2009 Cuperly Millesime Grand Cru

Champagne Cuperly was founded in 1845 as a wine and spirits merchant. But in the early 20th century Robert Cuperly began acquiring vineyards in Verzy, one of the Grand Cru regions of the Reims Mountains appellations. He began producing and marketing his own champagne and today the third and fourth generations of the Cuperly family run the business. Anne-Sophie Cuperly and her husband Sebastien Lecca oversaw the construction of a new production center in 2008 in Prunay. Cuperly’s grapes come exclusively from 50 acres mostly in the Reims Mountains region, meaning that nearly all their wines are Grand Cru according to Champagne’s appellation system. Vineyards are planted to 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay. The estate makes vintage and non-vintage Champagne and produces about 800,000 bottles annually.

Champagne is a small, beautiful wine growing region northeast of Paris whose famous name is misused a million times a day. As wine enthusiasts and all French people are well aware, only sparkling wines produced in Champagne from grapes grown in Champagne can be called Champagne. Sparkling wines produced anywhere else, including in other parts of France, must be called something besides Champagne. Champagne producers are justifiably protective of their wines and the prestige associated with true Champagne. Though the region was growing grapes and making wines in ancient times, it began specializing in sparkling wine in the 17th century, when a Benedictine monk named Dom Pierre Pérignon formulated a set guidelines to improve the quality of the local sparkling wines. Despite legends to the contrary, Dom Pérignon did not “invent” sparkling wine, but his rules about aggressive pruning, small yields and multiple pressings of the grapes were widely adopted, and by the 18th and 19th centuries Champagne had become the wine of choice in fashionable courts and palaces throughout Europe. Today there are 75,000 acres of vineyards in Champagne growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. Champagne’s official appellation system classifies villages as Grand Cru or Premier Cru, though there are also many excellent Champagnes that simply carry the regional appellation. Along with well-known international Champagne houses there are numerous so-called “producer Champagnes,” meaning wines made by families who, usually for several or more generations, have worked their own vineyards and produced Champagne only from their own grapes.