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
It is a myth that putting a teaspoon in an open bottle of Champagne will keep it sparkling. What does work is a sparkling wine stopper – a specialized reusable stopper thatwill keep the Champagne bubbly for several hours.
The origins of this House date back to 1625 when François Hémart, a contemporary of Henry IV and his successor, settled in the village of Aÿ and began to produce a wine that would enter the annals of Champagne in the following century. In the early 20th century, Léon Giraud, a French cavalryman who fought at the Battle of the Marne, married into the Hémart family and rebuilt the vineyard following the devastation wreaked by Phylloxera and World War I. Claude Giraud is now the twelfth-generation family member to preside over the House’s fortunes.
The Champagne Houses
