A fortuitous introduction, lead us to this long established champagne family. André Bergère is one of the oldest surviving producteur-recoltant in the region.  André and his wife Brigitte grow their own grapes for their wines on their thirty hectare estate in Ferebrianges, between Vertus and Epernay.  

Readers of Jay McInerney will perhaps have come across his wine columns and the two books made up the collected pieces, he talks in them of this love of small boutique champagne houses. Family owned, where all the fruit is grown in the family vineyards, they pick, they make the wine, they mature the wine, they label the bottles and they sell it to the same French merchants who ply the local bourgeoisie with their fine mature biscuity wines, and each little celebratory meal is enlivened with a nice chilled glass of the “regular.” Actually, I made all that up, i.e. Jay didn’t say all that, I did. But that is how champagne works in France, Grand Marquees are for export and Jay does point that out as well as also being dead keen on drinking the few” boutique” wines that do escape.

Well check out the Bergerès because their wine is perfectly crafted, the wines are always at least four years old. They’d be called boutique if they ever got to the States. So drink them over here now. Every time some chums come round for lunch, settle the nerves round the kitchen table and raise a glass to the bourgeoisie and the lovely fizzy stuff.