Champagne Pommery & Greno

Champagne Pommery traces its founding to 1836, when Narcisse Greno took over the house of Dubois-Gosset; Alexandre Louis Pommery, a former wool trader, later became his partner, forming Pommery & Greno. By September 1857 the young company was shipping bottles to New York and had opened warehouses in Rotterdam, Antwerp, London and Liverpool. Alexandre Pommery died in 1858, and his widow, Louise Pommery (born Jeanne Alexandrine Louise Mélin), took over as head of the house. She redirected it toward quality Champagne, pushing growers to leave grapes longer on the vine to reduce the need for dosage, and in 1874 released Pommery Nature, the first commercially successful brut Champagne, breaking with the era's tradition of very sweet wine. In July 1868 she had launched what the house calls "the largest construction project of the century in Reims": French and Belgian miners converted chalk quarries into 18 kilometres of interconnected galleries 30 metres underground, and sculptor Gustave Navlet adorned the galleries' plazas with immense bas-relief sculptures; a 116-step monumental staircase is the only link between the cellars and the surface. Above ground, Louise Pommery commissioned an Elizabethan neo-Gothic mansion built on an open, H-shaped plan, opened in 1878. She died on March 18, 1890, and became the first woman to receive a French state funeral: 20,000 people filled the streets of Reims, and the French President renamed her country home Chigny-les-Roses in tribute to her love of roses.

• Founded 1836 (Narcisse Greno's takeover of Dubois-Gosset, later joined by Alexandre Louis Pommery); by September 1857 the firm was shipping wine to New York.
• Alexandre Pommery died in 1858; his widow, Louise Pommery, took over the house and released Pommery Nature in 1874, the first commercially successful brut Champagne.
• Crayère excavation launched July 1868: 18 km of galleries cut 30 metres underground by French and Belgian miners, with bas-relief sculpture by Gustave Navlet and a 116-step staircase.
• Louise Pommery died March 18, 1890, and became the first woman to receive a French state funeral; the French President renamed her country home, Chigny, as Chigny-les-Roses in her honor.

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton owned Pommery from 1991 (acquiring it from the company now known as Danone) until 2002, when it sold the Pommery brand, its Reims site, cellars, Champagne stocks and supply contracts to Vranken Monopole for an undisclosed sum estimated at the time at 150 to 180 million euros; LVMH kept the vast majority of Pommery's vineyards, which then totalled 741 acres (roughly 300 hectares) including sites in seven grand cru villages. Group founder Paul-François Vranken launched his own Champagne brand, Vranken, in 1976 and acquired Heidsieck & Co Monopole in 1996; Charles Lafitte, another of the group's Champagne brands, was created in 1983. On December 16, 2024, the Vranken-Pommery Monopole board split the chairman and CEO roles effective January 1, 2025: Paul-François Vranken remained Chairman, Nathalie Vranken (previously Deputy CEO) became CEO, and Clément Pierlot (who joined the group in 2004 and became Head Cellar Master in 2017) and Julien Lonneux (who joined in 2014 and became International Director and head of the UK subsidiary in 2018) were named Deputy CEOs alongside her. The group's executive committee now lists Pierlot as Deputy CEO and Cellar Master of Maison Pommery, and Lonneux as CEO of Vranken-Pommery UK & International Director. In October 2025 the group agreed to sell Heidsieck & Co Monopole to Lanson-BCC for 50 million euros, transfer effective January 1, 2026, as part of a strategic refocus on the Champagne Pommery & Greno brand and a previously announced debt-reduction objective; the parent group adopted the name Maison Pommery & Associés the same day, in Champagne Pommery's 190th anniversary year. The renamed group's estates span Champagne (Pommery, Vranken, Charles Lafitte), Château La Gordonne in Provence, Domaine Royal de Jarras in the Camargue, Terras do Grifo and Rozès in Portugal's Douro Valley, and Louis Pommery sparkling wine ventures in England and the United States.

• LVMH owned Pommery 1991-2002; sold brand, Reims site, cellars and stocks to Vranken Monopole in 2002 (est. 150-180 million euros), keeping the vast majority of Pommery's vineyards (741 acres, roughly 300 hectares, in total, including sites in seven grand cru villages).
• Nathalie Vranken became group CEO January 1, 2025 (board decision December 16, 2024); Paul-François Vranken remained Chairman; Clément Pierlot and Julien Lonneux were named Deputy CEOs.
• Pierlot holds the Deputy CEO title; Lonneux's current title is CEO of Vranken-Pommery UK & International Director.
• Group sold Heidsieck & Co Monopole to Lanson-BCC for 50 million euros and renamed itself Maison Pommery & Associés, both effective January 1, 2026, marking Champagne Pommery's 190th anniversary.

Cuvée Louise, the flagship prestige cuvée created as a tribute to Louise Pommery, draws on three grand cru villages: Avize and Cramant for Chardonnay, and Aÿ for Pinot Noir; the current release is the 2008 vintage. Brut Royal blends fruit from around 40 selected villages across the Côte des Blancs, Montagne de Reims and other parts of Champagne. Within the walled Domaine Pommery in Reims lies Les Clos Pompadour, 25 hectares of vines named for Madame de Pompadour and planted to Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier; the wine is released only in magnum. The range beyond Louise and Clos Pompadour includes the Brut Pommery line (Brut Royal, Royal Blue Sky and Grand Cru Royal); Cuvée Apanage, which the house describes as a confidential cuvée dedicated to fine dining, and its Apanage 1874 sub-range, created to mark the 150th anniversary of brut Champagne in 2024 and now spanning Brut, Blanc de Blancs and Rosé; and Pop, a 20cl nomadic format blending all three Champagne grapes. Cellar master Clément Pierlot, the house's 10th, builds the blends on vintage reserves aged over a long period in cellars held at a constant 10°C, rather than relying on dosage; the house describes its style as one of finesse, focused on elegance of aroma rather than strength.

• Cuvée Louise: Avize and Cramant Chardonnay plus Aÿ Pinot Noir; current release is the 2008 vintage.
• Brut Royal draws on grapes from around 40 selected villages across the Côte des Blancs, Montagne de Reims and other Champagne areas.
• Les Clos Pompadour: 25-hectare walled vineyard inside the Domaine Pommery in Reims (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier); released in magnum only.
• Apanage 1874 launched 2024 for brut Champagne's 150th anniversary; range now spans Brut, Blanc de Blancs and Rosé.

In 2004 Paul-François Vranken set out to source sparkling wine from vineyard sites around the world, extending the Pommery name beyond Reims. The Louis Pommery brand, created in 2015, produces sparkling wine in both Napa Valley, California, and Hampshire, England. In England, the group bought the 40-hectare Pinglestone Estate near Alresford, Hampshire, in 2016, chosen by Clément Pierlot and Paul-François Vranken for its south/south-west-facing slopes on the same vein of chalk that runs through Champagne; a further 10 hectares were bought nearby at Lovington in 2019. Louis Pommery England Brut was first released in spring 2018, made from bought-in Kent, Sussex and Hampshire fruit at another Hampshire winery, before the estate's own vines, planted mainly in 2018 and 2019 (30.5 of the 40 Pinglestone hectares planted by 2019), came online; the first Pinglestone harvest was in 2020. Around 35 hectares are now planted at Pinglestone, farmed under regenerative practices alongside woodland and grazing land left for biodiversity, with an on-site winery about 200 metres from the vines and a Grade II-listed 17th-century oak-framed barn, Pinglestone Barn, serving as the visitor centre.

• Louis Pommery brand created 2015; produces sparkling wine in both Napa Valley, California, and Hampshire, England.
• Pinglestone Estate, Hampshire: 40 hectares bought 2016; a further 10 hectares bought nearby at Lovington in 2019.
• Louis Pommery England Brut first released spring 2018 from bought-in fruit; estate's own vines mainly planted 2018-2019 (30.5 of 40 ha by 2019); first Pinglestone harvest 2020.
• About 35 hectares are now planted at Pinglestone under regenerative farming, with an on-site winery and a Grade II-listed barn as visitor centre.

Pommery made the dry brut style commercially viable with Louise Pommery's 1874 Pommery Nature, a milestone the group marked in 2024 with its Apanage 1874 tribute cuvée. Its Reims cellars, 18 kilometres of galleries dug through chalk quarries, are part of a UNESCO World Heritage site and have doubled as a contemporary-art venue since 2003 through the Experience Pommery exhibition series, which now draws close to 200,000 visitors a year and opened its 19th edition in spring 2026. In fiscal 2024 the wider Maison Pommery & Associés group had around 634 employees across 10 international subsidiaries, with the Pommery and Vranken brands together accounting for 68% of the group's Champagne revenue.

• House behind the first commercially successful brut Champagne (1874), marked by the 2024 Apanage 1874 tribute cuvée.
• UNESCO World Heritage-listed cellars host the Experience Pommery contemporary art programme, launched 2003, drawing close to 200,000 visitors a year (19th edition opened spring 2026).
• Fiscal 2024: parent group Maison Pommery & Associés had about 634 employees across 10 international subsidiaries; Pommery and Vranken together are 68% of the group's Champagne revenue.

Primary sources (producer's own sites): https://www.champagnepommery.com/home, https://www.champagnepommery.com/pommery-house, https://www.champagnepommery.com/art-of-champagne/, https://www.champagnepommery.com/wines/apanage-1874, https://www.champagnepommery.com/wines/brut-pommery, https://www.champagnepommery.com/wines/brut-pommery/cuvee-brut-royal, https://www.champagnepommery.com/wines/pompadour/cuvee-les-clos-pompadour, https://www.champagnepommery.com/wines/louise/cuvee-millesime-2008, https://www.maisonpommery.com/en/la-maison/, https://www.maisonpommery.com/en/chiffres-cles/, https://www.maisonpommery.com/en/executive-committee/, an official Maison Pommery & Associés governance press release (PDF, Dec 2024), https://www.louis-pommery.com/our-history, https://www.louis-pommery.com/our-cuvees, https://www.louis-pommery.com/sparkling, https://www.louis-pommery.com/wine/england, https://www.louispommery.com/ourstory. Secondary sources: Wikipedia ('Louise Pommery'), Quill & Pad (Cuvée Louise and the invention of brut, 2020), The Drinks Business (2025 board reshape; 2022 Pinglestone harvest report; 2026 rebrand coverage), Lanson-BCC (2026 Heidsieck & Co Monopole sale notice), Wine Spectator (2002 LVMH-to-Vranken Monopole sale). Last verified 2026-10-12. Where the producer's own site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.