Marguet

Benoît Marguet is a career wine professional: he studied at the University of Reims, worked alongside Paul Hobbs in Washington State, and returned to the family estate (then Marguet-Bonnerave) in 1996 before running his own négociant house and taking over the family operation in 2005. His commitment from the outset was to biodynamic farming and single-village transparency, applied to the family's Ambonnay-anchored vineyards, with full biodynamic conversion completed in 2009. Benoît's commercial reformulation has built the estate from a conventional grower into one of the more visible contemporary Ambonnay grower-bottlers.

• Benoît Marguet took over the family operation in 2005 (fifth generation)
• Methodological commitment to biodynamic farming and single-village transparency from inception
• Full biodynamic conversion completed in 2009 (Ecocert and Demeter certified)
• Trained under Paul Hobbs; works with consultant oenologist Hervé Jestin

Marguet farms approximately 8 hectares of estate vineyards, split between Ambonnay (7.30 hectares), the Grand Cru village on the southern Montagne de Reims, and Bouzy (0.70 hectares). The Ambonnay holdings provide the basis for the estate's single-village commercial focus, with multiple Ambonnay parcels contributing to different cuvées in the range. The estate's vineyard portfolio is Pinot Noir-dominant in line with Ambonnay's varietal identity, with Chardonnay holding smaller blocks for blanc de blancs and rosé d'assemblage cuvées.

• Approximately 8 hectares concentrated in Ambonnay (Grand Cru village)
• Estate vineyards: Ambonnay (7.30 ha) and Bouzy (0.70 ha) only
• Pinot Noir-dominant in line with Ambonnay's varietal identity
• Chardonnay holds smaller blocks for blanc de blancs and rosé

Marguet's farming follows biodynamic protocols across the estate's holdings, with horse-plowing adopted in 2010 on key parcels and minimal mechanical intervention. Cellar practices favour indigenous yeast fermentation, low or no dosage finishes, low sulfur, extended bottle aging on lees, and minimal cellar intervention. Significant portions of base wine are fermented in oak barrels, contributing slightly oxidative complexity. Ambonnay's chalk-driven Pinot Noir terroir gives the wines a structural Montagne de Reims signature.

• Biodynamic farming; horse-plowing adopted 2010 on key parcels
• Indigenous yeast fermentation, low/no dosage, low sulfur
• Significant oak-barrel fermentation across base wines
• Ambonnay Grand Cru Pinot Noir gives a structural Montagne de Reims signature

Sapience is a prestige cuvée founded in 2006 by Benoît Marguet in collaboration with oenologist Hervé Jestin. Rather than drawing on a single estate, it is built from biodynamic fruit supplied by a small group of growers: David Leclapart (Chardonnay), Vincent Laval (Meunier and Pinot Noir), and Benoît Lahaye (Pinot Noir). Anselme Selosse and Egly-Ouriet are sometimes cited in the press as stylistic benchmarks for the cuvée, but neither is a collaborator on it. Sapience has been released in limited declared vintages and represents one of the more distinctive contemporary collaborative wine projects in Champagne.

• Sapience: founded 2006 by Benoît Marguet with oenologist Hervé Jestin
• Built from biodynamic fruit by David Leclapart, Vincent Laval, and Benoît Lahaye
• Anselme Selosse and Egly-Ouriet cited only as stylistic benchmarks, not collaborators
• Released in limited declared vintages

Beyond Sapience, the Marguet range includes Shaman Brut Nature Grand Cru (the volume face: a multi-parcel Ambonnay-anchored blend), Ambonnay Grand Cru Brut Nature (single-village Ambonnay cuvée), Les Bermonts (an Ambonnay lieu-dit Blanc de Blancs), Sapience, and a small range of single-parcel and rare bottlings; cuvées such as Bouzy, Verzenay, and Les Crayères round out the range. Critical reception has been consistently strong across the 2010s and 2020s, with Marguet treated as a biodynamic Ambonnay grower of serious quality. The estate's commercial position has grown steadily on the back of its biodynamic and single-village transparency work, sitting alongside Egly-Ouriet and Paul Bara among the prestige Montagne de Reims grower-bottlers.