Nicolas Feuillatte
pronounced nee-koh-LAH fuh-YATA brand from Chouilly backed not by a family or a corporation but by thousands of growers organised in cooperatives. In 2026 it celebrates its 50th anniversary, and as early as 2008 it was the third-largest brand in Champagne.
See the bottlesAvailable at SZAMPAN.com.pl
6 Champagnes. Formats and packaging of the same bottle are on its page, not listed separately.
House signature
Cooperatives
That is how many cooperatives, with more than 6,000 growers between them, belong to the Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne group, which owns the brand.
Members' vineyards
The brand is supplied by vineyards from the Marne Valley to the Côte des Bar, in 11 of the 17 grand cru villages and 26 of the 42 premier cru villages.
A brand from 1976
In its own words, the youngest of the great Champagne brands; in growers' hands since 1986.
At a glance
- Founded
- 1976 (brand); 1972 (Centre Vinicole de la Champagne, which bought the brand in 1986)
- Based in
- Chouilly near Épernay
- Type
- cooperative: a brand of the union of wine cooperatives Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne, not a family house or a corporation
- Owner
- Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne (TEVC): 82 cooperatives with more than 6,000 growers; the group also includes Castelnau, Abelé 1757 and Henriot
- President
- Éric Potié (president of TEVC since 2025, succeeding Véronique Blin); group managing director Philippe Dessertenne
- Chef de cave
- Guillaume Roffiaen (director of vineyards and wines, chef de cave of Nicolas Feuillatte)
- Vineyards
- the brand is supplied by approx. 2,100 ha of members' vineyards, in 11 of the 17 grand crus and 26 of the 42 premier crus; the whole group has more than 2,500 ha
- Production
- the group does not give a bottle count; the brand passed 10 million bottles in 2014 (brand website); TEVC turnover 323 million euros in 2024
- House style
- blends of many crus, vinified separately; Réserve Exclusive Brut: 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Meunier, 20% Chardonnay
Data checked: October 2026.
History
- 1970-1972
Not enough room for the wine
The abundant harvest of 1970 showed that Champagne lacked space to store wine. Henri Macquart, an activist in the cooperative movement, persuaded growers to set up a shared storage facility and winery. In 1972 the Centre Vinicole de la Champagne was founded in the heart of the Côte des Blancs, working for growers grouped around cooperative and private presses.
- 1976
Coffee, America and Champagne for friends
Nicolas Feuillatte, born in Paris in 1926 into a family of wine and spirits merchants, went to the United States after the war and made his fortune in coffee: in 1960 he was the first to import coffee from Africa there. At 40 he bought a vineyard in Champagne, and in 1976, aged 50, he created a Champagne under his own name for his American friends. According to the brand, his first customers were the Kennedys and Aristotle Onassis.
- 1986
The brand passes to the growers
Feuillatte began to run short of grapes, so in 1986 he sold the brand to the Centre Vinicole de la Champagne. The cooperative centre, until then purely a producer, also began selling Champagne under his name. Feuillatte himself became the brand's ambassador. Sales grew quickly: from 500,000 bottles in 1986 to 1.2 million in 1989.
- 2008-2017
In the top three
In 2008 Nicolas Feuillatte was the third-largest brand in Champagne and the appellation's seventh-largest exporter; it sold 8.3 million bottles, 43% of them abroad. In 2014, according to the brand, it passed 10 million bottles. The same year Nicolas Feuillatte died in Paris. In April 2017 a new headquarters with a visitor space, designed by the Soret DeFrance studio, opened in Chouilly.
- 2019-2026
A cooperative group
In 2019 the centre bought Champagne Abelé 1757. On 1 January 2022 it merged with the Coopérative Régionale des Vins de Champagne, owner of the Castelnau brand, to form the Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne group. In 2023 the group bought Champagne Henriot. In 2024 its turnover was 323 million euros, 11.2% more than the year before. For the brand's 50th anniversary in 2026, Réserve Exclusive Brut was given an edition with a 1970s-style label.
People
Henri Macquart
A cooperative activist who brought growers together around a shared winery. According to the brand, he ran it until 1981 and sat on the board as honorary president until 1997.
Nicolas Feuillatte
A Parisian from a family of wine merchants who made his fortune importing coffee into the USA. He began making Champagne under his own name at the age of 50, and ten years later sold the brand to the cooperative growers and became its ambassador. He died on 10 August 2014 in Paris.
Guillaume Roffiaen
An agricultural engineer, he qualified as an oenologist in 2002 and did an internship at the Centre Vinicole. In 2014 he returned to Nicolas Feuillatte as director of oenology and quality. Today he is the brand's director of vineyards and wines and its chef de cave.
Damien Cambres
From 1997 to 2012 he worked at Nicolas Feuillatte, from the laboratory to running the whole production. Since 2018 he has been chef de cave at the family house of Pol Roger in Épernay.
House style
Nicolas Feuillatte is a cooperative brand. The growers belong to local or regional cooperatives, which in turn belong to Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne; only cooperatives can be members of the group. The brand is supplied by around 2,100 ha of vineyards, from the Marne Valley to the Côte des Bar, including in 11 of the 17 grand cru villages and 26 of the 42 premier cru villages. The brand calls itself “the youngest of the great Maisons” and the largest growers' Champagne brand.
The grapes are vinified separately by cru or zone and by grape variety, and then blended. The scale is large: in 2009 the centre bottled 21.6 million bottles, stored around 100 million, and its vats held more than 300,000 hectolitres. Since 1998 the cooperative has given its members free advice in the vineyard and provided financial help to young growers starting out.
Key cuvées
- Réserve Exclusive Brut
- The non-vintage Champagne with the “blue label”, the brand's best-known wine: 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Meunier, 20% Chardonnay.Serving: tapas, smoked salmon, prawns, fish in coconut milk, poultry.
- Réserve Exclusive Rosé
- The rosé version of the non-vintage Champagne.Serving: salmon tartare, duck, red fruit desserts.
- Réserve Exclusive Premier Cru Extra Brut
- A Champagne made only from premier cru villages, with a low dosage; the chef de cave's newest wine.Serving: oysters, scallop carpaccio, sashimi.
- Palmes d'Or
- The brand's vintage prestige cuvée, in a Brut version (2009 vintage) and a rosé (2008 vintage).Serving: lobster, poultry with truffle, mature Comté.
- Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs
- Vintage Champagnes from a single grape variety and only from grand cru villages, currently from the 2016 vintage.Serving: the Blanc de Blancs with fish and seafood, the Blanc de Noirs with poultry and pork.
Curiosities
- anecdote According to the brand, the first customers for Nicolas Feuillatte's Champagne in the 1970s were the Kennedys and Aristotle Onassis. source
- Before turning to Champagne, in 1960 Nicolas Feuillatte was the first to import coffee from Africa into the United States. source
- The chef de cave of the family-owned Pol Roger, Damien Cambres, spent 15 years at Nicolas Feuillatte, from the laboratory to running the whole production. source
- Since 2023 the same cooperative group has also owned Champagne Henriot of Reims, a house founded in 1808 by Apolline Henriot; Ernest Henriot, brother-in-law and first partner of Charles Heidsieck, came from this family. source
- According to French Wikipedia (undated figures), 65% of the brand's sales by value are in France, and it holds around 15% of the Champagne market in hypermarkets and supermarkets. source
- At the Foire de Châlons fair in Châlons-en-Champagne the brand puts a giant bottle in front of its stand; photos from 2024 and 2025 are on Wikimedia Commons. source
Nicolas Feuillatte is a family wine house founded by a grower.
Nicolas Feuillatte was a businessman who made his fortune importing coffee, and he began making Champagne under his own name at the age of 50. Since 1986 the brand has belonged to growers: first to the Centre Vinicole de la Champagne, and since 2022 to the Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne group, whose members can only be cooperatives. The wines are made from the grapes of more than 6,000 growers. source
“I set it according to the quality of the reserve wines or the characteristics of the vintage, the sensory profile of the wines and the character I am looking for in each of them.”
Frequently asked questions
Is Nicolas Feuillatte a family house?
No. The brand belongs to Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne, a union of 82 wine cooperatives with more than 6,000 growers. Nicolas Feuillatte created it in 1976 and in 1986 sold it to the cooperative Centre Vinicole de la Champagne.
Is cooperative Champagne worse than Champagne from a house?
Not necessarily. A cooperative is subject to the same Champagne appellation rules as any house, and Nicolas Feuillatte draws on vineyards in 11 of the 17 grand cru villages. The style is determined by the chef de cave and the blend, not by the producer's legal form.
What is Nicolas Feuillatte Réserve Exclusive Brut like?
It is the brand's best-known wine, with a blue label: 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Meunier and 20% Chardonnay. The brand recommends it with tapas, smoked salmon, prawns and poultry.
Where is Nicolas Feuillatte made?
In Chouilly near Épernay, on a hill by the road to Pierry. The cooperative centre has operated there since 1972, and in 2017 a new headquarters with a visitor space was opened.
Who makes Nicolas Feuillatte wines?
The chef de cave is Guillaume Roffiaen, who returned to the brand in 2014 as director of oenology and quality and is now responsible for the vineyards and wines. The wines are made from the grapes of more than 6,000 growers.
Other houses
All houses
Moët & Chandonpronounced mo-ET ay shahn-DOHN50 bottles
Dom Pérignonpronounced dom peh-ree-NYOHN27 bottles
Bollingerpronounced boh-lan-ZHAY19 bottles
Krugpronounced kroog13 bottles
Charles Heidsieckpronounced sharl ED-sik10 bottles
Veuve Clicquotpronounced vuhv klee-KOH11 bottles
Lansonpronounced lahn-SOHN10 bottles
Deutzpronounced duhts10 bottles
Louis Roedererpronounced lwee ROH-duh-rer9 bottles- J-M Sélèquepronounced zhee em seh-LEK10 bottles
- Marguetpronounced mar-GAY10 bottles
Ruinartpronounced rwee-NAR8 bottles
Sources
- Notre histoire - nicolas-feuillatte.com
- Le style Nicolas Feuillatte - nicolas-feuillatte.com
- Union de talents - nicolas-feuillatte.com
- L'entreprise - nicolas-feuillatte.com
- Réserve Exclusive Brut - nicolas-feuillatte.com
- Réserve Exclusive Brut, 50th anniversary edition - nicolas-feuillatte.com
- Histoire - Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne
- Gouvernance - Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne
- Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne - Wikipedia (FR)
- Nicolas Feuillatte - Wikipedia (FR)
- Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte - Wikipedia (EN)
- Damien Cambres succède à Dominique Petit - Pol Roger press release, 2018 (PDF)
Photos: Denys (French Wikipedia), public domain (Wikimedia Commons); Gérald Garitan, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons); Gérald Garitan, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons).
