Veuve Clicquot’s La Grande Dame cuvée embodies the house’s dedication to craftsmanship and innovation. A tribute to Madame Clicquot, this prestigious champagne showcases the mastery of Pinot Noir, the heart of the Maison. La Grande Dame 2018 reflects both tradition and modern expertise, capturing the essence of exceptional winemaking.
The expression of l’art du pinot noir
Veuve Clicquot unveils the 2018 vintage of La Grande Dame, a prestige cuvée that celebrates the determination and audacity of the one who was known as ‘la grande dame de la champagne’. Madame Clicquot once remarked about her Pinot Noir: ‘Our black grapes give the finest white wines’. For more than two centuries, Veuve Clicquot has cultivated ‘L’Art du Pinot Noir’ according to Madame Clicquot’s vision. This delicate grape variety has an extraordinary ability to express the complexity of the Champagne terroir and to capture the uniqueness of remarkable years. Only years with exceptional grape quality give birth to La Grande Dame. In 1972, on the occasion of its bicentennial, the Maison presented the first vintage of La Grande Dame, from the year 1962. La Grande Dame 2018, 25th vintage of the cuvée, is the expression of a centuries-old craftsmanship and an unprecedented year, offering a maturity of grapes close to perfection.
A legacy marked by excellence
La Grande Dame embodies Madame Clicquot’s passion for Pinot Noir. She described this grape variety as ‘the only one capable of producing wines of unmatched finesse and freshness’. Madame Clicquot was a pioneer in the production of this grape variety, as evidenced by the Maison’s archives. As early as the 1820s, letters and excerpts from accounts reveal that she was producing white wine from black grapes sourced from Bouzy.
She emphasized the importance of delicacy and precision when pressing black grapes to achieve quality wines. Convinced of the unique potential of Pinot Noir, Madame Clicquot made it the heart of Veuve Clicquot’s oenological identity, acquiring ten of the Maison’s twelve iconic parcels. This bold choice continues to shape the soul of the cuvées. These historic parcels are mainly located on the Montagne de Reims, the cradle of the best Pinot Noir in Champagne.
Pinot Noir, the ultimate expression of Champagne and its terroir
Expressing its full potential in a northern climate, this fragile yet powerful grape variety benefits from the region’s cold, limestone soils, where it draws out its finesse and structure. Versatile, it interprets the terroir with subtlety, reflecting its nuances and thus conferring great complexity. The cultivation of Pinot Noir must be demanding and precise. Its winemaking process is long and rigorous, Pinot Noir does not reveal itself immediately. The first tastings require oenologists to be able to project themselves into the future to imagine and anticipate the evolution of clear wines. Time is an ally for this cuvée, making it invaluable to the blends and style. This ability to reflect the terroir, its complexity, and its aging potential have allowed La Grande Dame to draw its essence. Starting with the 2008 vintage, the Maison took the bold step of integrating 90% Pinot Noir into the prestige cuvée blend. The Cellar Master’s work perpetuates this approach, in a quest for balance and tension between the different Pinot Noirs to achieve the unique oenological signature of La Grande Dame: elegance and precision. The 10% Chardonnay completes the blend, adding texture and complexity, providing a balanced, more saline, and finely crafted character. La Grande Dame is a fine wine. It stands out where you least expect it, and never ceases to surprise. La Grande Dame embodies the purest expression of ‘L’Art du Pinot Noir’.
“A deep and precise vintage, La Grande Dame 2018 expresses a new facet of L’Art du Pinot Noir'”. Didier Mariotti, Cellar Master
Deep & precise La Grande Dame 2018 has a unique and distinctive style
The year 2018 was marked by contrasting climatic conditions. After a particularly rainy winter, the summer was long, hot and sunny. These conditions resulted in an exceptional, generous, and high-quality harvest. This quality of harvest fully benefits the Pinot Noirs, enhancing their depth and precision, revealing a harmonious balance between freshness and aromatic complexity. The North Mountain brings verticality to the wine, providing structure, energy, and tension. The South Mountain infuses horizontality, giving texture, richness, and silkiness. This subtle marriage reveals all the elegance of this exceptional cuvée.
Under the expertise of the Cellar Master, La Grande Dame 2018 embodies a perfect mastery of aging in the service of the Art of Pinot Noir. It provides structure for La Grande Dame: the Maison does not seek a long aging but a controlled maturity, to enhance the Pinot Noir and capture all its intensity and purity. This expertise is passed down from generation to generation, standing the test of time, in the tradition of Madame Clicquot. The result is a wine with a solaire soul. Its color is bright and luminous. Its deep and precise style is characterized by subtle finesse and freshness, expressed through its salinity. Intense aromas emerge through a delicate scent of citrus – lemon, lime, yuzu – blended with white fruit, enhanced by spring and floral notes. La Grande Dame 2018 offers the sensation of an ideal balance, with perfect harmony and intensity for this vintage.
A new timeless identity
Veuve Clicquot unveils a new visual identity with the launch of La Grande Dame 2018. This new design celebrates the iconic yellow of the Maison, a symbol of optimism and joy. This evolution marks an important milestone for La Grande Dame, as this new identity is designed to last vintage after vintage. It anchors the cuvée with strong codes paying tribute to Madame Clicquot and her love for Pinot Noir.
A precious setting for the wine
This new design reflects the Maison’s desire to highlight its oenological signature, ‘L’Art du Pinot Noir’. The vintage, also highlighted, reminds us that Madame Clicquot was the creator of the first vintage champagne in 1810.
La Grande Dame by Michelin-starred chefs elevated
Faithful to its pursuit of excellence and driven by a bold vision, Veuve Clicquot unveiled in 2021, Garden Gastronomy, the gastronomic signature of La Grande Dame. Inspired by the creativity of the world’s top chefs, this initiative offers a food and champagne pairing experience perfectly harmonized with La Grande Dame. Garden Gastronomy invites you to rediscover flavors through a unique and refined culinary experience. This community of Michelin-starred chefs creates living masterpieces, showcasing a palette of colors and textures where vegetables take center stage. Their creativity shines through farm-to-table products, with freshly harvested fruits and vegetables given center stage, much like those cultivated in the estate’s garden at the Manoir de Verzy.
The Verzy vegetable garden
The Verzy vegetable garden, a true gem of the historic vineyard of Veuve Clicquot, located near the Manoir de Verzy, perfectly embodies the spirit of Garden Gastronomy. This 2500m2 garden hosts over 300 permaculture-grown varieties, carefully selected to create food and champagne pairings. Overlooking the vineyards, the vegetables, fruits, and herbs draw their roots from the same types of soils as the La Grande Dame grapes, creating a harmonious journey from glass to plate. ‘La Grande Dame and Garden Gastronomy are closely linked. Both come from the land and the work of humans; they remind us of the cycles of seasons, the handling of harvests, the uniqueness of a soil, and a vintage’. Didier Mariotti, Cellar Master
A philosophy shared with the world’s top chefs
Today, Garden Gastronomy is a community of chefs around the world who share the same philosophy: garden-inspired cuisine that respects seasonality, the land, and the people, elevated by their creative spirit. The Maison works to maintain the diversity of its plant heritage, thereby preserving the uniqueness of a distinct taste. Thus, Garden Gastronomy and La Grande Dame continue to captivate lovers of fine gastronomy and exceptional wines, offering an unparalleled culinary and sensory experience.
