Cuvée Louise Pommery 2004

This prestigious champagne house near Reims Cathedral was founded in 1836. When Louis Pommery died in 1858, his 39-year-old wife, Louise, took over the business he had established just two years before with the wine merchant Narcisse Greno. Over the years, she showed herself to be an astute businesswoman. She concentrated primarily on Champagne, set out to conquer the English market and abandoned the merchant side of the business. Her daughter's marriage saw the already renowned champagne house come under the ownership of the Polignac family who remained proprietors until 1979. Pommery has some of the most spectacular facilities in the entire region but has experienced four changes of ownership since the early 1980s, seen highs and lows, and lost 300 hectares of its vineyards to LVMH. However, since Paul-François Vranken took over in 2002, the brand has been revitalised. Everything in the current range appears to be of a very good quality and representative of the refined and delicate style that the house cellar masters (currently Thierry Gasco) have always treasured.