In this episode of *Behind the Label*, host welcomes Maxime Piarlo, export manager of Abergère Champagne, who introduces the family estate’s history and philosophy. Founded in 1949 by Adrien’s grandfather, the fifth-generation house now spans 45 hectares across key Champagne regions, focusing on terroir expression through blending and plot-specific wines. Maxime explains that while they produce a range of wines, including a 100% Meunier cuvée and a Pinot Noir from Verzy, the core philosophy is to highlight diversity and gastronomic pairings, moving beyond Champagne’s traditional aperitif role. A blind tasting game challenges participants to identify whether wines are Champagne and from Abergère, revealing differences in bubble fineness and aging. Maxime also critiques non-alcoholic wine, advocating for natural, traditional winemaking and consumer education over marketing trends. The episode concludes with a “Which wine would you choose?” game, selecting Abergère’s 2009 magnum for New Year’s and a Coteaux Champenois Rouge for a potluck, emphasizing the importance of pairing wines with moments of celebration and sharing.
All right, welcome everyone. Welcome to this second episode of Behind the Label. I'm super happy to be with you today. And as a guest, I have Maxime from Abergerschampagne. Thank you to welcome me. It's a podcast. It's always interesting to have this type of experience. So thank you very much to welcome me. Thanks for being here. So you told us a few weeks or a few days ago that you are currently in Hong Kong. And so we're like, let's do something short organization, but we are to be a source of good. Very short organization. So before starting, can you start by introducing yourself? Yes, sure. So I'm Maxime Piarlo. I'm from France, from Champagne. I'm born close to Champagne region in Ardenne. So the only department in Champagne Ardenne where we don't produce Champagne. But I'm inside since I'm very young because I have a lot of friends in this region. And many are growing now on some of them. So it's like this I discovered the wild. I enter in this business by Adrian. So by my boss now, it is a friend since a very long time. But it's by him I discover this part of the business of wine. So it was like this. I'm coming in this business. So I am the export manager of Adarger. So a family estate. I will give more information about the estate after. But yes, so I travel around the world for present the diversity of Champagne and the TPCT of Berger. Amazing. Thank you very much for this, Maxime. So the goal today is that we have three glasses in front of us. And there are two games inside of that. First is champagne or not champagne. Okay. And the second one is a Berger or not a Berger. Because one of them is one of your champagne. So we'll have the opportunity to to take sort of that. Let's start with glass number one. So we have the numbers of the glass. And we'll debrief this at the end of the episode. Let's taste the first one. Yes. Just already at the nose. It's close to champagne. Yes. Could be traditional method as we the color is a little bit cold but with some green. It's very fine. Okay, it became a little bit warm because we installed everything for the episode. So it's a little bit warm, but it's okay. Yes. So it's good. So this is the first time. This is a very interesting. I'm pretty sure it's not champagne. Pretty sure it's not champagne. It's by the bubble for me. Because I think the wine, it was to drink some minutes. We wait for for do. And I think we lost too much the bubble compared to. So maybe we had a great edging. I think it was a traditional method, but more short compared to champagne. So maybe some months, but not a long edging on the leaves for the second fermentation. Yes. It's always complicated to do to be sure because blind testing, it's always difficult. And we need to be humble on the one you do. So we will see. But absolutely. In my editor like this. No, 100% agree. And you know, the number of times you think that you're testing something and actually it's not this at all. Yes. You know, in your mind, you're like, yes, this is one of the wine maker on the style of making wine. Because if you use a lot of barrels or different type of, yes, the specification have an impact on the wine. So it's always interesting, but complicated when you are in blind testing to be sure. So the register pleasure to discover because it's a, I think we produce wine for not for blind testing, but for share a moment with person, with people with friends, family, people we just met. And it's very important, I think, to continue to have this spirit in wine to just take pleasure. You have some people, they haven't the knowledge for really appreciate the data, but they appreciate the wine. On the moment, they share with the person they are in the moment of opening. So it's very, very important, I think, to go into the spirit. Absolutely. And we do this blind testing, but we do it nicely. So we do two things at the same time, a geek, a wine geek stuff, and sharing a good moment. Yes. So it's a good balance. Maxime, talk to us a bit about Abergère. Yes. So it's a rural champagne. Yes. But can you tell us a bit more about the story of it and the philosophy around the champagne? Yeah, it's a very particular house in the Grover, Grover philosophy, because we are honours of all actors. So it's why we are Grover. So for the story, it's now the fifth generation on the state. It's Adria, but all generations gave something to the next one. And the two-fierre generation was more focused on it's like many, many states during this time before the Second World War, World War. There was only producer of Grabs and Sellers to International Brand. During this time, the International Brand was state producing the wine on Sellers to the World. It's the source generation, so the Grandfather of Adria decided in 1949 to create the brand A. A. A. A. Why? It's because since five generations all give a name, start by A. So it's very traditional now, and we continue because the son and daughter of Adria and the same for the sister of Adria, it's continued to do this tradition. And I think it's something very good like this. We don't need to change the brand in the future. Fortunately, my name is Antoine, so I can't join the family anytime. And so the Grandfather created the brand in 1949, like I told, but the father of Adria was more in the philosophy of the two-thirds generation. He wanted to expand the vines, so he started with six sectors, and now we are on off on off 65 hectares. So it's a real success, and it was very focused to produce a very good quality of Grabs and sell with a good price to international brand. So like this, he can expand and can give to the next generation something of very special, because now Adria have a great terroir from different places in Champagne. Six hectares is huge. Yes, we just use the 45 from Berger, because we have 20 hectares in the department of N, so between Champagne and Paris. For a moment, Adria prefer to separate, because the profile of wine you have after with these Grabs is completely different, and it prefer to be focused between Côte des Blancs, Valideux Pimouin, Soutse d'Ovcôte des Blancs on Saisanne. So it's a region where we are present for the position of Berger. We have mainly Chardonnay for 70%, 20% of Pinot Noir on 10% of Meni. So it's really since Adria come back in 2014, we change our philosophy from the vines to the wine, but we are always upsetting because we thought a good Grabs can produce a good wine in general, because we are wine before Champagne. And yes, Adria, so when he come back, he wants really to identify each terroir from the family, and promote to show to the people the quality and the diversity we have in Berger. Yeah, and really of terroir Champagne, because one of the two differences that we have in Champagne is that you have very big Grabs' on one side, making good products, but standard products, that are nice and very well distributed. And on the other hand, you have smaller houses, and more dedicated on identifying the terroir, making wines that really reflect a specific place of Champagne, and not like the whole Champagne. Yes, it was a big changement since the
I think in the 20 last year we had a new champagne philosophy. In general, you have the international one continue to do very good champagne because you know like a big one I don't want to give name but they produce millions of bottles. And for me the quality for a million of bottle produce is great. It's more classic. They want to and I think is great to give a product a little bit more standard but for appreciate and it's often the door for discover the rest. It's like the first few days of Berger we always tell to the people it's we need a very great product for people who want to go to a very special prestige wine. So I think we work well together. Everyone can give something to the region. They do a lot of marketing in the world. For this reason I think now I can be in Hong Kong because without the work as they made during a long time the girl was just a producer of Grabs but not producer of wine on the X. So I think it's yeah we work together for champagne. But after it's the goal to grow work to present a new diversity on the new wine. It's now a little bit more like Burgen D. I think not you know precise like a plot wine. We do some plot wine too but it's not if we have around 135, 39 plot we don't do 139 different bottles. So we are a region of blend so we continue to blend we continue to be in tradition. After the grow we're now can produce some different wine for for sure a special sole special variety because we do some Pinot petit millietou. Petit millietou is old and the forgotten variety and it's very interesting to now do a new wine with this with this cube. So it's 100% many. It's a very intense variety but need to be in the great condition for for do this wine and with the climate changements yes we have now the possibility to do new wine. We will talk about some absolutely wine after but yes it's great to have raw water on the international bond we work together I think. Let's taste the second one. Yes. Cheers. We are in China we need to share every time we drink coffee. What I think in France too. The profile of this one is very different. When I when I first met it I was like this is a decider because you have a lot of Apple. The nose is very fresh. So bubble it's very fine too. Yeah very fine bubble you feel you feel also a bit of yeast when when you taste it gives the I'm not sure it's a traditional method this one. Yes. Compared to the first one. Yeah it's a more short. Yeah we are more in the the Jung wine form maybe the first one was a little bit more older maybe a vintage. This one I think we are a bit of wood maybe on this one. Yes. This one for me is potentially a pet nut you know like ancestral method. Yeah more charmatte method. Yes. Maybe we'll see that in a minute. One of the things that is very important when discussing about Andre Berger at least for me when I discover what you do is that you have different champagne for very different moment and for me you are very gastronomy champagne meaning that I don't know if a wood drink Andre Berger just you know a beginning of the night with friends I think you must have a brewed that brewed origin. Yes. The brewed can make it but I mean by that that a lot of your wines can pair extremely well with with food. Yes I think it's wine in general and Andrea when they come back he wanted to so to promote the terroir and it was not in the for to be fashion it was because we had some particularity in the soul in the vines can be interesting to promote after in wine but when you have something good in vines you need to transform for to be good in wine. So it's after many years with the experience I decided to to produce some plot wine and this experience gave to him some some yes more against some experience so he made all the wine in the same spirit. When you do a blend you need to have a very good product. For me when you want to know about a state you need to start to taste by the first one because it's easier to produce a plot wine compared to more important to be like for Berger origin origin it's 50% of the total production so it's a huge volume compared to to plot wine when you have to thousand or three thousand bottle. So it's I think it's the spirit of Berger is to produce always great wine but you can appreciate with knowledge and with that knowledge because it's in the world the consumers are not in the same level and we need to give to them the possibility to to really appreciate it is true when you go in the plot wine I think it's not great to start by this is better to to have the sommelier for explain you and to have a food with because wine for me it's moment of sharing and when you share often it's with food so it's it's always in this idea it's not adrien don't want to be only focused about restaurants for distributed wine and I think we can drink a plot wine only for a peritif but yes I mean the reality I it's great to see the wine with a great chef in the world can can transmit emotion with the food on the wine so this is what we want every estate wanted to be in the only restaurant because you have all these emotions that I think it's great to have some some wine for a moment of life is the moment of for celebrate life because champagne continues to be the wine for celebration for celebrate waiting born yes every moment of life yeah yeah we need to to keep this philosophy but close-ups is this philosophy we now it's in some years we see the champagne a changid champagne changidolot in restaurant before it was only for a peritif now it's two in the menu in the pairing menu and we can really appreciate the champagne in in restaurant for different yeah plus I think that having sparkling at a certain moment can be super nice in you know like if you do a full menu with food and wine pairing you take a bit of sparkling like in the middle of the menu like you know an age vintage plot yes something so it's already super complex but it does the transition between white and red it refreshes the the mouth and stuff like it's really really good yes definitely and you have some gastronomy like the Japanese gastronomy work perfectly with champagne because they are on the product the fish on the z don't they don't do a lot of sauce like in France we would like to have a jouis with a beef and sometimes it's more spicy or more fat it's great because me I like this food but when you go in Japan I think the precision of champagne with the precision of gastronomy in the in the yes in Japan it's just perfect you take a blunder blanc with always with just the fish it's perfect yeah I can guess I can imagine that it's it's amazing this type of things I'm love to do you tell me you're not a superfan of non-alcoholic drink yes yes it's it's because I think the wine is is a product created during it's it's not you know just just created since two years or three years it's a it's very old it's a by tradition and on no alcoholic wine it's not that natural for me
We need to, it's, I can understand some state in some region, they want to produce for touch and new consumers. But for me, it's better to produce a grid juice of graphs, but not to change the consumers because it's all the industry sometimes. So we think it's great for some years, but for the business, for some revenue. But we need to see for the 10, 20 next years. And if all the young generation start to drink and while colloquine, it will be a disaster for many states. And we lost, for me, the spirit of wine is not to be a competitive rank. I think we need just need to educate people about, for drink better, less, but better wine or spirit too, because you have a very great spirit, spirit. But yeah, we, I think we need to do, to educate more kids about wine, more earlier, for to be sure they don't go in the extreme of control. But they will appreciate, at the end, more compared to what they do now. And I think with the goal of all the state to do this, because the consumers can be lost now. We have a lot of different possibilities. The diversity is higher. It's great, I think, for the consumers to have the possibility to change, to test, to discover. But the, the null colloquine I have, yeah, I have a problem with this because it's the name wine inside. It can be a new, new product with a new name, but it's not wine. Wine. And if you go in the dictionary, it's with alcohol. It's not a wizard. And we lost, yeah, it's a new consumer only. It's better to do a good choice. You have a one-jews, great juice, what you want. It's wine, stay wine. And yes, it's a aunt. The method for do, it's not good for me. It's a pleasure, ecology too. Yeah, and maybe we need to be more, like, we want, we need to do better non-alcoholic things. Like, you know, when you look at soda, it's nightmare. Like, the cod, whatever. It's just full of sugar, soup, and industrial. You drink, I would, I would, 200% better drink a good champagne than a coke, actually. Yes, definitely. So, it's a natural sugar, it's natural process, it's fermented. It's like, you take one glass of this or one glass of coke, I think you're better off with the glass of champagne. But I think it was for the social part too. Because some person want to be, you know, if you have wine and the person close to you have a coke, some, in the past we, we was not just with the person. Why you don't drink wine, you had some, I think other people was a little bit, but now, I think the new generation, I personally, I don't care. Sometimes I drink your course, sometimes I don't want to. If you don't want to drink, no problem. But, but I think so, they have now this wave of a no alcoholic wine for, yes, I think the marketing is on the, the, the, the, the woman, it's for, for yes, it's, it can be, it's a product, but for me, there was the term, wine is not adapting. We, it's a new category. If this can help some role, actually, on the big, big region, where they produce a lot of truth, sometimes they don't find the, the distribution for the wine can be a solution, but for me, it's not a solution for long term. It's will be fashion, and I'm not sure, yes, we'll be like, this category for long, long time. And we've been drinking wines for three thousand years, so we will probably continue drinking wine for three thousand years. Yes, we need to be strong on that to continue, but yes, drink better. You have a, and this not just a, a question of price, you can drink a very good wine for a good price. And this is a responsibility of a state to, to be better in, not search only, margis, but search the white price for the product. For me, we need to respect the consumers, and we need to respect the market because the market is always different. You can see during 25, it was a very busy year for me. We work two times more for the same result, but it's important to continue, yes, to, to be precise in the price too, in the wine, definitely, but in the price for the new generation can continue to, to drink. Speaking of choosing good wines, we'll go to the next part of this show with our game, which wine would you choose? So we just need a little bit of logistics. Perfect. So maybe for people watching, you know, the rules, but we have prepared a small game, the game, which wine would you choose? So I'm going to display a few wines that I'm sure you know of, and I will show you some situation and you need to tell me which wine would you choose for this situation? So here are the wines. We can take a few seconds to have a look into it. And the first question is which wine would you choose to celebrate New Year? Definitely champagne. And we have the plot, I think 2009, for Remembrance of the next year. To remember all the resolutions that you've failed in 2009. 2009 is only in Magnum. So it's a perfect format for the New Year. So definitely 2009. We have a poté champagne. So I think in this list we can use two. We are from champagne, so I think L'Éclos, so the 100% manier can be very interesting. Because we have a great structure, it's from red grapes. So black grapes, so it's very intense manier with a lot of freshness. So can be nice. I don't know after what we have before. But the ferbriange rouge, the coutouche en peau noir, on the other person, the pinot noir, from ferbriange, it's a very good choice for the poté. Maybe I take the ferbriange rouge. Like this, I have, I continue with some champagne. You still have some champagne, maybe. We find you choose for milestone birthday. milestone, but that can you explain me, milestone? Like you add some goals to achieve, and you celebrate, you know this milestone, or? Or, yeah, wedding anniversary, I'm marrying you. So birthday can be champagne too. The rosette senior, rosette senior, so it's a very interesting rosette senior in Bergein. Because you have 50 chardonnay, 50 pinot noir, but it's blend before bottling. So it's during the mass erosion, we put chardonnay on pinot noir together. It's rosée, but with a very intense and very fresh, because we have the part of chardonnay gives this freshness. So yes, for this, rosette senior. Which one would you choose for reunion with old friends? We can use wine from the region. Old friends, so it can be a chateau large batch. Nice boyak, great bordeaux with a great structure, so we can. Can be the last bottle. Which one would you choose with sourced cheese? I'm trying to be a regional. So you need to know, I don't eat cheese. That's this podcast ends today. But after many experience, and I made some great. I tried to do some pairing, and I think fair-reage blanc can be a great option. And definitely white wine for majority of cheese is better. On terbriange blanc, on tot person chardonnay, it's a very great option. And that's it. That was the last one. Thank you very much for doing this. We have the very interesting. Perfect recommendation for each occasion. Let's taste the third wine. Cheers. Santé. I think I know what is this wine. For me, Bergein is in this glass.
Yeah, for me too. For me, it's vintage. Oh, yeah. That's an old one, but if I know what we have, normally in Hong Kong, so it's not in the very. I mean, blind tasting, but I know some, some wine we have here on nuts. And what's over there, so missing butter, my partner in Hong Kong have. So, yeah, I think on the. We tested this wine yesterday. So it helps. Yes. So I think, yeah, it does. What is it? Yeah, for me, in the three, I think this one is champagne. When I first smelled it, I thought it was a blunder blanc. It is a blunder blanc from it. And what's amazing is that the complexity of it is really nice. It's really a depth and rich in the mouth. It's from the sort of. Because if I'm right, I think it's the opinion. The opinion is 100% chardonnay from OJ, Grand Cru, with a lot of chalk and with a tipisty of salt with so chalk, but some on give a lot of minerality in wine. So, yes, I think it's wine. But we tested many times yesterday during the tour with Orenia for a visit some clients. We had this QV and this vintage 2018. And it was very. I tested a lot this QV. Why? It's because it was the first time we decided to do experimentation between caps on cork for the second fermentation in bottle. So in 2018, Orenia decided to do a half in the whisk caps on half of the production with cork. And at the end of this experimentation, we decided to use cork for all plot wine on old vintage wine in the state. Why is it because you need minimum five years for a serious difference? But after five years, your wine will be better. And in the state, plot wine and vintage will stay more than five years from the days. So it makes sense to use cork for this aging. What's amazing is how long it stays in mouth after that? Like it's really. Yes. Really long end of mouth, it's really amazing. I think it's. We can sometimes. some people say, "Why is this?" It's in the first year, in Grand Cru. But the majority of Grand Cru in Champagne, mainly in Côte de Blanc, we know why. Because the structure of the chardonnay is a long taste we can have with the wine. We have 50% of the benefit in barrels. The barrels of 128 liters. So, it's great. So, create a structure too, but we don't search the toasted. Why? It's because we think the barrels for other young need to follow the wine, but need to touch too much. During the process of making barrels, we ask all suppliers to have not too strong. Not too strong, not too much wood. We want the micro-oxygenation, but we don't want to give other flavour. After I tested some wine with this philosophy, it's great, but it says the philosophy of the barrel. No, amazing one. I hope we are right. We'll see. Everything is in the camera. If we're wrong, it's terrible. I can't do it again. Let's maybe welcome Oralion to do the reveal. And then we have one bonus, Maxim Tordes. So, we welcome Oralion for the next minutes of this show. Thank you very much for welcoming us at Tilen. Thank you guys. It's me again. Back to the show. This time, I will try not to make any mistake with the name. So, I know we're having Maxim with us. And not Andre. Time for the reveal. Let's take the first one. Any idea, like champagne method, maybe a. Or like, pressure natural, country, region. So, for me, this one is a champagne method. Because I feel the aromas of like a Lee, you know, Lee aging. So, this is the type of things I'm feeling. It's not jumping. Do you have any idea about what is this one is from? So, me, I think it's from Spain, but not sure. Do you think it's like a traditional method? Do you like a traditional method? Yes, traditional method. But without, like, we told during the podcast, I think it's more not a long, long aging on the Lee's from the circumfermentation. Yeah, right. I think traditional method, but not from champagne, for sure. Time for the reveal. Yes. So, it's a famous one, very from New Zealand. I'm sure you guys are very well. It's called Claudio de Bay from Marbouro. Cool. So, is there a Belarus, Cuevais, a blend of Chardonnay and Pino-Nor-Mar? On the nice place. And is it traditional method as well? Traditional method, yes, yes. So, we were good on the Marbou region. Marbou region, yes. So, Chardonnay and Pino-Nor. Chardonnay and Pino. Great. It's two grapes that you guys. Pino? Yes. No, it's amazing because we thought it was not champagne. So, first, it's a good one. We had the traditional method, we just didn't have the place. But for Cuevais like that, it's difficult to have the place because it's a Brutor one. So, you know, the terroir is not the thing that they are looking for. It's a standard kind of a standard product. So, it goes well with what they are looking for. Very interesting. Very interesting. And we see more and more great sparking wine. That's only in New Zealand, but in UK too, you have some place in Belgium. Some people now start to produce more and more sparking wine. Good sparking wine. I think the climate changement do a lot of. for create a new place for do. But after, yes, I think it's just a question of method. It's different on the terroir naturally. It's different too. But it's very interesting to test on the. I like to see the difference in champagne, but in those origins. So, the good news is that we tasted wine that is made exactly with the same methods and varieties of champagne. But we felt it was not champagne. It means something. Not being too French here, but champagne is safe for now. Let's go for the second one. For wine, number two. Yeah, for me it was not champagne. Not champagne, this is what you mentioned as well. Not champagne, not traditional method. Yes, yes, for me too. For me it's more petnata. Shambat method or something. Because, yes, it's a bubble. It's not enough for me for twelve. It's this spirit of sparking. And maybe for me if I have to try to guess a place, I would say it's something in Italy maybe. Maybe a grape or. The grape, I don't know because for me it's more apple. Yeah. So, I think it's a young wine. It's not an old one or some long edging. We have more east on this comeback again now. We had the fresh apple in the beginning. And after it was more open with a great flavor of some food, white food. But now we come back to Wapper, a little bit more strong. No, I can't really. Inbonne. I don't know. Guys, I mean, well done. So, it's not traditional method. It's a petnata from L'Oirele. It's made by Liz and Bertrand Joucet. So, they are looking in Malouis, S'Oloire. So, this is another person, Jean-Am blanc. Yeah, yeah, Jean-Am blanc. Okay, make sense. Make sense. So, we were not that wrong. It's nice, but I think we don't need to wait too much in the glass. It's wine for sure with people too. And it's for great sparking wine. Big blue drink, you see. Yes, exactly. This you can drink a lot of it, so we better be careful. And let's go for the third one. So, by elimination, it should be Andre Berger. But the question is which one? I hope it's very good because. Okay, guys, so. I think you're right. Max, you know your champagne?
- Oui, vous avez vu un peu de la liste. - Oui, c'est un peu de la liste. - C'est comme l'épénioche, où j'ai grand cru 2018. - Oui. - Donc, c'est de 100% de la chardonnée. - Oui. - Oui. - Oui. - Oui, de la vie de l'enfant. - Le majorité de cette glade, cette vie de l'Udi, a été plantée en 1990. Donc plus de 100% de l'anglais, avec la structure, c'est un peu très intense. C'est en 2018. Donc, oui, je suis un peu. - C'est une petite. - C'est une bonne question. - Oui, c'est une question. - Mais vous pouvez le faire. - Pour moi, c'est par le parc, en d'after, dans le structure, dans un temps de la ville. C'est un long test, comme vous avez dit, dans le podcast, c'est un long test avec beaucoup de miliardité. Donc, très bien. - C'est un bon job, ben oui. - Oui, c'est pour vous. - C'est absolument intéressant. Je vais aussi vous dire que nous sommes bien plus careful de nous faire, parce que c'est un bon travail. Merci beaucoup, les gens. C'était très intéressant pour nous recorder cette journée. Je pense que nous avons découvert beaucoup de la�ter sur la bergerne et sur ce que vous avez fait. - Oui, mais nous avons une surprise pour vous. - Oui, c'est une surprise. - Oui, oui. - Nous avons. - La dernière fois, pas d'un autre. - Oui. - Parce que nous en esthétions, nous avons maintenant dans le DNA de Berger. - C'est une question. - C'est très short. - Oui. - Il n'y a pas juste de ça. - Nous ne faisons pas comme un test de blinde et nous sommes un surprise de la réglence de moi. C'est un peu doux, un peu noir. Parce que nous avons une question de plus doux. C'est un peu noir. C'est un peu noir. Un point de la bergerne de la DNA de Berger. Adrien a commencé à produire un champagne de wine en 15 pour le sang. En Nau, il est un endroit en le production de Berger. Il est un rouge de ferbrioche en le vintage 21. Il est très important pour Adrien pour le promote de cette type de wine. C'est encore une de l'élection de champagne. Nous avons maintenant le possibilité de faire une changement de clé. Le prince, le prince, on a plus et moins. 21 ne est pas une vintage. Ce vintage ne est pas une l'existe, mais. - C'est une vintage. - Oui, oui. Mais quand vous vous trouvez le meilleur de la première de la première, le production est 1,400 bottles. Pour cette vintage, il est seulement un pur, un noir de ferbrioche, un plat ou un entre deux. On a 139 plates, seulement 4. Pour Adrien, on peut produire un encore un wine. C'est un très intéressant wine. Et il est pour. Il est important pour les gens, pour produire un champagne, pour produire un wine. Avec le second fermentation, on obtient le barbeau de la wine. Donc, c'est très important pour lui. Et oui, c'est juste. un petit wine pour mes potes de champagne, avec la type de type de champagne. - Oui, pourquoi vous pensez qu'en revient, parce que. - Vous ne le trouvez pas. - Je sais, cette wine, dans le monde, le premier de l'autre, il n'y a pas de coupé de boignons. En fait, ils ont utilisé un méthode similaire. Ils ont des dédiquettes édignantes. C'est un cas de la production du champagne, de la production du champagne. Et ils ont des dédiquettes édignantes, aussi. Donc, ils utilisent le meilleur méthode de produire cette wine de la production du champagne. Je pense que dans le blind tasting, ce n'est pas très easy, parce que je sais que nous sommes utilisés en quelque part, il peut être un peu gris, un peu plus acidité, pas très correctement. Et je pense que ce n'est pas un grand success pour 2021, c'est un très compliqué de la production du champagne de la production du champagne. Et comme c'est plus pure, c'est élegant. Vous ne le trouvez pas vraiment du bonheur, ce que je veux, donc vous avez le freshness et la puissance de la pure de la production du champagne. Mais à la même time, vous ne tenez pas de boignons. On a la chance de la faire quand la production du champagne, mais nous ne sommes pas en Burgundy, donc nous avons besoin de respecter le sole du champagne de la production du champagne. Mais le travail pour produire, c'est de la production de la production du champagne de la production du champagne, mais vous pouvez prendre un autre. Donc, nous avons le répli de la production du table, nous avons tout ce que nous avons fait pour faire le bonheur. À la dernière, nous avons fait le final de la production du table pour être sûr. Nous avons seulement le meilleur que nous avons fait pour faire le ma sélection. Et je pense que c'est passionné à la wine et à la passionnée. C'est quelque chose de différent, mais maintenant nous avons fait vraiment une sense avec le climatre de la production du champagne. Pour le faire pour le produire, et pour le montrer ce qu'on peut faire pour des petits poursins de la production du champagne, si nous avons le même position, le même sole et le même méthode pour le produire. C'est très bon pour moi, c'est la première fois que je me fais le couteau de champagne. Couteau de champagne. C'est la première fois que je me fais le coup de la production du champagne. Quand vous parlez de couteau de champagne, c'est toujours le point de la production du champagne. C'est ce que nous avons fait pour le champagne. Et puis, nous avons fait le couteau de champagne avec le même chose de tout le monde. Et je peux le dire pour vous que le même chose de la production du champagne est vraiment. C'est un bon point. C'est un bon point. Nous avons fait un bon point de la production du champagne, car les gens ne sont pas par la production du champagne. Nous continuons à faire une partie de la production du champagne. Mais quand vous avez une possibilité de produire une grille de champagne, vous avez besoin de produire une grille de champagne. C'est pas un bon point. C'est un bon point. Mais je pense que ça fait une partie de la production du champagne pour le responsable de l'élection du champagne. 100% Merci beaucoup, je pense que c'est le fin de cette épisode. C'était un très bon show. Merci beaucoup pour nous accueillir à Lucille-En. - Merci beaucoup. - Merci beaucoup. - Merci beaucoup. - Merci beaucoup. - Je vous ai dit une question, mais si vous avez besoin de venir et je vous ai dit que c'est le cinéma de l'Essilan, vous allez trouver des bonnes et bien-assurables. C'est le bon point pour les gens de l'élection du champagne. Merci beaucoup pour vous accueillir à la production du champagne. - C'était un bon point. C'était très intéressant de faire une partie de la production du champagne. Merci beaucoup pour vous accueillir à l'élection du champagne. C'était un plaisir et si vous avez aimé de faire partie de l'élection du champagne, vous savez que l'élection du champagne existait. Si vous avez besoin de l'élection du champagne pour accueillir à votre friend, vous savez que ça existe. Si vous voulez cette épisode, donz-vous pas à vous appeler et abonner à la chaîne. Merci beaucoup et à bientôt. - Bye-bye. - Ciao. [Musique]
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
Maxime Piarlo, export manager of Abergère Champagne, discusses the family estate’s fifth-generation history, philosophy of terroir-driven wines, and recent shift from selling grapes to producing their own Champagne.
The episode includes a blind tasting game (“Champagne or not Champagne?” and “Abergère or not Abergère?”) where participants evaluate three glasses based on bubbles, aroma, and method.
Abergère focuses on blending and plot-specific wines, with 70% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir, and 10% Meunier, emphasizing gastronomic pairings and diversity of terroir.
Maxime expresses skepticism about non-alcoholic wine, arguing it undermines wine’s natural, traditional character and prefers educating consumers to drink better, less alcohol.
A second game (“Which wine would you choose?”) selects Abergère wines for specific occasions, such as a 2009 magnum for New Year’s and a Coteaux Champenois Rouge for a potluck.
Summary:
In this episode of *Behind the Label*, host welcomes Maxime Piarlo, export manager of Abergère Champagne, who introduces the family estate’s history and philosophy. Founded in 1949 by Adrien’s grandfather, the fifth-generation house now spans 45 hectares across key Champagne regions, focusing on terroir expression through blending and plot-specific wines. Maxime explains that while they produce a range of wines, including a 100% Meunier cuvée and a Pinot Noir from Verzy, the core philosophy is to highlight diversity and gastronomic pairings, moving beyond Champagne’s traditional aperitif role.
A blind tasting game challenges participants to identify whether wines are Champagne and from Abergère, revealing differences in bubble fineness and aging. Maxime also critiques non-alcoholic wine, advocating for natural, traditional winemaking and consumer education over marketing trends. ” game, selecting Abergère’s 2009 magnum for New Year’s and a Coteaux Champenois Rouge for a potluck, emphasizing the importance of pairing wines with moments of celebration and sharing.
FAQs
Abergère is a grower Champagne house focused on identifying and promoting the diversity of terroirs in Champagne, producing wines that reflect specific places rather than a standard product.
The fifth-generation estate started with six hectares and expanded to 65 hectares. The grandfather created the Abergère brand in 1949, and the current generation focuses on terroir-driven wines.
For five generations, all family members have names starting with 'A', continuing a tradition that began with the creation of the brand.
Abergère wines are designed to pair well with food, enhancing moments of sharing. They believe Champagne can be enjoyed throughout a meal, not just as an aperitif.
Plot wines are from specific plots and produced in small volumes, while blends like 'Berger Origin' make up 50% of production and are easier to appreciate without deep wine knowledge.
He believes non-alcoholic wine is not natural and lacks the spirit of wine, which is a traditional, fermented product with alcohol. He prefers educating people to drink better wine rather than creating non-alcoholic alternatives.
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