Gaspard Brochet is beyond a doubt making some of the most exciting, distinctive and delicious champagnes today. Tasting his champagnes is like taking a journey through Willy Wonka’s factory of joy; these are not just wines, they are thrillingly deep, wildly complex and achingly profound gastronomic experiences.

Son of Vincent Brochet and nephew of Emmanuel Brochet, Gaspard took over a portion of the family estate in 2017, and started to make wine in a garage adjacent to the family home. Not until 2020 did he release wine under his own name, at which point he exploded straight into the stratosphere as a phenomenal generational talent.

Today, he farms 3.2 hectares and 14 spectacular parcels, spanning the villages of Ecueil, Villers-aux-Noeuds (Mont Benoit) and Sacy. Some of his vineyards were planted in the 1950s and 60s, and all are now farmed biodynamically as of the 2022 vintage. With few exceptions, his champagnes are made from single plots and showcase Gaspard’s piercing and singular interpretation of his vineyards and his terroir. Working with all three varieties (Pinot Noir, Meunier and Chardonnay), across the three villages of Ecueil, Sacy and Villers-aux-Noeuds, Gaspard foregrounds Chardonnay from parcels of black clay, and Pinots from chalk, sandy clay and brown sand.

Gaspard once noted that “Dionysus created the vine from the bone of the lion, magpie and donkey. When you drink too much, you speak like a magpie, you can be dumb like a donkey, and courageous like a lion.” This forms a (relatively loose!) foundation for his animal series, comprising La Poule / Le Coq, Le Renard, Le Lion, La Pie, and the heart-stoppingly beautiful and sublime L’Ecureuil. In his first vintages there were also Mouton, Cochon & Ane.

Gaspard is a maniac for detail in both the vineyard and the cellar, imposing a level of control and precision that must be tasted to be believed. Each cuvée has its own identity, an incredibly precise approach to production with meticulous detail on blending, bâtonnage and dosage. His use of small oak is bold and exciting, and yields wines of dazzling purity - made possible by the genius of converting the entire cellar into a fridge so that direction and deviation are observed in frame-by-frame slow motion.

Barely half a decade into his eponymous project, Gaspard Brochet has already emerged as one of the most exciting artistic interpretors of contemporary Champagne’s nouvelle vague, lighting up the world with his intensely crafted, unmistakably brilliant, and utterly delicious bubbles.