of weeks after re-corking, when every bottle ought to be examined, to see if there is the slightest appearance of weeping (leakage). The force of the carbonic acid gas is so powerful, that great care and the best corks are required. The brand on the end of the cork is effected by a slight pressure against the heated branding-iron.

With very few exceptions, every house or grower is willing to cork with any brand desired, if it be not the counterfeit of that of some other firm. (It will be seen, under the head of the Rhine, that no such fear or compunction there prevails, at least as regards champagne brands.) When packed in cases, a similar brand is usually burned on the case.

The loss of wine is now much less than formerly,

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attributable, not only to the use of superior and larger corks, but quite as much to their being driven in by the corking machines now employed. Indeed, they are now often so tightly driven, that a corkscrew is required; but although this may interfere with the agreeable and exciting pop, and flight of the cork, it is hardly an objection, as the preservation of the wine ought to be first considered.

Here is a sketch of the corking machine generally used.

Champagnes formerly became often 'scuddy,' which means that they lost their limpidity and brilliancy; but this is now rarely the case. In consulting growers as to the cause of the change and