Canard-Duchêne Authentic Brut NV - Half Bottle 375ml

Our French is rudimentary, but we think that Canard-Duchêne roughly translates as "duck of oak". And we believe this to be a reference to how this elegant Champagne conquered the UK.

The people of Ludes, near Reims, deposited an enormous wooden Trojan-duck at customs in Folkestone. The duck was filled to the brim with Champagne bottles, and when local customs officers wheeled it in, the trap door sprung open and bottles flew out, making their way up the M20 towards London.

The rest is history. However, our understanding may not be historically factual.

Canard-Duchêne was created as the result of the marriage of a barrel maker, Victor Canard, and a wine grower, Léonie Duchêne. In 2009, the house is still led by a family dedicated to making fine wines and champagnes.

The Champagne house has been located in Ludes in the Montagne de Reims National Park since 1868. Its founders were granted the right by the Russian Imperial Family to adopt its coat of arms as the family emblem. The crowned two-headed eagle has thus appeared on every Canard-Duchêne label since the end of the 19th Century. The brand was an official supplier of the Tsar Nicolas the second.