Guide to Pinot Meunier Champagne

‘Meunier is the most “Champenois” of grapes’, according to Benoît Déhu of La Rue de Noyers.

Of course, he is right. This grape variety is planted over one-third of the vineyard area in Champagne, and yet enjoys a far lower profile than the other Champagne varieties, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Misunderstood and maligned, the variety is rarely planted outside Champagne, yet a new generation of Champagne producers are now singing the praises of this underappreciated variety.

Some of their work is nothing short of spectacular.

Scroll down to see Charles Curtis MW’s 100% Pinot Meunier Champagne tasting notes and scores

The grape’s full name is Pinot Meunier, and it is a mutation of Pinot Noir. It received its name because the leaves appear to have been sprinkled with flour, and Meunier means ‘miller’ in French.

Although closely related to Pinot Noir, many producers in the region refer to it simply as ‘Meunier’ full stop in order to emphasise the grape’s unique identity.

The first reason that it is so widely planted was very evident this year when frost swept through Champagne on the nights of 6-7 April: Chardonnay suffered frost damage, while Meunier, which had not yet budded out, did not.

The growing season is shorter on both ends than Pinot Noir, budding later and ripening earlier. As such, it was often relegated to the bottom of the slope where frost damage can be an issue and to cooler north-facing sites that can sometimes ripen fruit with difficulty.

The newest wave of Meunier enthusiasts, however, can be found throughout the region. 

Sales, too, are skyrocketing.  Tastemakers such as Aline Serva, owner of Au Bon Manger in Reims are smitten, and its popularity grows weekly.  According to Déhu, ‘A week does not go by that I don’t receive an inquiry about Meunier Champagnes’.

The secret of its success is simple: there is an easy, fresh appeal at first and, contrary to received wisdom, Meunier Champagne can age quite well. Despite the ever-higher prices, it is hard to keep the best of them in stock.

Meunier in the glass

Although Champagne made entirely from Meunier is by definition a blanc de noirs, this type of Champagne lacks the vinous nature of many blanc de noirs.

The most salient character of Meunier is a soft, gentle fruitiness – not a bad character in a Champagne.

Aromas tend toward ripe pear, white blossoms, and chamomile.

The grape has slightly lower acidity than Pinot Noir or Chardonnay. Winemakers counter this by blocking malolactic fermentation and by omitting dosage. This keeps the wine fresh, yet Meunier Champagnes are easier to approach in their youth than those based on Pinot Noir or Chardonnay.

A dozen names to know

Tarlant

One of the most innovative domaines in the region, and an excellent place to begin the discovery of 100% Meunier Champagnes. Among the diverse wines they produce, winemaker Benoît Tarlant crafts a wine from vines planted in 1947 by his grandfather in the lieu-dit La Pierre de Bellevue on north-facing slopes overlooking the Marne.

Meunier can lack structure, so Tarlant does not encourage malolactic and adds no dosage, ensuring that the result remains lively and fresh, even after ageing 10 years on the lees.

Dehours

Jérôme Dehours greets visitors to his winery in Mareuil-le-Port in a starkly modern tasting room overlooking the vineyards, with rock and roll playing in the background.

Despite the trendy surroundings, however, these are serious wines. Dehours was one of the first to bottle a single-vineyard wine from Meunier in 1999, Les Genevraux.

The roster of Meunier-only wines has expanded over time and now there are no fewer than seven: three single vineyards, three blends and a rosé. The single-vineyard wines are all fermented on cask on their own selected yeasts and aged in barrel until the summer before tirage.

Christophe Mignon

His vineyards are farmed using organic and biodynamic techniques, although they are not certified. He produces a 100% Meunier blended from grapes from Le Breuil and Festigny in non-vintage, vintage, rosé, and rosé de saignée versions.

Benoit Déhu

Studious and somewhat shy, Déhu makes the wines for the family house of Déhu Père et Fils, but his true passion is his own 1.7ha single vineyard, La Rue des Noyers. This organic-certified vineyard produces four Meunier-only wines: a blanc and a rosé Champagne, and a white and red still wine that bear the appellation Coteaux Champenois.

The Champagnes are fermented and aged in casks made of wood from the local forest, while the Coteaux are destemmed and fermented in stainless steel. These are powerful, vinous wines with plenty of structure that can age for years.

Déhu believes that the secret to making vinous, sinewy wines from Meunier lies in four techniques: biodynamic methods in the vineyard, keeping yields low, cask fermentation, and ageing the base wines in cask on the lees for an extended period.

Bourgeois-Diaz

Jérôme Bourgeois-Diazalso farms biodynamically and is certified by Demeter. His seven-hectare estate is planted to a mix of grapes. Still, he focuses exclusively on Meunier for his Cuvée BD’M is fermented in a combination of stainless steel tanks, casks, concrete vats, concrete and sandstone eggs, and amphora and finished without dosage.

Laherte Frères

Les Vignes d’Autrefois is a selection of the oldest vines, all planted between 1947 and 1953, vinified in cask to give a wine of concentration and intensity. There is also a brightly coloured rosé de saignée called Les Beaudiers, from old-vine Meunier macerated on the skins for 12–14 hours before fermentation in cask.

Geoffroy

Based in the premier cru of Cumières, seventh-generation winemaker Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy crafts a single-vineyard 100% Meunier cuvée from the lieu-dit Les Tiersades. The vineyard lies behind the village in a prime mid-slope location with vines nearly 50 years of age are planted in sandy soils over chalk.

Augustin

Further along the Grande Vallée, on the way to the Montagne de Reims lies the premier cru village of Avenay Val d’Or. Here Marc Augustin employs biodynamic methods to produce his Demeter-certified cuvées along the principles of feng shui. His Cuvée Cœur Saphyr is 100% Meunier vinified in amphora and enamelled steel tanks.

Juillet-Lallement

As one follows the D26 around the Montagne de Reims from Avenay Val d’Or past Bouzy and Ambonnay to Trépail, Verzy and Verzenay, there is remarkably little Meunier, and Pinot Noir has been given pride of place in nearly all the vineyards.

Meunier begins to appear again in Sillery, a north-facing grand cru village. Here, Jean Lallement crafts his innovative cuvée Belle de Juillet Pinot Meunier Grand Cru from the single-vineyard site Les Buissons des Vignes. (Even Moët et Chandon recognised the possibilities of Meunier in Sillery. This iconic house was among the first to release Meunier from a single vineyard site in Sillery in 2001, Les Champs de Romont.)

La Closerie

The Prévost family owns a parcel in the lieu-dit Les Béguines, in the Petite Montagne. This was a tidal zone, with layers of sand mixed with clay, and the sand makes for a warmer terroir, ripening grapes well. Despite this ripeness, technique is important to draw the best out of Meunier.

According to Jérôme Prévost, ‘What I like about Meunier is that it is a bit shy, reserved: for it to have something to say, you have to go in search of it, but you cannot force it.’ Vines propagated via massale selection, picking very ripe fruit and a modest dosage are all essential in his view, but among the most important factors is time. ‘I have noticed that it takes an average of six years after harvest for optimal expression of the vintage.’

The ‘shy’ Meunier of Prévost produces a wine of exquisite finesse and elegance. He produces several cuvées from this plot, including a delicious (but very rare) rosé called Fac-Simile.

Emmanuel Brochet

From the 2008 vintage, Brochet has isolated a 0.4-hectare plot planted in 1962 to produce a barrel-fermented cuvée in particularly good years. The old vines give the Champagne intensity, yet it is supremely elegant as well, with a freshness that comes from blocking malolactic and finishing the wine as brut nature without dosage.

Nicolas Maillart

A parcel of Meunier planted in 1972 is the source for his Mont Martin wine, which he barrel ferments and ages for eight months on the lees before bottling for the second fermentation. Recent vintages have been bottled without dosage, and the result is delightful – intense, expressive and elegant.

See 20 top Pinot Meunier Champagne tasting notes and scores

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