III.

/Facts and Notes respecting Sparkling Wines./

Dry and sweet Champagnes--Their sparkling properties--Form of Champagne glasses--Style of sparkling wines consumed in different countries--The colour and alcoholic strength of Champagne--Champagne approved of by the faculty--Its use in nervous derangements--The icing of Champagne--Scarcity of grand vintages in the Champagne--The quality of the wine has little influence on the price--Prices realised by the Ay and Verzenay crus in grand years--Suggestions for laying down Champagnes of grand vintages--The improvement they develop after a few years--The wine of 1874--The proper kind of cellar in which to lay down Champagne--Advantages of Burrow's patent slider wine-bins--Increase in the consumption of Champagne--Tabular statement of stocks, exports, and home consumption from 1844-5 to 1877-8--When to serve Champagne at a dinner-party--Charles Dickens's dictum that its proper place is at a ball--Advantageous effect of Champagne at an ordinary British dinner-party 258

[Illustration]

[Illustration: A

HISTORY OF CHAMPAGNE]

WITH NOTES ON

OTHER SPARKLING WINES.

## PART I.