128 



EPERNAY AND AY. 



posed to the full south, except where the exposure is 

 varied by recesses in the range ; it consequently pro- 

 duces wine of the finest quality, and very superior to 

 that of Epernay, which is produced on hills exposed 

 to the north. I walked through the meadow with 

 great difficulty and labour, the road being almost im- 

 passable in some places, owing to the depth of the mud. 

 On arriving at Ay, I delivered my letter to Madam Ha- 

 zart, the wife of M. Ruinart's manager, and expressed my 

 doubts whether I should return the next day. She im- 

 mediately called the mattre vlgneron to proceed with me 

 to the vineyard, and another to obtain the plants which 

 the letter expressed my wish to procure. The depth of 

 soil before reaching the chalk on the hill of Ay, is in most 

 places, according to the report of the vigneron, 10 to 15 

 feet, nor is he aware of any difference being occasioned in 

 the quality of the wine when the chalk comes nearer the 

 surface, which happens a little farther to the east, where 

 they also make wines of the first quality. The soil is 

 strongly calcareous, full of small pieces of chalk, and of 

 stones. Near the top of the hill the soil is more argilla- 

 ceous and stronger than towards the bottom ; and this, in 

 some degree, affects the quality of the wine, but not in a 

 great degree. The great difference is caused by difference 

 in exposure, that to the south producing uniformly the 

 best ; where the soil is the same from the top to the bot- 

 tom, the middle region of the hill is still the most valuable, 

 for it is less subject to the injuries which early frosts fre- 

 quently occasion in the lower region, and enjoys in general 

 a warmer sun, especially towards the close of the season, 

 than the top. When the season has been extremely fine 

 and warm from beginning to end, the wine of the higher 

 and lower regions of the hill equals that of the middle 



