VIII.

/Reims and its Champagne Establishments/ _(continued)_.

La Prison de Bonne Semaine--Mary Queen of Scots at Reims--Messrs. Pommery & Greno's offices--A fine collection of faïence--The Rue des Anglais a former refuge of English Catholics--Remains of the old University of Reims--Ancient tower and grotto--The handsome castellated Pommery establishment--The spacious cellier and huge carved cuvée tuns--The descent to the cellars--Their great extent--These lofty subterranean chambers originally quarries, and subsequently places of refuge of the early Christians and the Protestants--Madame Pommery's splendid cuvées of 1868 and 1874--Messrs. de St. Marceaux & Co.'s new establishment in the Avenue de Sillery--Its garden-court and circular shaft--Animated

## scene in the large packing hall--Lowering bottled wine to the

cellars--Great depth and extent of these cellars--Messrs. de St. Marceaux & Co.'s various wines--The establishment of Veuve Morelle & Co., successors to Max Sutaine--The latter's 'Essai sur le Vin de Champagne'--The Sutaine family formerly of some note at Reims--Morelle & Co.'s cellars well adapted to the development of sparkling wines--The various brands of the house--The Porte Dieu-Lumière.

[Illustration: HEAD OVERSEER AT POMMERY AND GRENO'S.]

Nigh the cathedral of Reims, and in the rear of the archiepiscopal palace, there runs a short narrow street known as the Rue Vauthier le Noir, and frequently mentioned in old works relating to the present capital of the Champagne. The discovery of various pillars and statues, together with a handsome Gallo-Roman altar, whilst digging some foundations in 1837, points to the fact that a Pagan temple formerly occupied the site. The street is supposed to have taken its name, however, from some celebrated gaoler, for in mediæval times here stood 'la prison de bonne semaine.' On the site of this prison a château was subsequently built, which tradition has erroneously fixed upon as the residence of the beautiful and luckless Mary Queen of Scots, in the days when her uncle, Cardinal Charles de Lorraine, was Lord Archbishop of Reims. Temple, prison, and palace have alike disappeared, and where they stood there now rises midway between court and garden a handsome mansion, the residence of Madame Pommery, head of the well-known firm of Pommery & Greno. To the left of the courtyard, which is entered through a monumental gateway, are some old buildings, let into the walls of which are a couple of sculptured escutcheons, the one comprising the arms of France, and the other those of the Cardinal de Lorraine. On the right-hand side of the courtyard are the Pommery offices, together with the manager's sanctum, replete with artistic curiosities, the walls being completely covered with remarkable specimens of faïence, including Rouen, Gien, Palissy, Delft, and majolica, collected in the majority of instances by Madame Pommery in the villages around Reims. Here we were received by M. Vasnier, who at once volunteered to accompany us to the cellars of the firm outside the city. Messrs. Pommery & Greno originally carried on business in the Rue Vauthier le Noir, where there are extensive cellars, but their rapidly-increasing connection long since compelled them to emigrate beyond the walls of Reims.

[Illustration: OLD COATS OF ARMS IN THE COURTYARD OF MADAME POMMERY'S RESIDENCE.]

In close proximity to the Rue Vauthier le Noir is the Rue des Anglais, so named from the English Catholic refugees, who, flying from the persecutions of our so-called Good Queen Bess, here took up their abode and established a college and a seminary. They rapidly acquired great influence in Reims, and one of their number, William Gifford, was even elected archbishop. At the end of this street, nigh to Madame Pommery's, there stands an old house erected late in the fifteenth century, with a corner tower and rather handsome Renaissance window, which formerly belonged to some of the clergy of the cathedral, and subsequently became the 'Bureau Général de la Loterie de France,' an institution abolished by the National Convention in 1793.

[Illustration: OLD HOUSE IN THE RUE DES ANGLAIS, REIMS.]

The Rue des Anglais conducts into the Rue de l'Université, where a few remnants of the old University, founded by Cardinal Charles de Lorraine (1538-74), formerly attracted attention, notably a conical-capped corner tower, the sculptured ornaments at the base of which had crumbled into dust beneath the corroding tooth of Time.[423] From the Rue de l'Université our way lies along the Boulevard du Temple to the Porte Gerbert, about a mile beyond which there rises up the curious castellated structure in which the Pommery establishment is installed, with its tall towers commanding a view of the whole of Reims and its environs. As we drive up the Avenue Gerbert we espy on the right an isolated crumbling tower, a remnant of the ancient fortifications of Reims,[424] while close at hand, and under the old city-walls, is a grotto, to which an ancient origin is likewise ascribed. In another minute we reach the open iron gates of Messrs. Pommery's establishment, flanked by a picturesque porter's lodge; and proceeding up a broad drive, we alight under a Gothic portico at the entrance to the spacious and lofty cellier. Iron girders support the roof of this vast hall, 180 feet in length and 90 feet in width, without the aid of a single column. At one end is the office and tasting-room, provided with a telegraphic apparatus and telephone, by means of which communication is carried on with the Reims bureaux. Stacked up on every side of the cellier, and often in eight tiers when empty, are rows upon rows of casks, 6000 of which contain wine of the costly vintage of 1880 sufficient for a million and a half bottles of Champagne. The temperature of this hall is carefully regulated; the windows are high up near the roof, and the sun's rays are rigidly excluded, so that a pleasant coolness pervades the building. On the left-hand side stand two huge tuns, with the monogram P. and G., surmounting the arms of Reims, carved on their heads. These are capable of containing 5500 gallons of wine, and in them the firm make their cuvée. A platform, access to which is gained by a staircase in a side aisle, runs round one of these _foudres_; and when the wine, which has been hoisted up in casks and poured through a metal trough into the _foudre_, is being blended, boys stand on this platform and, by means of a handle protruding above the cask, work the paddle-wheels placed inside, thereby securing the complete amalgamation of the wine. Adjoining are the chains and lifts worked by steam, by means of which wine is raised and lowered from and to the cellars beneath, one lift raising or lowering eight casks, whether full or empty, in the space of a minute.

[Illustration: THE POMMERY AND GRENO ESTABLISHMENT IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF REIMS.]

At the farther end of the hall a Gothic door, decorated with ornamental ironwork, leads to the long broad flight of steps, 116 in number, and nearly twelve feet in width, conducting to the suite of lofty subterranean chambers, where bottles of _vin brut_ repose in their hundreds of thousands in slanting racks or solid piles, passing leisurely through those stages of development necessary to fit them for the _dégorgeur_. Altogether there are 130 large shafts, 90 feet in depth and 60 feet square at their base, which were originally quarries, and are now connected by spacious galleries. This side of Reims abounds with similar chalk quarries, commonly believed to have served as places of refuge for the Protestants at the time of the League and after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; and it is even conjectured that the early Christians--the followers of St. Sixtus and St. Sinicus--here hid themselves from their persecutors. Since the cellars within the city have no longer sufficed for the storage of the immense stocks required through the development of the Champagne trade, these vast subterranean galleries have been successfully utilised by various firms. Messrs. Pommery, after filling up the chambers above the water level, proceeded to excavate the connecting tunnels, shore up the cracking arches, and repair the flaws in the chalk with masonry, finally converting these abandoned quarries into magnificent cellars for the storage of Champagne. No less than 60,000_l._ was spent upon them and the castellated structure aboveground. Several millions of bottles of Champagne can be stored in these capacious vaults, the area of which is nearly 450,000 square feet.

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF MESSRS. POMMERY AND GRENO'S CELLIER.]

Madame Pommery made a great mark with her splendid cuvées of 1868 and 1874, the result being that her brand has become widely popular, and that it invariably realises exceptionally high prices.

On leaving Messrs. Pommery's we retrace our steps down the Avenue Gerbert, bordered on either side with rows of plane-trees, until we reach the treeless Avenue de Sillery, where Messrs. de St. Marceaux & Co.'s new and capacious establishment is installed. Simple and without pretension, the establishment, which covers an area of upwards of 18,000 feet, is distinguished for its perfect appropriateness to the industry for which it was designed. The principal block of building is flanked by two advanced wings enclosing a garden-court, set off with flowers and shrubs, and from the centre of which rises a circular shaft, covered in with glass, and admitting light and air to the cellars below. In the building to the left the wine is received on its arrival from the vineyard, and here are ranged large quantities of casks replete with the choice crus of Verzenay, Ay, Cramant, and Bouzy, while thousands of bottles ready for labelling are stacked in massive piles at the end of the packing-hall in the corresponding wing of the establishment. Here, too, a tribe of workpeople are arraying the bottles with gold and silver headdresses, and robing them in pink paper, while others are filling, securing, marking, and addressing the cases or baskets destined to Hong-Kong, San Francisco, Yokohama, Bombay, London, New York, St. Petersburg, Berlin, or Paris.

[Illustration: THE PACKING-HALL OF MESSRS. DE ST. MARCEAUX AT REIMS.]

The wine in cask, stored in the left-hand wing, after having been duly blended in an enormous vat, is drawn off into bottles, which are then lowered down a shaft to the second tier of cellars by means of an endless chain, on to which the baskets of bottles are swiftly hooked. The workman engaged in this duty, in order to guard against his falling down the shaft, has a leather belt strapped round his waist, by means of which he is secured to an adjoining iron column. We descended into the lower cellars down a flight of ninety-three broad steps--a depth equal to the height of an ordinary six-storied house--and found no less than four-and-twenty galleries excavated in the chalk, devoid of masonry supports, and containing upwards of a million bottles of Champagne. These galleries vary in length, but are of uniform breadth, and allow either for a couple of racks with wine _sur pointe_, or stacks of bottles, in four row's on either side, with ample passage-room down the centre.

The upper range of cellars comprises two large arched galleries of considerable breadth, one of which contains wine in wood and wine _sur pointe_, while the other is stocked with bottles of wine heads downward, ready to be delivered into the hands of the _dégorgeur_.

MM. de St. Marceaux & Co. have the honour of supplying the King of the Belgians, the President of the French Republic, and several German potentates with an exceedingly delicate Champagne known as the Royal St. Marceaux. The same wine is popular in Russia and other parts of Europe, just as the Dry Royal of the firm is much esteemed in the United States. The brand of the house most appreciated in this country is its Carte d'Or, a very dry wine, the extra superior quality of the firm, which secured the first place at a recent Champagne competition in England.

Some little distance beyond the remnants of the ancient fortifications of Reims, skirting the Butte de St. Nicaise, is the establishment of Veuve Morelle & Co., successors to Veuve Max Sutaine & Co. This house was founded in 1823 by the late M. Maxime Sutaine, who, like several other notabilities in the Reims wine trade, was as familiar with art and science as with the special industry to which he had devoted himself. An amateur painter of no mean skill, he showed himself thoroughly at home in the biographical and critical notices on artists and art in his native province which he produced. His name, however, is chiefly identified in literature with his _Essai sur le Vin de Champagne_.[425] This work may be regarded as the first attempt to collect the scattered materials relating to the history of Champagne wine, and to deal with them in a critical spirit. Though necessarily imperfect, its value is undoubtedly great, and it has been frequently quoted from in the present volume. The family of Sutaine long held an honourable position at Reims, the name of one of M. Max Sutaine's immediate ancestors, who filled the position of lieutenant of the city in 1765, appearing on the bronze slab at the base of the statue of Louis XV. in the Place Royale, erected during that year.

[Illustration: THE CELLARS OF MAX SUTAINE AND CO. IN THE CHEMIN DE LA PROCESSION, REIMS.]

The cellars of the firm of Veuve Morelle & Co., successors to Max Sutaine & Co., are very extensive; and while more than usually picturesque in appearance, are in every respect admirably adapted for the rearing and development of the delicate wines of the Champagne. These cellars, hewn out of the chalk, are of great depth. The firm has been careful to adhere to the good traditions of its predecessors in the composition of its cuvées, and at the same time to avoid those errors which experience and the resources of modern science have made manifest. Its rule is only to send out wines of a good cru, and never before they are thoroughly matured, thereby avoiding the shipment of young wines. The chief kinds bearing the brand of Max Sutaine & Co. are Vin Brut (of great years), Extra Dry, Creaming Sillery, and Bouzy for England, Sillery Sec for Russia, and Verzenay and Cabinet for Germany and Belgium.

It should be mentioned that of late years the abandoned quarries, so numerous on this side of the city, have been largely utilised by the Reims Champagne manufacturers as cellars for the storage of their wines. Beyond the firms that have been already alluded to as possessing cellars in this direction, there remain to be enumerated Messrs. Kunkelmann & Co., Ruinart Père et Fils, the Goulets, Jules Champion, Théophile Roederer, &c. The cellars of several of the last named are immediately outside the Porte Dieu-Lumière, near which is a seventeenth-century house having let into its face a curious bas-relief, of evidently much earlier date, the subject of which has been a source of considerable perplexity to local antiquaries.

A like cloud enshrouds the origin of the name of Dieu-Lumière, bestowed upon the fortified gate formerly standing here, and originally erected during the fourteenth century, when, the circle of the ramparts having been carried round the Bourg de St. Remi so as to unite it to the old city, the Porte St. Nicaise was walled up.[426] Like the other portals of Reims, it has no lack of historical associations. Its vaulted roof resounded with the trampling of barbed war-steeds when, on the 16th July 1429, Charles the Victorious swept beneath it into the city, with Joan of Arc by his side and the steel-clad chivalry of France at his back.[427] The year 1583 saw its keys handed to the Duc de Guise, and the green flag of the League, with its device 'Auspice Christo,' hoisted above it; and twenty-three years later, as Henri Quatre rode through it amidst shouts of welcome, the jesting remark, 'I had no idea I was so well beloved at Reims,' was the only attempt at revenge made by the easy-going Béarnais on the population who had so long flouted his authority. Rebuilt in 1620, it witnessed the triumphant return of Grandpré's cavalry and the Rémois militia, after their victory over Montal and his Spaniards at La Pompelle in 1657, and the successful assault of the renegade Saint Priest, whose Cossacks entered the walls at this point in 1814, and gave way to the most brutal excesses. Nor must it be forgotten that Marie Louise passed through this gate _en route_ for Paris, on which occasion its summit was crowned with elaborate allegorical devices supported by cupids weaving garlands of flowers; or that for several centuries the relics of St. Timotheus and his companions were annually carried through it on Whit-Monday by the clergy of Reims, escorted by a procession of pilgrims, to the scene of the martyrdom of these early Christians at La Pompelle.

[Illustration: BAS-RELIEF NEAR THE PORTE DIEU-LUMIÈRE.]

[Illustration]