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- They obferve attentively every moment, in a clear 

 glafs, if the wine be neat; and when they perceive 

 but the leaft thicknefs, without waiting till it appears 

 foul, they ftop the fountain, and take it away im- 

 mediately, and turn out" into a bucket that 'little 

 wine that remains in the piece. That clear wine that 

 has drained out of the fountain, they put into the 

 cafk that they have been filling ; they ufe for this 

 purpofe a funnel of tin, the tail of which is about 

 a foot long, to the end that the wine that paflcs 

 through it, may hot caufeany agitation in that of the 

 piece J and that there may not any filth pafs into the 

 wine, there is, toward the bottom of the funnel, a 

 tin plate pierced through with fmall holes, which 

 prevents any thing grofs from pafling through into 

 the piece. 



They put together into a feparate cafk, all tte re- 

 iiminders of the empty pieces ; prefi^ntjy after they 

 have emptied one, which they do in lefs than half an 

 hour, they wafli it with a bucket of water, let it ftand 

 to drain fome moments, and then fill it with another 

 that is to be drawn off, 



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After the wine has been emptied out of one vefiel into 

 another the firft time, they draw it off" a fecond time, 

 at the time we have before mentioned ; fometimes 

 they are obliged to do it a third time, to give it a live- 

 ly colour, if it has it not already ; but four days be- 

 fore they change the calk, they give it a frizure, as 

 they call it, and put in it one third part pf the ordi- 

 nary quantity of ifinglafs. - i : .. ., 

 The moft experienced perfons fhift their fine wines 

 out of one veflel into another, as often as they change 

 the vault or its place, as well when they carry it down 

 ;nto the vault, as up into the cellar, according to 

 the different feafons : I have known when, in four 

 years tinie, they have drawn it off twelve or thirteen 

 times ;' and they pretend, that this preferves and fuf- 

 tains the wine, and that it has been the finer and more 

 delicate. . 



Their opinion Is, that the wine is continually forming 

 a fine lee, which gives it the colour j and that topre- 

 ferve it of a gooa white, it muft be often Shifted out 

 of one veflel into another, if it be not put into bottles ; 

 and that there is no reafon to fear, that the wine will 

 be weakened by this means, becaufc the oftener it is 

 removed, the oftener you give it new vigour, and the 

 oftener it is drawji gflTa, the more lively and brilliant is 

 the colour. 4. 



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And although I have faid they ftiould, npt ipjimfto^ne 

 their cafks, they do not fail to ufe a matcTSi of brim- 

 Hone the firft time they change their veflels ; they 

 mingle a piece of thick linen cloth in the melted 

 brimftone, and they cut ofiF a bit for each caflc of 

 fine wine about the bignefsof one's little finger, and 

 ' one as big again for every piece^ of common wine; 

 they light it, and put it under the tung of the piece 

 they empty, before they have rccourfe to the bellows ; 

 according as the wine defcends, it draws along with 

 it a fmaltfcentof the brimftone, which is not very 

 ftrong fo as to niake it perceivable, find that only 

 leaves what will give it a livelinefs of colour ; the 

 lame may be done the fecond time, when they change 

 the cafk, if it has not taken the fcent the firft time, 

 otherwife it ought to be drawn off the fecond time 

 without a match, to caufe it to lofe the fcent of the 

 brimftone, which it ought never to have- ■ 

 The wines that are thus clear and fine, keep very 

 well in the cafk for two or three years, and hold their 

 goodnefs in the vaults and cellars, but efpecially the 

 mountain wines that have a good body ; thofe of the 

 river lofe their quality in wood, and they ought to be 

 drank in the firft and fecond year, or elfe they muft 

 be put into bottles. . This wine will keep very well 

 four, five, or Ox years in glafs bottles. 

 The ufe of round bottles is very common in Cham- 

 paign ;- they having plenty of wood in the province, 

 have there fet up very good glafs-houfes, which they 

 feldom make ufe of but in making thefe bottles, which 

 are about fix inches high, and four or five in the neck. 

 Thefe bottled contain ordinarily a Paris pint, or half 



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^ glafs lefs. They fell them commonly for twelve or 

 fifteen franks a hundred. They have a certain quan- 

 tity in every houfe. Before they enter upon a piece 

 of wine to drink, they put it into bottles well wafhed 

 and drained, in order to have the wine of one piece 

 equally good. 



When they have a mind to draw off a piece of wine 



into bottles, they put a little fiphon of metal into the 



cafk, which is bent downwards, to ftrain it into the 



bottle, under which there is a tub or bucket to catch 



the wine that Ihall run over. They ftop pp every 



bottle carefully with a good well chofen cork that is 



not worm eaten, but that is folid and clofe. . Thefe 



forts of fine corks coft fifty or fixty fols a hundred. 



There cannot be too much care taken in the chufing 



corks, left the wine fpoil in fome of the bottles, when 



the corks are defeftive -, therefore great care fhould 



be taken in the chufing them, when you would draw 



off' fine wines into bottles, whether it be for keeping, 

 or to be fent abroad. . 



When bottles are ufed that have been made ufe of be- 

 fore, they fliould be waflied with leaden fliot, and a 

 little water to fetch out the fikh that fhall remain on 

 the bottom of the bottles i but it is much better in 

 the room of them to ufe fmall nails, becaufe they per- 

 fedly take off all that which fticks to the glafs. 

 When all the bottles that fuffice to empty one cafk 

 are filled, they tie the mouth of the bottle over to 

 the heck with a ftrong packthread ; and if it be a fine 

 wine they commonly feal it with Spanifh wax, that 

 the wine may not be changed, nor the bottles by the 

 domeftics ; and fome perfons have their coats of arms 

 made on the bottles, whk:h docs not enhance the price 

 above thirty Ibis per cent. ,] ^r-. 



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When all the bottles are well (topped, tied dovn, 

 and fealed, they ought to be fet in a vault or cellar, 

 upon fand two or three fingers depth, and laid fidc^- 

 ways, leaning againft one another j when they dre fet 

 upright, they form a white flower upon the wine at 

 the top, in the fmall empty fpace that is between 

 the top of the mouth of the bottle and the wine; 

 for the bottles ought never to be be filled up to the 

 top, but there muft be left a fmall empty fpace of 

 about half an inch, between the wine and the end of 

 the cork. ' - 



If this was not done, the wine would fet a working 

 in the different feafons of the year, and break a great 

 number of bottles; and it docs, notwithftanding, 

 ;]break a great many, in fpite of all^fh^, caution that 

 •can be taken, and more efpecially when xJa^ wine has 

 A' great deal of beat, or is a little tart, v . ^ 

 In fome years the wine grows ropy in the battles ^en 

 in the vaults, fo as to rope when it is poured out as if 

 it had oil, fo that it cannot be drank. This is a ma- 

 lady that feizes the wine, thathas ftood feveral months 

 without being removed from one place to another. If 

 \t be fet in the air, it will lofe more of its ropinefsthan 

 it will if left in the vault. It will recover itfelf, if fet 

 in a very airy granary, better than it will oftentimes 

 do in fix months in a vault. ' r. - 



When one is obliged to drink a ropy wine, if he ihake 

 the bottle ftrongly for the fpace of half a quaner of 

 an hour, and then uncork it immediately after he has 

 done fhaking it, the bottle being a little inclinec'i on the 

 fide, will caft out prefently half a glafs of froth or 

 fcum, and jJie refjt of the ^yine will be drinkable, where- 

 as otherwife it would not be fo. .. - , ■: ; 

 For about forty years laft paft, the tafte of the Frenca 

 has been determined for a frothy wine ; and this they 

 ufed to love, as one may fay, even to diftraftion. 

 They have begun a little to come off from that for 

 fome years paft* Their fentiments are much divided 

 as to the opinion of this kind of wine ; fome believe 

 that it proceeds from the force of the drugs they put 

 in it, which makes it froth fo ftrongly •, odiers attri- 

 bute it to the tartnefs of the wines, becaufe the great- 

 eft part that do froth are extremely tart ; others attri- 

 bute this effeft to the. moon, according to the times 



in wJtjiph thefe wines are bottled. 



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