Veuve Clicquot – La Grande Dame Champagne

The La Grande Dame is a prominent champagne from the famous French champagne house; Veuve Clicquot. It is delicious, silky and powerful, but at the same time exceptionally fresh and elegant. The bubbly’s interesting history and its remarkable taste is what make it so special. La Grande Dame can be enjoyed on formal gatherings, romantic evenings or while flirting with a Maxim girl in the club. Regardless of where you choose to open a bottle of this bubbly, it is sure to make the occasion a special one!

History of La Grande Dame

The Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin brewing house was initially founded in 1772 by Philippe Clicquot-Muiron. Once Philippe died, his son François Clicquot inherited the family business. François married Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin in 1798, but their marriage wasn’t long as he died only 7 years later. His widow (veuve in French) wife took control of the company that was involved in wool trading, banking and champagne producing at the time. Madame Clicquot turned the company’s focus solely towards champagne production and thus she became the world’s first woman to run a champagne house.

Madame Clicquot revolutionized the champagne producing business by inventing the riddling (remuage) method of dégorgement. Using a riddling rack, she was able to systematically collect the spent yeast in the corks of the champagne bottles. This not only made the whole method more efficient, but a lot more economic too.

The La Grande Dame is a homage to Madame Clicquot and the things she accomplished in the champagne business. She was undoubtedly a crucial figure in the evolution of the champagne business as we know it and she elevated the Veuve Clicquot name to worldwide fame. The La Grande Dame champagne is often used in popular culture; it is mentioned in several films, TV shows, as well as novels.

The Signature Blend of La Grande Dame

The unique blend of this sparkling wine is comprised of 53% Pinot Noir and 47% Chardonnay. The grapes that are used in the La Grande Dame blend originate from the house’s eight classic vineyards and only the best fruit harvest is used in the making of this exclusive drink. Quality is of crucial importance for this brewing house, so the vintage champagne is only made if that year’s harvest is good enough. If the harvest isn’t good enough, no La Grande Dame champagnes are made that year.

Every bottle of La Grande Dame also has to be aged in one of Veuve Clicquot’s cellars for at least six years before it is released. This process brings out the depth of the champagne’s flavors, it matures the bubbly, refines its bubbles and ensures that every single bottle of this exquisite drink is as perfect as it can get.

The Characteristics of La Grande Dame

The La Grande Dame is a very smooth and light bodies champagne that’s easy to drink. On the nose, you will get notes of citrus, ripe fruit and a mineral base with remarkable intensity. The bouquet of the champagne is also reminiscent of nougat, jasmine, apricot and vanilla.

On the palate, you can taste layers of honey, cream, pear and ginger. The La Grande Dame has fruity tones, low acidity and an intense freshness that is unique to this blend.

The bottle of La Grande Dame is also one-of-a-kind; rather than the regular bottle most other champagne houses use, this sparkling wine has a rounder bottle design. This makes the La Grande Dame easily recognizable and distinguishable from other blends and champagne producers.

The La Grande Dame is light and shiny in color with golden highlights. The bubbles of this champagne are refined, small and quite thin. Like most other vintage champagnes, the La Grande Dame also has an alcohol rate of 12%. This champagne is best paired with dry aged cheese, truffles, oyster, king crab, scallops and caviar.

La Grande Dame in Maxim Wien

Since the La Grande Dame is an homage to the most influential and revolutionary woman in the history of champagne producing, it had to be added to Maxim’s Champagne Card. The champagne’s rich and unique aroma and taste make it a perfect drink to be enjoyed with one of Maxim’s sexiest girls. The ladies in the club adore this bubbly and popping open a bottle of La Grande Dame will surely make quite an impression on the lucky girl.

Our virtual champagne list has numerous other fables bubblies to offer. You can order champagnes from great sparkling wine producing houses, such as Louis Roederer, Moët & Chandon, Krug, Dom Pérignon, Schlumberger and Armand de Brignac. You can’t go wrong with choosing any of these brands, as all of them are highly appraised and world-renowned champagnes from legendary brewing houses.