Jacquesson

Jacquesson was founded in 1798 in Châlons-sur-Marne by Claude and Memmie Jacquesson. The house grew in the 19th century under Adolphe Jacquesson, son of Memmie, who in 1844 patented the muselet, the small wire still used today to hold the cork in place, and who worked with Jules Guyot on transforming champagne production techniques. Under Adolphe Jacquesson's leadership, Johann Joseph Krug served as cellar master before founding his own house in 1843. The de-Tassigny family acquired Jacquesson in 1924. In 1974 the Chiquet family took over the house and moved the estate to Dizy, in the Vallée de la Marne a few kilometres north of Epernay.

• 1798: founded in Châlons-sur-Marne by Claude and Memmie Jacquesson.
• 1844: Adolphe Jacquesson patented the muselet; Johann Joseph Krug served as cellar master under him before founding his own house in 1843.
• 1924: acquired by the de-Tassigny family; 1974: taken over by the Chiquet family, who moved the estate to Dizy.

Jean Chiquet and then his sons Laurent and Jean-Hervé ran the house for nearly 50 years; the brothers ran Jacquesson from 1990. As of 2020, Jean-Hervé was in charge of sales and marketing and Laurent focused on winemaking. Artémis Domaines, owner of Bordeaux first growth Château Latour, took a minority stake in Jacquesson in February 2022 and completed its purchase of the house in December 2022; the group is owned by the Pinault and Henriot La Rouzière families. As of February 2022, the Artémis portfolio also included Eisele Vineyard estate in Napa Valley, Clos de Tart in Burgundy and Château-Grillet in the Rhône. As of December 2022, the Chiquet brothers no longer played an active role in management; they were to continue supplying the company with grapes from their own vineyards, and Jean-Hervé Chiquet was to remain a member of the board without an operational role. At that time Jean Garandeau was sales and marketing director of Artémis Domaines. The team is led by Frédéric Engerer, CEO of Artémis Domaines, and Jean Garandeau, Managing Director of Jacquesson, with Mathilde Prier as Vineyard Director and Yann Le Gall as Wine Director; the house has twenty employees.

• Chiquet family: owners from 1974; brothers Jean-Hervé and Laurent Chiquet ran the house from 1990 until the Artémis purchase in December 2022.
• Artémis Domaines: minority stake in February 2022, purchase completed in December 2022.
• Team: Frédéric Engerer (CEO, Artémis Domaines), Jean Garandeau (Managing Director), Mathilde Prier (Vineyard Director), Yann Le Gall (Wine Director).

Jacquesson makes its wines from 36 hectares of Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards in two areas of Champagne, the Côte des Blancs and the Grande Vallée de la Marne, in the villages of Avize, Aÿ, Dizy, Oiry, Champillon and Hautvillers. Chalk is present throughout, sometimes close to the surface and sometimes deeper. As of 2022, the estate vineyards provided about 80% of the house's needs, with the rest bought in. The vineyards have been certified organic since 2010; the house practises organic viticulture on all its own vineyards, plants trees and hedges to encourage biodiversity, and has installed birdhouses and bat shelters. Four lieux-dits supply the single-vineyard cuvées. Corne Bautray in Dizy is a 1-hectare plot of 9,000 Chardonnay vines planted in 1960 on a steep, south-west-facing upper hillside, with clay soil rich in millstone grit over Campanian chalk. Terres Rouges in Dizy covers 1.33 hectares (12,000 vines) of Pinot Noir planted in 1993 on a gently sloping, east-facing lower hillside of deep, reddish-brown calcareous soil over chalky loam; it is made as a rosé Champagne by skin contact. Champ Caïn in Avize covers 1.30 hectares (12,000 vines) of Chardonnay planted in 1962 on a south-facing lower slope over Campanian chalk. Vauzelle Terme in Aÿ is a 0.30-hectare plot of 2,500 Pinot Noir vines planted in 1980 on a moderately steep, south-facing mid-slope of highly calcareous alluvial deposits over Campanian chalk.

• 36 ha of Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards in the Côte des Blancs and the Grande Vallée de la Marne, certified organic since 2010.
• Corne Bautray (Dizy): 1 ha of Chardonnay planted in 1960.
• Terres Rouges (Dizy): 1.33 ha of Pinot Noir planted in 1993, made as a rosé Champagne.
• Champ Caïn (Avize): 1.30 ha of Chardonnay planted in 1962.
• Vauzelle Terme (Aÿ): 0.30 ha of Pinot Noir planted in 1980.

Until 1999 Jacquesson produced a non-vintage Brut, in keeping with the tradition of Champagne houses. In 2000, under the impetus of the Chiquet brothers, the house set out the Manifeste des 700: to produce the best possible blend each year, in which one vintage largely dominates the blend alongside reserve wines. The series began at number 728 because the cellar book then in use recorded the bottlings registered by customs since the company's centenary in 1898 and ended with the 728th bottling; Cuvée 728, based on the 2000 vintage, was released in 2004. Each cuvée is made exclusively from the first pressings and is vinified and aged in large oak casks before bottling. Each harvest can be released in two forms: the Cuvée 700, aged for over four years, and the Cuvée 700 Late Disgorgement (Dégorgement Tardif), aged on slats under cork for five more years. The house's annual programme gives the base harvest, the reserve cuvées in the blend, bottle counts and dosage for each release. Cuvée No. 748, which marks twenty years of the series, is based on the 2020 harvest, with reserve wines from Cuvées 747 to 743 and 741 and a dosage of 2 g/L. Cuvée No. 749, in the 2026 Programme, is based on the 2021 harvest, with 28% reserve wines from Cuvées 748 to 743 except 745 and a dosage of 2 g/L. The late-disgorged Cuvée No. 744, based on the 2016 harvest, spent 92 months on lees under cork and was disgorged in February 2025.

• Until 1999: a non-vintage Brut; from the 2000 harvest: the numbered Cuvée 700 series.
• Cuvée 728 (2000 base) took its number from the 728th bottling recorded in the house's cellar book; it was released in 2004.
• Made from first-pressing juice only, vinified and aged in large oak casks.
• Late Disgorgement versions age on slats under cork for five more years.

Vertical pressing is carried out gently, and the wines are made only from the juice of the first pressings, then vinified and aged on lees in large oak casks without fining or filtration. The wines are aged for long periods, with low dosage, and rest for a prolonged period after disgorging. As of 2020, the casks included 500-litre tuns and 600-litre demi-muids. In February 2022, a joint statement from Jacquesson and Artémis put production at a voluntarily limited 250,000 bottles a year.

• Gentle vertical pressing; first-pressing juice only.
• Vinification and ageing on lees in large oak casks, without fining or filtration.
• Long ageing, low dosage and a prolonged rest after disgorging.

Jacquesson frames the Cuvée 700 series with the question 'Why aim for average when you can achieve excellence?' and its manifesto sets 'Respect for the character of the vintage rather than its denial' among its aims. Quoted in The Drinks Business, Jean-Hervé Chiquet called the Cuvée 700 concept 'the opposite of a non-vintage wine', adding that 'each year offers a different identity which we recognise by numbering the cuvée.' The house presents its cellar method as serving a single objective: 'to convey the personality of the terroirs and express all their finesse and uniqueness.'

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://champagnejacquesson.com/en, https://champagnejacquesson.com/en/champagne-house, https://champagnejacquesson.com/en/commitments, https://champagnejacquesson.com/en/manifeste-des-700, https://champagnejacquesson.com/en/mapping, https://champagnejacquesson.com/en/oenotheque/2025, https://champagnejacquesson.com/oenotheque/programme-2026. Secondary sources: Decanter (Yohan Castaing, 29 September 2020; Chris Mercer, 24 February 2022) and The Drinks Business (Giles Fallowfield, 21 December 2022). Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs. Last verified 2026-10-18