Champagne Barons de Rothschild launches cuvées parcellaires

The latest addition to the fast-developing Champagne Barons de Rothschild is a pair of single-site expressions from grands crus in Avize and Cramant – and Patrick Schmitt MW gets an early taste.

Shown to db last month – for the first time outside the winery – the new cuvées are called Les Maladries and Le Bateau, and both are blanc de blancs from the 2021 harvest.

They follow Champagne Barons de Rothschild’s first foray into single-site expressions, after it launched Le Grand Clos 2019 – a 100% Chardonnay from a single walled 1.28-acre plot in Vertus, released in June 2025 to coincide with the maison’s 20th anniversary.

Speaking to db on 8 June in London, cellar master Guillaume Lété explained his approach for Champagne Barons de Rothschild, which comprises three key offerings: multi-vintage blends; vintage Champagnes from a blend of vineyards; and single-site, single-harvest expressions.

Old vines and concrete eggs

Discussing Les Maladries, he said it was a pure Chardonnay grand cru from the village of Avize, using grapes from a north-facing, mid-slope lieu-dit of less than 0.3 hectares.

Notably, it features “very old massale selection vines” – over 80 years old – planted into around 30cm of clay, with chalk underneath.

In terms of vinification, the wine was fermented half in concrete eggs and half in barrels, and disgorged in April with a very low dosage of just 3g/l.

As for the name, Les Maladries is a lieu-dit referencing the site’s past use as a hospital for plague victims.

Just barrels for Le Bateau

The other Champagne comes from a plot in Cramant called Le Bateau, so named because the hillside site “looks like the base of a boat,” according to Lété, who added that the vines are 50 years old, grown on “very poor soil” that is almost pure chalk.

Also given a low dosage – this time of 2g/l – this is a very dry Champagne, but, unlike Les Maladries, it is fermented and aged entirely in wood – Lété eschewed the use of concrete eggs for wines from this plot.

Admitting that 2021 was “a difficult vintage in Champagne,” he added that the combination of old vines, grand cru plots, and harvesting at optimal ripeness ensured the new single-harvest expressions are “a full expression of a colder vintage.”

The series will be made every year, always using grand cru Chardonnay, with the 2022 Champagnes expected to be “richer” due to the warmer nature of the vintage.

He also told db that 2022 saw the addition of a further plot, following the same format, while pointing out that the single-site Champagnes would only be made from vineyards owned by the maison, and managed without the use of herbicides.

Youthful cellar master

My notes on the wines can be seen below, and click here to listen to the interview with Lété – who joined Champagne Barons de Rothschild in 2011 as an intern in the winery and was subsequently named chef de cave in 2016, at the age of 28.

Champagne Barons de Rothschild was founded in 2005 by Baron Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, Baroness Ariane de Rothschild, and Baron Éric de Rothschild – making it a rare collaboration between the three French branches of the Rothschild family.

Champagne Barons de Rothschild celebrated its twentieth anniversary last year by opening a new winery in the village of Vertus on the Côte des Blancs – available for private visits by appointment – and releasing the first edition of Le Grand Clos.

Les Maladries lieu-dit, grand cru, Avize, 2021

Creamy and delicious, with notes of pineapple chunk, baked bread and a touch of cooked apple. Very dry, fresh and zesty, yet with a broad mid-palate and biscuity character. A lingering, chalky finish shows a finely-grippy texture, with some stewed apple lingering too. Salty, fresh and layered – creamy and zesty, very drinkable now, yet still youthful.

• 100% Chardonnay
• 28.12 acres, planted in 1938 on clay-chalk soils
• 50% French oak barrels and 50% concrete eggs
• Ageing in cellar: 45 months
• Disgorgement date: 22/04/2026
• Dosage: 3 g/l
• Production: 2,542 bottles

Le Bateau lieu-dit, grand cru, Cramant, 2021

A woodier style than Les Maladries – creamy and powerful, with some subtle evolved characters of baked apple and coffee crème. Lingering, dry, zesty and lively, with a salty freshness, and some fine, mouth-coating phenolics. A different style to Les Maladries but still delicious – more woody, grippy and layered. A lingering vanilla pod and lemon zest note presists. Complex and impressive. Youthful, with great potential to cellar.

• 100% Chardonnay
• 12.15 ares, planted in 1974 on chalky soils
• 100% French oak barrels
• Ageing in cellar: 45 months
• Disgorgement date: 23/04/2026
• Dosage: 2 g/l
• Production: 906 bottles

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