The Brut style of Champagne is today nothing short of lingua franca - in fact, it accounts for over 90% of all Champagne produced today - and as a matter of concept has an even greater influence when you consider how sparkling wine producers the world over have just as well adopted the crisp, dry and refreshing style.

Yet, this indisputably massive revolution can actually be traced to a single person - Madame Louise Pommery of the Pommery House of Champagne.

Madame Louise Pommery, who is credited as having invented the Brut style.

Jeanne Alexandrine Louise Pommery wasn't born into the Pommery family, but actually took over by way of her husband. She was born in 1819 France, and was sent by her mother to study in England. This was highly unusual for the time, and yet it gave her a good understanding of English culture, taste and preferences, which would serve her well in due time. After finishing her studies, she had married into the prominent Pommery family that was in the wool business, by way of one Alexandre Pommery. Alexandre Pommery had nevertheless began to see a decline in the wool business, and would thus partner with Narcisse Greno in 1856 to establish their own Champagne house in Reims. As it turns out, just two years after Pommery et Greno was established, Alexandre would abruptly pass away in 1858.

With two young children under her care and thus requiring a viable livelihood, Madame Louise would pluck up the courage to take charge of her husband's business in just 8 days of his passing, and in so doing would change hers and the fate of Champagnes forever more. Her first order of business was to get out of the wool business entirely, move away from making red wines, focusing entirely on Champagnes, which she felt was ripe for change.

At the time, Champagnes were served incredibly sweet, with as much as a whopping 300g of residual sugar (completely blowing out of the water today's standard 12 grams of residual sugar), and would be typically served over ice in something of a slushy. This did not go down well with the English who had preferred something more dry, and thus this was where Madame Louise Pommery had her big lightbulb moment - she would create a dry style Champagne!

"Damas, we need a wine that is as dry as possible, but without rigidity… It should be soft and velvety on the palate… Above all, make sure it has finesse.”, so Madame Louise Pommery was reported to have instructed the house's Cellar Master, Olivier Damas.

The result was the Pommery Nature cuvee that debuted in 1874. - largely considered to be the first ever Brut style Champagne created. It was dry, fresh and lively, delicate and assertive, yet perhaps most interestingly, it allowed the craftsmanship of the assemblage to reveal itself much more expressively. Suddenly there was no make-up concealing the underlying wine, whose nuances was now well defined and could be better appreciated. No longer was Champagne sidelined as a digestif or sweet wine, it could now work with versatility and be enjoyed for any occasion and easily paired with food. This was a hit in 1800's England, and you could even say, till this day. Ironically within the Champagne circles of the time, this dryness was thought to be far too austere compared to what was predominantly made at the time, and hence it was labelled as "brutal", which has of course transformed into the style as we know it today - Brut.

Yet belying this revolutionary idea was also a much more obvious and far less out of the box aspect that Madame Louise Pommery had also put heavy emphasis on, which was her demands on quality of the fruit and the proper elevage of the wines. As it was a time of the Champagne rush, many producers simply wanted to produce as much Champagne as they could, and thus processes were largely geared around scale and efficiency. Yet, for Madam Louise Pommery, who would very selectively and opportunistically acquire some 18 hectares of prized parcels of vines around Champagne's Grand Crus, quality was the priority. She would allow the fruit to remain on the vine for longer so as to develop more natural sweetness, whilst also making sure that the wines would stay longer in the cellars to concentrate and develop more expressive flavours, which all became evident in her Brut Champagne. This was much more labour and time intensive and yet for that very reason, made Pommery Champagne stand out.

Pommery's iconic cellars.

This in turn led to Madame Louise Pommery's next groundbreaking move - this time quite literally! As she found herself beginning to run out of space to store and age her wines at her house in Rue Vauthier-Le-Noir, she would thus commission what was deemed the "Construction Site of the Century" - an 18km long cellar that would connect 120 Gallo-Roman chalk quarries, or also known as crayères, which were once dug around the city of Reims by Roman soldiers during the historical occupation of Gaul. This would prove to be the largest construction project of the city, and was a massive undertaking when considering that it took place in 1868. The project required miners to dig 30 metres below the earth and form interconnected galleries of barrel and rib vaults, which Madame Louise Pommery had believed the subterranean climate would provide the optimal atmosphere for ageing her Champagnes. This would of course become once again the gold standard for Champagne houses today!

Yet, Madame Louise Pommery was not without a deep appreciation of the arts. In her massive cellars, she would also commission sculptor Gustave Navlet, who is most famous for his work on plazas, to carve a 4 metre long bas-relief of Bacchus, the Roman God of Winemaking, into the chalk walls. She would also include busts by Leon Joseph Chavaillaud around the 18 kilometer cellars, which would then be connected to the surface world by just a single flight of 116 steps. Above ground, she would once again seek to appeal to English sensibilities through the creation of an Elizabethan neo-Gothic Tudor style mansion that was meant to be reminiscent of English castles of the time, with its turrets, crenellations and conical donjon towers that were in red brick ties on a blue-grey facade. Within the Pommery estate is also the Les Clos Pompadour - a 25 hectare walled vineyard within the estate - that serves as an experimental lab for the Champagne house, and has been often ranked as one of the greatest walled vineyards of Champagne, its production only presented in the form of magnums.

Pommery's Elizabethan style mansion.

All things considered, it took some 10 years to complete, resulting in the Pommery estate measuring some 55 hectares in total, holding up to 25 million bottles of Champagne underground. It's of a most staggering size, eclipsing that of the Louvre Museum, the Tuileries Gardens and the Place de la Concorde combined!

Having changed the face of the Champagne game, Madame Louise Pommery would eventually pass the family's winery to her daughter and son, Louise and Louis. It was thus Louis Pommery who would build upon the family's Champagne house, extending its vineyard holdings by a staggering further 282 hectares across 10 Grand Cru villages in Champagne, from Montagne de Reims, Cote des Blancs, all the way to the Vallee de la Marne, Avize, Cramant, Ay and more. Madame Pommery's daughter would marry Prince Guy de Polignac, who is said to be from the same lineage as Merlin the famed wizard. When Madame Louise Pommery passed on in 1890, her contributions to Champagne were recognised with her being the first woman to receive a French state funeral, with even the President of France having attended the event.

The next century would see the Pommery Champagne house change hands several times from that of Xavier Gardiner (who also owned the Lanson Champagne house and Chateau Phelan Segur from Bordeaux's Left Bank), to eventually Danone and then LVMH, before settling with its current owners, Vranken, in 2002. Vranken themselves are a formidable Champagne (and overall wine) producer, having first emerged as Vranken Champagne, founded in 1979 by Paul-François Vranken, to eventually acquiring Charles Lafitte Champagne, Heidsieck & Co Monopole, the Rozes Port wine house, as well as Quinta de Monsul in Portugal and Domaines Listel over in Lyon. Today, the group has been renamed as the Vranken-Pommery Monopole Group, and is currently the second largest Champagne producer.

More recently, Pommery (as part of Vranken-Pommery) has begun working closely with Hampshire growers in England to produce English sparkling wine at its Pinglestone estate under the name Louis Pommery.

With all that said, we're going to get on to trying some of the most emblematic cuvees from Pommery's range! This was hosted at the one and only - literally the only all-Champagne bar in Singapore - Convivial Champagne Bar. We'll taste through the Pommery Brut Royal NV, Pommery Brut Royal Rose, Pommery Apanage 1874, Pommery Cuvee Louise Millesime 2006, Pommery Grand Cru Royal 2009 and Pommery Royal Blue Sky. Let's go!

Champagne Review: Champagne Pommery Brut Royal NV

Made with an almost equal part blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier from 40 selected villages in the Cote des Blancs and Montagne de Reims, and then more broadly across Champagne. 

Tasting Notes

Colour: Straw

Aroma: It's fresh and lively, yet with also a good richness and rounded firmness. Grapefruit pith, bringing with it an accent of citrusy acidity, it also shows some doughiness and with a buttery quality.

Taste: Medium-bodied with moderate richness, it's quite buttery here with a light minerality and chalkiness. That firm buttery body is led by quite abit of orange pith - more pithy here in fact - with also orange blossoms. Light acidity that's well integrated to the body. Like its aromas, it's once again rich and doughy, accented by that citrusy pith.

Finish: More of that doughiness and orange pith that carries through the finish, here with a gentle bit of honey. There's a light lift that happens on the finish, with a zestiness of grapefruit that lingers.

My Thoughts

The richness and firmness of this expression is a textural quality that's really enjoyable, superseding any simple taste evaluation. It's consistently rich and firmly supple, with this soft doughiness that's given a little lift with the citrusy aspects. The acidity here is gentle and well-integrated into the body, certainly not zippy or sharp. And on the whole this presents a very enjoyable Brut where you don't even think about the lack of sweetness because it's so well backed up by all this supple richness. It's fresh and lifted, without coming close to being thin or high toned, ending off with the slightest sense of sweetness and zest. Very, very enjoyable!

Champagne Review: Champagne Pommery Brut Rosé Royal NV

Similar to the Brut Royal, this is an almost equal parts cuvee of Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir, with just a touch more Chardonnay than the rest.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Light Salmon

Aroma: Opens with grapefruit and blood oranges, with all these juicy citruses garnished with bouquets of citrus blossoms as well. There's a light doughiness and some honey that comes through as well, although of course mostly red citrus led. It's fresh and with good concentration already on the nose.

Taste: Medium-bodied, those red citruses carry through nicely with the same grapefruits and blood oranges, here with also a touch of honey. It's firm with a good richness and light carbonation that melds in the lightly tart acidity of those red citruses. Again, great concentration, fully saturated through the body, it's rich and firm, yet lifted.

Finish: Those blood oranges carry through, here mixed in with pomegranates. It's firm and clean to the finish, with a lingering touch of grapefruit. The acidity eases up greatly into the finish, allowing some honey notes to emerge alittle more prominently. Really firm with a good richness to it.

My Thoughts

This almost feels like a sparkling grapefruit juice to be quite honest - it's really refreshing, so enjoyable with this really great concentration and the red citrus flavours here are so well saturated. The acidity here is nice and firm yet also not streaky or sharp, with a good amount of richness that just slightly envelopes the acidity. It's really consistent and fresh, with this lifted quality to it even with the richness. There's more honey that comes through as well although more in flavour and of course not muh in the way of sweetness - it is Brut after all.

Champagne Review: Champagne Pommery Apanage Brut 1874 NV

Designed to be an homage to the original Brut Nature 1874 that first launched Pommery to fame, the Apanage Brut 1874 is a blend of 40% Chardonnay, 5% Pinot Meunier and 45% Pinot Noir, sourced from 17 crus with a predominant focus on Cramant, Bergères les Vertus (Côte des Blancs), Bouzy to Ecueil via Verzenay (Montagne de Reims), Mareuil-sur-Aÿ to Fleury-la-Rivière via Aÿ-Champagne (Vallée de la Marne) and Les Clos Pompadour. For the Apanage 1874, the house's perpetual reserve has been blended with vintage years, with this edition being 16% perpetual research that's added to warmer vintages of 2012, 2015 and 2018. It spent 48 months on the lees with 8g/L in dosage.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Straw

Aroma: It comes through honeyed and floral, with a supple doughiness and that gentle bready sweetness. The zestiness is very gentle, with just some sweet lemons, with instead a more prominent vanillic tone to the bouquet, that's also garnished with white florals. It feels incredibly luxurious and seamless, yet rich and firm. 

Taste: Medium-bodied, really great richness and suppleness to the body, filled in with honey, livened up with sweet lemons and grapefruit pith, with also some minerality that comes through here, of wet stone. There's also a side of musky fruits that show up, of gooseberries and mangosteens, a touch green and also of tropical fleshy white fruits. It's rounded and buttery, yet without any heaviness, almost like a cordial with a slight but crisp fizz.

Finish: It's still very much rich and supple into the finish, with more on grapefruit and heaps more gooseberries. The acidity on here is really gentle, leading up to a clean and firm finish. It's seamless with just a light crispness, where those mangosteens stay on.

My Thoughts

Already we've seen how Pommery masters the ability to deliver an impeccably firm body that's rich and supple without heaviness, but once the Apanage takes it to another level, really displaying all that complexity, layer after layer, whilst ensuring that they're all harmonious and seamless. In particular I was impressed by how those musky fruits were coaxed in to give the body contrast, and yet held off on any funkiness or sharpness of the acidity. It's again not high-toned nor thin, always superbly rich, which provides such a satisfying body as a canvas for all those varied flavours. Really, really enjoyable!

Champagne Review: Champagne Pommery Cuvee Louise Millesime 2006

This is 65% Chardonnay and 35% Pinot Noir, entirely coming from just 3 Grand Cru villages - Avize, Ay and Cramant. It's aged for over 10 years on the lees with an Extra Brut dosage.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Gold

Aroma: Toasty brioche scents, drizzled in honey, with pulls of gentle doughy sweetness, brightened up by some sweet lemons. It's really fresh, firm, again great richness. That core of doughy sweetness is incredibly alluring. There's a gentle buttery quality to the bouquet as well, with a soft fragrance of floral shrubbery.

Taste: Medium-bodied here, it's clean, fresh, zesty, and with a very prominent carbonation. The dryness comes through, topped with aromatics of lemons, grapefruit pith, yellow raisins, as well as some honey and dried dough. It's firm and very compact the body, great structure that's filled well filled in with great concentration and structure.

Finish: Clean and fresh, it's still on those zesty sweet lemons, bringing with it a light and alittle more streaky acidity. Some touches of honey, still very much firm, rich and compact, leading up to a crisp and resolute finish. Some lingering doughiness.

My Thoughts

This felt rather moreish in a really satisfying way - it feels big. Yet once again Pommery shows us it can deftly ace richness of the body without any heaviness. On the nose, we get those lovely brioche aromas, this time with a bigger feature of that honey - that doughy sweetness is just absolutely lovely; it's a gentle yet deep and mellow sweetness. The fragrance of the florals and shrubbery also feel more vibrant here, almost like walking through lavender gardens. On the body, there's this wonderful compact structure that holds in this great richness and concentration, with the flavours fully saturated right through, almost bold yet organised. There's more of these raisins, and perhaps dried plums even. This is all brought through the finish and given a crisp resoluteness. Really fantastic! This sits right on par with the Apanage 1874 for me!

Champagne Review: Champagne Pommery Grand Cru Royal 2009

An equal parts blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, this is made entirely from fruit sourced from Grand Cru sites, and has been aged on the lees for at least 9 years and and 6 more months after disgorgement.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Gold

Aroma: It starts off rather funky and musty, almost like an aged Koshu Sake or at the least Sherry, quite immediately indicating its long ageing. It's yeasty and rather umami with a mushroom-y bit of rancio. More on marmite, soy sauce, a touch of toffee and caramel, with even alittle bit of nuttiness. It still retains this brightness and lifted quality.

Taste: Medium-bodied, really good richness, with more on honey, dried prunes, toffee, and still with that rancio funkiness of mushrooms and bonito broth. There's a pronounced yeasty doughiness as well. It's bright and rich, rounded and quite earthy, striking an umami sweetness.

Finish: The richness carries through, as does the combo of honey and mushrooms. It's seamless, working to a clean finish that's still mostly umami sweet.

My Thoughts

The Grand Cru Royal is definitely indicative of its long ageing, having developed this rather intense oxidative style that brings across all these umaminess and earthiness of mushrooms, bonito broth and soy sauce. Whilst tasting this, I couldn't help but think of Chinese Hua Diao Chiew (a Chinese rice wine that's often thought of as Chinese Sherry), aged Koshu Sake, and perhaps Spanish Sherry, and even to a lesser extent perhaps even Jura's Vin Jaune (minus the spices). That is all to say this is a rather strong style that's going to be divisive - you either really like it for its complexity, or you're put off by the oxidative quality. That said, I would be remiss to say that whilst it was not quite up my alley, I did nevertheless find that it was a well-made Champagne that showcases something very different than what we're used to from the Grand Marques - in fact, this would put it closer to the likes of Selosse, which is high praise in grower Champagne lingo. It's rich and firm, has a great deal of complexity that's well integrated, structured, and maintains that lifted quality.

Champagne Review: Champagne Pommery Royal Blue Sky NV

This is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir, and is given a higher dosage because Pommery specifically wants us to enjoy this with some ice - very interesting.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Straw 

Aroma: It's rich and firm, coming through with a good deal of honey, accented with grapefruit pith, with also a waft of freshly floured doughiness that lies in between.

Taste: Medium-bodied, it keeps that firm and rich body, really cohesive and almost feeling fuller and more syrupy. There's honey, icing and vanilla cream, alongside a touch of grapefruit zest and sweet lemons, with still alittle bit of fresh dough. This finds a way to still deliver an almost precise and well-defined body that's still conveying a good deal of tension.

Finish: That honey persists, yet largely on aromatics, in fact it almost feels dry. More on grapefruit, sweet lemons, that doughiness still. It's firm and rich into the finish, holding on to that really nice balance - it continues to deliver this freshness, not particularly sweet in fact, really seamless right through.

My Thoughts

What a finish! The Pommery Royal Blue Sky was absolutely terrific! I have to admit that the initial insistence on adding a block of ice cube to the glass was perhaps rather daunting - it somehow didn't make sense to my mind - oh, but how wrong I was! It did a splendid job! In all fairness, it did mute the aromas somewhat, but that nice chill it gave to the body more than made up for it. What impressed me most was how the body had this beautiful tension to it, really taut and almost elastic, whilst keeping this definition and precision. It also didn't feel particularly sweet at all, with perhaps the only noticeable bit from the dosage being the more syrupy and velvety feel of the body. I was very impressed to say the least, and I found this to be quite incredible. 

Kanpai!

@111hotpot