Saint Chamant
Christian Coquillette
épernay
côte des blancs - champagne
story…
Founded in 1930 by Pierre and Hélène Coquillette intended to be a more premier label counterpart to their Pierre Coquillette label. No one is quite sure when they first started bottling their own wines, but we do know that they were already showing the Pierre labeled wines at a fair in 1928 in Paris. In 1950 the Saint-Chamant estate was taken over by Pierre & Hélène’s son, Christian. Although the vast majority of their vines are located in Chouilly, the estate itself is based just to the west in Épernay, It is a somewhat unassuming looking estate from the outside but it houses over a mile-long collection of cellars that date back 500+ years.
The United States was the first to receive wines from this estate outside of France, they began working with their importer here, Martine’s in 2008.
Sadly in early 2020 Christian Coquillette, the long time head of this estate passed away. His son Stéphane has now assumed control of the estate and will oversee the wine production here along with his own label and estate Stéphane Coquillette.
farming & Philosophy…
Farming is all done under organic practices, however the estate does not hold any certifications. All vineyard work and harvest is done by hand.
Work in the cellar is very traditional, fermentations take place in tank as does the aging. Christian was a firm believer in extended lees aging, all of the wines are left on the lees in bottle until they receive a PO for the wines. They are then disgorged to order, something that is particularly unique for any producer in Champagne.
Vineyards…
Saint-Chamant is a Chardonnay specialist, over 90% of their holdings are planted to Chardonnay with the remainder of their vines being planted to Pinot Meunier. Only a portion of their vines are in their home village of Épernay, the vast majority are located just to the east in Chouilly. They have just over 28 acres of vineyards in total.
