The Bergère family has tended vines on the slopes of the Vallée du Petit Morin since 1848 and in 1949, Albert Bergère founded Maison Bergère in an effort to better promote the family’s terroir. In 1986, Albert’s son, André took over the estate and further expanded their vineyard holdings. His wife, Brigitte established their boutique on Avenue de Champagne in Épernay, which is now managed by their daughter, Annaëlle.

Adrien Bergère joined his parents and sister on the estate in 2014 as winemaker after obtaining his diploma in oenology. He arrived with the desire to further enhance his family’s terroirs and showcase the richness of the Vallée du Petit Morin. To achieve this, he immediately began to vinify all the parcels separately to better understand the diversity of his terroir and isolate the best parcels, which gave birth to the parcel-based range and the two Coteaux Champenois, in addition to the traditional range already established by his family. Between 2014-2018 has been the period for Adrien to experiment. He introduced barrels and foudres, which allowed him to experiment and analyze his wines on different vinifications, and adapt his work to best express his terroirs.

The Bergere family holds vines in 3 major appellations: 35 hectares in the Vallée du Petit Morin, 5 hectares in the Côtes de Blancs and 5 hectares in Sezanne. It is worthwhile to understand the plots from Adrien’s personal vantage point.

Vallée du Petit Morin

This is the heart and soul of the operation, the foundation and the area most ripe for exploration. The Vallée itself runs along a hilly fault line, a rural place with scattered vines wedged into the forest line, where a small river divides various soils and expositions. The Terre-Blanche, aka the chalky good turf, particularly in Congy, boasts exceptional chardonnay. Along the upper side, Pinot Meunier and Noir find deep, nutritious clay. Adrien feels the area offers a rich fruitiness yet a particular, inherent freshness (note: something different from acidity...), an element that makes so many of the world’s top wines rewarding to drink. The Vallée makes up the core of Adrien’s research.

Côte du Sezanne

Every great pallet needs a full range of colors, even those that don’t illuminate in stand-alone fashion. Adrien likes the terroir here for its high citrus notes and additional linear qualities in the fruit. Most of the Sezanne fruit heads into Origne and is otherwise the essential blending element in the cellar.

Côte des Blancs

It is here where Adrien humbly regards the elegance and power of Grand Cru terroir. Most of his vines root at the meeting point between Oger and Avize, where acidity, deep concentration and true structure form an extraordinary trifecta. The Côte des Blancs thus provides Adrien with a focal point, an awareness of the wellspring of terroir that he can infuse into his realizations across the full estate.

The entire estate is aspiring to a full organic conversion, with 6 hectares currently certified and another 2 in conversion. But Bergère will not include this on the label until the majority of their vines have been certified. With so many hectares under vine it’s a huge undertaking and one that they are moving towards slowly and deliberately, vowing to work in the best way possible.

Adrien describes his approach from a simple point of view, that is - Champagne is wine first, and great wine can only come from observation in the vineyards. Once in the cellar, the elevage should accompany terroir, not override it.

Accordingly, vinification is unique to each parcelle, which is why Adrien has added tools to the cellar apt for analyzing the best vinification and elevage. There is a spread now of barrels, tanks and foudre. The duration of elevage is a constant study. The singular parcel wines are coming of age under natural cork as well. Overall, the processes in the cellar do not supersede the qualities of the grapes. The fruit is a guiding force in a realm of flexible and constant experimentation.