From quiet masters to young savages: My most exciting new discoveries and highlights from the Printemps des Champagnes 2025 – pure, precise, poetic.
Max Kaindl, May 5, 2025
Reading time about 7 minutes
Le Printemps des Champagnes 2025: My Discoveries and Highlights
My discoveries
Marie Copinet – Chalk Meets Conviction
What Marie-Laure and Alexandre Copinet are creating in Le Sézannais is nothing short of a chalk-based masterpiece. Their Champagnes are like a fencing foil—precise, sinewy, elegant. The élevage? A playground for texture: amphorae, eggs, acacia, 300L barrels—all sourced locally, all purposefully chosen. Even the yeasts come from their own plots. Think biodiversity is just a buzzword? Take a look at the beehives, insect hotels, and ladybug habitats in their vineyards. You can taste it. Every sip of their cuvées is a poetically refined expression of soil, time, and mindset.
Carré Frères – Chardonnay with Character, Not Flash
Édouard Carré? The rising blonde star in the Chardonnay sky—young, bold, uncompromising. His 21 hectares? A mosaic of old vines in Trépail, Verzy, and Les Riceys. It sounds like music and drinks even better. Wild fermentation, demi-muids, biodiversity without bio-preaching. The single-vineyard Le Champ Jéanvrai? A Premier Cru Blanc de Blancs from vines planted in 1964—just 1,503 bottles. This isn’t Champagne. It’s a manifesto.
Sylvie Moreau – Meunier with Soul
Talk to Sylvie and you can hear the roots cracking. Her wines hail from the Val de Marne, shaped by Meunier, and prove: elegance doesn’t need glitter. Craft over gloss. Copper, sulfur, herbal teas, zero herbicides. Minimal sulfur, maximum expression. I was struck by how refined, fragrant, and persistent her cuvées are—nothing rustic, everything finely drawn. A house that gets loud in quietude.
Pascal Mazet – Organic Before It Was Cool
Certified organic since 2009—an act of Champagne pioneering. Old barrels, at least five years on the lees, no gimmicks. This is winemaking, not marketing. Olivier Mazet runs the show now—and how. The style? Warm, ripe, full of finesse. No greenwashing, just deep-rooted belief. And you taste that in every drop.
Emmanuel Brochet – 2.5 Hectares of Rebellion
Le Mont Benoît is Brochet’s stage—a single biodynamically farmed plot pulsing with energy. His wines? Grip, tension, soul. No nonsense, no filtration, no malolactic fermentation. But full of vibrancy, depth, and unforgettable length. Brochet’s no showman—but his Champagnes speak volumes. Quietly. And with force.
Bardiau – Portlandian Power
Verpilliers-sur-Ource. Never heard of it? Exactly why you need to try Bardiau. Jérémy Bardiau has what so many seek: terroir that plays by different rules. Portlandian instead of Kimmeridgian. Limestone that makes your tongue dance. His single vineyards “La Croix Maître Anne” (Chardonnay) and “Besace” (Pinot Noir) are like two sides of the same coin: vibrant, mineral, complex. Still a hidden gem—but not for long.
My highlights
Aurore Casanova – A Dance with Texture
Ballet was her first life. Champagne is her second—and what a life it is. Aurore Casanova combines elegance and precision in a way that’s rare to taste. Her cuvées feel choreographed: graceful, clear, yet deep and focused. Not a gram too much, not a move without purpose. What she expresses on 8 hectares across Mesnil, Champvoisy, and Puisieulx is high art. Biodynamic, characterful, brimming with inner tension. If Champagne can be a pas de deux—this is it.
Huré Frères – Ludes Teaches Humility
Visiting François Huré wasn’t a flashy event—but it left a mark. There’s no polishing here—just refinement. Everything from Ludes demands your attention. Not Champagne for Instagram, but for people who listen. Mémoire, drawn from a perpetual reserve dating back to 1982, is more than a wine—it’s liquid memory. No malo, lots of freshness, no compromises. Huré doesn’t aim to please. And that’s precisely why I love it.
Jules Brochet – A Selosse Student with His Own Voice
Pierric Brochet learned from Jacques Selosse—and you can tell. But he’s no imitator. In Taissy, south of Reims, he’s forged his own language. The wines: clear, deep, calmly precise. Biodynamic? Yes. Wild fermentations? Yes. But never ideological—always conviction-driven. A young vigneron with vision. And one of the few who truly master the balance between complexity and drinkability.
Bourgeois-Diaz – Champagne’s Other End
Crouttes-sur-Marne. Where the forest begins, the mainstream ends. Jérôme Bourgeois doesn’t make wine—he makes character. His 6.8 hectares are biodynamic in the textbook sense; his wines, completely unmasked. Old basket press, wild yeasts, zero filtration—nothing gets in the way. The style? Winey, dense, stony—never loud, never pandering. The “3C” is a crowd-pleaser, the rare cuvées are cult—especially in Japan and Scandinavia. And rightfully so.
Bonnet-Ponson – Chamery’s Quiet Giant
Grégoire Bonnet started in 1862; today, Cyril Bonnet leads the estate—with a radical stylistic shift. No dosage, spontaneous fermentation, zero filtration. Once classic, now defiantly individual. 10 hectares, Premier and Grand Cru parcels, organically farmed. The wines are pure, mineral, with a near-Burgundian draw. Seconde Nature was a statement in 2019—now they’ve arrived. At the top. And on my shortlist.
Etienne Sandrin – The Quiet Master from Celles
Etienne Sandrin might be the most understated star of the Côte des Bar. A former lawyer, now a biodynamic terroir whisperer with just 4 hectares. No oak, no dosage show, no public fuss. His Champagnes speak softly—but echo long. À travers Celles is bottled energy. Depth, spice, texture, balance. The wines are unique but never showy. Once you get Sandrin, you want more. The problem? There’s barely any to go around.
Domaine Vincey – Grand Cru with Goosebumps
Oger. Mesnil. Avize. If you love Chardonnay, you know the names. Quentin Vincey channels them into the glass with razor-sharp clarity. Biodynamic foundation, no chaptalization, long barrel aging, extended lees contact. These are powerful, elegant chunks of Côte des Blancs—full of drive and finesse. The Extra Brut moves like a Porsche through corners, yet always stays in control. A winemaker with purpose. An estate with a future.
Chartogne-Taillet – The Selosse Spirit Lives On
Alexandre Taillet studied under Anselme Selosse—and you feel it. But he’s carved out his own signature. Merfy, 11 hectares, biodynamic. The style: salty, long, textured, steeped in place. There’s no wine where you taste the soil quite like this. Taillet isn’t a loudspeaker—but his depth is thunderous. These aren’t wines for background sipping. They’re liquid topography. Pure cinema.
Pascal Agrapart – Côte des Blancs in Pure Form
Agrapart is a legend. Period. Avize. Grand Cru. Chardonnay. But not a trace of arrogance. Pascal Agrapart does what others preach: honest craftsmanship, biodynamic farming, wild fermentations, no frills. His cuvées—Minéral, Avizoise, Vénus—are blueprints for how terroir tastes when you don’t interfere. Nearly 40-year-old vines, old barrels, zero additives. Want to understand why Champagne can be world-class? Start here.
Cazé-Thibaut – Vallée de la Marne, Reimagined
Fabien Cazé is young, wild, and razor-sharp. Already a standout at just his second appearance at “Terres et Vins de Champagne”—a feat in itself. His wines? Parcel-specific, wild-fermented, barely sulfured, unfiltered. The style is crystal-clear, saline, structured. And: insanely rare. Just 2.6 hectares, most of it pre-allocated. If you land a bottle, rejoice. If you get to drink one—you won’t forget it.
Pictures: © The Art of Riesling – Maximilian Kaindl
