Chef du Cave
Elysé Brigandat
Born in 1995, in Troyes, his family is also from Champagne. His grandfather created a Domaine in the furthest south village of Champagne, in the Côte des Bar, Channes, Champagne Pierre Brigandat. That is why his story with the Champagne started in his early years by tasting a few drops of Champagne Brigandat poured by his father when he was 8 years-old. At 20 years, he joined the engineer school of Bordeaux Sciences Agro to get his engineer degree in viticulture and oenology and move to Institute Agro in Montpellier to get the French oenologist diploma. From 2017 to 2020, he carried out internships related to his training: Vintages at Louis Jadot (Burgundy) in 2017, at Yabby Lake (Mornington Peninsula, Australia) in February 2018, at the Comité Champagne (Champagne, Epernay) in August 2018, at Mouton-Rothschild (Bordeaux, Pauillac) in 2019. In 2020, he joined Champagne Drappier in Urville, Côte des Bar, as Chef de Caves. He crafted, with Michel and Hugo Drappier, beautiful Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to produce bottle of ‘Carte d’Or’ or ‘Brut Nature Blanc de Noir’ and other Cuvées. He learnt soft vinification with low intervention to reveal the origin of the wine and the art of the blending for a zero dosage. Three years later and his meeting with Jean Soubeyrand, he decided to join the young Champagne house Valentin Leflaive as Cellar Master. He was seduced and intrigued by the notion of “Lieux-Dits”, the direction taken by Valentin Leflaive. This is the reason why he joined this new project.