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
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.
The Mumm family are descendants of the German nobility and have been growing vines since the 18th century. In 1852, Georges Hermann Mumm, son of one of the founders, took the reins of the company and named it after himself, G H Mumm. In 1876 he also came up with the idea of decorating the bottles with the distinctive red ribbon of the Legion of Honour, France’s highest civilian award. The House now belongs to the Pernod-Ricard Group.
The Champagne Houses
