Guillaume Lété, Chef de Caves Master of Champagne Barons de Rothschild, takes stock of the 2025 harvest

Reims, September 2025 – At the dawn of a new winegrowing season, Guillaume Lété, Chef de Caves of the Champagne Barons de Rothschild House, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, gives a rather positive assessment of the health of the vines and is delighted with the potential expressed by the first juices.

Harvest began in Ambonnay on Thursday August 28th for the Pinot Noir and on Saturday, August 30th in Avize for the Chardonnay plots, before being interrupted for a few rainy days. Harvesting resumed on Tuesday, September 2nd in their Cramant vineyard before continuing on the Côte des Blancs. To further promote the desired ripeness of the Chardonnays from this plot, the last grape bunches were cut on Monday September 8th in the Grand Clos in Vertus, where the house inaugurated a spectacular new production site last June.

“The 2025 harvest took place in very good conditions and benefited from excellent vineyard health. However, yields remained low, a result of poor flowering conditions in 2024 and the accumulation of unfavorable factors during the 2025 winegrowing season,” confided Guillaume Lété.

Ripeness progressed very quickly following two weeks of scorching heat in August. Unsurprisingly, the potential alcohol content increased significantly, but phenolic maturity was only reached at higher levels than usual: around 11.5% alc/vol for the Chardonnays and 10.5-11% alc/vol for the Pinot Noirs. With temperatures remaining cool, the Chef de Caves was able to make the strategic choice of waiting to achieve the desired ripeness.

“The first tastings show a very nice balance, the juices are promising and suggest great potential for the future,” concludes Guillaume Lété.