Vilmart & Cie

Champagne Vilmart is a Champagne house situated in the small village of Rilly la Montagne in the heart of the Montagne de Reims. It was founded in 1890 by Desiré Vilmart and has passed down the family since. Vilmart produces wines from 11 hectares (27 acres) of vineyards in and around the village, with about 60-percent planted to Chardonnay and 40-percent to Pinot Noir. It is a so-called "grower" Champagne house, which means it only makes wines from vineyard plots that it owns, rather than buying in grapes, which is common for the larger houses.

Vilmart's standard cuvée is Chardonnay-dominant, with Pinot Noir contributing around 30-percent. On top of this, the house produces a range of other wines, including the flagship Grand Cellier d'Or vintage wine, also Chardonnay-dominant, made from the oldest plots of vines. The base wine is aged for 10 months in 228-liter oak barrels before the secondary fermentation. There are numerous other wines including the Rubis rosé.

One is in no doubt, when chatting and tasting with the affable Laurent Champs of Champagne Vilmart, that one is in the presence of a very assured and gifted winemaker, a visionary in the mould of his close friend Anselme Selosse. One must listen and taste carefully here however; it is easy to draw the wrong conclusions, be they from the somewhat grandiose architecture of the property or the seemingly ambitious winemaking, most of which relies on oak barrels and battonage, or, conversely, from the reputation of Rilly La Montagne for making sound but not spectacular wines. The answer to the enigma, as always, is located in the glass. These wines are neither over-made, nor mediocre. Instead they represent some the best examples to come from the Montagne de Reims; the well-named Coeur De Cuvée is now one of the most sought-after of all Champagnes.