Champagne Pommery

CHAMPAGNE POMMERY FIRST BEGAN LIFE IN 1836, WHEN NARCISSE GRENO PURCHASED THE CHAMPAGNE HOUSE OF DUBOIS-GOSSET AND BEGAN PRODUCING STILL RED WINES. TWO DECADES LATER, GRENO INVITED ALEXANDRE POMMERY, WHO BROUGHT WITH HIM FAMILY-OWNED VINEYARDS, TO JOIN THE BUSINESS AND FROM THERE THE DUO ESTABLISHED THEMSELVES AS CHAMPAGNE POMMERY & GRENO.

UNFORTUNATELY, ALEXANDRE DIED not long after, leaving his widow Louise to take up the challenge of running the house alongside Greno and together the two began the production of sparkling white Champagnes.

A true trailblazer in laying the foundations for a product, Louise invented the image of the Pommery brand. Following her request for a dry wine, at a time when sweet wines were the taste, Victor Lambert, the Pommery Cellar Master, created the first vintage “brut” in the history of Champagne, the Pommery Nature 1874.

Until then, Champagne wines had been produced using high levels of sugar and alcohol, which was regarded as necessary to reduce the acidity. However, from her travels in England, Madame Pommery knew that the taste of English high society was turning towards lighter and less sweet wines, and so she set about making her own.

It was a revolution in Champagne and an unprecedented success; constantly changing and always unique after a slow maturation in the dimness of the chalk-pits, Pommery Nature 1874 became legendary and, driven by Madame Pommery, the Pommery style ruled.

Fitting with the new taste of consumers involved technological changes: delaying the harvest dates – with the risk of frost implied – to ensure grapes’ ripeness; lengthening the maturation in the cellar and increasing the range of wines stored in order to obtain the desired balance of blends.

It was a highly risky financial venture for this small producer, since stocks were difficult and expensive to build up, yet the lady of the house went ahead with her usual daring foresight and the cheerful lightness of Pommery Nature went on to establish the fame, style and success of the House of Pommery, a success story that continues today.

Pommery’s international success can be attributed to Adolphe Hubinet; a traveler salesman working in the wine trade. Hubinet threw himself into the assignment entrusted to him by Madame Pommery in 1861: to win over the British market by positioning the Pommery brand at the top.

After Louise’s death in 1890, her children Louis and Louise took over as Managing Directors of the House, reinforcing their positions with Henry Vasnier, the brother of Madame Pommery’s childhood friend, who remained director.

Louis pursued his mother’s social work until 1907. Almost at the same time as Henry Vasnier, Louis died, leaving a young widow and his young child, LouisAlexandre Pommery.

In the same year, Melchior de Polignac, Louise’s son, took over. Like his mother and grandmother before him, he sought to enlarge the estate while upholding the social aims his mother had set out.

Louise Pommery was well known for putting her fortune to “good use”. A businesswoman she certainly was, but also a kind-hearted woman: she set up the first “pension fund” and “social security” for her workforce. The town of Reims also owed her its orphanage and its nursery fund, which was how she invented the company’s ethical charter. She supported artists; especially those

from her town, and she bequeathed to the Reims Museum her collection of 600 pieces of faience, as well as donating Millet’s “Gleaners” to the French state.

Shortly after Melchiors takeover of the family business, the cataclysm of the Great War came, with 90 per cent of Reims being destroyed.

Three years of hell and devastation followed; what was left of the population found refuge in the Pommery chalk-pits and galleries, and the grapes continued to be harvested amid the rubble.

A touching, very simple little label began to appear on Pommery wines: “Pommery 1917, wine harvested 1,200 metres away from enemy lines”, and in 1918, all that remained of the estate was a field of ruins; everything had to be rebuilt.

And it was, exactly as it had been, under the aegis of Melchior de Polignac who established the House’s international influence until 1979, when the family ceased to run the company in order to focus on the wines.

LEFT: Monumental staircase into the Pommery Cellars

RIGHT: A unique collection of Champagne vintages of the 19th, 20th and 21st century

ABOVE: The Pommery Estate in the heart of Reims

RIGHT: Disgorgement of a bottle of Champagne in the 19th century

From that time on, Prince Alain de Polignac, Cellar Master and creator of the prestigious Cuvée Louise, watched over it with passion. The keeper of the history, protector of the archives and a marvelous teller of tales, he travelled the world over to introduce people to Pommery.

Since 2002, Paul-François Vranken has pursued the destiny of Pommery as Louise used to do: with an avant-garde vision, a generous nature and tenacious willingness that embodied Pommery’s way of being, doing and living – inventive sensitivity mixed with impish refinement.

In a style of unique tastes, Pommery Champagnes continue their story with cheerful lightness, brilliant freshness, and tender liveliness.

BLUE POP

Appearance: Gold

Aroma: A highly subtle nose in which floral notes combine with touches of citrus fruits, blended within a creamy and silky cocoon

Flavour: The subtle nose leaves a creamy, smooth sensation on the palate and the citrus notes produce a fresh wine, creating an overall tender texture that reveals the wines generosity

Tasting notes

POMMERY BRUT ROYAL NV

Appearance: Pale yellow with faint green highlights

Aroma: Lively and cheerful, fresh, light-hearted, fine, delicate and generous

Flavour: Elegant and lively. Small but assertive notes of red fruits. A rounded, rich, delicate wine that lingers in the mouth. A very smooth wine which never wanes on the palate POMMERY BRUT ROSE NV

Appearance: Delicate, pale pink with slightly salmon tones. Fine and persistent bubbles

Aroma: Small red berries suggesting roundness and softness, enhanced by a fine freshness in a world of distinction

Flavour: Very subtle rosé character: supple and finely robust with an appealing freshness and liveliness POMMERY GRAND CRU VINTAGE 2005

Appearance: Yellow with attractive hints of green

Aroma: Fat, silky and almost creamy. Highlighted with attractive floral notes of very slightly dried flowers, followed by light and delicate scents of spices and bay leaf

Flavour: Made from 7 Grand Crus, this vintage expresses a lot of softness on the palate. Perfect harmony. Everything strikes absolutely the right note, everything is perfectly in place, and delicacy reigns supreme POMMERY CUVEE LOUISE 2002

Appearance: Shades of yellow interspersed with brilliant green reflections

Aroma: Minerality is accompanied by citrusy notes of lemon and grapefruit, enhanced by a gentle touch of glorious white peach highlighted with delicate small red fruits such as redcurrants, which leave a fresh and delicate sensation of fruit

Flavour: Made from a blend of three Grand Crus; Ay, Avize & Cramant with minimum dosage. It’s the epitome of finesse, purity and elegance, delivering everything which was promised on the nose

Thierry Gasco

BORN IN 1952 IN REIMS, THIERRY GASCO FIRST STUDIED MEDICINE BEFORE ENROLLING AT BOURGOGNE UNIVERSITY, GRADUATING AS AN OENOLOGIST IN 1974.

HIS EXTENSIVE CAREER REALLY began when he took the role of Cellar Master’s Assistant at Goulet Turpin’s, becoming Cellar Master soon after, before progressing to Cellar Director of Promodès from 1979 to 1983.

Thierry’s next step saw him become Director of SA Roger Guy from 1983 to 1986, finally taking the role of Cellar Director of Champagne De Venoge until 1992 when he joined Champagne Pommery.

Today Thierry holds the position of Cellar Master and Establishment Director of Pommery.

The guarantor of the Maison Pommery style, Thierry is responsible for the blend of the different cuvées of the Maison and develops the famous and fabulous Brut vintage. He is, of course, the ultimate expert when it comes to the blend of the “Cuvées de Prestige” vintage Louise and Louise Rosé.

From his extensive experience, Thierry created several new cuvées for the House, including the Brut Apanage, POP and the four seasons collection, drawing inspiration from both fashion and trends of consumption.

As well as creating new cuvées, Thierry is in charge of the vineyard’s relationships, securing the overall supplies of grapes needed to carry out the wine making. He likewise oversees the Maison’s technical and oenological communication, on both a national and international level. As the Establishment Director, he is also responsible for the Pommery Domain, located in a unique area registered by the “Bâtiments de France”, and also for the Villa Demoiselle in Reims.

Thierry endeavors to put his expertise and experience at the disposal of the vineyard management and wine making process, among all the companies of Vranken-Pommery Monopole Group.

Beyond his role at Pommery, Thierry is the representative of the Vranken-Pommery Group within several institutions: FEVS (Confederation of exporters of wines and spirits), FFVA (French confederation of aperitif wines) and SFVM (French sparkling wine association).

Thierry has acted as President of the Œnologists of Champagne for nine years, been Master of the Vinalies commission, and elected “Man of the Year” by the Revue du Champagne in 2001. He was also President of the Union of Oenologists of France between 2004 and 2010, and he is the official delegate of France in the International Union of Oenologists.

Thierry is a permanent member of the CIVC’s technical, safety and health committees and an INAO (National Institute of Appellations Contrôlées) taster for Champagne wines.

In 2004 he was nominated by ministerial decree as a member of the National Committee of INAO, as a Qualified Person, and was reconfirmed in his position in February 2007 on the Technical Committee. He also did a lot by both the Agricultural and Education Ministries in order to upgrade the DNO diploma into a Master’s Degree, recognised at European level.

In 2009 he was nominated as an expert within the International Organisation of Wine and Vine (OIV).

Finally, in 2010, Thierry was awarded the insignia of “Chevalier of the Order of Agricultural Merit”. ❧

Thierry Gasco, ninth generation Cellar Master of Pommery Champagne (since 1992)