The Emperor Edition

What is the most iconic and recognisable champagne brand in the world? For good reason, it is of course, Veuve Clicquot! Founded in 1772 and driven to the heady heights it enjoys today by a talented and tenacious young widow, the great lady of Champagne, Bard Nicole Ponsardin-Clicquot. 

The idea of enjoying champagne throughout the meal began with the courageous idea of a young widow who decided in 1874 that the sickly sweet champagnes of that era would be better served with a reduction of sugar, which would mean they paired better with food. That tenacious young widow, Ms Louise Pommery, was quite right and created a sensation with these new dry champagnes in Britain and eventually across all markets. This was the birth of a Brut Champagne.

Guilty. I’m guilty of making new year’s resolutions that do not last beyond the 31st of January. Another year’s gym membership has gone unused and my runners still look new. But what if I could tell you that you can have your cake and eat it too? You can with champagne.

The time old adage that bigger is always better doesn’t necessarily apply to everything including our waistlines, queues for ice cream or debt, but it does apply to champagne vessels. The coveted ‘Magnum’ is double the quantity of a standard bottle and doubly impressive in contents. Everything about a magnum is sexy. The presence of the bottle on the table, the weight of the shape in your hands and the 'oohs and ahs' of your dinner party guests as you ‘pull out the big gun’. Nothing says party like a magnum of Champagne! But its not simply double the volume...