II.

/The Sparkling Wines of Burgundy, the Jura, and the South of France./

Sparkling wines of the Côte d'Or at the Paris Exhibition of 1878--Chambertin, Romanée, and Vougeot--Burgundy wines and vines formerly presents from princes--Vintaging sparkling Burgundies--Their after-treatment in the cellars--Excess of breakage--Similarity of proceeding to that followed in the Champagne--Principal manufacturers of sparkling Burgundies--Sparkling wines of Tonnerre, the birthplace of the Chevalier d'Eon--The Vin d'Arbanne of Bar-sur-Aube--Death there of the Bastard de Bourbon--Madame de la Motte's ostentatious display and arrest there--Sparkling wines of the Beaujolais--The Mont-Brouilly vineyards--Ancient reputation of the wines of the Jura--The Vin Jaune of Arbois beloved of Henri Quatre--Rhymes by him in its honour--Lons-le-Saulnier--Vineyards yielding the sparkling Jura wines--Their vintaging and subsequent treatment--Their high alcoholic strength and general drawbacks--Sparkling wines of Auvergne, Guienne, Dauphiné, and Languedoc--Sparkling Saint-Péray the Champagne of the South--Valence, with its reminiscences of Pius VI. and Napoleon I.--The 'Horns of Crussol' on the banks of the Rhône--Vintage scene at Saint-Péray--The vines and vineyards producing sparkling wine--Manipulation of sparkling Saint-Péray--Its abundance of natural sugar--The cellars of M. de Saint-Prix, and samples of his wines--Sparkling Côte-Rotie, Château-Grillé, and Hermitage--Annual production and principal markets of sparkling Saint-Péray--Clairette de Die--The Porte Rouge of Die Cathedral--How the Die wine is made--The sparkling white and rose-coloured muscatels of Die--Sparkling wines of Vercheny and Lagrasse--Barnave and the royal flight to Varennes--Narbonne formerly a miniature Rome, now noted merely for its wine and honey--Fête of the Black Virgin at Limoux--Preference given to the new wine over the miraculous water--Blanquette of Limoux, and how it is made--Characteristics of this overrated wine 251