Pierre Gerbais

The Gerbais family has farmed in Celles-sur-Ource for four generations, with the contemporary estate's commercial position built primarily under Aurélien Gerbais, who returned to the estate in 2011 to work alongside his father Pascal. Aurélien reformulated the commercial range around single-parcel cuvée transparency and rare-grape advocacy. The estate's commercial visibility grew steadily through the 2010s on the back of strong critical reception for the rare-grape work, particularly L'Originale (Pinot Blanc).

• Gerbais family farming in Celles-sur-Ource across four generations
• Aurélien Gerbais returned to the estate in 2011, working alongside father Pascal
• Reformulated range around single-parcel transparency and rare-grape work
• Commercial visibility grew through 2010s on rare-grape critical reception

Pierre Gerbais farms approximately 18 hectares of estate vineyards across Celles-sur-Ource and surrounding Côte des Bar villages. The estate's holdings include all three Champenois grape varieties plus rare-grape plantings of Pinot Blanc, which has become one of the estate's commercial signatures. Pinot Blanc was historically used as a blending variety in Champagne but largely abandoned in the modern era, with only small acreages surviving. Aurélien's L'Originale cuvée is one of the most internationally visible Pinot Blanc Champagne expressions, alongside Cédric Bouchard's La Bolorée. The work has helped reframe Pinot Blanc within contemporary Aube grower-Champagne discourse.

• Approximately 18 hectares across Celles-sur-Ource and surrounding villages
• All three Champenois grape varieties plus rare-grape Pinot Blanc plantings
• L'Originale cuvée: 100% Pinot Blanc; one of few commercial bottlings in modern Champagne
• Pinot Blanc work parallels Cédric Bouchard's La Bolorée Aube Pinot Blanc cuvée

The Pierre Gerbais range is organized around single-parcel cuvées, each named for the lieu-dit it comes from. L'Originale (100% Pinot Blanc from a single parcel), La Loge (single-parcel Pinot Blanc), Champ Viole (single-parcel Chardonnay), and L'Audace (100% Pinot Noir) anchor the range. The cuvées share a stylistic family (low intervention, indigenous yeast, low dosage, extended bottle aging) but distinguish through the source parcels' terroir variation. The methodology aligns with the broader Aube grower-Champagne movement: single-parcel transparency, low-dosage finishes, and varietal experimentation that distinguishes Aube grower work from Côte des Blancs and Montagne de Reims grower-bottlers.

• L'Originale: 100% Pinot Blanc from a single parcel
• La Loge: single-parcel Pinot Blanc from old vines
• Champ Viole: single-parcel Chardonnay (Blanc de Blancs)
• L'Audace: 100% Pinot Noir, Brut Nature

Beyond the single-parcel cuvées, the Pierre Gerbais range includes Grains de Celles (the volume face: a multi-village Extra Brut blend of roughly 50% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay, and 25% Pinot Blanc) and Beauregard (a rosé de saignée from Pinot Noir). The estate's commercial scale sits in the middle of the Aube grower-Champagne range: larger than Cédric Bouchard's tightly-allocated Roses de Jeanne range, smaller than the major Côte des Bar cooperative producers. Critical reception has been consistently strong across the 2010s and 2020s, with the rare-grape work in particular drawing international attention.

• Grains de Celles: the volume face, a multi-village Extra Brut blend
• Grains de Celles blend: roughly 50% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay, 25% Pinot Blanc
• Beauregard: rosé de saignée from Pinot Noir
• Most cuvées finished Brut Nature or Extra Brut (low or no dosage)

Pierre Gerbais sits within the broader Aube grower-Champagne movement alongside Cédric Bouchard (Roses de Jeanne), Vouette et Sorbée, Marie-Courtin, and others, with Aurélien's rare-grape advocacy adding a methodological dimension that distinguishes Pierre Gerbais within the movement. The commercial reframing of Aube grower-Champagne over the 2000s and 2010s has been a collective achievement of these producers, each contributing through different methodological commitments: Bouchard's single-vineyard / single-grape / single-vintage, Vouette et Sorbée's biodynamic-oxidative work, Marie-Courtin's single-parcel multi-vinification, and Pierre Gerbais's rare-grape and single-parcel emphasis. The movement has positioned the Aube as the Champagne sub-region most aligned with the contemporary grower-Champagne idiom.