My heart was heavy last month when I learned that after 70 uninterrupted years of dedication to Champagne Saint-Chamant, Christian Coquillette, the humble yet grand old man of the Côte des Blancs, had passed away. A longtime disciple of tradition, his handcrafted Grand Cru wines matured in his ancient wine caves, and each one was individually disgorged by his own gnarled hand. To say that Christian Coquillette was an unwavering champion of “old-school” authenticity, or that his vintage releases ranked among my all-time favorite bottlings is a vast understatement. He will be greatly missed in the world of fine wine.
But there is a silver lining to be had here: Decades ago, when his son Stéphane was just 25 years of age, Christian enthusiastically encouraged him to start his own estate and thus began a lifetime of mentorship. Over the years, Stéphane’s wines, too, have blossomed to display the inimitable charm, precision, and sublime minerality of his father’s. His “Carte d’Or,” a masterful blend of four Grand and Premier Crus, has become a brilliant, tightly allocated benchmark around our industry, but today it also serves to memorialize his legend of a father.