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Wine Information
During the early golden era of De Venoge in the mid-1850s, Joseph de Venoge managed to lure his wine into the favour of the European princes by arranging champagne and shooting picnics for them. To please the eye of royalty, a special crystal carafe bottle was created for the Vin des Princes in 1864. No bottles of the early cuvée have survived to this day but the legend of Vin des Prince has persisted nonetheless.
It was, however, much later when the prestigé cuvee as we currently know it was launched. The story begins in 1961 when Champagne des Princes was first made. The first release was a non-vintage but the following examples have been vintage champagnes. The authorities banned the use of the name, as the word Champagne was considered unregisterable; De Venoge’s solution was to rename it Grand Vin des Princes.
Grand Vin des Princes was crafted to fit the emerging blanc de blancs prestige cuvée category pioneered by Salon, Comtes de Champagne and Dom Ruinart. It is a 100 per cent Chardonnay from the Grand Crus of Côtes de Blancs – namely Avize, Oger, Cramant and Chouilly.
Vintage 1976
This sunny and hot drought year with record heat levels across Europe led to a very early harvest, which began on September 1st. Large yields (averaging 10,359 kg/ha) of super ripe fruit produced rich and powerful champagnes, although relatively low in acidity (averaging 7.2 g/l). The acidity levels made some winemakers doubt the wines' longevity but this has since been proven wrong by a multitude of majestic 1976 Champagnes defying time. The style is unashamedly ripe, big and even fatty with plush fruitiness. By no means ‘classic' in style but nevertheless great and a forefather to the warm vintages we are experiencing now. Bollinger R.D. 1976 from magnum for example, is something to behold. Other magnificent cuvées include Philipponnat Clos des Goisses, Dom Pérignon Brut and P3, Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque, Piper-Heidsieck Rare and Taittinger Comtes de Champagne.