Virginie Bergeronneau | Ville-Dommange | Montagne de Reims

 Located in the village of Ville-Dommange in the Montagne de Reims, Virginie’s estate practices a sustainable and respectful viticulture. 

Virginie Bergeronneau comes from a family of precursors in the Champagne region. Her grandfather was one of the first to make organic wines or to install an elevator in his cellar. He was also one of the last to continue to plow and earth up the rootstock to fight the freeze.

The Bergeronneau family are originally from Jouy les Reims. Virginie’s parents Florent and Marion come from two families with different stories and paths, but both the paternal and maternal sides have long generations of winegrower. Florent’s father François – fell in love with the winegrowing profession from his grandmother  Adèle Savant who was winegrower. At that time, the family was part of the village cooperative, but Florent decided to take things further once finishing his training at the Viticultural College of Avize. 

François and his wife Pierrette had three children including Florent – born in 1963 – to whom François transmitted his know-how. 

Following his studies, an ambitious Florent Bergeronneau came back to the family estate in order to help his parents in the vineyard, but bringing his personal touch.  He was renowned for taking his time, doing things step by step guided by his passion and his love for the vines. He was gifted his first plot from his parents when he was 18 . He continued to keep traditions, creating wines as a member of the cooperative but already with the goal to become an independent winegrower.

A few years later, he met Véronique Marion – a winegrower originally from the village of Trigny in the Montagne de Reims also with a training background from the Avize Viticultural College. Following their marriage, they decided to group their estates and produce champagnes together reflecting their common passion. Thanks to their ambition, they accomplished the wish of Florent to become an independent winegrower thanks to the purchase of a wine press. This was the beginning of the Champagne F. Bergeronneau Marion which was then passed on to their daughter Virginie.

Virginie pursued her studies after obtaining her scientific high school diploma with a Viticulture-oenology BTS near Macon and a business license.  Her studies enabled her to develop a better understanding of the viticulture and the winemaking process thanks to training periods in well-known Beaujolais and Côte-Rôtie estates. Following an overseas experience in Australia she decided to return to the family estate to work with her parents.

Winner of the ‘Young Champagne Talent 2019’ award, Virginie Bergeronneau’s domaine now carries a HVE certification. Her cuvées are produced providing a fresh and modern perspective whilst perpetuating the work from previous generations. The vineyard is managed masterfully by this young female winemaker who hasn't wasted any time in adopting clean growing methods. 

Virginie pays tributes to her ancestors not just giving their names to her cuvées but also thanks to her precise and careful vinification methods, these wines loyally represent the characteristics and beauty of their terroir of origin.

In the press room, once the grapes are picked, they go through a pneumatic press of 8000 kg before juices then wines can be vinified in the second cellar of the estate. 

The cellar is divided in two parts : a 19th century vaulted cellar as well as another more modern area built by the grandfather. The cellars have been air-conditioned for an ideal and constant aging temperature for the wines and everything has been renovated – insulation, air conditioning.

There are 12 large vats and 15 small ones which are not thermoregulated as there is no need for it since the temperature of the cellar remains constant thanks to the ventilation system. The house also owns a beautiful collection of barrels from the cooperage of the region – La tonnellerie de Champagne – as well as from the Bordeaux region. Each barrel has already seen wines before being used for the cuvées of the estate as the use of wood is only to magnify and make more complex the wines with elegance and finesse.  

Located on the village of Ville Dommange – from the latin Villa Dominica, meaning ‘House of the Lord’ , the estate covers parcels from the Montagne de Reims to the Massif St Thierry in Trigny, both with young and old vines. The terroir in mid-hills benefits from advantageous exposures offering a perfect balance to the grapes and is made of soils with clay and limestone with scattered chalk and flint as well as some plots with sands and silts soils. In order to value and respect their precious lands but also to protect the biodiversity, Virginie chooses a sustainable viticulture.

 As a conscientious winegrower, Virginie seeks to limit inputs on her vines – insecticides have been banned for 12 years now. Most of the plots are naturally green covered and soil enrichment products are targeted under the row where there is no vegetation cover.  However, no insecticides are used against the grass growing around the rootstock. As the grass cover helps to promote the exchange of fluids in the soil, air and oxygen, it also offers a natural habitat for the auxiliaries of the vine and so, helps to have perennial vines protected on a long-term basis. In some steep vines, this also helps to avoid destructuring the soil by gully effect. 

As for vineyards with lighter soil texture (sands or silts), they do a light plowing as natural green cover would be too competitive with the vines. It allows to ventilate and decompact the soil, with the aim of improving the exchange of fluids and therefore to have more perennial vines. Nevertheless, some weeds will still be present on the plots but in a sparse way to provide shelter to the auxiliaries of the vine. The landscaping or the maintenance of hedges and trees along the plots provides the same benefits to the plants. Finally, the water used in the whole wine-making process comes from a used water recovery system.Virginie questions herself permanently in order to be able to improve their method in the vineyard at any time.