Piper Heidsieck
Kunkelmann & Cie
51 Boulevard Henri Vasnier
Reims
Tel: +33 (0)3 26 85 01 94
www.piper-heidsieck.com
Founded in 1835 by Christian Heidsieck, who died a year later. Two years later his widow married her brother-in-law, Henri-Guillaume Piper. In the United States the brand became famous as ‘Mr Piper’s Heidsieck’ thanks to a great salesman, Jean-Claude Kunkelmann. In the1870s he became a partner as did the Russian agent, Christian Walbaum. Piper left the firm to Kunkelmann. It passed to his daughter and her husband, the Marquis Jean Suarez d’Aulan, an Olympic bobsleigh champion and war hero. In 1988 the family sold the firm to Rémy Martin who in 2011 sold it to the French group of Descours. Throughout its long history the firm’s wines have remained refreshingly sharp and lively. Piper Heidsieck has been the official sponsor of the Cannes Film Festival for over twenty years.
Pol Roger
1 Rue Henri Lelarge
Epernay
Tel: +33 (0)3 26 55 41 95
www.polroger.com
A model family-owned firm with 70 hectares of vines supplying a third of the grapes required for the 1.2 million bottles it produces annually. Founded in 1849 by M. Pol Roger the firm achieved greatness under his son Maurice Pol Roger, Mayor of Epernay in World War I. Still controlled by the Pol Roger and De Billy families but now successfully run by professional managers chosen by the founder’s great-grandsons, Christian de Billy and Christian Pol Roger. Under Maurice Pol Roger the firm’s style was largely dominated by Pinot Noir, and was much loved by Sir Winston Churchill. But in the recent past all the firm’s wines have become crisp, dry, fruity and Chardonnayish, epitomized by its Blanc de Blancs.
Pommery & Greno
5 Place General-Guiraud
Reims
Tel: +33 (0)3 26 05 05 01
www.champagnepommery.com
A sad, cautionary tale. Founded in 1836, when Narcisse Greno bought control of another small firm, it took its present name in 1856 when M. Pommery became a partner. On his death two years later his widow took control. Her business talents have been overshadowed by her showmanship (see Chapter 5). But she also bought up 300 hectares of fine vines – a holding second only to Moët, and her Dry champagne became a dominant force in Victorian Britain. She died in 1890, and until their deaths in 1907 her son Louis and her old associate Henri Vasnier kept the show on the road. But her daughter had married into the noble house of the Polignacs, who supervised its decline for a solid seventy years. Thanks to Xavier Gardinier, who bought the firm in 1979, in 1983, the firm underwent something of a renaissance and added the luxury brand Louise Pommery to the very agreeable wines made by Alain de Polignac, a talented member of the family. Louise Pommery is 60 per cent Chardonnay, and is a light and delicious wine. Unfortunately, when LVMH bought the firm and then immediately sold it to Paul-Francois Vranken they did not include the firm’s fabulous vineyards and it has since proved difficult to retain the brand’s historic qualities.
Louis Roederer
21 Boulevard Lundy
Reims
Tel: +33 (0)3 26 40 42 11
www.louis-roederer.com
One of the most respected family-owned firms of Germanic origins. In 1827 Louis Roederer came from Strasbourg to help his uncle Nicolas Schreider and inherited the firm six years later. The firm was famous in the nineteenth century for the ultra-sweet Cristal sold to the Tsar of Russia. Roederer is uniquely profitable, for its 185 hectares of vineyards provide four-fifths of the grapes required for the 2 million bottles it makes. Since the technical perfectionist Jean-Claude Rouzaud took over following the death of his grandmother, Madame Olry-Roederer, in 1975 the wines have got even finer as production has been restricted. Since it was granted a longer maturation period Brut Premier, accounting for three-quarters of the firm’s sales has enjoyed a warm, biscuity richness. Roederer continues to make Cristal in the same clear bottles, but has changed the formula and now competes with Dom Perignon as the finest premium wine, combining richness with fruitiness, though, unlike those of Dom Perignon, sales are restricted to under half a million bottles.
Ruinart Pere & Fils
4 rue Crayere
Reims
Tel: +33 (0)3 26 85 40 29
www.ruinart.com
The oldest firm in Champagne, founded in 1729 by Nicolas Ruinart, a linen merchant and nephew of a well-known winemaker, Dom Ruinart. The firm prospered under Napoleon and remained quietly prosperous under family ownership until 1950 when Baron Philippe de Rothschild took a stake. The association quadrupled sales by 1963 when the firm was sold to Moët & Chandon, which has cherished its reputation ever since. The prestige Cuvée, Dom Ruinart, is a superb blanc de blancs, with the depth provided by grapes from the eastern slopes of the Montagne de Reims. The Dom Ruinart Rosé is a model of balance and fruitiness.
Salon
5–7 rue de la Brèche d’Oger
51190 Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Avize
Tel: +33 (0)3 26 50 53 69
www.salondelamotte.com
Created in the 1920s by Eugène Aimé Salon. Though himself from a grower’s family, he made his fortune as a furrier in Paris. He returned home to produce a blanc de blancs purely from the wines of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, near his birthplace. The wine became a legend in the 1930s as the house wine for Maxim’s, then Paris’ most famous restaurant. In 1987, after passing through the hands of Besserat de Bellefon, it was bought by Bernard de Nonancourt of Laurent-Perrier. Today, and only in the best vintages, a mere 55,000 bottles are made of what the late Colin Fenton described as a wine combining an ‘alluring taste of walnuts with a richness of fruit... beautifully fresh and vibrant.’
Jacques Selosse
5 Rue Oger
51190 Avize
Tel: +33 (0)3 26 51 45 98
Jacques Selosse began by selling wines made only from grapes grown in his fifteen-hectare vineyard in Avize in the heart of the Côte des Blancs. In 1980 his son Anselme took over, and has carried on his father’s philosophy. The wines, which are fermented in wood and are too oaky for many palates, have earned him many prizes and sell for high prices in the United States.
Taittinger
9 Place Saint-Nicaise
Reims
Tel: +33 (0)3 26 85 45 35
www.taittinger.com
Founded in 1930 by Pierre Taittinger, a former army officer and politician (who later bought Fourneaux, a dormant house founded in 1743). After 1945 it grew into one of the biggest and most distinctive newcomers in Champagne thanks to two of the founder’s six sons, Francois, who died in 1960, and Claude. Their wine (and their advertising) were both marked by a distinct elegance. They pioneered a light, fresh, flowery Chardonnay-ish style in their NV Brut. But their finest wine is their prestige wine, the Comtes de Champagne, one of the best blanc de blancs on the market. Recently the family group, which included a number of hotels, split up and there was a danger that it would fall into the hands of foreigners, but thanks largely to a substantial investment by the Credit Agricole, it remains in French hands and is prospering under Claude’s son Pierre-Emanuel.
Tarlant
51480 Oeilly Epernay
Tel: +33 (0)3 26 58 30 60
www.tarlant.com
Paul Tarlant, whose family has been making wine since 1687 was a pioneer of direct selling of wines from his fourteen hectares in the Valley of the Marne. As well as the normal three varieties, he uses small quantities of three of the very minority permitted varieties. These are fermented in wood, do not go through le malo, are aged for an average of five years and the dosage is below 6 grams.
Union Champagne De Saint Gall
7 Rue Pasteur
51190 Avize
Tel: 03 26 03 42 11
www.de-saint-gall.com
Formed in 1966 from four cooperatives now representing 2,000 growers this is one of the biggest cooperative unions in Champagne. It is situated in Avize in the heart of the Côte des
Blancs – although it has some members on the Montage de Reims it is one of the best and biggest cooperatives in Champagne. Its Blancs de Blancs is outstanding. Its situation ensures that its wines sold under brand names like Orpale and Saint Gall are worthy of the Côte des Blancs. Another major brand, Pierre Vaudon, is a traditional blend – and very good it is too.
Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin
12 rue du Temple
Reims
Tel: +33 (0)3 26 40 25 42
www.veuve-clicquot.com
Founded in 1772 by Philippe Clicquot Muiron, a Reims merchant, the firm found fame under the stewardship of his daughter-in-law, the fabled Nicole-Barbe Clicquot-Ponsardin (see Chapter 4). In 1985 the firm merged with Henriot (q.v.). A year later it was taken over by Louis Vuitton, the makers of fine leather goods. Now owned by the LVMH group it remains proudly independent, making wines according to its historic rich and luscious style, famous in Britain, above all in the City of London as ‘the Widow’. The Yellow Label Brut, which accounts for the majority of sales, keeps up the tradition of richness without any suspicion of flabbiness – helped by the blend, half Pinot Noir and nearly a third Pinot Meunier.
Veuve Devaux
Union Auboise
Hameau de Villeneuve
10110 Bar-sur-Seine, Aube
Tel: +33 (0)3 25 38 30 65
www.champagne-devaux.fr
A member of the Alliance Champagne which produces Jacquart (q.v.) their Veuve Devaux is a classy brand and even includes wine from the Côte des Blancs – an unthinkable constituent until recently when the Aube was considered a producer of exclusively second-rate wines.
GLOSSARY
La grande casse: Literally ‘breakage’ of the bottle while the wine is undergoing its second fermentation. ‘La grande’ refers to the high level of up to a half in a few years. Leves were dramatically reduced after 1837 thanks to the work of André Francois.
BSA: Brut Sans Année, the non-vintage dry champagne which forms the majority of production.
Blanc de blancs: Champagne made exclusively from white grapes, i.e. Chardonnay.
Blanc de noirs: Wine made exclusively from blck grapes – Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.
Cendres noir: A layer of crumbly, peaty lignite under up to thirty feet of sand and ‘tertiary’ rubbish, the remains of the forests that once covered the vineyards. Historically used as a general, all-purpose fertiliser.
Clos: A single vineyard.
Coteaux: Literally ‘slopes’, often used to describe a vineyard.
Degorgement: The process of removing the remainder of the lees and yeasts from the wine, now carried out by freezing the neck of the bottle.
Grand crus: The seventeen finest vineyards in the region.
Liqueur de dosage aka Liqueur d’expedition: Mixture added after degorgement (see above) to produce the exact degree of sweetness required in the finished bottle.
Liqueur de tirage: Mixture of sugar and yeasts added to ensure second fermentation.
Mousse: The fizz, the sparkle created by the development of carbon dioxide in the bottle during the second fermentation.
Premiers crus: Description used until recently to describe the second-best vineyards in the region.
Pupitres: Sloping tables – ‘pupitre’ means desk – with holes for bottles, formerly used for ‘remuage’.
Recoltants manipulants: Growers who make their own wines and sell them directly to the public.
Remuage: Process of riddling the bottles to allow the lees and yeasts to slide down to the neck of the bottles so that they can be disgorged. Formerly carried out by specialist ‘remueurs’, now a mechanised process.
Sur lattes: Maturing bottles, historically on wooden shelves. Expression used for sale of wines between producers before they are mature.
Transvasement: Getting rid of the yeasts and lees by pouring wines from bottle to bottle.
Verre anglais: Bottles made in Britain in the seventeenth century, strong enough to cope with sparkling wine.
Vin de reserve: Older wines added.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barbier, Jean-Luc, La Crise de l’Economie viti-vinicole champenoise entre les deux guerres, Memoires de la Societe de l’Agriculture, Sciences et Arts de la Marne, 1991.
Bonal, Francois, Le Livre d’or de champagne, Editions de Grandpont, 1984.
Chappaz, Georges, Le Vignoble et le vin de Champagne, Paris, 1951.
De Maizière, Armand, Origine et developement du commerce du vin de Champagne, Reims, 1848.
Enjalbert, Henri, Histoire de la vigne et du vin, Paris, Bordas, 1973.
Fallowfield, Giles, ‘Champagne Report 2004’, The Drinks Business.
Forbes, Patrick, Champagne: The Wine, The Land and The People, London, Gollancz, 1967.
Francis, A.D., The Wine Trade, A. & C. Black, 1971.
Gandilhon, Rene, Naissance du Champagne, Hachette, 1968.
Henderson, A., The History of Ancient and Modern Wines, London, 1822.
Hyams, Edward, Dionysus – A Social History of the Wine Vine, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1987.
Lamarre, René, La Revolution Champenoise, Paris, 1890.
Liot, David, Catherine Delot and Alice Thomine-Berrada (eds), Les Arts de l’Effervescence, Somogy, Paris, 2012.
Moreau-Berillon, C., Au Pays du Champagne, le vignoble, le vin, Reims, 1922.
Nollevalle, J., L‘Agitation dans le Vignoble Champenois, La Champage Viticole Special Number, 1961.
Redding, Cyrus, French Wines and Vineyards, London, 1860.
Robinson, Jancis, Vines, Grapes and Wines, London, Mitchell Beazley, 1986.
Roche, Emile, Le Commerce des vins de Champagne sous L’Ancien Regime, Chalons-sur- Marne 1908.
Shaw, T. G., Wine, the Vine and the Cellar, London, 1803.
Simon, André, History of Champagne, London, 1962.
Simon, André, History of the Champagne Trade in England, Wyman Brothers, 1965.
Skelton, Stephen, UK Vineyards Guide 2010, Stephen Skelton MW, 2010.
Stevenson, Tom, Champagne, Sotheby Parke Bernet Publications, 1986.
INDEX
Note: firms’ names are listed without transposition to differentiate them from personal names, e.g. the firm Joseph Perrier is listed under Perrier as Joseph Perrier.
acidity 65, 197–8
African market 149
ageing 206, 216–17, 218–20, 223
agents multicartes 123
Aisne department 97, 138
alcohol 169, 197, 203–4, 214
Alliance Champagne 154
Alvouet, Francois 138, 192
Ambonnay 174, 177, 188, 228
American market 49, 141, 221, 223
1921 vintage launch 116
and frauds 88, 91, 92
‘parasite’ products 146, 158–9
brand favourites 79–80, 253, 256
Moët-Hennessy’s Domaine Chandon 127
and Prohibition 109–10, 117
tariffs 91
aperitif 126, 131, 192, 233, 236
appellation d’origine contrôlée 176–80
change to ‘technical criteria’ 179–80
grading of grapes 172
protection of status 88–9, 93–4, 97–8, 102, 110, 172
Arbanne grape 194
Ardennes department 164
Arnault, Bernard 150
Association Viticole Champenoise 96
Auban-Moët, Victor 106
Aube department 2, 88, 98, 111, 136
major buyers 137
vineyards 171, 180, 189
viticulture revival 136–8, 157
Aulan, Marquis Suarez d’ 119
Austen, Ralph 25
Australian market 149
Avize merchants 74–5
Aÿ 111, 173–4, 189
1911 riots and cause 97–105
Aubois and ‘Clementel compromise’ 101–2, 112
troop actions and fatalities 102–4, 105
Ayala 83, 103
Badour, Claude 185
Baijot, Philippe 125, 151, 152, 250
Bar-sur-Seine 137–8
Barancourt 156–7
Barbier, Jean-Luc 45, 111, 158
Beale, Reverend Richard 25
Belgian market 141
Bernard-Bordes, Xavier 221
Bertin du Rocheret, Valentin-Philippe 67
Besserat de Bellefon 239
Bidet, Nicolas 34, 37, 41, 47, 180
Billecart 75
Billecart-Salmon 240
Billy, Christian 226–7
Biseuil 173
Bissinger 103, 112
black grape 34, 39
Black Velvet 233
blanc de blancs 136, 192–3, 221, 227–7, 230, 232, 255
blanc de noirs 156–7, 227, 228
blending 211–14
Bollinger’s practices 212–13
Dom Pierre Perignon’s practice 40, 42–3
“vin de Hautvillers” 33
liqueur d’expedition 220–3
pre-fermentation 204–5
saigné process 123
technical revolution 61
Veuve Devaux’s practice 157
Bohn (salesman) 62–3, 65
Boizol 240
Bollinger 8, 90, 144, 220, 240–41
blending practices 212–13
fermentation practices 206, 210–11, 217
premises 159
vineyards 130
wines 214, 229
Recemment Degorgé 224
reserve wines 210–11
Vieilles Vignes 227–8
Bollinger, Jacques 74, 119, 240
Bollinger, Madame Jacques (‘Aunt Lily’) 119
Bolo Pasha 100–101
Bonal, Francois 52
Bonnedame, Raphael 64, 74, 76
Alexandre Bonnet 152, 157, 214, 241
Bordeaux region 119, 158–9, 184, 228
Bordelais 82
bottles 49, 176
glassworks 45–6
opening 235
shape and designs 49, 79, 216–17
sizes 217
strength 54–5
bottling
The Story of Champagne Page 29