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 monthChampagne bottles come in many different sizes, ranging from the classic Champagne bottle (75cl) and the magnum (1.5l) to very large bottles with biblical-sounding names. These include the Jeroboam (3l), the Nebuchadnezzar (15l) and the 30-litre Melchizedec or Midas – the mightiest of them all, standing 1.10m tall and holding the equivalent of 40 standard bottles.
Champagne House Lallier was founded in 1906 following René Lallier’s marriage into a foremost family of the Champagne nobility. It is located at the heart of the famous village of Aÿ, one of Champagne’s 17 Grand Cru villages, and now seeks to expand its global reach as part of the Italian spirits group Campari.
The Champagne Houses