Historia
It all began in the 19th century...My family have been growing grapes for wine in the Champagne region since 1860.
In those days, the wine growers sold all of their grapes to trading houses each year at harvest time. (Möet et Chandon, Pomery, Roederer, etc.) These companies, the sole suppliers of Champagne throughout the world, owned very few vineyards themselves (in fact this is still the case), and they were obliged to turn to small wine growers for grape supplies in order to produce their Champagne. Grapes from Grands Cru areas such as Avize were of course the most sought after, and they were often used to produce the finest vintages.
And then my grandfather, Jean, made a bottle of his own
It wasn't until 1947 that my grandfather, Jean Fannière, decided to produce his own Champagne.
Success came quickly, thanks to the high quality Chardonnay grapes of the Avize Grand Cru. From a few hundred bottles of Champagne in the early years, Jean Fannière was selling around 10,000 bottles of champagne a year by 1959, when his daughter Josette (my mother) and his son-in-law Guy Varnier (my father) took over the management of the vineyard.
My father extended our domain to include the Grand Crus terroirs of Cramant and Oger, two villages close to Avize.
In 1989, I took over the reins from my father
With a degree in winemaking under my belt, I took over the management of the family vineyard in 1989 with one single obsession: to respect the teachings and traditional methods instilled in me by my father and my grandfather.
My goal was to make our family brand famous throughout the world.
I am now extremely proud to say that my Champagnes are drunk all over the world, from New York to Tokyo.