Veuve Clicquot was founded in Reims in 1772. Its name and its character come from Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, widowed at twenty-seven in 1805 and left in charge of the house at a time when a woman running a business was close to unthinkable.

She changed champagne twice. In 1816 she devised the riddling table, the method still used to clear a bottle of its sediment — before her, champagne was cloudy. In 1818 she made the first known blended rosé champagne, adding red wine to the blend rather than tinting it.

The house style has stayed hers: Pinot Noir dominant, built on structure and body rather than delicacy. The yellow label, registered in 1877, has been its signature ever since.

The Yellow Label is the house in a bottle: a Pinot Noir-dominant blend drawn from fifty to sixty crus, with a proportion of reserve wines from several past years to hold the style steady from release to release.

Yellow apple and brioche over vanilla and dried fruit; full and firm on the palate, carried by a fine bead, closing long and toasty. The champagne against which most people first learn what Pinot-led Champagne tastes like.