Connoisseur: Speaking Volumes

Underscoring quality over numbers, Champagne Jacquesson has secured its place in history—even in the face of a corporate buyout.

By Belinda Aucott-christie 10/12/2024

Champagne Jacquesson has come of age. With greater finesse than any other fledgling house, the brand has reinvented itself. By placing a priority on high-quality grapes, it has forged a style that embraces a fuller bodied elegance.

For connoisseurs building up a cellar, Jacquesson is a must-have luxury. The Cuvée 700 is its flagship Champagne, and the house is often referred to as a “baby Krug” in wine circles as their base wines are matured in cask and then sold in a blended style.

Don’t be fooled by the minimal packaging, though: for over 20 years, Jacquesson has captured the attention of those in-the-know for its prudent vineyard management which allows for a terrific expression of terroir. Based in the French village of Dizy, the label’s output stands apart for the character and concentration of its fruit. Their wines consistently deliver a mouth-filling Champagne that’s beautifully balanced, as complex as a white Burgundy and full of delectable chalk. Admired above all for its brave decision-making in the vineyards, Jacquesson now has 19 hectares being farmed using organic methods.

Champagne critic and author Tyson Stelzer has followed the label’s trailblazing, anti-establishment ascent more than most. “Jacquesson has done more to dramatically shift production than almost any other small producer,” he says. “They made a massive revolution by tearing up contracts with most of their growers and slashing production. They did the exact opposite of every other house for the sake of upholding quality. And now their wines have exceptional depth and character from large-format, open vinification and well-managed, mostly, estate vineyards.”

Perhaps it’s the house’s formidable elegance, expressive style and long ageing capacity that helped them to attract a buyer, when it was acquired by the François Pinault-owned Chateau Latour in December 2022. With a strategy to stay small but beautiful, Pinault’s holding company Artémis Domaines seeks to purchase land with unique terroir all over the world. It currently holds some of the most prestigious estates in the world, across Burgundy, Bordeaux, Napa Valley and now, Champagne. Highlights include Château Latour in Pauillac, Clos D’Eugenie and Clos de Tart—both in Burgundy—and Château-Grillet located in Rhône Valley.

Jean Garandeau, Managing Director of Artémis Estates. Photo by Brice Braastad

Jean Garandeau, managing director of Artémis Domaines, says that although the holding company is ultimately owned by the luxury conglomerate Kering, it’s business as usual at Jacquesson.

“Yann Le Gall and Mathilde Prier still form the core of the winemaking team despite ownership changes. They are young, talented and very naturally leaders in their field, so clearly there was no point to change them,” he says in his serious French tone.

Granadeau knows only too well what people will think; that the best vintages of Jacquesson are behind them. But he refutes the idea resolutely. “We don’t want to grow the company,” he says. “We don’t want to change the boutique-style positioning of the brand at all. We prefer to do less but to make the best quality possible. The first priority at Jacquesson is to always make sure that the best possible fruit is held for the Cuvée 700, and if we realise that this cuvée can live on its own without specific plots then we can look to bottle some single vineyard wine, but this is not something we are doing every year.”

This distinction is an important one. It means that single-varietal, single-plot and single-vintage wines from Jacquesson are rare, more sought after and only eventuate in excellent years when quality and quantity allow. These wines have been known to be exceptional, the kind collectors and drink-now connoisseurs lust for.

“Running after volumes is really not our strategy,” insists Garandeau. “We are really much more focused on the singularity of the wines and of course the quality. We want to share the emotions of these wines with the universe.”

And we want what they are bottling in our glass.

Champagne Jacquesson

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