[Illustration: VINEYARDS OF AVIZE AND CRAMANT, FROM THE GARDEN OF M. C. DE CAZANOVE.]
From M. de Cazanove's terraced garden in the rear of his establishment a fine view is obtained of one of the most famous viticultural districts of the Champagne, yielding wines of remarkable delicacy and exquisite bouquet. On the left hand rises up the mountain of Avize, its summit fringed with dense woods, where in winter the wild-boar has his lair. In front stretch the long vine-clad slopes of Cramant, with orchards at their base, and the housetops of the village and the spire of the quaint old church just peeping over the brow of the hill. To the right towers the bold forest-crowned height of Saran, with M. Moët's château perched half-way up its north-eastern slope; and fading away in the hazy distance are the monotonous plains of the Champagne.
We have already explained that the wines of Avize and Cramant rank as _premiers crus_ of the white grape district, and that every Champagne manufacturer of repute mingles one or the other in his cuvée. The white grapes are usually gathered a fortnight or three weeks later than the black varieties, but in other respects the vintaging of them is the same. The grapes undergo the customary minute examination by the _éplucheuses_, and all unripe, damaged, and rotten berries being thrown aside, the fruit is conveyed with due care to the press-houses in the large baskets known as _paniers mannequins_. The pressing takes place under exactly the same conditions as the pressing of the black grapes; the must, too, is drawn off into hogsheads to ferment, and by the end of the year, when the active fermentation has terminated, the wine is usually clear and limpid.
At Rilly-la-Montagne, on the line of railway between Reims and Epernay, Roper Frères & Cie., late of Epernay, have their establishment. Starting from the latter place, we pass Ay and Avenay, and then the little village of Germaine in the midst of the forest, and nigh the summit of the mountain of Reims, with its 'Rendezvous des Chasseurs' in immediate proximity to the station. Finally we arrive at Rilly, which, spite of its isolated situation, has about it that aspect of prosperity common to the more favourable wine districts of France. This is scarcely surprising, when the quality of its wines is taken into consideration. The still red wine of Rilly has long enjoyed a high local reputation, and to-day the Rilly growths are much sought after for conversion into Champagne. White wine of 1874, from black grapes, fetched, we are informed, as much as 600 to 700 francs the pièce; while the finer qualities from white grapes realised from 300 to 400 francs. Messrs. Roper Frères & Cie. are the owners of some productive vineyards situated on the high-road to Chigny and Ludes.