Champagne Pierre Péters | Le Mesnil Sur Oger

Based in Le Mesnil-Sur-Oger, in the heart of the Côte des Blancs, Champagne Pierre Péters, is one of the most renowned producers of Blanc de Blancs champagnes and one of the first growers to start selling their own champagnes in 1919.

Sixth-generation grower Rodolphe Péters took over the running of the family estate from his father François in 2008, having been involved in the assemblage since 2000. He initiated the house’s ‘perpetual reserve’ of reserve wines in the late 1990s. A graduate in oenology and business, Roldolphe believes that “a good winemaker must listen to his raw materials”, trusting the quality of the exceptional soils of the Côte des Blancs to bring a natural tension in his wines and therefore practising minimal intervention in the winery.

Pierre Péters own 82 plots over nearly 20 hectares of sustainably-managed vineyards. Sixteen hectares lie within the Côte des Blancs, primarily in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, as well as the other prized villages of Avize, Cramant, Oger and Vertus. The plots are distinguished by their soils, which range from limestone to argile à silex in composition and give very different styles of wines. The domaine also owns three hectares of vineyards near Sézanne and one in the Côte des Bars.

The Champagne Cuvée de Réserve is Pierre Péters’ signature wine, and as such is a blend of all the plots of the domaine. It includes 50% reserve wines and spends at least two years on lees. The nose is powerful, displaying saline and flint aromas at first, followed by white fruits. The palate has an elegant texture with vibrant notes of hazelnuts and fresh almonds.

The Champagne Extra Brut and Grande Réserve are made with base wines from Le Mesnil-Sur-Oger, Oger, Cramant and Avize (75-80% of the blend) and a selection of the best reserve wines (20-25% of the blend). The Extra Brut receives a dosage of 2 g/l, whereas the Grande Réserve receives 5 g/l. The former has a floral character and is a purer style of blanc de blancs, while the latter is more opulent and calls for food such as risotto or rich fish dishes.

The Champagne Réserve Oubliée is made solely with reserve wines, selected by Rodolphe from the best parcels of his perpetual reserve then bottled on the cork, which he believes results in a better integrated mousse. Exclusive to restaurants and hotels, this cuvée shows freshness and tension despite a more evolved character thanks to the age of the ‘perpetual reserve’.

Champagne Les Chétillons is the domaine’s celebrated single-vineyard. It is sourced from three parcels of old vines within the Les Chétillons ‘lieu-dit’, which lies on an east-northeast facing hillside in Le Mesnil-Sur-Oger. The soil here is rich in limestone, resulting in very powerful and long-lived wines.

Les Montjolys single-vineyard cuvée comes from seven parcels within the only site in Le Mesnil-Sur-Oger where argile à silex is found. The deep clay soils give Les Montjolys its richer, smokier character and more rounded, creamy texture. It is usually more approachable at an earlier stage than Les Chétillons.

CHAMPAGNE PIERRE PÉTERS