Why it matters
The producer
Matthieu Godmé-Guillaume took over management of his mother Sabine Godmé’s domaine in 2019. He is the family’s third-generation winemaker, working an estate begun by his great-grandparents; the present range turns that family holding into bottles that move between a three-village blend and wines centred on Verzy or Villers-Marmery.
The domaine’s recent chapter began before the 2019 handover. Matthieu started an independent project in 2017 after returning home to take on production from parcels his father had previously farmed. When he assumed management of Sabine Godmé’s domaine two years later, those parcels became part of a broader three-village estate whose bottles could show both inherited holdings and his own cellar direction.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The domaine is based in Verzenay, with vines also in neighbouring Verzy and Villers-Marmery. Verzenay and Verzy are Grand Cru villages, while Villers-Marmery is Premier Cru; V.V.V. joins fruit from all three, placing Chardonnay’s chalky, citrus-led character beside Pinot Noir’s broader apple and dried-fruit register.
Verzenay, Verzy and Villers-Marmery are not interchangeable names on a label. In this range, V.V.V. is the meeting point between the three villages, while Verzy and Terres de Villers-Marmery let a single village lead the wine’s aroma, body and finish.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Indigenous yeasts start fermentation, mainly in French oak barrels from several coopers; steel and cement are also reported among the domaine’s vessels. Oak therefore sits beside fresh fruit rather than replacing it: in V.V.V., vanilla and walnut can appear alongside grapefruit, pear and green apple.
The wines are bottled without filtration or fining, and reserve wines are stored by vintage for village-specific perpetual reserves. For the cited V.V.V. bottling, spontaneous fermentation in selected French oak was followed by about nine months of ageing before tirage and at least 15 months on lees. Lees ageing builds mousse and breadth, while the low Extra Brut dosage leaves acidity, chalk and dry fruit exposed on the finish.
Wines to know
The range in view
V.V.V. is the range’s three-village Champagne, joining Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Verzenay, Verzy and Villers-Marmery. A reviewed release was 74% Chardonnay and 26% Pinot Noir: Chardonnay brings grapefruit, chalk, salinity and mineral lift, while Pinot Noir contributes soft apple, kernel and dried fruit. The result is dry and fruit-led, with supporting acidity rather than sweetness.
Verzy moves toward orange, kernel and candied citrus, finishing with firmer salinity. Terres de Villers-Marmery is described as more vinous and complex, with more marked dried-fruit character. Together, these wines move from a blended balance of citrus, fruit and mousse toward bottles where one village’s texture and aromatic shape sit closer to the surface.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with V.V.V. Extra Brut. In the reviewed release it was 74% Chardonnay and 26% Pinot Noir, drawn from Verzenay, Verzy and Villers-Marmery and finished at 4 grams per litre dosage. It puts the domaine’s central arrangement in one glass: Chardonnay’s citrus and chalk, Pinot Noir’s apple and kernel, oak’s vanilla and walnut, then lees-derived mousse and a dry saline finish.