50-55% Pinot Noir, 28-33% Chardonnay, 15-20% Meunier

Food pairings: A natural aperitif that also shines with street food such as burgers, stir-fried vegetables and maki; with raw and crunchy dishes like tartare, carpaccio and crisp salads; and with fresh, vibrant ingredients such as early vegetables and citrus, for example a radish and shrimp salad with grapefruit.

Winemaking: Grapes from 50 to 60 crus are whole-bunch pressed, and generally only the first and finest juice, the "cuvée", is used. Each grape variety and cru is fermented separately, mostly in stainless steel to keep the fruit fresh. To keep the house style consistent, the blend can include up to 45% reserve wines drawn from a library of around 400 reserve wines up to 30 years old, each kept separately on fine lees. The bottles age for at least 30 months in the Crayères, the chalk cellars twenty metres beneath Reims, at a constant 10-12°C, and rest at least six more months after a light dosage of 9 g/L. Serve at 8-10°C.

Vineyards and terroir: The predominance of Pinot Noir gives Yellow Label the structure that is typical of Veuve Clicquot, a touch of Meunier rounds out the blend, and Chardonnay adds elegance and finesse. The 50 to 60 crus in the blend include grand and premier cru villages across Champagne, and the house's own vineyards have been farmed without herbicides since 2018.

Family and history: The house was founded in Reims in 1772 by Philippe Clicquot. When his son François died in 1805, his widow (veuve in French), Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, took over the business at just 27. Madame Clicquot created the first recorded vintage Champagne in 1810, invented the riddling table in 1816 to make the wine crystal clear, and in 1818 made the first blended rosé Champagne. The house's motto is "Only one quality, the finest". The famous yellow label was introduced in 1877, and in 1909 the house bought the old chalk quarries south of Reims that now hold 24 kilometres of cellars, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2015. Didier Mariotti is only the 11th cellar master in more than 250 years.

In the pictures: The lighthouse of Verzenay above the grand cru vineyards and village of Verzenay on the Montagne de Reims, Pinot Noir country where Veuve Clicquot owns vines (photo: Pline, 2012, CC BY-SA 3.0). Riddling racks in the Veuve Clicquot chalk cellars in Reims; Madame Clicquot invented the riddling table in 1816 (photo: Cynwolfe, 2023, CC BY-SA 4.0).