Philipponnat

History

1. 1522

   A Swiss captain in Aÿ

   Apvril Le Philipponnat came from Fribourg and commanded a Swiss detachment in the service of Francis I. He married Marie d'Ambonnay and through her acquired vineyards in Aÿ and Mareuil. The will of Jean Royer, the last regular abbot of Hautvillers, names him in 1522 as a landowner, and the house takes this year as the start of the family in Champagne. In the 17th and 18th centuries the Philipponnats were at times royal mayors of Aÿ, and in 1696 (1698 according to French historians) they entered in the Armorial de France a coat of arms with a gold and red chequerboard, which still appears on every bottle today.

2. 1910-1918

   The brothers from Mareuil

   According to the house, Auguste and Pierre Philipponnat founded the firm in 1910 and bought cellars dug in the 18th century beneath the château in Mareuil. French sources based on the firm's archive give a more precise date: the company Philipponnat Frères was registered on 1 July 1913, and four weeks later it took over the brand and cellars of the firm Albert Valet. The pharmacist and biologist Louis Boland then became chef de cave. Auguste was killed at the front on 3 September 1918, and from then on Pierre ran the firm alone.

3. 1935

   The slope nobody wanted

   After phylloxera, the war and the crisis of the 1930s, the steep Les Goisses slope above the Marne canal lay almost fallow. Pierre Philipponnat, on Boland's advice, bought it in 1935 from several owners, against the advice of merchants who told him to stick to blending. According to the notary's letter he paid the equivalent of one harvest: 27,500 bottles of Champagne. The house calls Clos des Goisses the first single-plot wine in Champagne. According to historians the first vintage made solely from this vineyard was 1951; the importer Rare Wine Co counts it from the 1935 vintage.

4. 1946-1987

   The perpetual reserve and the Michel Collard years

   Since the 1946 harvest, every year the house has blended wine from the new harvest with part of the previous year's blend, kept in barrels. In 1946 Pierre's son-in-law, Michel Collard, also joined the firm; after his father-in-law's death in 1963 he ran it alone until 1987. He was mayor of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ and opened the brand up to export, especially to Italy. In 1987 the house was selling 600,000 bottles, twice as many as before the war.

5. 1986-2000

   A sale and the return of the family name

   In 1986 Financière Globe took control of the firm, then the house passed to the Marie Brizard group, and in 1997 it was bought by the Boizel Chanoine Champagne group, since 2010 Lanson-BCC. At the turn of 1999 and 2000 the new owner handed management to Charles Philipponnat, son of René, for nearly thirty years chef de cave at Moët & Chandon. In 1999 the rosé Clos des Goisses Juste Rosé was created, and in 2000 the cuvée 1522.

6. 2025-2026

   No more “royal” names

   In 2025 the house renamed four wines: Royale Réserve Brut became Réserve Perpétuelle Brut, and Royale Réserve Non Dosé became Réserve Perpétuelle Non Dosé. Royale Réserve Rosé is now simply called Rosé, and the vintage Grand Blanc became Blanc de Blancs and got a dark glass bottle. The trade site Cavistes & Co reported the change as early as June 2025, and the official presentation took place in mid-October at the Paris restaurant Le Taillevent. In spring 2026 Charles Philipponnat and chef de cave Thierry Garnier assessed the base wines from the 2025 vintage together; Charles's son François helps him promote the wines around the world.

People

Curiosities

1. In 1935 Pierre Philipponnat paid for Clos des Goisses the equivalent of one harvest: 27,500 bottles of Champagne lying neck down, ready for disgorgement. source
2. On postcards from the early 20th century the Clos des Goisses slope is reflected in the Marne canal so that, together with its reflection, it forms the outline of a Champagne bottle. source
3. The gradient of Clos des Goisses reaches 45 degrees. According to Yohan Castaing, the temperature on this south-facing slope can be more than 1.5 °C higher than the regional average. source
4. The name “Goisses” comes from the old Champagne dialect. According to Castaing, the word “goisse” meant a very steep slope. source
5. Clos des Goisses is made in very different quantities: from 3,000 to 30,000 bottles per vintage, 20,000-25,000 on average. source
6. The first selected Champagne yeasts were bred at Philipponnat in the 1920s by chef de cave Louis Boland. The house still inoculates its fermentations with yeasts selected in Champagne. source
7. Philipponnat is regarded as the first house to state the base year, dosage and disgorgement date on the back label of a non-vintage Champagne. source
8. Philipponnat Champagne was served at the gala dinner of the COP21 climate summit in Paris; the house links this choice to its HVE and Viticulture Durable en Champagne certifications. source
9. rumour According to family tradition, the Le Léon plot in Aÿ, the source of the cuvée 1522, once belonged to Pope Leo X. The house bought it back in 1993. source