Veuve Clicquot introduced La Grande Dame Champagne in 1972, when the house celebrated its bicentenary with the 1962 vintage.Handout
“I like to use two glasses,” says Didier Mariotti as he pours the latest vintage of Veuve Clicquot’s La Grande Dame into a wine glass with a round bowl and another with more a tulip-shape. “This way you can see two different dimensions of the same wine.”
When Mariotti took charge of the cellars Veuve Clicquot in Champagne in 2019, he needed to understand what makes Veuve Clicquot’s wines different. He previously worked at Moët & Chandon, Nicolas Feuillatte and G.H. Mumm before being named the eleventh chef des caves for the Champagne house that dates to 1772.
“Veuve Clicquot has a very specific way to taste, describe and profile its wines,” he says.
In the past, the accomplished winemaker would make note of a wine’s freshness and acidity. The key to understanding the DNA for Veuve Clicquot’s flagship La Grande Dame and other vintage dated Champagnes produced from a single harvest is to centre the structure and texture of the wines used in the blend.
“Structure is tension and the energy. Texture is the body, roundness and generosity,” he explains.
Veuve Clicquot introduced La Grande Dame Champagne in 1972, when the house celebrated its bicentenary with the 1962 vintage. The 2015 vintage is the 24th release and is made up of 90 per cent of Pinot Noir and 10 per cent of Chardonnay.
La Grande Dame 2015 is about energy and elegance, according to Mariotti. But the different glasses amplify the different traits of the wine. The stem with the rounder bowl focuses your attention on the fruit and creamy texture, while the tulip shape is more streamlined and focused. (The conventional flute glass would make the wine seem even fresher and mouth-watering.)
Is one taste a truer expression of La Grande Dame than the other? That’s a matter of personal preference, Mariotti says.
“There is no wine glass that is better than the other. You have a choice of how you wish to drink the wine. You are free to decide,” he says, adding that the wine will continue to evolve as it ages. He expects this wine has a long aging potential, with the ability to mature for at least 15 years in the cellar.
Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame Brut Champagne 2015 was recently released at LCBO outlets in Ontario for $308 per bottle, with forthcoming releases in other provinces this fall. The Champagne house worked with Italian artist and designer, Paola Paronetto, to create the wine’s gift box and bottle design.