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 month
The marketable yield for Champagne, meaning the quantity of grapes destined for sparkling wine production, is set by the joint body of Growers and Champagne Houses in line with sales forecasts, but capped at 15,500 kg/ha for AOC production.
Jean Gosset is the earliest recorded ancestor of this noble Aÿ family. The House itself was founded in 1584 by his grandson, Pierre, at a time when Champagne wine was not yet sparkling. This makes it the oldest of all the Champagne Houses. Fourteen generations after Pierre, the Gosset family business merged with the Renaud-Cointreau family group, which is now writing the next chapter in the story of this House.
The Champagne Houses
