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 monthThe Avenue de Champagne in Epernay, formerly known as the Avenue de la Folie (“crazy avenue”), extends for nearly a kilometrer, lined on both sides by magnificent private dwellings lovingly constructed by the Champagne Houses, some as Head Offices, others as the private homes of proprietors. But the real glory of this avenue lies in the treasure trove of Champagne bottles beneath the surface – some 200 million bottles in all, slumbering quietly in the avenue’s 110 kilometre network of cellars.
In 1932 Parisian politician Pierre Taittinger acquired Chateau de la Marquetterie, the stately home where he had been billeted as a young officer in World War I. Two years later he also purchased one of Champagne’s oldest Champagne Houses, Forest Fourneaux. The foundations were now laid for an adventure in wine that is pursued today by the fourth-generation scion.
The Champagne Houses