For over two centuries, Jacquesson has held a special place in the history of Champagne. Founded in 1798 and known for being Napoleon’s preferred bubbly, the Maison continues to stand out today for a philosophy that challenges some of the region’s most deeply rooted conventions. The presentation of the 2026 Program in Milan, organized by Italian distributor Pellegrini S.p.A. with the presence of Managing Director Jean Garandeau, confirmed the direction the Maison has embraced: placing the vintage, the vineyard and the terroir above everything else — even above the very idea of an immutable house style. The three new cuvées featured this year — Cuvée 749 Extra Brut, Cuvée 744 Dégorgement Tardif, and Avize Champ Caïn 2015 — demonstrated how, for Jacquesson, every bottle is first and foremost the story of a vintage, a parcel and the time required for the wine to find its own balance. Thus, 21 years after the launch of the Cuvée 700 series, Jacquesson remains one of the most influential producers in contemporary Champagne, supported by a history rich in successful intuitions — from the arrival of the Chiquet family in 1974 to the Maison’s entry into Artémis Domaines, controlled by the Pinault and Henriot La Rouzière families, at the end of 2022.
From Napoleon to the Chiquet Family, to Artémis Domaines: A Maison That Set the Standard
Founded by Claude and Memmie Jacquesson in 1798, the Maison became one of the most important in Champagne during the 19th century, even becoming Napoleon I’s favorite. Jacquesson is also tied to one of the most significant innovations in modern sparkling wine production: the patent for the muselet, the wire cage that secures the cork, filed in 1844 by Adolphe Jacquesson.
The contemporary turning point came in 1974 with the acquisition by the Chiquet family, who moved the headquarters to Dizy and began a long journey of qualitative growth that culminated in 2005 with the creation of the revolutionary Cuvée 700 series — a project destined to change the very way non‑vintage Champagne is interpreted.
In December 2022, Jacquesson became part of Artémis Domaines, owned by the Pinault and Henriot La Rouzière families, while maintaining its identity intact.
Jacquesson’s Philosophy
During the Milan presentation, led by Managing Director Jean Garandeau and Pietro Pellegrini, the Maison’s production philosophy emerged clearly: the pursuit of excellence is more important than homogeneity. This is why Jacquesson built the Cuvée 700 project around a single base vintage, complemented by reserve wines from previous years without erasing its character.
Today the vineyard spans 36 hectares across the Côte des Blancs and Vallée de la Marne, with parcels located in the Grand Crus of Avize, Aÿ and Oiry and the Premier Crus of Dizy, Hautvillers and Champillon. Since 2010, all estate vineyards have been certified organic, and the agronomic work aims at achieving full grape maturity, prioritizing fruit flavor over simple analytical parameters. The approach is to listen to each parcel, understand its evolution and enhance its personality.
Vinification follows the same minimalist philosophy: cuvée‑only pressing, aging in large oak casks, no fining, no filtration, very low dosage and long lees aging. All the Champagnes tasted also underwent malolactic fermentation.
The result is a style that is immediately recognizable: wines with marked vinosity, shaped through deliberately oxidative aging, yet crossed by a mineral tension that makes every sip dynamic, mouthwatering and deeply gastronomic.
One detail perhaps best illustrates the Maison’s transparency: for over twenty years, the back label has served as a true identity card for each Champagne, precisely listing all production details.
Cuvée 749: A New Chapter in a Revolution
Before 2000, Brut Sans Année was the dominant model in Champagne. Jacquesson chose a different path: abandoning stylistic uniformity to highlight each individual harvest.
Thus began the Cuvée 700 series, launched with 728 and now reaching 749. Each edition uses the most recent vintage as its base, complemented by a selection of previous cuvées as reserve wines, respecting the character of the year rather than negating it.
Among the highlights of the 2026 Program is the new Cuvée 749 Extra Brut, built on the 2021 base vintage and completed with 28% reserve wines from cuvées 748 to 743, excluding 745. Chardonnay dominates the blend, and the dosage is just 2 g/l.
During the tasting, the wine showed gastronomic depth and classicism, with a clearly evident Chardonnay backbone, a delicate oxidative imprint, perfectly integrated Pinot Noir and Meunier, and a mineral component supporting a sip that is still young but already highly distinctive.
Cuvée 744 Dégorgement Tardif: Time as an Ingredient
If 749 represents the present, Cuvée 744 Dégorgement Tardif demonstrates Jacquesson’s belief in the value of time and how it can transform Champagne.
Born from the 2016 vintage, 744 DT was aged for 92 months on the lees under cork and disgorged in February 2025. The wine reaches the market about ten years after harvest, with a dosage of just 2 g/l, and represents the evolution of the Dégorgement Tardif project, now in its 11th year.
The tasting confirmed the depth of this choice. Notes of coffee and ripe citrus emerged in the glass, accompanied by a pronounced mineral and iodine character. Rather than breadth, this Champagne builds its personality on the length of the sip, suggesting a long future ahead.
Avize Champ Caïn 2015: The Essence of a Place
Completing the 2026 Program tasting was Avize Champ Caïn 2015, one of the Maison’s celebrated lieux‑dits. Sourced from a single 1.3‑hectare parcel planted with Chardonnay in 1962, located at the base of the Avize slope and trained using the Chablis pruning system, the vineyard sits on clay‑sandy‑silty limestone soils with chalky gravel over Campanian bedrock — one of the purest expressions of Côte des Blancs terroir.
Production is limited to just over 10,700 bottles, with a dosage of only 1 g/l, making it one of the purest expressions of Jacquesson’s parcel‑based approach.
In the glass, the result is a Champagne of extraordinary elegance: fresh, mineral, vertical, with impeccable aromatic definition and surprising drinkability. One of the most successful interpretations of the village of Avize.
Italy Remains a Key Market for Jacquesson
Italy continues to be one of Jacquesson’s reference markets, with around 25,000–30,000 bottles distributed each year, accounting for roughly 12–12.5% of total production.
The Milan presentation also reaffirmed the strong relationship between the Maison and Pellegrini S.p.A., its long‑standing importer in Italy. As Jean Garandeau noted:
“I am pleased and honored to present Jacquesson’s new cuvées in preview together with our loyal partner Pellegrini S.p.A. These cuvées fully reflect the spirit of our wines and of the Maison: finesse, elegance and the expression of vintages with their own personality. They will surely appeal to our Italian clientele, passionate about great Champagne — a fundamental market for us.”
Echoing his words, Pietro Pellegrini, President of Pellegrini S.p.A., added:
“I am pleased to think that, after more than 25 years of collaboration with Maison Jacquesson, our enthusiasm remains unchanged. Italy has been the leading export market for Jacquesson for several years, and we intend to continue in this direction. Seriousness, concreteness and integrity are values shared by our companies; and with the growing quality achieved by the Cuvée Numerata, I see no critical issues, even in this complex moment for the Champagne market.”
The 2026 Program further confirms Jacquesson as one of the most rigorous, terroir‑driven and contemporary interpretations of Champagne today.
