nouveau / liquid assets / preview / review Frèrejean Frères: Brothers (and others) maturing nicely


Joanna Simon enjoys the latest releases from an impressive young Champagne house run by three members of the extended Taittinger family


A


pparently Claude Taittinger used to say that it took 20 years to create a Champagne house.


Frèrejean Frères was founded in 2005— “So, we’re getting there,” says CEO Rodolphe Frèrejean Taittinger, great- nephew of the late Claude. The “we” are Rodolphe and his brothers Guillaume, who is in charge of operations including the buying of vineyards, and Richard, based in and taking care of the important US market. The “we” also take in chef de cave Didier Pierson, a fifth-generation Champagne-maker of more than 30 years’ experience who was part of the inspiration for Frèrejean Frères to become more than just a Champagne produced for friends and family. He was born, raised, and lives in Avize in the heart of the Côte des Blancs, the village where Frèrejean Frères is based and has some of its vineyards.


80 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023


As some readers will know, he is also a consultant to English vineyards. I feel sure there must be some readers, interested in military history, for whom the Frèrejean name is familiar. For those for whom it isn’t, Frèrejean Frères was a long line of cannon-makers who supplied the French army in the Napoleonic Wars (and learned much of their expertise in England). Another Frèrejean ancestor, Gavriil Golovkine, was personal assistant and master of ceremonies to Peter the Great. None of this has a bearing on the Champagne, of course, except perhaps context and color. Back to the subject in hand. Anyone who knows the 21st-century history of Taittinger will recognize the year 2005 as the one when the Taittinger family sold its Champagne brand and hotels to the private-equity company Starwood (before Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger


successfully bought back all of the Champagne). One outcome was that the three young Frèrejean-Taittinger brothers (Rodolphe was then 19) found themselves with some “beautiful” Côte des Blancs vines. That same year, inspired by meeting


Didier Pierson, who was then selling most of his grapes to the likes of Bollinger and Pol Roger, they decided to create a new Champagne house, producing high-quality, artisanal, terroir-driven Champagnes, with Didier at the helm. In Rodolphe’s words, “He is a chef de cave with the vision of a wine grower.”


They now own 6ha (15 acres), mainly Chardonnay in the heart of the Côte des Blancs (Avize, Cramant, Oger, Grauves, Chouilly, and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger).


Above: CEO Rodolphe Frèrejean Taittinger (right) and chef de cave Didier Pierson amid their vines.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203  |  Page 204  |  Page 205  |  Page 206  |  Page 207  |  Page 208  |  Page 209  |  Page 210  |  Page 211  |  Page 212  |  Page 213  |  Page 214  |  Page 215  |  Page 216  |  Page 217  |  Page 218  |  Page 219  |  Page 220