Gaspard Brochet, a new Domaine based in the village of Ecueil, is making some of the most distinctive and delicious Champagnes in the Montagne de Reims. Gaspard was born in 1995 and while his father made wine under the Vincent Brochet label, he is also the nephew of famed producer Emmanuel Brochet. Gaspard took over a portion of his father’s domaine in 2017 and started making wine in a garage adjacent to the family home. The first releases, in tiny quantities were in this old cellar, packed with barrels until the renovation of his father’s winery was completed just before harvest of 2023. Today, Gaspard makes wine from 3.2 hectares in Ecueil, Villers aux Noeuds (Mont Benoit!), and Sacy. These wines are individual in style and in his interpretation of these villages and vineyards.
The vineyards here are spectacular, with some of his 14 parcels planted in the 1950s and 60s. Gaspard is a very unusual person; he loves vintage BMW cars and racing, and his background as an artist has been an advantage in creating his distinctive labels. He’s very passionate about wine (“especially Bourgogne!”) but has never had any formal training. Gaspard has figured out his path in winemaking through experimentation, trial and error, intuition, and following his own logic. Each year, the wines get better as he further develops his own singular style.
Grapes are picked with high maturity and pressed in a traditional 4,000kg basket press. The press cycle and amount of time varies by vintage, variety and vineyard. “Each is unique” Gaspard says. The must flows down, by gravity, into two, custom stainless-steel tank. A small amount of sulfur is used in the press, but not during elevage. After pressing, the must rests in stainless steel for a short period, again, depending on the vintage. From there, the must goes directly into barrels of different sizes and ages, according to site and variety where they ferment spontaneously. There is a high proportion of new wood at this estate, which was a necessity for starting from scratch. Gaspard says “I want to make sure that the wood is very clean, so if you want to be sure, you have to start with new wood, where you know everything that has been inside”.
The cellar is frigidly cold and malo is not encouraged and happens very rarely. Interestingly, there is quite a lot of bâtonnage done at the estate, though you wouldn’t “feel” this in tasting. Brochet doesn’t have a rule for each wine; it’s done by feeling. For some wines, bâtonnage is done every week, sometimes more, sometimes less. Bottling is done in late summer, by the lunar calendar with 19g for the tirage and always agrafe, bottled under cork. This results in slightly lower atmospheric pressure and disgorgement is normally done 24 months or so after bottling. All the wines for each release are disgorged by hand at the end of winter and released in summer: “When the wines are released, they are ready to drink” he says.
The wines are, with few exceptions, from single plots and a single vintage. The labels, designed by Gaspard with drawings by illustrator Kevin KDT, are beautiful depictions of animals each with a different meaning or association. Uniquely, since he made no parcellaires cuvées in the 2021 vintage, the labels for the blends feature grapes and clusters impacted by the relentless disease pressure of the vintage. They are a nod to antique botanical lithographs, and they are beautiful. Gaspard uses the word Tome on his labels as we would use the word Volume, indicating how many different vintages of each wine he has produced.
The ‘333’ cuvee is his non-vintage wine, each with a different drawing of an important person in his life. “Three is an important number – three varieties -- Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Meunier -- three villages of Ecueil, Sacy, and Villers-aux-Noeuds, and always three vintages blended,” Gaspard says. The three oldest wines in the range are the Magpie (Pie), Donkey (Âne) and Lion. Gaspardsays: “Dionysus created the vine from the bone of the lion, magpie, and donkey. When you drink too much, you speak like a magpie, you can be dumb like a donkey, and courageous like a lion.” The Magpie is Chardonnay from Les Près Mousseux in Ecueil, planted in 1989. The Lion is Pinot Noir from Le Mont Benoit in Villers-aux-Noeuds, planted in 1985. The Donkey is an assemblage of half Chardonnay and half Pinot Noir, from two parcels in Ecueil called Les Plantes and Les Beaux Bras, co-fermented and aged in small barrels. The Fox (Reynard) is named for his father, coming from his oldest vines in Eceuil, Les Croix de Bas. The Sheep (Mouton) is a very rare rosé, which comes from a plot “La Montagne” Meunier planted in 1994. The Pig (Cochon) is a Pinot Noir from Sacy, a parcel called Les Eaux Belles, planted in 1988.
This small domaine produces only 8,000 bottles per year and we’re elated to be working with this dynamic producer!