Elise Bougy – Le Mont Chainqueux Premier Cru NV

Elise Bougy – Le Mont Chainqueux Premier Cru NV.

A fearless, vinous Blanc de Noirs that blurs the boundary between Champagne and still wine. Textural, deeply expressive and unapologetically individual, Le Mont Chainqueux captures both the intensity of Pinot fruit and the restless spirit of one of Champagne’s most compelling new voices.

About the Winery

In 2018, Élise Bougy took over her family’s tiny domaine in Les Mesneux and immediately charted a new course. With backgrounds in business, viticulture and wine sales, she returned home determined not merely to bottle Champagne, but to articulate terroir. Today she farms three hectares—two in Les Mesneux and one in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger—all certified organic since 2022 and cultivated with biodynamic principles.

Bougy works with minimal intervention: indigenous fermentations, long élevage in wood, spontaneous malolactic conversion, no fining or filtration and extremely limited sulphur. Her wines are unapologetically artisanal, textured and vinous, shaped more by Burgundy than by the conventions of large-house Champagne.

About the Vineyard

Le Mont Chainqueux lies at the foot of the Montagne de Reims slopes in Les Mesneux, facing southeast. Planted in 1965 by Élise’s grandparents, the parcel is co-planted with Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier—a rarity that defines the cuvée’s layered character.

Soils shift across the slope: chalk with a clay base at the bottom, moving toward sandy soils with clayey silt at the top. This complex geological patchwork delivers both power and mineral cut, a tension Bougy amplifies through biodynamic farming and careful, low-impact cellar work.

About the Wine

This Premier Cru Brut Nature is built around the 2021 vintage, incorporating approximately 20% reserve wines from 2020 and 2019, all aged in wood. Vinification is entirely natural, with spontaneous alcoholic and malolactic fermentation, followed by ten months of maturation in a 20-hectolitre Stockinger foudre. The wine is bottled without fining or filtration, disgorged in February 2024 and released without dosage. Production is strictly limited to around 2,000 bottles.

From the glass it opens with striking aromatic energy: quince, kumquat, red apple skin and sour berries, followed by orange zest, rooibos tea, marzipan, vanilla bean, custard and warm baking spices. With air, floral tones and hints of toast and biscuit emerge, adding breadth to an already kaleidoscopic bouquet.

The palate is commanding and vibrant. Fine, initially assertive bubbles settle into a refined bead, carrying flavours of green pear, red apple, gooseberry, lemon zest and apricot, framed by delicate vanilla, subtle liquorice and a silvery, lees-driven minerality. High, racy acidity cuts through the wine’s creamy, medium-to-full-bodied texture, finishing with a gentle phenolic grip and long, tangy persistence.

This is not a polite aperitif Champagne—it is vinous, structured and intent on the table, yet still thrillingly drinkable.

Conclusion

Le Mont Chainqueux is a vivid manifesto of Élise Bougy’s philosophy: Champagne as terroir wine, crafted with courage, restraint and conviction. Powerful yet precise, raw yet beautifully composed, it stands among the most compelling grower Blanc de Noirs of its generation.

We award this wine a 94-point DWA score—a vibrant and committed Premier Cru Champagne that challenges convention while remaining deeply rooted in place.

Review by our own Niels Aarts.

Taste Date: December 2025

Price:          ~ €110

Website:    Élise Bougy