🍾 Canard-Duchêne

Canard-Duchêne is a Champagne house in Ludes, on the Montagne de Reims, in the Marne department. According to the house, the cooper Victor Canard and the vine grower Léonie Duchêne met on the Montagne de Reims and married in 1859; in 1868 they combined their names and skills to found the house. In 1891 Edmond and Alfred Canard took it over, and in 1929 the house acquired the Domaine de Ludes with its 6 km of chalk cellars.

According to the house, it has been run by a Champagne family for more than twenty years and draws mainly on Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims. It released its first organic cuvée, P181, certified by Ecocert, in 2009, and Cuvée V for its 150th anniversary in 2018. The range also includes Léonie, a vintage, blanc de noirs and blanc de blancs.

Champagne is a wine with a protected designation of origin (PDO). The bubbles come only from a second fermentation in the bottle, the wine is aged for at least 15 months before sale (36 for vintage), and all production takes place only within the delimited area. Canard-Duchêne is a brand; Champagne is the name of a place.

Why it matters to you. Blanc de noirs means a white wine from black grapes, and demi-sec is a sweeter sugar category under the rules; “Léonie” or “P181” are the house’s own names. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol.