Should the vintage be a scanty one, the plethoric _commissionnaires-en-vins_ will wipe their perspiring foreheads with satisfaction when they have at last secured the full number of hogsheads they had been instructed to buy--at a high figure maybe; still this is no disadvantage to them, as their commission mounts up the higher. And even the thickest-skulled among the small vine-proprietors, who make all their calculations on their fingers, see at a glance that, although the crop may be no more than half an average one, they are gainers, thanks to the ill-disguised anxiety of the agents to secure all the wine they require, which has the effect of sending prices up to nearly double those of ordinary years, and this with only half the work in the vineyard and at the winepress to be done.
The vintage in the Champagne comes to a close without any of those festivals which still linger in the department of the Gironde. On the 22d of January, the fête of St. Vincent, the patron saint of vine-growers, it is customary, however, for one of the proprietors in each village to pay for a mass and give a breakfast to his relatives and friends, at which he presents a bouquet to one of the guests, who, in his turn, is expected to pay for the mass and give the breakfast the year following. On the same day the proprietors entertain their workpeople, who, after having eaten and drunk their fill, wind up the day with song and dance, leading to no end of innocent philandering between the sturdy sons of toil and the sunburnt daughters of labour. On these occasions the famous vintage song is sometimes heard:
'Vendangeons et vive la France, Le monde un jour avec nous trinquera.'
[Illustration: THE DISGORGING, LIQUEURING, CORKING, STRINGING, AND WIRING OF CHAMPAGNE.]
The treatment of Champagne after it comes from the wine-press--The racking and blending of the wine--The proportions of red and white vintages composing the 'cuvée'--Deficiency and excess of effervescence--Strength and form of Champagne bottles--The 'tirage' or bottling of the wine--The process of gas-making commences--Details of the origin and development of the effervescent properties of Champagne--The inevitable breakage of bottles which ensues--This remedied by transferring the wine to a lower temperature--The wine stacked in piles--Formation of sediment--Bottles placed 'sur pointe' and daily shaken to detach the deposit--Effect of this occupation on those incessantly engaged in it--The present system originated by a workman of Madame Clicquot's--'Claws' and 'masks'--Champagne cellars--Their construction and aspect--Raw recruits for the 'Regiment de Champagne'--Transforming the 'vin brut' into Champagne--Disgorging and liqueuring the wine--The composition of the liqueur--Variation in the quantity added to suit diverse national tastes--The corking, stringing, wiring, and amalgamating--The wine's agitated existence comes to an end--The bottles have their toilettes made--Champagne sets out on its beneficial pilgrimage round the world.