Champagne Brugnon
The Brugnons: a family affair
| Champagne Brugnon dates back to the end of the 19th century when Constant Paul (1859-1935) and Pauline Pointillart (1858-1940) bought their first 20 acres of vineyards. Their daughter Henriette (1880-1977) married Ludovic Brugnon (1873-1942) and they acquired one hectare of vineyards. In 1930 they produced their first bottle of champagne; by 1939, 500 bottles. |
| Alain's grandfather at the wheel of the first local bus. |
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Two sons were born of this union. Marcel sold his vineyards to Maurice and the business became Champagne M. Brugnon in 1947. That same year Maurice produced 1200 bottles and doubled his production every year from there on. Maurice Brugnon was one of the founding fathers of the Ecueil Cooperative (pressing center) in 1947-1948. The idea behind the Cooperative was that the small grape farmers, by pooling their means, could build a pressing center equal to those of the houses and finally be competitive. |
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His son Marc took over the business in 1957. Prosperity was finally in sight. Marc started generating money which allowed him to buy more vineyards. |
| Not only did the winery fluorish in the 70's, but Marc pursued a career as President of the Institute of Winegrowers for 17 years and Vice-President of the Institut National d'Appellation d'Origine (INAO), the institute in charge of all French wine and cheese appellations. He was recently named to the Legion of Honor for lifetime accomplishment. |
| His sons, Philippe and Alain, have taken over the winery creating two separate businesses. They are the first Brugnons to have gone to school and studied winemaking. |
Alain in the old cellar of the winery |
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They share the responsability of elaborating the wine for the village of Ecueil manipulating 8500 hectoliters of wine at every harvest. The family now owns 18,50 hectares and the business is still growing. |
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In 1990 Alain married Yasmin Ali, born and raised in Berkeley, California. They have two children, Jessica and Jules. On October 1st, 2002, Astrid was born and in 2006, Josephine. And that is a whole other story... |
The Land - Winemaking - The Wines - Contacts
site : htttp://www.champagne-brugnon.com
email : champagne-brugnon@orange.fr