🍾 Pierre Gimonnet & Fils

Pierre Gimonnet & Fils is a family Champagne house in Cuis on the Côte des Blancs. According to the house, the Gimonnets were growers in Cuis; the earliest known labels bear the name of Henri Gimonnet in the early 20th century. The 1929 depression ended grape sales to the négociants, and in the early 1930s Pierre Gimonnet issued his first price lists. From 1955 his son Michel pioneered plot-by-plot vinification in small stainless-steel tanks. Today the house is co-run by Olivier and Didier Gimonnet.

According to the house, until 1950 all its vines were in Cuis; today it farms 29.4 ha on the Côte des Blancs, about 13 ha grand cru and 16 ha premier cru: Cuis, Chouilly (including 3 ha at Montaigu, planted in 1951), Cramant (since 1958), Oger (since 2005) and Vertus (since 2008). It buys no grapes and, apart from its rosé, makes only blanc de blancs, even its base brut. Fleuron, described as the estate’s first vintage cuvée, has been made since the 1930s, and the Club Grands Terroirs has been a prestige cuvée since 1971.

Champagne is a wine with a protected designation of origin (PDO). According to the Comité Champagne, the wine ferments a second time in the bottle and matures on the lees for at least 15 months, and for vintage cuvées at least three years. Pierre Gimonnet & Fils is a brand; Champagne is the name of a place. The WHO reminds that there is no safe amount of alcohol that does not affect health.