Champagne Marguet is located in the Grand Cru Village of Ambonnay, where the property was first founded in 1870. Benoit is the 5th generation of the Marguet family. The domaine’s holdings consist of 8 ha under vines – all Grands Crus: 7.30 ha in the village of Ambonnay (Lieux dits: Les Saints Remys, Les Beurys, Les Crayères, La Grande Ruelle, Les Bermonts and Le Parc), and 0.70 ha in the village of Bouzy (Lieux dits: Les Loges, Les Hannepes). The average age of the vines is over 40 years, and the yield consists of 58% of Pinot Noir and 42% Chardonnay.
Benoit converted the entire estate to biodynamics & aromatherapy farming in 2009. In order to provide a hands-on approach to the various sites, Benoît asked French agronomists Claude & Lydia Bourguignon to bring and share their expertise in soil microbiology. Since 2010, All the vineyards have been worked by hand with the help of the two resident horses.
Gravity is used in the cellar for all transfers. Fermentations are done plot by plot in wooden vats and small barrels with long aging on their lees. No sugar is being added, and use of sulfites is virtually non-existent or kept for extremely low levels in very few cases. All the Cuvées are Grand Cru village or Grand Cru Village with Lieu-dit. The resulting wines are rich, layered, complex with an light oxidative edge: genuine Champagnes for connoisseurs!
The estate is also in charge to vinify the collective Champagne Premier Cru Sapience project. Sapience is the collaboration between 4 iconic biodynamic Champagne growers: Benoit Marguet, Benoit Lahaye, Vincent Laval and David Leclapart. The concept is to craft Champagne using extreme biodynamic methods. The blend comprises Chardonnay from David Leclapart, Pinot Meunier from Vincent Laval and Pinot Noir from Benoit Lahaye. The wine is made in the cellar of Benoit Marguet. The base wine spends two years aging in very fine forest selection barrels before the second fermentation in bottle. It is released 9 years after harvest. Only 3000 bottles per vintage are produced.
Benoit Marguet is widely considered as the most important natural wine producer in Champagne today, following Lalou-Bize Leroy as his role model.
