Champagne Producers

Question 1

Agrapart et fils

Answer 1

Côte des Blancs
Pascal Agrapart took over family estate in Avize in 1984.
Vineyards mostly located in Avize, Cramant, Oiry & Oger.
Lunar rhythms, sustainable practices, indigenous yeasts.
600 L casks “older the better”
Non-vintage cuvées:
7 Crus (from seven villages)
Terroirs (GC bottling from Avize, Cramant, Oiry & Oger)
Complantée (6 diff grape varieties pressed together)
Vintage Champagne:
Minéral (Le Champ Bouton in Avize & Les Bionnes in Cramant)
L’Avizoise (clay parcels of Les Robarts and La Voie d’Épernay in Avize)
Vénus (named for horse who plowed parcel of La Fosse where it is grown in Avize)

Question 2

Apollonis

Answer 2

Vallée de la Marne
Estate is based on munier 85%
NV Brut:
Authentic Meunier (100% meunier, rich, succulent)
Vintage BdB:
Les Sources du Flagot (full bodied)
Vintage:
Inspiration de Saison (meunier & chard)
Monodie en Meunier Majeur (single vineyard meunier)

Question 3

Michel Arnould et Fils

Answer 3

Montagne de Reims
son Patrick Arnould farms about 30 acres
BdN Vintage:
Mémoire de Vignes (40 yr old pinot noir vines from some of Verzenay’s most renowned sites; Les Coutures, Les Potences, Les Perthois)

Question 4

Bérêche et Fils

Answer 4

Montagne de Reims
22 acres (9ha) of vines located primarily around Ludes.
Portion farmed biodynamically.
3/4 of production  vinified in barrel with indigenous yeasts.
None go through malo
NV:
Brut Réserve
NV BdB:
Les Beaux Regards
NV BdN:
Vallée de la Marne Rive Gauche (meunier, vines planted in 1969 in vineyard of Les Misy
Vintage:
Le Cran (PN & Chard)
Campania Remensis (PN & Chard, rosè)

Question 5

Billecart-Salmon

Answer 5

Grande Vallée
Making champagne in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ since 1818. Brothers Francçois & Antoine Roland-Billecart are 7th generation.
NV:
Blanc de Blancs
(blended from GC villages of Avize, Cramant, Chouilly & Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.
Vintage:
Blanc de Blancs (more selective but same terroirs as above)
Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart (prestige cuvée, 60% PN/40% chard)
Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon (Rosé counterpart to above)
Clos Saint-Hilaire (single vineyard, Mareuil)

Question 6

Bollinger

Answer 6

Grand Vallée
Most prominent producer in Aÿ
Grand Année
Grand Année R.D. (pioneered idea of late-released vintages with extended lees aging)
Vielles Vignes Françaises (BdN, ungrafted vines)
Grand Année Rosé
La Côte aux Enfants (still, red Coteaux Champenois)

Question 7

Pascal Doquet

Answer 7

Côte des Blancs
Established Vertus estate in 2004 after making champagne under parent’s label, Doquet-Jeanmaire
Farms 30 acres (12ha)
Keeps permanent cover crops in his vineyards, encouraging biodiversity
NV:
Horizon (Bdb from Vitryat)
Premier Crus (Vertus, Bergères-les-Vertus, and Le Mont Aimé in the Cote des Blancs)
Le Mesnil-sur-Oger
Vintage:
Le Mont Aimé (sleek, marked by flintiness)
Vertus (from selection of best mid-slope parcels, body & richness)
Le Mesnil-sur-Oger (vines up to 90yo, power and finesse, greater depth and complexity than above)

Question 8

Doyard

Answer 8

Côte des Blancs
12th generation winegrower, Charles Doyard
Biodynamic, old vines, oak
NV BdB:
Cuvée Vendémiare (blend of Vertus, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Avize & Cramant)
Cuvée Revolution (blend of Avize,
Oger, Cramant & Le Mesnil-sur-Oger)
VIntage:
Blanc de Blancs (mostly Avize, and Cramant, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, and Oger)
Oeil de Perdrix (‘barely’ rosé, PN pressed very slowly, silky & fragrant)
Clos de l’Abbaye (Chard planted in 1956, farmed biodynamically and blowed by horse)
La Libertine (doux champagne, light effervescents and elevated sweetness alludes to wines of 18th century)