Why it matters
The producer
The name joins two family names and two stages of the estate’s life. Raymond and Yvette Sourdet added vines to their agricultural activity in 1962. In 1975, Patrick Sourdet and Nadine Diot began making Champagne under the combined Sourdet-Diot name. Their daughter Ludivine now promotes the Marne Valley estate, whose cuvées receive at least three years of ageing. The result is a small grower’s range in which Meunier appears as both a pale, dry sparkling wine and a deeper-coloured rosé.
Sourdet-Diot grew from a farming family’s decision to add vines in 1962 into a Champagne house in 1975. Patrick Sourdet and Nadine Diot did not simply inherit a finished label: their combined surnames became the name on the bottles when they began making their own Champagne. That family sequence still frames the wines. A Marne Valley holding planted with three Champagne grapes has a particularly clear Meunier thread in Pur Meunier and Rosé de Saignée.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
La Chapelle Monthodon lies in the Marne Valley, a Champagne area closely associated here with Meunier. Sourdet-Diot’s 8.5 hectares supply an estate range built from Meunier alongside Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. In the documented bottles, Meunier changes shape with the winemaking: it stays white in Pur Meunier, while Rosé de Saignée takes colour and fruit character from contact between juice and skins.
The estate’s documented site is La Chapelle Monthodon in the Marne Valley, but no reliable soil, slope or exposure detail is supplied for individual vineyards. The useful physical distinction is therefore not a named parcel but the grape’s treatment in bottle: Meunier is kept as blanc de noirs for Pur Meunier and given skin contact for Rosé de Saignée, producing two markedly different colours, aromas and textures.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The estate is HVE-certified and works across Meunier, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir on its 8.5 hectares. Alcoholic fermentation is maintained at 18–20°C, then the wines spend time maturing before release. Lees ageing matters in the two Meunier bottles: Pur Meunier spends at least three years on lees, while Rosé de Saignée spends two. That contact with spent yeast adds breadth and a more savoury, wine-like texture beneath the mousse; the rosé’s earlier skin contact adds colour, floral lift and red fruit.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range’s clearest contrast comes from two 100% Meunier Champagnes. Pur Meunier is a brut non-vintage blanc de noirs with at least three years on lees and dosage reported at approximately 4 g/l. Its low dosage keeps the finish dry, while the extended lees ageing brings weight and texture rather than overt sweetness. It is Meunier in a pale, structured form: fruit, dry acidity and yeast-derived breadth held inside a fine mousse.
Rosé de Saignée uses 100% Meunier too, but the grapes remain in contact with their skins before pressing. The saignée method produces its pink colour without relying on added still red wine, and it shifts the grape towards floral notes, pomegranate and red fruit. Two years on lees and 6 g/l dosage give the rosé freshness with more body and a lightly tannic grip. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are part of the estate’s vineyard mix, though the kept material does not establish a complete current bottle list for those grapes.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Rosé de Saignée. It is 100% Meunier, aged for two years on lees and dosed at 6 g/l, but its central feature is the saignée method: Meunier skins stay with the juice before pressing, creating the wine’s pink colour, floral aroma and red-fruit palate. In the glass, peony, rose and pomegranate sit above fresh acidity, mousse and a little tannic grip. One bottle makes the estate’s Meunier focus and cellar method immediately tangible.