Gaël chaunut, new Champagne Bollinger cooper

Champagne Bollinger announces the arrival in its team of Gaël Chaunut as in-house cooper. Officially in post since 1st December 2020, he joins the House to replace Denis Saint Arroman, with whom a handover has taken place over the last few months. Champagne Bollinger is today the only Champagne House in the Champagne region to employ a cooper on a permanent basis.

Presentation of Gaël Chaunut

©Maison Bollinger

Aged 36, trained by the Compagnons du Devoir and holder of a CAP in cooperage, Gaël Chaunut has been working at the Tonnellerie de Champagne-Ardenne since 2003.

Discreet, Gaël becomes inexhaustible when it comes to cooperage! His passion pushes him as far as the manufacture of his own working tools.

He dedicates part of his free time to his commitment as a volunteer fireman.

“I am particularly happy to be joining this beautiful House for whom vinification in wood has always been one of the fundamental pillars in the service of taste. »

Vinification in wood: one of the elements of the House’s identity base.

Champagne Bollinger has always remained attached to this very old method, which favours the development of very fine aromas and, through the contribution of micro-oxygenation, gives the wine a very high ageing capacity.

The vinification in wood only concerns grapes from the best plots of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay located exclusively in the Grands and Premiers Crus. It is a true revelation of the House’s terroirs.

The vinification is carried out in barrels that are on average 20 years old. The maintenance and repair of these 4,000 or so barrels is carried out in the House’s cooperage workshop.

At Bollinger, the wines vinified in wood are used to make all the vintages and to replenish the stock of magnums of reserve wines. They are also used in the composition of non-vintage vintages (Special Cuvée and Bollinger Rosé).

Bollinger favours short circuits: the House now uses wood from the family forest of Cuis to create and maintain part of its cask stock.