New York City · La Fête du Champagne

Oak Aging Through the Perspective of Champagne Drappier

Join Hugo Drappier, oenologist and 8th generation of the Drappier family, for a presentation of his unique approach to aging wine in Champagne through a tasting of four Drappier wines: Coteaux Champenois Perpétuité is the result of a blanc de noirs perpetual reserve aged in a large oak foudre in which twenty vintages, both old and young, each play their role. Trop M’en Faut is an organic, single-plot cuvée that offers a distinctly local expression of the Fromonteau grape variety, aged in demi-muid barrels made of - also local - oak from the Forêt d’Orient. Grande Sendrée 2015 is Drappier’s iconic single-plot vintage cuvée produced every two to three years. It is entirely vinified and aged in oak, followed by ten years on the lees. In 2010, the first oak egg in Champagne found its home at Drappier, within the cellar’s “inner circle” where wines are aged in wood. For sixteen years, the egg has intrigued us. Now, in the spring of 2026, the time has come for its first “hatching” (Eclosion in French, hence the name of this cuvée). Harvested from the Sendré plot, the Éclose cuvée is the result of extended aging in an oak egg – nowhere else in Champagne is this done. Inspired by the Fibonacci sequence, this cornerless wooden vessel allows the wine the freedom of gentle motion for three years. A decade of maturation on the lees follows, culminating in the wine’s final “hatching”. One of the most respected houses in Champagne’s southernmost region, the Aube, Champagne Drappier has a remarkable history of excellence and consistency since its founding in 1808. Drappier’s laser focus on sustainable viticulture and willingness to experiment in the cellar firmly places it in the camp of small houses that blur the line between Champagne house and grower.