Authors:
Annabelle Evaristo, Dirk Chan
Our tour in Champagne continued from Bollinger to the equally famous Veuve Cliquot, the Champagne house with the instantly recognizable orange labels. Veuve is located in Reims (pronounced as Ranz instead of Reems) and was founded by the young widow (Veuve) of Francois Clicquot when she was only in her late twenties back in the late 1790’s – the flagship Champagne ‘La Grande Dame’ is of course named in her honor. . She was also the inventor of the famed riddling table which is used to make the wines clear. Our tour was extensive, but in discussions, much to our surprise, we learnt that the ‘La Grande Dame’ only takes a few days to blend (as the fruit all comes from the 8 Grand Cru vineyards) whereas the NV blends will take the numerous winemakers months to find the perfect blend.
It was like walking into Louis Vitton, such grandeur in the museum and cellars (there are road markings in the cellars which are 24 kms long and quite cool 10-11C and very high in himidity). We tasted a bunch of bubblies, some of which we don’t get in Alberta (the NV Rose, a rare bottling only for Italy). It is amazing to see the attention to detail for a house that produces 10 million bottles of bubblie from its 280 hectares of land. The other memorable visit was to see the amazing accessories: the new picnic packs now come in a weaved fabric still the same bright orange color, but with wide dark leather handles, really nice. Amazing ice buckets, we were in accessory heaven! Our special thanks to our friends at Charton Hobbs for making this visit possible.
NV Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin Yellow Label Brut – $17.99
NV Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Demi-Sec – $61.99
2002 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Vintage Reserve Brut – $74.99
2002 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Vintage Rosé – $83.99