Champagne holds its breath until the Saints de Glace (Ice Saints) are safely past (11, 12, 13 May), dreading a spring freeze that might destroy the future harvest’s fruitful buds.
Desuckering removes the non-fruitful buds (suckers or gourmands). Any unwanted growth is removed to optimise sugar concentration and encourage good sap flow.
The Champagne month by monthSuch has been the success of Champagne wines that by the early nineteenth century the Champagne name was being misused by producers of sparkling wines from other French regions. In 1844 the Champagne Houses responded by taking joint action in the courts to restrict use of the name to a particular production process specific to the Champagne Region. The Appellation is now officially recognized and protected in 122 countries around the world.
In 1798 Claude Jacquesson founded a Champagne House in Châlons-en-Champagne that proved a dazzling success. It was his grandson Adolphe who invented the metallic cap and wire muzzle, looking to reduce the number of bottles lost due to leakage: corks at the time were fastened with hemp that too often broke. Jean-Hervé and Laurent Chiquet, whose father acquired Jaquesson in 1974, presided over the destinies of the House until 2023 when it was acquired by Artemis Domaines, a group known for its unrivalled collection of fine wine estates.
The Champagne Houses