Higher temperatures and light intensity trigger the sap to flow anew in the vine. The first buds emerge, covered with a downy coating called bourre, then swell and eventually flower. Bud-burst has arrived!
The year’s fruit-bearing canes are tied up by hand to regulate the growth of the vine.
The Champagne month by month
In World War I, the Champagne House cellars were repurposed as shelters for local civilians and military personnel. Makeshift schools, hospitals, chapels and sleeping quarters were set up – even the Reims City Council moved its headquarters there. So began a whole new underground way of life, safe from the bombs that rained down from above.
Mary Stuart, by name Mary, Queen of Scots, is certainly a woman who left her mark on the medieval period. She became Queen Consort of France following her husband’s accession to the throne as King Francis II (if only for a few months) and is known to have stayed in Reims with her aunt Renata of Lorraine, Abbess of Saint-Pierre-les-Dames in Reims. Hence, perhaps the name of this House, founded in 1867 and now part of the Groupe Thiénot.
The Champagne Houses
