After the sediment has been removed the wine is subjected to dosage,
or liqueuring. It is by this process that the degree of sweetness
required to suit the particular class of wine being made is attained.
For wines exported to England very little liqueur is employed; in
the case of some wines, known as Brut or Nature, none at all is added.
Wines intended for consumption in France receive a moderate
quantity of liqueur, but those for the Russian and South American
markets, where very sweet wines are liked, receive more. This
liqueur is made of fine wine, brandy and candied sugar. The
liqueuring is nowadays generally carried out by means of a machine
which regulates the quantity to a nicety. Champagne is not, as is
the case, for instance, with the classified growths of the Gironde, the
product of a single vineyard. The bulk of the wine is made in
vineyards belonging to small peasant proprietors, who sell their produce
to the great mercantile houses. The latter blend the wines received
from the various proprietors, and the chief aim in this blending is
to maintain the character of the wine which is sold under a particular
trade mark or brand. Similarly, it has been said that, strictly
speaking, there is no such thing as vintage champagne, for it is almost
invariably the practice, in order to maintain the general character
of a specific brand, to blend the new wines with some old wine or
wines which have been vatted for this particular purpose. These
vattings, and indeed all blendings of any particular batch of wines,
are termed cuvées. The vintage date, therefore, which is borne by
“vintage champagne,” refers rather to the date of vintage prior to
bottling than to the age of the wine, although the main bulk of the
wine of a certain “vintage” will actually have been made in the year
indicated. It is not unusual in the case of champagne to add some
sugar to the must in the years in which the latter is deficient in this
regard. No legitimate objection can be raised to this practice
inasmuch as champagne in any case must be regarded in the light
of a manufactured article rather than as a natural product. The
principal centres of the champagne trade are at Reims, Epernay,
Ay and Avize. The total output of the Marne district has for the
past three years averaged about 9 million gallons, but it occasionally
runs as high as 20 million gallons. A great part of this wine, however,
is not suitable for making high-class champagne. As a rule,
the supply considerably exceeds the demand, and the stock in hand
at the present time amounts to roughly four years' consumption of
finished wine, but to this must be added the stock existing in cask,
which is considerable. For the period 1906-1907 the total number
of bottles in stock amounted to over 121 millions, the bottles exported
to over 23 millions, and the bottles required for internal commerce
in France to something over 10 millions. There is, thus, at the
present a total annual consumption of rather over 30 millions of
bottles. The chief trade in champagne is with the United Kingdom,
to which the finest varieties are exported. In the year 1906,
1,161,339 gallons of champagne, to the value of £1,679,611, were
imported into the United Kingdom. The general composition of
high-class champagnes, as supplied to the English market, will be
gathered from the precedingfollowing table, which is taken from a large
number of analyses published by the author and a collaborator in
the Analyst for January 1900.
Analyses of Champagne*
| No. | Description of Wine. | Vintage. | Alcohol per cent. by vol. |
Total Acid. |
Extract. | Ash. | Total Tartaric Acid. |
Sugar (as invert Sugar). |
Glycerin. | Carbonic Acid. |
| 1 | Champagne nature | 1892 | 14.01 | 5.22 | 20.95 | 1.17 | 2.20 | 3.36 | 7.55 | 8.27 |
| 2 | Brut | 1892 | 12.57 | 3.23 | 19.78 | 2.53 | 2.76 | 1.32 | 7.64 | 7.79 |
| 3 | Dry | 1892 | 13.50 | 5.99 | 27.07 | 1.16 | 2.10 | 9.20 | 9.10 | 9.55 |
| 4 | Extra sec | 1893 | 13.53 | 5.01 | 22.95 | 1.10 | 2.18 | 7.84 | 6.50 | 8.12 |
| 5 | Extra dry | 1893 | 12.56 | 5.43 | 23.18 | 1.13 | 2.49 | 7.23 | 8.18 | 7.75 |
| 6 | Dry | 1893 | 14.44 | 4.80 | 30.33 | 1.05 | 2.04 | 13.86 | 9.05 | . . |
* Results, excepting alcohol, are in grams per litre.
It will be seen that, compared with the dry, light red wines, the proportion of sugar, alcohol and acidity is comparatively high in champagne, and the extract (solid matter) rather low.
The fruitful departments watered by the Loire and its tributaries produce considerable quantities of wine. The white growths of the Saumur. Loire have been known for many centuries, but up to 1834 were used only as still wines. At that date, however, it was found that the wines of Saumur (situated in the department of the Maine-et-Loire) could be successfully converted into sparkling wines, and since then a considerable trade in this class of wine has developed. At first it was chiefly used for blending with the wines of the Champagne when the vintage in this district was insufficient, but at the present time it is largely sold under its own name. The imports of sparkling Saumur into the United Kingdom in 1906 amounted to 114,234 gallons, valued at £73,984. Although the average wholesale value of Saumur is considerably less than that of champagne, it compares favourably with the lower grades of that article, and in flavour and character is similar to the latter. The successful evolution of the Saumur sparkling wine industry is largely due to the fact that the range of limestone hills, at the foot of which the town is situated, afford by excavation illimitable cellarage, easy of access and of remarkably even temperature, at a very small cost. The method of manufacture is similar to that followed in the Champagne.
In the east of France, not far from the Jura, lies the oldest viticultural district of Europe, namely that of Burgundy. It is still so called, after the old French provinces. Upper and Lower Burgundy. It comprises the departments of the Yonne on the north-west, the Côte d'Or in the centre, and the Saône-et-Loire on the south. Burgundy. In the Yonne are made chiefly the white wines known to us as Chablis; in the Saône-et-Loire are made the red and white wines of Mâcon, and there is also, stretching into the department of the Rhône, the district producing the Beaujolais wines. The most important wines, however, the Burgundy wines proper, are made in the centre of this region on the range of low hills running north-east by south-west called the Côte d'Or, or the golden slope. The soil of the Côte d'Or is chiefly limestone, with a little clay and sand. The vineyards producing the best wines are situated about half-way up the slopes, those at the top producing somewhat inferior, and those at the foot and in the plain ordinary growths. Practically all the best vineyards (which are grown on flat terraces on the slopes, and not on the slopes themselves) face south-west and so get the full benefit of the sun's rays. The most important vine—in fact on the slopes of the Côte d'Or practically the only vine—is the Pineau or Noirien, but in the plain and in the districts of Mâcon and Beaujolais the Gamay is much cultivated. The influence of the soil on one and the same vine is interestingly illustrated by the different character of the vines grown in those districts, the Beaujolais wines having far greater distinction than those of Mâcon. The commune of Beaune must be regarded as the centre of the Burgundy district, and possesses numerous vineyards of the highest class. To the north of Beaune lie the famous vineyards of Chambertin, Clos Vougeot, Romanée, Richebourg, Nuits St Georges and Gorton; to the south those of Pommard, Volnay, Monthélie and Meursault with its famous white wines.
The vinification of the Burgundy wines takes place in cuves of 500 to 2000 gallons capacity, and it has for very many years been the common practice in vintages in which the must is deficient in saccharine to ensure the stability of the wine by the addition of some sugar in the cuve. The first rackings generally take place in February or March, and the second in July. The practice of sugaring has ensured greater stability and keeping power to the wines, which formerly were frequently irregular in character and difficult to preserve.
There is no official classification of the Burgundy wines, but the following is a list comprising some of the finest growths in geographical order, from north to south, together with the localities in or near which they are situated.
| 1. Red Wines. | |
| Locality. | Growth. |
| Fixey | Les Arvelets. |
| Fixin | Clos de la Perrière. |
| Chambertin | Chambertin, Clos de Bize, Clos St Jacques. |
| Morey | Clos de Tart, Les Bonnes Mares, Les Larrets. |
| Chambolle | Les Musigny. |
| Vougeot | Clos de Vougeot. |
| Flagey | Les Grandes Eschezeaux. |
| Vosne | Romanée-Conti, Les Richebourgs, La Tache, |
| Romanée la Tache. | |
| Nuits | Les Saint-Georges, Les Vaucrains, |
| Les Porrets, Les Pruliers, Les Boudots, | |
| Les Thorey. | |
| Aloxe | Le Corton, Le Clos-du-Roi-Corton. |
| Savigny | Les Vergelesses. |
| Beaune | Les Fèves, Les Grèves, Le Clos de la Mousse. |
| Pommard | Les Arvelets, Les Rugiens. |
| Volnay | Les Caillerets, Les Champans. |
| Santenay | Les Santenots, Le Clos-Tavannes. |
| 2. White Wines. | |
| Meursault | Les Perrières, Les Genevrières. |
| Puligny | Montrachet, Les Chevaliers-Montrachet, |
| Le Batard Montrachet. | |
