About Champagne Boizel

The story of the house of Champagne Boizel begins with Julie Martin, born to a family of winegrowers that worked vineyards across the Champagne village of Aÿ since the 16th century. In 1831 Julie married the love of her life, Auguste Boizel, and from that union and their mutual passion for the vines of their homeland, the house of Champagne Boizel was born. Leveraging their families’ deeply rooted relationships with winegrowers gained over hundreds of years, Auguste and Julie Boizel set out to create a house style that represented the very best that Champagne could offer.

Auguste and Julie invested in an excellent property site in the famed village of Épernay, right on the burgeoning Avenue de Champagne, and began building their winery and large chalk cellars; generations later, Boizel still calls this its home. From the beginning, and very rare for those times, the ownership of the house was a 50-50 partnership between Auguste and Julie, recognizing their equal contribution to the growth and development of their goal.

The Boizel family has continued to build on their nearly two centuries worth of connections and long-standing relationships with some of the finest growers in Champagne by sourcing Grand and Premier Cru fruit from outstanding vineyards in Avize, Aÿ, Etoges and more. These generations of relationships have allowed them to create their house style of elegantly crafted, fresh cuvée in many different blends.

Boizel works mainly with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir sourced from Champagne’s most coveted Grands and Premiers Crus blended with the best crus of Pinot Meunier, and their centuries of experience allows them to select the finest quality grapes for their Champagnes. The winery practices sustainable viticulture and utilizes only the first press juice. A low dosage is utilized to preserve the wine’s natural expression and fruit character. All wines are aged sûr lie in Boizel’s historic chalk cellars beneath the Avenue de Champagne for a minimum of 3 years, climbing to 15 years and above for the best vintages. Boizel prints disgorgement dates on every bottle to ensure enjoyment at the optimal age and requires a resting period of a few months following dosage before the wine is released on the market.

The house categorizes its eleven different cuvée into three tiers – Essential, Jewels, and Exceptional. The Essential cuvée include their classic Brut Réserve – a Pinot-Noir dominant wine from 30 different Crus, a delicate Brut Rosé aged a minimum 3 years on the lees, a 100% Chardonnay Blanc de Blancs sourced entirely of 1er and Grand Cru fruit from the Côte des Blancs and their Grand Vintage which is a Pinot Noir-Chardonnay blend that sees at least 7 years on the lees, with about 5% of the base wine being aged in oak.

The prestige cuvée of the Boizel house are the Joyau de France wines (Jewels of France) including a vintage Brut aged at least 12 years on the lees, with at least 10% of the wine vinified in oak casks, a Pinot Noir-dominant vintage Rosé aged for at least 8-10 years on lees, and a 100% Chardonnay blended from top vineyards in Avize, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger and Vertus. These jewels are only made in the best vintages for the house.

Additionally, the Boizel family produces 4 very limited production Exceptional cuvée that rarely make it outside of their tasting room and top restaurants in France. In 2010, after a few years of experimentation, they began to produce a small quantity of Blanc de Noirs, a 100% Pinot Noir from some of the top Cru for the grape. Ultime is a zero dosage Extra Brut made of at least 40% reserve wines aged 6-8 years on the lees. Tendre Réserve is a demi-sec which acts as a perfect foil for desserts, and most recently they have started producing a Cuvée Sous Bois, a vintage blend vinified entirely in oak barrels before 10-12 years on lees.

Champagne Boizel renovated an unused part of its main winery in 2018 to create a tasting room and reception area for guests. If you go today, you can taste through many of the house’s core cuvée and learn about this historic Champagne house. You can also discover the Treasury vault – a historic chalk cellar hidden at the far end of the caves where each family generation has set aside the best bottles for generations to come. Here lie the preserved, fragile witnesses to the excellence of the family’s work; precious liquid archives resting in the deepest recesses, some even bottled by Auguste and Julie, such as the inaugural 1834 vintage.

With the family’s 6th generation, Florent Roques-Boizel, at the helm, the tradition of excellence continues. From its cellars and visiting center on the Avenue de Champagne, traditional know-how, dynamism and modernity are showcased in the unique style of its cuvées.