148 Memoir on the Vineyards and Wines 



pid. Another workman then fills it up with good wine, re,r 

 corks it, and the wine is fit for sale. 



By this delicate and cautious operation, the wine loses 

 nothing of its briskness, but occasions a great expense in 

 utensils, fresh corks, wire, labour, &c. It has become 

 necessary, however, of late, since the consumption of Cham- 

 pagne has become so general throughout Europe, and great 

 exertions are made to keep up its celebrity. 



XXXIX. Do the sparkling Wines keep well f 

 The wines of Champagne, after being put into circulation, 

 and having travelled about, preserve their good qualities for 

 ten years : but when they are kept in cellars, and particu- 

 larly in those of-Champagne, which are superior from the 

 nature of the soil (being dug out of beds of chalk), they will 

 keep for twenty and thirty years. 



XL. What Degree of Temperature is best adapted for the 



Preservation of Wines P — Point it out with reference to 



Reaumur's Thermometer. 



I am well convinced that it is by always preserving an 

 equal temperature that the breaking of the bottles may be 

 avoided when in the cellar. Currents of air passing through 

 the cellars should by all means be prevented: but in order 

 to establish an equal current of air, the cellars should be dug 

 very deep : they, however, would be so expensive that few 

 proprietors could be prevailed on to adopt such a regulation. 

 At Rheims, Ay, Hautvillers, Epernay, Cramant, and Vertus, 

 there are, I have seen, some cellars made upon a most ex- 

 cellent plan, and where no expense has been spared. 



I have never tried the temperature of the air of the cellars, 

 and I cannot give any results upon this head. 



[Articles 41, 42, 43, 44, and 45, being entirely applicable 

 to the management of wines, will form part of a particular 

 treatise upon the subject of red wines.] 



XLVI. What is the Price of an Acre of the lest Vineyard 

 Ground? (The acre being 100 rods and 22 feet.) 



lavres. 

 At Ay - - - i. 6000 



Hautvillers- 



