The establishment of Roper Frères is adjacent to a handsome modern house standing back from the road in a large and pleasant garden, bounded by vineyards on two of its sides. In the celliers all the conveniences pertaining to a modern Champagne establishment are to be found, while extending beneath the garden are the extensive cellars of the firm, comprising two stories of long and spacious galleries excavated in the chalk, their walls and roofs being supported whenever necessary by masonry. A curious feature about these cellars is that the roots of the larger trees in the garden above have penetrated the roof of the upper story, and hang pendent overhead like innumerable stalactites. Here, after the comparatively new wine of 1874 had been shown to us--including samples of the vin brut or natural Champagne of which the firm make a specialty at a moderate price--some choice old Champagnes were brought forth, including the fine vintages of 1865, 1857, and 1846. The latter wine had of course preserved very little of its effervescence, still its flavour was exceedingly fine, being soft and delicate to a degree. At the Vienna Exhibition of 1873, and the London Exhibition of 1874, the collection of Champagnes exhibited by Roper Frères met with favourable recognition from the international juries.
Our tour through the Champagne vineyards and wine-cellars here comes to an end. It is true there are important establishments at Châlons, notably those of the Perriers, Freminet et Fils, Dagonet et Fils, and Jacquard Frères. As, however, any description of these would be little else than a recapitulation of something we have already said, we content ourselves with merely notifying their existence, and close the present chapter with a poem on Champagne, from the pen of M. Amaury de Cazanove of Avize:
Pour ta beauté, pour ta gloire, ô Patrie, Nous t'adorons ... surtout pour tes malheurs! Oublions-les.... Avec idolâtrie, Chantons ton ciel, tes femmes et tes fleurs. France, nous chanterons tes femmes et tes roses; France, nous chanterons tes vins, autre trésor; Qu'on voie, ouvrant tes lèvres longtemps closes, Un fier sourire étinceler encor!
Nectar qu'aux dieux jadis versait Hébé la blonde! O noir Falerne! ô Massique vermeil! Pauvres vins du vieux temps oubliés à la ronde ... Car le Champagne a fait le tour du monde En conquérant, à nos drapeaux pareil; Il rit, léger, sous la mousse qui tremble, Et semble Dans le cristal un rayon de soleil.