My Favorite Champagne

 

According to my ex-husband, I have many things that I label as "my favorite". The list of my favorite foods is pretty much endless. My favorite restaurants are innumerable. My favorite shoes, my favorite outfits, my favorite books, my favorite movies ....

 But my favorite thing in the world -- FOR REAL -- is champagne.  I love the sound the cork makes as it is pushed out of the bottle by the pressure from the gases contained within.  I love the ethereal fog that rises out of the opening of that bottle once the cork is expelled.  I love the shape of the champagne glass, and I love watching that perfectly chilled, sparkling wine cascade down its slanted slope.  I love watching the countless bubbles rise to the surface.  I love its crispness, its coolness and its magic.  I love its romance and its honor; its reputation.  And champagne, after all, can't come from just anywhere.  To be called "champagne", it has to COME from Champagne:  a region in France about 100 miles east of Paris.

 

And my FAVORITE champagne?  Veuve Clicquot.  Mostly because it is an outstanding wine, but also because of the legacy this famed widow left behind.

 

The House of Clicquot was founded in 1772 by Phillipe Clicquot-Muiron.  The family had several vineyards and he decided to establish a family wine business.  From the beginning, he vowed to "cross all borders" with his champagne.

 

Phillipe's son Francois joined the business in 1798, and the first shipment of the family's champagne was sent outside of France to Venice.

 

In 1805, Francois passed away and his widow (veuve, in French), Nicole-Barbe Clicquot-Ponsardin, took over the business at the age of only 27.  The original family business was also involved in banking and wool-trading, but she decided to focus on the champagne production.  Taking over the House of Clicquot, she essentially became the first business woman of modern times.

 

In 1811, a comet shot across the Champagne sky.  That year, there was an exceptional harvest and Madame Clicquot used grapes from this "comet harvest" to make "les Vins de la Comete", which set the foundation for the House's reputation of excellence.

 

As the Napoleonic wars came to an end, in the year 1814 Madame Clicquot made a huge move.  She risked her entire fortune and ran the blockade with 10,000 bottles of her most precious vintage.  They were sent o St. Petersburg, where celebrating Russians were charged the equivalent of $100 per bottle.  Her Champagne was praised by the likes of Pushkin, Chekov and Gogol.

 

By the time Madame was in her late 30's, she had become one of the richest women in France, with annual sales over $30-million.

Today when you pour a glass of champagne, one thing you notice about the wine is not only the bubbles, but the clarity.   Before the days of Veuve Clicquot, champagne was actually cloudy.  This was due to the lees in the wine -- the dead yeast cells.  Before drinking a glass of bubbly prior to the year 1816, you had to decant it or let it rest in the glass so the sediments could fall to the bottom.  The photo above illustrates these sediments in the wine, in a bottle that has been allowed to rest on its side over time while aging.

Madame Clicquot, however, invented something called a riddling rack.  After aging, the bottles are placed on one of these racks and held at a 45-degree angle.  Twice a day, the bottles are gently shaken and turned, alternately to the right and to the left, and the angle is gradually increased.  The sediments in the wine get pushed towards the neck, which allows them to be disgorged -- the wine near the cork with the sediments in it is frozen and then the cork and frozen plug are removed, then more wine is added as needed to refill the bottle.  Madame Clicquot kept this process a secret for 10 years, which helped set her champagne above all the rest, and earned her her respected nickname:  LA GRANDE DAME DE CHAMPAGNE.  This process is still practiced today.

 

The Veuve Clicquot vineyards occupies over 515 hectares (1273 acres), 485 hectares of which are in production.  Out of those, 360 belong to Veuve Clicquot, and 125 are owned by the LVMH Group (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy).  This land is spread out over the very best champagne growth areas in France:  12 of 17 of the Grand Crus come from here, and 19 of 44 Premiers Crus.  The average classification is close to 97% based on the wine growing properties of the terroir & the quality of the grapes.  Of the grapes grown here, 47% are white chardonnay, 42% are pinot noir, and 11% are pinot meunier.

If you look at a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, There are a couple symbols you will see that are behind the House of Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin. The first is the anchor on the cork, and various locations on the label. It is the Christian symbol for hope & rigor and was chosen in 1798 by Phillipe (the founder) as the cork brand. In that era bottles were not labeled, and the cork held the only distinguishing mark.

You will also see a royal seal.  Veuve Clicquot holds a Royal Warrant of Queen Elizabeth II of England.  It is the circular logo that appears on the yellow band.  The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the Royal Family, which gives a great deal of prestige, obviously, to the supplier.

Last, but certainly not least, you will notice the woman on the wire cage that secures the cork:  Veuve Clicquot herself.

 

Madame Clicquot died in 1866.  In 1877, The House began using their trademark yellow labels.  The company was placed on the French stock exchange in 1963, and by 1972, The House created a prestigious award called The Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award in her honor.  In 1987, Veuve Clicquot became part of The LVMH Group.

 

Much of what we associate with champagne today, Madame Clicquot is responsible for.  From its clarity, to its standard of excellence, to its association with style, elegance and glamour, we have La Grande Dame de Champagne to thank for.  Veuve Clicquot is, by all means, a favorite among favorites.