From the Clos…
Champagne Premier Cru?
The assurance of great quality..
You often ask us about the meaning of the various crus in Champagne, we are going to try to shed some light on this topic by going back in time…
Until the end of the 19th century, the vineyards were quite spread out and covered 60,000 hectares (150,000 acres). The phylloxera wiped everything out. To fight this plague, the winemakers and main Champagne Houses founded the “Association Viticole Champenoise” in 1898. Its aim was to fight against phylloxera and to help rebuild the vineyards. Only the best terroirs were replanted and in 1919, there were only 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres).
It is also during these troubled times that it was decided to set up a scale of crus, setting the price of the grapes for each village according to the geographic location of the vineyards (chalky sub-soil, relief, sun exposure) and the quality of the wines they produce.
At the time, this price scale also took into account the quality of the grapes delivered to the pressing centres.
Since 2003, the price of a kilo of grapes is free, but the scale is still present and used by the Champagne houses.
On the labels, the caption Grand Cru or Premier Cru is a guarantee of the origin and quality of the wine.
You will find this caption on all the labels of Champagne Veuve Fourny.
Grapes from Grand and Premier Cru are used to make up the blends of the great Champagne cuvées. This is also the case for the Champagnes Veuve Fourny. Only the grapes coming from the Vertus terroir, listed as Premier Cru, are used to make our wines. The wealth, specificity and diversity of the soils of this great terroir provide a precious range of expressions, indispensable for the composition of our wines.
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• Since 26 June 1936, Champagne has had the “Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée” and the total vine-growing area defined by law is 34,000 hectares (85,000 acres). • Today, out of 312 communes in AOC Champagne, 17 are listed as Champagne Grand Cru, covering nearly 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) and 44 are listed as Champagne Premier Cru, covering about 5,000 hectares (12,500 acres). |