Aurelien Suenen

The History of Champagne Aurélien Suenen

The Suenen family’s roots in Cramant date back to the late 19th century. The first generations did not make wine: they harvested their grapes and sold them to Champagne houses. Wine truly became a family tradition when Aurélien’s great-grandfather Marcel and his wife Simone decided to bottle their first vat of Blanc de Blancs, dressing and labeling the bottles by hand. Their sons Bernard and André carried on the venture, before Daniel, Aurélien’s father, took the reins after eighteen years working alongside his own father.

Daniel Suenen then expanded the vineyard and increased sales from a few thousand to around 20,000 bottles, while producing the house’s first vintage wines. In 2009, Aurélien took over the estate and made a decisive change of direction. He refocused operations on the Côte des Blancs and sold the more distant plots in the Vallée de la Marne and Montagne de Reims, which he could not tend with the rigor he wanted, except for one exceptional plot of own-rooted Meunier. From 2012, he eliminated all synthetic products and began the transition to organic farming, then gradually stopped using selected yeasts from 2014. The first single-vineyard cuvée, Les Robarts 2012, was released in late 2017, firmly establishing the estate as a benchmark for Chardonnay from Champagne.

The Terroirs and Vines of Champagne Aurélien Suenen

The heart of the vineyard comprises around three hectares planted exclusively to Chardonnay, divided into numerous small plots across three Grand Cru villages of the Côte des Blancs. In Oiry, approximately 1.5 hectares of forty-year-old vines sink their roots into white, compact Campanian chalk beneath a thin layer of poor soil, giving the wine taut energy and pronounced salinity. In Cramant and Chouilly, deeper soils of silty clay over chalk lend more body and breadth. The Les Robarts vineyard site, on the border with Avize, crowns a small hill beneath just 30 centimeters of silty clay; its massal-selection vines were planted in 1952, with further plantings in 1978 and 1984.

There are also the single-vineyard sites of Mont-Aigu in Chouilly and La Cocluette in Oiry, as well as a plot unlike any other: La Grande Vigne in Montigny-sur-Vesle, in the Massif de Saint-Thierry, planted with sixty-year-old, own-rooted Meunier on sandy soils. The vines are farmed organically, with some biodynamic practices, though the winemaker claims no allegiance to any school: plowing, carefully chosen cover crops, moderate yields and a constant search for balance between flora and fauna. No synthetic products have been used since 2012.

Winemaking at Champagne Aurélien Suenen

Each plot is harvested and vinified separately, allowing for precise blends or single-vineyard bottlings. About a quarter of the harvest is vinified in oak, with the rest in enamel-lined stainless steel tanks and concrete eggs. For several years, the estate has used large oak casks and demi-muids made by Austrian cooper Stockinger for both fermentation and aging, while the single-vineyard cuvées are fermented and aged entirely in barrels.

Since 2014, alcoholic fermentations have started solely with indigenous yeasts, without any added yeast. Malolactic fermentation occurs naturally, depending on the character of the vintage and each cuvée. The wines then rest on the lees for around nine months before bottling for the second fermentation. Village cuvées spend at least another two years aging in bottle; single-vineyard cuvées spend up to five, always under cork rather than a crown cap. There is no fining, filtration or forced cold stabilization, and sulfur is used sparingly. Dosage, determined by blind tasting, ranges from 1 to 4 grams per liter, with all cuvées classified as Extra Brut.

The Cuvées of Champagne Aurélien Suenen

Oiry Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut: a village cuvée from five plots totaling around 1.5 hectares in Oiry, where roughly forty-year-old vines grow in very thin soils over Campanian chalk. Around thirty months of aging on the lees give it fine bubbles and a profile the winemaker himself describes as lively: fresh lemon, chalk, citrus and a crystalline, saline finish. Dosage is just 2 grams per liter, and production is around 12,000 bottles. Ideal with oysters and shellfish.

C+C Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut: the estate’s other non-vintage cuvée, named for Cramant and Chouilly. It brings together around ten plots of forty-year-old vines facing northwest, west and southeast, on deeper silty clay soils that lend body. Vinified in stainless steel tanks and three- to five-year-old barrels, with a portion of reserve wines, it offers stone fruit, orange zest, a generous texture and a powerful, saline finish. Dosage is around 4 grams per liter; production is approximately 7,000 bottles.

Les Robarts, Cramant Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut: the estate’s first single-vineyard cuvée, from the 2012 vintage and disgorged for the first time in late 2017. The plot, on the Cramant side of the border with Avize, combines massal-selection vines planted from 1952 onward with chalk close to the surface. Fermentation takes place in six- to eight-year-old Burgundy barrels, followed by aging in a 20-hectoliter Stockinger cask and then five years on the lees under cork. An exceptionally fine, long-lasting champagne of remarkable delicacy, with a dosage of 1 gram per liter and production of fewer than 200 cases.

Le Mont-Aigu, Chouilly Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut: a single-vineyard cuvée first made from the 2013 vintage, sourced from a renowned Chouilly vineyard site now being rediscovered by a few winemakers. The wine is sunnier and broader in character than the Oiry cuvée, with ripe yellow fruit, a creamy texture and a deep mineral backbone. Aged first in barrel and then for an extended period on the lees, it needs a few years in the cellar to show its full potential.

La Cocluette, Oiry Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut: a distinctive plot in the Oiry terroir, bottled as a single-vineyard vintage cuvée since 2013. Rather than the candied lemon usually associated with the village, this cuvée has an airy, finely etched character marked by white flowers, white cherry and white fruit. Its retronasal aromas and persistence are remarkable. Production is tiny, reserved for lovers of single-vineyard Champagne.

La Grande Vigne, Montigny-sur-Vesle Extra Brut: the estate’s only cuvée made outside the Côte des Blancs and without Chardonnay, from own-rooted Meunier planted more than sixty years ago in the sandy soils of the Massif de Saint-Thierry. Light bronze in color with golden highlights, delicate bubbles, a refreshing, subtly saline palate balanced by a hint of bitterness. A rare champagne that reveals another side of the Champagne terroir.

O'Enothèque: a limited series of older vintages kept in the family cellar and disgorged late, notably 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. These bottles offer a glimpse of the estate before its single-vineyard era, when the Grand Crus of Oiry, Cramant and Chouilly were still blended into a single vintage Blanc de Blancs. Extended time on the lees gives them complex tertiary aromas while preserving their chalky freshness. Only a few dozen bottles are available from each vintage.