A Tale of Two Brothers, A Singular Chardonnay Affair, One Story: Interview with Antoine Bouret of Champagne Pertois-Lebrun

When I sat down with Antoine Bouret on Zoom, what was meant to be an interview quickly became something else entirely. Our conversation organically found its own cadence. His words came out not as answers, but as chapters. It felt only natural to let his story unfold the same way he told it, not as a Q&A, but as a narrative.

What follows is the story of Champagne Pertois-Lebrun, a Chardonnay affair, and the tale of two brothers who found their way back to Champagne to breathe new life into the house their grandparents founded.

Antoine Bouret represents the latest chapter in a family story that stretches back over a century of Champagne making. Champagne Pertois-Lebrun was founded in 1955 by Antoine’s grandparents, Paul Pertois and Françoise Lebrun, who united their vineyards in Cramant and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, two emblematic villages of the Côte des Blancs. The creation of the house marked the continuation of a family lineage deeply rooted in Champagne. At the beginning of the 20th century, Paul Pertois’s grandfather produced Champagne under the name Henri Pertois, followed by the next generation with the house Pertois-Tessier. Pertois-Lebrun thus became the third successive family Champagne house, firmly anchored in the Côte des Blancs, a singular focus that has defined its identity and affirmed Chardonnay as the DNA of Pertois-Lebrun’s style.

Paul and Françoise had three daughters: Brigitte, Odile, and Pascale. It was Odile, the middle daughter, who eventually took the reins of the Champagne house. She worked alongside her parents for many years and, after their retirement, continued to run the house, overseeing production of 80,000 to 90,000 bottles annually from a 9.7-hectare vineyard, an area that remains unchanged today.

After many years of maintaining this level of production on her own, Odile scaled back production to around 10,000 bottles annually. With no clear successor in sight, vineyard work was outsourced, and Champagne production was handled externally through a Champagne à façon (CAF) arrangement, notably with Duval-Leroy, Antoine recalled. “The estate continued to exist, but quietly,” he said.

Meanwhile, the next generation was growing up far from the vineyards of Champagne. "For a while, my parents lived in Morocco, where my older brother Clément was born", said Antoine, "but I was born in Aix-en-Provence, where we lived and where we grew up. Champagne meant Christmas and summer holidays with our grandparents. The wine itself was reserved for special occasions. Back home in the south, it was more about beer, pastis, and rosé,” he remembered amused.

“At first, it was my older brother who seemed destined to take over,” Antoine said. “He was hands-on, loved being outdoors, and started studying viticulture early, planning to come back to Champagne one day. But at sixteen or seventeen, it all felt too soon. He left those studies, tried different jobs, and ended up as a landscaper in the south of France.”

With time, perspective shifted. “He began to feel the pull of Champagne again,” Antoine explained. “He saw the competition, knew he didn’t want to be an employee forever, and realized our family estate had no clear successor. So, at twenty-five, he made the leap.”

Antoine’s journey was different. He studied business, worked in Paris, and even spent time in Australia and New Zealand before the unexpected opportunity of a layoff prompted his return to Champagne. “At 30 years old, it felt like now or never,” he quipped.

In 2013, Antoine joined his brother, seizing the opportunity to help rebuild the family-owned champagne house. “It felt like a blank page waiting to be rewritten,” said Antoine.

The vineyards remained, but the maison’s infrastructure was sparse, and much of its activity had been scaled back. Antoine and his brother began by developing new cuvées, rethinking practices, and gradually reshaping the Domaine. The pivotal turning point came in 2017 when their aunt retired. From that moment, they became the sole decision-makers, able to fully imprint their vision on the estate.

At the heart of that vision lies a deep exploration of Chardonnay and terroir. “Chardonnay expresses itself in many different ways, shaped by variations in microclimate, soil composition, subsoil, and topography,” Antoine commented. “Even within a single appellation, the same grape can produce remarkably different wines depending on where it is grown.”

At Pertois-Lebrun, this focus is deliberately narrowed. The estate comprises 44 parcels totaling 9.7 hectares, spread across seven villages from north to south along the Côte des Blancs. Antoine was quick to note that these parcels produce a wide spectrum of aromatic profiles. Microclimates vary from one village to another and even from one parcel to the next.

To preserve and reveal these nuances, Antoine and his brother have chosen a parcel-by-parcel approach in the cellar. Whenever possible, each plot is pressed and vinified separately. For Antoine, this diversity is the essence of the estate’s rebirth. “Each parcel tells its own story, and each wine reflects its origin with clarity and precision,” he explained. Through this meticulous work, Pertois-Lebrun has moved beyond simply restarting, it has redefined itself with a terroir-driven narrative rooted firmly in the Côte des Blancs.

At Pertois-Lebrun, the identity of the house is expressed through two distinct but complementary ranges: Les Classiques and Les Fidèles. Together, they reflect both the Champagne tradition the house is rooted in and the more precise, terroir-driven vision developed by Antoine and his brother. “Les Classiques, as the name suggests, represent the most traditional expression of the house. This range is built around the Champagne art of blending. Three cuvées make up this range: L’Extravertie, L’Ambitieuse, and L’Égoïste,” explained Antoine. “Les Fidèles, takes a more intimate and focused approach. These are single-parcel cuvées, designed to showcase the identity of a specific plot or named lieu-dit. Through this range, we highlight the diversity that exists even within a single grape variety and a single sub-region.”

Among these wines, one parcel stands as particularly emblematic: Le Fond du Bateau. This vineyard holds a special place in the history of the estate. It was planted in the 1950s by Antoine’s grandfather, at a time when this part of Champagne lay outside the appellation. The post-war years were marked by reconstruction, economic growth, and a rapid rise in Champagne consumption. To meet demand, new plantings were authorized in areas such as the lower slopes of Chouilly, zones that would later prove to be exceptional terroirs, with chalk lying very close to the surface.

Beyond its historical significance, Le Fond du Bateau is remarkable for its scale. At nearly one and a half hectares, it is the largest parcel in the estate, a rarity on the Côte des Blancs, where vineyard holdings are typically highly fragmented. The parcel is also surrounded by four paths, creating a natural buffer. For an estate farmed organically, this isolation provides valuable protection from neighboring chemical treatments.

“This vineyard also carries personal significance,” Antoine shared. “It was the first parcel my brother began working on when he arrived in Champagne in 2003. The vines are old, an essential element in the production of single parcel cuvées, bringing concentration and aromatic depth. The soil structure is particularly strong, with chalk accessible at around 70 centimeters below the surface, allowing the vines to draw both freshness and mineral tension from deep within the ground.”

As iconic as Le Fond du Bateau is for the house, Antoine’s personal favorite remains L’Extravertie. The house’s flagship cuvée paints a full portrait of Pertois-Lebrun, blending Chardonnay from all seven villages to capture both the vineyard’s diversity and the brothers’ shared vision. “It expresses the character of the Côte des Blancs while remaining approachable and thoroughly enjoyable,” Antoine said drifting a smile. “Yet it’s also the most difficult cuvée to craft.”

Of course, One can’t talk about Champagne without addressing climate change and the region’s proactive measures to adapt. A pioneer in sustainability, Champagne became the first wine-growing region in the world to draw up a carbon balance sheet in 2003, taking action to reduce carbon emissions years before such measures were legally required in France. Today, the region continues to earn a reputation for forward-thinking sustainability and environmentally conscious practices, commitments that Antoine and his brother are equally passionate about carrying forward.

Pertois-Lebrun’s transition to organic viticulture was not the result of a sudden decision, but a carefully measured journey rooted in pragmatism and long-term vision. Although the estate received official organic certification in 2023, the process began a full decade earlier. Starting in 2013 with a single parcel, the estate gradually expanded its organic practices, reaching full conversion in 2020 and certification in 2023. For Antoine, the move was as much about terroir expression as it was about providing a healthier environment for vineyard workers. Soil work proved transformative, revealing more character, depth, and identity in the wines.

Today, Pertois-Lebrun produces approximately 60,000 bottles, with a long-term goal of reaching 80,000 to 90,000. To support this development, Antoine and Clement have invested heavily in the house’s working tools and infrastructure. All necessary vineyard equipment is now in place, including modern tractors. In 2021, the duo built their own press, a major milestone in gaining full autonomy over vinification. A new winery was completed in 2024, along with an extension of the underground aging cellars. At the same time, the future of the house continues to take shape in the cellar.

“We’re working on a new cuvée, first imagined and begun in 2018, that’s now slowly aging and finding its voice. If all goes as planned, it will be released around 2027,” Antoine shared, his excitement for the future palpable.

This excitement about what’s to come reflects how he sees Champagne today: a region at its most thrilling moment. Since arriving in Champagne in 2013, he has witnessed a region undergoing extraordinary transformation. He describes it as an “exhilarating moment”, a time when a revolution was already underway in Champagne, a revolution that continues to unfold on many levels.

“Today, the region boasts a remarkable diversity of wines and an extraordinary number of growers, resulting in an unprecedented quality of Champagne. Many of today’s Champagnes have strong, distinct identities. Growers are increasingly focused on showcasing their terroirs, grape varieties, and winemaking methods, experimenting in every direction to create wines that are authentic expressions of both land and person,” observed Antoine.

Champagne, he noted, is a region in constant transformation. It poses complex questions and faces true environmental and economic challenges. “Its dynamism comes not only from the ambition and creativity of individual growers but also from the collective need for adaptation, evolution, and sustainable practices,” he said. For Antoine, this combination of heritage, experimentation, and responsiveness defines the modern Champagne landscape and shapes its promising future.

While we spoke about what lies ahead, I asked Antoine if there was a “Champagne moment” that had never left him. His answer returned us to a memory rich with family history and emotion.

“It was March 2003, in the snowy streets of central Stockholm. I had traveled there to meet my Swedish importer during a trade show, and that evening a small, intimate gathering was planned with a few friends. One of them had a charming tasting room tucked away in old Stockholm, its vaulted brick cellar providing the perfect setting,” Antoine recalled with fondness. “As we descended into the warm, intimate cellar, my importer revealed a rare treasure: a bottle of Pertois-Lebrun 1975, purchased at an auction for 300 euros. This was a Premier Cru vintage, crafted by my grandparents almost three decades earlier. When the bottle was opened, a faint, delicate effervescence emerged, and the liquid revealed a mesmerizing coppery-orange hue.”

For Antoine, the experience was extraordinary. These were Champagnes rarely tasted, with aromas unlike those of modern vintages. But more than the wine itself, it was the connection it created as Antoine was sharing a moment with his grandfather, tasting a cuvée that he had crafted decades ago, an arc linking past and present.

Moments like this are what make Champagne more than a drink, they make it a story, a memory, and a precious portal to the past.

Today, Antoine and Clément are continuing to write that story, one cuvée at a time.

For more information visit: https://champagne-pertoislebrun.com/