A History of Champagne, with Notes on the Other Sparkling Wines of France. Henry Vizetelly
of their taste, to rank it as inferior to rum; whilst the Arab, filled with wonderment at the marvels of European civilisation which meet his eye at Algiers, bears back with him to the douar, wrapped up in the folds of his burnous, a couple of bottles of the wondrous effervescing drink of the Feringhees as a testimony, even as Othere brought the walrus-tooth to Alfred. One enthusiastic Algerian colonist has gone so far as to prophesy the advent of the day when the products of the native vineyards shall eclipse Champagne.[252] Let us hope, however, in the interest of Algerian digestions, that this day is as yet far distant.
With respect to the consumption of Champagne in the Western world, the United States’ exceeds that of any European country, England and France alone excepted, despite the competition of sparkling Catawba and of a certain diabolical imitation, the raw material of which, it is asserted, is furnished not by the grapes of the Carolinas, the peaches of New Jersey, or the apples of Vermont, but by the oil-wells of Pennsylvania—in fact, petroleum Champagne. The cabinet particulier seems to be an institution as firmly established in the leading cities of the States as in Paris; and rumour says that drinking from a Champagne-glass touched by a fair one’s lips has replaced the New England pastime of eating the same piece of maple-candy till mouths meet. As regards the South American Republics, the popping of musketry at each fresh pronunciamento is certain to be succeeded by that of Champagne-corks in honour of the success of one or the other of the contending parties.
‘SOUS LA TONNELLE’
(From a print of the time of the Restoration).
In Europe Champagne has continued to be, from the days of Paulmier and Venner downwards, the drink of kings, princes, and great lords as they described it. Take a list of the potentates of the present century, and the majority of them will be found to have evinced at some time or other a partiality for the wine. Louis XVIII. drank nothing else at table. The late ruler of Prussia, Frederick William IV., had such a penchant for Champagne of a particular manufacture, that he obtained the cognomen of King Clicquot. The predecessor of Pio Nono, Gregory XVI., rivalled him in this appreciation, and, terrible to relate, so did the Commander of the Faithful, Abdul Medjid. The latter might, however, have pleaded the excuse put forward by Abd-el-Kader, that although the Prophet had forbidden wine, yet Champagne came into the category of aerated waters, concerning which he had said nothing, a remark justifying the title given to this wit-inspiring beverage of being ‘the father of bons mots.’ Prince Bismarck, in the stormy period of his youth, was in the barbarous habit of imbibing Champagne mixed with porter; but at present he judiciously alternates it with old Port. Marshal MacMahon and the King of the Belgians are said to drink the pink variety of the vin mousseux by preference.
‘AU BEAU SEXE!’
Naturally, in France as elsewhere, the sparkling vintage of the Marne maintains its claims to be reckoned the wine of beauty and fashion, and more especially in beauty’s gayer hours. A glass of Champagne and a biscuit de Reims has been a refection which, though often verbally declined, was in the end pretty sure to be accepted from the days of the merveilleuses and incroyables, through those of the lionnes, down to the present epoch of the cocodettes de la haute gomme. Neither at ceremonial banquets nor at ordinary dinner-parties among our neighbours does Champagne hold, however, so prominent a place as amongst ourselves, owing to the great variety of other wines—all capable of appreciation by trained palates—entering into the composition of these festive repasts. In fact, a repas de noces is the only occasion on which Champagne flows in France with anything like the freedom to which we are accustomed; and then it is that its exhilarating effect is marked, as some portly old boy rises with twinkling eye to propose the health of the bride, or of that beau sexe to which he feels bound to profess himself deeply devoted. At such open-air gatherings as the races at Longchamps and Chantilly, the buffet will be besieged by a succession of frail fair ones in the most elaborate toilettes de courses, seeking to nerve themselves to witness a coming struggle, or to console themselves for the defeat of the horse backed by their favoured admirer. And, when writing of this wine, it is altogether impossible to omit a reference to those tête-à-tête repasts en cabinet particulier, of which it is the indispensable adjunct. Its mollifying influence on the feminine heart on occasions such as these has been happily hit off by Charles Monselet in his Polichinelle au Restaurant:
‘POLICHINELLE AU RESTAURANT.
I.
In a cabinet of Vachette,
Pomponnette
Listens to the pressing lover;
Who, before they’ve done their soup,
Cock-a-hoop,
Dares his passion to discover.
II.
Elbows resting on the cloth,
Partly wrath—
So much do his words astound—
Resolute she to resist
Being kissed,
Draws her mantle closer round.
III.
Whilst in vain his cause he pressed,
A third guest,
Who in ice-pail by them slumbered,
Rears above his wat’ry bed
Silver head
And long neck with ice encumbered.
IV.
’Tis Champagne, who murmurs low,
“Don’t you know
That when once you set me flowing,
This fair rebel to Love’s dart
In her heart
Soon will find soft passion glowing?
V.
This, if you will list to me,
You shall see;
Cease to swear by flames and fire,
Cast aside each angry thought,
As you ought,
And at once cut through my wire,
VI.
For I am the King Champagne,
And I reign
Over e’en the sternest lasses,
When midst maddening song and shout
I gush out,
Flooding goblets, bumpers, glasses.
VII.
As thus spoke the generous wine,
Its benign
Influence her heart ’gan soften.
Who seeks such a cause to gain,
To Champagne
His success finds owing often.’[253]
VI.