Sillery

Sillery has one of the most curious histories in Champagne. From the early seventeenth century to the late nineteenth, "Vin de Sillery" was a name that travelled across European courts as one of the most prestigious wines of France, ranked alongside the great red Burgundies and rivalling Aÿ for ducal patronage. Its reputation was built by Nicolas Brûlart, Marquis de Sillery and Chancellor to Henri IV, who served wine from his Château de Sillery at the French court; an eighteenth-century commentator wrote that the wine's quality was so high that "only the king deserves it." After the Revolution the vineyards passed to the houses Moët and Ruinart. Today Sillery is a small Grand Cru, and unusually for the Montagne, Chardonnay accounts for the majority of plantings, more than the Pinot Noir typical of the subregion. Roughly a third of Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs is still sourced from Sillery's vineyards.