Stephane Regnault Coteaux Champenois Dorien Blanc 2019

Stéphane Regnault; exquisite, unique, invigorating. Regnault was one of the highlights on my last trip to France. Stéphane is a lovely person, creating one of the most exciting champagnes in the region. He is part of the new generation in Champagne that wants to improve its farming, which is not so often a priority in this tiny gold mine that this area represents, and which boasts some the highest selling grapes in the world!

After I spent a long day with Stéphane, he mentioned that he didn’t want to take over his father’s winery and his vineyards when he was young, and that in fact he had preferred to study something completely different from viticulture and winemaking as well as always having a dream to travel overseas. In 2007, after a few years in London, Stéphane returned to his family domaine in the Côte des Blancs, after already fulfilling two careers. Most recently he has been working as a sommelier in London at Le Pont de la Tour, and before that he was an aerospace engineer.

As soon as he took over from his dad, and like many of the young winemakers in Champagne, Stéphane’s first decision was to stop using herbicides in the vineyards and convert to organic farming, then to Biodynamic.

Stéphane released his first wines in 2018, a single vineyard terroir from the two Grand Cru villages he farms in Oger and Le Mesnil. The vines are between 40 and 60 years old. From these two plots, Stéphane has selected three parcels for his cuvées: Chemin de Flavigny in Oger; Moulin, on the border between Oger and Le Mesnil; and Hautes- Mottes in Le Mesnil. Each cuvée is named after a different jazz mode, a nod to Stéphane’s passion for playing the jazz saxophone. - Importer Note