It was in 1798, following in the footsteps of his father Claude, that Memmie Jacquesson founded the House which today, more than two hundred years later, still bears his name.The business flourished immediately due to the high quality of the wines that Memmie produced; indeed the champagnes of the House became favourites of Napoleon. They accompanied him on several of his campaigns and were served at his wedding to the Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria. However, Jacquesson's crowning glory came on the occasion of the Emperor's visit to Jacquesson in 1810 when he bestowed on the House a gold medal, the highest imperial accolade for an outstanding commercial enterprise, in recognition of "the beauty and richness of its cellars".When Memmie died in 1835, his son Adolphe succeeded him. Being a person of great creativity, he was able to ensure the dynamic growth of the House and equally he was behind numerous inventions and discoveries destined to transform and improve the still imperfect art of champagne making, most notably:The planting of vines in rows carried out with Dr Guyot.The process for measuring sugar density developed with the chemist Jean-Baptiste François. Known as the réduction François, this process reduced the rate of bottle breakage from 25% to 4%.The muselet, patented by Adolphe Jacquesson in 1844, which to this day is used to hold in place the corks of all champagne and sparkling wine bottles.Today the House of Jacquesson proudly follows in the footsteps of its illustrious founders, concentrating its efforts on a limited annual production of 350,000 bottles.This allows the House to use handcrafted methods dedicated to the highest quality. Our philosophy is based on two key points:The outstanding House vineyards totalling 26 hectares in the Grand Cru villages of Aÿ, Avize and Oiry and in the Premier Cru villages of Hautvillers, Dizy and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ. These are complemented by some 15 hectares coming from growers in these same villages as well as in the Grand Cru village of Chouilly and the Premier Cru village of Cumières. A very close contact is maintained with these growers, not least due to their small number, physical proximity and long standing association with the House to ensure the highest level of viticulture.A stringent vinification process where the great majority of our wines are vinified in oak and are then aged in bottle for the optimum length of time in our cellars. This allows us to release our vintage cuvées when they are ready to drink and not necessarily in chronological order. Dosage is kept to a minimum to preserve the finesse and purity of the wines ; indeed all our vintage wines can technically be classified as extra-brut.www.champagnejacquesson.com
