La Grande Dame 1990 Magnum

Veuve Clicquot’s prestige cuvée, named for Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, who took over the house as a widow at twenty-seven and went on to invent much of what modern Champagne production takes for granted. 1990 was one of the great vintages of the late twentieth century, ripe and generous but properly structured with it, and La Grande Dame is Pinot Noir-led from the house’s historic Grand Cru holdings. In magnum, which ages more slowly and more gracefully than bottle. An occasion in itself.