Pommery Champagne - La Maison

You'll know Pommery by it's royal blue label, but you may not know the huge mark the house has left on the region thanks to the legendary Madame Pommery. She created the first brut Champagne to meet with commercial success in 1874 which shifted the way we now drink Champagne today. Champagne was once pretty much only sweet, and whilst demi-sec and doux styles do still exist, brut and drier are the drinks of today, all thanks to one lady.

The Pommery Background

Madame Pommery took over what was mainly a wool trading company after the death of her husband in 1858. She shifted the focus to Champagne and rather than succumbing to the male dominated business world, she took it upon herself to create wines of exceptional quality and innovation. She had the presence of mind, and ambition, to buy up a number of crayeres, the old chalk quarries excavated by the Gallo-Romans which are used to mature Champagne, and began converting them into wine cellars. In 1868 the project began, and it was the largest construction project of the century in Reims. Miners dug out 18km of tunnel, 30 metres below ground level, between the crayeres. A splendid monumental staircase with 116 steps is the sole connection between this underground world and the outside. It's a bit like walking into a wine city!

Ever a patron of the arts, she also had well known artist Gustave Navlet carve out immense bas-relief sculptures celebrating Champagne which still adorn the cellar walls to this day. The house has maintained its artistic tradition, with a number of modern art installations that make the cellars an impressive tour, blending art and wine.

Once she'd perfected her brut style, she needed to sell it. Her target was the English market, being the largest Empire at the time this was a good idea, and one of the ways she began to build credentials was by investing in another huge construction project for the Maison. On the entrance to Reims, Madame Pommery modelled her Champagne house on an Elizabethan neo-Gothic style, complete with turrets, crenellations, donjon towers and red brick tiles covered with a blue-grey façade. You can't miss it.

She also purchased some nearby vineyards which are some of the only ones in the city of Reims, Les Clos Pompadour. It is 25 hectares of blue-walled vineyard within the Estate that you can walk around the outside of and enjoy the vines.

The Pommery Brand Today

Since 2014, Pommery has become the Vranken-Pommery Monopole Group who also produce Heidsieck and Co Monopole and Vranken Champagnes under their respective labels, among others. Pommery also achieves high standards for sustainable winemaking as part of the regions initiative to go green. They are one of the biggest brands today and deservedly so.

Forward thinking as ever, they have also invested in English wines with the Louis Pommery English Brut and there is a Californian version out there too.

Styles of Champagne by Pommery

The Core Bruts and Demi-Sec

Pommery Brut Royal - the house style encompasses three things: liveliness, freshness and finesse. Made from 40 selected villages in the Côte des Blancs, Montagne de Reims and other areas in the Champagne region, it's a delicious blend that focuses on the brightness and delicacy of chardonnay.

Pommery Rose Brut - created by the assemblage method, whereby red and white wines are blended, this again has a greater proportion of chardonnay to enhance freshness once again. It is round, soft and with a nice toasty finish.

Pommery Grand Cru Vintage - The beauty of vintage Champagne is that it is different each year, but one thing it consistent here. It is grands crus only with exceptional ageing potential and a long maturation in their 18km worth of cellars.

Pommery Royal Blue Sky - a traditional Champagne blend designed to be drunk on ice. It's a demi-sec with richness and an invigorating freshness.

Pommery Apanage Range

Pommery Brut Apanage - Chardonnay led, Brut Apanage is a blend of vintages that spends an extra 6 months in Pommery's chalk cellars creating further subtlety, depth and finesse.

Pommery Apanage Brut Rose - rich and well-balanced, easy to savour and an unforgettable finale poised with wonderful freshness.

Pommery Apanage Blanc de Blancs - a meticulous selection of chardonnay grapes provide good vivacity and a rich complexity.

Pommery Apanage Blanc de Noirs - nuances of pear, red fruits, and spices reminiscent of Timur berries are entwined with floral notes, crushed strawberry and frangipani.

Pommery Cuvee Louise Range

Pommery 'Cuvée Louise' Vintage - a tribute to Madame Pommery, this is an exceptiona wine which quintessentially displays the wine-making expertise of the Pommery Champagne house. Cuvée Louise comes from vineyards of the Grands Crus Avize, Cramant and Ay.

Pommery Cuvee Louise Rose - a marriage of red wine from Bouzy with white from Avize, Cramant and Aÿ. Beautiful balance, great finesse, smooth bubbles and a supple, elegant finish.

POP & Les Clos Pompador

POP - The Pommery POP range is a bit of a lone ranger in the Champagne world. It's designed to be contemporary, unconventional, fun,and drunk with a straw in mini bottles. It comes in rose, extra dry and vintage.

Les Clos Pompadour - Made with grapes from the single largest clos in champagne. Whilst the wine doesn't qualify as a vintage Champagne under the region's regulation, the fruit is all from a single year. It is also only available in magnum sizes as these are best for maturing on lees for a total of 11 years. The resulting wine is full and rich with gunpowder and toast complexity. A truly phenomenal Champagne