PHILIPPONNAT – 1522
Vallée de la Marne

Mareuil-Sur-Ay Premier Cr

The Philipponnat family have been growing grapes in Champagne since 1522. The House was founded in 1910 by Pierre Philipponnat. Charles Philipponnat took over in 1999 and has improved the quality and production vastly by implementing smaller oak barrels, keeping different vineyard plots separate and utilizing only the first press.

The jewel in the crown of the House is the historic and iconic 5.5 hectares ‘Clos des Goisses’ vineyard that sits on a steep, south-facing 45° slope starting at the Marne River. This is one of the warmest vineyard sites in all of Champagne and is planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

In 1935 ‘Clos des Goisses’ was the first single vineyard Champagne produced and it would take over 50 years for other Houses to start producing serious Champagne just from a single Clos. Philipponnat applies natural methods to work the soil, hoeing by hand and plowing with horses. The House’s expertise is in its use of the solera process.

This technique is a House tradition; it consists of keeping reserve wines in oak barrels and including them in non-vintage blends (in a proportion of 1/4 to 1/3) and using this blend as a reserve wine for the following blend. This progressive dilution allows every bottle to retain a trace of previous years’ wines since the beginning. Philipponnat was the first Champagne House to indicate the main year used in its nonvintage blends, the dosage, and date of disgorgement on back labels.

LAURENT PERRIER – 1812
Vallée de la Marne

Tours Sur Marne

Established in 1812, Champagne Laurent-Perrier has a long tradition of innovation in Champagne and can be credited with many of the ideas that have defined Champagne production since the mid 20th century. Laurent-Perrier was among the first to introduce stainless steel fermentation tanks to the region in the 1950s, resurrected the non-dosage Champagne category with the introduction of Ultra Brut in 1981, and sparked the revival of non-vintage rosé Champagne in 1968 despite the opinion of other producers that non-vintage rosés were not to be taken seriously. Today, Laurent Perrier’s iconic Cuvée Rosé remains the benchmark for non-vintage rosé champagne. Laurent-Perrier has become one of the international leaders in Champagne based entirely on the quality of the wines and core values as a company.

Laurent-Perrier is still a family-controlled business and makes nothing other than champagne. The house prides itself on quality and consistency, attributable to having only 3 chefs de caves since 1949.

Laurent-Perrier’s house style emphasizes freshness, elegance, and finesse across its entire range of champagnes. None of the wines are aged in oak, and Laurent-Perrier makes fewer single-vintage wines than many other houses.

The art of blending – not just of grapes but of years, as well – is fundamental to champagne. At
Laurent-Perrier, even our prestige cuvée Grand Siècle is never a single vintage wine, but always a blend of three complementary vintage years, essentially “creating”
the perfect year.

BILLECART-SALMON – 1822
Vallée de la Marne

Mareuil-Sur-Ay Premier & Grand Cru

The oldest continuously familyowned Champagne House, Billecart-Salmon was founded in 1818 in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, a small village near Epernay. It was the result of a marriage between Nicolas François Billecart and Elisabeth Salmon. At their side was Louis Salmon, Elisabeth’s brother and a passionate oenologist. Today it is led by seventh generation Mathieu Roland-Billecart.

Billecart-Salmon rigorously cultivates an estate of 100 hectares, and sources grapes from an area totaling 300 hectares across 40 crus of the Champagne region. In the 1950s, the House introduced the technique of cold settling combined with the use of stainless steel tanks for a longer fermentation at a lower temperature. Vinification occurs primarily on small thermoregulated tanks which allows the House to vinify parcels separately, preserving nuances of expression of “terroir”. Low temperature fermentation slows down the process, encouraging aromas to delicately develop and allow the purity of the fruit to be fully expressed; absolute signature of the Billecart-Salmon style: finesse, elegance and balance. Over three years of ageing on lees in the chalk cellars for the non-vintage cuvees and over ten year for the prestige vintage cuvees, the family allows their wines to blossom.

Giving the luxury of time to play its role is also behind the grandeur of Billecart-Salmon champagnes.

VEUVE FOURNY – 1856
Cotes de Blanc

Vertus Premier Cru

Champagne Veuve Fourny & Fils has been an active family domaine since 1856. The estate is located in the prestigious Côte des Blancs, in the premier cru village of Vertus, an appellation that gives them the rare opportunity to grow Pinot Noir as well as Chardonnay. Brothers Charles-Henry and Emmanuel Fourny sustainably farm nearly nine hectares of vineyards and have been carrying on the family wine growing tradition since 1993. Their “Clos Faubourg Notre Dame” is a rare jewel in Champagne, primarily due to the fact that there are few existing clos parcels left in the region.

Veuve Fourny produces classic grower Champagne, raising pedigreed fruit, adhering to high standards, and hand-crafting wines that showcase thechalky terroir of Vertus. Each parcel is vinified individually. The Brut ages in their cellars for two and a half years before release, the vintage Champagne for five years, and the Clos for nine years. The house style at Veuve Fourny is best characterized as classic Côte des Blancs: a fine bead, rich, deep aromatics, and a complex minerality emphasizing freshness and purity. The Fournys believe in minimal dosage for all of their Champagnes, preferring to let the individual terroirs express themselves more clearly. This technique, in addition to their dedication to partial malolactic fermentations in their overall blends, and their decision to age most base wine partially in barrel, all contribute to their unique style.

CANARD DUCHENE – 1868
Montagne de Reims

Ludes

1860 in Ludes, Victor Canard, A cooper, and Léonie Duchêne, from a family of “vignerons” met and fell in love. They got married, and started to make their own champagne. Success came quickly, so they then decided to set up their own Champagne house. They joined their names together, in the true Champagne tradition, and Canard-Duchêne was born. The year was 1868.

In 1890, their son, Edmond Canard took over. He was young, bold, loved champagne, and really understood the new world which was coming up. Under his guidance, Canard-Duchêne became international champagne, especially as one of the Champagnes supplied to the court of Tsar Nicholas II. The relationship has left its mark: from then on, the Canard Duchêne coat of arms has borne the two-headed eagle, emblem of the Russian Imperial Family. The Third generation continues on the same tracks. Since 1930, Victor Canard, the founder’s grandson, gives a new life of the son. After the recent integration of Canard-Duchêne in the privatelyowned group Alain Thiénot, it now occupies a strong position on the French and international markets. From the 300 “crus” in the Champagne region, CanardDuchêne has chosen 60 of them, blending Pinots and Chardonnay, in order to create year after year fruity, balanced and rounded wines.

PAUL BARA – 1860
Montagne de Reims

SPECIAL CLUB CHAMPAGNE

Bouzy Grand Cru

The Montagne de Reims boasts some of the best Pinot Noir in the region—Bouzy is the capital. The key to its inherent greatness lies in its deep, chalky subsoil which imparts intense expression of fruit and great mineral complexity in its grand cru wines. The village of Bouzy and Champagne Paul Bara are practically synonymous. As the published village historian, Paul is indelibly linked to the lore of his hometown. Many call him their most renowned producer, one of the rare récoltants-manipulants in a region inundated with mass-produced wine. These R.M.s, as they are known, are of the few who still grow their own grapes and make their own wines. Champagne Paul Bara is the quintessential example, and is a founding member of Club Trésors de Champagne.

Their impressive cellar is carved entirely out of pure chalk and reaches a depth of over thirty feet below ground. When Paul returned home at the end of World War II, he found these same cellars raided, pillaged of nearly all inventory, and irreverently trashed by the German occupying forces. Of the few bottles that were salvaged, one can still experience the longevity and timeless quality of the Bara’s classic style. When Paul retired, he passed the direction of the estate over to his eldest daughter Chantale. The Baras make their wines by hand with low-yielding vines and good maturity ensured by prolonged bottle aging. An essential reference for understanding the ripe, dry richness of Bouzy.

J. LASSALLE – 1942
Montagne de Reims

SPECIAL CLUB CHAMPAGNE

Chigny-Les-Roses Premier Cru

Jules Lassalle established this family-owned Champagne house in 1942 in the village of ChignyLes-Roses on the Montagne de Reims. He established a signature style of elegant, tightly knit wines.

When he passed away in 1982 his wife, Olga, and their daughter, Chantal Decelle-Lassalle, stepped in and took over the estate, upholding Jules ’high standards and progressively pushing the domaine to the next level. In 2006 Chantal’s daughter, Angéline Templier, joined the estate as winemaker. Their twenty-eightyear tradition of “une femme, un esprit, un style” holds true today more than ever.

Champagne J. Lassalle works with all three varietals authorized in the region (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier) on sixteen hectares of vineyards, all of them premier cru. These tough, hardworking women continue to follow the vinification methods established by Jules in the forties: they use the same wooden basket press he installed in the winery over fifty years ago, pressing and vinifying the individual plots separately. It is one of the rare Champagnes that has been allowed to finish its malolactic fermentation, just like the great whites from the Côte d’Or, and all cuvées are aged extensively once in bottle—even the non-vintage cuvées, which are a minimum of five years old. This results in astonishing complexity and depth from the beginning of their range up to the luxury cuvées.

SPECIAL CLUB CHAMPAGNE

Vertus Premier Cru

Out of the 19,000 growers, only about 5,000 produce Champagne from their own vines. For decades, the larger Champagne houses got all the recognition.

They highlighted their tête de cuvées, featuring blends carefully created from grapes sourced from up to 60 different vineyards.

Until recently, the small independent grower producers flew under the radar. These growers were already applying the same dedication to making each one of their cuvées special. It would take forming a group of producers committed to excellence in all aspects of production. In 1971, a group of the twelve oldest family-run, small Champagne houses banded together to do something about it. This group of twelve created the Club Trésors de Champagne, french for “Treasure Club.”

Since its creation, this club has expanded to include 29 grower Champagne families. In essence, the mission of this group is to showcase the very best vintages of grapes that are most expressive of the unique terroir, and to create awareness of the regions ’originality and incredible abilities to produce some of the best Champagne in the world. In order to be classified as a Special Club Champagne, the cuvée must be produced with grapes from outstanding vintages harvested from the member’s own vineyards.

The cuvée must also be bottled and aged at the member’s estate. The Special Club Champagnes represent the tête de cuvée (the most premier bottle of a grower’s estate) selection for each member

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