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 monthWith a little over 34,000 hectares of vines, the Champagne AOC represents just 4% of France’s total vineyard area, or 0.5% of world vineyard acreage. It is nevertheless the top producer in terms of turnover.
The House of Cuperly started life in 1845 as a leading wine and spirit merchant based in Mourmelon-le-Petit. The Verzy vineyard, home of the House we know today, was a later acquisition, bought and developed by Robert Cuperly who took over from his father in the early 1900s and began making his own wines. Hence the founding of his own Champagne House, exclusively dedicated to that purpose.
The Champagne Houses