The Champagne Geoffroy winery is in Ay, on the north-east edge of Epernay, but the Geoffroy family’s heart is a few miles west in Cumieres. Since the 17th century, members of the clan have grown grapes in this village on the edge of the Montagne de Reims and the family’s parcels of land here still form the centrepiece of its mosaic of 35 plots, scattered across 14 acres to the north of the Marne river. 

For centuries, like most growers in Champagne, the Geoffroys sold to negociants. Then, in the 1950s, husband and wife Roger and Juliette took the plunge into winemaking. Sadly Roger Geoffroy died suddenly, far too young. His son took over, changing the name to Champagne Rene Geoffroy, and expanding the ownership of vines to parcels on the slopes of Damery, Hautvilliers and Fleury la Rivière. The current owner and chief winemaker, Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy, joined his father in the profession in the 1980s and gradually took more control in the 1990s - although he ended the practice of superseding his father’s name and changed it to the inclusive Champagne Geoffroy.

The family doesn’t adhere to a specific farming code. It is not specifically organic or...

The Champagne Geoffroy winery is in Ay, on the north-east edge of Epernay, but the Geoffroy family’s heart is a few miles west in Cumieres. Since the 17th century, members of the clan have grown grapes in this village on the edge of the Montagne de Reims and the family’s...