Veuve Clicquot – La Grande Dame: the boldness of Pinot Noir, the legacy of a vision

There are Champagnes that mark an era, and others that preserve its spirit. La Grande Dame, the prestige cuvée of Maison Veuve Clicquot, is both: a tribute to founder Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, the woman who revolutionized the history of Champagne, and at the same time a statement of style, deeply contemporary and rooted in Pinot Noir.

It all began in 1805, when Madame Clicquot, widowed at the age of just 27, took over the reins of the house founded by her father-in-law Philippe in 1772.
At a time when women were not even allowed to run a business, she did so with energy, entrepreneurial acumen and a vision that defied conventions, wars and continental blockades, conquering the courts of Europe, in particular that of the Tsars. She invented the table de remuage (1816) to naturally clarify the wine, created the first vintage Champagne (1810), and codified the rosé d’assemblage (1818), blending red and white wines with surprising results. Her contemporaries nicknamed her “La Grande Dame de la Champagne.”

The prestige cuvée was born with the 1962 harvest, conceived by Chef de Cave Charles Delhayes, and officially launched in 1972 to celebrate the bicentenary of the Maison. Its name, a tribute to the founder, carries her imprint: elegance, strength and vision. Since then, each vintage has sought to unite finesse and energy, verticality and creaminess, with Pinot Noir as the absolute protagonist.

Today, La Grande Dame represents the highest expression of the Veuve Clicquot style. Didier Mariotti, Chef de Cave, selects Pinot Noir from five Grand Cru villages of the Montagne de Reims — Verzy and Verzenay for tension and elegance, Bouzy, Aÿ and Ambonnay for body and depth — alongside Chardonnay from three Grand Cru villages of the Côte des Blancs: Avize, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oger, bringing freshness and verticality. As he likes to emphasize: “The magic of the blend lies in highlighting each wine to achieve balance and harmony.”

More than two centuries later, Madame Clicquot’s legacy lives on in the wines and the culture of the Maison, in its aesthetics and international vocation. La Grande Dame is a meeting of genius and tenacity, tradition and boldness, perfectly in line with the founder’s thinking: “The world is in perpetual motion, and we must invent the things of tomorrow.”

There are tastings that go beyond describing a wine, tracing instead a timeline where each vintage reveals its character through the personality of a legendary cuvée. In its vintage form, La Grande Dame becomes a living archive of climate, terroir, and the interpretation of the Chef de Cave.

At Le Grand Tasting 2024 in Paris, organized by Bettane+Desseauve, a masterclass led by Didier Mariotti offered the rare opportunity to experience a vertical in magnum of four historic vintages: 1996, 1995, 1993, and 1990.

Preserved for decades in the Maison’s chalk cellars, these bottles testify to the work of time, unfolding an aromatic richness that spans from pastry to roasted notes, tobacco to dried fruit, all sculpted by patient and rigorous ageing.

Four vintages, four identities: the vertical tension of 1996, the measured balance of 1995, the delicate fragrance of 1993, and the radiant opulence of 1990. A journey through nuances and emotions that only La Grande Dame can offer, in a language that speaks of terroir, of climate, and of the hand that interprets them.

The format itself is part of the magic: the magnum is the ideal guardian of Champagne’s evolution. The Maison, always attentive to the science of glass and time, highlights its value for slow evolution and the balance between volume and pressure, which protects the wine from temperature variations and light, preserving freshness and effervescence.

La Grande Dame is not just a Champagne: it is a cultural symbol, a tribute to female strength, innovation and the freedom to dare. Radiance, elegance and boldness: in a single word, Clicquot.

La Grande Dame 1996 – The intensity of tension

64% Pinot Noir, 36% Chardonnay – Dosage 5 g/l – Disgorged 2021 (DT)
 A memorable vintage, marked by unprecedented acidity and optimal ripeness. On the nose, toasted almonds and candied citrus, white flowers, exotic fruit, dates, apricot, mirabelle, fine spices, patchouli and oriental woods. Depth builds in layers of caramel, milk chocolate, roasting notes, undergrowth and pastry, with hazelnuts, butter, vanilla and coffee. On the palate, energy and richness move across an iodized mineral frame; freshness impresses with tension and precision. Citrus notes merge with the saline finish, in a long and vibrant finale.

La Grande Dame 1995 – The classic balance

67% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay – Dosage 9 g/l – Disgorged 2024 (RD)
 A regular, sunny year, with healthy and concentrated grapes. On the nose, ripe fruit with candied citrus, sweet spices, dried fruit and blond tobacco, alongside brioche, biscuit and bitter almond. Herbaceous notes follow, with chamomile, linden, blood orange, cumin, pepper, saffron, chalky and smoky touches, cedar wood and a balsamic register. On the palate, freshness, roundness and salinity converge: citrus vivifies the structure and leads to a mineral finish with an echo of bitter almond. The vintage of composure: balanced, vertical, less fruity and more architectural.

La Grande Dame 1993 – The fragrant finesse

66% Pinot Noir, 34% Chardonnay – Dosage 8 g/l – Disgorged 2024 (RD)
 A mild winter and dry summer followed by rain produced a vintage of sober elegance. The bouquet opens with lavender and honeysuckle, followed by apple, pear and mirabelle, then liquorice, incense, pine and sandalwood. Empyreumatic nuances intertwine with cedar, walnuts, cashews, toasted almonds, beeswax, mocha and salted caramel. Vanilla and hazelnut biscuits blend with eucalyptus, cocoa, mint and aromatic herbs. On the palate, freshness and tension are guided by perfectly integrated acidity, for a dense yet nervy sip that mirrors the aromatic track all the way to a salty, mineral-etched and very long finish.

La Grande Dame 1990 – The solar majesty

61% Pinot Noir (5 Grand Cru: Aÿ, Bouzy, Ambonnay, Verzy and Verzenay), 39% Chardonnay (Avize, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger) – Dosage 8 g/l – Disgorged February 2019 (RD Magnum)
 An exceptional vintage, sunny and harmonious, the first to be bottled also in magnum and jeroboam. On the nose, elegant smoky notes dominate, with toast, undergrowth and truffle, candied citrus and roasted coffee, dried fruit and blond tobacco, followed by flint, graphite, honey, vanilla and pastry. On the palate, a silky structure embraces a still-lively freshness, saline minerality underpins a sip of great complexity and persistence, where strength and energy are draped in sensuality and balance. Creaminess marks the attack, fruit sweetness sustains the mid-palate, and a mineral close concludes with majestic elegance.

🔗 Discover more about Veuve Clicquot and La Grande Dame at:
🌐 www.veuveclicquot.com

Tags: VeuveClicquot, LaGrandeDame, PinotNoir, Champagne