Histoire de Famille (2023)

Histoire de Famille is the house's all-Meunier cuvée, drawn from Damery, Vandières and Verneuil - three communes of the Vallée de la Marne Rive Droite where Meunier is the dominant planting. Per the Union des Maisons de Champagne, Verneuil is 255 of 356 hectares Meunier, Vandières 170 of 239, Damery 250 of 416.

This release is built on the 2023 harvest (75%) topped up with 25% from the estate's perpetual reserve, a solera running from 2005 through 2022. The producer's fiche technique for the cuvée gives stainless steel and a light filtration before tirage; the back label confirms malolactic non recherchée, a house rule since the 2012 vintage. Bottled April 2024 and disgorged June 2025, so roughly 14 months on lattes; the producer's fiche technique for the cuvée specifies 30 months and disgorgement three to six months before release, so this bottle left the cellar early against the house spec. Dosage 5 g/L, 12.5% abv.

The sweetness designation moved between releases. At the same 5 g/L, the 2022-base bottle was labelled Brut and this one is labelled Extra-Brut; both readings sit inside the extra-brut band, so the earlier call was simply the conservative one. A demi-sec version of the same cuvée is dosed at 32 g/L.

2023 in Champagne was a very large crop. Near-perfect flowering and steady rain through the season pushed average bunch weights to around 225 g, close to 30% above the previous record set in 2005. August then alternated heavy showers with muggy heat, bringing grey rot and mildew pressure that hit the heavily loaded Meunier and Pinot Noir hardest, and the first ten days of September ran at 35C and above. Growers generally reported clean fruit at 10 to 11 degrees potential alcohol with moderate acids, but selection in the vineyard mattered more than usual.