Centre Vinicole , Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte (CV-CNF)

The Nicolas Feuillatte story begins in 1976, when Nicolas Feuillatte established a Champagne brand following his inheritance of the Domaine de Bouleuse vineyard near Reims. The commercial operation gained critical scale in 1986 when the Centre Vinicole de la Champagne (CVC) purchased the brand outright. The CVC itself had been founded a decade earlier in 1972 by Henri Macquart in the heart of the Côte des Blancs, as a centralized storage and vinification unit for the region's cooperative growers. That pairing of an aspirational brand with cooperative infrastructure carried Nicolas Feuillatte to the rank of best-selling Champagne in France. In late 2021, the CVC merged with the Coopérative Régionale des Vins de Champagne (producers of Champagne Castelnau) to form Terroirs et Vignerons de Champagne (TEVC), the current parent organization.

• Brand founded 1976 by Nicolas Feuillatte following inheritance of Domaine de Bouleuse vineyard near Reims
• Centre Vinicole de la Champagne founded 1972 by Henri Macquart as cooperative vinification hub in the heart of the Côte des Blancs; acquired the Nicolas Feuillatte brand in 1986
• Late 2021 merger with Coopérative Régionale des Vins de Champagne created TEVC (Terroirs et Vignerons de Champagne)
• Henri Abelé was acquired in June 2019 by CV-CNF (now part of TEVC); TEVC acquired Champagne Henriot in September 2023

Nicolas Feuillatte operates under no family ownership; it is governed as a cooperative union answerable to its 82 member cooperatives and their more than 6,000 winegrowers. Éric Potie was appointed President of TEVC on 4 July 2025, succeeding Véronique Blin and overseeing the organization's expanding portfolio of Champagne brands. In the cellar, Guillaume Roffiaen has served as Chief Winemaker since his appointment in 2017, having been involved in oenology and quality roles at the house since 2014. Earlier in his career, Roffiaen spent about 12 years as cellar master at Champagne Drappier before returning to Nicolas Feuillatte in March 2014. On the commercial side, Palm Bay International is the exclusive United States importer for the brand.

• Éric Potie appointed President of TEVC (parent cooperative union) on 4 July 2025, succeeding Véronique Blin
• Guillaume Roffiaen appointed Chief Winemaker in 2017; involved in quality and oenology roles since 2014
• Palm Bay International is the exclusive U.S. importer for the brand
• Cooperative model: profits and decisions distributed across 82 cooperatives rather than a single owning family or négociant group

The collective vineyard footprint available to Nicolas Feuillatte through TEVC is one of the broadest of any Champagne producer, covering more than 2,500 hectares (about 2,750 ha, roughly 9% of Champagne) spread across the full breadth of the appellation's terroirs. The geographic spread encompasses the chalky Côte des Blancs, where the house is headquartered in Chouilly, as well as the Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne, Côte de Sézanne, and the Côte des Bar. This breadth gives the winemaking team the raw material to construct complex blends and to source single-subregion expressions for premium cuvées.

• More than 2,500 hectares under supply agreement (about 2,750 ha), representing roughly 9% of the Champagne vineyard area
• Member growers supply fruit from across all major Champagne subregions
• Headquarters located in Chouilly, a Grand Cru village on the Côte des Blancs, a primary source of Chardonnay
• Geographic reach spans the Côte des Blancs, Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne, Côte de Sézanne, and Côte des Bar

The defining winemaking asset at Nicolas Feuillatte is its reserve wine library, which the house states holds five separate vintages of reserve wine for each grape variety used in blending, positioning itself as the only Champagne house to do so. This multi-vintage reserve system gives Guillaume Roffiaen and his team the ability to build consistency and complexity into non-vintage cuvées with unusual precision. The house style emphasizes fruit-forward character, freshness, and approachability, deliberately positioning Champagne as suitable for everyday enjoyment rather than only formal occasions. The range extends from the iconic blue-label Réserve Exclusive Brut (the non-vintage signature) through vintage-dated expressions and the prestige Palmes d'Or cuvée, whose inaugural vintage was 1985. The house also produces an organic Extra Brut as part of its sustainability commitment, with over 50 hectares of organic viticulture in the supply base (cited 2023), a threefold increase versus 2022.

• Reserve wine library holds five different vintages per grape variety, the house's stated positioning, enabling multi-dimensional non-vintage blending
• Réserve Exclusive Brut NV (blue label) is the signature cuvée; Palmes d'Or is the prestige offering, inaugural vintage 1985
• Style philosophy: vibrant, fresh, fruit-forward, and accessible; house explicitly markets Champagne for everyday occasions
• Collection Organic Extra Brut draws on over 50 hectares of organic viticulture (cited 2023), a threefold increase versus 2022

Nicolas Feuillatte represents a genuinely distinct model in Champagne: a brand that achieved prestige-tier recognition and broad sales success not through a Grande Marque négociant structure but through cooperative organization. As the best-selling Champagne in France and the third-largest brand worldwide by volume, the house demonstrates that cooperative Champagne can compete at every level from everyday Brut to collectors-grade prestige cuvées. For wine students, it is a textbook example of the cooperative négociant model (CM: coopérative-manipulant, though the house operates on a larger union scale), the logic of reserve wine blending, and the commercial dynamics of the Champagne trade. Its ongoing acquisition activity through TEVC, including Henriot and Henri Abelé, signals the increasing consolidation of Champagne's cooperative sector into entities capable of challenging the historic grandes maisons.

• Number one selling Champagne brand in France; number three globally, after Moët & Chandon and Veuve Clicquot
• Cooperative union of 82 member cooperatives bringing together more than 6,000 winegrowers across more than 2,500 hectares (about 2,750 ha, roughly 9% of Champagne)
• TEVC is the largest Champagne group after LVMH, illustrating the scale of cooperative consolidation in Champagne
• Sells over 10 million bottles annually worldwide under the Nicolas Feuillatte label