The House
Daring,a family trait
Daring to achieve the unthinkable. Breaking new ground. Now proudly presiding over the Champagne House established by their father in 1985, for Garance and Stanislas Thiénot, their every move is guided by the single-minded pursuit of cultivating its intrinsic spirit. For a number of years now, they have each breathed new life into its development. Each with their unique sensibilities and grounding, they conquer seemingly distant horizons, create new openings and dialogue, and form previously untapped alliances. With their contemporary perspective, they innovate and dare, working in synergy with the Chief Winemaker.
This creative vision, handed down from their father, shapes and enriches the work accomplished by the Thiénot family.
For almost 20 years as a broker in Champagne, Alan Thiénot combed the region’s rolling hills in search of only the finest grapes for prominent, centuries-old Champagne Houses, and year after year honed his knowledge of the Champagne region. A family story with far-reaching roots, as his own father had previously managed Champagne Irroy, while his grandfather, a glassmaker, crafted high-quality bottles.
And this is how Alain has created wines in his image, that express everything he holds dear; the refinement of elegant freshness and multiple layers of balanced nuances.
A familyin the broadest sense
The consistency of style is reliably assured by Nicolas Uriel, Chief Winemaker since 2017. Doubly-qualified as both agronomist and oenologist, Nicolas came on board in 2008, to oversee grower relations. He is now responsible for all winemaking decisions, assembles the blends and manages stocks and production. This is a strategic role within any Champagne House, and even more so at Thiénot, where more than half the grapes are sourced from their own vineyard holdings, in premier and grand cru sites located on the historic hillsides of Champagne.
The Thiénot blend relies on the intimate knowledge of each wine, and the ability to recall the potential harmony the reserve wines may impart. And also on his innate aptitude to navigate with precision the vast palette of possibilities in terms of crus, grape varieties and vintages, to ultimately capture the intrinsic essence and soul of champagne. A painstaking task striving for the perfect magic, performed under the family’s watchful eye and attentive palate.
The soils,
the tools,
the house
While scouring the hillsides in search of only the very best, Alain Thiénot amassed significant vineyard holdings – 30 hectares in total – including grand cru sites in the historic valley of Ay and the Côte des Blancs, premier cru plots in Dizy and Cumières and on the slopes to the south of Epernay. This precious resource provides the House with more than half the grapes it needs, proving to be an important guarantee of autonomy and longevity for this independent, family Champagne House.
To perpetuate the enduring identity of Champagne Thiénot, retaining the aromatic clarity of the wines is paramount. From the very outset, in a bid to keep the crunchy berries whole and preserve the grapes’ organoleptic character, Alain Thiénot fitted out the winery with temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks, which while commonplace today, was testament at the time to his pioneering vision and skill.
The historic headquarters of the family House are located in Rue des Moissons, a unique location in the centre of Reims. Here, Stanislas and Garance often greet clients in the kitchen of their family home, and serve delicious home-cooking. And far from the lively chatter, deep underground, 2 kilometres of cellars protect the precious bottles, matured horizontally on ‘lattes’, for up to 16 years for the vintage champagnes.
