Champagne Bernard Robert
The story of Champagne Bernard Robert in the Côte des Bar region in the village of Voigny began in 1945, when Marie-Madeleine Dosne, the daughter of a family producing red wines, wanted to do something different from her parents, and together with her husband Bernard Robert decided to start making champagne. The couple's first harvest yielded only 300 bottles, but this was just the beginning of the family business's decades-long operation.
The three sons of Marie-Madeleine and Bernard's family of seven children, Jean-Pierre, Jean-Claude and Hervé, together decided to take over the family business and in 1976 founded the family farm bearing their father's name. The cellars, built from Aube's traditional stone material, were completed in 1982 after six years of hard work. At the same time, the farm's production began to develop and grow, and in the next decade, modern and practical renovations were made to the cellar. A new pressing plant and a new winery were put into operation in 2001, and the latest investments have been made in re-corking and labeling facilities.
Today, the farm owns 30 hectares of paddocks located in 7 different areas of the Côtes des Bars: Bar-sur-Aube, Voigny, Arrentières, Argentolles, Rizaucourt, Rouvres-les-Vigne and Villenauxe-la-Grande. In addition, a couple of shelters are located in the Côte de Sezanne area. Pinot Noir, Meunier, Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc grow in the orchards. Only a third of the orchards' production is vinified and produced under the farm's name, and the rest of the grapes are sold either as is or as wine to the provincial négociant producers. The selection consists of eight different champagnes. Representing the third generation, Sébastien manages the operation of the farm together with Jean-Pierre and Jean-Claude, and he is accompanied by five employees responsible for the barns and cellars, as well as a couple of workers in the office.
At the shelters, we work in accordance with the Lutte raisonnée principle, using carefully considered methods. Only the cuvée part of the pressing is used for wines. Except for 100% Pinot Noir, all wines are made in steel tanks and malolactic fermentation is allowed. Concentrated grape juice is used as dosage, and its amount depends on the ripeness of the vintage, setting between 7-9 g/l. The specialty of the house's champagnes is their very long bottle aging period, which is rare, especially for non-vintage wines. All champagnes are sealed with Mytik high tech to minimize the risk of cork failure.
The farm's total annual production is 120-150,000 bottles. The producer has the Haut Valeur Environnementale certificate.
