BRUNO PAILLARD Champagne is an independent, family-run house. Its exceptional vineyards are located in the heart of the Champagne region. The wines have a highly personal style characterized by stringent quality control at every process stage. Our viticulture is slow and sustainable, the BRUNO PAILLARD house uses only the first pressing of Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, and Pinot Noir. Each cru is produced separately in oak barrels or stainless steel tanks. Not only this but reserve wines are blended to make an extra brut “dosage” and wines are aged two to four times longer than the minimum required by the appellation. The house was the first to indicate the disgorgement date on its bottles so that our clients can choose when to taste BRUNO PAILLARD champagne. The Premiere Cuvée, Rosé, Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru, N.P.U. “Nec Plus Ultra” and our collection of old vintages are available at independent wine merchants and are served at the world’s best restaurants.
Champagne
ELLNER
Champagne Charles Ellner, in the heart of Epernay, was and is a family business. At the end of the 19th century, Charles Emile Ellner, the founder of the House, began acquiring small vineyards in Epernay while also starting his career as a professional “riddler”. In 1905, he first released Champagne under his own name. His son Pierre and his 4 grandsons developed the business, and in 1972 the company became “Negociant Manipulant”.
Today the house is run by Jean-Pierre Ellner, one of the grandsons of the estate’s founder. His nephews Frederic and Arnaud Ellner manage vineyards and production. His daughters Emmanuelle Foulon Ellner and Alexandra Ellner also work at the estate.
The House of Ellner possesses about 50 hectares of vineyards, located across more than 15 villages in the Champagne region. The Ellner vineyards produce about 50% of the total grape crop.
None of Charles Ellner’s wines see malolactic fermentation. All are fermented in stainless-steel tanks to preserve fresh fruit flavors (only the Chardonnay blended into the vintage wines spends a few months in giant oak barrels between primary fermentation and bottling). They are then left to sit on their lees for a minimum of 4 years (the law is only 18 months) to allow the wines to soften a bit, fill out, and become beautifully drinkable upon release yet ageable at the same time.
The painting which inspired Charles Ellner’s iconic labels has been damaged and the identity of the artist has been lost. In 1986, the estate decided to include the painting on their labels. In 2012, Champagne Charles Ellner gave a more modern touch to their labels, focusing on one of the women in the painting.
EMILE PARIS
After years of painstaking work in the region’s vineyards, Emile Paris decided to bottle Champagne under his own name in 1884. Located in the commune of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, just outside of Epernay, the Emile Paris brand was built on strict adherence to tradition and quality standards. The house received a boost in recognition in 1920 with the designation of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ as a Premier Cru site and began to export its wines throughout Europe. Sadly, however, in the next decade (as was the case with countless other small-scale wineries) business rapidly declined and, in his final years, Emile signed over the winery to his son. By the onset of World War II, Emile Paris Champagne had completely dissolved and was no longer making wine.
Nearly 75 years later, it was négociant Patrick Bigar who sought to bring this brand back to life. Sourcing from the house’s original vineyard sites, which had since been supplying grapes to Champagne monolith Philipponnat, Patrick enlisted the assistance of Gérard Cuperly as head winemaker. 2017 marked the first bottling under the Emile Paris name since 1940.
A.R. Lenoble
AR Lenoble is one of the rare houses in Champagne that has remained 100% family-owned since its foundation. Armand-Raphaël Graser, a native of Alsace, arrived in Champagne in 1915 in the middle of the first world war. He purchased a house that was built in 1772 in the village of Damery, located between Epernay and Hautvillers, and starting making champagne there in 1920. Anne and Antoine Malassagne, sister and brother, are the great-grandchildren of founder Armand-Raphaël Graser. Anne took over from her father in 1993 and was joined by her brother Antoine in 1996.
AR Lenoble has always been 100% independent since it has founded in 1920, nearly 100 years ago!
Not a single investor or shareholder of any kind has ever been involved in the business. This enables AR Lenoble to guarantee complete stability and coherency in the strategy of the house.
Antoine Malassagne, is the fourth generation to completely own and manage AR Lenoble. His first vintage was 1996
He made the decision to start conserving their reserve wines in 225-litre barrels using the principle of the “perpetual reserve” . A few years later, they invested in 5,000-litre casks to allow for an ageing process that was slower than in barrels. In these containers, reserve wines were able to obtain additional brightness and freshness.
