Champagne Cedric Bouchard

Cedric Bouchard is a young grower who has become the poster-child for single vineyard, single variety, single vintage, no dosage Champagne - a man who has categorically rejected blending and has established a new paradigm for micro-production, terroir-driven Grower Champagne.

Bouchard had a rapid rise to Champagne stardom. Having only started his own label in 2000 after a stint as a sommelier in Paris, he quickly earned a reputation as one of Champagne’s most talented young wine producers, and was awarded the title of Champagne’s finest winemaker for the year 2008 by the Gault & Millau.

His approach in the vineyards seeks to maximise quality every step of the way. Additionally, he farms organically, dramatically restricts yields (among the lowest in Champagne), and places extra emphasis on picking at the optimum moment. 

Rather than blending different sources and vintages to make a single cuvee, as is the long-standing norm in Champagne, Bouchard prefers to make a wine that is representative of the vintage and place of origin. He seeks to create individual wines of great character each year from his single vineyard bottling. Each wine is made only from juice from the first pressing, fermented only with indigenous yeast and handled meticulously in the cellar to guarantee the finest wines possible. He believes in a long, slow and cool second fermentation which creates smaller, finer bubbles.

The domaine continues to grow and evolve. Bouchard increased his holdings by combining 1.37 hectares of vines previously owned by his father, with his own assortment of prime parcels. Although his father's holdings were originally bottled under the Inflorescence label, beginning in 2014 all cuvees were bottled under the Roses de Jeanne label.