Champagne Henriot was founded in 1808 in Reims, France. The house is one the oldest family run champagne houses. As a fan of the Henriot house style which has a focus on Chardonnay as well as using primariiy Grand Cru and Premier Cru fruit. The philosophy is quality over quantity.

History

Champagne Henriot was founded in 1808 in Reims by Veuve (widow) Apolline Henriot. She began promoting and making available the very private Champagne Henriot in her father's vineyard in Bouzy and sold her wines under the name "Veuve Henriot Ainé". The family continued the expansion of the vineyards and to this day they include some of the best Grand Crus and Premier Crus in Côte des Blancs, the Grande Vallée de la Marne and the Montagne de Reims. The house continued to buy vineyards after World War I to secure their holdings in Champagne. The house is a Chardonnay focused house (one of the reasons why I love it so much!) Chardonnay is the most acidic of the primary champagne grapes and adds freshness and elegance to the blends.

While I visited the cellar master was Laurent Fresnet who won "Sparkling Winemaker of the Year" in 2015 and 2016. It was Laurent who decided to begin bottling the prestige Cuve 38 (More on that below). As of 2020, the new cellar master Alice Tétienne began with the house and has been working hard in the vineyards overseeing the management of the vines. I hope to visit again and meet Alice as it is always great seeing women in wine. Champagne Henriot produces the following styles of champagne: the flagship Brut Souverain, Brut Rosé, Blanc de Blancs, Vintage Rosé (current 2012 vintage is amazing), Brut Millésimé (current vintage is the 2008 and it is also a must try), the prestige bottling is the Cuvée Hemera (another one I absolutely love). Then there is the crème de la crème - the Cuve 38. The Cuve 38 was an idea that Joseph Henriot had in 1990 to put aside the best Chardonnay from Chouilly, Avize, Oger and Mesnil-sur-Oger. The juice is a perpertual reserve meaning each year juice is added to the stainless steel vat. Only magnums are released and it is a very rare champagne that uses the solera system of aging.

Visit in Reims

My visit started with a tour of the cellars. Henriot vinifies their champagnes in large stainless steel vats. We also got to see the Cuve 38 stainless steel tank which was a real treat! We then headed down below the ground to the underground cellars. We walked through the champagne making process. We were able to see the dead lees on the bottles which creates the beautiful champagne bouquet. The bottles are aged sur lattes (on their sides to enhance the amount of champagne that is constantly in contact with the lees. Henriot has quite a collection of older vintages underneath their cellars and labeled by cuvée and vintage year.

After the tours of the cellars, we headed back up to taste through the champagnes. We tasted through the Brut Souverain, Brut Rosé and Blanc de Blancs. The Brut Souverain is a great introduction to the house of Henriot. It is an equal blend of 50/50 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. This is rare in the NV brut champagne for a house to only use Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in their entry level brut, as most houses include a percentage of Meunier in the blend. The Brut Souverain is an excellent quality champagne at a great price, shop here.

After the brut we went on to the rosé brut. This rosé is a blend of 70% Grand Cru and Premier Cru grapes with 40% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir and 10% Meunier. 12% is still red wine from the Montagne de Reims that adds structure and richness to this rosé. The Meunier adds some great red fruit flavors that aid in the complexity of this well-balanced NV rosé.

We concluded the tasting with my favorite of the three: Blanc de Blancs. This champagne is 100 percent Chardonnay with 2/3 from the Cotes des Blancs. 40% of the blend is from the reserve wines and a small percentage is form the Cuve 38. This Blanc de Blancs is a classic Blanc de Blancs style with high acidity, excellent minerality, and lively bubbles. It is aged the longest of the three NV styles spending 4 -5 years on the lees. The lovely champagne bouquet is the most prominent from the three styles in the tasting - think buttered croissant. There are excellent fruit aromas of citrus, stone fruit (apricot) and blossom. I recommend this one for those who love high acidity. Santé!