2008

Champagne Vranken Pommery is a house with a long and eventful history. The immense success of this special Champagne house was based on a widow. Remarkably enough, this was the case at more Champagne houses, such as the well-known Veuve Cliquot, which even added the word "widow" to its name.

Pommery's steadfast widow was Madame Jeanne-Alexandrine Louise Pommery (1819-1880). Her husband, Louis Alexandre Pommery, died when she was only 20 years old. The Champagne House was still in its infancy at the time and produced no more than 100,000 bottles, especially still wines still very common at the beginning of the 19th century. Jeanne-Alexandrine switched completely to sparkling wines, and with her zeal and energy laid the foundation for one of the most famous grandes marques. By the time of her death, production had risen to two million bottles.

She had a special house built in Reims, in a mix of styles and materials — the idea of ​​a kind of castle, but not really. Very colorful in any case, and can still be admired as Pommery's headquarters. What she did underground was more impressive and, in any case, more important for making fine champagne: she expanded the cellars of Vranken Pommery by more than 15 square kilometers; of enormous importance for the quiet maturation of the bottles of Champagne. After her death, her work was continued by her daughter Louise with her husband, Prince Guy de Polignac.

The French Champagne and wine group Vranken Pommery has its origins in 1976 when the Belgian Paul Francois Vranken launched his own champagne brand. It is a major player in the field of sparkling wines. They market different brands. The Pommery brand has been associated with this since 2002. Since then, the group is fully called Vranken Pommery Monopole. It is the largest brand with high quality cuvees. The Pommery Wines are mainly found in the supermarket and are the more commercial brands while the Vranken versions are the more high-end quality versions — always made from our own grapes and vineyards.