{"id":2885,"date":"2025-01-29T19:58:53","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T19:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2885"},"modified":"2025-01-29T19:58:53","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T19:58:53","slug":"veuve-clicquot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2885","title":{"rendered":"Veuve Clicquot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 1805, Fran\u00e7ois Clicquot died.  He had inherited a Champagne house from his father, and his widow (veuve <\/em>in French), Barbe-Nicole n\u00e9e<\/em> Ponsardin was left to run the company.  And wow did she run it well.  Under her direction, the company sold the first vintage Champagne, the first ros\u00e9 Champagne and generally established sparkling wine from that region as the premier luxury drink.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The entrance to the caves.\u00a0 VCP stands for Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

If you visit the company now named for la Veuve Clicquot in Reims, you\u2019ll learn all about the Grande Madame (yes, their top wines are named for her).\u00a0 You\u2019ll get to see the cellars where the Champagne is aged and you\u2019ll get to try some rather interesting examples of the Champagne-maker\u2019s art.\u00a0 You won\u2019t see vineyards or even well-tended gardens.\u00a0 The entry to the winery is simple and architecturally uninteresting.\u00a0 The caves are everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no tasting room as such.  All visits include a guided tour of the caves with a sample of Champagne at the end.  The caves are large openings within the tunnels, some of which date back to Roman times.  Others were dug under Mme Clicquot\u2019s reign.  Many of them are decorated with sculptures and other artwork.  The guide explains the making of Champagne, including the process of riddling, which Mme Clicquot also invented.  (Riddling is the manual turning of the bottles to capture the dead yeasts from second fermentation in the neck of the bottle, to be expelled, leaving a clear beverage.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tour is interesting for a first-time visitor to a Champagne house (or even the better sparkling wine makers in the New World).  Once you\u2019ve seen it and heard about it, there\u2019s not a lot of new information to gather.  We will say that we appreciated the knowledge of the guide who showed us around and her ability to answer questions that weren\u2019t on the script.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Guides serving Champagnes in the caves.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Veuve Clicquot offers four tours.  One is of their basic Yellow Label and lasts an hour.  Another similar tour focuses on ros\u00e9 Champagne.  We took the one that offered more interesting wines to taste and lasted an hour and a half.  We must say that we were impressed by the depth and differences among the wines served.  There is also a two-hour tour that includes aged bottles.  The prices for the tours range from 36 to 160 euros.  These prices have increased a bit since we visited only a few months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So is it worth it to visit Veuve Clicquot.  Yes, it is.  For one thing, when you are there you are on the spot in which Champagne as we know it today \u2013 clear, sparkling, elegant, festive \u2013 was invented.  For another, if you take a tour other than the Yellow Label one, you\u2019ll get to experience otherwise unavailable wines in the caves<\/em>.  There is a lot to be said for authenticity.  You can buy a bottle of Veuve Clicquot at home and you will enjoy it.  You can also buy a postcard of the Mona Lisa.  Same wine, same picture, but not the same experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1805, Fran\u00e7ois Clicquot died.  He had inherited a Champagne house from his father, and his widow (veuve in French), Barbe-Nicole n\u00e9e Ponsardin was left to run the company.  And wow did she run it well.  Under her direction, the company sold the first vintage Champagne, the first ros\u00e9 Champagne and generally established sparkling wine … Continue reading Veuve Clicquot<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2885"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2885"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2888,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2885\/revisions\/2888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}