XI.

/Some Champagne Establishments at Ay and Mareuil./

The _bourgade_ of Ay and its eighteenth-century château--Gambling propensities of a former owner, Balthazar Constance Dangé-Dorçay-- Appreciation of the Ay vintage by Sigismund of Bohemia, Leo X., Charles V., Francis I., and Henry VIII.--Bertin du Rocheret celebrates this partiality in triolets--Estimation of the Ay wine in the reigns of Charles IX. and Henri III.--Is a favoured drink with the leaders of the League, and with Henri IV., Catherine de Medicis, and the courtiers of that epoch--The 'Vendangeoir d'Henri Quatre' at Ay--The King's pride in his title of Seigneur d'Ay and Gonesse--Dominicus Baudius punningly suggests that the 'Vin d'Ay' should be called 'Vinum Dei'--The merits of the wine sung by poets and extolled by wits--The Ay wine in its palmy days evidently not sparkling--Arthur Young's visit to Ay in 1787--The establishment of Deutz & Geldermann--Drawing off the cuvée there--Mode of excavating cellars in the Champagne--The firm's new cellars, vineyards, and vendangeoir--M. Duminy's cellars and wines--The house founded in 1814--The new model Duminy establishment--Picturesque old house at Ay--Messrs. Pfungst Frères & Co.'s cellars--Their finely-matured dry Champagnes--The old church of Ay and its numerous decorations of grapes and vine-leaves--The sculptured figure above the Renaissance doorway--The Montebello establishment at Mareuil--The château formerly the property of the Dukes of Orleans--A titled Champagne firm--The brilliant career of Marshal Lannes--A promenade through the Montebello establishment--The press-house, the cuvée-vat, the packing-room, the offices, and the cellars--Portraits and relics at the château--The establishment of Bruch-Foucher & Co.--The handsome carved gigantic cuvée-tun--The cellars and their lofty shafts--The wines of the firm 217