Why it matters
The producer
Roland Champion is a family Champagne estate in Chouilly, a Grand Cru village in the Côte des Blancs. The family says it has been in the village for more than 300 years; André Champion began developing the present vineyard holding in 1929. Today the house makes Champagne from its own fruit, so the Chardonnay grown in Chouilly and the black grapes grown in Verneuil are not anonymous blending material: they determine whether a bottle is a chalk-led Blanc de Blancs, a three-grape blend or a rosé.
François took sole charge after Roland Champion died in 2005, while Carole and Clémence later returned after studies in Champagne and North America. Their work continues through a compact estate rather than a vast buying operation, which is why individual plots, reserve wines and vessel choices recur across the labels.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Chouilly supplies the estate’s core wines. In the Côte des Blancs, its Grand Cru Chardonnay becomes bottles marked Blanc de Blancs: Champagne made solely from white grapes, here Chardonnay. That origin explains the white-fruit, citrus and mineral direction of Eclat de Craie, Grand Eclat and Spécial Club, while their different blends, vintages and ageing periods alter body and finish.
Verneuil and Vandières widen the palette. Their Meunier and Pinot Noir enter Secret d’Aramis and Rosé Carat, bringing red fruit, broader texture and a different shape of fruit from the Chouilly wines. A Roland Champion label therefore tells a useful geographical story: Chouilly points toward Chardonnay and chalk; the Marne Valley sites bring the darker grapes into the house’s blended Champagnes.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The estate farms 14 hectares through sustainable practices including integrated pest management, soil work, grassing and biodiversity planting. Grapes are pressed and vinified plot by plot, keeping Chouilly Chardonnay separate from the Verneuil fruit before blending decisions are made. That separation allows Eclat de Craie to draw from more than 15 Chouilly plots, while Les Partelaines can remain a single-parcel wine.
Stainless steel, large barrels and oak barrels are used according to the wine’s potential. Stainless steel keeps Secret d’Aramis centred on fruit and fresh acidity; 228-litre oak barrels give Les Partelaines a broader, more savoury texture. Perpetual reserve wine adds continuity to selected multi-vintage blends, and three to seven years of bottle ageing across the range softens the mousse and brings lees notes such as brioche, nougat and butter.
Wines to know
The range in view
Secret d’Aramis is the broadest blend: 50% Meunier, 10% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay from Verneuil, Vandières and Chouilly. Equal parts 2022 harvest wine and reserve wine from a perpetual reserve begun in 2012, it is vinified in stainless steel, aged for more than 24 months in bottle and finished at 5 g/l dosage. White-fleshed fruit, vine flower and elderberry sit over fresh acidity and a structured palate.
The Chardonnay branch begins with Eclat de Craie, then moves into more defined bottles. Grand Eclat 2018 is a Chouilly Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs with more than seven years in bottle and 3 g/l Extra-Brut dosage; yellow fruit, white flowers and a buttery texture give it more weight. Spécial Club 2018 comes from old-vine Chardonnay in a selected year, with ten months on fine lees in stainless steel before more than four years in bottle. Les Partelaines 2019 is the most site-specific expression: single-parcel Chouilly Chardonnay, oak-aged, bottled at 0 g/l dosage as Brut Nature, with citrus, white chocolate, tonka bean and a saline finish.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Choose Eclat de Craie. It is 100% Chardonnay from Chouilly Grand Cru, assembled from more than 15 plots and most of the village’s lieux-dits, so it gathers the estate’s principal grape and place into one bottle. Its current blend joins 50% 2021 harvest wine to 50% perpetual reserve wine; more than 36 months in bottle and 4 g/l dosage add creamy mousse, nougat and frangipane without turning the wine sweet.