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V I 



The white Grapes don't come into this cuvee; they 

 leave them upon the ftock till toWard All Saints-day, 

 or fometimes till toward the eightl> or tenth of No' 

 vember,(at which time the mornings are cold) to make 

 of It a vin bourra, as they call it, i. e. a new and 

 Iweet white wine that has not worked, which they fell 

 while it is quite hot. ' 



This wine is IHll the better when the Grapes have been 

 pinched by the white frofts of Oftober and November, 

 or at lead very cold mornings. A litde rottennefs in 

 thefe Grapes does_ no harm ; you need only take care 

 to give the wine time to throw out the filch by the fer- 

 ment, and purify. . ■ •" ' ; -"' 



This white wine may be mixed with the wine of the 

 taille, if you pleafe, when you have an opportunity ot 

 felling it prefently after it is boiled. This makes a 

 very good wine to drink, is pretty, pale, and has 

 good body. 





■ . All thefe fine wines ought to be put into'a new calk, 

 as alfo fhould thofe of the taille ^ but the red v/iries, 

 the green, and tHofe of the prefs^ may be put into an 

 old cafk, but it ought to be avei-y good one. 

 You muft never rub the tuns over with brimftone, you 

 fhould only wafh them in common water a little while 

 before they are filled, and give them time to drain 

 well : fome handfuls of flowers or Peach leaves may 

 be mingled with the water, and they pretend that 

 this will do the w^ine good. 



In Champaign they rarely put it in any thing but 



cateaux and cades-. 



- * i 



pieces 



The river meafure is different from that of the nibun- 

 tains : the pieces of the rivers contain about two hun- 

 dred and ten Paris pints (a Paris pint is equal to an 

 Englifli quart ;) thecarteau a hundred and ten ; the 

 pieces of the mountains contain about two hundred 

 ■ and forty pints^'^t the leafl: two liuhdred and thirty 

 yaris meafure ;'_and the c^rteau a hundred and fifteen, 

 or ah un3re3^'an<l twenty. ■; ;^.* ' - 



They mark regularly with chalk every piece, and eve- 

 . ry carteau, to denote the firft, fecond, or third cu- 

 vee ; the wine of the cutdng of the prefs, the white 

 wine, and the green i they alfo write the name of the 

 vineyard from whence the Grapes came. 

 A few years fince, fome private perfons in Cham- 

 paign attempted to make wine as red as that of Bur- 

 ' gundy, and they fucceeded pretty well as to the co- 

 lour : but in my opinion thefe forts of wines do not 

 come up to thqfe of Burgundy, in 'that theyjare not 

 fo foft, nor lo agreeable to the palate : neverthelefs 

 many perfons call for thefe wrhes^ and fome efteem 

 them the beft. 



■' » ' 1 -i -■■ 



- 1 * 



And as thofe gray wines are a little fallen, there has 

 been made fome years pad, a great deal of red Cham- 

 paign. Thefe wines do well for Flanders, where they 

 are frequently fold for thofe of Burgundy. 

 Of all thefe wines, there is none better for health, nor 

 more agreeable to the palate, than the gray wine of 

 Champaign, of the colour of a partridge's eye, or the 

 wines of the two firft tallies of a firft prelfing in pretty 

 hot years. " 



This wine has a body, a tartnefs, a headinefs, a bal- 

 famicknefs or perfume, a quicknefs and delicatenefs, 

 that exceeds all the moft exquifite ones of Burgundy. 

 And that which fhould engage one to drink it, is its 

 lightnefs, which makes it ftrain and pafs quicker thro' 

 the body than any other wine in the kingdom. It is a 

 miftake to be of opinion, that the wine of Champaign 

 can give the gout. I have fcarce ever feen one gouty 

 perfon in this whole province, and there need be no 



better proof. 



To make good red wine in Champaign, the black 

 Grapes ought to be gathered in the heat of the day ; 

 care is to be taken to chufe them well, and not to 

 mingle with them the Grapes of the tall Vines, nor 

 the green ones, or thofe that are partly rotten •, to 

 let them be two days in one tub, where the liquor 

 grows red by the heat that it contra6ts there : fome 

 hours before it is put into the prefs, it ought to be 

 trampled with the feet, and the juice to be mingled- 

 with the marc j without this the wine will not be of 



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a fufficlent redncfs. If it be let ftand more than two 

 days in the tub, it will tafte too much of the ftone. 

 It It be mingled with the wine of the prefs, it will be 

 too thick, too hard, and too unplcafant. 

 The wine of the firft preffing being finiflied, and the 

 vefTels marked, they fet them in a row in a cellar or 

 court yard : thofe who have a great deal of v/ine and 

 are good oeconomifts, take great care to gather the 

 fcum th^t comes out of ever\' velTel, while the wines 

 ferment, by the means of a kind of tin funnel, made 

 bending downwards^ which lets the fcum fall into a 

 wooden bowl, which is placed between two cafks ; 

 they afterwards put thefe fcums into the wines of the 

 prefs, but neverthelefs there are but few that ufe this 

 piece of ceconomy. • . " 



rhey let thefe gray wines ftand to ferment in the cafks 

 ten or twelve days, becaufe thefe wines throw out 

 their ferment fo much the more or lefs flowly, by hov/ 

 much they have more or lefs warmth, or as the years 

 are more or lefs hot. 



After the wine has done fermenting, they ftop up the 

 vefTels at the great bung-Iiole, ^nd leave on the fore- 

 fide an opening, about the bignefs of a French far- 

 thing, by which one may put in his finger ; this they 

 call le broqueleaur ; and they ftop this up ten or 

 twelve days after, with a wooden peg, about two 

 inches long, for the more re::dily ""taking it out, a d 

 putting it in. 



All the while the wines are fermenting, the vefTels 

 are to be kept full, to give them an opportunity of 

 caftingoutall that is impure. In order for this, they 

 muft be filled up every two or three days, within a 

 finger's breadth of the bung ; after they have been 

 bunged up, they muft be filled up ^Ytvy eighth d<i\-, 

 at the little hole, for th^ fpace of two or three weeks 

 more ; and after that, once a week for a .montji or 

 two'i and after that once in every two months, as 

 long as the wine remains in the vault, if it be there 

 for vears. ■ . 



When the wines have not body enough, or are too 

 green, as it often happens in moift cold years, and 

 when they have too much liquor, as in hot and dry 

 years, three weeks after the wines have been made, 

 hey muft be rolled in the cafks five or fix turns to 

 mix them well with the lees ■,' and this muft be con- 

 tinued every eight days for three or four weeeks. 

 This mixing of the lee with the wine being repeat- 

 ed, " wiU ^ftrengthen it, foften it, ripen it, render it 

 TOore forward, and nialve. it fit'to drink in as fhort a 

 time as if it had been tranfported from one place to 

 anqther. - 



The wines muft be let ftand in the cellar till toward 

 the loth of April, when they carry them down into 

 the vault -, but as foon as it begins to be cold in au- 

 tumn, they are to be carried up again into the cellar : 

 it isof confequence to be obferved upon this fubjecl, 

 that the wines ought always to be in cool places, and 

 never to fuffer heat; and as the vaults are cooler in 

 fummer, and warmer in winter than the external air, 

 as foon as it begins to be hot, the wines muft be carried 

 down, whether they be in pieces or in bottles, into 

 the vaults ; and when it begins to be cold, they muft 

 be carried up into the cellar. 



There has been nothing better invented and more \:^c- 

 ful, than the manner of drawing off wines. Certain 

 experience convinces, that it is the lee that fpoil 

 wines j and that they are never better and more livti^ 

 ly, than when they have been v/ell drawn off; whe- 

 ther you would bottle it, or keep it in pieces, it 

 ought always to be drawn off, ou't of one veflel into 

 another, at leaft twice into another veffvrl well vvafhed, 

 leaving the lee in the former. 



You fhould draw off" the wines the firft time towards 

 the middle of December, the fecond towards the 

 middle of February, ^nd to fine them in March and 

 April, eight days or thereabouts before you bottle it. 

 For every piece of wine, you muft have of ifinglafs, 

 that is the whi.teft, of the weight of a crown of gold, 

 weighing two deniers fifteen grains, or fixty-three 

 grains. They take fo many times tlie weight of a 



crown 



