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Maison Canard-Duchêne: History and renewal in Champagne

Blending the historic and the modern, Canard-Duchêne is refining its grape selection and reserve wines, enhancing its sustainability and elevating the quality and presentation of its bottles.

By Decanter Staff

published 3 December 2025

in Features

Tucked away between the vines in the premier cru village of Ludes sits Maison Canard-Duchêne, founded in 1868 by Léonie Duchêne and Victor Canard. This Champagne house has spent more than 150 years developing its mastery of Pinot Noir and the distinctive terroir of Montagne de Reims.

Yet Canard-Duchêne is not resting on its laurels. Instead, the label is using its winemaking expertise to refine its wines, which age in six kilometres of chalk cellars beneath its winery, and reducing its environmental impact via recycling, energy conservation and promoting biodiversity.

That expertise is steered by Cynthia Fossier, who became cellar master when Laurent Fédou retired at the end of 2024. She thus became the Maison’s tenth cellar master, and the first woman to hold the role since Léonie Duchêne herself. Fossier’s connection to Canard-Duchêne stretches back to her youth; during Sunday afternoon car rides, she would point to the winery and tell her parents that one day she would work there.

The award-winning Iconic range

The journey on which Fédou and Fossier have taken the winery over the past two decades is shown by the quality of the wines of its Iconic range, which won plaudits at the 2025 Decanter World Wine Awards. The Blanc de Noirs was hailed for its ‘energetic palate’, the Blanc de Blancs praised for its ‘elegance and length’ and the Rosé de Saignée lauded as ‘gastronomic and pleasing’.

All the Maison’s ranges have benefited from the precise oenological trajectory initiated by Laurent Fédou over 20 years ago. From the Brut Essentiel to the gastronomic Iconic collection, all Canard-Duchêne wines are made in a balanced, unified style, and always in the pursuit of excellence.

Léonie Iconic, the Maison’s flagship cuvée, took home a Silver medal: driven by Pinot Noir, the wine is a showcase for the label’s fresh, fruity, balanced and elegant house style – a timeless expression that resonates with wine lovers of every kind. Half of the blend comes from Canard-Duchêne’s Perpetual Reserve – established in 2012 with wine dating back to 2009 – which underpins the cuvée’s depth.

Meanwhile, Canard-Duchêne’s environmental credentials take centre stage in its P181 cuvée, named after its nine-hectare block of organic grapes. At the same time, the Maison is also caring for the planet by reducing the weight of its distinctive, bespoke bottles.