A meeting of pioneers
She dreamed of creating champagne that would conquer the world. She was an audacious businesswoman, perhaps the first of all time. She was uncompromising; her house bears the motto: “Only one quality, the finest.“ Her vintages are the delight of champagne lovers and epicureans the world over. Her vintages deserved the most emblematic object of desire to celebrate an exceptional collection of vintage champagnes. For the first time, twelve rare vintage magnums have been brought together, retracing over half a century of champagne history in an extraordinary contemporary wine cellar signed by the Porsche Design Studio. Veuve Clicquot Vertical Limit by Porsche Design Studio is the fruit of the aesthetic alliance of two ingenious imaginations. It is a rare object of art born of the brilliant French wine making tradition and the innovative audacity of one of the world’s leading designers. Veuve Clicquot Vertical Limit by Porsche Design Studio is the timeless union of two icons of luxury and design and from this fusion of steel and bubbles is born the ultimate wine cellar.
PORSCHE DESIGN studio
The Porsche Design Studio, a subsidiary of Porsche Design Group, was founded in 1972 by Professor Ferdinand Alexander Porsche. Since its inception, the company has created products that have won numerous awards at internationally renowned competitions for outstanding design quality. Today, the Porsche Design Studio is considered one of the most traditional and established studios in Europe. In addition to its work on behalf of the Porsche Design Group, the studio has been involved in the development of industrial and product design for other leading companies. VEUVE CLICQUOT VERTICAL LIMIT by PORSCHE DESIGN STUDIO A rare work of art, Veuve Clicquot Vertical Limit blends the sleek lines of steel with the brilliance of champagne in a monolith that is both unexpected and fabulous. The “extreme verticality” of this object is offset by the many qualities of the wine it contains. Like a modern cabinet of curiosities, this is a showcase, a (treasure) chest of radical sobriety that is entirely handmade and sheathed in brushed steel. A contemporary block measuring 2.10 meters high by 60 centimeters wide, it is the embodiment of technical prowess. Each shelf is individually lighted. The doors and angles are hand-soldered. Each of the fifteen armoires is unique, born of three weeks’ work at the Porsche Design Studio ateliers. Its temperature remains constant at 12°, the exact temperature of Veuve Clicquot’s cellars in Reims and the most appropriate temperature for tasting; it is sound- and vibration- proof: Vertical Limit is a futuristic creation, and the most remarkable wine cellar ever made. The past is kept for the future in an avant-garde design.
VEUVE CLICQUOT VINTAGES
1955 1959
T h e co n c e p t o f V i n tag e c h a m pag n e c a n b e so u rc e d d i r e c t ly b ac k to V eu v e C l i cq u ot ’ s unique archives .
1961
1810 : Madame Clicquot selects for her wines grapes of such remarkable quality that they stand out on their own. The young widow at the head of the House of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin decides to keep this harvest separate and to sell it according to its “birth” date, thus creating a new cuvée, the “millésime”, the memory of a unique year, designed to be kept. The House’s first vintage is born.
1962
Since that time, Veuve Clicquot’s vintages have traveled the world and are now a symbol for champagnes of great structure, enjoyed by keen followers of the brand. Today, the term vintage has acquired a symbolism beyond the world of wine: it is now used to describe an object from the past of irreproachable quality, which transcends time. Adopted by the worlds of fashion, jewelry, automobiles and architecture alike, the vintage concept is anchored in the history of champagne; tradition has transformed into a phenomenon among luxury connoisseurs. But for Veuve Clicquot, vintage is above all a tradition. Each vintage is crafted from a base of wines selected from almost twenty Grands and Premiers Crus from the Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne and Côte des Blancs regions, as well as from the very best of the House’s more than 515 hectares of vineyards. From the outset, Veuve Clicquot vintages have been defined by the power and structure of Pinot Noir married with the finesse and freshness of Chardonnay grapes. While a vintage is produced exclusively from the grapes of a single, exceptional harvest, it is also the result of a highly-skilled blend of grapes selected by the Veuve Clicquot Chef de Caves.
1969 1975 1979 1982 1985 1988 1989 1990
4 designers for 12 Vintages
A History of Veuve Clicquot Chefs de caves Four generations of Chefs de Caves account for the singular excellence for which the house is renowned. The 12 vintages contained in Vertical Limit follow a precise framework, with elegance and complexity forming the foundation of a wine that is culled to be kept. The winemaker’s task is to project himself into the future and imagine what a blend will be like in 10, 15 or 20 years. It takes 15 years to imbue oneself with a style – many years, but few harvests to train one’s nose. The doyen of the foursome is Roger Zèches, deceased at 104 years old. He has witnessed two world wars but has known only one House, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. He entered the cellar as one would a monastery at the age of 24, as an apprentice to his father (who was himself “Chef de Caves”), and remained there until he retired, having vinified the 1955, 1959, 1961 and 1962 harvests. Jean Boureux succeeded him. In 1937, the young intern joined the ‘circle’ that made barrels before becoming “Chef de Cercle”, the manager responsible for supervising the barrels and preparing their assembly. He modernized the cellar and increased production quantities without altering the house style, producing the 1969 and 1975 blends before ceding his place to Charles Delhaye in 1980. This wine specialist sourced new supplies while remaining respectful of the qualitative scale of the harvests. He created strong ties with local wine growers, chose the best fruit to safeguard the perennity of the house style, and created the 1979 and 1982 blends. Jacques Péters followed him. The son of a wine grower, he earned a degree in Oenology from the University of Sciences in Reims and displayed a flair for combining experience with memory and intuition. In addition to his acute sense of blending and his unique knowledge of vineyards, he came to the house with 11 years of experience in Champagne and maintained the Veuve Clicquot style thanks to his special relationships with local growers. In addition to the 1985 blend, Peters had the good fortune to sign a unique champagne trilogy, in 1988, 1989 and 1990.