Champagne may be the most well-known wine region in the world, yet it has a side that surprisingly few people know about. The most exciting of these hidden wonders is Cédric Bouchard’s tiny estate in the sleepy village of Celles-sur-Ource. Far from Champagne’s famous areas of Montagne de Reims and Cote des Blancs, the estate is producing some of the most sought-after ‘grower Champagnes’ in the world, and Cédric is one of the exciting young winemakers in the region.

Although born into a winemaking family, Cédric decided to head in a different direction and made his way to Paris. But after discovering his own passion for wine while working as a sommelier, he returned to Champagne to begin his own estate.

Beginning with just one hectare of land which was north facing and very hard to farm, Cédric began to make wine in a very different way to every other producer in Champagne. He decided to break every rule in the book: making single vineyard, single variety, single vintage wines with low pressure and zero dosage. By farming organically and harvesting less than half the yield than is typical in the region, his focus is on perfection.

Cédric makes seven wines from six different parcels and his production is tiny. The domaine averages just a few hundred bottles for the top selections. After suffering a stroke in 2014, Cédric has become even more focused on creating world-class wine, and is making some of the purest wines that you are likely to drink, in Champagne, or anywhere in the world for that matter.

http://champagne-rosesdejeanne.fr