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Champagne/sparkling wine Producers
Name: Champagne/sparkling wine
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Entirely family-owned since it was founded in 1920, Champagne house AR Lenoble is currently in the hands of sister and brother owners Anne and Antoine Malassagne. With only twelve people working there all year round, it is a properly small operation. Their largest holdings are in the fabulous Chardonnay grand cru of Chouilly, known for a richer style of fruit, more Meursault than Chablis. They also have Pinot Noir in Bisseuil and Pinot Meunier in Damery.
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In 1818, Nicolas-Francois Billecart and Elisabeth Salmon were united in holy matrimony, and the famous house Billecart-Salmon was created. Almost 200 years - and 7 generations - later, B-S remains under family control, and finesse, balance, elegance remain their bywords. Billecart-Salmon used to be best known as the smallest of the Grandes Marques. Now that organisation is defunct, it is the quality of the wines which allows the house to be much better known. Billecart does not keep expensively carpeted office suites in W1 and the focus is on producing the best possible wines. -
Although founded in the early nineteenth century, Bollinger`s most famous owner was Lily Bollinger, whose husband died young in 1941. Despite the privations of the occupation Madame Bollinger pushed constantly for quality and vigilance in both vineyard and cellar. Her frequent excursions to inspect vines by bicycle became legendary and even today the details and fundamentals of production are more exactingly practised here than at many prestigious addresses in the region. And this accounts for the premium that Bollinger charge. -
Ambonnay-based grower house Dethune have been releasing Champagnes under their own name since the 1930s, but they come from a long line of growers dating all the way back to 1610. Their 7 hectares of organically-cultivated vineyards are planted to 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay. The Champagne are vinified in a mix of stainless steel, foudres and barrels, and the imprint of the oak is perceptible in the textured mouthfeel. (NT 13/12/23)
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Gallimard has been Uncorked’s house Champagne for a quarter of a century, and in that time it has garnered a strong and loyal following as much among staff as customers. Didier and Arnaud Gallimard represent the sixth and seventh generation respectively of this excellent grower house. They are based in Les Riceys, in the Aube, and they cultivate 10 hectares of mostly Pinot Noir on the Kimmeridgian limestone typical of the area. The Cuvee de Reserve is pure Pinot Noir, and enjoys the warmth and fruit-forward style characteristic of a good Blanc de Noirs.
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There`s a right-of-way called Saxon Shoreway which cuts a swathe through the Kent vineyards of Gusbourne Estate, and once upon a time this path did indeed walk the English shore. So it`s no surprise that the clay and sand soils on which these vineyards sit are full of maritime deposits, which in turn may go some way to explaining the saline character that often comes across in the estate`s sparkling wines. A millenium later, and mainly thanks to land reclamation, the sea is now six miles away as the crow flies (over Romney Marsh), but there is still a powerful coastal wind blowing over.
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His family have been Champagne growers since the 17th century, tending vines across a variety of top Ay sites. Why, asked Claude Giraud, were they not making their own Champagne? Which is just what he went on to do. Soon Robert Parker was calling Giraud `the best Champagne you`ve never heard of`. The signature style that makes Giraud distinct comes as much from their great sites (and in particular, great Pinot Noir) as from Claude re-thinking Champagne top-to-bottom. Like Krug and Bollinger before him, Claude quickly decided oak was the way to go.
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The so-called grower Champagne trend makes most people think of newish enterprises but Jacquesson, one of the most renowned, was founded in 1789. This coincided with the rise of the rude Corsican peasant Napoleon and true to form he is said to have visited Jacquesson regularly on his travels. What with his cologne buying in Bologna and all his other shopping it makes you wonder how he found time to amass an empire.
Anyway, the family has history, variously teaching the Krugs how to blend and researching how to stop so many bottles exploding in the cellar. -
In the long gone days when Dom Perignon and Cristal were considered good only for WAGS and rappers Krug stood out as the wine for old money. Sometimes cynically characterised as being easy to pick out in tastings because it was flat and oxidised- only (half) joking. Now a tiny part of luxury goods giant LVMH, Krug was only established in 1843 and quickly established a point of difference by fermenting in oak and using very extended lees contact, producing wines with what some considered an almost exaggerated autolytic character.
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Louis Roederer is a Champagne house that truly embodies its motto of continually striving for perfection. Since 1845 Roederer have been buying up some of the best parcels in Champagne, which was quite unique at the time (most houses relied heavily on buying in fruit), this has allowed themto really understand their terroir. This understanding is also due to their meticulous practices of harvesting and vinifying all their 400 parcels separately.
