T. T. Greg

“ The great wine merchants whose enthusiasm is Burgundy are the Princes of the trade. Their dynasty is hereditary, and at Namur the grandson of Evrad, who supplied our grandsires, is still ready to take our own orders. At Brussels the name of Van Cutsem carries us still a step farther back. There for generations lies the wine in the great cellars of these greater men, each vintage awaiting its joyful resurrection. The cellars are deeply excavated as cellars should be, in the clay, or hollowed out of limestone rock. ”

“ If we would judge aright of the first red wine of France we must go to Brussels, to Dinant, to Charleroi, to Namur. Not on the banks of the Loire but of the Meuse dwell the folk who know what Burgundy is, what Burgundy means. Indeed, the inhabitants of the Ardennes care little enough for the choicer arts. It is not for them to collect enamels. Neither pottery nor pictures seduce them to extravagance. But religiously do they select and treasure their Burgundy, hiving it in cellars, the building and furnishing whereof have been the work of generations. ”

“ For ourselves, we agree with a famous Canon of Reims who observed that “in the wine of Burgundy there is more strength and vigour; if it does not play with its man so much, it overthrows him more suddenly, as did Demosthenes. The wine of Champagne is subtler and more delicate; it amuses more and for a longer time, but in the end it does not produce less effect. ”