This is one of the most exciting rising stars in the grower Champagne scene. Pierric Brochet is a young and dynamic grower who inherited his father’s vines alongside his sister Madeleine, who does her own bottling. His winery and vineyards are based in Taissy, in the Montagne de Reims, where potential is huge. Pre-phylloxera, this was a Grand Cru village.
Pierric worked under Jacques Selosse for a short stint, inspiring him to create Champagne in a similar style. He is all about non-interventionist practices in both the vineyard and in winemaking. The words filtration, chapitalisation and stabilisation do not exist here: only indigenous yeasts are used. Wines are aged in a variety of large oak and no steel tanks. In the vineyard, Pierric has stopped ploughing; he only cuts the grass twice per year, leaving maintenance to sheep in the vineyards instead. This results in lower yields, but higher concentration. The overall result is a style of Champagne that’s slightly more reductive, akin to the Selosse style.
Pierric is still developing his range of Champagnes, but his bread-and-butter cuvées are his entry level Premices, alongside his Solera style cuvée named Autochtome. There will be plenty more cuvées to come in approaching years.
