Albert Bérêche, a Hungarian-born winemaker and café owner, settled in Champagne in 1847. On his land, he tended to three hectares of vineyards. His grape production supplied the cellars of the Champagne house Canard Duchêne, at the time one of the largest producers alongside Pommery. In 1911, Champagne winemakers protested against merchants who were sourcing grapes from outside of Champagne, particularly from the south of France or Algeria. Several cellars were vandalized, and 5,000 mounted guards were engaged to restore order.
Léon Bérêche expanded viticulture and expanded the size of the holdings in the early 20th century. He married Cécile Quenardel, who came from a prominent family owning land in Champagne. He won a silver medal in Paris in 1895 for his unique brut wine cuvée. By the late 1920s, he had produced a “non-sparkling brut Champagne wine,” a former appellation referring to Coteaux-Champenois.
Bérêche began bottling its cuvées during World War I, and in 1932, Léon Bérêche applied a 5% discount on his cuvées for former soldiers. His son Pierre doubled the size of the vineyard holdings, totalling six hectares, after a marriage following World War II.
Pierre Bérêche later completely detached himself from the house of Canard Duchêne. He advanced bottle production and trade, and Bérêche et Fils estate wines were mainly sold to passing trade. Jean-Pierre and Catherine Bérêche took over the estate in 1978. They expanded production from 30,000 to 80,000 bottles. In 2003, they decided to stop herbicide treatment in the vineyards.
This small family house produces some of the finest champagnes in the northwest of the Montagne de Reims. Fastidious work in the vineyards work, secondary fermentation under cork and patient aging on lees all give rise to expressive wines, faithful to the terroirs they come from. Winemaker Raphaël Bérêche and his younger brother Vincent, in charge of the vineyard, offer wines that meet their ambitions, combining maturity, sapidity, and chalky length. The dosages are perfectly integrated, and the mouthfeel is very elegant. While these wines may have required some patience in the past after release, they now seem more open, expressive and refined, while retaining their complexity and undeniable aging potential.
