Veuve Clicquot Champagne history
Phillipe Clicquot founded the winery in 1772, but the real story begins in 1805 when his widow at 27, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, took control. You have to admire a woman of such business sense who took on risky ventures and innovations that no one else could figure out, especially in the 1800s. It goes way beyond her high standards for the vineyards, production and sales. In 1816 she created the process of riddling (or rémuage) that removes the yeast from the bottle. You could say that this is one of the many things that lead her for being known as the “Grande Dame de la Champagne”.
Back then Champagne was cloudy from sediment that formed in the bottle during fermentation and no one could figure out how to make it clear, including Dom Perignon whom at that time had been producing champagne for 100 years. Knowing how important it was to improve the appearance, she experimented in her home. She would cut holes in her kitchen table to test the method of slowly tilting and turning the bottles to collect the settled yeast in the neck of the bottle. When it settled on the cork she would freeze the neck, remove it and re-cork it. This would get rid of the sediment and leave behind a beautiful clear color. Riddling is still used today to clarify champagne. Many riddlers are replaced by a machine, but there are still champagne and sparkling producers who do this by hand. The riddler must set the bottles by its neck in the opening of a riddling rack (picture below) and on a daily basis turn the bottle for several weeks, marking the bottle with each turn. Just like Madame Clicquot discovered, this twisting loosens the particles and prevents the sediment from collecting in the bottom. When this process is done the bottles go into the neck freezer where a plug of ice forms that contains the yeast sediment. In the finishing room (or disgorger) the last steps of the process occur. A machine pops the cap shooting the ice plug out. More wine will be put into the bottle to replace what was lost when the cap was removed. The two traditional grapes that go into making champagne and sparkling are the Chardonnay and Pinot Nior varietals; which are normally the first to be harvested while the sugar levels are low with higher acidity.
In 1810 the Champagne house took the name Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin; after Madame Clicquot, although this is commonly shortened to Veuve Clicquot. (Veuve means widow in French)
Today you only have to see that yellow label, the color of optimism and sunshine, to know you have come across something special. Veuve Clicquot consistently produces high quality champagne that has never let me down! In 1963 the company was taken public and is now owned by LVMN – Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy.
When you think $45+ is too much for the real stuff, think again. It’s well worth every penny. The cheap bottles of the bubbly you may want to know simply inject carbon dioxide.
To try my favorite Napa Sparking Wine please visit Schramsberg, America’s first house of Sparkling Wine, founded in 1862. http://www.schramsberg.com
Cheers to a sparking day!
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Thanks for the refresher on Veuve history. It was very interesting! Veuve is definitely our favorite medium/high priced Champagnes and worth every penny, just as you said. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you can find it for just under $40 at Costco or BJs.
December 17th, 2009 at 9:16 am
[...] Feuillatte Henriot Bonnaire Taittinger Moet & Chandon Louis Roederer Krug Charles Lafitte Veuve Clicquot (my personal favorite) And how about some Sparkling: Schramsberg J Gloria [...]
January 11th, 2010 at 2:49 am
Hi. I’m french. Your post can interest lot of people in France. So, if you re ok, i can copy it on a french blog.
January 1st, 2011 at 3:30 pm
Very nice. Being a former beer brewer I had heard of riddling, but never new that they froze the tip of the bottle to get the plug out. That makes a lot of sense.