During a trip to the region earlier this year, Angelo had the opportunity to taste some excellent Champagnes from grower houses in both the Côte des Blancs and the Montagne de Reims. Four houses will join Petitjean-Pienne, the six-generation Blanc de Blancs house in Grand Cru Cramant already in our portfolio—which bottles almost nothing but Chardonnay using the iconic traditional square press you see on their label.
We are proud to welcome these four farmer-producers, who tend to and bottle their own fruit:
- From Verzy, in the Montagne de Reims, comes Maison Penet, a family that has worked grand cru vines there since the 17th century; Alexandre Penet ferments his parcels separately and finishes with little or no dosage.
- Just over in Verzenay, Champagne Michel Arnould farms about 12 hectares of Grand Cru on the cool northern flank of the Montagne, classic Pinot Noir country, where the family has grown grapes since the late nineteenth century.
- Jean-Pierre Secondé, an early believer in parcel-by-parcel Champagne whose daughter Annabelle today draws on holdings across four grand cru villages, produces exceptional Blanc de Noirs cuvées from Mailly on the Montagne’s northern slopes as well.
- South of the Montagne de Reims in the Côte des Blancs, Hervé Dubois makes Grand Cru Chardonnay alongside his daughter Nina in Avize from land his grandfather first bought in the 1920s, blocking the malolactic fermentation on part of each harvest to preserve the racing acidity that is the signature of the Côte.
We could not be more thrilled to deepen our roots in Champagne and to bring these grower houses to your table.