Colin
By Brand
Jacquesson
The House of Jacquesson
It was in 1798,
following in the footsteps of his father Claude, that Memmie Jacquesson
founded the House which today, more than two hundred years later, still
bears his name.
The business flourished immediately due to the high quality of the
wines that Memmie produced; indeed the champagnes of the House became
favourites of Napoleon. They accompanied him on several of his
campaigns and were served at his wedding to the Archduchess
Marie-Louise of Austria. However, Jacquesson's crowning glory came on
the occasion of the Emperor's visit to Jacquesson in 1810 when he
bestowed on the House a gold medal, the highest imperial accolade for
an outstanding commercial enterprise, in recognition of "the beauty and
richness of its cellars".
When Memmie
died in 1835, his son Adolphe succeeded him. Being a person of great
creativity, he was able to ensure the dynamic growth of the House and
equally he was behind numerous inventions and discoveries destined to
transform and improve the still imperfect art of champagne making, most
notably:
The planting of vines in rows carried out with Dr Guyot.
The process for measuring sugar density developed with the chemist
Jean-Baptiste François. Known as the réduction François, this process
reduced the rate of bottle breakage from 25% to 4%.
The muselet, patented by Adolphe Jacquesson in 1844, which to this day
is used to hold in place the corks of all champagne and sparkling wine
bottles.
Today the House of
Jacquesson proudly follows in the footsteps of its illustrious
founders, concentrating its efforts on a limited annual production of
350,000 bottles.This allows the House to use handcrafted methods
dedicated to the highest quality. Our philosophy is based on two key
points:
The outstanding House vineyards totalling 26 hectares in the Grand Cru
villages of Aÿ, Avize and Oiry and in the Premier Cru villages of
Hautvillers, Dizy and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ. These are complemented by some 15
hectares coming from growers in these same villages as well as in the
Grand Cru village of Chouilly and the Premier Cru village of Cumières.
A very close contact is maintained with these growers, not least due to
their small number, physical proximity and long standing association
with the House to ensure the highest level of viticulture.
A
stringent vinification process where the great majority of our wines
are vinified in oak and are then aged in bottle for the optimum length
of time in our cellars. This allows us to release our vintage cuvées
when they are ready to drink and not necessarily in chronological
order. Dosage is kept to a minimum to preserve the finesse and purity
of the wines ; indeed all our vintage wines can technically be
classified as extra-brut.
