Jean-Pierre Marniquet

This is a grower-producer at Venteuil, on the right bank of the Vallée de la Marne. The Coutelas family has grown vines in the village since 1747, and Pierre Coutelas, Jean-Pierre Marniquet's maternal grandfather, made the first champagnes under the family's own name in 1929. Jean-Pierre, born in 1951, took the estate on in 1974 after his father's death and carried it from two hectares to the seven farmed today, almost all of them around the village itself. Venteuil is rated 89% on the échelle des crus. His daughters Cyrielle and Solène now run the house, which bottles as Marniquet & Filles, with their father advising.

The vines lie on clay and limestone with good natural drainage, on slopes above the river. Jean-Pierre grouped the parcels together in one place rather than scattering them across the region, which is the more usual arrangement in Champagne. Meunier leads here, as it does along this stretch of the Marne, with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir beside it.

Responsible farming began in 1997 and chemical soil fertilisers have been off the estate since 2010; the rows carry a natural grass cover, the harvest is by hand, and the house holds both Haute Valeur Environnementale and Viticulture Durable en Champagne certification. Six beehives went in in 2019, with a 250-metre melliferous hedge and an orchard of twenty-five fruit trees. Expect the Marne Valley's orchard fruit and gentle breadth: apple and citrus, white flowers, a little brioche from time on lees. Arcana Cabinet lists seven bottlings: Brut Tradition, in bottle and in half-bottle; the Brut Nature, bottled without dosage; Blanc de Blancs both as a non-vintage Brut, including magnums, and as a millésime; the Brut Millésimé Réserve; the prestige Cuvée Éclat; and the Vieille Fine de la Marne, the region's grape brandy, distilled from the estate's own wine, aged at least four to five years in oak barrel and bottled at 40%.