Roland Piollot and Dominique Moreau are serious winemakers who are just as serious about the quality of the soil in which their vines grow – they each have their own vineyards and make their own Champagne but help and advise each other.
Roland assiduously attends to his long mounds of organic compost (see photo below) that he prepares with care for application to his vineyard. The vineyard is being converted to biodynamic practices therefore no chemicals are used, no chemical fertilisers are used and no herbicides are used.
Working with his wife Dominique their compost recipe involves starting with the left overs from the press after harvest then adding manure in January, followed by a biodynamic preparation towards the end of winter. Everything in the compost comes from within 12 kilometres of Polisot, including straw and sawdust.
Roland explains that unlike chemical fertilisers, once applied, their home-made slowly-matured compost “brings what the vineyard needs but slowly”. It make more even growth, not a quick burst and they also like the assurance of knowing exactly what we are putting in the vineyards. He also thinks that the vines like the warmth that comes from the compost.
His vineyard is a special place with sweeping views across the valley in which his home village of Polisot nestles. Here ducks swim contentedly in the tranquil upper reaches of the Seine River and vegetable gardens line its banks. It is an idyllic location. The nearest major town is the ancient city of Troyes.
Dominique has a smaller vineyard than Roland therefore her wines are produced in smaller quantities. She does, however, farm using the same biodynamic practices. This ensures the quality of the fruit is exceptional and we are delighted to be able to offer two of her Champagnes for sale in limited quantities. Dominique is certified as organic and biodynamic by Ecocert and Demeter.
Dominique and Roland also etch the lot numbers of each wine on the bottom of the bottles. You will be able to see a number etched into the glass such as LR15D1117. The letter L stands for “lot”, the R stands for “Réserve”, 15 stands for 2015 which is the vintage of the wine and D stands for the date of disgorgement which in this example was “1117” which means that the wine was disgorged in November 2017.
If you quickly want to see what wines from Roland and Dominique we currently have in stock you can click here to go directly to our “Buy Natural Wines” page.
If you would like to learn more about Roland’s work you can peruse his Web site here.
If you want to read about Dominique Moreau’s wines you can jump to the Marie Courtin page here.
Piollot Champagne Côte des Bar Cuvée de Réserve Brut

When we first tasted this elegant Piollot Champagne we remarked on its beautiful light golden colour, the citrus aromas and the silky freshness on the palate and very good length. This is partly due to the excellent Kimmeridgean limestone soils where the vines flourish and then the expert wine making techniques that Roland and Dominique exercise.
The base wine is made from direct press Pinot Noir (70%) and Chardonnay (30%) providing additional richness. The bottles were disgorged in July 2023.
We should add here that the more we experience wines that have been carefully made from direct press red grapes the more we are with the texture of such wines.
This is an ideal aperitif and represent amazing value at this price.
This wine is certified organic through CERTIPAQ FR-BIO-09.
RRP: $112
Piollot Champagne Côte des Bar Cuvée Come des Tallants 2019

The Come des Tallants is an exciting cuvée from Roland Piollot that represents a step-up in quality in a range that is already very, very good. The parcel of land called Come des Tallants is less than one hectare on a hill behind the town of Polisot that has direct southern exposure and scree slopes of Upper Jurassic chalky marls.
This champagne is a classic “Blanc de Noir” – a white Champagne made from a red grape variety, namely 100% Pinot Noir picked from 40 year old vines. This Champagne has small but persistent bubbles, a beautiful golden hue, a bracing freshness, and great length that you would be lucky to find in wines of twice the price. It also reflects the care taken with the health of the soil, displaying intense minerality and depth of fruit flavour.
It is a perfect aperitif wine that can be used to break the ice at the beginning of the evening but it also pairs very nicely with a range of foods, especially rich seafood dishes such as crab and lobster.
Matched with smart new labels and the fact that there is not any added sugar in the wine (zero dosage), we have here the perfect wine for a celebration at an amazingly good price. The wine was disgorged in February 2023.
Chambers Street Wines in New York are big fans of Roland’s wines. They say of this release:
“The palate is finely chiseled with a nervy minerality, buoyed by a weighty concentration and a full aromatic range of wild flowers, which continues through to a finely pointed finish. A fantastic effort and Champagne from Roland Piollot! “
This wine is certified organic through CERTIPAQ FR-BIO-09.
RRP: $134 (SOLD OUT)
Piollot Champagne Côte des Bar Cuvée Champs Rayés Brut Nature 2018

The Champs Rayés is another new cuvée from Roland Piollot and is the finest Champagne from that estate. The Champs Rayés cuvee comes from an area known as Noé les Mallets where Roland has two plots of vines “Champs Rayés” and “Derrière le Bois” planted entirely to massale selection Chardonnay and both of which have clay, marl and limestone soils.
The resulting Champagne is a fine, elegant and rich wine of incredible finesse.
By the way, the Champs Rayés vineyard gets its name (striped field) from the two different types of marl rocks found in this area.
Notice that this Champagne bears the term Brut Nature on the label. This can only appear in wines that have had no sugar added at any time during the maturation of the wine. The wine has neither been fined or filtered.
As with the Come des Tallants, this wine sports a new label. It was disgorged in February 2023 after spending around four years on lees.
This wine is certified organic through CERTIPAQ FR-BIO-09.
RRP: $115 (SOLD OUT)
Piollot Champagne Côte des Bar Extra Brut Pinot Blanc Cuvée Colas Robin 2017

This is a special new cuvee for Roland Piollot made entirely from Pinot Blanc grown on his estate. The vines thrive on the slopes near the village of Polisot overlooking the upper reaches of the Seine River.
The Colas Robin vineyard was planted entirely to Pinot Blanc (with a little of the very rare Arbane as well) by the Piollot family in 1955 using selection massale rather than clonal varieties, meaning that the vines are an incredible 66 years old.
The vineyard is one of the best in Roland’s care. It has wonderful southern exposure so the grapes ripen easily and the soil is based on limestone with a mix of red clay which provides the minerality that is so obvious in this very special wine. Approximately 80% of the juice was transferred to tank and the rest to oak barrels on lees for 5 years.
This is a very elegant, savoury wine with lots of fresh fruit aromas and lovely, balanced acidity. It has a very fine bead and you also notice the light golden colour. There is a complexity in both the aroma and the flavour with lots spice and citrus notes and the intense minerality that we mentioned above.
It is very rare to find a Champagne made exclusively from the Pinot Blanc grape, however once you taste it you will wonder why more producers don’t do it!.
The wine was disgorged in February 2023.
This wine is certified organic through CERTIPAQ FR-BIO-09.
RRP: $145 (SOLD OUT)
Piollot Champagne Côte des Bar Les Protelles 2019

The Les Protelles is an exciting new cuvée from Roland that is a Rosé de saignée (meaning that it is a rosé that has gained the pink colour through a short, 3 day maceration which was enough time to extract colour from the skins to produce the vibrant pink colour of this wine). It is made entirely from Pinot Noir.
The juice was transferred to a tank for the fermentation (both the alcoholic fermentation and the malolactic fermentation) prior to bottling.
It spent two years on lees before being disgorged in November 2022. After disgorgement 3 grams per litre of dosage was added to create an Extra Brut wine.
The Les Protelles vineyard has a beautiful southern exposure that ensures the grapes ripen well. The age of the vines is a minimum of 45 years.
Roland recommends drinking this Champagne with a chocolate dessert and we don’t think too many people would disagree with the concept!!
This wine is certified organic through CERTIPAQ FR-BIO-09.
RRP: $150 (SOLD OUT)
Piollot Champagne Côte des Bar Cuvée Chevry 2019

This is an amazing Champagne that really shows off the benefit of two important parts of the Champagne-making processes. The first is the benefits that accrue when the wine is allowed to age gracefully on lees for a long period of time. This wine is from grapes harvested from the 2019 vintage and it has only just been released.
The second positive about this wine is that two out of the three grape varieties were red (Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier) that were direct pressed to produce white juice. We find that this process provides a more interesting texture than just direct pressing white grapes and here the combination of the three most popular Champagne grapes works very well indeed.
As mentioned above, the Roland Piollot Cuvée Chevry is a blend of the three main Champagne grape varieties, namely Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.
The wine was made in 2019 and the bottles were disgorged in March 2023.
This wine is certified organic through CERTIPAQ FR-BIO-09.
RRP: $154 (SOLD OUT)
Piollot Champagne Côte des Bar MePetit 2018

This cuvée from Roland Piollot is made entirely from Pinot Meunier, but has been direct pressed so that the juice is white and hence is named as a Blanc de Noir (white from black).
This term has been designed to signify that the wine has been made from red grapes (even though the juice is red, the colour of the grapes is often closer to black, viz Pinot Noir). Similarly, the term Blanc de Blanc indicates that it is a white wine made from white grapes.
The grapes for this cuvee were sourced from the MePetit vineyard which faces south-east and hence has good exposure. The soil is clay made from calcareous rocks (limestone which is quite common in this area) which provide good minerality for the wine.
Note: When we talk about minerality we do not imply that minerals from the soil are transported into the grapes, however with biodynamic and organic soils there is a myriad of life such as bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi which can break down components of the soil into salts and other compounds and pass these through to the vines.
The wine was aged for nearly 3 years on lees and then bottled with no dosage and no residual sugar, hence it can display Brut Nature on the label. The wine was disgorged in March 2023.
This wine is certified organic through CERTIPAQ FR-BIO-09.
RRP: $165 (SOLD OUT)
Piollot Champagne Côte des Bar Les Gravelées Rosé 2013

It is back!!! This stunning rosé Champagne sold out very quickly in the previous shipment, but we have been able to secure another small allocation.
The Côte des Bar region of Champagne is slowly emerging as an area capable of producing some of the finest wines, due to the mild climate and excellent terroir which consists of marl and Kimméridgian limestone.
Les Gravelées Rosé is testimony to the search for quality in this region. It is a “rosé de maceration”. The grapes (only Pinot Noir is used) are first crushed by foot and the grapes then macerate for up to two days before the juice which, by this time, has developed cherry, strawberry and raspberry overtones is taken out of the tank. However there is more! This wine has had no sulphites added at any time during production resulting in a Champagne that is very lively and very fresh due to not having the dampening effect of sulphites. It was disgorged in March 2015 and has had no sugar added at any time.
This wine has an appealing intensity and a lingering freshness. It is a Champagne of true elegance and one that we are delighted with. It is difficult to stop drinking this lovely wine.
RRP: $86 (SOLD OUT)