Domaine Dame Jeanne

Jeanne Piollot grew up at the southern edge of Champagne in the Aube, closer to Burgundy than to the Côte des Blancs or Reims. After working in the cellar alongside her parents, Roland Piollot and Dominique Moreau of Champagne Piollot and Marie Courtin, Jeanne decided to create her own domaine with Dame Jeanne. With the prohibitive rise of Champagne prices over the last generation, acquiring new vines in Champagne seemed elusive, so the family decided to purchase a small domaine in Molesme, just 20km away over the border into Burgundy. By law, the wines have to be vinified and bottled in Burgundy, so Jeanne took over the winemaking and farming with her partner, Gennaro de Miccoli. The vineyards of Molesme are well known for producing excellent sparkling wines, as they are located so close to the border of Champagne. Advice from Champagne was of course quite welcome, and Jeanne and Gennaro followed similar farming practices used by her family for decades, working organically and with no herbicides, pesticides, or synthetic chemicals. In the cellar, Jeanne and Gennaro have their own vision for the wines they want to create. They use minimal extraction and sulfur to craft 'vins de soif' that live somewhere between Chablis and Champagne. Both the sparkling and still wines are equally compelling and are exciting new additions from this often overlooked and lost corner nestled between two famous regions.