Camille Jacquet

It is worth starting with something the label does not say: Camille Jacquet is not an independent house but a brand of Maison Jean Pernet, in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. The name is a tribute to a descendant of the family.

Maison Jean Pernet was founded in 1959 by Jean and Huguette Pernet, and their children run it today, though the family has grown vines since the seventeenth century.

The fruit comes from villages of the Côte des Blancs — Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Avize, Chouilly, Vertus — and that is why a blanc de blancs from here means something specific: the Côte des Blancs is 95% planted to chardonnay and sits on the purest chalk in all of Champagne.

Their grand cru spends thirty-six months on the lees, more than double the fifteen the rules require of a non-vintage Champagne. It carries 7 grams of dosage and half the blend is reserve wine.