Champagne Jean Vignier

Nathalie Vignier is the 10th generation of grape growers in the Champagne region, and the 6th in the grand cru village of Cramant. After the first World War her grandfather, Jean Lebrun, wanted to become independent from the negociants who had been buying his grapes for blending, and with only 2 hectares of vines started out on his own. When Nathalie and her brother Jean took over the estate they were able to enlarge the vineyard to 16.5 hectares through a collaboration with an old family friend, Sebastien Nickel who owned land in the Côte de Sézanne. Together they started a mission to understand their terroirs and express them in a series of micro cuvées faithful to their origins. The whole range is blanc de blancs from chardonnay from first press juice only, with full malolactic, long ageing, and notably low dosage resulting in extra brut or nature wines. The Côte des Blancs vines were planted between 1950 and 2010 in the grand crus of Cramant, Chouilly and Oiry, and are now cultivated without pesticides or herbicides. Harvesting is late to obtain fully ripe chardonnay capable of long ageing. The cuvée Ora Alba grand cru offers a fine expression of these poor mineral soils. The Côte de Sézanne is a continuation of the Cretaceous chalk outcrop of Côte des Blancs although with heavier soils and the extra dimension offered by the presence of silex, notable in the Vignier vineyards. The Silexus Sezannensis cuvée gives expression to this complex site. Further cuvées available continue the idea of bottling single parcels to capture their essence. A fantastic addition to our portfolio.