With Easter just around the corner, our Grower Champagne Club members have this month received a selection of fine gastronomic champagnes because—let’s face it—there will be no shortage of delicious food this holiday season and plenty of opportunity to open a bottle or two to accompany it!
This March, we’re thrilled to bring our members into the world of Champagne Dehours & Fils—a grower-producer with a fascinating history in the Vallée de la Marne, and whose cuvées are perennially sought out worldwide for their unique, bold and robust expression of terroir.
The origin of the Maison is a profound and passionate tale of tragedy and destiny that ultimately saw third-generation vigneron Jérôme Dehours reset the course of the Estate and establish himself as one of the godfathers of Meunier in Champagne.
Founded in 1930 by Jérôme’s grandfather, Ludovic, in Cerseuil (a small village located on the left bank of the Marne River (i.e., south of the river) in the Vallée de la Marne), the Domaine was further developed by Jérôme’s father, Robert, in the 1970s, who passed away suddenly at the age of 50 in 1987. Just 21 years of age at the time, Jérôme was not yet ready to take over the family business, so the family decided to join a financial group.
After a short period studying in Avize and Beaune, Jérôme joined the family Estate, working with the partners for a few years before buying back full control of the property in 1996 with the help of his brother-in-law, Jean-Marc Laisné. Together, they set to work rejuvenating the land, focusing on sustainable viticulture with the sole aim of expressing the diversity of their terroirs.
Hailing from an impressive line of innovative producers (Ludovic was one of the appellation’s first independent winegrowers, while Robert was a forerunner in developing the idea of reserve wines in the 1970s), Jérôme was always destined for greatness. Deeply inspired by the legendary Anselme Selosse, Jérôme focused on expressing the diversity of each of his sustainably managed plots, becoming one of the first vignerons to produce plot-specific, or lieu-dit, wines in 1999.
Never one to settle for convention and typicity, Jérôme harnessed the Domaine’s predominant grape, Meunier, at a time when larger Champagne Houses considered it a lesser varietal, creating some of the most unique and compelling champagnes that exist on the market to this day. Driven by his unwavering dedication to championing Champagne’s authenticity and freedom, Jérôme also founded Les Artisans du Champagne, a highly regarded winegrowers’ association that counts Champagne Huré Frères, JM Sélèque, Nicolas Maillart, Pierre Gerbais, Pierre Péters and Vilmart & Cie among its members.
To this day, Jérôme keeps separate perpetual reserves—one for the main blended cuvée, Grande Réserve, which dates back to 1998, and many individual reserves for each of his single-vineyard cuvées, starting in 2013—bringing copious energy, balance and a structural, vinous complexity to the Estate’s terroir-centric champagnes.
With just 80,000 bottles produced each year, Champagne Dehours & Fils is the epitome of boutique grower champagne, emblematic in its distinctive style and evergreen in its enduring freshness, richly expressive of heart, soul and vine—and we couldn’t be more pleased to have secured a limited case of Jérôme’s latest champagne arrivals for our members this month as his story truly resonates with both the joy and celebration, and the renewal and rebirth, of Easter.
An elegant aperitif-style cuvée, Grande Réserve presents a delicious character study of Meunier, the crown jewel of the Marne Valley and a historical icon of the Champagne Dehours & Fils vineyards. Perfect with charcuterie and cheese as a party starter.
Showing a soft, pillowy delicacy, the Meunier-based Œil de Perdrix is a champagne rosé in the traditional style, and is best enjoyed as an aperitif or paired with fruit salads and refreshing desserts.
Plush, mature and seamless, La Côte is a single-village expression that brings together Meunier, Pinot noir and Chardonnay from four vineyards located on the left bank of the Marne River, where the weather is cooler. A fascinating cuvée of character and cadence—unreserved and rhythmic.
Brisefer is a rich and vinous lieu-dit cuvée that forms an integral part of Jérôme’s visionary single-vineyard series. As one of the first vignerons to use a terroir-driven parcel approach, Jérôme first crafted Brisefer in 1999, setting a high standard for other plot-specific expressions to come.
Maisoncelle is another lieu-dit cuvée from Jérôme’s single-vineyard series. An energetic 100% Pinot noir champagne of profound persistence and buoyant complexity, Maisoncelle boasts a long and mineral-backed finish that beams across the palate.
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