Les Freres Mignon

There are so many stories to be told in the grower Champagne category, but one grower at a time. Today, we’re excited to introduce you to Les Freres Mignon .

We were first exposed to the domaine a few years ago while in Champagne. I’ve always liked dining + staying at Les Avises, Jacques Selosse's eponymous restaurant and hotel (highly recommended if you are ever in the mid-northern religions of Champagne). The restaurant’s wine list offers a selection of carefully selected wines. Sure, there are the big names and of course a number of listings of Selosse, but if you are willing to make it to the 2nd or 3rd page there are plenty of selections with which you may not be familiar. Les Freres Mignon was one of those for us - we ordered a bottle of the  L’Adventure 1er Blanc des Blancs. 

Located in the heart of the Cote de Blancs, the Mignon family had been selling the grapes from their vineyards for decades before the Florent and Julien brothers started making wine. On the brother’s-mothers side (yo!) are vines from Avize, while their father‘s holdings come from the villages of Cramant, Cuis and Cummieres; in total, 8.5 hectares. Ninety percent are planted to Chardonnay and the remaining 10% are Pinot Noir from the village of Cummieres.

In 2015, the brother’s adventure truly began. They had a philosophy centered around organic farming with minimal intervention in the winery. Fortunately, they had an enviable vineyard holding and a passion to produce pure, expressive Champagne which has allowed them to make quite a splash.

Their first wines hit the market in 2019, and have already garnered an impressive following, Jacques Selosse obviously included! I always evaluate the wines for what is in the bottle, but everyone, us included, has fallen in love with their humble and hilarious cartoon labels. That said, one should not mistake the comical graphics on their labels for anything but world class Champagne inside the bottle! Frères Mignon, with all of their levity and fun, is part of the pool of serious, young, grower-producers revolutionizing the region.

L’Adventure is the entry level cuvee, although it’s a disservice to call it “entry level” because it offers so much more. I find the nose here to be citrus leaning and quite inviting. The palate leaves you no doubt that this is a wine of tremendous quality. There is a subtle complexity to the palate as it coats your tongue. Chalk and minerality, coupled with the fresh focused finish offers what I would describe as text book Cote des Blancs. There is a reason the big houses have long sought grapes from these east facing, pure chalk terroirs. This is just an example of why the best Chardonnays are produced in the Cote des Blancs.