Jérôme Prévost

Jérôme Prévost inherited 2.2 hectares of Pinot Meunier vines in Gueux from his grandmother in 1987. For approximately a decade, he sold fruit to négociants while building experience and developing a personal winemaking philosophy through extensive contact with Anselme Selosse at Jacques Selosse in Avize. Selosse's mentorship gave Prévost the framework for low-intervention single-vineyard Champagne, which Prévost applied to Pinot Meunier (a grape Selosse himself does not work with at scale) when he began bottling under La Closerie in 1998. The Selosse-Prévost relationship has remained close, with the two producers' wines often discussed together as Champagne's most philosophically aligned grower-bottlers.

• Inherited 2.2 hectares of Pinot Meunier from grandmother in 1987
• Sold fruit to négociants for approximately a decade while developing winemaking approach
• Anselme Selosse mentorship through 1990s shaped Prévost's philosophy
• First La Closerie bottlings in 1998

The estate's 2.2 hectares are concentrated in the Les Béguines lieu-dit in Gueux, a small village west of Reims in the Vallée de la Marne sub-region. The parcel sits on chalk-clay soil with a south-facing aspect, planted entirely to Pinot Meunier across multiple vine ages. Prévost makes all his wines from this single parcel, with cuvées distinguished by vintage and disgorgement timing rather than parcel division. The single-vineyard, single-grape commitment is one of Champagne's most uncompromising commercial premises, with the wines treating Pinot Meunier as the sole expression of Les Béguines's terroir.

• Estate concentrated in Les Béguines lieu-dit in Gueux
• Chalk-clay soil with south-facing aspect; 100% Pinot Meunier across multiple vine ages
• All cuvées from this single parcel; cuvées distinguished by vintage and disgorgement timing
• Single-vineyard, single-grape commitment among Champagne's most uncompromising

Prévost's cellar practices follow the Selossiste template: 228-liter Burgundy oak barrel fermentation, indigenous yeasts, no dosage (or minimal extra-brut levels), low sulfur, extended bottle aging on lees. The combination of single-vineyard Pinot Meunier with Selossiste cellar handling has produced wines that have reframed how the grape is valued in Champagne. Pinot Meunier had historically been treated as a supporting blending variety in major-house NV cuvées, valued for ripeness and ease of farming but not considered prestige-tier on its own. Prévost's Les Béguines cuvée has demonstrated that Pinot Meunier from serious terroir, made with serious intent, can produce wines of equal complexity and age-worthiness to Pinot Noir or Chardonnay-led prestige Champagne.

• 228-liter Burgundy oak barrel fermentation across all base wines
• Indigenous yeasts, no/minimal dosage, low sulfur additions
• Extended bottle aging on lees
• Reframed Pinot Meunier from supporting variety into prestige single-vineyard expression

The La Closerie range is small: Les Béguines Brut (multi-vintage, the volume face), Les Béguines Brut Nature (no-dosage version), Fac-Simile (a vintage cuvée), and a small range of late-disgorgement and other rare bottlings. Production sits at approximately 12,000-15,000 bottles annually, an unusually small total even for grower-Champagne. Most of the production is allocated through long-term client relationships, producing significant secondary-market premiums on retail releases. Prévost has resisted commercial scale-up, retaining the single-vineyard premise even as international demand has grown.

• Les Béguines Brut: volume face, multi-vintage cuvée
• Les Béguines Brut Nature: no-dosage version
• Fac-Simile and rare late-disgorgement releases extend the range
• Approximately 12,000-15,000 bottles annual production

Prévost's commercial visibility, particularly through international fine-wine markets, has helped reposition Pinot Meunier within contemporary Champagne discourse. A growing set of grower-bottlers, including Christophe Mignon (Festigny), Tarlant (Œuilly), Laherte Frères (Chavot-Courcourt), and others, have emphasized Pinot Meunier-led cuvées in their ranges, with Prévost's Les Béguines as the prestige reference point. The W2 grape-canonical Pinot Meunier article in this WineWiki cluster documents the broader varietal context. Prévost's role in this shift parallels the way Bouchard's Roses de Jeanne work reframed the Côte des Bar's commercial position, with both growers demonstrating that previously-overlooked Champagne sub-regions and varieties can produce prestige-tier expressions when serious intent is applied.