Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 August 1885 — How Champagne Is Made. [ARTICLE]

How Champagne Is Made.

In France the making of champagne is a process requiring extreme care and attention at every stage for at least two years. The grapes are picked with especial pains to keep any of them from falling or receiving •bruises. Only the juice of the first pressing is made into high-elass wine, and the quantity of this that shall be drawn is regulated by weight. Four hundred kilogrammes are allowed for every forty gallons of wine, and when the desired quantity has been obtained the pressing is stopped. The protruding edges of the mass which have escaped the heavier pressure are cut off and subjected to a second pressure, the juice from which is called the first faille. A third pressure gives the second faille, and a fourth the redeche, juices that are considered fit only for the workmen. When the scum has risen in the wine-tubs it is taken off, and the casks are filled and fumigated with sulphur and put away, not quite full, in the cellar, for fermentation. The wine is racked off into other casks when the fermentation has subsided, and becomes quite clear by the time the December frosts set in. It is then mixed, by bringing together thirty or forty casks of the same growth, and blended. Tannin is added to neutralize grease and deposits, and as much alcohol as is required. At a later stage a masque or deposit forms on the side of the bottle, the removal of which requires much care and skill and manipulation for several weeks. Afterward a syrup of sugar and alcohol is added, in proportions varying according to the country to which the wine is to be sent. Finally, the bottles are corked, wired and set on end.