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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 1985
Severe winter temperatures and spring frosts did great damage, leaving many in the region unhopeful of a good year. The destruction was excessive especially in the northern Montagne de Reims, in the hillside vineyards west of Reims and in the Aube. The early summer weather did not raise the hopes, but finally fine September weather came to the rescue and yields ended up being better than feared (albeit tiny, 6,827 kg/ha) when picking commenced on September 30th. Champagnes from 1985 are typically beautifully balanced and intense with great length and character that is still improving today. Dom Pérignon, Charles Heidsieck Champagne Charlie and Blanc des Millénaires, Krug Vintage and Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque excelled, to name a few.