80 Memoir on the Vineyards and Wines 
does the same by a second, a third bottle, &c. which he 
places in the same sloping direction. 
Four-and-twenty hours afterwards the workman re 
turns to the plank where he has deposited his bottles ; he 
once more gives them a slight shake, and slopes them a 
little more, in order to bring the sediment nearer to the 
cork : if the sediment has then completely fallen down, 
and the wine is limpid, the workman holds the bottle per 
pendicularly elevated, and does the same with all the rest 
of the bottles placed upon the planks : he returns with 
his hook, uncorks the bottles, and with a dextrous motion 
of the wrist turns them upside down : the fixed air escapes 
and pushes out the sediment, which falls into a receiver: 
the workman then dextrously replaces the bottle upon its 
end, after allowing nothing to escape, except what is ne- 
cessary to render it limpid. Another workman then fills 
it up with good wine, recorks 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 
Champagne has become so general throughout Europe, 
and great exertions are made to keep up its celebrity, 
XXXIX. Bo the sparkling Wines keep well f 
The wines of Champagne, after being put into circula- 
tion, and having travelled about, preserve their good 
qualities for ten years : but when they are kept in cellars, 
and particularly in those of Champagne, which are supe 
rior from the nature of the soil, (being dug out of beds of 
chalk,) they will keep for twenty and thirty years. 
