The story of André Robert Champagne goes back five generations, rooted in the chalk-rich, grand cru soils of Le Mesnil sur Oger.
Henri Robert was a pioneer in the village, organizing its first growers’ association. His son, the eponymous André, purchased the estate house under which a hand-carved, 19th-century cellar now ages the family’s long-lived, complex and energetic wines.
Bertrand Robert and his wife Colette brought the estate into the modern age; yet it is their daughter, Claire Robert and her husband, Jean-Baptiste Denizart, who have taken quality here in Mesnil to a whole new level.
The traditional vivacity and intensity of grand cru Mesnil Chardonnay remains center stage; yet Clare’s vision of crafting wines with even more depth and texture — with barrel fermentation for young wines and slow maturation in the family’s chalk cellars — has been more than realized with the family’s recent releases.
Domaine André Robert crafts “grower” Champagne, a récoltant-manipulant house that grows its own grapes and makes its own wine all on site. This qualitative difference is crucial for those seeking the ultimate in Champagne flavor and character.
The family owns and tends 65 individual parcels in the villages of Le Mesnil sur Oger, Oger, Vertus, Cuis and Etrechy, with some 85% of land classified either grand cru or premier cru. All wines are made from estate-owned grapes, raised by the family and cared for sustainably, according to organic principles.
Grapes are harvested by hand, and carefully sorted at the cellar. A gentle press is used, and sulfur additions are very modest. Most wines are fermented in either French oak barrique, demi-muid or cask, with an average age of 12 years (older oak allows oxygen transfer without overt flavoring). Young wines remain in barrel for ten to eleven months, generally with no lees stirring; malolactic conversion is usually blocked, to preserve the wines’ natural acidity and freshness.
All wines undergo secondary fermentation in bottle in the family’s ancient chalk cellars, located underneath the family home in Mesnil.