Raise theglass

Raise your glasses for Madame Louise Pommery, the inventor of dry champagne

If there’s one person to thank for today’s taste for dry champagne, it should be Madame Louise Pommery. Having taken over as the head of Champagne Pommery after the passing of her husband in 1858, her distinct taste in wine led to the creation of the first brut or dry champagne that won the world over with its delicate taste. It broke traditions–transitioning taste buds from very sweet wine often served as a dessert drink to a more refreshing flavor in every sip.

A woman in a man’s world, Madame Louise Pommery imprinted her personality on her champagnes. Her confidence quickly changed the landscape of champagne in the English market. She always set her priorities straight, embodying a Qualit é d’abord (quality first) philosophy. The purity and the finesse of Pommery wines perpetuate this legacy.

Today, Champagne Pommery is one of the biggest and most well-respected Champagne Maisons in the world. With an established presence in over 130 countries, their bottles continue to enchant champagne lovers from different cultures and profiles. Numerous factors come into play when caring for the champagne’s distinct flavor: grape variety, harvest time, blend selection, and ageing period, to name a few. But Pommery operates according to a foundational principle: the selection of vintages that make up the blend, fused and aged over a long period of time in the cellar—and not the dosage—must be the source of the wines’ distinctive characteristics.

Champagne Pommery houses multiple excellent cuveés and finally four distinct cuvées that have garnered distinctions across critics worldwide is now available in the Philippines. Brut Rosé Royal, a winner of Gold award in the Decanter World Wine Awards 2019, has a very subtle character: supple and finely robust with appealing freshness and liveliness. Another Gold awardee, this time in the International Wine Challenge 2018, is Grand Cru Royal that showcases a lovely light yellow colour with an effervescence of tiny and delicate bubbles. Another award-winning variety which was created as a tribute to Madame Louise Pommery is the Cuvée Louise, the most refined vintage and is a blend of three of the most delicate and prestigious grand crus.

But the true essence of the Pommery style lies in the Brut Royal. Every bottle is a blend of nearly forty different Champagne vintages. Its pale yellow colour and elegant body is awakened by delicate bubbles floating above. With every sip, its freshness and liveliness leaves a nice lingering finish on the palate. The overall cheerful flavor is all thanks to notes of red fruit that leaves a clean crisp taste. A glass of this is one you would want to proudly raise in the air.