Vrigny

Vrigny sits on the Petite Montagne on mild east- and northeast-facing slopes, on a small vineyard area where Pinot Meunier is the dominant grape. The village holds an unusual position in the modern Champagne map: an Ambonnay-based grower with a serious reputation for Pinot Noir from his home Grand Cru sources Pinot Meunier here for the only Premier Cru cuvée in his range, a single-village bottling that has done more than perhaps any other to argue the case for serious Meunier as a stand-alone wine. Vrigny is also home to a parcel of ungrafted Pinot Meunier vines planted in 1953, used by another local grower for a small-batch Blanc de Noirs that escapes the post-phylloxera replant story most of the region carries.