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 monthIn July 2015, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee voted to include the “Champagne Slopes, Houses and Cellars” on its World Heritage List. In so doing, UNESCO recognized the Outstanding Universal Value of Champagne’s cultural landscapes (both above and below ground).
In 1785 a young German from Westphalia called Florens-Louis Heidsieck established a trading company in Reims specialising in wool and wine. Very soon however, his newly founded company “Heidsieck & C°” began to focus entirely on the production of Champagne. The House now belongs to the Groupe Vranken-Pommery Monopole.
The Champagne Houses