Fournier, Charles

Charles Fournier (1902–1983) was born in Reims, France, and in 1926 became the wine maker at the French champagne house of Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin, as his uncle had been before him. In 1933, he was offered the job of wine maker and production manager at Gold Seal Vineyards, then called the Urbana Wine Company, in Hammondsport, New York. When he arrived at Gold Seal in 1934, he found that the Finger Lakes region could produce traditional champagne flavors by using the right combination of soil and grapes. Catawba was particularly useful when it was made sparkling and aged in the bottle, on the sediment. His Charles Fournier Champagne won a gold medal at the California State Fair in 1950, when the competition was opened for the first time to wines from outside California. Gold Seal’s champagnes and sparkling wines were sales triumphs, along with Catawba pink, a fruity rosé.