From our importer: An early renegade “récoltant” alongside Anselme Selosse and François Peters, Jean Vesselle first bottled Champagne under his own label in 1972. With 300+ years of family history growing grapes in Grand Cru Bouzy, Jean was also an early adopter of the possibilities of the Aube, purchasing vines in Loches-sur-Ource in the 1970s.

Jean’s daughter Delphine took over the reins in 1993, and now today with her husband David, they are under conversion to organic certification. David’s family was from Chouilly, and his few hectares are now included in Domaine Jean Vesselle, so together they tend twenty-two small parcels across their 17 hectares, the most prized of which is the smallest Clos in Champagne, “Petit Clos” just next to their winery – and from vintages they’re able to produce it, makes one of the rarest bottlings in the Champagne today.

Delphine is a renegade in her own right, having returned back to the old style of fermenting Champagne in wooden barrels at a time when this was far from in vogue. After two decades of honing this technique, she is adamant about never blocking the malolactic, and for the last decade, she has gone even further into introducing larger foudres, aging four of her cuvées exclusively in wood.

The entire range of 17 bottlings crafted by this long-time récoltant includes two Coteaux Champenois still wines (Bouzy Blanc and Bouzy Rouge) and occasionally tiny amounts of Ratafia and Vieux Marc. While Bouzy is home to some of the best Champagne Rosé, Delphine produces it in three distinct styles: a rosé de Saignée, a demi-sec rosé, and “Oeil de Perdrix” or “Eye of the Partridge.” As with any truly GREAT grower, the real magic of this house is the high quality of her “entry-level” Brut Réserve. It was this cuvée that initially drew me to Vesselle back in my restaurant buying days, and dollar for dollar, it is still one of the best deals in grower Champagne today.

I was reconnected to Vesselle through their broker in Luxembourg, the legendary Peter Vezan, who since the 1970s has been riding the grower wave, and “discovered” François Cotat, Comte de Vogüe, Egly-Ouriet, Anne Gros, Mugneret-Gibourg and other top vignerons. Vezan and his wife Elisabeth have long championed the work of Jean Vesselle, and when they told me that Delphine’s wines were not being imported to NYC I immediately booked a flight to Paris and then drove to Bouzy to meet with her.

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