Champagne Jacquesson was founded in 1798 by Memmie Jacquesson. His son Adolphe took over the house in 1835 and brought along some key innovations. With the assistance of Dr. Guyot he developed and implemented the technique of training vines in rows. He also demonstrably reduced the bottle explosion phenomenon taking place in the cellar by working with a chemist to find a base level of sugar in bottles. And most famously he invented the wire cage known as the “muselet” which is still used today to hold champagne corks.
Adolphe is also known for giving Johann-Joseph Krug his first job in the champagne industry. Responsible for finance and major sales and negotiations, Jospeh Krug very soon had bigger ambitions: to launch his own champagne house. After meeting and befriending Hippolyte de Vivès, a prominant negociant and member of the family of the founder of Veuve Cliquot, who shared his vision, together they founded Krug et Cie.
Going back to Jacquesson, by the end of the 1800s, the business was no longer a family-run enterprise.
In 1974 it was effectively bought by the Chiquet family and is now jointly managed by brothers, Jean-Hervé (former cellar master) and Laurent Chiquet. Sustainable practices are the Chiquets' modus operandi; in fact, one-third of Jacquesson’s vineyards are certified organic.
At the onset of the millenium the Chiquet brothers took a radically new path to the elaboration of their non-vintage thus breaking away with the accepted practices of the Champagne region adopted by the major Champagne Houses. Departing from the conventional paradigm of champagne House Style, they opted for a more artisanal approach giving birth to the famed 700 Series. The goal is to put forth the best qualities of a given vintage without being tied down to the House Style philosophy that ensure a uniform, homogenous non-vintage with a consistent taste guaranteed by the Big House’s signature labels.
Single-Vineyards, grape varieties, heart and soul of the vignerons: the entirety of the domaine has to come together in perfect harmony with some reserve wines to be encapsulated in a bottle to create one single champagne whose character and personality will vary every year to reflect the vagaries of one harvest and the uniqueness of the base year.
“Why aim for average when you can achieve excellence?” They profess.
Their "Cuvée No. 742" finds its foundation in the base year of 2014. The vins clairs were once again fermented and aged in large, older oak foudres and the wine was finished
with a dosage of 1.5 grams per liter (Extra Brut) when it was disgorged in July of 2018.
Blending together Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay grapes, this is Jacquesson's flagship bottling.
Cuvée 742 comes from three Grands Crus and two Premiers Crus, using only the first pressings, is vinified in oak casks, and is nearly always unfiltered. It is thus, above all, a Grand Vin de Champagne. It has the potential to age for a remarkably long time.
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