Coessens

For five generations, the Coessens family has been crafting wines in the village of Ville-sur-Arce in the Côte des Bar. For Jérôme, the decision to become an oenologist and continue the family business came naturally. After seven years working at a major Champagne house, he returned to his native village and founded his own domaine in 2006. But Jérôme wasn't content with simply making Champagne. The winemaker was driven by a profound desire to create wines that would capture the true "taste of the earth" that gave them life. The estate encompasses 6.5 hectares of vineyards divided into parcels. The largest is the monopole Largillier (3.36 hectares). In 2011, Jérôme and his team conducted a comprehensive soil analysis and discovered striking similarities to the famous Kimmeridgian limestone, containing millions of tiny marine fossils. "Our native vineyard is exactly like a Chablis Grand Cru," claims the winemaker. Unlike Chablis however, Largillier is planted exclusively with Pinot Noir vines. Only the harvest from these vines in a given year ultimately becomes Coessens Champagne, with the exception of the "Exogyre" cuvée which uses solera-aged wines. Jérôme studied every square centimeter of the vineyard and identified four distinct wine styles it produces. Accordingly, he divided Largillier into four sub-zones: Minéral (delicate, mineral-driven wines), Fruit (aromatic, fruit-forward), Fleur (fresh, floral), and Matière (wines with pronounced structure). The winemaker blends cuvées from these plots according to each vintage's character and his personal vision, creating up to eight original wine styles. Beyond Champagne, Jérôme produces a symbolic quantity (about 1,000 bottles annually) of still red Coteaux Champenois wine. For this project, he consults with Yves Confuron of Domaine Confuron-Cotetidot in Vosne-Romanée. While adhering to minimal intervention principles in vineyard ecosystems, Jérôme applies organic practices moderately rather than dogmatically.