Despite an arduous year for winegrowing in Champagne, with heavy rain and other complications, Maison Perrier-Jouët is thrilled to announce a beautiful 2024 harvest. What may have been lost in quantity was gained in exceptional quality, yielding wines with tension and promise.
Turning a Challenging Year into a Beautiful Harvest
Between heavy rain, mildew, frost, and even some scalding of the vines in late summer, climactic conditions were challenging in 2024. It is to the credit of the entire Maison Perrier-Jouët team that the harvest was a success, beginning at just the right moment and handled with care. The year’s harvest began on September 12th with the Pinot Meunier of Dizy and the Pinot Noir of Ay, and it concluded on September 26th with the final plots of the Maison’s signature variety, Chardonnay.
Already, the Chardonnay is showing a lovely tension and florality, and the results for the vintage are
promising. Overall, the aromatic palette is floral, less ripe and more delicate than usual, with a pleasant
vertical tension. Thanks to a balance of sugar and acid, as well as tension and verticality, the wines are
showing real potential for ageing. In the words of Cellar Master Séverine Frerson,
“I’ve dreamed of a vintage like this for a long time, one with tension and acidity.” “With the
2024 vintage”, she continues, “We have a true Champagne vintage, a classic, like one from
2012 or 2016, and it’s thanks to the hard work of our teams, who handled a difficult harvest
beautifully.”
For the vinification of its historic plots Bouron Leroi (in the cru of Cramant) and Les Crayères (in the cru
of Avize), fine-grained oak foudres were used. For the plot of Les Buissons du Midi (Cramant), smaller oak
barriques were used.
Preparing the Viticulture of the Future
Drawing on its heritage, Maison Perrier-Jouët is focusing its attention on the living world and the
interconnections among the species. In its ongoing sustainability initiatives, the Maison is exploring four
ways to enhance biodiversity: biomass plant covers, floral plant covers, vitiforestry, and green corridors.
The idea is to work in regenerative viticulture, which, at Maison Perrier-Jouët means regenerating soils and enhancing their natural fertility, improving the vines’ resistance to climate change, enriching biodiversity and limiting carbon emissions which contribute to the greenhouse effect. Experiments in regenerative viticulture started back in 2021 and the goal is to achieve 100% regenerative viticulture in the Maison’s own vineyards and 100% of its partners certified in sustainable viticulture by 2030.
Among the exciting aspects of the 2024 harvest was the opportunity to vinify the regenerative plots
separately, with Chardonnay from Avize and Pinot Noir from Ay and Ambonnay. These plots were
harvested and vinified in the new Maison Perrier-Jouët cellar, which was specifically devised for the
viticulture of tomorrow. The cellar was designed in line with the Maison’s sustainability commitments,
using materials that are as local and natural as possible. According to Cellar Master Séverine Frerson,
the new cellar “is a true tribute to the past which fully embraces the style of Perrier-Jouët,
enhancing the floral character of Chardonnay.” From the 2024 harvest, the first tank of regenerately
cultivated Chardonnay from Chouilly (in Avize) is straightforward and elegant, a promising preview of the
future of Maison Perrier-Jouët’s signature grape.
About Perrier-Jouët
Perrier-Jouët was founded in 1811 by a couple united by their love of nature and passion for art.
From the start, they chose the Chardonnay grape variety as the signature of the House, defining the floral
style which sets Perrier-Jouët champagnes apart. For more than two centuries, Maison Perrier-Jouët has
evolved in close relationship with nature, guided by the free spirit of its founders and the exuberance of the Art Nouveau movement. Nature remains its primary source of inspiration. The Earth is a common garden, which the House cultivates as it crafts its champagnes. Fired by creative freedom, Maison Perrier-Jouët nurtures a joyful, positive vision of the world.
