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Many of
the most coveted vineyards of Champagne, whose wines were the only ones
considered worthy of offering to God or King, were virtually nationalised in
clerical hands. For centuries they were the wines used for the sacrament,
for coronations, for the royal table and for the consecration of treaties.
Champagne and Burgundy
Until the latter half of the seventeenth century, the still wines of
Champagne were rivalled only by those of Burgundy, the other proponent of
the Pinot Noir grape. The Champagne had begun to encroach on the export
markets of the Low Countries, an area in which Burgundy had been formerly
unchallenged. Perceiving opportunities to widen both their domestic and
export markets, they spared no expense improving the quality of their wines.
Throughout the 1600’s, a paper-and-ink war, in Latin prose and verse, ensued
between Champagne and Burgundy. The battles, whose champions were doctors
and poets, centred on the respective taste and natural wholesomeness of the
wines.
Rather than imitating the wines of Burgundy, the Champagne sought to create
a new style of wines. Voltaire remarked that these new wines, made with the
most painstaking care, were not only unusual but also delicious. This
novelty value helped them enjoy a great advantage not only in the wealthy,
fashionable circles of Paris but in the export market as well. Reference is
made from the middle of the century onwards to Champagne wines of various
colours; ‘oeil de perdrix’ (partridge eye); ‘couleur de miel’
(honey-coloured); ‘cerise’ (cherry pink); ‘fauve’ (tawny); or ‘gris’ (grey).
The Champagne had discovered how to vinify light-coloured wines from the
Pinot Noir grape.
‘Vin Gris’ and England
Although the red wines of Champagne had been known in England for some time,
the new ‘vin gris’ was only introduced there in the early 1660’s. A M. de
Saint-Evremond, courtier to Louis XIV but fallen from the king’s favour,
fled to London, quickly establishing himself as an English society arbiter
of fashion. Saint-Evremond loved the wines of Champagne above all others,
and procured modest shipments of the wines, which became instantly popular.
It is from this period that the first accounts of sparkling Champagne wines
are found.
Frère Jean Oudart and Dom Pierre Pérignon (1639 – 1742)
These early sparkling wines were the result of an accident. Most ‘vin gris’
in France was drunk young; but when shipped abroad in cask, the warm spring
weather frequently set off a secondary fermentation, still underway when the
wines arrived. Through trade with Spain and Portugal, the cork stopper was
already in common use in England for ales, an advantage the landlocked
provinces of France did not yet enjoy. These delicate new wines were bottled
immediately upon their arrival, and retained, in more or less haphazard
fashion a lively sparkle. The phenomenon aroused considerable academic and
commercial interest on the part of the Champenois.
The first successful, deliberate methods of capturing the ‘mousse’ in the
bottle were due to the combined efforts of the monastic orders of Pierry and
Epernay. Under the inspired direction of their respective cellar masters,
Frère Jean Oudart (1654 – 1742) and Dom Pierre Pérignon (1639 – 1715), the
abbeys of Saint-Pierre aux Monts de Châlons and Saint-Pierre d’Hautvillers
became the birthplace of naturally sparkling wine in its purest and most
perfect form. The two abbeys were barely two miles apart and it is likely
that these two contemporaries consulted each other.
The principles they established during the last quarter of the seventeenth
century remain amongst the most important in the production of Champagne:
the technique of blending from various vineyards to obtain a finished wine
superior to any of its parts, the process of clarifying sediment from the
wine, and the introduction of the cork in Champagne bottles to replace
hemp-wrapped wooden stoppers.
The Nineteenth Century
For nearly a century and a half after that virtually no technical progress
was made in production methods. The Champagne growers responded to the
considerable demand for the sparkling, usually sweet, wines, but none dared
depend exclusively on it for his livelihood. The presence or absence of
bubbles in wine was erratic. In 1834, André Julien wrote in his ‘Topographie
de Tous les Vignobles Connus’:
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As a result of the mounting global market and technological advances, an abundance of flower varieties are available throughout the year. Some of the most beautiful and diverse arrangements contain a mixture of fresh cut and other types of flowers or plants. Contained within this section are some of the more common varieties that are available through most local florists. One of the more classic flowers - the rose - is available in a variety of genres, including the tea rose, the sweetheart rose and the spray rose. The nearly 120 arrays of roses that retailers commonly carry contain all shades of the spectrum, such as those of the red, pink, purple, orange, coral, peach and white families. The style of growth, as well as
colour, may differ from type to type. For example, tea roses will open from three to four inches, with stems spanning 12 to 30 inches in length; whereas the stems of spray roses may contain several flowers each. The variety and type of rose will determine its life span, but most will typically live between four and seven days after cutting. Due to their delicate nature, stems should be placed in the vase very gingerly. In order to reduce the build-up of bacteria, any foliage that is apparent immediately above the water line should be removed. For maximum life expectancy, stems should be re-cut every two to three days. Lilies may also be referred to by variety, such as in the case of the Asiatic Lily or Oriental Lily. These flower types can be recognized by their trumpet-shaped petals and can reach six inches in diameter. The height of their stems can reach up to three feet and may sport four to eight blossoms. Their
colour varieties include white, yellow, pink, red and orange.
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