Champagne C.H. Piconnet
Region
Champagne
Vineyard
Champagne C.H. Piconnet is a family estate in Neuville-sur-Seine, in the Côte des Bar, the southernmost part of Champagne and close to the Burgundy border. The domaine was built by Charles Piconnet and his son Hubert, who spent more than twenty years planting and tending their vines from scratch. In 2014, Clément, Charles's grandson, and his partner Agathe took over and built the estate's new winery: a striking wing-shaped building designed with Clément's sister Lise. All vines are farmed organically, certified Ecological. Vineyard work is done by hand throughout the season, including pruning, thinning, and selective leaf removal to expose the grapes to the morning sun.
Winemaking
"First the grape, because there is no good wine without beautiful grapes." That is how Charles put it, and it still drives everything at the estate. Clément, who trained at the wine school in Avize (Champagne) and Changins (Switzerland) and worked in Burgundy, Switzerland, and Australia before coming home, keeps the cellar work as simple as possible. Grapes are pressed directly for the white cuvées. The Pinot Noir for the rosé is briefly macerated to extract colour before blending. Everything ferments in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. Blends are assembled in March and bottled in April. Every wine in the current range is released with zero dosage (Brut Nature): no sugar added, just what the grapes give.
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