Mathieu Kauffmann resigns as Bollinger chef de cave

Mathieu Kauffmann, Bollinger’s chef de cave, has resigned for unspecified reasons.

Kauffmann, who resigned at the end of March, is the first chef de cave at Bollinger to resign rather than to retire.

According to Marie-Catherine Gault, Bollinger’s press secretary, the company’s president Jérôme Philipon: ‘notified staff and distributors earlier this week of his decision.’

Gault said she had not been informed on the exact reason for Kauffmann’s resignation, nor on his future plans but stressed that he had left the company on friendly terms.

Kauffmann started his sparkling wine career in 1992 in his native Alsace where he headed up the Crémant production of the Cave d’Eguisheim.

In February 2001 he joined the winemaking team at Bollinger and became chef de cave three years later.

Philipon has not confirmed Kauffmann’s successor yet. However, according to Gault, the technical director Gilles Descotes is very well placed to take over the position. She added that Descotes had been heavily involved in both the winemaking and the blending process since 2012.

As the company’s vineyard manager prior to becoming the technical director in July last year, Descotes is said to have a broad knowledge of Bollinger’s vinification process and its vineyard management techniques.

Written by Caroline Henry