Éphémère

Éphémère is a numbered series of one-off Champagnes, conceived in 2014 by Frédéric Savart together with four friends, with the first releases reaching the French market in 2019. Every edition carries a number, is bottled once and is never made again, so once an edition sells out that wine is gone - which is the point of the name.

The project owns no vineyards. Its importer describes it as buying fruit or finished wine from selected growers, largely in grand cru villages of the Côte des Blancs and in the Montagne de Reims, and dosing low, generally extra brut or brut nature. The wines are elaborated at Sillery by Drémont Père & Fils under that house's négociant-manipulant matriculation, NM-717-001, which is what allows the series to buy in fruit at all.

Most editions carry Savart's name alone; some pair him with a guest vigneron as co-selector, whose name then joins his on the front label. It is worth being precise about that role: the guest selects, the wine is elaborated at Sillery, and published sources do not define how far the collaboration extends past selection.